Bleak House

—

A Casa Soturna

Charles Dickens

ESL Easy Read

Reading Comprehension B1 • Original Text • Português Support

AMOSTRA - contém apenas 15% do texto

Copyright

Fonte original - domínio público

Esta edição ESL Easy Read foi adaptada a partir de Bleak House, de Charles Dickens, publicado originalmente em 1853.

A obra original encontra-se em domínio público e pode ser utilizada, reproduzida, distribuída e adaptada de acordo com a legislação aplicável.

Autor

Charles Dickens

Estados Unidos

Esta obra foi publicada originalmente em 1853.

Nos Estados Unidos, obras publicadas antes de 1930 encontram-se normalmente em domínio público.

Com base no ano de publicação disponível, esta obra encontra-se em domínio público nos Estados Unidos desde 1º de janeiro de 1949.

Brasil

Autor: Charles Dickens

De acordo com a Lei nº 9.610/1998, os direitos patrimoniais expiram 70 anos após a morte do autor, contados a partir de 1º de janeiro do ano seguinte ao falecimento.

Charles Dickens faleceu em 1870.

Situação no Brasil: DOMÍNIO PÚBLICO.

Portugal

Autor: Charles Dickens

De acordo com o Código do Direito de Autor e dos Direitos Conexos, a proteção patrimonial dura 70 anos após a morte do autor.

Charles Dickens faleceu em 1870.

Situação em Portugal: DOMÍNIO PÚBLICO.

Dados da publicação original

Obra original: Bleak House

Autor: Charles Dickens

Primeira publicação: 1853

Local: London

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Introdução

Como ler este livro

Cada livro desta coleção é apresentado em um nível de leitura simplificada, de acordo com o CEFR - Quadro Europeu Comum de Referência para Línguas.

A2 - Básico: indicado para leitores que já compreendem frases simples, vocabulário frequente e textos curtos sobre situações do cotidiano.

B1 - Intermediário: indicado para leitores que conseguem compreender as ideias principais de textos claros e acompanhar uma narrativa com vocabulário e estruturas de dificuldade moderada.

B2 - Intermediário avançado: indicado para leitores que já conseguem compreender textos mais complexos, acompanhar descrições detalhadas e reconhecer uma variedade maior de vocabulário e estruturas gramaticais.

Este livro foi adaptado para o nível B1.

Você pode começar a lê-lo mesmo sem dominar completamente o inglês. O texto foi simplificado para facilitar a compreensão, preservando a história, os personagens, o ambiente e os principais acontecimentos da obra original.

O objetivo não é substituir a obra original, mas criar uma passagem gradual entre o inglês que você já conhece e a linguagem literária do texto completo.

Como usar En/Pt

No texto simplificado em inglês, En/Pt abre a página correspondente.

A página En/Pt apresenta três camadas independentes, sempre nesta ordem: a tradução em português do texto simplificado; o trecho correspondente do original em inglês; e a tradução em português do original.

No texto original em inglês, Pt abre diretamente o mesmo parágrafo na versão portuguesa. Nessa versão, En retorna ao mesmo parágrafo no texto original em inglês. Na página En/Pt, Original English retorna de Português Integral ao mesmo parágrafo original.

Como usar o glossário

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Cada entrada apresenta:

• a palavra ou expressão original em inglês;

• a sua pronúncia fonética;

• a tradução em português;

• um exemplo de uso em português;

• um exemplo de uso em inglês;

• até seis trechos do livro em que a palavra ou expressão aparece, ou todos os trechos disponíveis quando houver menos de seis ocorrências.

Cada ocorrência apresentada no glossário inclui um link direto para o ponto exato do livro em que a palavra ou expressão foi usada.

Depois de consultar uma ocorrência, o leitor pode retornar diretamente ao ponto do texto de onde abriu o glossário ou navegar para qualquer outra ocorrência da mesma palavra ou expressão dentro do livro.

A função da tradução em português

Procuramos oferecer traduções em português claras, naturais e literariamente agradáveis, tanto para o texto simplificado quanto para o texto original.

Ainda assim, a tradução deve ser entendida apenas como instrumento de apoio. Este livro não foi concebido para ser lido principalmente em português: seu objetivo é ajudar você a ler em inglês e recorrer ao português somente quando necessário.

Sempre que possível, tente primeiro compreender o trecho em inglês. Consulte a tradução para confirmar o sentido, esclarecer uma dificuldade ou comparar estruturas; depois, retorne ao texto em inglês.

Sobre este livro

In fog-bound London, the endless Chancery case Jarndyce and Jarndyce draws Esther Summerson, her guardian John Jarndyce, the proud Lady Dedlock, and many others into a web of inheritance, secrecy, poverty, and neglect. As Esther learns the truth about her birth and Inspector Bucket investigates a murder, Dickens shows how a broken legal system damages lives across every social class.

Declaração sobre conteúdo gerado por inteligência artificial

Esta edição contém conteúdo gerado por ferramentas baseadas em inteligência artificial, incluindo o texto em inglês simplificado, traduções em português e elementos visuais da capa e/ou do interior. O conteúdo foi submetido a revisão editorial humana.

AI-generated content disclosure: This edition contains content generated by AI-based tools, including simplified English text, Portuguese translations, and visual elements used in the cover and/or interior. The content received human editorial review.

Como usar este livro

En/Pt → abre Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1), Original English Version e Tradução Integral em Português no mesmo bloco.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada e Go to the Original English Version retornam ao ponto exato.

Os links pontilhados do glossário voltam diretamente ao uso real da palavra.

Contato

MicMac from Las Vegas LLC
Contato: admin@esleasyread.com

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Reading Comprehension B1

1. Preface

Chapter I

Chapter II

Chapter III

Chapter IV

Chapter V

Chapter VI

Chapter VII

Chapter VIII

Chapter IX

Contents

Preface

En/Pt → by Charles Dickens

BLEAK HOUSE

by

CHARLES DICKENS

CONTENTS

En/Pt → Preface I. In Chancery II. In Fashion III. A Progress IV. Telescopic Philanthropy V. A Morning Adventure VI. Quite at Home VII. The Ghost’s Walk VIII. Covering a Multitude of Sins IX. Signs and Tokens X. The Law-Writer XI. Our Dear Brother XII. On the Watch XIII. Esther’s Narrative XIV. Deportment XV. Bell Yard XVI. Tom-all-Alone’s XVII. Esther’s Narrative XVIII. Lady Dedlock XIX. Moving On XX. A New Lodger XXI. The Smallweed Family XXII. Mr. Bucket XXIII. Esther’s Narrative XXIV. An Appeal Case XXV. Mrs. Snagsby Sees It All XXVI. Sharpshooters XXVII. More Old Soldiers Than One XXVIII. The Ironmaster XXIX. The Young Man XXX. Esther’s Narrative XXXI. Nurse and Patient XXXII. The Appointed Time XXXIII. Interlopers XXXIV. A Turn of the Screw XXXV. Esther’s Narrative XXXVI. Chesney Wold XXXVII. Jarndyce and Jarndyce XXXVIII. A Struggle XXXIX. Attorney and Client XL. National and Domestic XLI. In Mr. Tulkinghorn’s Room XLII. In Mr. Tulkinghorn’s Chambers XLIII. Esther’s Narrative XLIV. The Letter and the Answer XLV. In Trust XLVI. Stop Him! XLVII. Jo’s Will XLVIII. Closing In XLIX. Dutiful Friendship L. Esther’s Narrative LI. Enlightened LII. Obstinacy LIII. The Track LIV. Springing a Mine LV. Flight LVI. Pursuit LVII. Esther’s Narrative LVIII. A Wintry Day and Night LIX. Esther’s Narrative LX. Perspective LXI. A Discovery LXII. Another Discovery LXIII. Steel and Iron LXIV. Esther’s Narrative LXV. Beginning the World LXVI. Down in Lincolnshire LXVII. The Close of Esther’s Narrative

En/Pt → PREFACE

A Chancery judge once told a large, sensible audience that the Court of Chancery was almost perfect. He admitted it moved slowly, but blamed the public for refusing to appoint more judges. I thought this was a very deep joke.

The joke seemed too good for the main story. Otherwise, I would have given it to Mr. Kenge or Mr. Vholes, since one of them might have invented it. I could also have added these lines from Shakespeare:

My work has changed my nature, just as dye colours a worker's hand. Pity me and wish that I could become new again!

The public should know that my description of the Court of Chancery is true. Gridley's case is based closely on a real injustice. In August 1853, one friendly case had already lasted almost twenty years, used up seventy thousand pounds, and was no nearer its end. Another case had lasted since the previous century and cost more than twice that amount. I could give many more real examples to support Jarndyce and Jarndyce.

En/Pt → Some people denied that Mr. Krook could have died by spontaneous combustion. Before writing the scene, I studied the subject carefully. About thirty cases had been recorded, including famous cases in Italy and France that were examined by respected experts. I will accept the usual human evidence until that evidence itself somehow burns away.

In Bleak House, I deliberately showed the romantic side of ordinary things.

En/Pt → 1853

En/Pt → Another recent case was clearly described by a dentist in Columbus, USA. It concerned a German shopkeeper who drank far too much.

Chapter I

En/Pt → In Chancery

London, in a cruel November. The Lord Chancellor sits in Lincoln's Inn Hall. The streets are so muddy that a huge ancient animal might seem at home there. Black smoke and soot fall like dirty snow. Dogs and horses are covered in mud, while angry people bump umbrellas and slip on street corners.

Fog is everywhere: above and below the river, over the marshes and hills, inside ships and around small boats. It fills the eyes and throats of old sailors, enters a captain's cabin, and freezes the young apprentice on deck. People on bridges seem to hang in clouds of mist.

Gas lamps appear weakly through the fog, like a pale sun over wet fields. Shops light them two hours early, and even the lamps look tired and unwilling.

The cold, fog, and mud are worst near Temple Bar. Close by, in the very centre of the fog, the Lord High Chancellor sits in the Court of Chancery.

En/Pt → No fog can be too thick and no mud too deep to match the confused and helpless condition of this ancient, sinful Court of Chancery.

The Chancellor sits among red curtains while a lawyer with huge whiskers reads an endless document. Around him, many lawyers struggle through technical details and piles of costly papers in a case that never ends. The court is dark, foggy, and empty of truth. Across England, it ruins homes, land, money, minds, and hearts. Any honest lawyer would warn people to suffer almost any wrong rather than enter this court.

The court is full of bored officials because Jarndyce and Jarndyce offers no entertainment. Reporters leave when it begins. A confused old woman waits daily for a judgment in her favour. One prisoner cannot explain accounts he never understood, and another ruined man has spent twenty-five years trying to make the Chancellor hear him. A few clerks stay only because they hope he will cause some amusement.

En/Pt → Jarndyce and Jarndyce continues without end. It has become so complicated that nobody understands it, especially the people involved. Children have been born into it, adults have married into it, and old people have died while it continued. Families inherited its hatreds. Almost all the Jarndyces are gone, but the hopeless case still drags through the court.

Jarndyce and Jarndyce has become a legal joke, although it has caused many deaths. Judges, senior lawyers, and young clerks have all made jokes about a case that seems less likely to end than potatoes are to fall from the sky.

The case has harmed many people who were not even directly involved. It has taught lawyers and clerks to deceive, delay, avoid duty, and take money. Even distant observers have learned to ignore wrongs and accept that the world was never meant to be right.

So the Lord High Chancellor sits in his court, surrounded by mud and fog.

En/Pt → "Mr. Tangle," says the Chancellor, growing tired of the lawyer's long speech.

"My lord," says Mr. Tangle. He knows more about Jarndyce and Jarndyce than anyone and seems to have read nothing else since school.

"Are you nearly finished with your argument?"

Mr. Tangle replies that he is not, because he feels it is his duty to discuss many points.

"Several other lawyers must still speak, I believe?" the Chancellor asks with a small smile.

Eighteen lawyers rise together, each carrying a summary of eighteen hundred pages. They bow and sit down again.

The Chancellor postpones the hearing for two weeks. The question is only about costs, a small branch of the huge case, so perhaps it will be settled one day.

The Chancellor and lawyers rise. The prisoner is hurried forward, and the man from Shropshire cries, "My lord!" Court officials angrily demand silence.

The Chancellor continues, "About the young girl - "

En/Pt → Mr. Tangle interrupts to say it is a boy. The Chancellor carefully says he means both young people, whom he will meet before deciding whether they should live with their uncle.

Mr. Tangle rises again and says, "Pardon me, my lord - he is dead."

The Chancellor checks his papers and changes "uncle" to "grandfather."

Mr. Tangle apologizes again and explains that the grandfather killed himself.

A very small lawyer with a huge voice rises and says he represents the man. He cannot explain the exact family connection, but insists that the man is a cousin.

After speaking in a deep, serious voice, the little lawyer sits down and disappears into the fog. Everyone looks for him, but nobody can see him.

The Chancellor says he will speak to both young people and decide whether they should live with their cousin. He will announce the matter the next morning.

En/Pt → The prisoner is quickly sent back to prison. The man from Shropshire tries once more to speak, but the Chancellor and everyone else disappear. Clerks carry away heavy bags of papers, the old woman leaves with her documents, and the empty court is locked. It would be better if all its injustice and misery could be locked inside and burned with it.

Chapter II

En/Pt → In Fashion

Now we briefly visit fashionable society on the same muddy afternoon. It resembles the Court of Chancery because both obey old customs and habits. Both are like people sleeping through storms and waiting for a magical awakening.

Fashionable society is a very small world. It contains good and honest people and has its proper place. But it is wrapped in luxury, unable to hear or see the larger worlds around it. Without fresh air, it becomes weak and unhealthy.

Lady Dedlock has left her wet, gloomy Lincolnshire estate and returned to London before visiting Paris. Rain has flooded the land, damaged a bridge, and soaked the trees and animals. Her grand house feels cold, dark, and haunted. Seeing a happy family by a warm cottage fire makes the childless Lady Dedlock angry. She says she is bored to death.

Lady Dedlock has left the Lincolnshire house to the rain and wild animals. As the housekeeper closes the dark rooms, the family portraits seem to disappear into the damp walls. Society knows the past and present, but cannot say when the family will return.

En/Pt → Sir Leicester Dedlock is only a baronet, but he considers his ancient family more important than almost anything. He is honourable, proud, stubborn, energetic, deeply prejudiced, and completely unreasonable.

Sir Leicester is more than twenty years older than Lady Dedlock and is now over sixty-five. He sometimes suffers from gout and walks stiffly. With grey hair and formal clothes, he always appears grand and polite. He truly admires his wife, and his faithful love for her is his only romantic quality.

He married her for love, although people whispered that she came from no important family. She had beauty, pride, ambition, determination, and intelligence. With wealth and social position, she soon rose to the top of fashionable society.

After Lady Dedlock conquered her social world, she did not become joyful but cold. Her victory left her calmly tired and interested in nothing. She has perfect manners, but even going to heaven would probably not excite her.

En/Pt → Lady Dedlock is still beautiful. Her face has become more classical and formal with her high social position. She looks tall and elegant, dresses perfectly, and takes special care of her hair.

Lady Dedlock is staying at her London house before going to Paris. On this dark, muddy afternoon, the Dedlocks' old-fashioned lawyer arrives. He is taken through grand but lifeless rooms by a powdered servant and brought to Lady Dedlock.

Mr. Tulkinghorn looks old and dull but has become rich by handling aristocratic marriages and wills. He silently keeps many noble family secrets. His black clothes never shine, and neither does his personality. He speaks only for work and receives polite greetings without revealing anything.

Sir Leicester is pleased to see Mr. Tulkinghorn. The lawyer's old-fashioned clothes and manner please him because they seem to show proper respect and loyal service to the Dedlock family.

Lady Dedlock believes ordinary people cannot understand her. In fact, everyone around her knows her weaknesses and habits, from her maid to fashionable shopkeepers. These people pretend to obey her while carefully guiding her choices. By making one new thing fashionable, they can lead Lady Dedlock and her whole social group.

En/Pt → So Mr. Tulkinghorn may or may not know what Lady Dedlock is thinking, but he probably does.

Sir Leicester greets the lawyer and asks whether Lady Dedlock's case has again been before the Chancellor.

Mr. Tulkinghorn says the case was heard again that day and quietly bows to Lady Dedlock, who sits by the fire with a screen before her face.

Lady Dedlock says there is probably no point in asking whether anything was achieved.

Mr. Tulkinghorn replies that nothing she would consider important was done that day.

Lady Dedlock says that nothing ever will be done.

Sir Leicester does not mind an endless Chancery case because it seems traditionally British. The case is not very important to him, and he believes the court is part of a wise system. Complaining about it, he fears, might encourage the lower classes to rebel.

Mr. Tulkinghorn says a few short new statements have been added to the case. Because he always keeps his clients informed, and because they are going to Paris, he has brought the papers with him.

En/Pt → Sir Leicester was also going to Paris, but fashionable society cared mainly about Lady Dedlock.

Mr. Tulkinghorn takes out the papers, places them on a small golden table beside Lady Dedlock, puts on his glasses, and begins reading by a shaded lamp.

"In the Court of Chancery. Between John Jarndyce - "

Lady Dedlock interrupts and asks him to leave out as much formal legal language as possible.

Mr. Tulkinghorn begins again further down the page. Lady Dedlock stops listening, while Sir Leicester enjoys the long legal phrases. Feeling hot by the fire, she looks closely at the papers and suddenly asks, "Who copied that?"

Mr. Tulkinghorn stops, surprised by Lady Dedlock's sudden interest and unusual voice.

She calmly asks whether the writing is what lawyers call legal handwriting.

Mr. Tulkinghorn examines it and says not exactly. The writer probably learned the legal style after first learning to write. He asks why she wants to know.

En/Pt → She says she only wants something to break the terrible boredom and tells him to continue.

Mr. Tulkinghorn reads again. The room grows hotter, and Lady Dedlock covers her face. Sir Leicester wakes from a light sleep and asks what was said.

Mr. Tulkinghorn rises quickly and says he fears that Lady Dedlock is ill.

With pale lips, Lady Dedlock says she has only fainted, but it feels like death. She orders them not to speak, to ring the bell, and to take her to her room.

Mr. Tulkinghorn waits in another room. Bells ring and servants hurry about; then everything becomes quiet. At last, a servant asks him to return.

Sir Leicester says Lady Dedlock is better and asks the lawyer to continue reading to him alone. He was frightened because she had never fainted before, but he blames the difficult weather and her terrible boredom in Lincolnshire.

Chapter III

En/Pt → A Progress

I find it hard to begin my part of this story because I know I am not clever. As a little girl, I told my doll Dolly to be patient with me. She sat in a large chair while I sewed and shared all my secrets with her.

I was so shy that Dolly was the only one who heard my true thoughts. After school, I hurried home to tell her everything I had noticed. I understood things slowly but observed them quietly and wanted to understand more. Love sometimes made my mind clearer, though perhaps that is only vanity.

My godmother raised me from my earliest memories. She was religious, beautiful, serious, and strict, but never smiled. I felt small and distant beside her and could not relax or love her as I wished. I believed this was my fault and often told Dolly that I hoped to gain a better heart.

En/Pt → This made me even more shy and made Dolly my only comfortable friend. Then something happened while I was still very young that increased these feelings.

Nobody ever spoke about my mother or father, though I wondered especially about my mother. I had never worn mourning clothes or seen her grave, and I prayed only for my godmother. When I asked our strict servant Mrs. Rachael about my parents, she simply said good night and left me alone.

Seven older girls attended my school, but I never visited them at home. I felt separated from them for reasons beyond age and intelligence. One girl invited me to a party, but my godmother refused for me. In fact, I never went anywhere.

It was my birthday. Other girls had school holidays and celebrations on their birthdays, but I had none. My birthday was the saddest day of the year in our house.

En/Pt → I may be vain, but I think love helps me understand things more quickly. I am very affectionate, and the pain I felt that birthday was sharp enough to remain with me forever.

After dinner, my godmother and I sat silently by the fire. Only the clock and fire made sounds. I looked up from my sewing and read a terrible thought in her gloomy face: it would have been better if I had never been born.

I began to cry and asked my godmother whether my mother had died on my birthday.

She answered, "No. Ask me nothing more, child."

I begged her to tell me about my mother. I asked what I had done, how I had lost her, why I was different from other children, and why it was my fault. I begged my godmother not to leave.

Fear mixed with my grief. I held her dress and knelt before her while she repeatedly told me to let go. Then she suddenly stood still.

En/Pt → Her dark expression stopped me. I tried to take her hand but pulled back when she looked at me. She placed me before her and coldly said that my mother had brought shame on us both. She claimed she had forgiven my mother for a terrible wrong, though her face showed no forgiveness. She called me an unfortunate, disgraced orphan and told me to pray that other people's sins would not punish me. Then she ordered me to forget my mother and leave.

Before I left, frozen with shock, she added that obedience, self-denial, and hard work must prepare me for my shadowed life. She said I was different from other children and had been set apart from birth.

I went to my room, held my doll against my tearful face, and cried myself to sleep. I knew I had never made anyone happy and that no one loved me as I loved Dolly.

En/Pt → Later, I spent many hours alone with my doll. I told her about my birthday and promised to work hard, be content and kind, help someone, and try to earn love. I am happy and grateful now, but the memory still makes me cry.

There, I have dried my tears and can continue.

After my birthday, I felt even more distant from my godmother. I believed I occupied a place in her house that should have been empty, so approaching her became harder, although I was deeply grateful. I also kept away from my school friends, Mrs. Rachael, and her daughter. I stayed quiet and worked hard.

One sunny afternoon, I came home from school and started upstairs. My godmother called me into the sitting room. An unusual visitor was there: a large, important-looking man in black, with a white tie, gold glasses, a gold watch, and a large ring.

En/Pt → In a low voice, my godmother told the man, "This is the child." Then she said sternly, "This is Esther, sir."

The man put on his glasses and asked me to come closer and remove my bonnet. He studied me, said "Ah" and "Yes," then put away his glasses and nodded to my godmother. She told me to go upstairs, so I bowed and left.

About two years later, when I was almost fourteen, my godmother and I sat by the fire one terrible night. As usual, I was reading the Bible aloud to her. I read the story in Saint John about Jesus and the sinful woman.

Jesus stood and said, "Let the person among you who has never sinned throw the first stone at her."

My godmother suddenly stood, held her head, and cried out words from another part of the Bible: "Stay awake, or he may come suddenly and find you sleeping. I tell everyone: watch!"

En/Pt → As she stood repeating those words, she suddenly fell to the floor. I did not need to call for help because her voice had been heard throughout the house and even in the street.

They put her in bed, where she remained for more than a week. Day and night, I kissed her, thanked her, prayed for her, and begged for her blessing and forgiveness. I asked for any sign that she heard me, but her face never moved or lost its hard frown, even after death.

The day after my dear godmother was buried, the man in black with the white tie returned. Mrs. Rachael called me, and I found him in the same room, as if he had never left.

He said, "My name is Kenge. You may remember it: Kenge and Carboy, Lincoln's Inn."

I said that I remembered seeing him once before.

He asked me to sit near him and not upset myself. Then he told Mrs. Rachael that Miss Barbary's money ended with her death and began to speak of me, now that my aunt was dead.

En/Pt → "My aunt, sir?" I cried.

Mr. Kenge smoothly said there was no reason to continue the secret. Miss Barbary had been my aunt in fact, though not legally. He told me not to cry or shake, then asked whether I had heard of Jarndyce and Jarndyce.

"Never," said Mrs. Rachael.

Mr. Kenge raised his glasses in surprise and asked again whether I had really never heard of Jarndyce and Jarndyce.

I shook my head and wondered what it was.

Mr. Kenge explained that Jarndyce and Jarndyce was one of the greatest cases in the Court of Chancery. It included every kind of legal difficulty and procedure again and again. He proudly announced that its total costs were now between sixty and seventy thousand pounds.

I felt ignorant, but I knew nothing about the subject and still could not understand it.

Mr. Kenge said it was surprising that I had never heard of the case.

En/Pt → Mrs. Rachael began, "Miss Barbary, who is now among the angels..."

"I certainly hope so," Mr. Kenge said politely.

Mrs. Rachael explained that Miss Barbary wanted Esther to learn only what would be useful to her. Therefore, Esther knew nothing beyond what she had been taught in that house.

Mr. Kenge said that was proper and came to the main point. Miss Barbary, my only real relative, was dead, and no one could expect Mrs. Rachael to...

"Oh, certainly not!" Mrs. Rachael quickly said.

Mr. Kenge agreed that Mrs. Rachael could not support me. He said an offer made two years earlier could now be renewed. He represented Mr. Jarndyce, a kind but unusual man, and carefully asked if saying this was professionally safe.

Mr. Kenge clearly loved the sound of his own rich voice, which made every word seem important. He listened to himself with pleasure and moved his head or hand with his sentences. I was impressed, before learning that people called him Conversation Kenge.

En/Pt → Mr. Kenge said Mr. Jarndyce knew I was alone and offered to send me to an excellent school. There I would finish my education, live comfortably, and prepare for my future duties.

His words and emotional manner filled my heart so completely that I tried but could not speak.

Mr. Jarndyce required only that I should not leave the school without his knowledge and permission. I must study faithfully, learn the skills needed to support myself, and live with virtue and honour.

I was even less able to speak than before.

Mr. Kenge asked for my answer but told me several times to take my time.

I need not repeat what this homeless girl tried to say. I could tell what she actually said, but I could never describe what she felt then and would feel all her life.

This meeting happened in Windsor, where I had lived all my life. One week later, with everything I needed, I left by coach for Reading.

En/Pt → Mrs. Rachael showed no sadness when we parted, but I cried bitterly. I blamed myself for never becoming dear enough to make her miss me. When she gave me one cold kiss, I held her and said it was my fault that she could say goodbye so easily.

"No, Esther," she answered. "It is your misfortune."

The coach waited at the gate, and I left with a sad heart. Mrs. Rachael went inside before my boxes were loaded. Through my tears, I watched the house disappear. The property would be sold. I had buried my dear doll under the tree by my old window, so only my bird came with me.

After the house disappeared, I watched the snowy fields and shining frozen trees through the coach window. The red sun gave little warmth, and dark ice showed where people had skated. A large man wrapped in many clothes sat opposite me, looking out the other window and ignoring me.

En/Pt → I thought about my dead godmother, her final night and hard frown, and the strange place and people ahead. Then a voice in the coach suddenly frightened me.

The voice asked roughly, "Why are you crying?"

I was so frightened that I could only whisper, "Me, sir?" I knew it was the heavily wrapped man, although he still looked out his window.

"Yes, you," he said, turning around.

I weakly said, "I did not know I was crying, sir."

The man said I certainly was crying. He moved opposite me, gently wiped my eyes with his large fur sleeve, and showed me that it was wet.

"There. Now you know you are crying, don't you?" he said.

"Yes, sir," I answered.

The man asked why I was crying and whether I did not want to go there.

"Where, sir?" I asked.

"Where? Wherever you are going," the man replied.

I answered that I was very glad to go there.

En/Pt → "Then look glad!" the man said.

He seemed strange, wrapped to his chin with most of his face hidden by a fur cap. However, I became calm and no longer feared him. I explained that I was probably crying because my godmother had died and Mrs. Rachael was not sad to lose me.

"Forget Mrs. Rachael!" the man cried. "Let a strong wind carry her away on a broomstick!"

Now I truly began to fear him and stared in surprise. Still, his eyes seemed kind, although he angrily spoke to himself and called Mrs. Rachael bad names.

After a while, he opened his enormous outer coat and reached deep into a side pocket.

He showed me a carefully wrapped piece of excellent plum cake with thick sugar on top and a small French pie made from fat goose livers. Then he ordered me to eat them.

I thanked him warmly but hoped he would not be offended because the food was too rich for me.

En/Pt → The man said, "Defeated again!" I did not understand him, and he threw both foods out the window.

He said nothing more until he left the coach shortly before Reading. He advised me to be good and study hard, then shook my hand. I felt relieved when he left. For years, I remembered him whenever I passed that place, but finally he left my thoughts.

When the coach stopped, a very neat lady looked up at the window and said, "Miss Donny."

I answered, "No, ma'am. Esther Summerson."

The lady said, "That is correct. I am Miss Donny."

I understood that she had introduced herself and apologized for my mistake. At her request, I showed her my boxes. A neat maid placed them outside a small green carriage, and Miss Donny, the maid, and I rode away.

Miss Donny told me everything was ready. My studies had been planned exactly as my guardian, Mr. Jarndyce, wished.

En/Pt → "Whose wishes did you say, ma'am?" I asked.

Miss Donny repeated, "Your guardian, Mr. Jarndyce."

I was so confused that Miss Donny thought the cold had harmed me and lent me her smelling salts.

After much hesitation, I asked Miss Donny whether she knew my guardian, Mr. Jarndyce.

Miss Donny said she did not know him personally, only through his London lawyers, Kenge and Carboy. She praised Mr. Kenge as an excellent and truly impressive speaker.

I agreed, but I was too confused to think about it. We reached Greenleaf, Miss Donny's house, before I could recover. Everything there seemed uncertain and unreal that afternoon.

I soon got used to Greenleaf's strict routine, and my old life at my godmother's began to feel like a dream. Everything at Greenleaf was exact and orderly. Every activity had a fixed time and happened at that moment.

En/Pt → There were twelve students and two Miss Donnys, who were twins. Because I would later work as a governess, I studied every subject and soon helped teach the others. As I learned more, I taught more. I loved the work because the girls became fond of me, and every unhappy new student was placed in my care. I had once promised to work hard, be kind, help others, and earn love. I felt ashamed that I had done so little but received so much love.

I spent six quiet, happy years at Greenleaf. Thankfully, no one there suggested on my birthday that the world would be better without me. Each birthday brought so many loving gifts that they decorated my room all year.

During those six years, I left only for nearby holiday visits. After six months, Miss Donny advised me to write to Mr. Kenge that I was happy and grateful. His office sent a formal reply saying my message would be given to their client. I wrote about twice a year and always received exactly the same answer from Kenge and Carboy.

En/Pt → It feels strange to write so much about myself, as if this story were truly about my life. But soon I will become less important in it.

After six quiet years at Greenleaf, I had watched younger students pass through the same stages of growth. Then, one November morning, I received the following letter. I leave out its date.

Old Square, Lincoln's Inn

Madam,

Jarndyce and Jarndyce

Our client, Mr. Jarndyce, will receive into his home a young woman protected by the Court in this case. He wants her to have a suitable companion and asks you to serve in that role.

We have arranged a free journey for you on next Monday's eight o'clock coach from Reading to the White Horse Cellar in London. One of our clerks will meet you there and bring you to our office.

We remain, Madam, your obedient servants,

Kenge and Carboy

Miss Esther Summerson

En/Pt → I will never forget the emotion this letter caused at Greenleaf. Everyone cared deeply about me, and my guardian had made my life as an orphan easier and helped so many young people love me. Their sorrow, my pleasure, pride, joy, and humble regret mixed together until my happy heart almost broke.

The letter gave me only five days before I had to leave. During those days, everyone showed me more love. On the final morning, the girls led me through every room, remembered where we first became friends, asked me to write loving messages, gave me presents, held me, and cried. I tried to thank and bless them all, and my heart was full.

The two Miss Donnys were as sad as the students. The maids blessed me, and even the old gardener, who I thought had hardly noticed me, ran after the coach with flowers and said I had been the light of his eyes. My heart was deeply moved.

En/Pt → At the little school, poor children waved goodbye. A proud older couple whose daughter I had helped teach also wished me happiness. Alone in the coach, I bent down under all this love and repeated many times, "I am so thankful."

I decided not to carry tears to my new home after all that had been done for me. I told myself firmly to stop crying and finally became calmer. After cooling my eyes with lavender water, I began to watch for London.

Ten miles away, I was sure we had reached London. When we truly arrived, I thought the journey would never end. Then the coach shook over stone streets, and vehicles nearly crashed into one another. I realized we were close to our destination, and soon we stopped.

A young man with ink stains spoke to me from the street. He said he came from the office of Kenge and Carboy at Lincoln's Inn.

En/Pt → "Yes, sir," I answered politely.

He kindly moved my boxes and helped me into a hired carriage. I asked if there was a large fire nearby because thick brown smoke filled the streets and hid almost everything.

"Oh no, miss," he said. "This is a special London feature."

I had never heard of such a thing.

"It is fog, miss," the young man explained.

“Oh, really?” I said.

We drove slowly through extremely dirty, dark, and confusing streets. I wondered how people could remain calm there. Then we passed through an old gate into a quiet square. In a corner, broad steep stairs led to an entrance like a church door. Through a window, I saw gravestones in a churchyard under covered passages.

This was the office of Kenge and Carboy. The young gentleman led me through an outer office into Mr. Kenge’s empty room. He politely placed an armchair for me by the fire, then pointed out a small mirror hanging beside the fireplace.

En/Pt → “You may wish to look at yourself after the journey, miss, since you are going to meet the Chancellor. But I am sure it is not necessary,” the young gentleman said politely.

“Meet the Chancellor?” I asked, suddenly surprised.

“It is only a formal matter, miss,” the young gentleman replied. “Mr. Kenge is in court. He sends his regards and asks whether you would like some food or wine and the newspaper.” He gave me the paper, stirred the fire, and left.

Everything felt strange. It seemed like night during the day, and the candle flames looked pale and cold. I read the newspaper without understanding it and repeated the same words. I finally put it down, checked that my bonnet was neat, and studied the dim room, dusty tables, piles of papers, and dull books. For two hours I kept thinking while the fire burned and the candles flickered. At last, the young gentleman brought a very dirty tool to trim the candle wicks.

En/Pt → At last Mr. Kenge arrived. He had not changed, but he was surprised by how much I had changed and seemed pleased. He explained that I would be the companion of the young lady in the Chancellor’s private room, so they wanted me to attend too. He asked if the Lord Chancellor would upset me.

“No, sir. I do not think he will,” I said, because I could see no reason to be upset.

Mr. Kenge offered me his arm. We went around the corner, under a row of columns, and through a side door. A passage led us to a comfortable room. A young lady and a young gentleman stood near a large, roaring fire, leaning on a screen as they talked.

They both looked up when I entered. In the firelight, I saw a very beautiful girl with rich golden hair, soft blue eyes, and a bright, innocent, trusting face.

En/Pt → “Miss Ada,” said Mr. Kenge, “this is Miss Summerson.”

She came toward me, smiling and holding out her hand. Then she changed her mind and kissed me. Her manner was so natural and charming that within minutes we sat together by the window in the firelight, talking freely and happily.

What a relief! I was delighted that she could trust and like me. Her kindness gave me courage.

She told me that the young gentleman was her distant cousin, Richard Carstone. He was handsome, honest-looking, and had a charming laugh. When she called him over, he talked cheerfully like a carefree boy. He was about nineteen, nearly two years older than Ada. Both were orphans and, surprisingly, had met for the first time that day. We talked about how strange it was for all three of us to meet there. The quieter fire seemed to wink at us like a sleepy old Chancery lion, as Richard said.

En/Pt → We spoke quietly because a formally dressed gentleman in a large wig often entered and left. Whenever he came, we heard a slow voice in the distance. He said it was one of the lawyers in our case speaking to the Lord Chancellor. Soon he told Mr. Kenge that the Chancellor would finish in five minutes. Then we heard people moving, and Mr. Kenge said the court had ended and the Chancellor was in the next room.

The gentleman in the wig soon opened the door and asked Mr. Kenge to enter. We all followed him, with my dear Ada beside him. The Lord Chancellor sat in an armchair at a table near the fire, dressed simply in black. His robe with beautiful gold decoration lay on another chair. He studied us as we entered, but his manner was polite and kind.

The gentleman in the wig placed bundles of papers on the Chancellor’s table. The Chancellor silently chose one and turned its pages.

En/Pt → “Miss Clare,” said the Lord Chancellor. “Miss Ada Clare?”

Mr. Kenge introduced Ada, and the Chancellor asked her to sit near him. I immediately saw that he admired her and cared about her situation. It saddened me that such a beautiful young woman had this dry official place instead of a home. Even at his best, the Lord Chancellor was a poor replacement for loving, proud parents.

Still turning the pages, the Lord Chancellor said, “The Jarndyce concerned is Mr. Jarndyce of Bleak House.”

“Jarndyce of Bleak House, my lord,” Mr. Kenge confirmed.

“A gloomy name,” said the Lord Chancellor.

“But it is not a gloomy place now, my lord,” said Mr. Kenge.

“And Bleak House,” said the Chancellor, “is in - ”

“Hertfordshire, my lord.”

“Mr. Jarndyce of Bleak House is not married, is he?” asked the Chancellor.

“No, he is not, my lord,” said Mr. Kenge.

There was a pause.

En/Pt → Looking toward Richard, the Lord Chancellor asked, “Is young Mr. Richard Carstone here?”

Richard bowed and stepped forward.

“Hmm,” said the Lord Chancellor as he turned more pages.

In a low voice, Mr. Kenge reminded him that Mr. Jarndyce of Bleak House had provided a suitable companion for someone.

I thought I heard the Chancellor quietly joke, with a smile, “For Mr. Richard Carstone?” But I am not completely sure.

“For Miss Ada Clare. This is the young woman, Miss Summerson.”

The Chancellor looked at me kindly and politely accepted my curtsy.

“Miss Summerson is not related to anyone involved in the case, is she?”

“No, my lord.”

Before the sentence was fully finished, Mr. Kenge leaned forward and whispered. The Chancellor kept looking at his papers, listened, nodded several times, and turned more pages. He did not look at me again until we left.

En/Pt → Mr. Kenge and Richard stepped back to join me near the door, leaving my dear Ada beside the Lord Chancellor. He spoke briefly with her. As she later told me, he asked whether she had carefully considered the plan, whether she expected to be happy in Mr. Jarndyce’s home, and why. Then he politely let her go and spoke to Richard for a minute or two while standing. He was less formal with Richard, as if being Lord Chancellor had not stopped him from speaking honestly to a boy.

“Very well,” the Chancellor said aloud. “I will approve the order. As far as I can judge, Mr. Jarndyce has chosen a very good companion for the young lady,” he added while looking at me. “The whole plan seems the best possible in these circumstances.”

He dismissed us pleasantly, and we all left grateful for his friendliness and politeness. These qualities did not reduce his dignity; they seemed to increase it.

En/Pt → Under the row of columns, Mr. Kenge remembered a question he had to ask. He went back and left us in the fog beside the Lord Chancellor’s waiting carriage and servants.

“Well, that is over!” said Richard Carstone. “Where do we go next, Miss Summerson?”

“Do you not know?” I asked.

“Not at all,” he replied.

“And do you know, my dear?” I asked Ada.

“No,” she said. “Do you?”

“Not at all,” I said.

We looked at one another and half laughed because we were like lost children in the woods. Then a strange little old woman approached us. She wore a crushed bonnet, carried a small bag, and bowed and smiled with great formality.

“Oh!” she said. “The wards in the Jarndyce case! I am very happy to meet you. It is a good sign when youth, hope, and beauty come to this place without knowing what will happen to them.”

En/Pt → “Mad,” Richard whispered, thinking she could not hear him.

“Correct! Mad, young gentleman,” she quickly replied, embarrassing him. Between deep bows and smiles, she said she had once been a ward too. She had possessed youth, hope, and perhaps beauty, but none had helped or saved her. Now she regularly attended court with her papers and expected a judgment soon - on Judgment Day. She believed the sixth seal in the Book of Revelation was the Great Seal and had been open a long time. Then she asked us to accept her blessing.

Ada was a little frightened, so I tried to please the poor old woman by saying that we were very grateful.

“Y-yes,” she said in an affected way. “I suppose you are. And here is Conversation Kenge with his documents! How are you, Your Honour?”

“Very well! Now please do not cause trouble, my good woman,” said Mr. Kenge as he led us back.

En/Pt → “Certainly not,” said the poor old woman as she kept beside Ada and me. “I will give property to both of you, and that is not causing trouble, is it? I expect a judgment soon, on Judgment Day. This is a good sign for you. Accept my blessing!”

She stopped at the bottom of the broad, steep stairs. As we climbed, we looked back and saw her still bowing and smiling after each short phrase: “Youth. Hope. Beauty. Chancery. And Conversation Kenge! Ha! Please accept my blessing!”

Chapter IV

En/Pt → Distant Charity

When we returned to his room, Mr. Kenge told us we would spend the night at Mrs. Jellyby’s house. Then he turned to me and assumed I knew who she was.

“I really do not know, sir,” I replied. “Perhaps Mr. Carstone or Miss Clare knows.”

But they knew nothing about Mrs. Jellyby either. Mr. Kenge stood with his back to the fire and stared at the dusty rug as if reading her life story there. He said she was a very strong-minded woman who devoted herself completely to public causes. She had supported many causes and was currently interested in Africa, until another subject attracted her. Her plan was to grow coffee, educate the local people, and settle Britain’s extra population beside African rivers. Mr. Jarndyce liked to support good works and was often approached by charitable people. Mr. Kenge believed he thought very highly of Mrs. Jellyby.

En/Pt → Mr. Kenge adjusted his tie and looked at us.

“And what about Mr. Jellyby, sir?” Richard asked.

“Ah, Mr. Jellyby,” said Mr. Kenge. “The best way I can describe him is simply as Mrs. Jellyby’s husband.”

“So he is nobody important, sir?” Richard asked with an amused look.

Mr. Kenge seriously said he could not claim that because he knew nothing about Mr. Jellyby and had never met him. Mr. Jellyby might be an excellent man, but his identity was hidden by his wife’s brighter qualities. Mr. Kenge then explained that the journey to Bleak House would be long, dark, and tiring that evening. Since we had already travelled, Mr. Jarndyce had suggested this plan. A carriage would collect us from Mrs. Jellyby’s early the next morning.

Mr. Kenge rang a small bell, and the young gentleman entered. Calling him Guppy, Mr. Kenge asked whether Miss Summerson’s boxes and the other luggage had been sent to the house. Mr. Guppy said yes and added that a coach was waiting to take us whenever we were ready.

En/Pt → Mr. Kenge shook our hands and said he was very pleased with the arrangement made that day. Between his goodbyes to each of us, he expressed his strong hope that it would bring happiness, welfare, and every advantage to everyone concerned. Then he told Guppy to take us there safely.

As we went downstairs, Richard asked, “Where exactly is ‘there,’ Mr. Guppy?”

“It is nearby,” said Mr. Guppy. “It is just around the corner in Thavies Inn.”

“I do not know where that is. I come from Winchester and do not know London.”

“It is only around the corner,” said Mr. Guppy. “We go up Chancery Lane, continue along Holborn, and arrive in about four minutes. This is a very special London fog today, is it not, miss?” He seemed delighted by it for my sake.

“The fog is very thick indeed,” I said.

As he raised the coach steps, Mr. Guppy said the fog did not harm me. Judging by my appearance, he thought it actually did me good.

En/Pt → I knew he meant the compliment kindly, so after he closed the door and climbed to the driver’s seat, I laughed at myself for blushing. The three of us laughed and talked about our lack of experience and the strangeness of London. At last we passed under an arch into a narrow street of tall houses that seemed like a long tank holding the fog. A confused crowd, mostly children, stood outside the house where we stopped. A dull brass plate on its door said JELLYBY.

Mr. Guppy looked through the coach window and said, “Do not be frightened. One of the young Jellybys has put his head through the railings beside the basement!”

“Oh, poor child,” I said. “Please let me out!”

“Please be careful, miss. The young Jellybys are always getting into trouble,” said Mr. Guppy.

En/Pt → I reached the poor child, one of the dirtiest little boys I had ever seen. He was hot, frightened, and crying loudly, with his neck trapped between two iron bars. A milkman and a church officer meant to help, but they pulled his legs as if his head could become smaller. After calming him, I saw that his head was naturally large. I suggested pushing him forward, since his body might pass through where his head had gone. The men liked this idea so much that they almost pushed him into the basement area. I held his clothing while Richard and Mr. Guppy ran through the kitchen to catch him below. He was freed safely, but then wildly hit Mr. Guppy with a wooden hoop stick.

En/Pt → No family member had appeared. Only a woman in wooden overshoes had tried to push the child from below with a broom, though neither she nor I seemed to know why. I therefore thought Mrs. Jellyby was away. I was surprised when the same woman appeared in the hall without her overshoes. She went ahead of Ada and me to a back room upstairs and announced, “Those two young ladies, Mrs. Jellyby!” On the dark stairs, we passed more children and could hardly avoid stepping on them. As we entered Mrs. Jellyby’s room, one poor child fell down an entire flight of stairs with a terrible noise.

Mrs. Jellyby remained completely calm while the child’s head hit every stair. Richard later said he counted seven bumps, plus one on the landing. She was a pretty, very small, round woman between forty and fifty, with beautiful eyes. However, her eyes always seemed to look far away. As Richard said, they appeared unable to see anything nearer than Africa.

En/Pt → In a pleasant voice, Mrs. Jellyby said, “I am very glad to welcome you. I greatly respect Mr. Jarndyce, and anyone he cares about matters to me too.”

We thanked her and sat on a damaged old sofa behind the door. Mrs. Jellyby had lovely hair, but she was too busy with her work for Africa to brush it. Her loose shawl fell onto her chair as she greeted us. When she turned to sit again, we saw that the back of her dress did not close. The open space was crossed by the laces of her underclothes like the wooden frame of a summerhouse.

Papers covered the room, and a large writing table was buried under more of them. The room was not only very untidy but also very dirty. We could not ignore that sight, even while listening to the poor child who had fallen downstairs. He seemed to have reached the back kitchen, where someone appeared to be trying to silence him.

En/Pt → What most surprised us was a tired, unhealthy-looking but fairly pretty girl at the writing table. She bit the feather of her pen and stared at us. She was covered in ink. From her messy hair to her pretty feet in worn, broken satin shoes, not one part of her clothing was in good condition or in the right place.

Mrs. Jellyby trimmed two large office candles in metal holders, filling the room with the smell of hot candle fat. The fire was out, leaving only ashes, wood, and a poker. She asked us to excuse her because, as usual, she was very busy. The African project took all her time and required letters to organizations and people across the country who cared about humanity. She happily reported progress. By the next year, they hoped to have 150 to 200 healthy families growing coffee and educating the people of Borrioboola-Gha, on the left bank of the Niger River.

En/Pt → Ada said nothing and looked at me, so I said it must be very satisfying.

“It is satisfying,” said Mrs. Jellyby. “It takes all my energy, but that does not matter if it succeeds. I become more confident every day. Miss Summerson, I am surprised that you have never thought about Africa.”

Her personal question was so unexpected that I did not know how to answer. I began to mention the climate.

“It is the finest climate in the world!” said Mrs. Jellyby.

“Really, ma’am?”

“Certainly, if you take care,” said Mrs. Jellyby. “You can go into Holborn carelessly and be run over, or go there carefully and remain safe. Africa is just the same.”

I said, “No doubt.” I was agreeing only about Holborn.

Mrs. Jellyby pushed some papers toward us. She suggested that we read the widely shared comments about Africa while she finished a letter. She was dictating it to her eldest daughter, who worked as her secretary.

En/Pt → The girl at the table stopped biting her pen and returned our greeting in a way that was half shy and half bad-tempered.

With a sweet smile, Mrs. Jellyby continued, “Then I will have finished for now, although my work is never truly done. Where are you, Caddy?”

“‘Sends her compliments to Mr. Swallow and asks - ’” said Caddy, reading back the letter.

Mrs. Jellyby continued dictating: “‘And asks to inform him, concerning his letter of inquiry about the African project - ’ No, Peepy! Do not stop because of me!”

Peepy, as he called himself, was the child who had fallen downstairs. He came in with a bandage on his forehead and showed us his dirty, injured knees. Mrs. Jellyby calmly called him naughty and returned her attention to Africa.

Mrs. Jellyby continued dictating, so I quietly stopped poor Peepy and held him. He was surprised when Ada kissed him, but soon fell asleep in my arms. I missed the details of the letter, but it made Africa seem extremely important and everything else unimportant.

En/Pt → Mrs. Jellyby noticed it was six o'clock, although dinner was supposed to be at five. She told Caddy to show us our rooms, apologized for being busy, and ordered me to put Peepy down.

I asked to keep Peepy because he was no trouble. I carried him upstairs and put him on my bed. Ada and I had two connected rooms, both empty and untidy. My curtain was held up with a fork.

Miss Jellyby asked if we wanted hot water while searching unsuccessfully for a proper jug.

We said we would like some if it was not too much trouble.

Miss Jellyby said trouble was not the problem; the question was whether there was any hot water.

The cold rooms smelled damp, and Ada almost cried. Soon we laughed and began unpacking. Miss Jellyby returned to say there was no hot water because nobody could find the kettle and the boiler was broken.

En/Pt → We hurried to return to the fire. The children gathered outside to stare at Peepy, and neither bedroom door would close. I invited them in and told them Little Red Riding Hood while I dressed. They stayed very quiet, and Peepy woke before the wolf appeared.

Downstairs, a cup was being used as a lamp. A young woman with a bandaged face tried to light the fire, filling the room with smoke. We coughed with the windows open while Mrs. Jellyby continued her African letters. Richard's stories about washing in a pie dish and finding the kettle in his room made us laugh.

We carefully went to dinner because the torn stair carpet was dangerous. The meal looked excellent but was almost raw. The bandaged servant dropped each dish wherever it landed, while the cook kept arguing with her at the door.

Dinner lasted a long time because everything went wrong. Potatoes were found in the coal box, and the corkscrew broke. Mrs. Jellyby stayed calm, talked about Africa, and received many letters. She repeatedly sent Caddy away from the table to answer them.

En/Pt → A quiet bald man joined dinner and showed little interest in Africa. Only later did I realize he was Mr. Jellyby. Mr. Quale, a talkative young philanthropist, called the Jellybys' marriage a union of mind and matter.

Mr. Quale talked proudly about plans for Africa and encouraged Mrs. Jellyby to describe the hundreds of letters and thousands of notices she handled. Mr. Jellyby sat sadly in a corner. He seemed to want to tell Richard something, but never spoke.

Mrs. Jellyby sat among waste paper, drank coffee, dictated to Caddy, and discussed human brotherhood with Mr. Quale. Meanwhile, the children asked Ada and me for stories. Mrs. Jellyby finally remembered them and sent them to bed, where the rough servant pushed them into their small beds.

I tidied our room and finally made the difficult fire burn brightly. When I returned, Mrs. Jellyby seemed to think my ordinary housework was unimportant. I was sorry, although I claimed no higher purpose.

En/Pt → We could not go to bed until almost midnight. Mrs. Jellyby was still drinking coffee among her papers, while Caddy continued writing.

Upstairs, Ada called it a strange house and wondered why cousin Jarndyce had sent us there.

I told her the house confused me. I wanted to understand it but could not.

Ada smiled and asked what I meant.

I said Mrs. Jellyby's work for African people must be good, yet I could not forget neglected Peepy and the terrible housekeeping.

Ada hugged me and said I was thoughtful, cheerful, and quietly helpful. She said I could make even this house feel like a home.

Dear Ada did not realize that her praise showed the goodness of her own heart more than any quality in me.

After we sat by the fire for a while, I asked if I could ask her a question.

Ada playfully said I could ask five hundred questions.

En/Pt → I asked her to describe her cousin Mr. Jarndyce because I owed him so much.

Ada shook her golden hair and looked at me with surprised laughter. Her beauty and surprise amazed me too.

Ada cried out my name in surprise.

I answered, “My dear?”

She asked if I truly wanted her to describe cousin Jarndyce.

I explained that I had never seen him.

Ada replied that she had never seen him either.

That was certainly surprising.

Ada remembered her mother praising Jarndyce's generous and trustworthy character. A few months earlier, he had written an honest letter inviting Ada into the new arrangement, hoping to heal wounds caused by the Chancery case. Richard received a similar letter. He had met Jarndyce once at school and remembered a friendly, red-faced man. That was all Ada knew.

After Ada fell asleep, I stayed by the fire thinking about Bleak House and how long ago yesterday morning seemed. A knock at the door interrupted my wandering thoughts.

En/Pt → I quietly opened the door and found Caddy shivering, holding a broken candle and a cup.

She said good night in an angry voice.

I calmly wished her good night too.

Still sounding angry, she suddenly asked if she could enter.

I welcomed her but asked her not to wake Ada.

Caddy refused to sit. By the fire, she used vinegar from the cup to clean ink stains from her face while frowning unhappily.

Suddenly she said she wished Africa were dead.

I started to object.

She insisted that she hated Africa and told me not to argue.

I said she was tired and gently touched her hot forehead. She continued to frown, then put down the cup and quietly looked toward sleeping Ada.

Still frowning, Caddy said Ada was very pretty.

I smiled and agreed.

Caddy asked if Ada was an orphan.

I said yes.

Caddy supposed Ada knew many things: dancing, music, singing, French, geography, and sewing.

En/Pt → I said that was probably true.

Caddy said she could do almost nothing except write for her mother. She accused us of judging her when we saw this and believing we were superior.

I saw that the poor girl was close to tears. I sat down without speaking and looked at her as kindly as I could.

Caddy called herself, the children, and the whole house shameful. She said her father was miserable and the servant Priscilla was often drunk, even while serving dinner.

I gently said I had not noticed that.

She sharply insisted that I had noticed it.

I asked her to let me speak.

She said I was already speaking and accused me of lying.

I tried to explain that she would not let me finish.

Caddy said she did not want to hear me finish.

I said refusing to listen was unreasonable. The servant had not come near me at dinner, so I had not known she was drunk. Still, I believed Caddy and was sorry.

En/Pt → Caddy told me not to act proud of that response.

I agreed that doing so would be foolish.

Caddy bent down and kissed Ada, though she still looked unhappy. Then she returned to my chair. Her breathing showed deep distress, and I silently felt sorry for her.

Caddy suddenly cried that she wished she and the whole family were dead because it would be better for them.

A moment later, she knelt beside me, hid her face in my dress, begged my forgiveness, and cried. I tried to lift her, but she wanted to remain there.

She wished I had been her teacher. She said she was very unhappy and liked me very much.

Caddy remained kneeling with my dress in her hands until she fell asleep. I rested her head on my lap and covered us with shawls. We stayed there all night as the fire died. At last my memories mixed with dreams, and I no longer knew who she or I was.

En/Pt → At dawn, I opened my eyes and saw dirty little Peepy staring at me. He had climbed out of bed and was so cold that his teeth shook.

Chapter V

En/Pt → A Morning Adventure

The morning was cold and foggy, and the dirty windows blocked much of the light. The house was uncomfortable, and I wanted to see London, so I gladly accepted Caddy's suggestion of a walk.

Caddy said her mother would sleep late and breakfast might be delayed another hour. Her father usually ate whatever bread and milk the servant left, unless there was no milk or the cat drank it. Then she asked if I was too tired to walk.

I said I was not tired and would much rather go outside.

Caddy said she would get dressed if I was certain.

Ada decided to join us. I washed Peepy and put him back in my bed because nobody else would care for him. He watched in amazement, never complained, and quickly fell asleep.

After caring for Peepy and helping Ada, I was warm and ready. Downstairs, everything remained dirty and untidy from the night before. The dinner table had become the breakfast table, rubbish covered the house, the door stood open, and the cook came out of a bar pretending she had only checked the time.

En/Pt → We met Richard outside, jumping to warm his feet. Happy to see us, he joined our walk and went with Ada while Caddy and I walked ahead. Caddy had returned to her bad mood, although she had said she liked me.

Caddy asked where I wanted to go.

I answered that anywhere was fine.

Caddy stopped and said that anywhere meant nowhere.

I suggested that we simply go somewhere.

Then she made me walk very quickly.

Caddy said she did not care, but asked me to witness that she would never speak to Mr. Quale, even if he visited forever. She thought he and her mother behaved like fools.

I objected to her rude word and began to mention her duty as a daughter.

Caddy asked about her mother's duty as a parent. She said all that duty had been given to the public and Africa, so they should behave like her mother's children. She said we could both be shocked and end the subject.

En/Pt → She made me walk even faster.

Caddy repeated that she would never speak to Mr. Quale. She hated the grand talk he shared with her mother because it completely disagreed with the terrible way her mother managed the home.

I understood that she meant Mr. Quale. Richard and Ada caught up with us, laughing and asking if we were racing, so the difficult conversation ended. Caddy walked silently while I watched London's long streets, crowds, traffic, opening shops, and poor people searching rubbish.

Richard joked to Ada that they could never escape Chancery. We had returned by another route to yesterday's meeting place, where the old woman appeared again.

The old woman stood before us, bowing and smiling. She happily recognized the young people in the Jarndyce case.

As she bowed, I said she was out early.

The old woman said she often walked there before court opened. It was quiet enough to prepare her thoughts because Chancery justice was very hard to follow.

En/Pt → Caddy held my arm tighter and whispered to ask who the woman was.

The little old woman had excellent hearing and immediately answered for herself.

She said she was involved in a court case and regularly attended with her documents. Then she politely asked if Caddy was another young person in Jarndyce and Jarndyce.

Wanting to correct his careless behaviour from the previous day, Richard kindly explained that Caddy had no connection to the case.

The old woman said Caddy did not expect a judgment but would still grow old, though not as old as she was. She called the Lincoln's Inn garden her own and said she spent the long court vacation there thinking and listening to birds.

We agreed that the vacation was long because she clearly expected us to agree.

The old woman said the vacation ended when the leaves fell and there were no flowers left for the Chancellor's court. She invited us to her room, hoping our youth, hope, and beauty would bring good luck. Such visitors had not come for a very long time.

En/Pt → The old lady took my hand and led Miss Jellyby and me away, calling Richard and Ada to follow. I looked to Richard for help, but he was amused, curious, and unsure how to leave without offending her. She smiled and told us that she lived nearby.

She truly lived very close. Before we could stop politely following her, she led us through a side gate into a narrow back street. She stopped and said, "This is my home. Please come upstairs."

She stopped at Krook's rag and bottle shop. Signs said that he bought bones, kitchen waste, old iron, paper, and clothes, but nothing seemed for sale. Dirty bottles, old law books, legal papers, bags, rags, keys, and bones filled the dark shop. A notice said a man named Nemo wanted copying work. Richard joked that the bones might belong to clients of lawyers.

Fog, darkness, and a nearby wall blocked most light, but an old man carried a lantern inside. He was short, thin, and dried up, with his head bent between his shoulders. White hair, thick veins, and wrinkled skin made his head look like an old root covered in snow.

En/Pt → The old man came to the door and asked, "Do you have anything to sell?"

We stepped back, and Richard tried to say goodbye because we were in a hurry. But the old lady strongly begged us to see her room, believing my visit would bring good luck. We were curious, and the old man also invited us through the shop. Encouraged by Richard, we all entered.

The old lady introduced her landlord, Krook. She said the neighbours called him the Lord Chancellor and his shop the Court of Chancery. She assured us that he was extremely strange.

She repeatedly shook her head and touched her forehead, suggesting that Krook was a little mad. He heard her and laughed.

Walking ahead with the lantern, Krook agreed that people called him the Lord Chancellor and his shop Chancery. He asked why they used those names.

Richard carelessly said that he did not know.

En/Pt → Krook began to explain, then noticed Ada's beautiful hair. He said he had three sacks of women's hair downstairs, but none as fine as hers. He praised its colour and softness.

Richard strongly objected when Krook pulled a lock of Ada's hair through his yellow hand. He said Krook could admire it without touching her.

Krook suddenly gave Richard a sharp look. Ada was startled and blushed, but laughed and said she was proud of such honest admiration. Krook immediately became calm again.

Krook explained that he collected many kinds of useless, decaying things, especially old papers. He loved rust, dust, and cobwebs and never threw anything away, cleaned, or repaired. That was why people called his shop Chancery. He often watched the real Chancellor and said both of them worked through the same confusion.

A large grey cat named Lady Jane jumped from a shelf onto Krook's shoulder and frightened us.

En/Pt → Krook ordered Lady Jane to show us how she scratched and tore things.

The cat jumped down and tore at a bundle of rags with claws like a tiger's. The sound made me uncomfortable.

Krook said she would attack anyone he ordered her to. He also bought cat skins and had once been offered hers, but he had not removed it. He joked that this was unlike Chancery's usual behaviour.

Krook led us through the shop and opened a back door. Before leaving him, the old lady said he meant well but was annoying. She explained that we were in a hurry because she had to attend court, and announced that her young visitors were the wards in Jarndyce.

The name Jarndyce startled Krook.

His tenant clarified that she meant Jarndyce and Jarndyce, the great court case.

Krook stared more widely and cried in amazement, "Think of that!"

Krook suddenly seemed lost in thought and studied us strangely. Richard said he appeared very interested in the cases before the real Chancellor.

En/Pt → Still distracted, Krook agreed and began to guess Richard's name.

Richard told him, "Richard Carstone."

Krook repeated Carstone and counted the name on one finger. On other fingers he listed Barbary, Clare, and perhaps Dedlock.

Astonished, Richard told Ada and me that Krook knew as much about the case as the paid Chancellor.

Krook said Tom Jarndyce had often visited his shop. During the case, Tom restlessly warned shopkeepers to avoid Chancery because it slowly destroyed people. Krook said Tom had nearly killed himself in the shop.

We listened in horror.

Krook described Tom's final day. Tom entered the shop feeling depressed because his case had returned to court. Krook persuaded him to go to the tavern across the street, where he seemed comfortable by the fire. Soon after Krook returned, a gunshot echoed through the area, and all the neighbours cried, "Tom Jarndyce!"

Krook stopped, stared at us, looked into his lantern, blew out its light, and closed it.

En/Pt → Krook confirmed that the neighbours had been right. Crowds entered the court that afternoon, but the Chancellor and lawyers continued their confused work as usual. They pretended not to know about Tom's death or acted as if it had nothing to do with them.

Ada lost all colour, and Richard also became pale. The long misery of the case and its terrible memories shocked their young hearts. I worried that the story also applied to the confused old lady, but she seemed unaware. She simply led us upstairs and again called Krook a little mad.

The old lady lived in a large room at the top of the house, where she could see part of Lincoln's Inn Hall. The room was clean but almost empty, with little furniture, a few legal pictures, and bags she said held documents. There was no fire, clothing, or food. Her thin appearance now showed me how poor she was.

En/Pt → The poor woman said she was honoured by the visit and grateful for the good sign. She had lived there for years because she needed to attend court. She spent her days there and her long, sleepless nights thinking. She apologized for having no chocolate and admitted that cold and hunger made it hard to appear respectable. Still, she expected a judgment soon and believed her life would improve.

She moved the curtain and showed us many birdcages by the low attic window. They held at least twenty larks, linnets, and goldfinches.

She explained that she kept the birds so she could free them when the court gave its judgment. However, the legal case lasted longer than their short lives, so every group had died in prison. She doubted that even the young birds would live long enough to be free.

Although she sometimes asked questions, she never expected answers. She continued talking as if she were alone.

En/Pt → She said she sometimes feared that before the case ended, she too would be found lying dead there like so many of her birds.

Seeing compassion in Ada's eyes, Richard quietly placed some money on the fireplace. We all moved closer to the cages and pretended to study the birds.

The old lady said she usually kept the birds quiet because their songs confused her while she followed arguments in court. But on this lucky day, they could sing in honour of youth, hope, and beauty. She smiled, bowed, and opened the curtain fully.

The birds began to move and sing softly.

The old lady said she could not open the window because Lady Jane wanted to kill the birds. The cat waited outside for hours, jealous that they might soon be freed. She believed the cruel, clever cat was almost like the wolf in an old story and was hard to keep away from the door.

En/Pt → Nearby bells announced half past nine and helped us end the visit. The old lady quickly took her bag of documents and asked if we were going to court. When we said no and promised not to delay her, she led us downstairs.

She said our lucky visit made it especially important to arrive before the Chancellor. She strongly felt that he would mention her case first that morning.

As we went down, she whispered that the whole house was full of strange objects Krook had bought separately and refused to sell because he was a little mad. On the second floor, she stopped and silently pointed to a dark door.

She whispered that the only other tenant was a legal copyist. Local children said he had sold himself to the devil, but she wondered what he had done with the money. Then she warned us to be quiet.

She seemed afraid the tenant might hear. She repeated her warning and walked ahead on tiptoe so even her steps would not reveal her words.

En/Pt → On our way out through the shop, we found Krook putting bundles of waste paper into a deep space in the floor. He worked hard and sweated. For every bundle, he drew a crooked chalk mark on the wooden wall.

After the others passed him, Krook touched my arm and stopped me. He drew a capital J backward on the wall, starting at the end. It looked exactly like a letter written by a clerk at Kenge and Carboy's office.

Krook looked sharply at me and asked whether I could read it.

I said that I certainly could because it was very clear.

He asked what the letter was.

I answered, "J."

Krook looked at me and the door, erased the J, and wrote a small "a" in its place. Then he asked what it was.

I told him. He erased it, formed an "r," and asked again. Quickly, drawing each letter backward and erasing it before the next, he formed the whole word Jarndyce.

En/Pt → He asked me what the letters spelled.

When I answered, he laughed. In the same strange but quick way, he formed and erased each letter in the words Bleak House. I read them with surprise, and he laughed again.

Putting down the chalk, Krook said he had a talent for copying from memory even though he could neither read nor write.

Krook looked unpleasant, and his cat stared at me as if I were related to the birds upstairs. I was relieved when Richard appeared and joked that I should not sell my hair because Krook already had three sacks.

I quickly said goodbye to Krook and joined my friends outside. The old lady blessed us formally and again promised to leave property to Ada and me. Looking back, we saw Krook at his door watching us, with the cat on his shoulder and her tail rising beside his cap like a feather.

En/Pt → Richard sighed that it had been quite an adventure for one London morning. Then he sadly said that Chancery was a tiring word.

Ada said Chancery had troubled her for as long as she remembered. She hated being considered an enemy of many relatives while everyone ruined one another without knowing why. She wondered why, after so many years, no honest judge had found what was right.

Richard agreed that this wasteful legal game was strange. The calm court continued while the people in the case suffered like pieces on a board. This hurt both his head and his heart. Then he asked whether he might call his cousin Ada by her first name.

Ada warmly told her cousin Richard that of course he could.

Richard said Chancery would have no bad influence on them. Their kind relative had brought them together, and the court could not separate them now.

En/Pt → Ada gently said she hoped they would never be separated.

Miss Jellyby squeezed my arm and gave me a meaningful look. I smiled back, and we enjoyed the rest of our walk home.

Mrs. Jellyby appeared half an hour after we returned, and breakfast arrived slowly. She looked as if she had not changed clothes. Letters about Africa kept her busy. The neglected children fell and hurt their already marked legs. Peepy disappeared for ninety minutes and a policeman brought him back from the market, but his mother remained equally calm during his absence and return.

Mrs. Jellyby continued dictating while Caddy became covered in ink again. At one o'clock, a carriage came for us and a cart for our luggage. Mrs. Jellyby sent greetings to Mr. Jarndyce. Caddy kissed me and cried as we left. Peepy was asleep, while the other children climbed behind our carriage, fell off, and lay scattered in the yard.

Chapter VI

En/Pt → At Home

The day grew brighter as we travelled west. Sunshine and fresh air revealed endless streets, shining shops, heavy traffic, and colourful crowds. We finally left London, crossed its large suburbs, and reached country roads with windmills, farms, hay, trees, and fields. The green land ahead and the great city behind delighted us. When a wagon with beautiful horses and ringing bells passed, we felt cheerful enough to sing.

Richard said the road reminded him of his namesake Whittington, and the wagon completed the picture. Then he noticed that something was wrong.

Our carriage and the wagon had both stopped. The horses' bells became quiet, except when an animal moved its head and made them ring softly.

Richard saw our driver looking at the wagon driver, who was walking back toward us. When the man reached our door, Richard looked closely and exclaimed that he had Ada's name in his hat.

En/Pt → The wagon driver had all three of our names in his hat. Three notes were placed in its band, one for each of us. He read each name and delivered the letters. He said they came from his master, then drove away with his bells ringing.

Richard called to our driver and asked whether it was Mr. Jarndyce's wagon.

The driver said yes and explained that it was going to London.

We opened the notes. They were identical and written in a firm, clear hand.

My dear, I want our meeting to be relaxed and comfortable. Let us meet as old friends and accept the past without discussing it. This will make things easier for you and certainly for me. With love.

John Jarndyce

I was less surprised than my companions because for many years Mr. Jarndyce had been my only support, yet I had never thanked him. My gratitude was too deep for words. Now I wondered how I could meet him without thanking him and knew it would be very difficult.

En/Pt → The notes reminded Richard and Ada that their cousin hated being thanked for his kindness. He would use strange methods or even run away to avoid it. Ada remembered hearing that he once escaped through his back gate when her mother came to thank him and stayed away for three months. We discussed him all day and repeatedly wondered about his house, our arrival, and what we would say.

The muddy roads were hard for the horses, so we walked up the hills and continued walking because we enjoyed it. At Barnet, fresh horses had just eaten, so we waited and walked across open land and an old battlefield. These delays made the journey last until night, when we reached St. Albans near Bleak House.

We became so nervous that even Richard wished to turn back. In the cold night, Ada and I shook. Outside the town, we saw a light on a hill, and the driver called it Bleak House. The horses raced uphill toward an old house with three roof points. As a bell rang, dogs barked, the door opened brightly, and our hearts beat faster, we climbed down in great confusion.

En/Pt → A welcoming voice greeted Ada, Esther, and Rick warmly and said he was very happy to see them.

The cheerful man put one arm around Ada and the other around me, kissed us like a father, and led us into a warm room with a bright fire. He kissed us again and seated us together near the fireplace. I felt that any emotional display would make him run away.

He turned to Rick, offered his free hand, and said a few sincere words were enough. He was truly glad to see him, told him he was at home, and invited him to warm himself.

Richard shook both his hands with respect and openness. He simply thanked Mr. Jarndyce for his kindness, though so seriously that I feared our host might disappear. Then Richard removed his coat and hat and approached the fire.

Mr. Jarndyce asked Ada how she had liked the journey and Mrs. Jellyby.

En/Pt → While Ada answered, I studied Mr. Jarndyce. He was handsome, lively, strong, and nearly sixty, with grey hair and an expressive face. His voice and kind eyes suddenly reminded me of the strange man in the coach six years earlier. I knew it was him. He saw my recognition and looked toward the door, making me fear he would escape.

Fortunately, he stayed and asked what I thought of Mrs. Jellyby.

I said that she worked very hard for Africa.

Mr. Jarndyce called her work noble but said my answer was the same as Ada's. He could see that we all had another opinion.

With Richard and Ada silently encouraging me, I said we thought Mrs. Jellyby perhaps paid too little attention to her home.

Mr. Jarndyce cried, "Defeated!"

His reaction frightened me again.

Mr. Jarndyce said he wanted my honest opinion and might have sent us there for that purpose.

En/Pt → Hesitating, I said that our first duties should be toward our own home. If we ignore and neglect those duties, no other responsibilities can truly replace them.

Richard came to my help and said strongly that the little Jellyby children were in a terrible condition.

“She has good intentions,” Mr. Jarndyce said quickly. “The wind is in the east.”

Richard pointed out that the wind had come from the north during their journey.

While stirring the fire, Mr. Jarndyce told Rick that the wind was either in the east or would soon turn there. He always felt uncomfortable when an east wind blew.

“Is it rheumatism, sir?” Richard asked.

Mr. Jarndyce agreed that it probably was. He began to speak about the little Jellybys and his doubts about them, but suddenly blamed the east wind again.

En/Pt → While speaking in broken sentences, he walked up and down uncertainly. He held the poker in one hand and rubbed his hair with the other. His kind, amusing annoyance made us like him even more. He offered one arm to Ada and the other to me, asked Richard to bring a candle, and started to lead us out. Then he suddenly turned us all back.

Mr. Jarndyce asked whether we had done anything for the little Jellybys, as if it might have rained sweets or raspberry tarts for them.

“Oh, cousin - ” Ada quickly began.

He said he liked being called cousin, though “Cousin John” might be even better.

Laughing, Ada began again: “Then, Cousin John - ”

Mr. Jarndyce laughed with pleasure and said it sounded very natural. Then he invited her to continue.

“Something better happened,” Ada said. “It rained Esther.”

Mr. Jarndyce asked with interest what Esther had done.

En/Pt → Holding Cousin John’s arm, Ada told him that Esther had immediately become the children’s friend. She had cared for them, helped them sleep, washed and dressed them, told stories, kept them calm, and bought gifts. I protested that I had only taken Peepy out and bought him a tiny horse. Ada continued that Esther had softened poor Caddy, the eldest child, and had also been thoughtful and kind to her. She would not let me deny it.

Dear, warm-hearted Ada leaned across Cousin John and kissed me. Then she looked boldly at him and said that, whatever happened, she would thank him for giving her such a companion. It felt as if she challenged him to escape, but he stayed.

Mr. Jarndyce asked Rick where he had said the wind was.

Richard repeated that it had come from the north during their journey.

Mr. Jarndyce agreed and admitted his mistake. There was no east wind after all. Cheerfully, he invited the girls to see their home.

En/Pt → Bleak House was a delightful, irregular home. Steps led up and down between rooms, and new rooms appeared when you thought you had seen them all. Small halls, passages, old cottage rooms, and windows touched by green plants were everywhere. My room had an uneven roof, many corners, and a fireplace surrounded by white tiles that reflected the flames. Two steps down led to a lovely sitting room for Ada and me, overlooking a flower garden. Three steps up led to Ada’s bedroom, with a broad window, a beautiful view, and a large window seat. A gallery connected the other best rooms and led by a turning staircase to the hall. Other crooked steps and passages could easily make you lost among unusual furniture, including a strange Indian chair that was also a sofa, box, and bed. Richard’s comfortable room served as library, sitting room, and bedroom. Nearby, Mr. Jarndyce slept in a plain, airy room with an open window and a cold bath next door. Other passages led to back stairs and the stables. With at least two doors in every room, you could suddenly return to the hall without knowing how.

En/Pt → The furniture was as pleasantly irregular as the house. Ada’s flower-filled bedroom had floral cloth, wallpaper, needlework, and two formal chairs beside the fire. Our green sitting room displayed strange pictures of birds, a real preserved trout, Captain Cook’s death, and tea production in China. My room had oval pictures of the months, with country workers and nobles in old-fashioned clothes. Crayon portraits were scattered through the house, so related pictures appeared in different rooms. My own decorations included four angels carrying a gentleman to heaven and needlework showing fruit, a kettle, and the alphabet. Every object had its own curious style, yet everything was perfectly clean. White linen, rose petals, and lavender filled the drawers. With warm light in the windows, dinner preparations in the distance, our generous host’s cheerful face, and a soft wind outside, these were our first impressions of Bleak House.

Back in Ada’s sitting room, Mr. Jarndyce said he was glad we liked the house. It was simple but comfortable, and our young faces would make it brighter. We had only half an hour before dinner. He added that their only guest was the finest creature on earth - a child.

En/Pt → “More children, Esther!” Ada said.

Mr. Jarndyce explained that the man was not truly a child in age. He was grown and at least as old as Mr. Jarndyce. But his simple, fresh, enthusiastic nature and complete inability to manage ordinary life made him like a perfect child.

We felt sure that he must be very interesting.

Mr. Jarndyce said the man knew Mrs. Jellyby. He was a talented amateur musician and artist who might have worked professionally. He was educated and charming, but had suffered failures in business, his interests, and his family. Still, he did not care because he was like a child.

Richard asked whether Mr. Jarndyce meant that the man had children of his own.

Mr. Jarndyce said he had more than six children, perhaps nearly twelve, but had never cared for them. He could not do so because he needed someone to care for him. After all, he was a child himself.

En/Pt → Richard asked whether the children had managed to care for themselves.

Mr. Jarndyce’s face became sad. He said poor children were often not raised properly but simply grew up as best they could. Harold Skimpole’s children had somehow done the same. Then he felt that the wind might be turning east again.

Richard observed that the house was very exposed on such a cold night.

Mr. Jarndyce agreed that this must be the cause. Even the name Bleak House sounded exposed to the weather. Then he invited Richard to come with him.

Our luggage had arrived, so I dressed quickly and began putting away my belongings. Then a maid I had not seen before brought a basket into my room. It contained two labelled sets of keys.

The maid said politely that the keys were for me.

“For me?” I asked.

She explained that they were the housekeeping keys.

I showed my surprise, and the maid also seemed surprised. She had been told to bring the keys as soon as I was alone, and she checked that I was Miss Summerson.

En/Pt → I confirmed that Summerson was my name.

The maid explained that the large set opened the household cupboards and the small set opened the cellars. The next morning, at any time I chose, she would show me the cupboards and other places for the keys.

I said I would be ready at half past six. After she left, I stared at the basket, overwhelmed by the great responsibility. Ada found me there. When I showed her the keys and explained, she expressed such happy confidence in me that I could not remain discouraged. I knew her trust came from kindness, but I enjoyed believing it.

En/Pt → Downstairs, we met Mr. Skimpole, who stood by the fire telling Richard how much he had enjoyed football at school. He was a small, lively man with a rather large head, a delicate face, and a sweet voice. His effortless, cheerful way of speaking was charming. He was thinner than Mr. Jarndyce and had darker hair and a healthier colour, so he looked younger. He seemed more like a young man damaged by life than an older man preserved well. His careless manner, untidy hair, loose scarf, and artistic clothes suggested a romantic young man who had lost some of his value, not someone made older by years, worries, and experience.

En/Pt → From the conversation, I learned that Mr. Skimpole had trained as a doctor and once worked for a German prince. But he said numbers, weights, and exact details disgusted him, so he could not give medicines correctly. When needed to treat the prince or his household, he was often in bed reading newspapers or drawing and could not come. The prince reasonably ended his employment. With nothing but love to live on, Skimpole fell in love, married, and had many rosy-cheeked children. Jarndyce and other friends found him several opportunities, but none succeeded. Skimpole admitted that he understood neither time nor money. He missed appointments, could not conduct business, and never knew anything’s value. Still, he enjoyed newspapers, drawing, nature, and art. He asked society only to let him live. Give him conversation, music, food, coffee, landscapes, fruit, drawing paper, and a little wine, and he wanted nothing more. Like a child, he asked the busy world to follow its goals but allow Harold Skimpole to live peacefully.

En/Pt → He told us all this and much more with great energy, pleasure, and open honesty. He spoke about himself as if Skimpole were another person whose unusual habits and needs were society’s responsibility. He was enchanting. I may have felt confused because his ideas did not fit my beliefs about life’s duties and responsibilities. Yet I hardly doubted that he was free from those duties because he himself sounded so certain.

Skimpole said lightly that he wanted to own nothing. Jarndyce’s excellent house gave him pleasure without trouble, cost, or responsibility. He could draw it, change it in his imagination, or turn it into music, while Jarndyce managed everything. Skimpole admired Mrs. Jellyby’s strong will and ability to manage details without envying her. He could support and dream about her causes. Lying on the grass, he could imagine travelling on an African river, loving the people and drawing the tropical plants. This might not be useful, but it was all he could do, and he did it fully. He asked the practical world to let this trusting child live, admire humanity, and ride his toy horse.

En/Pt → It was clear that Mr. Jarndyce had obeyed this request and supported him. Mr. Skimpole’s place in the house already proved it, even before his next words.

Speaking to us as his new friends, Skimpole said he envied only generous people because they could help others. He would enjoy having that power himself. He felt no ordinary gratitude; instead, perhaps we should thank him for giving us the pleasure of being generous. Maybe he had been born to increase our happiness by letting us help with his small problems. Since his weakness in practical matters produced such pleasant results, he saw no reason to regret it.

Of all Skimpole’s playful but sincere speeches, Mr. Jarndyce seemed to like this one best. Later, I often wondered why Jarndyce, who was deeply grateful for the smallest kindness, was so eager to avoid receiving other people’s gratitude.

En/Pt → We were all charmed. I thought Ada and Richard deserved Skimpole’s openness and great effort to please them on their first meeting. They, especially Richard, were naturally pleased that such an attractive man trusted them so freely. As we listened, Skimpole became even more cheerful. His lively manner, honesty, and easy way of laughing at his weaknesses seemed to say that he was an innocent child while we were clever adults, and that we should forget worldly rules and play with him. The effect was dazzling.

He also had deep feelings and such a sensitive love of beauty and tenderness that this alone could win a heart. That evening, while I prepared tea and Ada played the piano softly for Richard in the next room, Skimpole sat beside me on the sofa. He spoke so warmly about Ada that I almost loved him.

He said Ada was like a summer morning, with her golden hair, blue eyes, and fresh colour. Even the birds might mistake her for morning. Such a lovely young woman, who brought joy to everyone, should not be called an orphan. She was a child of the whole universe.

En/Pt → I noticed Mr. Jarndyce standing near us with his hands behind his back and an attentive smile.

Mr. Jarndyce remarked that the universe was not a very caring parent.

Skimpole cheerfully cried that he was not so sure.

Mr. Jarndyce said that he believed he did know.

Skimpole admitted that Jarndyce knew the world while he knew nothing about it, so he accepted Jarndyce’s opinion. But looking at Ada and Richard, he said that if he could choose, their path would have no painful practical problems. It would be covered with roses and pass through gardens of endless summer. Age and change would never harm it, and the ugly word “money” would never be spoken near it.

En/Pt → Smiling, Mr. Jarndyce patted Skimpole’s head as if he truly were a child. Then he moved away, stopped, and looked thoughtfully but kindly at the young cousins. Ada sat at the piano in the firelit room while Richard stood close beside her. Their shadows joined on the wall among strange moving shapes made by the unsteady flames. Ada played and sang so softly that the wind toward the distant hills was as clear as the music. The whole picture seemed to hold the mystery of their future and the small hints offered by the present.

I remember the scene for more than its beauty. First, I noticed the difference between Jarndyce’s meaningful silent look and Skimpole’s earlier flood of words. Second, when Jarndyce briefly looked at me, I felt that he silently shared a hope with me and knew I understood it: Ada and Richard might one day become more than cousins.

En/Pt → Skimpole played piano and cello and also composed music. He had once written half an opera but became tired of it. After tea, he and Ada gave a small concert while Richard, Mr. Jarndyce, and I listened. Richard was delighted by Ada’s singing and said she seemed to know every song ever written. After a while, Skimpole disappeared, then Richard did too. While I wondered why Richard stayed away and missed the music, the maid who had brought the keys asked whether I could spare a minute.

Alone with me in the hall, the maid raised her hands in alarm. She said Mr. Carstone wanted me to go upstairs to Mr. Skimpole’s room because he had been taken.

“Taken?” I asked.

The maid repeated that it had happened suddenly.

En/Pt → I feared that Skimpole had suffered a dangerous illness. I asked the maid to remain quiet and not disturb anyone. As I hurried upstairs, I prepared to help if he was having a fit. But when she opened the door, I was astonished. Skimpole was not lying ill on the bed or floor. He stood smiling at Richard by the fire. Richard looked embarrassed as he watched a man on the sofa. The stranger wore a white coat and kept rubbing his smooth, thin hair with a handkerchief.

Richard quickly said he was glad I had come because I could advise them. He told me not to worry: their friend Mr. Skimpole had been arrested for debt.

With charming honesty, Skimpole told me that my good sense, calm methods, and useful habits were exactly what they needed. He said anyone who spent fifteen minutes with me would notice these qualities.

En/Pt → The man on the sofa seemed to have a cold. He made such a loud snorting sound that he frightened me.

I asked Mr. Skimpole whether the debt was large.

Pleasantly shaking his head, Skimpole said he did not know. He thought someone had mentioned several pounds, some shillings, and halfpennies.

The stranger stated that the exact debt was twenty-four pounds, sixteen shillings, and seven and a half pence.

Skimpole said that, somehow, the amount sounded small.

The stranger said nothing and made another powerful snort that seemed to lift him from his seat.

Richard explained that Skimpole felt uncomfortable asking Cousin Jarndyce for help because Jarndyce had recently helped him already. He paused and asked Skimpole to confirm this.

Smiling, Skimpole agreed, although he had forgotten how much Jarndyce gave him and when. Jarndyce would gladly help again, but Skimpole preferred something new. Looking at Richard and me, he said he wanted generosity to grow in new soil like a new kind of flower.

En/Pt → Quietly, Richard asked what I thought would be best.

Before answering, I asked what would happen if we could not provide the money.

The stranger calmly put his handkerchief into the hat at his feet and answered, “Jail, or Coavinses.”

I began to ask what that meant.

The stranger explained that Coavinses was a house used as a debtors’ prison.

Richard and I looked at each other. Strangely, the arrest embarrassed us instead of Skimpole. He watched us with friendly interest and did not appear selfish, though the situation was certainly strange. He had completely freed himself from the problem, so it had become ours.

Trying to help us, Skimpole suggested that Richard or his beautiful cousin might sign some paper. Since they were involved in a Chancery case said to concern valuable property, perhaps they could transfer or promise something as security. He did not know the legal name, but supposed some document available to them could settle his debt.

En/Pt → The stranger replied that none of that would help.

Skimpole said this seemed strange to someone who understood nothing about such matters.

The stranger roughly repeated that, strange or not, it would not help at all.

As Skimpole drew the stranger’s head inside a book, he gently told the man to remain calm and not let his job upset him. They could separate the person from his work. They did not assume he was a bad man in private life. Perhaps he was very respectable and even had a poetic nature without knowing it.

The stranger answered only with another violent snort. I could not tell whether he accepted the compliment about poetry or rejected it with disgust.

Looking at his drawing, Skimpole cheerfully told Richard and me that he was completely unable to help himself and entirely depended on us. He asked only to be free. Butterflies were free, so humanity should surely give Harold Skimpole the same freedom.

En/Pt → Richard whispered that he had ten pounds from Mr. Kenge and must see how much that would help.

I had saved a little more than fifteen pounds from my allowance over several years. I had always feared that some accident might leave me alone in the world without family or property, so I kept money to avoid being completely poor. I told Richard about these savings and said I did not need them now. I asked him to tell Skimpole carefully that we would be pleased to pay his debt while I went to fetch the money.

When I returned, Skimpole kissed my hand and seemed deeply moved. Strangely, he was touched not for himself but for us, as if only our happiness mattered to him. Richard asked me to complete the payment with “Coavinses,” as Skimpole jokingly called the stranger, because it would make the event more graceful. I counted the money and received a receipt, which also delighted Skimpole.

En/Pt → Skimpole gave his compliments so gently that I blushed less than expected. I paid the stranger in the white coat without making any mistakes. He put the money in his pocket and briefly wished me a good evening.

After leaving his drawing half finished, Skimpole stood with his back to the fire. He politely asked the stranger whether he could ask a question without offending him.

I believe the stranger replied, “Go ahead, then!”

Skimpole asked whether the stranger had known that morning that he would come on this task.

Coavinses said he had known since tea time the previous afternoon.

Skimpole asked whether this knowledge had harmed his appetite or made him uncomfortable.

Coavinses said it had not. He knew that if Skimpole escaped him that day, he could catch him the next. One day made little difference.

Skimpole continued by reminding him that it had been a beautiful day during his journey. The sun shone, the wind blew, light and shadow moved across the fields, and birds sang.

En/Pt → Coavinses replied that he had not heard anyone say otherwise.

Skimpole agreed, then asked what Coavinses had thought about during the journey.

Angrily, Coavinses asked what he meant. He had enough work and received little enough money for it without having to think too. He repeated the word “thinking” with deep contempt.

Skimpole then asked whether Coavinses had thought that Harold Skimpole loved sunshine, wind, changing light and shadow, and birds singing like a choir in nature’s great cathedral. Had he not wondered whether he was about to take away Skimpole’s share in these things, which were his only natural inheritance? Skimpole asked if no such thought had entered his mind.

Coavinses slowly and strongly said that he certainly had not, stressing every word and moving his head sharply.

Mr. Skimpole thoughtfully called the businessman's way of thinking strange and curious. Then he thanked him and said good night.

I returned downstairs because we had been away for a long time. Ada was talking with John, and Skimpole and Richard soon joined us. Mr. Jarndyce taught me backgammon while Skimpole played music and talked cheerfully. Yet Richard and I still felt as if we had been arrested after dinner.

En/Pt → We stayed together late because Skimpole played lively music and joked that stealing hours from the night made the day longer. After midnight he finally left. Ada and Richard were still talking by the fire when Mr. Jarndyce returned.

Mr. Jarndyce walked around, rubbed his head, and asked what Richard and I had done. He wanted to know why we had paid money and how much each of us had given. He blamed his discomfort on the changing wind.

Neither Richard nor I knew how to answer.

Mr. Jarndyce insisted on settling the matter before bed. He asked how much money we had lost and why we had helped Skimpole, while again blaming the east wind.

Richard said it would not be honourable to reveal the amount because Mr. Skimpole had trusted us.

Mr. Jarndyce said Skimpole trusted everyone.

Richard asked if that was really true.

Jarndyce said Skimpole would have the same money trouble again next week because he was always in trouble. He joked that even Skimpole's birth announcement should have said he was born in difficulties.

En/Pt → Richard laughed but said he did not want to betray Skimpole's trust. He asked Jarndyce to consider whether the secret should be kept, though he would tell if Jarndyce insisted.

Confused, Mr. Jarndyce tried to put the candlestick in his pocket. He agreed not to pressure Richard but complained that Skimpole had taken money from two innocent young people. He predicted a storm.

He repeatedly put his hands in his pockets, pulled them out, and rubbed his head with force.

I gently suggested that Skimpole was like a child in all matters of money.

Mr. Jarndyce immediately noticed the word and asked what I meant.

I repeated that Skimpole was a child and very different from other people.

Jarndyce became cheerful and agreed that I was exactly right. He reminded us that he had called Skimpole a complete child from the beginning.

We all strongly agreed with him.

Growing happier, Jarndyce asked again whether Skimpole truly was a child.

En/Pt → We said that he certainly was.

Jarndyce said it was childish of him to treat Skimpole like a responsible adult. He laughed at the idea that Skimpole could make plans or understand the results of his actions.

It was wonderful to see Jarndyce's worry disappear. His happiness came from his kind nature, which hated judging or mistrusting anyone. Ada and I both had tears in our eyes as we laughed with him.

Jarndyce called himself foolish for forgetting Skimpole's childish nature. Only a child would ask two young people for money without knowing whether they had any. The amount would not have mattered to him.

Our experience that night seemed to prove his point.

Jarndyce made Richard, Ada, and me promise never to lend Skimpole money again, not even a small coin.

We promised sincerely. Richard smiled at me and touched his empty pocket, showing that we could not break the promise anyway.

En/Pt → Jarndyce joked that Skimpole only needed a doll's house and toy people from whom he could borrow money. Then he wished us good night and went to bed.

Jarndyce looked in again and happily said he had made a mistake about the wind; it was from the south. Then he left singing.

Upstairs, Ada and I decided that Jarndyce's complaints about the wind were invented. He used them to explain disappointment because he did not want to blame anyone. This showed his unusual gentleness, unlike angry people who blame their bad moods on the weather.

That evening increased my love and gratitude for Jarndyce. I still could not understand the contradictions in Skimpole or Mrs. Jellyby. Alone, I thought about Ada, Richard, and my own past. I briefly remembered my old dream that Jarndyce might be my father, though I no longer believed it.

I rose from the fire and told myself not to think about the past. I should act with joy, gratitude, and duty. I shook my housekeeping keys, which rang like little bells leading me hopefully to bed.

Chapter VII

En/Pt → The Ghost's Walk

While Esther sleeps and wakes, rain continues at Chesney Wold in Lincolnshire. It falls day and night on the stone terrace called the Ghost's Walk. The weather seems as if it will never improve. Sir Leicester and Lady Dedlock are in Paris, so the great house stands dark and lonely.

Perhaps the horses in the long stables imagine fine weather. An old hunting horse may remember fresh leaves and running with the hounds, while its keeper thinks only of work. Another horse looks hopefully toward the door although nobody needs it. The six horses may spend the wet hours communicating more happily than the people in the servants' hall.

The large dog sleeping in the yard may remember hot sunshine and a house full of guests, carriages, horses, and servants. He wakes, comes out, and finds only endless rain and an empty house. Then he returns to his shelter with a sad yawn.

En/Pt → The hunting dogs may dream of running across the countryside. Rabbits may remember windy days and tender plants. A turkey may remember finding grain in summer, and an unhappy goose may wish for sunny weather. All the animals have memories while the rain keeps them still.

Apart from the animals, little imagination moves at Chesney Wold. Any unusual thought quickly turns toward ghosts and mystery in the old, echoing house.

It has rained so long that Mrs. Rouncewell, the old housekeeper, cleans her glasses to check whether the drops are on them. She is a handsome, formal, very neat woman who refuses to admit she is deaf. Weather does not trouble her; she watches over the house from her room. While the family is away, the great house rests safely in her care.

It is hard to imagine Chesney Wold without Mrs. Rouncewell, although she has served there for only fifty years. She can state the exact length of her service. Her late husband came from the nearby town, and she began working for the previous Sir Leicester in the still-room.

En/Pt → Sir Leicester believes his servants have no wishes or opinions of their own, yet he considers himself an excellent master. He greatly respects Mrs. Rouncewell and always shakes her hand. If he faced danger or illness, he would trust his dignity to her care before anyone else's.

Mrs. Rouncewell had two sons. The younger, George, became a soldier and never returned. Her other son loved building machines instead of following the traditional path at Chesney Wold. Sir Leicester sent him north to work in industry and regarded such workers as dangerous rebels. The young man nevertheless built a successful life there.

Mrs. Rouncewell's son grew up, became successful, married, and had a son. That grandson, Watt, has finished his training and travelled abroad. Today he stands by the fireplace in his grandmother's room at Chesney Wold.

Mrs. Rouncewell repeatedly welcomes Watt and calls him a fine young man. She says he looks like his missing uncle George, which makes her hands move nervously.

En/Pt → Watt says people think he looks like his father.

His grandmother agrees but says he looks most like George. Then she asks whether Watt's father is well.

Watt says his father is successful in every way.

Mrs. Rouncewell is thankful. She loves her son but sadly feels that his industrial life placed him on the opposite side from her world.

She asks whether her son is completely happy.

Watt says that he is.

Mrs. Rouncewell is thankful but wonders about her son's decision to train Watt in industry and send him abroad. She admits there may be a world beyond Chesney Wold that she does not understand, despite her age and experience with important people.

Changing the subject, Watt asks about the very pretty girl called Rosa whom he just met.

Mrs. Rouncewell says Rosa is a village widow's daughter. She took the girl in young because servants are difficult to train. Rosa learns quickly, already shows visitors around the house, and eats at her table.

En/Pt → Watt hopes his arrival did not make Rosa leave.

His grandmother says Rosa probably thought they needed to discuss family matters. She praises the girl's modesty and says it is rarer than before.

Watt respectfully accepts his grandmother's lesson. Then Mrs. Rouncewell listens.

She hears carriage wheels and wonders who could be arriving on such a rainy day. Watt had heard them earlier.

Soon someone knocks. Rosa enters, a shy village beauty with dark hair and eyes. Rain on her fresh face and hair looks like dew on a flower.

Mrs. Rouncewell asks Rosa who has arrived.

Rosa says two young men in a carriage want to see the house. She told them it was the wrong day and time, but the driver politely asked her to deliver his card.

The housekeeper asks Watt to read the card.

Rosa shyly gives Watt the card. They drop it and almost hit their heads while picking it up, making her even shyer.

En/Pt → The card gives only the name Mr. Guppy.

Mrs. Rouncewell repeats the unfamiliar name and says she has never heard of him.

Rosa explains that the men are London lawyers who arrived for business nearby. After finishing early, they came through the rain to see famous Chesney Wold. Guppy said he was not from Mr. Tulkinghorn's office but could use Tulkinghorn's name if needed. Rosa becomes shy after her long speech.

Because Tulkinghorn is closely connected to the house, Mrs. Rouncewell allows the visitors inside as a special favour. Watt suddenly wants to join the tour, so his pleased grandmother goes with him, although he does not want to trouble her.

Removing his wet coat, Guppy thanks Mrs. Rouncewell and says London lawyers rarely get a holiday, so they enjoy every chance.

The housekeeper points toward the great staircase. Guppy and his friend follow Rosa, followed by Mrs. Rouncewell and Watt. A young gardener goes ahead to open the shutters.

En/Pt → Like many house visitors, Guppy and his friend become tired almost immediately. They look at the wrong things and seem bored. In each room, Mrs. Rouncewell proudly listens to Rosa's explanation, while Watt watches Rosa so closely that she grows shyer and prettier. The old Dedlock portraits appear briefly in the light. Guppy thinks the family's only achievement was doing nothing remarkable for seven hundred years.

Even the long drawing room cannot cheer Guppy. Then he sees a portrait above the fireplace and suddenly becomes energetic. He stares at it with deep interest, completely fascinated.

Surprised, Guppy asks who the woman is.

Rosa explains that the portrait shows the present Lady Dedlock. People consider it a perfect likeness and the artist's best work.

Guppy tells his friend that he cannot remember seeing her, yet somehow knows her face. He asks whether copies of the picture were printed.

Rosa says the picture was never copied because Sir Leicester always refused permission.

En/Pt → Quietly amazed, Guppy says it is very strange that he knows the portrait so well. He confirms that the woman is Lady Dedlock.

Rosa points out the portraits of the present Sir Leicester on the right and his late father on the left.

Guppy ignores both men and keeps staring at Lady Dedlock. Unable to explain why he knows her face, he suggests that perhaps he dreamed about the picture.

Nobody is interested in Guppy's dreams, but he remains fixed before the portrait until the shutters close. He leaves the room in confusion and searches every following room as if hoping to see Lady Dedlock again.

Guppy sees no more of her, only her elegant rooms and the view that recently bored her. At last the tiring tour ends. Rosa finishes by pointing out the admired terrace below, called the Ghost's Walk because of an old family story.

Guppy eagerly asks for the story and wonders whether it concerns a picture.

En/Pt → Watt quietly asks Rosa to tell them the story.

Rosa becomes even shyer and says she does not know it.

The housekeeper says the story is not told to visitors and is almost forgotten. It is only an old family tale.

Guppy apologizes but again asks whether it involves a picture. The more he thinks about Lady Dedlock's portrait, the more certain he is that he knows it, though he cannot explain how.

The housekeeper assures him the story has nothing to do with a picture. Guppy thanks her and leaves with his friend. At dusk, Mrs. Rouncewell decides she can trust Rosa and Watt and tells them why the terrace has its ghostly name.

Sitting by the darkening window, Mrs. Rouncewell begins. During the civil war in the time of King Charles I, Sir Morbury Dedlock owned Chesney Wold. She believes the ancient family probably had a ghost even before then.

En/Pt → Mrs. Rouncewell thinks such an old and important family has a right to a ghost. To her, ghosts are a special privilege of the upper classes, not ordinary people.

Sir Morbury supported King Charles, but his wife secretly supported the king's enemies, including her own relatives. She may have listened outside the room when the king's supporters met. Mrs. Rouncewell pauses to ask Watt if he hears a footstep on the terrace.

Rosa moves closer to the housekeeper.

Watt hears rain on the stones and a strange echo that sounds like an uneven step.

Mrs. Rouncewell says Sir Morbury and his proud wife had an unhappy marriage and no children. After his relative killed her beloved brother in the war, she hated the Dedlocks. At night she secretly injured their horses. One night her husband caught her, and during the struggle a horse injured her hip. From then on, her health slowly failed.

En/Pt → The housekeeper lowers her voice almost to a whisper.

The injured lady never complained but walked on the terrace every day with increasing difficulty. One afternoon she fell there. When her husband tried to help, she refused and said she would die where she had walked. She promised her ghost would walk there until the family's pride was humbled and warned the Dedlocks to listen for her steps before disaster or shame.

Watt looks at Rosa. In the growing darkness, she looks down, both frightened and shy.

The lady died there, and the terrace became the Ghost's Walk. The uneven step is heard only after dark and may disappear for long periods. But it always returns when sickness or death approaches the family.

Watt reminds his grandmother that the ghost also warned of shame.

The housekeeper firmly says shame never comes to Chesney Wold.

Watt apologizes and agrees with her.

En/Pt → Mrs. Rouncewell ends the story. Whatever causes the troubling sound, it cannot be ignored, and even fearless Lady Dedlock admits this. Then she asks Watt about a tall French clock nearby, whose loud beat and music might cover other sounds.

"It works quite well, Grandmother, I think."

"Start it," she said.

Watt starts the machine, including its music.

The housekeeper calls the child closer to Lady Dedlock's pillow. She is not sure it is dark enough, but asks whether the child can hear a sound on the terrace through the music and beating rhythm.

"Yes, I certainly can hear it!"

"That is what my Lady says too."

Chapter VIII

En/Pt → Hiding Many Sins

Before sunrise, I enjoyed watching daylight reveal the unknown view outside my window. Mist and stars slowly disappeared, my candles became unnecessary, and a cheerful country scene appeared. The old Abbey Church stood above it, and its rough tower cast a gentle shadow. I have learned that gentle influences can come from rough appearances.

The orderly house and helpful servants made my new duties easy, though I stayed busy learning what every cupboard held. I made tea, then explored the lovely gardens and farmyard before breakfast. Ada smiled at me from her window. The unusual, welcoming house had three roof peaks, many different windows, and climbing roses. Ada said it was worthy of her cousin John.

At breakfast, Mr. Skimpole joked about bees and honey. He disliked the idea that busy bees should be examples for him. Bees worked because they liked it, then people smoked them out and took their honey. He preferred the lazy drone, which enjoyed the world and asked a worker to provide for it. He thought this was wiser, as long as the drone stayed friendly with the bee.

En/Pt → Mr. Skimpole continued his amusing argument, though he partly meant it seriously. I left to do my duties. Later, while carrying my basket of keys, Mr. Jarndyce called me into a small room beside his bedroom. It was part library and part storage room for his shoes and hatboxes.

Mr. Jarndyce asked me to sit and explained that this was the Growlery, where he came when he was in a bad mood.

I said he must use the room very rarely.

He said I did not know him yet. When the east wind disappointed him, he often hid in the Growlery. Then he noticed that I was trembling.

Alone with my kind guardian, I felt so happy, honoured, and grateful that I kissed his hand. He became embarrassed and walked to the window, almost as if he might jump out. When he returned, his eyes showed the emotion he had tried to hide. He gently touched my head, and I sat down.

En/Pt → He said the emotional moment was over and told me not to be foolish.

I promised it would not happen again, but said it was difficult at first.

He called that nonsense. He had simply heard of a good orphan without protection and chosen to protect her. She grew up and proved his good opinion correct, while he remained her guardian and friend. He said there was nothing remarkable about it and welcomed my calm, trusting face again.

I firmly told myself to regain control, and it worked. Mr. Jarndyce approved and began speaking to me as openly as if we had talked together every morning for years. It almost felt true.

Mr. Jarndyce asked whether I understood the Chancery case.

Of course, I shook my head.

He said no one understood it. Lawyers had made it so confusing that the original issue had disappeared. It had once concerned a will and its trusts, but now it was only about legal costs. Endless documents, questions, arguments, and procedures led nowhere except toward death and more costs.

En/Pt → To return him to the subject, I asked whether the case had originally been about a will.

He said a Jarndyce had made a fortune and a great will. Arguments about managing its trusts were wasting the money and ruining the people named in it. Everyone repeatedly paid for useless copies and lawyers. Courts sent questions back and forth, many paid officials became involved, and nothing ever ended. No one could leave the case. Thinking about it had destroyed his great-uncle Tom Jarndyce.

I asked whether he meant the Mr. Jarndyce whose story I had heard.

He nodded seriously. He had inherited from Tom, and Bleak House had belonged to him. When Mr. Jarndyce arrived, the house truly was bleak and showed Tom's misery everywhere.

I said the house must be greatly changed now.

He explained that the house was once called the Peaks. Tom renamed it and shut himself inside, studying the case papers and hoping to end the confusion. Meanwhile, walls cracked, the roof leaked, weeds covered the path, and the house fell into ruin. After Tom's death, it seemed the house had also lost its mind.

En/Pt → Mr. Jarndyce walked back and forth, shivering at the memory. Then he looked at me, became cheerful again, and sat with his hands in his pockets.

He reminded me that this was the Growlery and asked where he had stopped.

I reminded him of the hopeful changes he had made to Bleak House.

He described another property in London connected to the case. It was a street of dying, empty houses with broken windows, falling shutters, rusty rails, damaged chimneys, green steps, and rotting supports. Bleak House had suffered because its owner was in Chancery, and ruined places across England carried the same mark.

Again, I said how greatly Bleak House had changed.

He cheerfully agreed and said I was wise to keep him on the bright side. He discussed such things only in the Growlery. He trusted me to decide whether to tell Rick and Ada.

I began, "I hope, sir..."

En/Pt → He gently suggested that I should call him Guardian.

His tenderness nearly made me emotional again, though he pretended the request was casual. I lightly shook my keys to control myself, folded my hands firmly on the basket, and looked at him calmly.

I told my guardian not to trust my judgment too much. I honestly admitted that I was not clever and feared this truth would disappoint him.

He did not look disappointed at all. Smiling warmly, he said he knew me very well and that I was clever enough for him.

I said I hoped so, though I was not confident.

Playfully, he said I was clever enough to be the good little old woman in their lives, like the woman in a children's rhyme.

The rhyme asked where the little old woman was going, and she answered that she was going to sweep the cobwebs from the sky.

En/Pt → He said my housekeeping would clear their sky so well that one day they would close the Growlery forever.

After that, they gave me many playful names, including Old Woman, Little Old Woman, Cobweb, and Dame Durden. My real name almost disappeared among them.

Returning to their conversation, Mr. Jarndyce said Rick was a promising young man and asked what should be done with him.

I was amazed that he asked my advice on such an important question.

Mr. Jarndyce said Richard needed to choose a profession. There would probably be much confusion, but the decision had to be made.

I asked my guardian what he meant by his strange word for confusion.

He explained that because Richard was a ward in Chancery, lawyers, court officers, advisers, and the Chancellor would all discuss his choice and demand fees. The process would be formal, wordy, expensive, and unsatisfying. He called all this "wiglomeration" and did not know why humanity suffered from it.

En/Pt → He rubbed his head and mentioned the wind again. Yet whenever he looked at me, his kind expression returned. Soon he became comfortable, put his hands in his pockets, and stretched his legs.

I suggested that they should first ask Richard what profession he wanted.

Mr. Jarndyce enthusiastically agreed. He asked me to discuss it quietly and carefully with Richard and Ada. He trusted me to discover the heart of the matter.

I felt frightened by my new importance and the many secrets trusted to me. I had meant that he should speak to Richard himself. Still, I promised to do my best and again warned that he thought me wiser than I was. My guardian only laughed warmly.

Mr. Jarndyce stood and said they had finished with the Growlery for that day. Before leaving, he asked whether I wished to ask him anything.

He looked at me so carefully that I understood what he meant.

En/Pt → I asked whether he meant a question about myself.

He said yes.

I put my suddenly cold hand in his and said I had no questions. I trusted that he would tell me anything I needed to know. If I did not have complete faith in him, my heart would be hard indeed.

He placed my hand on his arm, and we went to find Ada. From that moment, I felt completely comfortable, open, satisfied, and happy with him.

Our first days at Bleak House were busy because we met many people who knew Mr. Jarndyce. Ada and I thought everyone seeking money for a cause knew him. Their letters requested everything from huge numbers of pamphlets to pensions, monuments, and teapots. Groups with grand names were always collecting votes and money but seemed never to achieve their goals. Their restless lives made our heads ache.

En/Pt → Mrs. Pardiggle was one of the loudest charitable ladies and wrote almost as often as Mrs. Jellyby. Mr. Jarndyce said some people did little and made much noise, while others did much in silence. The wind always interrupted him when he discussed Mrs. Pardiggle, so we suspected she belonged to the first group. We were curious when she visited with her five sons.

Mrs. Pardiggle was an impressive woman with glasses, a large nose, and a loud voice. She seemed to need much space and knocked over distant chairs with her skirts. Ada and I received her nervously, while her unhappy sons followed like children in cold weather.

Mrs. Pardiggle introduced her five boys and proudly listed the money each had donated. Twelve-year-old Egbert had given his pocket money to an Indigenous group, and the younger boys supported other causes. Five-year-old Alfred had promised never to use tobacco.

En/Pt → We had never seen such unhappy children. They looked thin, angry, and full of resentment. Each boy's face darkened when his donation was mentioned. Egbert looked especially fierce, while little Alfred remained quietly miserable.

Mrs. Pardiggle asked whether we had visited Mrs. Jellyby.

We said we had spent one night there.

In her loud, hard voice, Mrs. Pardiggle praised Mrs. Jellyby's work for Africa and said her sons had donated to it. However, she criticized Mrs. Jellyby for excluding her children from her work. Mrs. Pardiggle proudly said she took her own children everywhere.

Ada and I later agreed that Egbert gave a sharp cry at those words, though he quickly changed it into a yawn.

Mrs. Pardiggle said her sons attended early morning church all year and joined all her daily charitable duties. She served many schools, committees, visits, and campaigns. Her boys gave all their pocket money under her direction and attended more meetings and long speeches than most adults. She proudly said five-year-old Alfred had remained awake after a two-hour speech.

En/Pt → Alfred stared angrily at us as if he could never forgive what had happened that night.

Mrs. Pardiggle explained that charity lists also showed a donation from her husband. First she gave money, then each child gave an amount based on age, and finally Mr. Pardiggle donated under her direction. She believed this made life pleasant for them and improved others.

I wondered whether Mr. Pardiggle and Mr. Jellyby ever privately complained to each other about their wives. The thought confused me.

Mrs. Pardiggle said we lived in a very pleasant place.

Glad to change the subject, we showed her the beautiful view from the window. She looked at it with surprising lack of interest.

Our visitor asked whether we knew Mr. Gusher.

We had to admit that we did not know him.

Mrs. Pardiggle said that was our loss. Mr. Gusher was a passionate speaker who could talk for hours at a public meeting on our lawn. As she returned to her chair and knocked over a distant table, she asked whether we had already discovered her true character.

En/Pt → The question confused us. Ada looked at me in alarm, and my guilty thoughts probably showed in my red cheeks.

Mrs. Pardiggle explained that her main quality was easy to see: she was a woman of business who loved hard work. Work excited her, and she claimed never to feel tired.

Out of politeness, we murmured that this was amazing and pleasing, though we hardly knew what we meant.

Mrs. Pardiggle repeated that no one could tire her. Even the enormous amount of work she did sometimes surprised her. Her husband and children became exhausted merely watching, while she remained fresh and energetic.

At this, the angry eldest boy looked more hateful than ever. He closed his fist and secretly punched the top of his cap.

Mrs. Pardiggle said her endless energy helped during visits. If someone refused to listen, she announced that she never became tired and would continue until she finished. Then she asked me and Ada to join her visits.

En/Pt → I tried to refuse because of my duties and lack of experience. I said I did not yet understand different people's hearts well enough to advise them. I preferred to help those near me first and let my duties grow naturally. I spoke without confidence because Mrs. Pardiggle was older, experienced, and commanding.

Mrs. Pardiggle said I was wrong and perhaps unable to handle hard work. She invited Ada and me to watch her visit a local brickmaker whom she called a bad man.

Ada and I exchanged looks. Since we planned to go out anyway, we accepted. When we returned wearing our hats, her sons looked weak and miserable in a corner, while Mrs. Pardiggle moved around knocking over light objects. She walked with Ada, and I followed with the boys.

Ada later told me that Mrs. Pardiggle loudly described a long competition with another charitable woman. They printed materials, made promises, and collected votes for different candidates to receive a pension. Everyone enjoyed the activity except the poor candidates, because no winner had been chosen.

En/Pt → I usually enjoy children's trust, but these boys troubled me. Egbert demanded money because his mother took his allowance for charity. He angrily said she only pretended to give it to him. He and two brothers pinched my arms, Felix stepped on my toes, and little Alfred became purple with anger when we passed a cake shop. Their forced lives made their natural behaviour painful for me.

I was relieved to reach the brickmaker's home, though it stood among terrible huts beside a muddy brick field. Pigsties were near broken windows, dirty pools filled the gardens, and old tubs collected rain. Local people watched and laughed at the fine visitors who dirtied their shoes by interfering in others' lives.

Mrs. Pardiggle criticized the residents' untidiness and led us into a damp, foul room. A bruised woman held a sick baby by the fire. A dirty, drunken-looking man lay smoking on the floor. A strong young man handled a dog, and a bold girl washed in filthy water. They looked at us but offered no welcome.

En/Pt → In an unfriendly, businesslike voice, Mrs. Pardiggle greeted the family. She reminded them that they could not tire her and proudly said she loved hard work and kept her promises.

The man on the floor growled and asked whether any more visitors were coming.

Mrs. Pardiggle sat on one stool, knocked over another, and said everyone had arrived.

Looking around, the man sarcastically asked whether she thought there were not enough visitors already.

The young man and girl laughed, and two of his friends standing in the doorway laughed loudly too.

Mrs. Pardiggle told them they could not tire her. She enjoyed hard work, and the more difficult they made it, the more she liked it.

The man demanded an end to her interference and answered her usual questions before she asked. His daughter washed in the same dirty water they drank. The unhealthy home had already lost five babies. No one could read her little book, and it was childish anyway. He had been drunk for three days, would not attend church, and admitted giving his wife the black eye.

En/Pt → After speaking, the man turned away and smoked again. Mrs. Pardiggle stared at him with a forced calm that increased his anger. Then she pulled out a religious book like a police officer's stick and took control of the whole family as if arresting them.

Ada and I felt uncomfortable and unwanted. Mrs. Pardiggle's cold, controlling manner made the visit worse. The children sulked, the family ignored us, and the young man made the dog bark during her strongest statements. We felt a hard barrier between us and the family, and knew she could not remove it. Even her reading was unsuitable and lacked kindness or understanding.

In these circumstances, we felt greatly relieved when Mrs. Pardiggle finally stopped.

The man on the floor turned his head and asked unhappily whether she had finished.

Mrs. Pardiggle cheerfully said she had finished for that day, though she never became tired. She would visit him again when his regular turn came.

En/Pt → Folding his arms and closing his eyes, the man swore and said she could do whatever she liked as long as she left now.

Mrs. Pardiggle rose and caused great movement in the small room, almost knocking over the pipe. She took two children by the hands, told the others to follow, and hoped the brickmaker’s family would improve before her next visit. Then she went to another cottage. I hope it is not cruel to say that all her charity seemed like a large public performance and did not make people friendly toward her.

She believed we were following her. But as soon as the room was clear, we went to the woman by the fire and asked whether her baby was ill.

The woman only looked at the baby on her lap. Whenever she looked at it, she covered her injured eye, as if she wanted to keep all thoughts of noise, violence, and abuse away from the poor child.

En/Pt → Ada’s gentle heart was touched by the baby. She bent down to touch its little face, but I saw what had happened and pulled her back. The child was dead.

Ada fell to her knees beside the baby and called to me. She cried over the quiet, beautiful little child, saying how sorry she felt for both the baby and its mother. She had never seen anything so sad.

Ada bent down crying and placed her hand on the mother’s with such kindness that she could have softened any mother’s heart. At first, the woman stared at her in surprise. Then she began to cry.

Soon I took the light body from her lap, made the baby look peaceful, placed it on a shelf, and covered it with my handkerchief. We tried to comfort the mother and quietly reminded her of Christ’s words about children. She said nothing and continued crying deeply.

En/Pt → When I turned, the young man had taken the dog outside and stood silently at the door, watching us with dry eyes. The girl also sat quietly in a corner, looking down. The older man had stood up. He continued smoking in a proud manner but said nothing.

An unattractive, badly dressed woman hurried inside. She went straight to the mother and called, “Jenny! Jenny!” Jenny rose and fell into the woman’s arms.

This woman also had signs of abuse on her face and arms. She had no physical beauty, but her sympathy gave her a different kind of grace. As she cried with Jenny, she needed no beauty. Her only words were Jenny’s name, but her voice expressed everything else.

It deeply moved me to see these two poor, rough, badly dressed, and beaten women united. Their hard lives made their hearts gentle toward each other. Society rarely sees the best side of such people. Only the poor themselves and God truly know what poor people do for one another.

En/Pt → We decided it was better to leave the women alone. We quietly slipped out without anyone noticing except the man. He leaned near the door, where there was little room to pass. He stepped outside to make space for us but tried to hide his kindness. We noticed and thanked him, though he did not reply.

Ada grieved throughout the journey home. Richard was upset to see her crying, though privately he told me how beautiful her compassion was. We decided to return to the brickmaker’s house that night with useful gifts. We told Mr. Jarndyce as little as possible, but he immediately sensed trouble, like a change in the wind.

Richard went with us that night. We passed a noisy tavern crowded with men and saw the dead child’s father arguing among them. Farther on, the young man walked with his dog and similar companions. His sister laughed with young women near the cottages, but she looked ashamed and turned away when we passed.

En/Pt → We left Richard where he could still see the brickmaker’s house and continued alone. At the door, the woman who had comforted Jenny stood watching anxiously.

Whispering, she recognized us and said she was watching for her husband. She was terrified that if he caught her away from home, he might almost kill her.

I asked whether she meant her husband.

She said yes and called him her master. Jenny was asleep and completely exhausted. For seven days and nights, she had hardly put the baby down, except when her friend could hold it briefly.

She let us enter quietly and placed our gifts near the poor bed where Jenny slept. No one had cleaned the nearly impossible room. However, the small body had been washed, arranged peacefully, and dressed in pieces of clean white cloth. On my handkerchief covering the baby, the woman’s rough, scarred hands had gently placed sweet-smelling herbs.

En/Pt → We called her a good woman and prayed that heaven would reward her.

She reacted with surprise, asking whether we truly meant her. Then she quietly called Jenny’s name.

Jenny had moved and cried softly in her sleep. Her friend’s familiar voice calmed her, and she became quiet again.

I lifted my handkerchief to look at the tiny peaceful child. Ada bent over it with pity, and her hair seemed to form a circle of light. I could not imagine whose troubled chest that same handkerchief would later cover. I only thought that the child’s angel might see the compassionate woman replace it gently. After we left, she remained at the door, fearfully watching and listening for her husband while softly calling, “Jenny, Jenny.”

Chapter IX

En/Pt → Signs and Warnings

I do not know why I keep writing about myself. I intend to describe other people and try not to think about myself. When I enter the story again, I become annoyed with myself. Yet I cannot prevent it. I hope readers understand that these pages contain so much about me only because I truly took part in these events and cannot be removed from them.

My dear Ada and I read, worked, and practised together. We had so much to do that the winter days passed like bright birds. Richard usually joined us in the afternoons and always in the evenings. Although he was extremely restless, he clearly loved our company.

Richard was deeply in love with Ada, and I should say so directly. I had never watched young people fall in love, but I understood them quickly. I could not mention it or show that I knew. I acted so serious and unaware that I sometimes wondered whether I was becoming dishonest.

En/Pt → There was no other choice. I remained as quiet as a mouse. They also said nothing about their love. Yet as they grew closer, they trusted me more and more in such an innocent, charming way that I struggled not to show my interest.

Richard often met me early in the garden. With a laugh and a slight blush, he called me their dear, excellent old woman and said he could not manage without me. Before his wild day of study and riding around the countryside, a calm walk with his comfortable friend did him good. That was why he had come again.

At night, Ada rested her head on my shoulder while the fire shone in her thoughtful eyes. Calling me Dame Durden, she said she did not need to talk upstairs. She only wanted to sit and think beside my dear face, listen to the wind, and remember the poor sailors at sea.

En/Pt → Perhaps Richard would become a sailor. We had often discussed his childhood wish to go to sea. Mr. Jarndyce had written to a distant family relation, the powerful Sir Leicester Dedlock, asking him generally to support Richard. Sir Leicester politely replied that he would help if he ever had the power, though that was unlikely. Lady Dedlock sent her greetings to the young distant relative and hoped he would perform his duty in any honourable profession he chose.

Richard told me it was clear that he would have to succeed through his own work. Many people had done that before, so he did not mind. He only wished he commanded a fast private ship. Then he could capture the Chancellor and give him little food until he decided their case. If the Chancellor delayed, he would soon become thin.

Richard was usually cheerful, hopeful, and full of energy. Yet his careless nature confused me, mainly because he strangely believed it was careful and sensible. This especially affected all his ideas about money, as our loan to Mr. Skimpole showed.

En/Pt → Mr. Jarndyce learned how much we had paid Skimpole, either from Skimpole or Coavinses. He gave me the money, telling me to keep my share and return the rest to Richard. Richard then used the recovered ten pounds to excuse many careless expenses. He often spoke as if he had earned or saved that amount, and all these expenses added up.

When he carelessly wanted to give five pounds to the brickmaker, Richard asked why not. He claimed he had made a clear profit of ten pounds from the Coavinses affair.

I asked him how that was possible.

He explained that he had willingly given away ten pounds and never expected to see them again. He asked whether I denied that.

I said that I did not.

Richard continued that he had then received ten pounds.

I quietly reminded him that they were the same ten pounds.

Richard said that did not matter. He now had ten pounds more than expected, so he believed he could spend them freely.

En/Pt → In the same way, when we persuaded him not to waste five pounds on the brickmaker because it would not help, he treated the unspent money as a profit and began spending against it.

He would say he had saved five pounds in the brickmaker affair. If a fast carriage trip to London and back cost four pounds, he would still have saved one. He insisted that saving one pound was excellent because money saved was money gained.

Richard was extremely honest and generous. He was enthusiastic, brave, restless, and naturally gentle, so within weeks I knew him like a brother. Ada’s influence made him an even more charming companion. He was interested in everything, happy, hopeful, and carefree. As I sat, walked, and talked with them, I watched them fall more deeply in love each day. Neither spoke of it, and each shyly believed it was a secret perhaps even from the other. I was almost as delighted by their beautiful dream as they were.

En/Pt → One morning at breakfast, Mr. Jarndyce received a letter from Boythorn and read it with clear pleasure. Halfway through, he announced that Boythorn was coming to visit. We all wondered who Boythorn was and whether his visit would disturb the quiet romance around us.

Mr. Jarndyce said he had attended school with Lawrence Boythorn more than forty-five years earlier. Boythorn had been the world’s most energetic, loud, warm-hearted, and strong boy. Now he was the same kind of man. Jarndyce called him a remarkable fellow.

Richard asked whether he meant Boythorn was physically large.

Jarndyce said Boythorn was quite large. He was ten years older and several centimetres taller than Jarndyce. He held his head like an old soldier, had a broad chest and hands like a clean blacksmith. His powerful lungs made the house beams shake when he talked, laughed, or snored.

As Jarndyce enjoyed thinking about his friend, we noticed the good sign that the wind showed no change.

En/Pt → Jarndyce explained that Boythorn’s warm heart, strong feelings, and lively nature mattered most. His language was as powerful as his voice, and he always spoke in extremes. His fierce words could make him sound like a monster, and some people thought he was one. Jarndyce would say no more before the visit. He warned us not to be surprised when Boythorn protected him, because Boythorn still remembered Jarndyce as a smaller schoolboy. Their friendship began when Boythorn knocked out two teeth of a cruel older boy, though Boythorn claimed it was six. He and his servant would arrive that afternoon.

I prepared everything for Boythorn and we waited with interest. Afternoon and dinner time passed without him, so dinner was delayed an hour. As we sat by the fire in the dark, the front door suddenly opened. A very loud voice announced that a terrible man had sent them right instead of left. Boythorn called him the worst criminal on earth, blamed his father, and said he deserved to be shot.

En/Pt → Mr. Jarndyce asked whether the man had misdirected him deliberately.

Boythorn declared that the criminal had surely spent his whole life giving travellers wrong directions. He had thought the man looked evil while sending him right, yet had stood face to face with him without attacking him.

Mr. Jarndyce jokingly asked whether Boythorn meant teeth.

Lawrence Boythorn laughed so loudly that the house shook. He was delighted that Jarndyce remembered their school fight. He called the old bully the greatest example of dishonesty, fear, and cruelty. If he met that cruel man in the street tomorrow, he said, he would knock him down like a rotten tree.

Mr. Jarndyce said he did not doubt it, then invited Boythorn upstairs.

Checking the time, Boythorn said that if Jarndyce had been married, he would have turned back at the garden gate. He would rather have gone to the highest Himalayas than arrive at such a late hour.

En/Pt → Mr. Jarndyce said he hoped Boythorn would not go quite so far.

Boythorn insisted that he would. He would never be rude enough to keep a lady waiting so long. He would rather destroy himself than commit such an offence.

They went upstairs as they talked. Soon Boythorn’s powerful laughter thundered from his bedroom again and again. Even the weakest echo nearby seemed to catch it and laugh as happily as he did, and as we did while listening.

En/Pt → We immediately liked Boythorn. His strong laugh, healthy voice, full speech, and wild exaggerations felt honest and harmless, like cannons firing without bullets. His appearance confirmed our good opinion. He was a handsome, upright, powerful older gentleman with thick grey hair and a calm face when silent. His constant energy kept his body strong and his chin firm. His manners were those of a true gentleman: polite, gentle, and warm. His sweet smile showed that he hid nothing. As Richard said, he could do nothing on a small scale, so he fired his great harmless cannons because he had no smaller weapons. At dinner, I watched him with pleasure as he spoke gently to Ada and me, shouted extreme opinions with Jarndyce, and filled the house with laughter.

Mr. Jarndyce asked whether Boythorn had brought his bird.

Boythorn called it the most amazing bird in Europe. He would not sell it for ten thousand guineas and had arranged an income for it if it lived longer than he did. Its intelligence and love were extraordinary, and its father had also been one of the greatest birds ever.

Original English Text

1. Preface

Chapter I

Chapter II

Chapter III

Chapter IV

Chapter V

Chapter VI

Chapter VII

Chapter VIII

Chapter IX

Contents

Preface

Português → by Charles Dickens

BLEAK HOUSE

by

CHARLES DICKENS

CONTENTS

Português → Preface I. In Chancery II. In Fashion III. A Progress IV. Telescopic Philanthropy V. A Morning Adventure VI. Quite at Home VII. The Ghost’s Walk VIII. Covering a Multitude of Sins IX. Signs and Tokens X. The Law-Writer XI. Our Dear Brother XII. On the Watch XIII. Esther’s Narrative XIV. Deportment XV. Bell Yard XVI. Tom-all-Alone’s XVII. Esther’s Narrative XVIII. Lady Dedlock XIX. Moving On XX. A New Lodger XXI. The Smallweed Family XXII. Mr. Bucket XXIII. Esther’s Narrative XXIV. An Appeal Case XXV. Mrs. Snagsby Sees It All XXVI. Sharpshooters XXVII. More Old Soldiers Than One XXVIII. The Ironmaster XXIX. The Young Man XXX. Esther’s Narrative XXXI. Nurse and Patient XXXII. The Appointed Time XXXIII. Interlopers XXXIV. A Turn of the Screw XXXV. Esther’s Narrative XXXVI. Chesney Wold XXXVII. Jarndyce and Jarndyce XXXVIII. A Struggle XXXIX. Attorney and Client XL. National and Domestic XLI. In Mr. Tulkinghorn’s Room XLII. In Mr. Tulkinghorn’s Chambers XLIII. Esther’s Narrative XLIV. The Letter and the Answer XLV. In Trust XLVI. Stop Him! XLVII. Jo’s Will XLVIII. Closing In XLIX. Dutiful Friendship L. Esther’s Narrative LI. Enlightened LII. Obstinacy LIII. The Track LIV. Springing a Mine LV. Flight LVI. Pursuit LVII. Esther’s Narrative LVIII. A Wintry Day and Night LIX. Esther’s Narrative LX. Perspective LXI. A Discovery LXII. Another Discovery LXIII. Steel and Iron LXIV. Esther’s Narrative LXV. Beginning the World LXVI. Down in Lincolnshire LXVII. The Close of Esther’s Narrative

Português → PREFACE

A Chancery judge once had the kindness to inform me, as one of a company of some hundred and fifty men and women not labouring under any suspicions of lunacy, that the Court of Chancery, though the shining subject of much popular prejudice (at which point I thought the judge’s eye had a cast in my direction), was almost immaculate. There had been, he admitted, a trivial blemish or so in its rate of progress, but this was exaggerated and had been entirely owing to the “parsimony of the public,” which guilty public, it appeared, had been until lately bent in the most determined manner on by no means enlarging the number of Chancery judges appointed - I believe by Richard the Second, but any other king will do as well.

This seemed to me too profound a joke to be inserted in the body of this book or I should have restored it to Conversation Kenge or to Mr. Vholes, with one or other of whom I think it must have originated. In such mouths I might have coupled it with an apt quotation from one of Shakespeare’s sonnets:

“My nature is subdued To what it works in, like the dyer’s hand: Pity me, then, and wish I were renewed!”

But as it is wholesome that the parsimonious public should know what has been doing, and still is doing, in this connexion, I mention here that everything set forth in these pages concerning the Court of Chancery is substantially true, and within the truth. The case of Gridley is in no essential altered from one of actual occurrence, made public by a disinterested person who was professionally acquainted with the whole of the monstrous wrong from beginning to end. At the present moment (August, 1853) there is a suit before the court which was commenced nearly twenty years ago, in which from thirty to forty counsel have been known to appear at one time, in which costs have been incurred to the amount of seventy thousand pounds, which is A FRIENDLY SUIT, and which is (I am assured) no nearer to its termination now than when it was begun. There is another well-known suit in Chancery, not yet decided, which was commenced before the close of the last century and in which more than double the amount of seventy thousand pounds has been swallowed up in costs. If I wanted other authorities for Jarndyce and Jarndyce, I could rain them on these pages, to the shame of - a parsimonious public.

Português → There is only one other point on which I offer a word of remark. The possibility of what is called spontaneous combustion has been denied since the death of Mr. Krook; and my good friend Mr. Lewes (quite mistaken, as he soon found, in supposing the thing to have been abandoned by all authorities) published some ingenious letters to me at the time when that event was chronicled, arguing that spontaneous combustion could not possibly be. I have no need to observe that I do not wilfully or negligently mislead my readers and that before I wrote that description I took pains to investigate the subject. There are about thirty cases on record, of which the most famous, that of the Countess Cornelia de Baudi Cesenate, was minutely investigated and described by Giuseppe Bianchini, a prebendary of Verona, otherwise distinguished in letters, who published an account of it at Verona in 1731, which he afterwards republished at Rome. The appearances, beyond all rational doubt, observed in that case are the appearances observed in Mr. Krook’s case. The next most famous instance happened at Rheims six years earlier, and the historian in that case is Le Cat, one of the most renowned surgeons produced by France. The subject was a woman, whose husband was ignorantly convicted of having murdered her; but on solemn appeal to a higher court, he was acquitted because it was shown upon the evidence that she had died the death of which this name of spontaneous combustion is given. I do not think it necessary to add to these notable facts, and that general reference to the authorities which will be found at page 30, vol. ii.,* the recorded opinions and experiences of distinguished medical professors, French, English, and Scotch, in more modern days, contenting myself with observing that I shall not abandon the facts until there shall have been a considerable spontaneous combustion of the testimony on which human occurrences are usually received.**

In Bleak House I have purposely dwelt upon the romantic side of familiar things.

Português → 1853

Português → ** Another case, very clearly described by a dentist, occurred at the town of Columbus, in the United States of America, quite recently. The subject was a German who kept a liquor-shop and was an inveterate drunkard.

Chapter I

Português → In Chancery

London. Michaelmas term lately over, and the Lord Chancellor sitting in Lincoln’s Inn Hall. Implacable November weather. As much mud in the streets as if the waters had but newly retired from the face of the earth, and it would not be wonderful to meet a Megalosaurus, forty feet long or so, waddling like an elephantine lizard up Holborn Hill. Smoke lowering down from chimney-pots, making a soft black drizzle, with flakes of soot in it as big as full-grown snowflakes - gone into mourning, one might imagine, for the death of the sun. Dogs, undistinguishable in mire. Horses, scarcely better; splashed to their very blinkers. Foot passengers, jostling one another’s umbrellas in a general infection of ill temper, and losing their foot-hold at street-corners, where tens of thousands of other foot passengers have been slipping and sliding since the day broke (if this day ever broke), adding new deposits to the crust upon crust of mud, sticking at those points tenaciously to the pavement, and accumulating at compound interest.

Fog everywhere. Fog up the river, where it flows among green aits and meadows; fog down the river, where it rolls defiled among the tiers of shipping and the waterside pollutions of a great (and dirty) city. Fog on the Essex marshes, fog on the Kentish heights. Fog creeping into the cabooses of collier-brigs; fog lying out on the yards and hovering in the rigging of great ships; fog drooping on the gunwales of barges and small boats. Fog in the eyes and throats of ancient Greenwich pensioners, wheezing by the firesides of their wards; fog in the stem and bowl of the afternoon pipe of the wrathful skipper, down in his close cabin; fog cruelly pinching the toes and fingers of his shivering little ’prentice boy on deck. Chance people on the bridges peeping over the parapets into a nether sky of fog, with fog all round them, as if they were up in a balloon and hanging in the misty clouds.

Gas looming through the fog in divers places in the streets, much as the sun may, from the spongey fields, be seen to loom by husbandman and ploughboy. Most of the shops lighted two hours before their time - as the gas seems to know, for it has a haggard and unwilling look.

The raw afternoon is rawest, and the dense fog is densest, and the muddy streets are muddiest near that leaden-headed old obstruction, appropriate ornament for the threshold of a leaden-headed old corporation, Temple Bar. And hard by Temple Bar, in Lincoln’s Inn Hall, at the very heart of the fog, sits the Lord High Chancellor in his High Court of Chancery.

Português → Never can there come fog too thick, never can there come mud and mire too deep, to assort with the groping and floundering condition which this High Court of Chancery, most pestilent of hoary sinners, holds this day in the sight of heaven and earth.

On such an afternoon, if ever, the Lord High Chancellor ought to be sitting here - as here he is - with a foggy glory round his head, softly fenced in with crimson cloth and curtains, addressed by a large advocate with great whiskers, a little voice, and an interminable brief, and outwardly directing his contemplation to the lantern in the roof, where he can see nothing but fog. On such an afternoon some score of members of the High Court of Chancery bar ought to be - as here they are - mistily engaged in one of the ten thousand stages of an endless cause, tripping one another up on slippery precedents, groping knee-deep in technicalities, running their goat-hair and horsehair warded heads against walls of words and making a pretence of equity with serious faces, as players might. On such an afternoon the various solicitors in the cause, some two or three of whom have inherited it from their fathers, who made a fortune by it, ought to be - as are they not? - ranged in a line, in a long matted well (but you might look in vain for truth at the bottom of it) between the registrar’s red table and the silk gowns, with bills, cross-bills, answers, rejoinders, injunctions, affidavits, issues, references to masters, masters’ reports, mountains of costly nonsense, piled before them. Well may the court be dim, with wasting candles here and there; well may the fog hang heavy in it, as if it would never get out; well may the stained-glass windows lose their colour and admit no light of day into the place; well may the uninitiated from the streets, who peep in through the glass panes in the door, be deterred from entrance by its owlish aspect and by the drawl, languidly echoing to the roof from the padded dais where the Lord High Chancellor looks into the lantern that has no light in it and where the attendant wigs are all stuck in a fog-bank! This is the Court of Chancery, which has its decaying houses and its blighted lands in every shire, which has its worn-out lunatic in every madhouse and its dead in every churchyard, which has its ruined suitor with his slipshod heels and threadbare dress borrowing and begging through the round of every man’s acquaintance, which gives to monied might the means abundantly of wearying out the right, which so exhausts finances, patience, courage, hope, so overthrows the brain and breaks the heart, that there is not an honourable man among its practitioners who would not give - who does not often give - the warning, “Suffer any wrong that can be done you rather than come here!”

Who happen to be in the Lord Chancellor’s court this murky afternoon besides the Lord Chancellor, the counsel in the cause, two or three counsel who are never in any cause, and the well of solicitors before mentioned? There is the registrar below the judge, in wig and gown; and there are two or three maces, or petty-bags, or privy purses, or whatever they may be, in legal court suits. These are all yawning, for no crumb of amusement ever falls from Jarndyce and Jarndyce (the cause in hand), which was squeezed dry years upon years ago. The short-hand writers, the reporters of the court, and the reporters of the newspapers invariably decamp with the rest of the regulars when Jarndyce and Jarndyce comes on. Their places are a blank. Standing on a seat at the side of the hall, the better to peer into the curtained sanctuary, is a little mad old woman in a squeezed bonnet who is always in court, from its sitting to its rising, and always expecting some incomprehensible judgment to be given in her favour. Some say she really is, or was, a party to a suit, but no one knows for certain because no one cares. She carries some small litter in a reticule which she calls her documents, principally consisting of paper matches and dry lavender. A sallow prisoner has come up, in custody, for the half-dozenth time to make a personal application “to purge himself of his contempt,” which, being a solitary surviving executor who has fallen into a state of conglomeration about accounts of which it is not pretended that he had ever any knowledge, he is not at all likely ever to do. In the meantime his prospects in life are ended. Another ruined suitor, who periodically appears from Shropshire and breaks out into efforts to address the Chancellor at the close of the day’s business and who can by no means be made to understand that the Chancellor is legally ignorant of his existence after making it desolate for a quarter of a century, plants himself in a good place and keeps an eye on the judge, ready to call out “My Lord!” in a voice of sonorous complaint on the instant of his rising. A few lawyers’ clerks and others who know this suitor by sight linger on the chance of his furnishing some fun and enlivening the dismal weather a little.

Português → Jarndyce and Jarndyce drones on. This scarecrow of a suit has, in course of time, become so complicated that no man alive knows what it means. The parties to it understand it least, but it has been observed that no two Chancery lawyers can talk about it for five minutes without coming to a total disagreement as to all the premises. Innumerable children have been born into the cause; innumerable young people have married into it; innumerable old people have died out of it. Scores of persons have deliriously found themselves made parties in Jarndyce and Jarndyce without knowing how or why; whole families have inherited legendary hatreds with the suit. The little plaintiff or defendant who was promised a new rocking-horse when Jarndyce and Jarndyce should be settled has grown up, possessed himself of a real horse, and trotted away into the other world. Fair wards of court have faded into mothers and grandmothers; a long procession of Chancellors has come in and gone out; the legion of bills in the suit have been transformed into mere bills of mortality; there are not three Jarndyces left upon the earth perhaps since old Tom Jarndyce in despair blew his brains out at a coffee-house in Chancery Lane; but Jarndyce and Jarndyce still drags its dreary length before the court, perennially hopeless.

Jarndyce and Jarndyce has passed into a joke. That is the only good that has ever come of it. It has been death to many, but it is a joke in the profession. Every master in Chancery has had a reference out of it. Every Chancellor was “in it,” for somebody or other, when he was counsel at the bar. Good things have been said about it by blue-nosed, bulbous-shoed old benchers in select port-wine committee after dinner in hall. Articled clerks have been in the habit of fleshing their legal wit upon it. The last Lord Chancellor handled it neatly, when, correcting Mr. Blowers, the eminent silk gown who said that such a thing might happen when the sky rained potatoes, he observed, “or when we get through Jarndyce and Jarndyce, Mr. Blowers” - a pleasantry that particularly tickled the maces, bags, and purses.

How many people out of the suit Jarndyce and Jarndyce has stretched forth its unwholesome hand to spoil and corrupt would be a very wide question. From the master upon whose impaling files reams of dusty warrants in Jarndyce and Jarndyce have grimly writhed into many shapes, down to the copying-clerk in the Six Clerks’ Office who has copied his tens of thousands of Chancery folio-pages under that eternal heading, no man’s nature has been made better by it. In trickery, evasion, procrastination, spoliation, botheration, under false pretences of all sorts, there are influences that can never come to good. The very solicitors’ boys who have kept the wretched suitors at bay, by protesting time out of mind that Mr. Chizzle, Mizzle, or otherwise was particularly engaged and had appointments until dinner, may have got an extra moral twist and shuffle into themselves out of Jarndyce and Jarndyce. The receiver in the cause has acquired a goodly sum of money by it but has acquired too a distrust of his own mother and a contempt for his own kind. Chizzle, Mizzle, and otherwise have lapsed into a habit of vaguely promising themselves that they will look into that outstanding little matter and see what can be done for Drizzle - who was not well used - when Jarndyce and Jarndyce shall be got out of the office. Shirking and sharking in all their many varieties have been sown broadcast by the ill-fated cause; and even those who have contemplated its history from the outermost circle of such evil have been insensibly tempted into a loose way of letting bad things alone to take their own bad course, and a loose belief that if the world go wrong it was in some off-hand manner never meant to go right.

Thus, in the midst of the mud and at the heart of the fog, sits the Lord High Chancellor in his High Court of Chancery.

Português → “Mr. Tangle,” says the Lord High Chancellor, latterly something restless under the eloquence of that learned gentleman.

“Mlud,” says Mr. Tangle. Mr. Tangle knows more of Jarndyce and Jarndyce than anybody. He is famous for it - supposed never to have read anything else since he left school.

“Have you nearly concluded your argument?”

“Mlud, no - variety of points - feel it my duty tsubmit - ludship,” is the reply that slides out of Mr. Tangle.

“Several members of the bar are still to be heard, I believe?” says the Chancellor with a slight smile.

Eighteen of Mr. Tangle’s learned friends, each armed with a little summary of eighteen hundred sheets, bob up like eighteen hammers in a pianoforte, make eighteen bows, and drop into their eighteen places of obscurity.

“We will proceed with the hearing on Wednesday fortnight,” says the Chancellor. For the question at issue is only a question of costs, a mere bud on the forest tree of the parent suit, and really will come to a settlement one of these days.

The Chancellor rises; the bar rises; the prisoner is brought forward in a hurry; the man from Shropshire cries, “My lord!” Maces, bags, and purses indignantly proclaim silence and frown at the man from Shropshire.

“In reference,” proceeds the Chancellor, still on Jarndyce and Jarndyce, “to the young girl - ”

Português → “Begludship’s pardon - boy,” says Mr. Tangle prematurely. “In reference,” proceeds the Chancellor with extra distinctness, “to the young girl and boy, the two young people” - Mr. Tangle crushed - “whom I directed to be in attendance to-day and who are now in my private room, I will see them and satisfy myself as to the expediency of making the order for their residing with their uncle.”

Mr. Tangle on his legs again. “Begludship’s pardon - dead.”

“With their” - Chancellor looking through his double eye-glass at the papers on his desk - “grandfather.”

“Begludship’s pardon - victim of rash action - brains.”

Suddenly a very little counsel with a terrific bass voice arises, fully inflated, in the back settlements of the fog, and says, “Will your lordship allow me? I appear for him. He is a cousin, several times removed. I am not at the moment prepared to inform the court in what exact remove he is a cousin, but he IS a cousin.”

Leaving this address (delivered like a sepulchral message) ringing in the rafters of the roof, the very little counsel drops, and the fog knows him no more. Everybody looks for him. Nobody can see him.

“I will speak with both the young people,” says the Chancellor anew, “and satisfy myself on the subject of their residing with their cousin. I will mention the matter to-morrow morning when I take my seat.”

Português → The Chancellor is about to bow to the bar when the prisoner is presented. Nothing can possibly come of the prisoner’s conglomeration but his being sent back to prison, which is soon done. The man from Shropshire ventures another remonstrative “My lord!” but the Chancellor, being aware of him, has dexterously vanished. Everybody else quickly vanishes too. A battery of blue bags is loaded with heavy charges of papers and carried off by clerks; the little mad old woman marches off with her documents; the empty court is locked up. If all the injustice it has committed and all the misery it has caused could only be locked up with it, and the whole burnt away in a great funeral pyre - why so much the better for other parties than the parties in Jarndyce and Jarndyce!

Chapter II

Português → In Fashion

It is but a glimpse of the world of fashion that we want on this same miry afternoon. It is not so unlike the Court of Chancery but that we may pass from the one scene to the other, as the crow flies. Both the world of fashion and the Court of Chancery are things of precedent and usage: oversleeping Rip Van Winkles who have played at strange games through a deal of thundery weather; sleeping beauties whom the knight will wake one day, when all the stopped spits in the kitchen shall begin to turn prodigiously!

It is not a large world. Relatively even to this world of ours, which has its limits too (as your Highness shall find when you have made the tour of it and are come to the brink of the void beyond), it is a very little speck. There is much good in it; there are many good and true people in it; it has its appointed place. But the evil of it is that it is a world wrapped up in too much jeweller’s cotton and fine wool, and cannot hear the rushing of the larger worlds, and cannot see them as they circle round the sun. It is a deadened world, and its growth is sometimes unhealthy for want of air.

My Lady Dedlock has returned to her house in town for a few days previous to her departure for Paris, where her ladyship intends to stay some weeks, after which her movements are uncertain. The fashionable intelligence says so for the comfort of the Parisians, and it knows all fashionable things. To know things otherwise were to be unfashionable. My Lady Dedlock has been down at what she calls, in familiar conversation, her “place” in Lincolnshire. The waters are out in Lincolnshire. An arch of the bridge in the park has been sapped and sopped away. The adjacent low-lying ground for half a mile in breadth is a stagnant river with melancholy trees for islands in it and a surface punctured all over, all day long, with falling rain. My Lady Dedlock’s place has been extremely dreary. The weather for many a day and night has been so wet that the trees seem wet through, and the soft loppings and prunings of the woodman’s axe can make no crash or crackle as they fall. The deer, looking soaked, leave quagmires where they pass. The shot of a rifle loses its sharpness in the moist air, and its smoke moves in a tardy little cloud towards the green rise, coppice-topped, that makes a background for the falling rain. The view from my Lady Dedlock’s own windows is alternately a lead-coloured view and a view in Indian ink. The vases on the stone terrace in the foreground catch the rain all day; and the heavy drops fall - drip, drip, drip - upon the broad flagged pavement, called from old time the Ghost’s Walk, all night. On Sundays the little church in the park is mouldy; the oaken pulpit breaks out into a cold sweat; and there is a general smell and taste as of the ancient Dedlocks in their graves. My Lady Dedlock (who is childless), looking out in the early twilight from her boudoir at a keeper’s lodge and seeing the light of a fire upon the latticed panes, and smoke rising from the chimney, and a child, chased by a woman, running out into the rain to meet the shining figure of a wrapped-up man coming through the gate, has been put quite out of temper. My Lady Dedlock says she has been “bored to death.”

Therefore my Lady Dedlock has come away from the place in Lincolnshire and has left it to the rain, and the crows, and the rabbits, and the deer, and the partridges and pheasants. The pictures of the Dedlocks past and gone have seemed to vanish into the damp walls in mere lowness of spirits, as the housekeeper has passed along the old rooms shutting up the shutters. And when they will next come forth again, the fashionable intelligence - which, like the fiend, is omniscient of the past and present, but not the future - cannot yet undertake to say.

Português → Sir Leicester Dedlock is only a baronet, but there is no mightier baronet than he. His family is as old as the hills, and infinitely more respectable. He has a general opinion that the world might get on without hills but would be done up without Dedlocks. He would on the whole admit nature to be a good idea (a little low, perhaps, when not enclosed with a park-fence), but an idea dependent for its execution on your great county families. He is a gentleman of strict conscience, disdainful of all littleness and meanness and ready on the shortest notice to die any death you may please to mention rather than give occasion for the least impeachment of his integrity. He is an honourable, obstinate, truthful, high-spirited, intensely prejudiced, perfectly unreasonable man.

Sir Leicester is twenty years, full measure, older than my Lady. He will never see sixty-five again, nor perhaps sixty-six, nor yet sixty-seven. He has a twist of the gout now and then and walks a little stiffly. He is of a worthy presence, with his light-grey hair and whiskers, his fine shirt-frill, his pure-white waistcoat, and his blue coat with bright buttons always buttoned. He is ceremonious, stately, most polite on every occasion to my Lady, and holds her personal attractions in the highest estimation. His gallantry to my Lady, which has never changed since he courted her, is the one little touch of romantic fancy in him.

Indeed, he married her for love. A whisper still goes about that she had not even family; howbeit, Sir Leicester had so much family that perhaps he had enough and could dispense with any more. But she had beauty, pride, ambition, insolent resolve, and sense enough to portion out a legion of fine ladies. Wealth and station, added to these, soon floated her upward, and for years now my Lady Dedlock has been at the centre of the fashionable intelligence and at the top of the fashionable tree.

How Alexander wept when he had no more worlds to conquer, everybody knows - or has some reason to know by this time, the matter having been rather frequently mentioned. My Lady Dedlock, having conquered HER world, fell not into the melting, but rather into the freezing, mood. An exhausted composure, a worn-out placidity, an equanimity of fatigue not to be ruffled by interest or satisfaction, are the trophies of her victory. She is perfectly well-bred. If she could be translated to heaven to-morrow, she might be expected to ascend without any rapture.

Português → She has beauty still, and if it be not in its heyday, it is not yet in its autumn. She has a fine face - originally of a character that would be rather called very pretty than handsome, but improved into classicality by the acquired expression of her fashionable state. Her figure is elegant and has the effect of being tall. Not that she is so, but that “the most is made,” as the Honourable Bob Stables has frequently asserted upon oath, “of all her points.” The same authority observes that she is perfectly got up and remarks in commendation of her hair especially that she is the best-groomed woman in the whole stud.

With all her perfections on her head, my Lady Dedlock has come up from her place in Lincolnshire (hotly pursued by the fashionable intelligence) to pass a few days at her house in town previous to her departure for Paris, where her ladyship intends to stay some weeks, after which her movements are uncertain. And at her house in town, upon this muddy, murky afternoon, presents himself an old-fashioned old gentleman, attorney-at-law and eke solicitor of the High Court of Chancery, who has the honour of acting as legal adviser of the Dedlocks and has as many cast-iron boxes in his office with that name outside as if the present baronet were the coin of the conjuror’s trick and were constantly being juggled through the whole set. Across the hall, and up the stairs, and along the passages, and through the rooms, which are very brilliant in the season and very dismal out of it - fairy-land to visit, but a desert to live in - the old gentleman is conducted by a Mercury in powder to my Lady’s presence.

The old gentleman is rusty to look at, but is reputed to have made good thrift out of aristocratic marriage settlements and aristocratic wills, and to be very rich. He is surrounded by a mysterious halo of family confidences, of which he is known to be the silent depository. There are noble mausoleums rooted for centuries in retired glades of parks among the growing timber and the fern, which perhaps hold fewer noble secrets than walk abroad among men, shut up in the breast of Mr. Tulkinghorn. He is of what is called the old school - a phrase generally meaning any school that seems never to have been young - and wears knee-breeches tied with ribbons, and gaiters or stockings. One peculiarity of his black clothes and of his black stockings, be they silk or worsted, is that they never shine. Mute, close, irresponsive to any glancing light, his dress is like himself. He never converses when not professionally consulted. He is found sometimes, speechless but quite at home, at corners of dinner-tables in great country houses and near doors of drawing-rooms, concerning which the fashionable intelligence is eloquent, where everybody knows him and where half the Peerage stops to say “How do you do, Mr. Tulkinghorn?” He receives these salutations with gravity and buries them along with the rest of his knowledge.

Sir Leicester Dedlock is with my Lady and is happy to see Mr. Tulkinghorn. There is an air of prescription about him which is always agreeable to Sir Leicester; he receives it as a kind of tribute. He likes Mr. Tulkinghorn’s dress; there is a kind of tribute in that too. It is eminently respectable, and likewise, in a general way, retainer-like. It expresses, as it were, the steward of the legal mysteries, the butler of the legal cellar, of the Dedlocks.

Has Mr. Tulkinghorn any idea of this himself? It may be so, or it may not, but there is this remarkable circumstance to be noted in everything associated with my Lady Dedlock as one of a class - as one of the leaders and representatives of her little world. She supposes herself to be an inscrutable Being, quite out of the reach and ken of ordinary mortals - seeing herself in her glass, where indeed she looks so. Yet every dim little star revolving about her, from her maid to the manager of the Italian Opera, knows her weaknesses, prejudices, follies, haughtinesses, and caprices and lives upon as accurate a calculation and as nice a measure of her moral nature as her dressmaker takes of her physical proportions. Is a new dress, a new custom, a new singer, a new dancer, a new form of jewellery, a new dwarf or giant, a new chapel, a new anything, to be set up? There are deferential people in a dozen callings whom my Lady Dedlock suspects of nothing but prostration before her, who can tell you how to manage her as if she were a baby, who do nothing but nurse her all their lives, who, humbly affecting to follow with profound subservience, lead her and her whole troop after them; who, in hooking one, hook all and bear them off as Lemuel Gulliver bore away the stately fleet of the majestic Lilliput. “If you want to address our people, sir,” say Blaze and Sparkle, the jewellers - meaning by our people Lady Dedlock and the rest - “you must remember that you are not dealing with the general public; you must hit our people in their weakest place, and their weakest place is such a place.” “To make this article go down, gentlemen,” say Sheen and Gloss, the mercers, to their friends the manufacturers, “you must come to us, because we know where to have the fashionable people, and we can make it fashionable.” “If you want to get this print upon the tables of my high connexion, sir,” says Mr. Sladdery, the librarian, “or if you want to get this dwarf or giant into the houses of my high connexion, sir, or if you want to secure to this entertainment the patronage of my high connexion, sir, you must leave it, if you please, to me, for I have been accustomed to study the leaders of my high connexion, sir, and I may tell you without vanity that I can turn them round my finger” - in which Mr. Sladdery, who is an honest man, does not exaggerate at all.

Português → Therefore, while Mr. Tulkinghorn may not know what is passing in the Dedlock mind at present, it is very possible that he may.

“My Lady’s cause has been again before the Chancellor, has it, Mr. Tulkinghorn?” says Sir Leicester, giving him his hand.

“Yes. It has been on again to-day,” Mr. Tulkinghorn replies, making one of his quiet bows to my Lady, who is on a sofa near the fire, shading her face with a hand-screen.

“It would be useless to ask,” says my Lady with the dreariness of the place in Lincolnshire still upon her, “whether anything has been done.”

“Nothing that YOU would call anything has been done to-day,” replies Mr. Tulkinghorn.

“Nor ever will be,” says my Lady.

Sir Leicester has no objection to an interminable Chancery suit. It is a slow, expensive, British, constitutional kind of thing. To be sure, he has not a vital interest in the suit in question, her part in which was the only property my Lady brought him; and he has a shadowy impression that for his name - the name of Dedlock - to be in a cause, and not in the title of that cause, is a most ridiculous accident. But he regards the Court of Chancery, even if it should involve an occasional delay of justice and a trifling amount of confusion, as a something devised in conjunction with a variety of other somethings by the perfection of human wisdom for the eternal settlement (humanly speaking) of everything. And he is upon the whole of a fixed opinion that to give the sanction of his countenance to any complaints respecting it would be to encourage some person in the lower classes to rise up somewhere - like Wat Tyler.

“As a few fresh affidavits have been put upon the file,” says Mr. Tulkinghorn, “and as they are short, and as I proceed upon the troublesome principle of begging leave to possess my clients with any new proceedings in a cause” - cautious man Mr. Tulkinghorn, taking no more responsibility than necessary - “and further, as I see you are going to Paris, I have brought them in my pocket.”

Português → (Sir Leicester was going to Paris too, by the by, but the delight of the fashionable intelligence was in his Lady.)

Mr. Tulkinghorn takes out his papers, asks permission to place them on a golden talisman of a table at my Lady’s elbow, puts on his spectacles, and begins to read by the light of a shaded lamp.

“‘In Chancery. Between John Jarndyce - ’”

My Lady interrupts, requesting him to miss as many of the formal horrors as he can.

Mr. Tulkinghorn glances over his spectacles and begins again lower down. My Lady carelessly and scornfully abstracts her attention. Sir Leicester in a great chair looks at the file and appears to have a stately liking for the legal repetitions and prolixities as ranging among the national bulwarks. It happens that the fire is hot where my Lady sits and that the hand-screen is more beautiful than useful, being priceless but small. My Lady, changing her position, sees the papers on the table - looks at them nearer - looks at them nearer still - asks impulsively, “Who copied that?”

Mr. Tulkinghorn stops short, surprised by my Lady’s animation and her unusual tone.

“Is it what you people call law-hand?” she asks, looking full at him in her careless way again and toying with her screen.

“Not quite. Probably” - Mr. Tulkinghorn examines it as he speaks - “the legal character which it has was acquired after the original hand was formed. Why do you ask?”

Português → “Anything to vary this detestable monotony. Oh, go on, do!”

Mr. Tulkinghorn reads again. The heat is greater; my Lady screens her face. Sir Leicester dozes, starts up suddenly, and cries, “Eh? What do you say?”

“I say I am afraid,” says Mr. Tulkinghorn, who had risen hastily, “that Lady Dedlock is ill.”

“Faint,” my Lady murmurs with white lips, “only that; but it is like the faintness of death. Don’t speak to me. Ring, and take me to my room!”

Mr. Tulkinghorn retires into another chamber; bells ring, feet shuffle and patter, silence ensues. Mercury at last begs Mr. Tulkinghorn to return.

“Better now,” quoth Sir Leicester, motioning the lawyer to sit down and read to him alone. “I have been quite alarmed. I never knew my Lady swoon before. But the weather is extremely trying, and she really has been bored to death down at our place in Lincolnshire.”

Chapter III

Português → A Progress

I have a great deal of difficulty in beginning to write my portion of these pages, for I know I am not clever. I always knew that. I can remember, when I was a very little girl indeed, I used to say to my doll when we were alone together, “Now, Dolly, I am not clever, you know very well, and you must be patient with me, like a dear!” And so she used to sit propped up in a great arm-chair, with her beautiful complexion and rosy lips, staring at me - or not so much at me, I think, as at nothing - while I busily stitched away and told her every one of my secrets.

My dear old doll! I was such a shy little thing that I seldom dared to open my lips, and never dared to open my heart, to anybody else. It almost makes me cry to think what a relief it used to be to me when I came home from school of a day to run upstairs to my room and say, “Oh, you dear faithful Dolly, I knew you would be expecting me!” and then to sit down on the floor, leaning on the elbow of her great chair, and tell her all I had noticed since we parted. I had always rather a noticing way - not a quick way, oh, no! - a silent way of noticing what passed before me and thinking I should like to understand it better. I have not by any means a quick understanding. When I love a person very tenderly indeed, it seems to brighten. But even that may be my vanity.

I was brought up, from my earliest remembrance - like some of the princesses in the fairy stories, only I was not charming - by my godmother. At least, I only knew her as such. She was a good, good woman! She went to church three times every Sunday, and to morning prayers on Wednesdays and Fridays, and to lectures whenever there were lectures; and never missed. She was handsome; and if she had ever smiled, would have been (I used to think) like an angel - but she never smiled. She was always grave and strict. She was so very good herself, I thought, that the badness of other people made her frown all her life. I felt so different from her, even making every allowance for the differences between a child and a woman; I felt so poor, so trifling, and so far off that I never could be unrestrained with her - no, could never even love her as I wished. It made me very sorry to consider how good she was and how unworthy of her I was, and I used ardently to hope that I might have a better heart; and I talked it over very often with the dear old doll, but I never loved my godmother as I ought to have loved her and as I felt I must have loved her if I had been a better girl.

Português → This made me, I dare say, more timid and retiring than I naturally was and cast me upon Dolly as the only friend with whom I felt at ease. But something happened when I was still quite a little thing that helped it very much.

I had never heard my mama spoken of. I had never heard of my papa either, but I felt more interested about my mama. I had never worn a black frock, that I could recollect. I had never been shown my mama’s grave. I had never been told where it was. Yet I had never been taught to pray for any relation but my godmother. I had more than once approached this subject of my thoughts with Mrs. Rachael, our only servant, who took my light away when I was in bed (another very good woman, but austere to me), and she had only said, “Esther, good night!” and gone away and left me.

Although there were seven girls at the neighbouring school where I was a day boarder, and although they called me little Esther Summerson, I knew none of them at home. All of them were older than I, to be sure (I was the youngest there by a good deal), but there seemed to be some other separation between us besides that, and besides their being far more clever than I was and knowing much more than I did. One of them in the first week of my going to the school (I remember it very well) invited me home to a little party, to my great joy. But my godmother wrote a stiff letter declining for me, and I never went. I never went out at all.

It was my birthday. There were holidays at school on other birthdays - none on mine. There were rejoicings at home on other birthdays, as I knew from what I heard the girls relate to one another - there were none on mine. My birthday was the most melancholy day at home in the whole year.

Português → I have mentioned that unless my vanity should deceive me (as I know it may, for I may be very vain without suspecting it, though indeed I don’t), my comprehension is quickened when my affection is. My disposition is very affectionate, and perhaps I might still feel such a wound if such a wound could be received more than once with the quickness of that birthday.

Dinner was over, and my godmother and I were sitting at the table before the fire. The clock ticked, the fire clicked; not another sound had been heard in the room or in the house for I don’t know how long. I happened to look timidly up from my stitching, across the table at my godmother, and I saw in her face, looking gloomily at me, “It would have been far better, little Esther, that you had had no birthday, that you had never been born!”

I broke out crying and sobbing, and I said, “Oh, dear godmother, tell me, pray do tell me, did Mama die on my birthday?”

“No,” she returned. “Ask me no more, child!”

“Oh, do pray tell me something of her. Do now, at last, dear godmother, if you please! What did I do to her? How did I lose her? Why am I so different from other children, and why is it my fault, dear godmother? No, no, no, don’t go away. Oh, speak to me!”

I was in a kind of fright beyond my grief, and I caught hold of her dress and was kneeling to her. She had been saying all the while, “Let me go!” But now she stood still.

Português → Her darkened face had such power over me that it stopped me in the midst of my vehemence. I put up my trembling little hand to clasp hers or to beg her pardon with what earnestness I might, but withdrew it as she looked at me, and laid it on my fluttering heart. She raised me, sat in her chair, and standing me before her, said slowly in a cold, low voice - I see her knitted brow and pointed finger - “Your mother, Esther, is your disgrace, and you were hers. The time will come - and soon enough - when you will understand this better and will feel it too, as no one save a woman can. I have forgiven her” - but her face did not relent - “the wrong she did to me, and I say no more of it, though it was greater than you will ever know - than any one will ever know but I, the sufferer. For yourself, unfortunate girl, orphaned and degraded from the first of these evil anniversaries, pray daily that the sins of others be not visited upon your head, according to what is written. Forget your mother and leave all other people to forget her who will do her unhappy child that greatest kindness. Now, go!”

She checked me, however, as I was about to depart from her - so frozen as I was! - and added this, “Submission, self-denial, diligent work, are the preparations for a life begun with such a shadow on it. You are different from other children, Esther, because you were not born, like them, in common sinfulness and wrath. You are set apart.”

I went up to my room, and crept to bed, and laid my doll’s cheek against mine wet with tears, and holding that solitary friend upon my bosom, cried myself to sleep. Imperfect as my understanding of my sorrow was, I knew that I had brought no joy at any time to anybody’s heart and that I was to no one upon earth what Dolly was to me.

Português → Dear, dear, to think how much time we passed alone together afterwards, and how often I repeated to the doll the story of my birthday and confided to her that I would try as hard as ever I could to repair the fault I had been born with (of which I confessedly felt guilty and yet innocent) and would strive as I grew up to be industrious, contented, and kind-hearted and to do some good to some one, and win some love to myself if I could. I hope it is not self-indulgent to shed these tears as I think of it. I am very thankful, I am very cheerful, but I cannot quite help their coming to my eyes.

There! I have wiped them away now and can go on again properly.

I felt the distance between my godmother and myself so much more after the birthday, and felt so sensible of filling a place in her house which ought to have been empty, that I found her more difficult of approach, though I was fervently grateful to her in my heart, than ever. I felt in the same way towards my school companions; I felt in the same way towards Mrs. Rachael, who was a widow; and oh, towards her daughter, of whom she was proud, who came to see her once a fortnight! I was very retired and quiet, and tried to be very diligent.

One sunny afternoon when I had come home from school with my books and portfolio, watching my long shadow at my side, and as I was gliding upstairs to my room as usual, my godmother looked out of the parlour-door and called me back. Sitting with her, I found - which was very unusual indeed - a stranger. A portly, important-looking gentleman, dressed all in black, with a white cravat, large gold watch seals, a pair of gold eye-glasses, and a large seal-ring upon his little finger.

Português → “This,” said my godmother in an undertone, “is the child.” Then she said in her naturally stern way of speaking, “This is Esther, sir.”

The gentleman put up his eye-glasses to look at me and said, “Come here, my dear!” He shook hands with me and asked me to take off my bonnet, looking at me all the while. When I had complied, he said, “Ah!” and afterwards “Yes!” And then, taking off his eye-glasses and folding them in a red case, and leaning back in his arm-chair, turning the case about in his two hands, he gave my godmother a nod. Upon that, my godmother said, “You may go upstairs, Esther!” And I made him my curtsy and left him.

It must have been two years afterwards, and I was almost fourteen, when one dreadful night my godmother and I sat at the fireside. I was reading aloud, and she was listening. I had come down at nine o’clock as I always did to read the Bible to her, and was reading from St. John how our Saviour stooped down, writing with his finger in the dust, when they brought the sinful woman to him.

“So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself and said unto them, ‘He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her!’”

I was stopped by my godmother’s rising, putting her hand to her head, and crying out in an awful voice from quite another part of the book, “‘Watch ye, therefore, lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you, I say unto all, Watch!’”

Português → In an instant, while she stood before me repeating these words, she fell down on the floor. I had no need to cry out; her voice had sounded through the house and been heard in the street.

She was laid upon her bed. For more than a week she lay there, little altered outwardly, with her old handsome resolute frown that I so well knew carved upon her face. Many and many a time, in the day and in the night, with my head upon the pillow by her that my whispers might be plainer to her, I kissed her, thanked her, prayed for her, asked her for her blessing and forgiveness, entreated her to give me the least sign that she knew or heard me. No, no, no. Her face was immovable. To the very last, and even afterwards, her frown remained unsoftened.

On the day after my poor good godmother was buried, the gentleman in black with the white neckcloth reappeared. I was sent for by Mrs. Rachael, and found him in the same place, as if he had never gone away.

“My name is Kenge,” he said; “you may remember it, my child; Kenge and Carboy, Lincoln’s Inn.”

I replied that I remembered to have seen him once before.

“Pray be seated - here near me. Don’t distress yourself; it’s of no use. Mrs. Rachael, I needn’t inform you who were acquainted with the late Miss Barbary’s affairs, that her means die with her and that this young lady, now her aunt is dead - ”

Português → “My aunt, sir!”

“It is really of no use carrying on a deception when no object is to be gained by it,” said Mr. Kenge smoothly, “Aunt in fact, though not in law. Don’t distress yourself! Don’t weep! Don’t tremble! Mrs. Rachael, our young friend has no doubt heard of - the - a - Jarndyce and Jarndyce.”

“Never,” said Mrs. Rachael.

“Is it possible,” pursued Mr. Kenge, putting up his eye-glasses, “that our young friend - I BEG you won’t distress yourself! - never heard of Jarndyce and Jarndyce!”

I shook my head, wondering even what it was.

“Not of Jarndyce and Jarndyce?” said Mr. Kenge, looking over his glasses at me and softly turning the case about and about as if he were petting something. “Not of one of the greatest Chancery suits known? Not of Jarndyce and Jarndyce - the - a - in itself a monument of Chancery practice. In which (I would say) every difficulty, every contingency, every masterly fiction, every form of procedure known in that court, is represented over and over again? It is a cause that could not exist out of this free and great country. I should say that the aggregate of costs in Jarndyce and Jarndyce, Mrs. Rachael” - I was afraid he addressed himself to her because I appeared inattentive - “amounts at the present hour to from SIX-ty to SEVEN-ty THOUSAND POUNDS!” said Mr. Kenge, leaning back in his chair.

I felt very ignorant, but what could I do? I was so entirely unacquainted with the subject that I understood nothing about it even then.

“And she really never heard of the cause!” said Mr. Kenge. “Surprising!”

Português → “Miss Barbary, sir,” returned Mrs. Rachael, “who is now among the Seraphim - ”

“I hope so, I am sure,” said Mr. Kenge politely.

“ - Wished Esther only to know what would be serviceable to her. And she knows, from any teaching she has had here, nothing more.”

“Well!” said Mr. Kenge. “Upon the whole, very proper. Now to the point,” addressing me. “Miss Barbary, your sole relation (in fact that is, for I am bound to observe that in law you had none) being deceased and it naturally not being to be expected that Mrs. Rachael - ”

“Oh, dear no!” said Mrs. Rachael quickly.

“Quite so,” assented Mr. Kenge; “ - that Mrs. Rachael should charge herself with your maintenance and support (I beg you won’t distress yourself), you are in a position to receive the renewal of an offer which I was instructed to make to Miss Barbary some two years ago and which, though rejected then, was understood to be renewable under the lamentable circumstances that have since occurred. Now, if I avow that I represent, in Jarndyce and Jarndyce and otherwise, a highly humane, but at the same time singular, man, shall I compromise myself by any stretch of my professional caution?” said Mr. Kenge, leaning back in his chair again and looking calmly at us both.

He appeared to enjoy beyond everything the sound of his own voice. I couldn’t wonder at that, for it was mellow and full and gave great importance to every word he uttered. He listened to himself with obvious satisfaction and sometimes gently beat time to his own music with his head or rounded a sentence with his hand. I was very much impressed by him - even then, before I knew that he formed himself on the model of a great lord who was his client and that he was generally called Conversation Kenge.

Português → “Mr. Jarndyce,” he pursued, “being aware of the - I would say, desolate - position of our young friend, offers to place her at a first-rate establishment where her education shall be completed, where her comfort shall be secured, where her reasonable wants shall be anticipated, where she shall be eminently qualified to discharge her duty in that station of life unto which it has pleased - shall I say Providence? - to call her.”

My heart was filled so full, both by what he said and by his affecting manner of saying it, that I was not able to speak, though I tried.

“Mr. Jarndyce,” he went on, “makes no condition beyond expressing his expectation that our young friend will not at any time remove herself from the establishment in question without his knowledge and concurrence. That she will faithfully apply herself to the acquisition of those accomplishments, upon the exercise of which she will be ultimately dependent. That she will tread in the paths of virtue and honour, and - the - a - - so forth.”

I was still less able to speak than before.

“Now, what does our young friend say?” proceeded Mr. Kenge. “Take time, take time! I pause for her reply. But take time!”

What the destitute subject of such an offer tried to say, I need not repeat. What she did say, I could more easily tell, if it were worth the telling. What she felt, and will feel to her dying hour, I could never relate.

This interview took place at Windsor, where I had passed (as far as I knew) my whole life. On that day week, amply provided with all necessaries, I left it, inside the stagecoach, for Reading.

Português → Mrs. Rachael was too good to feel any emotion at parting, but I was not so good, and wept bitterly. I thought that I ought to have known her better after so many years and ought to have made myself enough of a favourite with her to make her sorry then. When she gave me one cold parting kiss upon my forehead, like a thaw-drop from the stone porch - it was a very frosty day - I felt so miserable and self-reproachful that I clung to her and told her it was my fault, I knew, that she could say good-bye so easily!

“No, Esther!” she returned. “It is your misfortune!”

The coach was at the little lawn-gate - we had not come out until we heard the wheels - and thus I left her, with a sorrowful heart. She went in before my boxes were lifted to the coach-roof and shut the door. As long as I could see the house, I looked back at it from the window through my tears. My godmother had left Mrs. Rachael all the little property she possessed; and there was to be a sale; and an old hearth-rug with roses on it, which always seemed to me the first thing in the world I had ever seen, was hanging outside in the frost and snow. A day or two before, I had wrapped the dear old doll in her own shawl and quietly laid her - I am half ashamed to tell it - in the garden-earth under the tree that shaded my old window. I had no companion left but my bird, and him I carried with me in his cage.

When the house was out of sight, I sat, with my bird-cage in the straw at my feet, forward on the low seat to look out of the high window, watching the frosty trees, that were like beautiful pieces of spar, and the fields all smooth and white with last night’s snow, and the sun, so red but yielding so little heat, and the ice, dark like metal where the skaters and sliders had brushed the snow away. There was a gentleman in the coach who sat on the opposite seat and looked very large in a quantity of wrappings, but he sat gazing out of the other window and took no notice of me.

Português → I thought of my dead godmother, of the night when I read to her, of her frowning so fixedly and sternly in her bed, of the strange place I was going to, of the people I should find there, and what they would be like, and what they would say to me, when a voice in the coach gave me a terrible start.

It said, “What the de-vil are you crying for?”

I was so frightened that I lost my voice and could only answer in a whisper, “Me, sir?” For of course I knew it must have been the gentleman in the quantity of wrappings, though he was still looking out of his window.

“Yes, you,” he said, turning round.

“I didn’t know I was crying, sir,” I faltered.

“But you are!” said the gentleman. “Look here!” He came quite opposite to me from the other corner of the coach, brushed one of his large furry cuffs across my eyes (but without hurting me), and showed me that it was wet.

“There! Now you know you are,” he said. “Don’t you?”

“Yes, sir,” I said.

“And what are you crying for?” said the gentleman, “Don’t you want to go there?”

“Where, sir?”

“Where? Why, wherever you are going,” said the gentleman.

“I am very glad to go there, sir,” I answered.

Português → “Well, then! Look glad!” said the gentleman.

I thought he was very strange, or at least that what I could see of him was very strange, for he was wrapped up to the chin, and his face was almost hidden in a fur cap with broad fur straps at the side of his head fastened under his chin; but I was composed again, and not afraid of him. So I told him that I thought I must have been crying because of my godmother’s death and because of Mrs. Rachael’s not being sorry to part with me.

“Confound Mrs. Rachael!” said the gentleman. “Let her fly away in a high wind on a broomstick!”

I began to be really afraid of him now and looked at him with the greatest astonishment. But I thought that he had pleasant eyes, although he kept on muttering to himself in an angry manner and calling Mrs. Rachael names.

After a little while he opened his outer wrapper, which appeared to me large enough to wrap up the whole coach, and put his arm down into a deep pocket in the side.

“Now, look here!” he said. “In this paper,” which was nicely folded, “is a piece of the best plum-cake that can be got for money - sugar on the outside an inch thick, like fat on mutton chops. Here’s a little pie (a gem this is, both for size and quality), made in France. And what do you suppose it’s made of? Livers of fat geese. There’s a pie! Now let’s see you eat ’em.”

“Thank you, sir,” I replied; “thank you very much indeed, but I hope you won’t be offended - they are too rich for me.”

Português → “Floored again!” said the gentleman, which I didn’t at all understand, and threw them both out of window.

He did not speak to me any more until he got out of the coach a little way short of Reading, when he advised me to be a good girl and to be studious, and shook hands with me. I must say I was relieved by his departure. We left him at a milestone. I often walked past it afterwards, and never for a long time without thinking of him and half expecting to meet him. But I never did; and so, as time went on, he passed out of my mind.

When the coach stopped, a very neat lady looked up at the window and said, “Miss Donny.”

“No, ma’am, Esther Summerson.”

“That is quite right,” said the lady, “Miss Donny.”

I now understood that she introduced herself by that name, and begged Miss Donny’s pardon for my mistake, and pointed out my boxes at her request. Under the direction of a very neat maid, they were put outside a very small green carriage; and then Miss Donny, the maid, and I got inside and were driven away.

“Everything is ready for you, Esther,” said Miss Donny, “and the scheme of your pursuits has been arranged in exact accordance with the wishes of your guardian, Mr. Jarndyce.”

Português → “Of - did you say, ma’am?”

“Of your guardian, Mr. Jarndyce,” said Miss Donny.

I was so bewildered that Miss Donny thought the cold had been too severe for me and lent me her smelling-bottle.

“Do you know my - guardian, Mr. Jarndyce, ma’am?” I asked after a good deal of hesitation.

“Not personally, Esther,” said Miss Donny; “merely through his solicitors, Messrs. Kenge and Carboy, of London. A very superior gentleman, Mr. Kenge. Truly eloquent indeed. Some of his periods quite majestic!”

I felt this to be very true but was too confused to attend to it. Our speedy arrival at our destination, before I had time to recover myself, increased my confusion, and I never shall forget the uncertain and the unreal air of everything at Greenleaf (Miss Donny’s house) that afternoon!

But I soon became used to it. I was so adapted to the routine of Greenleaf before long that I seemed to have been there a great while and almost to have dreamed rather than really lived my old life at my godmother’s. Nothing could be more precise, exact, and orderly than Greenleaf. There was a time for everything all round the dial of the clock, and everything was done at its appointed moment.

Português → We were twelve boarders, and there were two Miss Donnys, twins. It was understood that I would have to depend, by and by, on my qualifications as a governess, and I was not only instructed in everything that was taught at Greenleaf, but was very soon engaged in helping to instruct others. Although I was treated in every other respect like the rest of the school, this single difference was made in my case from the first. As I began to know more, I taught more, and so in course of time I had plenty to do, which I was very fond of doing because it made the dear girls fond of me. At last, whenever a new pupil came who was a little downcast and unhappy, she was so sure - indeed I don’t know why - to make a friend of me that all new-comers were confided to my care. They said I was so gentle, but I am sure THEY were! I often thought of the resolution I had made on my birthday to try to be industrious, contented, and true-hearted and to do some good to some one and win some love if I could; and indeed, indeed, I felt almost ashamed to have done so little and have won so much.

I passed at Greenleaf six happy, quiet years. I never saw in any face there, thank heaven, on my birthday, that it would have been better if I had never been born. When the day came round, it brought me so many tokens of affectionate remembrance that my room was beautiful with them from New Year’s Day to Christmas.

In those six years I had never been away except on visits at holiday time in the neighbourhood. After the first six months or so I had taken Miss Donny’s advice in reference to the propriety of writing to Mr. Kenge to say that I was happy and grateful, and with her approval I had written such a letter. I had received a formal answer acknowledging its receipt and saying, “We note the contents thereof, which shall be duly communicated to our client.” After that I sometimes heard Miss Donny and her sister mention how regular my accounts were paid, and about twice a year I ventured to write a similar letter. I always received by return of post exactly the same answer in the same round hand, with the signature of Kenge and Carboy in another writing, which I supposed to be Mr. Kenge’s.

Português → It seems so curious to me to be obliged to write all this about myself! As if this narrative were the narrative of MY life! But my little body will soon fall into the background now.

Six quiet years (I find I am saying it for the second time) I had passed at Greenleaf, seeing in those around me, as it might be in a looking-glass, every stage of my own growth and change there, when, one November morning, I received this letter. I omit the date.

Old Square, Lincoln’s Inn

Madam,

Jarndyce and Jarndyce

Our clt Mr. Jarndyce being abt to rece into his house, under an Order of the Ct of Chy, a Ward of the Ct in this cause, for whom he wishes to secure an elgble compn, directs us to inform you that he will be glad of your serces in the afsd capacity.

We have arrngd for your being forded, carriage free, pr eight o’clock coach from Reading, on Monday morning next, to White Horse Cellar, Piccadilly, London, where one of our clks will be in waiting to convey you to our offe as above.

We are, Madam, Your obedt Servts,

Kenge and Carboy

Miss Esther Summerson

Português → Oh, never, never, never shall I forget the emotion this letter caused in the house! It was so tender in them to care so much for me, it was so gracious in that father who had not forgotten me to have made my orphan way so smooth and easy and to have inclined so many youthful natures towards me, that I could hardly bear it. Not that I would have had them less sorry - I am afraid not; but the pleasure of it, and the pain of it, and the pride and joy of it, and the humble regret of it were so blended that my heart seemed almost breaking while it was full of rapture.

The letter gave me only five days’ notice of my removal. When every minute added to the proofs of love and kindness that were given me in those five days, and when at last the morning came and when they took me through all the rooms that I might see them for the last time, and when some cried, “Esther, dear, say good-bye to me here at my bedside, where you first spoke so kindly to me!” and when others asked me only to write their names, “With Esther’s love,” and when they all surrounded me with their parting presents and clung to me weeping and cried, “What shall we do when dear, dear Esther’s gone!” and when I tried to tell them how forbearing and how good they had all been to me and how I blessed and thanked them every one, what a heart I had!

And when the two Miss Donnys grieved as much to part with me as the least among them, and when the maids said, “Bless you, miss, wherever you go!” and when the ugly lame old gardener, who I thought had hardly noticed me in all those years, came panting after the coach to give me a little nosegay of geraniums and told me I had been the light of his eyes - indeed the old man said so! - what a heart I had then!

Português → And could I help it if with all this, and the coming to the little school, and the unexpected sight of the poor children outside waving their hats and bonnets to me, and of a grey-haired gentleman and lady whose daughter I had helped to teach and at whose house I had visited (who were said to be the proudest people in all that country), caring for nothing but calling out, “Good-bye, Esther. May you be very happy!” - could I help it if I was quite bowed down in the coach by myself and said “Oh, I am so thankful, I am so thankful!” many times over!

But of course I soon considered that I must not take tears where I was going after all that had been done for me. Therefore, of course, I made myself sob less and persuaded myself to be quiet by saying very often, “Esther, now you really must! This WILL NOT do!” I cheered myself up pretty well at last, though I am afraid I was longer about it than I ought to have been; and when I had cooled my eyes with lavender water, it was time to watch for London.

I was quite persuaded that we were there when we were ten miles off, and when we really were there, that we should never get there. However, when we began to jolt upon a stone pavement, and particularly when every other conveyance seemed to be running into us, and we seemed to be running into every other conveyance, I began to believe that we really were approaching the end of our journey. Very soon afterwards we stopped.

A young gentleman who had inked himself by accident addressed me from the pavement and said, “I am from Kenge and Carboy’s, miss, of Lincoln’s Inn.”

Português → “If you please, sir,” said I.

He was very obliging, and as he handed me into a fly after superintending the removal of my boxes, I asked him whether there was a great fire anywhere? For the streets were so full of dense brown smoke that scarcely anything was to be seen.

“Oh, dear no, miss,” he said. “This is a London particular.”

I had never heard of such a thing.

“A fog, miss,” said the young gentleman.

“Oh, indeed!” said I.

We drove slowly through the dirtiest and darkest streets that ever were seen in the world (I thought) and in such a distracting state of confusion that I wondered how the people kept their senses, until we passed into sudden quietude under an old gateway and drove on through a silent square until we came to an odd nook in a corner, where there was an entrance up a steep, broad flight of stairs, like an entrance to a church. And there really was a churchyard outside under some cloisters, for I saw the gravestones from the staircase window.

This was Kenge and Carboy’s. The young gentleman showed me through an outer office into Mr. Kenge’s room - there was no one in it - and politely put an arm-chair for me by the fire. He then called my attention to a little looking-glass hanging from a nail on one side of the chimney-piece.

Português → “In case you should wish to look at yourself, miss, after the journey, as you’re going before the Chancellor. Not that it’s requisite, I am sure,” said the young gentleman civilly.

“Going before the Chancellor?” I said, startled for a moment.

“Only a matter of form, miss,” returned the young gentleman. “Mr. Kenge is in court now. He left his compliments, and would you partake of some refreshment” - there were biscuits and a decanter of wine on a small table - “and look over the paper,” which the young gentleman gave me as he spoke. He then stirred the fire and left me.

Everything was so strange - the stranger from its being night in the day-time, the candles burning with a white flame, and looking raw and cold - that I read the words in the newspaper without knowing what they meant and found myself reading the same words repeatedly. As it was of no use going on in that way, I put the paper down, took a peep at my bonnet in the glass to see if it was neat, and looked at the room, which was not half lighted, and at the shabby, dusty tables, and at the piles of writings, and at a bookcase full of the most inexpressive-looking books that ever had anything to say for themselves. Then I went on, thinking, thinking, thinking; and the fire went on, burning, burning, burning; and the candles went on flickering and guttering, and there were no snuffers - until the young gentleman by and by brought a very dirty pair - for two hours.

Português → At last Mr. Kenge came. HE was not altered, but he was surprised to see how altered I was and appeared quite pleased. “As you are going to be the companion of the young lady who is now in the Chancellor’s private room, Miss Summerson,” he said, “we thought it well that you should be in attendance also. You will not be discomposed by the Lord Chancellor, I dare say?”

“No, sir,” I said, “I don’t think I shall,” really not seeing on consideration why I should be.

So Mr. Kenge gave me his arm and we went round the corner, under a colonnade, and in at a side door. And so we came, along a passage, into a comfortable sort of room where a young lady and a young gentleman were standing near a great, loud-roaring fire. A screen was interposed between them and it, and they were leaning on the screen, talking.

They both looked up when I came in, and I saw in the young lady, with the fire shining upon her, such a beautiful girl! With such rich golden hair, such soft blue eyes, and such a bright, innocent, trusting face!

Português → “Miss Ada,” said Mr. Kenge, “this is Miss Summerson.”

She came to meet me with a smile of welcome and her hand extended, but seemed to change her mind in a moment and kissed me. In short, she had such a natural, captivating, winning manner that in a few minutes we were sitting in the window-seat, with the light of the fire upon us, talking together as free and happy as could be.

What a load off my mind! It was so delightful to know that she could confide in me and like me! It was so good of her, and so encouraging to me!

The young gentleman was her distant cousin, she told me, and his name Richard Carstone. He was a handsome youth with an ingenuous face and a most engaging laugh; and after she had called him up to where we sat, he stood by us, in the light of the fire, talking gaily, like a light-hearted boy. He was very young, not more than nineteen then, if quite so much, but nearly two years older than she was. They were both orphans and (what was very unexpected and curious to me) had never met before that day. Our all three coming together for the first time in such an unusual place was a thing to talk about, and we talked about it; and the fire, which had left off roaring, winked its red eyes at us - as Richard said - like a drowsy old Chancery lion.

Português → We conversed in a low tone because a full-dressed gentleman in a bag wig frequently came in and out, and when he did so, we could hear a drawling sound in the distance, which he said was one of the counsel in our case addressing the Lord Chancellor. He told Mr. Kenge that the Chancellor would be up in five minutes; and presently we heard a bustle and a tread of feet, and Mr. Kenge said that the Court had risen and his lordship was in the next room.

The gentleman in the bag wig opened the door almost directly and requested Mr. Kenge to come in. Upon that, we all went into the next room, Mr. Kenge first, with my darling - it is so natural to me now that I can’t help writing it; and there, plainly dressed in black and sitting in an arm-chair at a table near the fire, was his lordship, whose robe, trimmed with beautiful gold lace, was thrown upon another chair. He gave us a searching look as we entered, but his manner was both courtly and kind.

The gentleman in the bag wig laid bundles of papers on his lordship’s table, and his lordship silently selected one and turned over the leaves.

Português → “Miss Clare,” said the Lord Chancellor. “Miss Ada Clare?”

Mr. Kenge presented her, and his lordship begged her to sit down near him. That he admired her and was interested by her even I could see in a moment. It touched me that the home of such a beautiful young creature should be represented by that dry, official place. The Lord High Chancellor, at his best, appeared so poor a substitute for the love and pride of parents.

“The Jarndyce in question,” said the Lord Chancellor, still turning over leaves, “is Jarndyce of Bleak House.”

“Jarndyce of Bleak House, my lord,” said Mr. Kenge.

“A dreary name,” said the Lord Chancellor.

“But not a dreary place at present, my lord,” said Mr. Kenge.

“And Bleak House,” said his lordship, “is in - ”

“Hertfordshire, my lord.”

“Mr. Jarndyce of Bleak House is not married?” said his lordship.

“He is not, my lord,” said Mr. Kenge.

A pause.

Português → “Young Mr. Richard Carstone is present?” said the Lord Chancellor, glancing towards him.

Richard bowed and stepped forward.

“Hum!” said the Lord Chancellor, turning over more leaves.

“Mr. Jarndyce of Bleak House, my lord,” Mr. Kenge observed in a low voice, “if I may venture to remind your lordship, provides a suitable companion for - ”

“For Mr. Richard Carstone?” I thought (but I am not quite sure) I heard his lordship say in an equally low voice and with a smile.

“For Miss Ada Clare. This is the young lady. Miss Summerson.”

His lordship gave me an indulgent look and acknowledged my curtsy very graciously.

“Miss Summerson is not related to any party in the cause, I think?”

“No, my lord.”

Mr. Kenge leant over before it was quite said and whispered. His lordship, with his eyes upon his papers, listened, nodded twice or thrice, turned over more leaves, and did not look towards me again until we were going away.

Português → Mr. Kenge now retired, and Richard with him, to where I was, near the door, leaving my pet (it is so natural to me that again I can’t help it!) sitting near the Lord Chancellor, with whom his lordship spoke a little part, asking her, as she told me afterwards, whether she had well reflected on the proposed arrangement, and if she thought she would be happy under the roof of Mr. Jarndyce of Bleak House, and why she thought so? Presently he rose courteously and released her, and then he spoke for a minute or two with Richard Carstone, not seated, but standing, and altogether with more ease and less ceremony, as if he still knew, though he WAS Lord Chancellor, how to go straight to the candour of a boy.

“Very well!” said his lordship aloud. “I shall make the order. Mr. Jarndyce of Bleak House has chosen, so far as I may judge,” and this was when he looked at me, “a very good companion for the young lady, and the arrangement altogether seems the best of which the circumstances admit.”

He dismissed us pleasantly, and we all went out, very much obliged to him for being so affable and polite, by which he had certainly lost no dignity but seemed to us to have gained some.

Português → When we got under the colonnade, Mr. Kenge remembered that he must go back for a moment to ask a question and left us in the fog, with the Lord Chancellor’s carriage and servants waiting for him to come out.

“Well!” said Richard Carstone. “THAT’S over! And where do we go next, Miss Summerson?”

“Don’t you know?” I said.

“Not in the least,” said he.

“And don’t YOU know, my love?” I asked Ada.

“No!” said she. “Don’t you?”

“Not at all!” said I.

We looked at one another, half laughing at our being like the children in the wood, when a curious little old woman in a squeezed bonnet and carrying a reticule came curtsying and smiling up to us with an air of great ceremony.

“Oh!” said she. “The wards in Jarndyce! Ve-ry happy, I am sure, to have the honour! It is a good omen for youth, and hope, and beauty when they find themselves in this place, and don’t know what’s to come of it.”

Português → “Mad!” whispered Richard, not thinking she could hear him.

“Right! Mad, young gentleman,” she returned so quickly that he was quite abashed. “I was a ward myself. I was not mad at that time,” curtsying low and smiling between every little sentence. “I had youth and hope. I believe, beauty. It matters very little now. Neither of the three served or saved me. I have the honour to attend court regularly. With my documents. I expect a judgment. Shortly. On the Day of Judgment. I have discovered that the sixth seal mentioned in the Revelations is the Great Seal. It has been open a long time! Pray accept my blessing.”

As Ada was a little frightened, I said, to humour the poor old lady, that we were much obliged to her.

“Ye-es!” she said mincingly. “I imagine so. And here is Conversation Kenge. With HIS documents! How does your honourable worship do?”

“Quite well, quite well! Now don’t be troublesome, that’s a good soul!” said Mr. Kenge, leading the way back.

Português → “By no means,” said the poor old lady, keeping up with Ada and me. “Anything but troublesome. I shall confer estates on both - which is not being troublesome, I trust? I expect a judgment. Shortly. On the Day of Judgment. This is a good omen for you. Accept my blessing!”

She stopped at the bottom of the steep, broad flight of stairs; but we looked back as we went up, and she was still there, saying, still with a curtsy and a smile between every little sentence, “Youth. And hope. And beauty. And Chancery. And Conversation Kenge! Ha! Pray accept my blessing!”

Chapter IV

Português → Telescopic Philanthropy

We were to pass the night, Mr. Kenge told us when we arrived in his room, at Mrs. Jellyby’s; and then he turned to me and said he took it for granted I knew who Mrs. Jellyby was.

“I really don’t, sir,” I returned. “Perhaps Mr. Carstone - or Miss Clare - ”

But no, they knew nothing whatever about Mrs. Jellyby. “In-deed! Mrs. Jellyby,” said Mr. Kenge, standing with his back to the fire and casting his eyes over the dusty hearth-rug as if it were Mrs. Jellyby’s biography, “is a lady of very remarkable strength of character who devotes herself entirely to the public. She has devoted herself to an extensive variety of public subjects at various times and is at present (until something else attracts her) devoted to the subject of Africa, with a view to the general cultivation of the coffee berry - AND the natives - and the happy settlement, on the banks of the African rivers, of our superabundant home population. Mr. Jarndyce, who is desirous to aid any work that is considered likely to be a good work and who is much sought after by philanthropists, has, I believe, a very high opinion of Mrs. Jellyby.”

Português → Mr. Kenge, adjusting his cravat, then looked at us.

“And Mr. Jellyby, sir?” suggested Richard.

“Ah! Mr. Jellyby,” said Mr. Kenge, “is - a - I don’t know that I can describe him to you better than by saying that he is the husband of Mrs. Jellyby.”

“A nonentity, sir?” said Richard with a droll look.

“I don’t say that,” returned Mr. Kenge gravely. “I can’t say that, indeed, for I know nothing whatever OF Mr. Jellyby. I never, to my knowledge, had the pleasure of seeing Mr. Jellyby. He may be a very superior man, but he is, so to speak, merged - merged - in the more shining qualities of his wife.” Mr. Kenge proceeded to tell us that as the road to Bleak House would have been very long, dark, and tedious on such an evening, and as we had been travelling already, Mr. Jarndyce had himself proposed this arrangement. A carriage would be at Mrs. Jellyby’s to convey us out of town early in the forenoon of to-morrow.

He then rang a little bell, and the young gentleman came in. Addressing him by the name of Guppy, Mr. Kenge inquired whether Miss Summerson’s boxes and the rest of the baggage had been “sent round.” Mr. Guppy said yes, they had been sent round, and a coach was waiting to take us round too as soon as we pleased.

Português → “Then it only remains,” said Mr. Kenge, shaking hands with us, “for me to express my lively satisfaction in (good day, Miss Clare!) the arrangement this day concluded and my (GOOD-bye to you, Miss Summerson!) lively hope that it will conduce to the happiness, the (glad to have had the honour of making your acquaintance, Mr. Carstone!) welfare, the advantage in all points of view, of all concerned! Guppy, see the party safely there.”

“Where IS ‘there,’ Mr. Guppy?” said Richard as we went downstairs.

“No distance,” said Mr. Guppy; “round in Thavies Inn, you know.”

“I can’t say I know where it is, for I come from Winchester and am strange in London.”

“Only round the corner,” said Mr. Guppy. “We just twist up Chancery Lane, and cut along Holborn, and there we are in four minutes’ time, as near as a toucher. This is about a London particular NOW, ain’t it, miss?” He seemed quite delighted with it on my account.

“The fog is very dense indeed!” said I.

“Not that it affects you, though, I’m sure,” said Mr. Guppy, putting up the steps. “On the contrary, it seems to do you good, miss, judging from your appearance.”

Português → I knew he meant well in paying me this compliment, so I laughed at myself for blushing at it when he had shut the door and got upon the box; and we all three laughed and chatted about our inexperience and the strangeness of London until we turned up under an archway to our destination - a narrow street of high houses like an oblong cistern to hold the fog. There was a confused little crowd of people, principally children, gathered about the house at which we stopped, which had a tarnished brass plate on the door with the inscription JELLYBY.

“Don’t be frightened!” said Mr. Guppy, looking in at the coach-window. “One of the young Jellybys been and got his head through the area railings!”

“Oh, poor child,” said I; “let me out, if you please!”

“Pray be careful of yourself, miss. The young Jellybys are always up to something,” said Mr. Guppy.

Português → I made my way to the poor child, who was one of the dirtiest little unfortunates I ever saw, and found him very hot and frightened and crying loudly, fixed by the neck between two iron railings, while a milkman and a beadle, with the kindest intentions possible, were endeavouring to drag him back by the legs, under a general impression that his skull was compressible by those means. As I found (after pacifying him) that he was a little boy with a naturally large head, I thought that perhaps where his head could go, his body could follow, and mentioned that the best mode of extrication might be to push him forward. This was so favourably received by the milkman and beadle that he would immediately have been pushed into the area if I had not held his pinafore while Richard and Mr. Guppy ran down through the kitchen to catch him when he should be released. At last he was happily got down without any accident, and then he began to beat Mr. Guppy with a hoop-stick in quite a frantic manner.

Português → Nobody had appeared belonging to the house except a person in pattens, who had been poking at the child from below with a broom; I don’t know with what object, and I don’t think she did. I therefore supposed that Mrs. Jellyby was not at home, and was quite surprised when the person appeared in the passage without the pattens, and going up to the back room on the first floor before Ada and me, announced us as, “Them two young ladies, Missis Jellyby!” We passed several more children on the way up, whom it was difficult to avoid treading on in the dark; and as we came into Mrs. Jellyby’s presence, one of the poor little things fell downstairs - down a whole flight (as it sounded to me), with a great noise.

Mrs. Jellyby, whose face reflected none of the uneasiness which we could not help showing in our own faces as the dear child’s head recorded its passage with a bump on every stair - Richard afterwards said he counted seven, besides one for the landing - received us with perfect equanimity. She was a pretty, very diminutive, plump woman of from forty to fifty, with handsome eyes, though they had a curious habit of seeming to look a long way off. As if - I am quoting Richard again - they could see nothing nearer than Africa!

Português → “I am very glad indeed,” said Mrs. Jellyby in an agreeable voice, “to have the pleasure of receiving you. I have a great respect for Mr. Jarndyce, and no one in whom he is interested can be an object of indifference to me.”

We expressed our acknowledgments and sat down behind the door, where there was a lame invalid of a sofa. Mrs. Jellyby had very good hair but was too much occupied with her African duties to brush it. The shawl in which she had been loosely muffled dropped onto her chair when she advanced to us; and as she turned to resume her seat, we could not help noticing that her dress didn’t nearly meet up the back and that the open space was railed across with a lattice-work of stay-lace - like a summer-house.

The room, which was strewn with papers and nearly filled by a great writing-table covered with similar litter, was, I must say, not only very untidy but very dirty. We were obliged to take notice of that with our sense of sight, even while, with our sense of hearing, we followed the poor child who had tumbled downstairs: I think into the back kitchen, where somebody seemed to stifle him.

Português → But what principally struck us was a jaded and unhealthy-looking though by no means plain girl at the writing-table, who sat biting the feather of her pen and staring at us. I suppose nobody ever was in such a state of ink. And from her tumbled hair to her pretty feet, which were disfigured with frayed and broken satin slippers trodden down at heel, she really seemed to have no article of dress upon her, from a pin upwards, that was in its proper condition or its right place.

“You find me, my dears,” said Mrs. Jellyby, snuffing the two great office candles in tin candlesticks, which made the room taste strongly of hot tallow (the fire had gone out, and there was nothing in the grate but ashes, a bundle of wood, and a poker), “you find me, my dears, as usual, very busy; but that you will excuse. The African project at present employs my whole time. It involves me in correspondence with public bodies and with private individuals anxious for the welfare of their species all over the country. I am happy to say it is advancing. We hope by this time next year to have from a hundred and fifty to two hundred healthy families cultivating coffee and educating the natives of Borrioboola-Gha, on the left bank of the Niger.”

Português → As Ada said nothing, but looked at me, I said it must be very gratifying.

“It IS gratifying,” said Mrs. Jellyby. “It involves the devotion of all my energies, such as they are; but that is nothing, so that it succeeds; and I am more confident of success every day. Do you know, Miss Summerson, I almost wonder that YOU never turned your thoughts to Africa.”

This application of the subject was really so unexpected to me that I was quite at a loss how to receive it. I hinted that the climate -

“The finest climate in the world!” said Mrs. Jellyby.

“Indeed, ma’am?”

“Certainly. With precaution,” said Mrs. Jellyby. “You may go into Holborn, without precaution, and be run over. You may go into Holborn, with precaution, and never be run over. Just so with Africa.”

I said, “No doubt.” I meant as to Holborn.

“If you would like,” said Mrs. Jellyby, putting a number of papers towards us, “to look over some remarks on that head, and on the general subject, which have been extensively circulated, while I finish a letter I am now dictating to my eldest daughter, who is my amanuensis - ”

Português → The girl at the table left off biting her pen and made a return to our recognition, which was half bashful and half sulky.

“ - I shall then have finished for the present,” proceeded Mrs. Jellyby with a sweet smile, “though my work is never done. Where are you, Caddy?”

“‘Presents her compliments to Mr. Swallow, and begs - ’” said Caddy.

“‘And begs,’” said Mrs. Jellyby, dictating, “‘to inform him, in reference to his letter of inquiry on the African project - ’ No, Peepy! Not on my account!”

Peepy (so self-named) was the unfortunate child who had fallen downstairs, who now interrupted the correspondence by presenting himself, with a strip of plaster on his forehead, to exhibit his wounded knees, in which Ada and I did not know which to pity most - the bruises or the dirt. Mrs. Jellyby merely added, with the serene composure with which she said everything, “Go along, you naughty Peepy!” and fixed her fine eyes on Africa again.

However, as she at once proceeded with her dictation, and as I interrupted nothing by doing it, I ventured quietly to stop poor Peepy as he was going out and to take him up to nurse. He looked very much astonished at it and at Ada’s kissing him, but soon fell fast asleep in my arms, sobbing at longer and longer intervals, until he was quiet. I was so occupied with Peepy that I lost the letter in detail, though I derived such a general impression from it of the momentous importance of Africa, and the utter insignificance of all other places and things, that I felt quite ashamed to have thought so little about it.

Português → “Six o’clock!” said Mrs. Jellyby. “And our dinner hour is nominally (for we dine at all hours) five! Caddy, show Miss Clare and Miss Summerson their rooms. You will like to make some change, perhaps? You will excuse me, I know, being so much occupied. Oh, that very bad child! Pray put him down, Miss Summerson!”

I begged permission to retain him, truly saying that he was not at all troublesome, and carried him upstairs and laid him on my bed. Ada and I had two upper rooms with a door of communication between. They were excessively bare and disorderly, and the curtain to my window was fastened up with a fork.

“You would like some hot water, wouldn’t you?” said Miss Jellyby, looking round for a jug with a handle to it, but looking in vain.

“If it is not being troublesome,” said we.

“Oh, it’s not the trouble,” returned Miss Jellyby; “the question is, if there IS any.”

The evening was so very cold and the rooms had such a marshy smell that I must confess it was a little miserable, and Ada was half crying. We soon laughed, however, and were busily unpacking when Miss Jellyby came back to say that she was sorry there was no hot water, but they couldn’t find the kettle, and the boiler was out of order.

Português → We begged her not to mention it and made all the haste we could to get down to the fire again. But all the little children had come up to the landing outside to look at the phenomenon of Peepy lying on my bed, and our attention was distracted by the constant apparition of noses and fingers in situations of danger between the hinges of the doors. It was impossible to shut the door of either room, for my lock, with no knob to it, looked as if it wanted to be wound up; and though the handle of Ada’s went round and round with the greatest smoothness, it was attended with no effect whatever on the door. Therefore I proposed to the children that they should come in and be very good at my table, and I would tell them the story of Little Red Riding Hood while I dressed; which they did, and were as quiet as mice, including Peepy, who awoke opportunely before the appearance of the wolf.

When we went downstairs we found a mug with “A Present from Tunbridge Wells” on it lighted up in the staircase window with a floating wick, and a young woman, with a swelled face bound up in a flannel bandage blowing the fire of the drawing-room (now connected by an open door with Mrs. Jellyby’s room) and choking dreadfully. It smoked to that degree, in short, that we all sat coughing and crying with the windows open for half an hour, during which Mrs. Jellyby, with the same sweetness of temper, directed letters about Africa. Her being so employed was, I must say, a great relief to me, for Richard told us that he had washed his hands in a pie-dish and that they had found the kettle on his dressing-table, and he made Ada laugh so that they made me laugh in the most ridiculous manner.

Soon after seven o’clock we went down to dinner, carefully, by Mrs. Jellyby’s advice, for the stair-carpets, besides being very deficient in stair-wires, were so torn as to be absolute traps. We had a fine cod-fish, a piece of roast beef, a dish of cutlets, and a pudding; an excellent dinner, if it had had any cooking to speak of, but it was almost raw. The young woman with the flannel bandage waited, and dropped everything on the table wherever it happened to go, and never moved it again until she put it on the stairs. The person I had seen in pattens, who I suppose to have been the cook, frequently came and skirmished with her at the door, and there appeared to be ill will between them.

All through dinner - which was long, in consequence of such accidents as the dish of potatoes being mislaid in the coal skuttle and the handle of the corkscrew coming off and striking the young woman in the chin - Mrs. Jellyby preserved the evenness of her disposition. She told us a great deal that was interesting about Borrioboola-Gha and the natives, and received so many letters that Richard, who sat by her, saw four envelopes in the gravy at once. Some of the letters were proceedings of ladies’ committees or resolutions of ladies’ meetings, which she read to us; others were applications from people excited in various ways about the cultivation of coffee, and natives; others required answers, and these she sent her eldest daughter from the table three or four times to write. She was full of business and undoubtedly was, as she had told us, devoted to the cause.

Português → I was a little curious to know who a mild bald gentleman in spectacles was, who dropped into a vacant chair (there was no top or bottom in particular) after the fish was taken away and seemed passively to submit himself to Borrioboola-Gha but not to be actively interested in that settlement. As he never spoke a word, he might have been a native but for his complexion. It was not until we left the table and he remained alone with Richard that the possibility of his being Mr. Jellyby ever entered my head. But he WAS Mr. Jellyby; and a loquacious young man called Mr. Quale, with large shining knobs for temples and his hair all brushed to the back of his head, who came in the evening, and told Ada he was a philanthropist, also informed her that he called the matrimonial alliance of Mrs. Jellyby with Mr. Jellyby the union of mind and matter.

This young man, besides having a great deal to say for himself about Africa and a project of his for teaching the coffee colonists to teach the natives to turn piano-forte legs and establish an export trade, delighted in drawing Mrs. Jellyby out by saying, “I believe now, Mrs. Jellyby, you have received as many as from one hundred and fifty to two hundred letters respecting Africa in a single day, have you not?” or, “If my memory does not deceive me, Mrs. Jellyby, you once mentioned that you had sent off five thousand circulars from one post-office at one time?” - always repeating Mrs. Jellyby’s answer to us like an interpreter. During the whole evening, Mr. Jellyby sat in a corner with his head against the wall as if he were subject to low spirits. It seemed that he had several times opened his mouth when alone with Richard after dinner, as if he had something on his mind, but had always shut it again, to Richard’s extreme confusion, without saying anything.

Mrs. Jellyby, sitting in quite a nest of waste paper, drank coffee all the evening and dictated at intervals to her eldest daughter. She also held a discussion with Mr. Quale, of which the subject seemed to be - if I understood it - the brotherhood of humanity, and gave utterance to some beautiful sentiments. I was not so attentive an auditor as I might have wished to be, however, for Peepy and the other children came flocking about Ada and me in a corner of the drawing-room to ask for another story; so we sat down among them and told them in whispers “Puss in Boots” and I don’t know what else until Mrs. Jellyby, accidentally remembering them, sent them to bed. As Peepy cried for me to take him to bed, I carried him upstairs, where the young woman with the flannel bandage charged into the midst of the little family like a dragon and overturned them into cribs.

After that I occupied myself in making our room a little tidy and in coaxing a very cross fire that had been lighted to burn, which at last it did, quite brightly. On my return downstairs, I felt that Mrs. Jellyby looked down upon me rather for being so frivolous, and I was sorry for it, though at the same time I knew that I had no higher pretensions.

Português → It was nearly midnight before we found an opportunity of going to bed, and even then we left Mrs. Jellyby among her papers drinking coffee and Miss Jellyby biting the feather of her pen.

“What a strange house!” said Ada when we got upstairs. “How curious of my cousin Jarndyce to send us here!”

“My love,” said I, “it quite confuses me. I want to understand it, and I can’t understand it at all.”

“What?” asked Ada with her pretty smile.

“All this, my dear,” said I. “It MUST be very good of Mrs. Jellyby to take such pains about a scheme for the benefit of natives - and yet - Peepy and the housekeeping!”

Ada laughed and put her arm about my neck as I stood looking at the fire, and told me I was a quiet, dear, good creature and had won her heart. “You are so thoughtful, Esther,” she said, “and yet so cheerful! And you do so much, so unpretendingly! You would make a home out of even this house.”

My simple darling! She was quite unconscious that she only praised herself and that it was in the goodness of her own heart that she made so much of me!

“May I ask you a question?” said I when we had sat before the fire a little while.

“Five hundred,” said Ada.

Português → “Your cousin, Mr. Jarndyce. I owe so much to him. Would you mind describing him to me?”

Shaking her golden hair, Ada turned her eyes upon me with such laughing wonder that I was full of wonder too, partly at her beauty, partly at her surprise.

“Esther!” she cried.

“My dear!”

“You want a description of my cousin Jarndyce?”

“My dear, I never saw him.”

“And I never saw him!” returned Ada.

Well, to be sure!

No, she had never seen him. Young as she was when her mama died, she remembered how the tears would come into her eyes when she spoke of him and of the noble generosity of his character, which she had said was to be trusted above all earthly things; and Ada trusted it. Her cousin Jarndyce had written to her a few months ago - “a plain, honest letter,” Ada said - proposing the arrangement we were now to enter on and telling her that “in time it might heal some of the wounds made by the miserable Chancery suit.” She had replied, gratefully accepting his proposal. Richard had received a similar letter and had made a similar response. He HAD seen Mr. Jarndyce once, but only once, five years ago, at Winchester school. He had told Ada, when they were leaning on the screen before the fire where I found them, that he recollected him as “a bluff, rosy fellow.” This was the utmost description Ada could give me.

It set me thinking so that when Ada was asleep, I still remained before the fire, wondering and wondering about Bleak House, and wondering and wondering that yesterday morning should seem so long ago. I don’t know where my thoughts had wandered when they were recalled by a tap at the door.

Português → I opened it softly and found Miss Jellyby shivering there with a broken candle in a broken candlestick in one hand and an egg-cup in the other.

“Good night!” she said very sulkily.

“Good night!” said I.

“May I come in?” she shortly and unexpectedly asked me in the same sulky way.

“Certainly,” said I. “Don’t wake Miss Clare.”

She would not sit down, but stood by the fire dipping her inky middle finger in the egg-cup, which contained vinegar, and smearing it over the ink stains on her face, frowning the whole time and looking very gloomy.

“I wish Africa was dead!” she said on a sudden.

I was going to remonstrate.

“I do!” she said “Don’t talk to me, Miss Summerson. I hate it and detest it. It’s a beast!”

I told her she was tired, and I was sorry. I put my hand upon her head, and touched her forehead, and said it was hot now but would be cool to-morrow. She still stood pouting and frowning at me, but presently put down her egg-cup and turned softly towards the bed where Ada lay.

“She is very pretty!” she said with the same knitted brow and in the same uncivil manner.

I assented with a smile.

“An orphan. Ain’t she?”

“Yes.”

“But knows a quantity, I suppose? Can dance, and play music, and sing? She can talk French, I suppose, and do geography, and globes, and needlework, and everything?”

Português → “No doubt,” said I.

“I can’t,” she returned. “I can’t do anything hardly, except write. I’m always writing for Ma. I wonder you two were not ashamed of yourselves to come in this afternoon and see me able to do nothing else. It was like your ill nature. Yet you think yourselves very fine, I dare say!”

I could see that the poor girl was near crying, and I resumed my chair without speaking and looked at her (I hope) as mildly as I felt towards her.

“It’s disgraceful,” she said. “You know it is. The whole house is disgraceful. The children are disgraceful. I’M disgraceful. Pa’s miserable, and no wonder! Priscilla drinks - she’s always drinking. It’s a great shame and a great story of you if you say you didn’t smell her to-day. It was as bad as a public-house, waiting at dinner; you know it was!”

“My dear, I don’t know it,” said I.

“You do,” she said very shortly. “You shan’t say you don’t. You do!”

“Oh, my dear!” said I. “If you won’t let me speak - ”

“You’re speaking now. You know you are. Don’t tell stories, Miss Summerson.”

“My dear,” said I, “as long as you won’t hear me out - ”

“I don’t want to hear you out.”

“Oh, yes, I think you do,” said I, “because that would be so very unreasonable. I did not know what you tell me because the servant did not come near me at dinner; but I don’t doubt what you tell me, and I am sorry to hear it.”

Português → “You needn’t make a merit of that,” said she.

“No, my dear,” said I. “That would be very foolish.”

She was still standing by the bed, and now stooped down (but still with the same discontented face) and kissed Ada. That done, she came softly back and stood by the side of my chair. Her bosom was heaving in a distressful manner that I greatly pitied, but I thought it better not to speak.

“I wish I was dead!” she broke out. “I wish we were all dead. It would be a great deal better for us.”

In a moment afterwards, she knelt on the ground at my side, hid her face in my dress, passionately begged my pardon, and wept. I comforted her and would have raised her, but she cried no, no; she wanted to stay there!

“You used to teach girls,” she said, “If you could only have taught me, I could have learnt from you! I am so very miserable, and I like you so much!”

I could not persuade her to sit by me or to do anything but move a ragged stool to where she was kneeling, and take that, and still hold my dress in the same manner. By degrees the poor tired girl fell asleep, and then I contrived to raise her head so that it should rest on my lap, and to cover us both with shawls. The fire went out, and all night long she slumbered thus before the ashy grate. At first I was painfully awake and vainly tried to lose myself, with my eyes closed, among the scenes of the day. At length, by slow degrees, they became indistinct and mingled. I began to lose the identity of the sleeper resting on me. Now it was Ada, now one of my old Reading friends from whom I could not believe I had so recently parted. Now it was the little mad woman worn out with curtsying and smiling, now some one in authority at Bleak House. Lastly, it was no one, and I was no one.

Português → The purblind day was feebly struggling with the fog when I opened my eyes to encounter those of a dirty-faced little spectre fixed upon me. Peepy had scaled his crib, and crept down in his bed-gown and cap, and was so cold that his teeth were chattering as if he had cut them all.

Chapter V

Português → A Morning Adventure

Although the morning was raw, and although the fog still seemed heavy - I say seemed, for the windows were so encrusted with dirt that they would have made midsummer sunshine dim - I was sufficiently forewarned of the discomfort within doors at that early hour and sufficiently curious about London to think it a good idea on the part of Miss Jellyby when she proposed that we should go out for a walk.

“Ma won’t be down for ever so long,” she said, “and then it’s a chance if breakfast’s ready for an hour afterwards, they dawdle so. As to Pa, he gets what he can and goes to the office. He never has what you would call a regular breakfast. Priscilla leaves him out the loaf and some milk, when there is any, overnight. Sometimes there isn’t any milk, and sometimes the cat drinks it. But I’m afraid you must be tired, Miss Summerson, and perhaps you would rather go to bed.”

“I am not at all tired, my dear,” said I, “and would much prefer to go out.”

“If you’re sure you would,” returned Miss Jellyby, “I’ll get my things on.”

Ada said she would go too, and was soon astir. I made a proposal to Peepy, in default of being able to do anything better for him, that he should let me wash him and afterwards lay him down on my bed again. To this he submitted with the best grace possible, staring at me during the whole operation as if he never had been, and never could again be, so astonished in his life - looking very miserable also, certainly, but making no complaint, and going snugly to sleep as soon as it was over. At first I was in two minds about taking such a liberty, but I soon reflected that nobody in the house was likely to notice it.

What with the bustle of dispatching Peepy and the bustle of getting myself ready and helping Ada, I was soon quite in a glow. We found Miss Jellyby trying to warm herself at the fire in the writing-room, which Priscilla was then lighting with a smutty parlour candlestick, throwing the candle in to make it burn better. Everything was just as we had left it last night and was evidently intended to remain so. Below-stairs the dinner-cloth had not been taken away, but had been left ready for breakfast. Crumbs, dust, and waste-paper were all over the house. Some pewter pots and a milk-can hung on the area railings; the door stood open; and we met the cook round the corner coming out of a public-house, wiping her mouth. She mentioned, as she passed us, that she had been to see what o’clock it was.

Português → But before we met the cook, we met Richard, who was dancing up and down Thavies Inn to warm his feet. He was agreeably surprised to see us stirring so soon and said he would gladly share our walk. So he took care of Ada, and Miss Jellyby and I went first. I may mention that Miss Jellyby had relapsed into her sulky manner and that I really should not have thought she liked me much unless she had told me so.

“Where would you wish to go?” she asked.

“Anywhere, my dear,” I replied.

“Anywhere’s nowhere,” said Miss Jellyby, stopping perversely.

“Let us go somewhere at any rate,” said I.

She then walked me on very fast.

“I don’t care!” she said. “Now, you are my witness, Miss Summerson, I say I don’t care - but if he was to come to our house with his great, shining, lumpy forehead night after night till he was as old as Methuselah, I wouldn’t have anything to say to him. Such ASSES as he and Ma make of themselves!”

“My dear!” I remonstrated, in allusion to the epithet and the vigorous emphasis Miss Jellyby set upon it. “Your duty as a child - ”

“Oh! Don’t talk of duty as a child, Miss Summerson; where’s Ma’s duty as a parent? All made over to the public and Africa, I suppose! Then let the public and Africa show duty as a child; it’s much more their affair than mine. You are shocked, I dare say! Very well, so am I shocked too; so we are both shocked, and there’s an end of it!”

Português → She walked me on faster yet.

“But for all that, I say again, he may come, and come, and come, and I won’t have anything to say to him. I can’t bear him. If there’s any stuff in the world that I hate and detest, it’s the stuff he and Ma talk. I wonder the very paving-stones opposite our house can have the patience to stay there and be a witness of such inconsistencies and contradictions as all that sounding nonsense, and Ma’s management!”

I could not but understand her to refer to Mr. Quale, the young gentleman who had appeared after dinner yesterday. I was saved the disagreeable necessity of pursuing the subject by Richard and Ada coming up at a round pace, laughing and asking us if we meant to run a race. Thus interrupted, Miss Jellyby became silent and walked moodily on at my side while I admired the long successions and varieties of streets, the quantity of people already going to and fro, the number of vehicles passing and repassing, the busy preparations in the setting forth of shop windows and the sweeping out of shops, and the extraordinary creatures in rags secretly groping among the swept-out rubbish for pins and other refuse.

“So, cousin,” said the cheerful voice of Richard to Ada behind me. “We are never to get out of Chancery! We have come by another way to our place of meeting yesterday, and - by the Great Seal, here’s the old lady again!”

Truly, there she was, immediately in front of us, curtsying, and smiling, and saying with her yesterday’s air of patronage, “The wards in Jarndyce! Ve-ry happy, I am sure!”

“You are out early, ma’am,” said I as she curtsied to me.

“Ye-es! I usually walk here early. Before the court sits. It’s retired. I collect my thoughts here for the business of the day,” said the old lady mincingly. “The business of the day requires a great deal of thought. Chancery justice is so ve-ry difficult to follow.”

Português → “Who’s this, Miss Summerson?” whispered Miss Jellyby, drawing my arm tighter through her own.

The little old lady’s hearing was remarkably quick. She answered for herself directly.

“A suitor, my child. At your service. I have the honour to attend court regularly. With my documents. Have I the pleasure of addressing another of the youthful parties in Jarndyce?” said the old lady, recovering herself, with her head on one side, from a very low curtsy.

Richard, anxious to atone for his thoughtlessness of yesterday, good-naturedly explained that Miss Jellyby was not connected with the suit.

“Ha!” said the old lady. “She does not expect a judgment? She will still grow old. But not so old. Oh, dear, no! This is the garden of Lincoln’s Inn. I call it my garden. It is quite a bower in the summer-time. Where the birds sing melodiously. I pass the greater part of the long vacation here. In contemplation. You find the long vacation exceedingly long, don’t you?”

We said yes, as she seemed to expect us to say so.

“When the leaves are falling from the trees and there are no more flowers in bloom to make up into nosegays for the Lord Chancellor’s court,” said the old lady, “the vacation is fulfilled and the sixth seal, mentioned in the Revelations, again prevails. Pray come and see my lodging. It will be a good omen for me. Youth, and hope, and beauty are very seldom there. It is a long, long time since I had a visit from either.”

Português → She had taken my hand, and leading me and Miss Jellyby away, beckoned Richard and Ada to come too. I did not know how to excuse myself and looked to Richard for aid. As he was half amused and half curious and all in doubt how to get rid of the old lady without offence, she continued to lead us away, and he and Ada continued to follow, our strange conductress informing us all the time, with much smiling condescension, that she lived close by.

It was quite true, as it soon appeared. She lived so close by that we had not time to have done humouring her for a few moments before she was at home. Slipping us out at a little side gate, the old lady stopped most unexpectedly in a narrow back street, part of some courts and lanes immediately outside the wall of the inn, and said, “This is my lodging. Pray walk up!”

She had stopped at a shop over which was written KROOK, RAG AND BOTTLE WAREHOUSE. Also, in long thin letters, KROOK, DEALER IN MARINE STORES. In one part of the window was a picture of a red paper mill at which a cart was unloading a quantity of sacks of old rags. In another was the inscription BONES BOUGHT. In another, KITCHEN-STUFF BOUGHT. In another, OLD IRON BOUGHT. In another, WASTE-PAPER BOUGHT. In another, LADIES’ AND GENTLEMEN’S WARDROBES BOUGHT. Everything seemed to be bought and nothing to be sold there. In all parts of the window were quantities of dirty bottles - blacking bottles, medicine bottles, ginger-beer and soda-water bottles, pickle bottles, wine bottles, ink bottles; I am reminded by mentioning the latter that the shop had in several little particulars the air of being in a legal neighbourhood and of being, as it were, a dirty hanger-on and disowned relation of the law. There were a great many ink bottles. There was a little tottering bench of shabby old volumes outside the door, labelled “Law Books, all at 9d.” Some of the inscriptions I have enumerated were written in law-hand, like the papers I had seen in Kenge and Carboy’s office and the letters I had so long received from the firm. Among them was one, in the same writing, having nothing to do with the business of the shop, but announcing that a respectable man aged forty-five wanted engrossing or copying to execute with neatness and dispatch: Address to Nemo, care of Mr. Krook, within. There were several second-hand bags, blue and red, hanging up. A little way within the shop-door lay heaps of old crackled parchment scrolls and discoloured and dog’s-eared law-papers. I could have fancied that all the rusty keys, of which there must have been hundreds huddled together as old iron, had once belonged to doors of rooms or strong chests in lawyers’ offices. The litter of rags tumbled partly into and partly out of a one-legged wooden scale, hanging without any counterpoise from a beam, might have been counsellors’ bands and gowns torn up. One had only to fancy, as Richard whispered to Ada and me while we all stood looking in, that yonder bones in a corner, piled together and picked very clean, were the bones of clients, to make the picture complete.

As it was still foggy and dark, and as the shop was blinded besides by the wall of Lincoln’s Inn, intercepting the light within a couple of yards, we should not have seen so much but for a lighted lantern that an old man in spectacles and a hairy cap was carrying about in the shop. Turning towards the door, he now caught sight of us. He was short, cadaverous, and withered, with his head sunk sideways between his shoulders and the breath issuing in visible smoke from his mouth as if he were on fire within. His throat, chin, and eyebrows were so frosted with white hairs and so gnarled with veins and puckered skin that he looked from his breast upward like some old root in a fall of snow.

Português → “Hi, hi!” said the old man, coming to the door. “Have you anything to sell?”

We naturally drew back and glanced at our conductress, who had been trying to open the house-door with a key she had taken from her pocket, and to whom Richard now said that as we had had the pleasure of seeing where she lived, we would leave her, being pressed for time. But she was not to be so easily left. She became so fantastically and pressingly earnest in her entreaties that we would walk up and see her apartment for an instant, and was so bent, in her harmless way, on leading me in, as part of the good omen she desired, that I (whatever the others might do) saw nothing for it but to comply. I suppose we were all more or less curious; at any rate, when the old man added his persuasions to hers and said, “Aye, aye! Please her! It won’t take a minute! Come in, come in! Come in through the shop if t’other door’s out of order!” we all went in, stimulated by Richard’s laughing encouragement and relying on his protection.

“My landlord, Krook,” said the little old lady, condescending to him from her lofty station as she presented him to us. “He is called among the neighbours the Lord Chancellor. His shop is called the Court of Chancery. He is a very eccentric person. He is very odd. Oh, I assure you he is very odd!”

She shook her head a great many times and tapped her forehead with her finger to express to us that we must have the goodness to excuse him, “For he is a little - you know - M!” said the old lady with great stateliness. The old man overheard, and laughed.

“It’s true enough,” he said, going before us with the lantern, “that they call me the Lord Chancellor and call my shop Chancery. And why do you think they call me the Lord Chancellor and my shop Chancery?”

“I don’t know, I am sure!” said Richard rather carelessly.

Português → “You see,” said the old man, stopping and turning round, “they - Hi! Here’s lovely hair! I have got three sacks of ladies’ hair below, but none so beautiful and fine as this. What colour, and what texture!”

“That’ll do, my good friend!” said Richard, strongly disapproving of his having drawn one of Ada’s tresses through his yellow hand. “You can admire as the rest of us do without taking that liberty.”

The old man darted at him a sudden look which even called my attention from Ada, who, startled and blushing, was so remarkably beautiful that she seemed to fix the wandering attention of the little old lady herself. But as Ada interposed and laughingly said she could only feel proud of such genuine admiration, Mr. Krook shrunk into his former self as suddenly as he had leaped out of it.

“You see, I have so many things here,” he resumed, holding up the lantern, “of so many kinds, and all as the neighbours think (but THEY know nothing), wasting away and going to rack and ruin, that that’s why they have given me and my place a christening. And I have so many old parchmentses and papers in my stock. And I have a liking for rust and must and cobwebs. And all’s fish that comes to my net. And I can’t abear to part with anything I once lay hold of (or so my neighbours think, but what do THEY know?) or to alter anything, or to have any sweeping, nor scouring, nor cleaning, nor repairing going on about me. That’s the way I’ve got the ill name of Chancery. I don’t mind. I go to see my noble and learned brother pretty well every day, when he sits in the Inn. He don’t notice me, but I notice him. There’s no great odds betwixt us. We both grub on in a muddle. Hi, Lady Jane!”

A large grey cat leaped from some neighbouring shelf on his shoulder and startled us all.

Português → “Hi! Show ’em how you scratch. Hi! Tear, my lady!” said her master.

The cat leaped down and ripped at a bundle of rags with her tigerish claws, with a sound that it set my teeth on edge to hear.

“She’d do as much for any one I was to set her on,” said the old man. “I deal in cat-skins among other general matters, and hers was offered to me. It’s a very fine skin, as you may see, but I didn’t have it stripped off! THAT warn’t like Chancery practice though, says you!”

He had by this time led us across the shop, and now opened a door in the back part of it, leading to the house-entry. As he stood with his hand upon the lock, the little old lady graciously observed to him before passing out, “That will do, Krook. You mean well, but are tiresome. My young friends are pressed for time. I have none to spare myself, having to attend court very soon. My young friends are the wards in Jarndyce.”

“Jarndyce!” said the old man with a start.

“Jarndyce and Jarndyce. The great suit, Krook,” returned his lodger.

“Hi!” exclaimed the old man in a tone of thoughtful amazement and with a wider stare than before. “Think of it!”

He seemed so rapt all in a moment and looked so curiously at us that Richard said, “Why, you appear to trouble yourself a good deal about the causes before your noble and learned brother, the other Chancellor!”

Português → “Yes,” said the old man abstractedly. “Sure! YOUR name now will be - ”

“Richard Carstone.”

“Carstone,” he repeated, slowly checking off that name upon his forefinger; and each of the others he went on to mention upon a separate finger. “Yes. There was the name of Barbary, and the name of Clare, and the name of Dedlock, too, I think.”

“He knows as much of the cause as the real salaried Chancellor!” said Richard, quite astonished, to Ada and me.

“Aye!” said the old man, coming slowly out of his abstraction. “Yes! Tom Jarndyce - you’ll excuse me, being related; but he was never known about court by any other name, and was as well known there as - she is now,” nodding slightly at his lodger. “Tom Jarndyce was often in here. He got into a restless habit of strolling about when the cause was on, or expected, talking to the little shopkeepers and telling ’em to keep out of Chancery, whatever they did. ‘For,’ says he, ‘it’s being ground to bits in a slow mill; it’s being roasted at a slow fire; it’s being stung to death by single bees; it’s being drowned by drops; it’s going mad by grains.’ He was as near making away with himself, just where the young lady stands, as near could be.”

We listened with horror.

“He come in at the door,” said the old man, slowly pointing an imaginary track along the shop, “on the day he did it - the whole neighbourhood had said for months before that he would do it, of a certainty sooner or later - he come in at the door that day, and walked along there, and sat himself on a bench that stood there, and asked me (you’ll judge I was a mortal sight younger then) to fetch him a pint of wine. ‘For,’ says he, ‘Krook, I am much depressed; my cause is on again, and I think I’m nearer judgment than I ever was.’ I hadn’t a mind to leave him alone; and I persuaded him to go to the tavern over the way there, t’other side my lane (I mean Chancery Lane); and I followed and looked in at the window, and saw him, comfortable as I thought, in the arm-chair by the fire, and company with him. I hadn’t hardly got back here when I heard a shot go echoing and rattling right away into the inn. I ran out - neighbours ran out - twenty of us cried at once, ‘Tom Jarndyce!’”

The old man stopped, looked hard at us, looked down into the lantern, blew the light out, and shut the lantern up.

Português → “We were right, I needn’t tell the present hearers. Hi! To be sure, how the neighbourhood poured into court that afternoon while the cause was on! How my noble and learned brother, and all the rest of ’em, grubbed and muddled away as usual and tried to look as if they hadn’t heard a word of the last fact in the case or as if they had - Oh, dear me! - nothing at all to do with it if they had heard of it by any chance!”

Ada’s colour had entirely left her, and Richard was scarcely less pale. Nor could I wonder, judging even from my emotions, and I was no party in the suit, that to hearts so untried and fresh it was a shock to come into the inheritance of a protracted misery, attended in the minds of many people with such dreadful recollections. I had another uneasiness, in the application of the painful story to the poor half-witted creature who had brought us there; but, to my surprise, she seemed perfectly unconscious of that and only led the way upstairs again, informing us with the toleration of a superior creature for the infirmities of a common mortal that her landlord was “a little - M - , you know!”

She lived at the top of the house, in a pretty large room, from which she had a glimpse of Lincoln’s Inn Hall. This seemed to have been her principal inducement, originally, for taking up her residence there. She could look at it, she said, in the night, especially in the moonshine. Her room was clean, but very, very bare. I noticed the scantiest necessaries in the way of furniture; a few old prints from books, of Chancellors and barristers, wafered against the wall; and some half-dozen reticles and work-bags, “containing documents,” as she informed us. There were neither coals nor ashes in the grate, and I saw no articles of clothing anywhere, nor any kind of food. Upon a shelf in an open cupboard were a plate or two, a cup or two, and so forth, but all dry and empty. There was a more affecting meaning in her pinched appearance, I thought as I looked round, than I had understood before.

Português → “Extremely honoured, I am sure,” said our poor hostess with the greatest suavity, “by this visit from the wards in Jarndyce. And very much indebted for the omen. It is a retired situation. Considering. I am limited as to situation. In consequence of the necessity of attending on the Chancellor. I have lived here many years. I pass my days in court, my evenings and my nights here. I find the nights long, for I sleep but little and think much. That is, of course, unavoidable, being in Chancery. I am sorry I cannot offer chocolate. I expect a judgment shortly and shall then place my establishment on a superior footing. At present, I don’t mind confessing to the wards in Jarndyce (in strict confidence) that I sometimes find it difficult to keep up a genteel appearance. I have felt the cold here. I have felt something sharper than cold. It matters very little. Pray excuse the introduction of such mean topics.”

She partly drew aside the curtain of the long, low garret window and called our attention to a number of bird-cages hanging there, some containing several birds. There were larks, linnets, and goldfinches - I should think at least twenty.

“I began to keep the little creatures,” she said, “with an object that the wards will readily comprehend. With the intention of restoring them to liberty. When my judgment should be given. Ye-es! They die in prison, though. Their lives, poor silly things, are so short in comparison with Chancery proceedings that, one by one, the whole collection has died over and over again. I doubt, do you know, whether one of these, though they are all young, will live to be free! Ve-ry mortifying, is it not?”

Although she sometimes asked a question, she never seemed to expect a reply, but rambled on as if she were in the habit of doing so when no one but herself was present.

Português → “Indeed,” she pursued, “I positively doubt sometimes, I do assure you, whether while matters are still unsettled, and the sixth or Great Seal still prevails, I may not one day be found lying stark and senseless here, as I have found so many birds!”

Richard, answering what he saw in Ada’s compassionate eyes, took the opportunity of laying some money, softly and unobserved, on the chimney-piece. We all drew nearer to the cages, feigning to examine the birds.

“I can’t allow them to sing much,” said the little old lady, “for (you’ll think this curious) I find my mind confused by the idea that they are singing while I am following the arguments in court. And my mind requires to be so very clear, you know! Another time, I’ll tell you their names. Not at present. On a day of such good omen, they shall sing as much as they like. In honour of youth,” a smile and curtsy, “hope,” a smile and curtsy, “and beauty,” a smile and curtsy. “There! We’ll let in the full light.”

The birds began to stir and chirp.

“I cannot admit the air freely,” said the little old lady - the room was close, and would have been the better for it - “because the cat you saw downstairs, called Lady Jane, is greedy for their lives. She crouches on the parapet outside for hours and hours. I have discovered,” whispering mysteriously, “that her natural cruelty is sharpened by a jealous fear of their regaining their liberty. In consequence of the judgment I expect being shortly given. She is sly and full of malice. I half believe, sometimes, that she is no cat, but the wolf of the old saying. It is so very difficult to keep her from the door.”

Português → Some neighbouring bells, reminding the poor soul that it was half-past nine, did more for us in the way of bringing our visit to an end than we could easily have done for ourselves. She hurriedly took up her little bag of documents, which she had laid upon the table on coming in, and asked if we were also going into court. On our answering no, and that we would on no account detain her, she opened the door to attend us downstairs.

“With such an omen, it is even more necessary than usual that I should be there before the Chancellor comes in,” said she, “for he might mention my case the first thing. I have a presentiment that he WILL mention it the first thing this morning.”

She stopped to tell us in a whisper as we were going down that the whole house was filled with strange lumber which her landlord had bought piecemeal and had no wish to sell, in consequence of being a little M. This was on the first floor. But she had made a previous stoppage on the second floor and had silently pointed at a dark door there.

“The only other lodger,” she now whispered in explanation, “a law-writer. The children in the lanes here say he has sold himself to the devil. I don’t know what he can have done with the money. Hush!”

She appeared to mistrust that the lodger might hear her even there, and repeating “Hush!” went before us on tiptoe as though even the sound of her footsteps might reveal to him what she had said.

Português → Passing through the shop on our way out, as we had passed through it on our way in, we found the old man storing a quantity of packets of waste-paper in a kind of well in the floor. He seemed to be working hard, with the perspiration standing on his forehead, and had a piece of chalk by him, with which, as he put each separate package or bundle down, he made a crooked mark on the panelling of the wall.

Richard and Ada, and Miss Jellyby, and the little old lady had gone by him, and I was going when he touched me on the arm to stay me, and chalked the letter J upon the wall - in a very curious manner, beginning with the end of the letter and shaping it backward. It was a capital letter, not a printed one, but just such a letter as any clerk in Messrs. Kenge and Carboy’s office would have made.

“Can you read it?” he asked me with a keen glance.

“Surely,” said I. “It’s very plain.”

“What is it?”

“J.”

With another glance at me, and a glance at the door, he rubbed it out and turned an “a” in its place (not a capital letter this time), and said, “What’s that?”

I told him. He then rubbed that out and turned the letter “r,” and asked me the same question. He went on quickly until he had formed in the same curious manner, beginning at the ends and bottoms of the letters, the word Jarndyce, without once leaving two letters on the wall together.

Português → “What does that spell?” he asked me.

When I told him, he laughed. In the same odd way, yet with the same rapidity, he then produced singly, and rubbed out singly, the letters forming the words Bleak House. These, in some astonishment, I also read; and he laughed again.

“Hi!” said the old man, laying aside the chalk. “I have a turn for copying from memory, you see, miss, though I can neither read nor write.”

He looked so disagreeable and his cat looked so wickedly at me, as if I were a blood-relation of the birds upstairs, that I was quite relieved by Richard’s appearing at the door and saying, “Miss Summerson, I hope you are not bargaining for the sale of your hair. Don’t be tempted. Three sacks below are quite enough for Mr. Krook!”

I lost no time in wishing Mr. Krook good morning and joining my friends outside, where we parted with the little old lady, who gave us her blessing with great ceremony and renewed her assurance of yesterday in reference to her intention of settling estates on Ada and me. Before we finally turned out of those lanes, we looked back and saw Mr. Krook standing at his shop-door, in his spectacles, looking after us, with his cat upon his shoulder, and her tail sticking up on one side of his hairy cap like a tall feather.

Português → “Quite an adventure for a morning in London!” said Richard with a sigh. “Ah, cousin, cousin, it’s a weary word this Chancery!”

“It is to me, and has been ever since I can remember,” returned Ada. “I am grieved that I should be the enemy - as I suppose I am - of a great number of relations and others, and that they should be my enemies - as I suppose they are - and that we should all be ruining one another without knowing how or why and be in constant doubt and discord all our lives. It seems very strange, as there must be right somewhere, that an honest judge in real earnest has not been able to find out through all these years where it is.”

“Ah, cousin!” said Richard. “Strange, indeed! All this wasteful, wanton chess-playing IS very strange. To see that composed court yesterday jogging on so serenely and to think of the wretchedness of the pieces on the board gave me the headache and the heartache both together. My head ached with wondering how it happened, if men were neither fools nor rascals; and my heart ached to think they could possibly be either. But at all events, Ada - I may call you Ada?”

“Of course you may, cousin Richard.”

“At all events, Chancery will work none of its bad influences on US. We have happily been brought together, thanks to our good kinsman, and it can’t divide us now!”

Português → “Never, I hope, cousin Richard!” said Ada gently.

Miss Jellyby gave my arm a squeeze and me a very significant look. I smiled in return, and we made the rest of the way back very pleasantly.

In half an hour after our arrival, Mrs. Jellyby appeared; and in the course of an hour the various things necessary for breakfast straggled one by one into the dining-room. I do not doubt that Mrs. Jellyby had gone to bed and got up in the usual manner, but she presented no appearance of having changed her dress. She was greatly occupied during breakfast, for the morning’s post brought a heavy correspondence relative to Borrioboola-Gha, which would occasion her (she said) to pass a busy day. The children tumbled about, and notched memoranda of their accidents in their legs, which were perfect little calendars of distress; and Peepy was lost for an hour and a half, and brought home from Newgate market by a policeman. The equable manner in which Mrs. Jellyby sustained both his absence and his restoration to the family circle surprised us all.

She was by that time perseveringly dictating to Caddy, and Caddy was fast relapsing into the inky condition in which we had found her. At one o’clock an open carriage arrived for us, and a cart for our luggage. Mrs. Jellyby charged us with many remembrances to her good friend Mr. Jarndyce; Caddy left her desk to see us depart, kissed me in the passage, and stood biting her pen and sobbing on the steps; Peepy, I am happy to say, was asleep and spared the pain of separation (I was not without misgivings that he had gone to Newgate market in search of me); and all the other children got up behind the barouche and fell off, and we saw them, with great concern, scattered over the surface of Thavies Inn as we rolled out of its precincts.

Chapter VI

Português → Quite at Home

The day had brightened very much, and still brightened as we went westward. We went our way through the sunshine and the fresh air, wondering more and more at the extent of the streets, the brilliancy of the shops, the great traffic, and the crowds of people whom the pleasanter weather seemed to have brought out like many-coloured flowers. By and by we began to leave the wonderful city and to proceed through suburbs which, of themselves, would have made a pretty large town in my eyes; and at last we got into a real country road again, with windmills, rick-yards, milestones, farmers’ waggons, scents of old hay, swinging signs, and horse troughs: trees, fields, and hedge-rows. It was delightful to see the green landscape before us and the immense metropolis behind; and when a waggon with a train of beautiful horses, furnished with red trappings and clear-sounding bells, came by us with its music, I believe we could all three have sung to the bells, so cheerful were the influences around.

“The whole road has been reminding me of my namesake Whittington,” said Richard, “and that waggon is the finishing touch. Halloa! What’s the matter?”

We had stopped, and the waggon had stopped too. Its music changed as the horses came to a stand, and subsided to a gentle tinkling, except when a horse tossed his head or shook himself and sprinkled off a little shower of bell-ringing.

“Our postilion is looking after the waggoner,” said Richard, “and the waggoner is coming back after us. Good day, friend!” The waggoner was at our coach-door. “Why, here’s an extraordinary thing!” added Richard, looking closely at the man. “He has got your name, Ada, in his hat!”

Português → He had all our names in his hat. Tucked within the band were three small notes - one addressed to Ada, one to Richard, one to me. These the waggoner delivered to each of us respectively, reading the name aloud first. In answer to Richard’s inquiry from whom they came, he briefly answered, “Master, sir, if you please”; and putting on his hat again (which was like a soft bowl), cracked his whip, re-awakened his music, and went melodiously away.

“Is that Mr. Jarndyce’s waggon?” said Richard, calling to our post-boy.

“Yes, sir,” he replied. “Going to London.”

We opened the notes. Each was a counterpart of the other and contained these words in a solid, plain hand.

I look forward, my dear, to our meeting easily and without constraint on either side. I therefore have to propose that we meet as old friends and take the past for granted. It will be a relief to you possibly, and to me certainly, and so my love to you.

John Jarndyce

I had perhaps less reason to be surprised than either of my companions, having never yet enjoyed an opportunity of thanking one who had been my benefactor and sole earthly dependence through so many years. I had not considered how I could thank him, my gratitude lying too deep in my heart for that; but I now began to consider how I could meet him without thanking him, and felt it would be very difficult indeed.

Português → The notes revived in Richard and Ada a general impression that they both had, without quite knowing how they came by it, that their cousin Jarndyce could never bear acknowledgments for any kindness he performed and that sooner than receive any he would resort to the most singular expedients and evasions or would even run away. Ada dimly remembered to have heard her mother tell, when she was a very little child, that he had once done her an act of uncommon generosity and that on her going to his house to thank him, he happened to see her through a window coming to the door, and immediately escaped by the back gate, and was not heard of for three months. This discourse led to a great deal more on the same theme, and indeed it lasted us all day, and we talked of scarcely anything else. If we did by any chance diverge into another subject, we soon returned to this, and wondered what the house would be like, and when we should get there, and whether we should see Mr. Jarndyce as soon as we arrived or after a delay, and what he would say to us, and what we should say to him. All of which we wondered about, over and over again.

The roads were very heavy for the horses, but the pathway was generally good, so we alighted and walked up all the hills, and liked it so well that we prolonged our walk on the level ground when we got to the top. At Barnet there were other horses waiting for us, but as they had only just been fed, we had to wait for them too, and got a long fresh walk over a common and an old battle-field before the carriage came up. These delays so protracted the journey that the short day was spent and the long night had closed in before we came to St. Albans, near to which town Bleak House was, we knew.

By that time we were so anxious and nervous that even Richard confessed, as we rattled over the stones of the old street, to feeling an irrational desire to drive back again. As to Ada and me, whom he had wrapped up with great care, the night being sharp and frosty, we trembled from head to foot. When we turned out of the town, round a corner, and Richard told us that the post-boy, who had for a long time sympathized with our heightened expectation, was looking back and nodding, we both stood up in the carriage (Richard holding Ada lest she should be jolted down) and gazed round upon the open country and the starlight night for our destination. There was a light sparkling on the top of a hill before us, and the driver, pointing to it with his whip and crying, “That’s Bleak House!” put his horses into a canter and took us forward at such a rate, uphill though it was, that the wheels sent the road drift flying about our heads like spray from a water-mill. Presently we lost the light, presently saw it, presently lost it, presently saw it, and turned into an avenue of trees and cantered up towards where it was beaming brightly. It was in a window of what seemed to be an old-fashioned house with three peaks in the roof in front and a circular sweep leading to the porch. A bell was rung as we drew up, and amidst the sound of its deep voice in the still air, and the distant barking of some dogs, and a gush of light from the opened door, and the smoking and steaming of the heated horses, and the quickened beating of our own hearts, we alighted in no inconsiderable confusion.

Português → “Ada, my love, Esther, my dear, you are welcome. I rejoice to see you! Rick, if I had a hand to spare at present, I would give it you!”

The gentleman who said these words in a clear, bright, hospitable voice had one of his arms round Ada’s waist and the other round mine, and kissed us both in a fatherly way, and bore us across the hall into a ruddy little room, all in a glow with a blazing fire. Here he kissed us again, and opening his arms, made us sit down side by side on a sofa ready drawn out near the hearth. I felt that if we had been at all demonstrative, he would have run away in a moment.

“Now, Rick!” said he. “I have a hand at liberty. A word in earnest is as good as a speech. I am heartily glad to see you. You are at home. Warm yourself!”

Richard shook him by both hands with an intuitive mixture of respect and frankness, and only saying (though with an earnestness that rather alarmed me, I was so afraid of Mr. Jarndyce’s suddenly disappearing), “You are very kind, sir! We are very much obliged to you!” laid aside his hat and coat and came up to the fire.

“And how did you like the ride? And how did you like Mrs. Jellyby, my dear?” said Mr. Jarndyce to Ada.

Português → While Ada was speaking to him in reply, I glanced (I need not say with how much interest) at his face. It was a handsome, lively, quick face, full of change and motion; and his hair was a silvered iron-grey. I took him to be nearer sixty than fifty, but he was upright, hearty, and robust. From the moment of his first speaking to us his voice had connected itself with an association in my mind that I could not define; but now, all at once, a something sudden in his manner and a pleasant expression in his eyes recalled the gentleman in the stagecoach six years ago on the memorable day of my journey to Reading. I was certain it was he. I never was so frightened in my life as when I made the discovery, for he caught my glance, and appearing to read my thoughts, gave such a look at the door that I thought we had lost him.

However, I am happy to say he remained where he was, and asked me what I thought of Mrs. Jellyby.

“She exerts herself very much for Africa, sir,” I said.

“Nobly!” returned Mr. Jarndyce. “But you answer like Ada.” Whom I had not heard. “You all think something else, I see.”

“We rather thought,” said I, glancing at Richard and Ada, who entreated me with their eyes to speak, “that perhaps she was a little unmindful of her home.”

“Floored!” cried Mr. Jarndyce.

I was rather alarmed again.

“Well! I want to know your real thoughts, my dear. I may have sent you there on purpose.”

Português → “We thought that, perhaps,” said I, hesitating, “it is right to begin with the obligations of home, sir; and that, perhaps, while those are overlooked and neglected, no other duties can possibly be substituted for them.”

“The little Jellybys,” said Richard, coming to my relief, “are really - I can’t help expressing myself strongly, sir - in a devil of a state.”

“She means well,” said Mr. Jarndyce hastily. “The wind’s in the east.”

“It was in the north, sir, as we came down,” observed Richard.

“My dear Rick,” said Mr. Jarndyce, poking the fire, “I’ll take an oath it’s either in the east or going to be. I am always conscious of an uncomfortable sensation now and then when the wind is blowing in the east.”

“Rheumatism, sir?” said Richard.

“I dare say it is, Rick. I believe it is. And so the little Jell - I had my doubts about ’em - are in a - oh, Lord, yes, it’s easterly!” said Mr. Jarndyce.

Português → He had taken two or three undecided turns up and down while uttering these broken sentences, retaining the poker in one hand and rubbing his hair with the other, with a good-natured vexation at once so whimsical and so lovable that I am sure we were more delighted with him than we could possibly have expressed in any words. He gave an arm to Ada and an arm to me, and bidding Richard bring a candle, was leading the way out when he suddenly turned us all back again.

“Those little Jellybys. Couldn’t you - didn’t you - now, if it had rained sugar-plums, or three-cornered raspberry tarts, or anything of that sort!” said Mr. Jarndyce.

“Oh, cousin - ” Ada hastily began.

“Good, my pretty pet. I like cousin. Cousin John, perhaps, is better.”

“Then, cousin John - ” Ada laughingly began again.

“Ha, ha! Very good indeed!” said Mr. Jarndyce with great enjoyment. “Sounds uncommonly natural. Yes, my dear?”

“It did better than that. It rained Esther.”

“Aye?” said Mr. Jarndyce. “What did Esther do?”

Português → “Why, cousin John,” said Ada, clasping her hands upon his arm and shaking her head at me across him - for I wanted her to be quiet - “Esther was their friend directly. Esther nursed them, coaxed them to sleep, washed and dressed them, told them stories, kept them quiet, bought them keepsakes” - My dear girl! I had only gone out with Peepy after he was found and given him a little, tiny horse! - “and, cousin John, she softened poor Caroline, the eldest one, so much and was so thoughtful for me and so amiable! No, no, I won’t be contradicted, Esther dear! You know, you know, it’s true!”

The warm-hearted darling leaned across her cousin John and kissed me, and then looking up in his face, boldly said, “At all events, cousin John, I WILL thank you for the companion you have given me.” I felt as if she challenged him to run away. But he didn’t.

“Where did you say the wind was, Rick?” asked Mr. Jarndyce.

“In the north as we came down, sir.”

“You are right. There’s no east in it. A mistake of mine. Come, girls, come and see your home!”

Português → It was one of those delightfully irregular houses where you go up and down steps out of one room into another, and where you come upon more rooms when you think you have seen all there are, and where there is a bountiful provision of little halls and passages, and where you find still older cottage-rooms in unexpected places with lattice windows and green growth pressing through them. Mine, which we entered first, was of this kind, with an up-and-down roof that had more corners in it than I ever counted afterwards and a chimney (there was a wood fire on the hearth) paved all around with pure white tiles, in every one of which a bright miniature of the fire was blazing. Out of this room, you went down two steps into a charming little sitting-room looking down upon a flower-garden, which room was henceforth to belong to Ada and me. Out of this you went up three steps into Ada’s bedroom, which had a fine broad window commanding a beautiful view (we saw a great expanse of darkness lying underneath the stars), to which there was a hollow window-seat, in which, with a spring-lock, three dear Adas might have been lost at once. Out of this room you passed into a little gallery, with which the other best rooms (only two) communicated, and so, by a little staircase of shallow steps with a number of corner stairs in it, considering its length, down into the hall. But if instead of going out at Ada’s door you came back into my room, and went out at the door by which you had entered it, and turned up a few crooked steps that branched off in an unexpected manner from the stairs, you lost yourself in passages, with mangles in them, and three-cornered tables, and a native Hindu chair, which was also a sofa, a box, and a bedstead, and looked in every form something between a bamboo skeleton and a great bird-cage, and had been brought from India nobody knew by whom or when. From these you came on Richard’s room, which was part library, part sitting-room, part bedroom, and seemed indeed a comfortable compound of many rooms. Out of that you went straight, with a little interval of passage, to the plain room where Mr. Jarndyce slept, all the year round, with his window open, his bedstead without any furniture standing in the middle of the floor for more air, and his cold bath gaping for him in a smaller room adjoining. Out of that you came into another passage, where there were back-stairs and where you could hear the horses being rubbed down outside the stable and being told to “Hold up” and “Get over,” as they slipped about very much on the uneven stones. Or you might, if you came out at another door (every room had at least two doors), go straight down to the hall again by half-a-dozen steps and a low archway, wondering how you got back there or had ever got out of it.

Português → The furniture, old-fashioned rather than old, like the house, was as pleasantly irregular. Ada’s sleeping-room was all flowers - in chintz and paper, in velvet, in needlework, in the brocade of two stiff courtly chairs which stood, each attended by a little page of a stool for greater state, on either side of the fire-place. Our sitting-room was green and had framed and glazed upon the walls numbers of surprising and surprised birds, staring out of pictures at a real trout in a case, as brown and shining as if it had been served with gravy; at the death of Captain Cook; and at the whole process of preparing tea in China, as depicted by Chinese artists. In my room there were oval engravings of the months - ladies haymaking in short waists and large hats tied under the chin, for June; smooth-legged noblemen pointing with cocked-hats to village steeples, for October. Half-length portraits in crayons abounded all through the house, but were so dispersed that I found the brother of a youthful officer of mine in the china-closet and the grey old age of my pretty young bride, with a flower in her bodice, in the breakfast-room. As substitutes, I had four angels, of Queen Anne’s reign, taking a complacent gentleman to heaven, in festoons, with some difficulty; and a composition in needlework representing fruit, a kettle, and an alphabet. All the movables, from the wardrobes to the chairs and tables, hangings, glasses, even to the pincushions and scent-bottles on the dressing-tables, displayed the same quaint variety. They agreed in nothing but their perfect neatness, their display of the whitest linen, and their storing-up, wheresoever the existence of a drawer, small or large, rendered it possible, of quantities of rose-leaves and sweet lavender. Such, with its illuminated windows, softened here and there by shadows of curtains, shining out upon the starlight night; with its light, and warmth, and comfort; with its hospitable jingle, at a distance, of preparations for dinner; with the face of its generous master brightening everything we saw; and just wind enough without to sound a low accompaniment to everything we heard, were our first impressions of Bleak House.

“I am glad you like it,” said Mr. Jarndyce when he had brought us round again to Ada’s sitting-room. “It makes no pretensions, but it is a comfortable little place, I hope, and will be more so with such bright young looks in it. You have barely half an hour before dinner. There’s no one here but the finest creature upon earth - a child.”

Português → “More children, Esther!” said Ada.

“I don’t mean literally a child,” pursued Mr. Jarndyce; “not a child in years. He is grown up - he is at least as old as I am - but in simplicity, and freshness, and enthusiasm, and a fine guileless inaptitude for all worldly affairs, he is a perfect child.”

We felt that he must be very interesting.

“He knows Mrs. Jellyby,” said Mr. Jarndyce. “He is a musical man, an amateur, but might have been a professional. He is an artist too, an amateur, but might have been a professional. He is a man of attainments and of captivating manners. He has been unfortunate in his affairs, and unfortunate in his pursuits, and unfortunate in his family; but he don’t care - he’s a child!”

“Did you imply that he has children of his own, sir?” inquired Richard.

“Yes, Rick! Half-a-dozen. More! Nearer a dozen, I should think. But he has never looked after them. How could he? He wanted somebody to look after HIM. He is a child, you know!” said Mr. Jarndyce.

Português → “And have the children looked after themselves at all, sir?” inquired Richard.

“Why, just as you may suppose,” said Mr. Jarndyce, his countenance suddenly falling. “It is said that the children of the very poor are not brought up, but dragged up. Harold Skimpole’s children have tumbled up somehow or other. The wind’s getting round again, I am afraid. I feel it rather!”

Richard observed that the situation was exposed on a sharp night.

“It IS exposed,” said Mr. Jarndyce. “No doubt that’s the cause. Bleak House has an exposed sound. But you are coming my way. Come along!”

Our luggage having arrived and being all at hand, I was dressed in a few minutes and engaged in putting my worldly goods away when a maid (not the one in attendance upon Ada, but another, whom I had not seen) brought a basket into my room with two bunches of keys in it, all labelled.

“For you, miss, if you please,” said she.

“For me?” said I.

“The housekeeping keys, miss.”

I showed my surprise, for she added with some little surprise on her own part, “I was told to bring them as soon as you was alone, miss. Miss Summerson, if I don’t deceive myself?”

Português → “Yes,” said I. “That is my name.”

“The large bunch is the housekeeping, and the little bunch is the cellars, miss. Any time you was pleased to appoint to-morrow morning, I was to show you the presses and things they belong to.”

I said I would be ready at half-past six, and after she was gone, stood looking at the basket, quite lost in the magnitude of my trust. Ada found me thus and had such a delightful confidence in me when I showed her the keys and told her about them that it would have been insensibility and ingratitude not to feel encouraged. I knew, to be sure, that it was the dear girl’s kindness, but I liked to be so pleasantly cheated.

Português → When we went downstairs, we were presented to Mr. Skimpole, who was standing before the fire telling Richard how fond he used to be, in his school-time, of football. He was a little bright creature with a rather large head, but a delicate face and a sweet voice, and there was a perfect charm in him. All he said was so free from effort and spontaneous and was said with such a captivating gaiety that it was fascinating to hear him talk. Being of a more slender figure than Mr. Jarndyce and having a richer complexion, with browner hair, he looked younger. Indeed, he had more the appearance in all respects of a damaged young man than a well-preserved elderly one. There was an easy negligence in his manner and even in his dress (his hair carelessly disposed, and his neck-kerchief loose and flowing, as I have seen artists paint their own portraits) which I could not separate from the idea of a romantic youth who had undergone some unique process of depreciation. It struck me as being not at all like the manner or appearance of a man who had advanced in life by the usual road of years, cares, and experiences.

Português → I gathered from the conversation that Mr. Skimpole had been educated for the medical profession and had once lived, in his professional capacity, in the household of a German prince. He told us, however, that as he had always been a mere child in point of weights and measures and had never known anything about them (except that they disgusted him), he had never been able to prescribe with the requisite accuracy of detail. In fact, he said, he had no head for detail. And he told us, with great humour, that when he was wanted to bleed the prince or physic any of his people, he was generally found lying on his back in bed, reading the newspapers or making fancy-sketches in pencil, and couldn’t come. The prince, at last, objecting to this, “in which,” said Mr. Skimpole, in the frankest manner, “he was perfectly right,” the engagement terminated, and Mr. Skimpole having (as he added with delightful gaiety) “nothing to live upon but love, fell in love, and married, and surrounded himself with rosy cheeks.” His good friend Jarndyce and some other of his good friends then helped him, in quicker or slower succession, to several openings in life, but to no purpose, for he must confess to two of the oldest infirmities in the world: one was that he had no idea of time, the other that he had no idea of money. In consequence of which he never kept an appointment, never could transact any business, and never knew the value of anything! Well! So he had got on in life, and here he was! He was very fond of reading the papers, very fond of making fancy-sketches with a pencil, very fond of nature, very fond of art. All he asked of society was to let him live. THAT wasn’t much. His wants were few. Give him the papers, conversation, music, mutton, coffee, landscape, fruit in the season, a few sheets of Bristol-board, and a little claret, and he asked no more. He was a mere child in the world, but he didn’t cry for the moon. He said to the world, “Go your several ways in peace! Wear red coats, blue coats, lawn sleeves; put pens behind your ears, wear aprons; go after glory, holiness, commerce, trade, any object you prefer; only - let Harold Skimpole live!”

Português → All this and a great deal more he told us, not only with the utmost brilliancy and enjoyment, but with a certain vivacious candour - speaking of himself as if he were not at all his own affair, as if Skimpole were a third person, as if he knew that Skimpole had his singularities but still had his claims too, which were the general business of the community and must not be slighted. He was quite enchanting. If I felt at all confused at that early time in endeavouring to reconcile anything he said with anything I had thought about the duties and accountabilities of life (which I am far from sure of), I was confused by not exactly understanding why he was free of them. That he WAS free of them, I scarcely doubted; he was so very clear about it himself.

“I covet nothing,” said Mr. Skimpole in the same light way. “Possession is nothing to me. Here is my friend Jarndyce’s excellent house. I feel obliged to him for possessing it. I can sketch it and alter it. I can set it to music. When I am here, I have sufficient possession of it and have neither trouble, cost, nor responsibility. My steward’s name, in short, is Jarndyce, and he can’t cheat me. We have been mentioning Mrs. Jellyby. There is a bright-eyed woman, of a strong will and immense power of business detail, who throws herself into objects with surprising ardour! I don’t regret that I have not a strong will and an immense power of business detail to throw myself into objects with surprising ardour. I can admire her without envy. I can sympathize with the objects. I can dream of them. I can lie down on the grass - in fine weather - and float along an African river, embracing all the natives I meet, as sensible of the deep silence and sketching the dense overhanging tropical growth as accurately as if I were there. I don’t know that it’s of any direct use my doing so, but it’s all I can do, and I do it thoroughly. Then, for heaven’s sake, having Harold Skimpole, a confiding child, petitioning you, the world, an agglomeration of practical people of business habits, to let him live and admire the human family, do it somehow or other, like good souls, and suffer him to ride his rocking-horse!”

Português → It was plain enough that Mr. Jarndyce had not been neglectful of the adjuration. Mr. Skimpole’s general position there would have rendered it so without the addition of what he presently said.

“It’s only you, the generous creatures, whom I envy,” said Mr. Skimpole, addressing us, his new friends, in an impersonal manner. “I envy you your power of doing what you do. It is what I should revel in myself. I don’t feel any vulgar gratitude to you. I almost feel as if YOU ought to be grateful to ME for giving you the opportunity of enjoying the luxury of generosity. I know you like it. For anything I can tell, I may have come into the world expressly for the purpose of increasing your stock of happiness. I may have been born to be a benefactor to you by sometimes giving you an opportunity of assisting me in my little perplexities. Why should I regret my incapacity for details and worldly affairs when it leads to such pleasant consequences? I don’t regret it therefore.”

Of all his playful speeches (playful, yet always fully meaning what they expressed) none seemed to be more to the taste of Mr. Jarndyce than this. I had often new temptations, afterwards, to wonder whether it was really singular, or only singular to me, that he, who was probably the most grateful of mankind upon the least occasion, should so desire to escape the gratitude of others.

Português → We were all enchanted. I felt it a merited tribute to the engaging qualities of Ada and Richard that Mr. Skimpole, seeing them for the first time, should be so unreserved and should lay himself out to be so exquisitely agreeable. They (and especially Richard) were naturally pleased, for similar reasons, and considered it no common privilege to be so freely confided in by such an attractive man. The more we listened, the more gaily Mr. Skimpole talked. And what with his fine hilarious manner and his engaging candour and his genial way of lightly tossing his own weaknesses about, as if he had said, “I am a child, you know! You are designing people compared with me” (he really made me consider myself in that light) “but I am gay and innocent; forget your worldly arts and play with me!” the effect was absolutely dazzling.

He was so full of feeling too and had such a delicate sentiment for what was beautiful or tender that he could have won a heart by that alone. In the evening, when I was preparing to make tea and Ada was touching the piano in the adjoining room and softly humming a tune to her cousin Richard, which they had happened to mention, he came and sat down on the sofa near me and so spoke of Ada that I almost loved him.

“She is like the morning,” he said. “With that golden hair, those blue eyes, and that fresh bloom on her cheek, she is like the summer morning. The birds here will mistake her for it. We will not call such a lovely young creature as that, who is a joy to all mankind, an orphan. She is the child of the universe.”

Português → Mr. Jarndyce, I found, was standing near us with his hands behind him and an attentive smile upon his face.

“The universe,” he observed, “makes rather an indifferent parent, I am afraid.”

“Oh! I don’t know!” cried Mr. Skimpole buoyantly.

“I think I do know,” said Mr. Jarndyce.

“Well!” cried Mr. Skimpole. “You know the world (which in your sense is the universe), and I know nothing of it, so you shall have your way. But if I had mine,” glancing at the cousins, “there should be no brambles of sordid realities in such a path as that. It should be strewn with roses; it should lie through bowers, where there was no spring, autumn, nor winter, but perpetual summer. Age or change should never wither it. The base word money should never be breathed near it!”

Português → Mr. Jarndyce patted him on the head with a smile, as if he had been really a child, and passing a step or two on, and stopping a moment, glanced at the young cousins. His look was thoughtful, but had a benignant expression in it which I often (how often!) saw again, which has long been engraven on my heart. The room in which they were, communicating with that in which he stood, was only lighted by the fire. Ada sat at the piano; Richard stood beside her, bending down. Upon the wall, their shadows blended together, surrounded by strange forms, not without a ghostly motion caught from the unsteady fire, though reflecting from motionless objects. Ada touched the notes so softly and sang so low that the wind, sighing away to the distant hills, was as audible as the music. The mystery of the future and the little clue afforded to it by the voice of the present seemed expressed in the whole picture.

But it is not to recall this fancy, well as I remember it, that I recall the scene. First, I was not quite unconscious of the contrast in respect of meaning and intention between the silent look directed that way and the flow of words that had preceded it. Secondly, though Mr. Jarndyce’s glance as he withdrew it rested for but a moment on me, I felt as if in that moment he confided to me - and knew that he confided to me and that I received the confidence - his hope that Ada and Richard might one day enter on a dearer relationship.

Português → Mr. Skimpole could play on the piano and the violoncello, and he was a composer - had composed half an opera once, but got tired of it - and played what he composed with taste. After tea we had quite a little concert, in which Richard - who was enthralled by Ada’s singing and told me that she seemed to know all the songs that ever were written - and Mr. Jarndyce, and I were the audience. After a little while I missed first Mr. Skimpole and afterwards Richard, and while I was thinking how could Richard stay away so long and lose so much, the maid who had given me the keys looked in at the door, saying, “If you please, miss, could you spare a minute?”

When I was shut out with her in the hall, she said, holding up her hands, “Oh, if you please, miss, Mr. Carstone says would you come upstairs to Mr. Skimpole’s room. He has been took, miss!”

“Took?” said I.

“Took, miss. Sudden,” said the maid.

Português → I was apprehensive that his illness might be of a dangerous kind, but of course I begged her to be quiet and not disturb any one and collected myself, as I followed her quickly upstairs, sufficiently to consider what were the best remedies to be applied if it should prove to be a fit. She threw open a door and I went into a chamber, where, to my unspeakable surprise, instead of finding Mr. Skimpole stretched upon the bed or prostrate on the floor, I found him standing before the fire smiling at Richard, while Richard, with a face of great embarrassment, looked at a person on the sofa, in a white great-coat, with smooth hair upon his head and not much of it, which he was wiping smoother and making less of with a pocket-handkerchief.

“Miss Summerson,” said Richard hurriedly, “I am glad you are come. You will be able to advise us. Our friend Mr. Skimpole - don’t be alarmed! - is arrested for debt.”

“And really, my dear Miss Summerson,” said Mr. Skimpole with his agreeable candour, “I never was in a situation in which that excellent sense and quiet habit of method and usefulness, which anybody must observe in you who has the happiness of being a quarter of an hour in your society, was more needed.”

Português → The person on the sofa, who appeared to have a cold in his head, gave such a very loud snort that he startled me.

“Are you arrested for much, sir?” I inquired of Mr. Skimpole.

“My dear Miss Summerson,” said he, shaking his head pleasantly, “I don’t know. Some pounds, odd shillings, and halfpence, I think, were mentioned.”

“It’s twenty-four pound, sixteen, and sevenpence ha’penny,” observed the stranger. “That’s wot it is.”

“And it sounds - somehow it sounds,” said Mr. Skimpole, “like a small sum?”

The strange man said nothing but made another snort. It was such a powerful one that it seemed quite to lift him out of his seat.

“Mr. Skimpole,” said Richard to me, “has a delicacy in applying to my cousin Jarndyce because he has lately - I think, sir, I understood you that you had lately - ”

“Oh, yes!” returned Mr. Skimpole, smiling. “Though I forgot how much it was and when it was. Jarndyce would readily do it again, but I have the epicure-like feeling that I would prefer a novelty in help, that I would rather,” and he looked at Richard and me, “develop generosity in a new soil and in a new form of flower.”

Português → “What do you think will be best, Miss Summerson?” said Richard, aside.

I ventured to inquire, generally, before replying, what would happen if the money were not produced.

“Jail,” said the strange man, coolly putting his handkerchief into his hat, which was on the floor at his feet. “Or Coavinses.”

“May I ask, sir, what is - ”

“Coavinses?” said the strange man. “A ’ouse.”

Richard and I looked at one another again. It was a most singular thing that the arrest was our embarrassment and not Mr. Skimpole’s. He observed us with a genial interest, but there seemed, if I may venture on such a contradiction, nothing selfish in it. He had entirely washed his hands of the difficulty, and it had become ours.

“I thought,” he suggested, as if good-naturedly to help us out, “that being parties in a Chancery suit concerning (as people say) a large amount of property, Mr. Richard or his beautiful cousin, or both, could sign something, or make over something, or give some sort of undertaking, or pledge, or bond? I don’t know what the business name of it may be, but I suppose there is some instrument within their power that would settle this?”

Português → “Not a bit on it,” said the strange man.

“Really?” returned Mr. Skimpole. “That seems odd, now, to one who is no judge of these things!”

“Odd or even,” said the stranger gruffly, “I tell you, not a bit on it!”

“Keep your temper, my good fellow, keep your temper!” Mr. Skimpole gently reasoned with him as he made a little drawing of his head on the fly-leaf of a book. “Don’t be ruffled by your occupation. We can separate you from your office; we can separate the individual from the pursuit. We are not so prejudiced as to suppose that in private life you are otherwise than a very estimable man, with a great deal of poetry in your nature, of which you may not be conscious.”

The stranger only answered with another violent snort, whether in acceptance of the poetry-tribute or in disdainful rejection of it, he did not express to me.

“Now, my dear Miss Summerson, and my dear Mr. Richard,” said Mr. Skimpole gaily, innocently, and confidingly as he looked at his drawing with his head on one side, “here you see me utterly incapable of helping myself, and entirely in your hands! I only ask to be free. The butterflies are free. Mankind will surely not deny to Harold Skimpole what it concedes to the butterflies!”

Português → “My dear Miss Summerson,” said Richard in a whisper, “I have ten pounds that I received from Mr. Kenge. I must try what that will do.”

I possessed fifteen pounds, odd shillings, which I had saved from my quarterly allowance during several years. I had always thought that some accident might happen which would throw me suddenly, without any relation or any property, on the world and had always tried to keep some little money by me that I might not be quite penniless. I told Richard of my having this little store and having no present need of it, and I asked him delicately to inform Mr. Skimpole, while I should be gone to fetch it, that we would have the pleasure of paying his debt.

When I came back, Mr. Skimpole kissed my hand and seemed quite touched. Not on his own account (I was again aware of that perplexing and extraordinary contradiction), but on ours, as if personal considerations were impossible with him and the contemplation of our happiness alone affected him. Richard, begging me, for the greater grace of the transaction, as he said, to settle with Coavinses (as Mr. Skimpole now jocularly called him), I counted out the money and received the necessary acknowledgment. This, too, delighted Mr. Skimpole.

Português → His compliments were so delicately administered that I blushed less than I might have done and settled with the stranger in the white coat without making any mistakes. He put the money in his pocket and shortly said, “Well, then, I’ll wish you a good evening, miss.”

“My friend,” said Mr. Skimpole, standing with his back to the fire after giving up the sketch when it was half finished, “I should like to ask you something, without offence.”

I think the reply was, “Cut away, then!”

“Did you know this morning, now, that you were coming out on this errand?” said Mr. Skimpole.

“Know’d it yes’day aft’noon at tea-time,” said Coavinses.

“It didn’t affect your appetite? Didn’t make you at all uneasy?”

“Not a bit,” said Coavinses. “I know’d if you wos missed to-day, you wouldn’t be missed to-morrow. A day makes no such odds.”

“But when you came down here,” proceeded Mr. Skimpole, “it was a fine day. The sun was shining, the wind was blowing, the lights and shadows were passing across the fields, the birds were singing.”

Português → “Nobody said they warn’t, in MY hearing,” returned Coavinses.

“No,” observed Mr. Skimpole. “But what did you think upon the road?”

“Wot do you mean?” growled Coavinses with an appearance of strong resentment. “Think! I’ve got enough to do, and little enough to get for it without thinking. Thinking!” (with profound contempt).

“Then you didn’t think, at all events,” proceeded Mr. Skimpole, “to this effect: ‘Harold Skimpole loves to see the sun shine, loves to hear the wind blow, loves to watch the changing lights and shadows, loves to hear the birds, those choristers in Nature’s great cathedral. And does it seem to me that I am about to deprive Harold Skimpole of his share in such possessions, which are his only birthright!’ You thought nothing to that effect?”

“I - certainly - did - NOT,” said Coavinses, whose doggedness in utterly renouncing the idea was of that intense kind that he could only give adequate expression to it by putting a long interval between each word, and accompanying the last with a jerk that might have dislocated his neck.

“Very odd and very curious, the mental process is, in you men of business!” said Mr. Skimpole thoughtfully. “Thank you, my friend. Good night.”

As our absence had been long enough already to seem strange downstairs, I returned at once and found Ada sitting at work by the fireside talking to her cousin John. Mr. Skimpole presently appeared, and Richard shortly after him. I was sufficiently engaged during the remainder of the evening in taking my first lesson in backgammon from Mr. Jarndyce, who was very fond of the game and from whom I wished of course to learn it as quickly as I could in order that I might be of the very small use of being able to play when he had no better adversary. But I thought, occasionally, when Mr. Skimpole played some fragments of his own compositions or when, both at the piano and the violoncello, and at our table, he preserved with an absence of all effort his delightful spirits and his easy flow of conversation, that Richard and I seemed to retain the transferred impression of having been arrested since dinner and that it was very curious altogether.

Português → It was late before we separated, for when Ada was going at eleven o’clock, Mr. Skimpole went to the piano and rattled hilariously that the best of all ways to lengthen our days was to steal a few hours from night, my dear! It was past twelve before he took his candle and his radiant face out of the room, and I think he might have kept us there, if he had seen fit, until daybreak. Ada and Richard were lingering for a few moments by the fire, wondering whether Mrs. Jellyby had yet finished her dictation for the day, when Mr. Jarndyce, who had been out of the room, returned.

“Oh, dear me, what’s this, what’s this!” he said, rubbing his head and walking about with his good-humoured vexation. “What’s this they tell me? Rick, my boy, Esther, my dear, what have you been doing? Why did you do it? How could you do it? How much apiece was it? The wind’s round again. I feel it all over me!”

We neither of us quite knew what to answer.

“Come, Rick, come! I must settle this before I sleep. How much are you out of pocket? You two made the money up, you know! Why did you? How could you? Oh, Lord, yes, it’s due east - must be!”

“Really, sir,” said Richard, “I don’t think it would be honourable in me to tell you. Mr. Skimpole relied upon us - ”

“Lord bless you, my dear boy! He relies upon everybody!” said Mr. Jarndyce, giving his head a great rub and stopping short.

“Indeed, sir?”

“Everybody! And he’ll be in the same scrape again next week!” said Mr. Jarndyce, walking again at a great pace, with a candle in his hand that had gone out. “He’s always in the same scrape. He was born in the same scrape. I verily believe that the announcement in the newspapers when his mother was confined was ‘On Tuesday last, at her residence in Botheration Buildings, Mrs. Skimpole of a son in difficulties.’”

Português → Richard laughed heartily but added, “Still, sir, I don’t want to shake his confidence or to break his confidence, and if I submit to your better knowledge again, that I ought to keep his secret, I hope you will consider before you press me any more. Of course, if you do press me, sir, I shall know I am wrong and will tell you.”

“Well!” cried Mr. Jarndyce, stopping again, and making several absent endeavours to put his candlestick in his pocket. “I - here! Take it away, my dear. I don’t know what I am about with it; it’s all the wind - invariably has that effect - I won’t press you, Rick; you may be right. But really - to get hold of you and Esther - and to squeeze you like a couple of tender young Saint Michael’s oranges! It’ll blow a gale in the course of the night!”

He was now alternately putting his hands into his pockets as if he were going to keep them there a long time, and taking them out again and vehemently rubbing them all over his head.

I ventured to take this opportunity of hinting that Mr. Skimpole, being in all such matters quite a child -

“Eh, my dear?” said Mr. Jarndyce, catching at the word.

“Being quite a child, sir,” said I, “and so different from other people - ”

“You are right!” said Mr. Jarndyce, brightening. “Your woman’s wit hits the mark. He is a child - an absolute child. I told you he was a child, you know, when I first mentioned him.”

Certainly! Certainly! we said.

“And he IS a child. Now, isn’t he?” asked Mr. Jarndyce, brightening more and more.

Português → He was indeed, we said.

“When you come to think of it, it’s the height of childishness in you - I mean me - ” said Mr. Jarndyce, “to regard him for a moment as a man. You can’t make HIM responsible. The idea of Harold Skimpole with designs or plans, or knowledge of consequences! Ha, ha, ha!”

It was so delicious to see the clouds about his bright face clearing, and to see him so heartily pleased, and to know, as it was impossible not to know, that the source of his pleasure was the goodness which was tortured by condemning, or mistrusting, or secretly accusing any one, that I saw the tears in Ada’s eyes, while she echoed his laugh, and felt them in my own.

“Why, what a cod’s head and shoulders I am,” said Mr. Jarndyce, “to require reminding of it! The whole business shows the child from beginning to end. Nobody but a child would have thought of singling YOU two out for parties in the affair! Nobody but a child would have thought of YOUR having the money! If it had been a thousand pounds, it would have been just the same!” said Mr. Jarndyce with his whole face in a glow.

We all confirmed it from our night’s experience.

“To be sure, to be sure!” said Mr. Jarndyce. “However, Rick, Esther, and you too, Ada, for I don’t know that even your little purse is safe from his inexperience - I must have a promise all round that nothing of this sort shall ever be done any more. No advances! Not even sixpences.”

We all promised faithfully, Richard with a merry glance at me touching his pocket as if to remind me that there was no danger of OUR transgressing.

Português → “As to Skimpole,” said Mr. Jarndyce, “a habitable doll’s house with good board and a few tin people to get into debt with and borrow money of would set the boy up in life. He is in a child’s sleep by this time, I suppose; it’s time I should take my craftier head to my more worldly pillow. Good night, my dears. God bless you!”

He peeped in again, with a smiling face, before we had lighted our candles, and said, “Oh! I have been looking at the weather-cock. I find it was a false alarm about the wind. It’s in the south!” And went away singing to himself.

Ada and I agreed, as we talked together for a little while upstairs, that this caprice about the wind was a fiction and that he used the pretence to account for any disappointment he could not conceal, rather than he would blame the real cause of it or disparage or depreciate any one. We thought this very characteristic of his eccentric gentleness and of the difference between him and those petulant people who make the weather and the winds (particularly that unlucky wind which he had chosen for such a different purpose) the stalking-horses of their splenetic and gloomy humours.

Indeed, so much affection for him had been added in this one evening to my gratitude that I hoped I already began to understand him through that mingled feeling. Any seeming inconsistencies in Mr. Skimpole or in Mrs. Jellyby I could not expect to be able to reconcile, having so little experience or practical knowledge. Neither did I try, for my thoughts were busy when I was alone, with Ada and Richard and with the confidence I had seemed to receive concerning them. My fancy, made a little wild by the wind perhaps, would not consent to be all unselfish, either, though I would have persuaded it to be so if I could. It wandered back to my godmother’s house and came along the intervening track, raising up shadowy speculations which had sometimes trembled there in the dark as to what knowledge Mr. Jarndyce had of my earliest history - even as to the possibility of his being my father, though that idle dream was quite gone now.

It was all gone now, I remembered, getting up from the fire. It was not for me to muse over bygones, but to act with a cheerful spirit and a grateful heart. So I said to myself, “Esther, Esther, Esther! Duty, my dear!” and gave my little basket of housekeeping keys such a shake that they sounded like little bells and rang me hopefully to bed.

Chapter VII

Português → The Ghost’s Walk

While Esther sleeps, and while Esther wakes, it is still wet weather down at the place in Lincolnshire. The rain is ever falling - drip, drip, drip - by day and night upon the broad flagged terrace-pavement, the Ghost’s Walk. The weather is so very bad down in Lincolnshire that the liveliest imagination can scarcely apprehend its ever being fine again. Not that there is any superabundant life of imagination on the spot, for Sir Leicester is not here (and, truly, even if he were, would not do much for it in that particular), but is in Paris with my Lady; and solitude, with dusky wings, sits brooding upon Chesney Wold.

There may be some motions of fancy among the lower animals at Chesney Wold. The horses in the stables - the long stables in a barren, red-brick court-yard, where there is a great bell in a turret, and a clock with a large face, which the pigeons who live near it and who love to perch upon its shoulders seem to be always consulting - THEY may contemplate some mental pictures of fine weather on occasions, and may be better artists at them than the grooms. The old roan, so famous for cross-country work, turning his large eyeball to the grated window near his rack, may remember the fresh leaves that glisten there at other times and the scents that stream in, and may have a fine run with the hounds, while the human helper, clearing out the next stall, never stirs beyond his pitchfork and birch-broom. The grey, whose place is opposite the door and who with an impatient rattle of his halter pricks his ears and turns his head so wistfully when it is opened, and to whom the opener says, “Woa grey, then, steady! Noabody wants you to-day!” may know it quite as well as the man. The whole seemingly monotonous and uncompanionable half-dozen, stabled together, may pass the long wet hours when the door is shut in livelier communication than is held in the servants’ hall or at the Dedlock Arms, or may even beguile the time by improving (perhaps corrupting) the pony in the loose-box in the corner.

So the mastiff, dozing in his kennel in the court-yard with his large head on his paws, may think of the hot sunshine when the shadows of the stable-buildings tire his patience out by changing and leave him at one time of the day no broader refuge than the shadow of his own house, where he sits on end, panting and growling short, and very much wanting something to worry besides himself and his chain. So now, half-waking and all-winking, he may recall the house full of company, the coach-houses full of vehicles, the stables full of horses, and the out-buildings full of attendants upon horses, until he is undecided about the present and comes forth to see how it is. Then, with that impatient shake of himself, he may growl in the spirit, “Rain, rain, rain! Nothing but rain - and no family here!” as he goes in again and lies down with a gloomy yawn.

Português → So with the dogs in the kennel-buildings across the park, who have their restless fits and whose doleful voices when the wind has been very obstinate have even made it known in the house itself - upstairs, downstairs, and in my Lady’s chamber. They may hunt the whole country-side, while the raindrops are pattering round their inactivity. So the rabbits with their self-betraying tails, frisking in and out of holes at roots of trees, may be lively with ideas of the breezy days when their ears are blown about or of those seasons of interest when there are sweet young plants to gnaw. The turkey in the poultry-yard, always troubled with a class-grievance (probably Christmas), may be reminiscent of that summer morning wrongfully taken from him when he got into the lane among the felled trees, where there was a barn and barley. The discontented goose, who stoops to pass under the old gateway, twenty feet high, may gabble out, if we only knew it, a waddling preference for weather when the gateway casts its shadow on the ground.

Be this as it may, there is not much fancy otherwise stirring at Chesney Wold. If there be a little at any odd moment, it goes, like a little noise in that old echoing place, a long way and usually leads off to ghosts and mystery.

It has rained so hard and rained so long down in Lincolnshire that Mrs. Rouncewell, the old housekeeper at Chesney Wold, has several times taken off her spectacles and cleaned them to make certain that the drops were not upon the glasses. Mrs. Rouncewell might have been sufficiently assured by hearing the rain, but that she is rather deaf, which nothing will induce her to believe. She is a fine old lady, handsome, stately, wonderfully neat, and has such a back and such a stomacher that if her stays should turn out when she dies to have been a broad old-fashioned family fire-grate, nobody who knows her would have cause to be surprised. Weather affects Mrs. Rouncewell little. The house is there in all weathers, and the house, as she expresses it, “is what she looks at.” She sits in her room (in a side passage on the ground floor, with an arched window commanding a smooth quadrangle, adorned at regular intervals with smooth round trees and smooth round blocks of stone, as if the trees were going to play at bowls with the stones), and the whole house reposes on her mind. She can open it on occasion and be busy and fluttered, but it is shut up now and lies on the breadth of Mrs. Rouncewell’s iron-bound bosom in a majestic sleep.

It is the next difficult thing to an impossibility to imagine Chesney Wold without Mrs. Rouncewell, but she has only been here fifty years. Ask her how long, this rainy day, and she shall answer “fifty year, three months, and a fortnight, by the blessing of heaven, if I live till Tuesday.” Mr. Rouncewell died some time before the decease of the pretty fashion of pig-tails, and modestly hid his own (if he took it with him) in a corner of the churchyard in the park near the mouldy porch. He was born in the market-town, and so was his young widow. Her progress in the family began in the time of the last Sir Leicester and originated in the still-room.

Português → The present representative of the Dedlocks is an excellent master. He supposes all his dependents to be utterly bereft of individual characters, intentions, or opinions, and is persuaded that he was born to supersede the necessity of their having any. If he were to make a discovery to the contrary, he would be simply stunned - would never recover himself, most likely, except to gasp and die. But he is an excellent master still, holding it a part of his state to be so. He has a great liking for Mrs. Rouncewell; he says she is a most respectable, creditable woman. He always shakes hands with her when he comes down to Chesney Wold and when he goes away; and if he were very ill, or if he were knocked down by accident, or run over, or placed in any situation expressive of a Dedlock at a disadvantage, he would say if he could speak, “Leave me, and send Mrs. Rouncewell here!” feeling his dignity, at such a pass, safer with her than with anybody else.

Mrs. Rouncewell has known trouble. She has had two sons, of whom the younger ran wild, and went for a soldier, and never came back. Even to this hour, Mrs. Rouncewell’s calm hands lose their composure when she speaks of him, and unfolding themselves from her stomacher, hover about her in an agitated manner as she says what a likely lad, what a fine lad, what a gay, good-humoured, clever lad he was! Her second son would have been provided for at Chesney Wold and would have been made steward in due season, but he took, when he was a schoolboy, to constructing steam-engines out of saucepans and setting birds to draw their own water with the least possible amount of labour, so assisting them with artful contrivance of hydraulic pressure that a thirsty canary had only, in a literal sense, to put his shoulder to the wheel and the job was done. This propensity gave Mrs. Rouncewell great uneasiness. She felt it with a mother’s anguish to be a move in the Wat Tyler direction, well knowing that Sir Leicester had that general impression of an aptitude for any art to which smoke and a tall chimney might be considered essential. But the doomed young rebel (otherwise a mild youth, and very persevering), showing no sign of grace as he got older but, on the contrary, constructing a model of a power-loom, she was fain, with many tears, to mention his backslidings to the baronet. “Mrs. Rouncewell,” said Sir Leicester, “I can never consent to argue, as you know, with any one on any subject. You had better get rid of your boy; you had better get him into some Works. The iron country farther north is, I suppose, the congenial direction for a boy with these tendencies.” Farther north he went, and farther north he grew up; and if Sir Leicester Dedlock ever saw him when he came to Chesney Wold to visit his mother, or ever thought of him afterwards, it is certain that he only regarded him as one of a body of some odd thousand conspirators, swarthy and grim, who were in the habit of turning out by torchlight two or three nights in the week for unlawful purposes.

Nevertheless, Mrs. Rouncewell’s son has, in the course of nature and art, grown up, and established himself, and married, and called unto him Mrs. Rouncewell’s grandson, who, being out of his apprenticeship, and home from a journey in far countries, whither he was sent to enlarge his knowledge and complete his preparations for the venture of this life, stands leaning against the chimney-piece this very day in Mrs. Rouncewell’s room at Chesney Wold.

“And, again and again, I am glad to see you, Watt! And, once again, I am glad to see you, Watt!” says Mrs. Rouncewell. “You are a fine young fellow. You are like your poor uncle George. Ah!” Mrs. Rouncewell’s hands unquiet, as usual, on this reference.

Português → “They say I am like my father, grandmother.”

“Like him, also, my dear - but most like your poor uncle George! And your dear father.” Mrs. Rouncewell folds her hands again. “He is well?”

“Thriving, grandmother, in every way.”

“I am thankful!” Mrs. Rouncewell is fond of her son but has a plaintive feeling towards him, much as if he were a very honourable soldier who had gone over to the enemy.

“He is quite happy?” says she.

“Quite.”

“I am thankful! So he has brought you up to follow in his ways and has sent you into foreign countries and the like? Well, he knows best. There may be a world beyond Chesney Wold that I don’t understand. Though I am not young, either. And I have seen a quantity of good company too!”

“Grandmother,” says the young man, changing the subject, “what a very pretty girl that was I found with you just now. You called her Rosa?”

“Yes, child. She is daughter of a widow in the village. Maids are so hard to teach, now-a-days, that I have put her about me young. She’s an apt scholar and will do well. She shows the house already, very pretty. She lives with me at my table here.”

Português → “I hope I have not driven her away?”

“She supposes we have family affairs to speak about, I dare say. She is very modest. It is a fine quality in a young woman. And scarcer,” says Mrs. Rouncewell, expanding her stomacher to its utmost limits, “than it formerly was!”

The young man inclines his head in acknowledgment of the precepts of experience. Mrs. Rouncewell listens.

“Wheels!” says she. They have long been audible to the younger ears of her companion. “What wheels on such a day as this, for gracious sake?”

After a short interval, a tap at the door. “Come in!” A dark-eyed, dark-haired, shy, village beauty comes in - so fresh in her rosy and yet delicate bloom that the drops of rain which have beaten on her hair look like the dew upon a flower fresh gathered.

“What company is this, Rosa?” says Mrs. Rouncewell.

“It’s two young men in a gig, ma’am, who want to see the house - yes, and if you please, I told them so!” in quick reply to a gesture of dissent from the housekeeper. “I went to the hall-door and told them it was the wrong day and the wrong hour, but the young man who was driving took off his hat in the wet and begged me to bring this card to you.”

“Read it, my dear Watt,” says the housekeeper.

Rosa is so shy as she gives it to him that they drop it between them and almost knock their foreheads together as they pick it up. Rosa is shyer than before.

Português → “Mr. Guppy” is all the information the card yields.

“Guppy!” repeats Mrs. Rouncewell, “MR. Guppy! Nonsense, I never heard of him!”

“If you please, he told ME that!” says Rosa. “But he said that he and the other young gentleman came from London only last night by the mail, on business at the magistrates’ meeting, ten miles off, this morning, and that as their business was soon over, and they had heard a great deal said of Chesney Wold, and really didn’t know what to do with themselves, they had come through the wet to see it. They are lawyers. He says he is not in Mr. Tulkinghorn’s office, but he is sure he may make use of Mr. Tulkinghorn’s name if necessary.” Finding, now she leaves off, that she has been making quite a long speech, Rosa is shyer than ever.

Now, Mr. Tulkinghorn is, in a manner, part and parcel of the place, and besides, is supposed to have made Mrs. Rouncewell’s will. The old lady relaxes, consents to the admission of the visitors as a favour, and dismisses Rosa. The grandson, however, being smitten by a sudden wish to see the house himself, proposes to join the party. The grandmother, who is pleased that he should have that interest, accompanies him - though to do him justice, he is exceedingly unwilling to trouble her.

“Much obliged to you, ma’am!” says Mr. Guppy, divesting himself of his wet dreadnought in the hall. “Us London lawyers don’t often get an out, and when we do, we like to make the most of it, you know.”

The old housekeeper, with a gracious severity of deportment, waves her hand towards the great staircase. Mr. Guppy and his friend follow Rosa; Mrs. Rouncewell and her grandson follow them; a young gardener goes before to open the shutters.

Português → As is usually the case with people who go over houses, Mr. Guppy and his friend are dead beat before they have well begun. They straggle about in wrong places, look at wrong things, don’t care for the right things, gape when more rooms are opened, exhibit profound depression of spirits, and are clearly knocked up. In each successive chamber that they enter, Mrs. Rouncewell, who is as upright as the house itself, rests apart in a window-seat or other such nook and listens with stately approval to Rosa’s exposition. Her grandson is so attentive to it that Rosa is shyer than ever - and prettier. Thus they pass on from room to room, raising the pictured Dedlocks for a few brief minutes as the young gardener admits the light, and reconsigning them to their graves as he shuts it out again. It appears to the afflicted Mr. Guppy and his inconsolable friend that there is no end to the Dedlocks, whose family greatness seems to consist in their never having done anything to distinguish themselves for seven hundred years.

Even the long drawing-room of Chesney Wold cannot revive Mr. Guppy’s spirits. He is so low that he droops on the threshold and has hardly strength of mind to enter. But a portrait over the chimney-piece, painted by the fashionable artist of the day, acts upon him like a charm. He recovers in a moment. He stares at it with uncommon interest; he seems to be fixed and fascinated by it.

“Dear me!” says Mr. Guppy. “Who’s that?”

“The picture over the fire-place,” says Rosa, “is the portrait of the present Lady Dedlock. It is considered a perfect likeness, and the best work of the master.”

“Blest,” says Mr. Guppy, staring in a kind of dismay at his friend, “if I can ever have seen her. Yet I know her! Has the picture been engraved, miss?”

“The picture has never been engraved. Sir Leicester has always refused permission.”

Português → “Well!” says Mr. Guppy in a low voice. “I’ll be shot if it ain’t very curious how well I know that picture! So that’s Lady Dedlock, is it!”

“The picture on the right is the present Sir Leicester Dedlock. The picture on the left is his father, the late Sir Leicester.”

Mr. Guppy has no eyes for either of these magnates. “It’s unaccountable to me,” he says, still staring at the portrait, “how well I know that picture! I’m dashed,” adds Mr. Guppy, looking round, “if I don’t think I must have had a dream of that picture, you know!”

As no one present takes any especial interest in Mr. Guppy’s dreams, the probability is not pursued. But he still remains so absorbed by the portrait that he stands immovable before it until the young gardener has closed the shutters, when he comes out of the room in a dazed state that is an odd though a sufficient substitute for interest and follows into the succeeding rooms with a confused stare, as if he were looking everywhere for Lady Dedlock again.

He sees no more of her. He sees her rooms, which are the last shown, as being very elegant, and he looks out of the windows from which she looked out, not long ago, upon the weather that bored her to death. All things have an end, even houses that people take infinite pains to see and are tired of before they begin to see them. He has come to the end of the sight, and the fresh village beauty to the end of her description; which is always this: “The terrace below is much admired. It is called, from an old story in the family, the Ghost’s Walk.”

“No?” says Mr. Guppy, greedily curious. “What’s the story, miss? Is it anything about a picture?”

Português → “Pray tell us the story,” says Watt in a half whisper.

“I don’t know it, sir.” Rosa is shyer than ever.

“It is not related to visitors; it is almost forgotten,” says the housekeeper, advancing. “It has never been more than a family anecdote.”

“You’ll excuse my asking again if it has anything to do with a picture, ma’am,” observes Mr. Guppy, “because I do assure you that the more I think of that picture the better I know it, without knowing how I know it!”

The story has nothing to do with a picture; the housekeeper can guarantee that. Mr. Guppy is obliged to her for the information and is, moreover, generally obliged. He retires with his friend, guided down another staircase by the young gardener, and presently is heard to drive away. It is now dusk. Mrs. Rouncewell can trust to the discretion of her two young hearers and may tell THEM how the terrace came to have that ghostly name.

She seats herself in a large chair by the fast-darkening window and tells them: “In the wicked days, my dears, of King Charles the First - I mean, of course, in the wicked days of the rebels who leagued themselves against that excellent king - Sir Morbury Dedlock was the owner of Chesney Wold. Whether there was any account of a ghost in the family before those days, I can’t say. I should think it very likely indeed.”

Português → Mrs. Rouncewell holds this opinion because she considers that a family of such antiquity and importance has a right to a ghost. She regards a ghost as one of the privileges of the upper classes, a genteel distinction to which the common people have no claim.

“Sir Morbury Dedlock,” says Mrs. Rouncewell, “was, I have no occasion to say, on the side of the blessed martyr. But it IS supposed that his Lady, who had none of the family blood in her veins, favoured the bad cause. It is said that she had relations among King Charles’s enemies, that she was in correspondence with them, and that she gave them information. When any of the country gentlemen who followed his Majesty’s cause met here, it is said that my Lady was always nearer to the door of their council-room than they supposed. Do you hear a sound like a footstep passing along the terrace, Watt?”

Rosa draws nearer to the housekeeper.

“I hear the rain-drip on the stones,” replies the young man, “and I hear a curious echo - I suppose an echo - which is very like a halting step.”

The housekeeper gravely nods and continues: “Partly on account of this division between them, and partly on other accounts, Sir Morbury and his Lady led a troubled life. She was a lady of a haughty temper. They were not well suited to each other in age or character, and they had no children to moderate between them. After her favourite brother, a young gentleman, was killed in the civil wars (by Sir Morbury’s near kinsman), her feeling was so violent that she hated the race into which she had married. When the Dedlocks were about to ride out from Chesney Wold in the king’s cause, she is supposed to have more than once stolen down into the stables in the dead of night and lamed their horses; and the story is that once at such an hour, her husband saw her gliding down the stairs and followed her into the stall where his own favourite horse stood. There he seized her by the wrist, and in a struggle or in a fall or through the horse being frightened and lashing out, she was lamed in the hip and from that hour began to pine away.”

Português → The housekeeper has dropped her voice to a little more than a whisper.

“She had been a lady of a handsome figure and a noble carriage. She never complained of the change; she never spoke to any one of being crippled or of being in pain, but day by day she tried to walk upon the terrace, and with the help of the stone balustrade, went up and down, up and down, up and down, in sun and shadow, with greater difficulty every day. At last, one afternoon her husband (to whom she had never, on any persuasion, opened her lips since that night), standing at the great south window, saw her drop upon the pavement. He hastened down to raise her, but she repulsed him as he bent over her, and looking at him fixedly and coldly, said, ‘I will die here where I have walked. And I will walk here, though I am in my grave. I will walk here until the pride of this house is humbled. And when calamity or when disgrace is coming to it, let the Dedlocks listen for my step!’”

Watt looks at Rosa. Rosa in the deepening gloom looks down upon the ground, half frightened and half shy.

“There and then she died. And from those days,” says Mrs. Rouncewell, “the name has come down - the Ghost’s Walk. If the tread is an echo, it is an echo that is only heard after dark, and is often unheard for a long while together. But it comes back from time to time; and so sure as there is sickness or death in the family, it will be heard then.”

“And disgrace, grandmother - ” says Watt.

“Disgrace never comes to Chesney Wold,” returns the housekeeper.

Her grandson apologizes with “True. True.”

Português → “That is the story. Whatever the sound is, it is a worrying sound,” says Mrs. Rouncewell, getting up from her chair; “and what is to be noticed in it is that it MUST BE HEARD. My Lady, who is afraid of nothing, admits that when it is there, it must be heard. You cannot shut it out. Watt, there is a tall French clock behind you (placed there, ’a purpose) that has a loud beat when it is in motion and can play music. You understand how those things are managed?”

“Pretty well, grandmother, I think.”

“Set it a-going.”

Watt sets it a-going - music and all.

“Now, come hither,” says the housekeeper. “Hither, child, towards my Lady’s pillow. I am not sure that it is dark enough yet, but listen! Can you hear the sound upon the terrace, through the music, and the beat, and everything?”

“I certainly can!”

“So my Lady says.”

Chapter VIII

Português → Covering a Multitude of Sins

It was interesting when I dressed before daylight to peep out of window, where my candles were reflected in the black panes like two beacons, and finding all beyond still enshrouded in the indistinctness of last night, to watch how it turned out when the day came on. As the prospect gradually revealed itself and disclosed the scene over which the wind had wandered in the dark, like my memory over my life, I had a pleasure in discovering the unknown objects that had been around me in my sleep. At first they were faintly discernible in the mist, and above them the later stars still glimmered. That pale interval over, the picture began to enlarge and fill up so fast that at every new peep I could have found enough to look at for an hour. Imperceptibly my candles became the only incongruous part of the morning, the dark places in my room all melted away, and the day shone bright upon a cheerful landscape, prominent in which the old Abbey Church, with its massive tower, threw a softer train of shadow on the view than seemed compatible with its rugged character. But so from rough outsides (I hope I have learnt), serene and gentle influences often proceed.

Every part of the house was in such order, and every one was so attentive to me, that I had no trouble with my two bunches of keys, though what with trying to remember the contents of each little store-room drawer and cupboard; and what with making notes on a slate about jams, and pickles, and preserves, and bottles, and glass, and china, and a great many other things; and what with being generally a methodical, old-maidish sort of foolish little person, I was so busy that I could not believe it was breakfast-time when I heard the bell ring. Away I ran, however, and made tea, as I had already been installed into the responsibility of the tea-pot; and then, as they were all rather late and nobody was down yet, I thought I would take a peep at the garden and get some knowledge of that too. I found it quite a delightful place - in front, the pretty avenue and drive by which we had approached (and where, by the by, we had cut up the gravel so terribly with our wheels that I asked the gardener to roll it); at the back, the flower-garden, with my darling at her window up there, throwing it open to smile out at me, as if she would have kissed me from that distance. Beyond the flower-garden was a kitchen-garden, and then a paddock, and then a snug little rick-yard, and then a dear little farm-yard. As to the house itself, with its three peaks in the roof; its various-shaped windows, some so large, some so small, and all so pretty; its trellis-work, against the south-front for roses and honey-suckle, and its homely, comfortable, welcoming look - it was, as Ada said when she came out to meet me with her arm through that of its master, worthy of her cousin John, a bold thing to say, though he only pinched her dear cheek for it.

Mr. Skimpole was as agreeable at breakfast as he had been overnight. There was honey on the table, and it led him into a discourse about bees. He had no objection to honey, he said (and I should think he had not, for he seemed to like it), but he protested against the overweening assumptions of bees. He didn’t at all see why the busy bee should be proposed as a model to him; he supposed the bee liked to make honey, or he wouldn’t do it - nobody asked him. It was not necessary for the bee to make such a merit of his tastes. If every confectioner went buzzing about the world banging against everything that came in his way and egotistically calling upon everybody to take notice that he was going to his work and must not be interrupted, the world would be quite an unsupportable place. Then, after all, it was a ridiculous position to be smoked out of your fortune with brimstone as soon as you had made it. You would have a very mean opinion of a Manchester man if he spun cotton for no other purpose. He must say he thought a drone the embodiment of a pleasanter and wiser idea. The drone said unaffectedly, “You will excuse me; I really cannot attend to the shop! I find myself in a world in which there is so much to see and so short a time to see it in that I must take the liberty of looking about me and begging to be provided for by somebody who doesn’t want to look about him.” This appeared to Mr. Skimpole to be the drone philosophy, and he thought it a very good philosophy, always supposing the drone to be willing to be on good terms with the bee, which, so far as he knew, the easy fellow always was, if the consequential creature would only let him, and not be so conceited about his honey!

Português → He pursued this fancy with the lightest foot over a variety of ground and made us all merry, though again he seemed to have as serious a meaning in what he said as he was capable of having. I left them still listening to him when I withdrew to attend to my new duties. They had occupied me for some time, and I was passing through the passages on my return with my basket of keys on my arm when Mr. Jarndyce called me into a small room next his bed-chamber, which I found to be in part a little library of books and papers and in part quite a little museum of his boots and shoes and hat-boxes.

“Sit down, my dear,” said Mr. Jarndyce. “This, you must know, is the growlery. When I am out of humour, I come and growl here.”

“You must be here very seldom, sir,” said I.

“Oh, you don’t know me!” he returned. “When I am deceived or disappointed in - the wind, and it’s easterly, I take refuge here. The growlery is the best-used room in the house. You are not aware of half my humours yet. My dear, how you are trembling!”

I could not help it; I tried very hard, but being alone with that benevolent presence, and meeting his kind eyes, and feeling so happy and so honoured there, and my heart so full - I kissed his hand. I don’t know what I said, or even that I spoke. He was disconcerted and walked to the window; I almost believed with an intention of jumping out, until he turned and I was reassured by seeing in his eyes what he had gone there to hide. He gently patted me on the head, and I sat down.

Português → “There! There!” he said. “That’s over. Pooh! Don’t be foolish.”

“It shall not happen again, sir,” I returned, “but at first it is difficult - ”

“Nonsense!” he said. “It’s easy, easy. Why not? I hear of a good little orphan girl without a protector, and I take it into my head to be that protector. She grows up, and more than justifies my good opinion, and I remain her guardian and her friend. What is there in all this? So, so! Now, we have cleared off old scores, and I have before me thy pleasant, trusting, trusty face again.”

I said to myself, “Esther, my dear, you surprise me! This really is not what I expected of you!” And it had such a good effect that I folded my hands upon my basket and quite recovered myself. Mr. Jarndyce, expressing his approval in his face, began to talk to me as confidentially as if I had been in the habit of conversing with him every morning for I don’t know how long. I almost felt as if I had.

“Of course, Esther,” he said, “you don’t understand this Chancery business?”

And of course I shook my head.

“I don’t know who does,” he returned. “The lawyers have twisted it into such a state of bedevilment that the original merits of the case have long disappeared from the face of the earth. It’s about a will and the trusts under a will - or it was once. It’s about nothing but costs now. We are always appearing, and disappearing, and swearing, and interrogating, and filing, and cross-filing, and arguing, and sealing, and motioning, and referring, and reporting, and revolving about the Lord Chancellor and all his satellites, and equitably waltzing ourselves off to dusty death, about costs. That’s the great question. All the rest, by some extraordinary means, has melted away.”

Português → “But it was, sir,” said I, to bring him back, for he began to rub his head, “about a will?”

“Why, yes, it was about a will when it was about anything,” he returned. “A certain Jarndyce, in an evil hour, made a great fortune, and made a great will. In the question how the trusts under that will are to be administered, the fortune left by the will is squandered away; the legatees under the will are reduced to such a miserable condition that they would be sufficiently punished if they had committed an enormous crime in having money left them, and the will itself is made a dead letter. All through the deplorable cause, everything that everybody in it, except one man, knows already is referred to that only one man who don’t know, it to find out - all through the deplorable cause, everybody must have copies, over and over again, of everything that has accumulated about it in the way of cartloads of papers (or must pay for them without having them, which is the usual course, for nobody wants them) and must go down the middle and up again through such an infernal country-dance of costs and fees and nonsense and corruption as was never dreamed of in the wildest visions of a witch’s Sabbath. Equity sends questions to law, law sends questions back to equity; law finds it can’t do this, equity finds it can’t do that; neither can so much as say it can’t do anything, without this solicitor instructing and this counsel appearing for A, and that solicitor instructing and that counsel appearing for B; and so on through the whole alphabet, like the history of the apple pie. And thus, through years and years, and lives and lives, everything goes on, constantly beginning over and over again, and nothing ever ends. And we can’t get out of the suit on any terms, for we are made parties to it, and MUST BE parties to it, whether we like it or not. But it won’t do to think of it! When my great uncle, poor Tom Jarndyce, began to think of it, it was the beginning of the end!”

“The Mr. Jarndyce, sir, whose story I have heard?”

He nodded gravely. “I was his heir, and this was his house, Esther. When I came here, it was bleak indeed. He had left the signs of his misery upon it.”

“How changed it must be now!” I said.

“It had been called, before his time, the Peaks. He gave it its present name and lived here shut up, day and night poring over the wicked heaps of papers in the suit and hoping against hope to disentangle it from its mystification and bring it to a close. In the meantime, the place became dilapidated, the wind whistled through the cracked walls, the rain fell through the broken roof, the weeds choked the passage to the rotting door. When I brought what remained of him home here, the brains seemed to me to have been blown out of the house too, it was so shattered and ruined.”

Português → He walked a little to and fro after saying this to himself with a shudder, and then looked at me, and brightened, and came and sat down again with his hands in his pockets.

“I told you this was the growlery, my dear. Where was I?”

I reminded him, at the hopeful change he had made in Bleak House.

“Bleak House; true. There is, in that city of London there, some property of ours which is much at this day what Bleak House was then; I say property of ours, meaning of the suit’s, but I ought to call it the property of costs, for costs is the only power on earth that will ever get anything out of it now or will ever know it for anything but an eyesore and a heartsore. It is a street of perishing blind houses, with their eyes stoned out, without a pane of glass, without so much as a window-frame, with the bare blank shutters tumbling from their hinges and falling asunder, the iron rails peeling away in flakes of rust, the chimneys sinking in, the stone steps to every door (and every door might be death’s door) turning stagnant green, the very crutches on which the ruins are propped decaying. Although Bleak House was not in Chancery, its master was, and it was stamped with the same seal. These are the Great Seal’s impressions, my dear, all over England - the children know them!”

“How changed it is!” I said again.

“Why, so it is,” he answered much more cheerfully; “and it is wisdom in you to keep me to the bright side of the picture.” (The idea of my wisdom!) “These are things I never talk about or even think about, excepting in the growlery here. If you consider it right to mention them to Rick and Ada,” looking seriously at me, “you can. I leave it to your discretion, Esther.”

“I hope, sir - ” said I.

Português → “I think you had better call me guardian, my dear.”

I felt that I was choking again - I taxed myself with it, “Esther, now, you know you are!” - when he feigned to say this slightly, as if it were a whim instead of a thoughtful tenderness. But I gave the housekeeping keys the least shake in the world as a reminder to myself, and folding my hands in a still more determined manner on the basket, looked at him quietly.

“I hope, guardian,” said I, “that you may not trust too much to my discretion. I hope you may not mistake me. I am afraid it will be a disappointment to you to know that I am not clever, but it really is the truth, and you would soon find it out if I had not the honesty to confess it.”

He did not seem at all disappointed; quite the contrary. He told me, with a smile all over his face, that he knew me very well indeed and that I was quite clever enough for him.

“I hope I may turn out so,” said I, “but I am much afraid of it, guardian.”

“You are clever enough to be the good little woman of our lives here, my dear,” he returned playfully; “the little old woman of the child’s (I don’t mean Skimpole’s) rhyme:

“‘Little old woman, and whither so high?’ ‘To sweep the cobwebs out of the sky.’”

Português → “You will sweep them so neatly out of OUR sky in the course of your housekeeping, Esther, that one of these days we shall have to abandon the growlery and nail up the door.”

This was the beginning of my being called Old Woman, and Little Old Woman, and Cobweb, and Mrs. Shipton, and Mother Hubbard, and Dame Durden, and so many names of that sort that my own name soon became quite lost among them.

“However,” said Mr. Jarndyce, “to return to our gossip. Here’s Rick, a fine young fellow full of promise. What’s to be done with him?”

Oh, my goodness, the idea of asking my advice on such a point!

“Here he is, Esther,” said Mr. Jarndyce, comfortably putting his hands into his pockets and stretching out his legs. “He must have a profession; he must make some choice for himself. There will be a world more wiglomeration about it, I suppose, but it must be done.”

“More what, guardian?” said I.

“More wiglomeration,” said he. “It’s the only name I know for the thing. He is a ward in Chancery, my dear. Kenge and Carboy will have something to say about it; Master Somebody - a sort of ridiculous sexton, digging graves for the merits of causes in a back room at the end of Quality Court, Chancery Lane - will have something to say about it; counsel will have something to say about it; the Chancellor will have something to say about it; the satellites will have something to say about it; they will all have to be handsomely fee’d, all round, about it; the whole thing will be vastly ceremonious, wordy, unsatisfactory, and expensive, and I call it, in general, wiglomeration. How mankind ever came to be afflicted with Wiglomeration, or for whose sins these young people ever fell into a pit of it, I don’t know; so it is.”

Português → He began to rub his head again and to hint that he felt the wind. But it was a delightful instance of his kindness towards me that whether he rubbed his head, or walked about, or did both, his face was sure to recover its benignant expression as it looked at mine; and he was sure to turn comfortable again and put his hands in his pockets and stretch out his legs.

“Perhaps it would be best, first of all,” said I, “to ask Mr. Richard what he inclines to himself.”

“Exactly so,” he returned. “That’s what I mean! You know, just accustom yourself to talk it over, with your tact and in your quiet way, with him and Ada, and see what you all make of it. We are sure to come at the heart of the matter by your means, little woman.”

I really was frightened at the thought of the importance I was attaining and the number of things that were being confided to me. I had not meant this at all; I had meant that he should speak to Richard. But of course I said nothing in reply except that I would do my best, though I feared (I really felt it necessary to repeat this) that he thought me much more sagacious than I was. At which my guardian only laughed the pleasantest laugh I ever heard.

“Come!” he said, rising and pushing back his chair. “I think we may have done with the growlery for one day! Only a concluding word. Esther, my dear, do you wish to ask me anything?”

He looked so attentively at me that I looked attentively at him and felt sure I understood him.

Português → “About myself, sir?” said I.

“Yes.”

“Guardian,” said I, venturing to put my hand, which was suddenly colder than I could have wished, in his, “nothing! I am quite sure that if there were anything I ought to know or had any need to know, I should not have to ask you to tell it to me. If my whole reliance and confidence were not placed in you, I must have a hard heart indeed. I have nothing to ask you, nothing in the world.”

He drew my hand through his arm and we went away to look for Ada. From that hour I felt quite easy with him, quite unreserved, quite content to know no more, quite happy.

We lived, at first, rather a busy life at Bleak House, for we had to become acquainted with many residents in and out of the neighbourhood who knew Mr. Jarndyce. It seemed to Ada and me that everybody knew him who wanted to do anything with anybody else’s money. It amazed us when we began to sort his letters and to answer some of them for him in the growlery of a morning to find how the great object of the lives of nearly all his correspondents appeared to be to form themselves into committees for getting in and laying out money. The ladies were as desperate as the gentlemen; indeed, I think they were even more so. They threw themselves into committees in the most impassioned manner and collected subscriptions with a vehemence quite extraordinary. It appeared to us that some of them must pass their whole lives in dealing out subscription-cards to the whole post-office directory - shilling cards, half-crown cards, half-sovereign cards, penny cards. They wanted everything. They wanted wearing apparel, they wanted linen rags, they wanted money, they wanted coals, they wanted soup, they wanted interest, they wanted autographs, they wanted flannel, they wanted whatever Mr. Jarndyce had - or had not. Their objects were as various as their demands. They were going to raise new buildings, they were going to pay off debts on old buildings, they were going to establish in a picturesque building (engraving of proposed west elevation attached) the Sisterhood of Mediaeval Marys, they were going to give a testimonial to Mrs. Jellyby, they were going to have their secretary’s portrait painted and presented to his mother-in-law, whose deep devotion to him was well known, they were going to get up everything, I really believe, from five hundred thousand tracts to an annuity and from a marble monument to a silver tea-pot. They took a multitude of titles. They were the Women of England, the Daughters of Britain, the Sisters of all the cardinal virtues separately, the Females of America, the Ladies of a hundred denominations. They appeared to be always excited about canvassing and electing. They seemed to our poor wits, and according to their own accounts, to be constantly polling people by tens of thousands, yet never bringing their candidates in for anything. It made our heads ache to think, on the whole, what feverish lives they must lead.

Português → Among the ladies who were most distinguished for this rapacious benevolence (if I may use the expression) was a Mrs. Pardiggle, who seemed, as I judged from the number of her letters to Mr. Jarndyce, to be almost as powerful a correspondent as Mrs. Jellyby herself. We observed that the wind always changed when Mrs. Pardiggle became the subject of conversation and that it invariably interrupted Mr. Jarndyce and prevented his going any farther, when he had remarked that there were two classes of charitable people; one, the people who did a little and made a great deal of noise; the other, the people who did a great deal and made no noise at all. We were therefore curious to see Mrs. Pardiggle, suspecting her to be a type of the former class, and were glad when she called one day with her five young sons.

She was a formidable style of lady with spectacles, a prominent nose, and a loud voice, who had the effect of wanting a great deal of room. And she really did, for she knocked down little chairs with her skirts that were quite a great way off. As only Ada and I were at home, we received her timidly, for she seemed to come in like cold weather and to make the little Pardiggles blue as they followed.

“These, young ladies,” said Mrs. Pardiggle with great volubility after the first salutations, “are my five boys. You may have seen their names in a printed subscription list (perhaps more than one) in the possession of our esteemed friend Mr. Jarndyce. Egbert, my eldest (twelve), is the boy who sent out his pocket-money, to the amount of five and threepence, to the Tockahoopo Indians. Oswald, my second (ten and a half), is the child who contributed two and nine-pence to the Great National Smithers Testimonial. Francis, my third (nine), one and sixpence halfpenny; Felix, my fourth (seven), eightpence to the Superannuated Widows; Alfred, my youngest (five), has voluntarily enrolled himself in the Infant Bonds of Joy, and is pledged never, through life, to use tobacco in any form.”

Português → We had never seen such dissatisfied children. It was not merely that they were weazened and shrivelled - though they were certainly that too - but they looked absolutely ferocious with discontent. At the mention of the Tockahoopo Indians, I could really have supposed Egbert to be one of the most baleful members of that tribe, he gave me such a savage frown. The face of each child, as the amount of his contribution was mentioned, darkened in a peculiarly vindictive manner, but his was by far the worst. I must except, however, the little recruit into the Infant Bonds of Joy, who was stolidly and evenly miserable.

“You have been visiting, I understand,” said Mrs. Pardiggle, “at Mrs. Jellyby’s?”

We said yes, we had passed one night there.

“Mrs. Jellyby,” pursued the lady, always speaking in the same demonstrative, loud, hard tone, so that her voice impressed my fancy as if it had a sort of spectacles on too - and I may take the opportunity of remarking that her spectacles were made the less engaging by her eyes being what Ada called “choking eyes,” meaning very prominent - “Mrs. Jellyby is a benefactor to society and deserves a helping hand. My boys have contributed to the African project - Egbert, one and six, being the entire allowance of nine weeks; Oswald, one and a penny halfpenny, being the same; the rest, according to their little means. Nevertheless, I do not go with Mrs. Jellyby in all things. I do not go with Mrs. Jellyby in her treatment of her young family. It has been noticed. It has been observed that her young family are excluded from participation in the objects to which she is devoted. She may be right, she may be wrong; but, right or wrong, this is not my course with MY young family. I take them everywhere.”

I was afterwards convinced (and so was Ada) that from the ill-conditioned eldest child, these words extorted a sharp yell. He turned it off into a yawn, but it began as a yell.

“They attend matins with me (very prettily done) at half-past six o’clock in the morning all the year round, including of course the depth of winter,” said Mrs. Pardiggle rapidly, “and they are with me during the revolving duties of the day. I am a School lady, I am a Visiting lady, I am a Reading lady, I am a Distributing lady; I am on the local Linen Box Committee and many general committees; and my canvassing alone is very extensive - perhaps no one’s more so. But they are my companions everywhere; and by these means they acquire that knowledge of the poor, and that capacity of doing charitable business in general - in short, that taste for the sort of thing - which will render them in after life a service to their neighbours and a satisfaction to themselves. My young family are not frivolous; they expend the entire amount of their allowance in subscriptions, under my direction; and they have attended as many public meetings and listened to as many lectures, orations, and discussions as generally fall to the lot of few grown people. Alfred (five), who, as I mentioned, has of his own election joined the Infant Bonds of Joy, was one of the very few children who manifested consciousness on that occasion after a fervid address of two hours from the chairman of the evening.”

Português → Alfred glowered at us as if he never could, or would, forgive the injury of that night.

“You may have observed, Miss Summerson,” said Mrs. Pardiggle, “in some of the lists to which I have referred, in the possession of our esteemed friend Mr. Jarndyce, that the names of my young family are concluded with the name of O. A. Pardiggle, F.R.S., one pound. That is their father. We usually observe the same routine. I put down my mite first; then my young family enrol their contributions, according to their ages and their little means; and then Mr. Pardiggle brings up the rear. Mr. Pardiggle is happy to throw in his limited donation, under my direction; and thus things are made not only pleasant to ourselves, but, we trust, improving to others.”

Suppose Mr. Pardiggle were to dine with Mr. Jellyby, and suppose Mr. Jellyby were to relieve his mind after dinner to Mr. Pardiggle, would Mr. Pardiggle, in return, make any confidential communication to Mr. Jellyby? I was quite confused to find myself thinking this, but it came into my head.

“You are very pleasantly situated here!” said Mrs. Pardiggle.

We were glad to change the subject, and going to the window, pointed out the beauties of the prospect, on which the spectacles appeared to me to rest with curious indifference.

“You know Mr. Gusher?” said our visitor.

We were obliged to say that we had not the pleasure of Mr. Gusher’s acquaintance.

“The loss is yours, I assure you,” said Mrs. Pardiggle with her commanding deportment. “He is a very fervid, impassioned speaker - full of fire! Stationed in a waggon on this lawn, now, which, from the shape of the land, is naturally adapted to a public meeting, he would improve almost any occasion you could mention for hours and hours! By this time, young ladies,” said Mrs. Pardiggle, moving back to her chair and overturning, as if by invisible agency, a little round table at a considerable distance with my work-basket on it, “by this time you have found me out, I dare say?”

Português → This was really such a confusing question that Ada looked at me in perfect dismay. As to the guilty nature of my own consciousness after what I had been thinking, it must have been expressed in the colour of my cheeks.

“Found out, I mean,” said Mrs. Pardiggle, “the prominent point in my character. I am aware that it is so prominent as to be discoverable immediately. I lay myself open to detection, I know. Well! I freely admit, I am a woman of business. I love hard work; I enjoy hard work. The excitement does me good. I am so accustomed and inured to hard work that I don’t know what fatigue is.”

We murmured that it was very astonishing and very gratifying, or something to that effect. I don’t think we knew what it was either, but this is what our politeness expressed.

“I do not understand what it is to be tired; you cannot tire me if you try!” said Mrs. Pardiggle. “The quantity of exertion (which is no exertion to me), the amount of business (which I regard as nothing), that I go through sometimes astonishes myself. I have seen my young family, and Mr. Pardiggle, quite worn out with witnessing it, when I may truly say I have been as fresh as a lark!”

If that dark-visaged eldest boy could look more malicious than he had already looked, this was the time when he did it. I observed that he doubled his right fist and delivered a secret blow into the crown of his cap, which was under his left arm.

“This gives me a great advantage when I am making my rounds,” said Mrs. Pardiggle. “If I find a person unwilling to hear what I have to say, I tell that person directly, ‘I am incapable of fatigue, my good friend, I am never tired, and I mean to go on until I have done.’ It answers admirably! Miss Summerson, I hope I shall have your assistance in my visiting rounds immediately, and Miss Clare’s very soon.”

Português → At first I tried to excuse myself for the present on the general ground of having occupations to attend to which I must not neglect. But as this was an ineffectual protest, I then said, more particularly, that I was not sure of my qualifications. That I was inexperienced in the art of adapting my mind to minds very differently situated, and addressing them from suitable points of view. That I had not that delicate knowledge of the heart which must be essential to such a work. That I had much to learn, myself, before I could teach others, and that I could not confide in my good intentions alone. For these reasons I thought it best to be as useful as I could, and to render what kind services I could to those immediately about me, and to try to let that circle of duty gradually and naturally expand itself. All this I said with anything but confidence, because Mrs. Pardiggle was much older than I, and had great experience, and was so very military in her manners.

“You are wrong, Miss Summerson,” said she, “but perhaps you are not equal to hard work or the excitement of it, and that makes a vast difference. If you would like to see how I go through my work, I am now about - with my young family - to visit a brickmaker in the neighbourhood (a very bad character) and shall be glad to take you with me. Miss Clare also, if she will do me the favour.”

Ada and I interchanged looks, and as we were going out in any case, accepted the offer. When we hastily returned from putting on our bonnets, we found the young family languishing in a corner and Mrs. Pardiggle sweeping about the room, knocking down nearly all the light objects it contained. Mrs. Pardiggle took possession of Ada, and I followed with the family.

Ada told me afterwards that Mrs. Pardiggle talked in the same loud tone (that, indeed, I overheard) all the way to the brickmaker’s about an exciting contest which she had for two or three years waged against another lady relative to the bringing in of their rival candidates for a pension somewhere. There had been a quantity of printing, and promising, and proxying, and polling, and it appeared to have imparted great liveliness to all concerned, except the pensioners - who were not elected yet.

Português → I am very fond of being confided in by children and am happy in being usually favoured in that respect, but on this occasion it gave me great uneasiness. As soon as we were out of doors, Egbert, with the manner of a little footpad, demanded a shilling of me on the ground that his pocket-money was “boned” from him. On my pointing out the great impropriety of the word, especially in connexion with his parent (for he added sulkily “By her!”), he pinched me and said, “Oh, then! Now! Who are you! YOU wouldn’t like it, I think? What does she make a sham for, and pretend to give me money, and take it away again? Why do you call it my allowance, and never let me spend it?” These exasperating questions so inflamed his mind and the minds of Oswald and Francis that they all pinched me at once, and in a dreadfully expert way - screwing up such little pieces of my arms that I could hardly forbear crying out. Felix, at the same time, stamped upon my toes. And the Bond of Joy, who on account of always having the whole of his little income anticipated stood in fact pledged to abstain from cakes as well as tobacco, so swelled with grief and rage when we passed a pastry-cook’s shop that he terrified me by becoming purple. I never underwent so much, both in body and mind, in the course of a walk with young people as from these unnaturally constrained children when they paid me the compliment of being natural.

I was glad when we came to the brickmaker’s house, though it was one of a cluster of wretched hovels in a brick-field, with pigsties close to the broken windows and miserable little gardens before the doors growing nothing but stagnant pools. Here and there an old tub was put to catch the droppings of rain-water from a roof, or they were banked up with mud into a little pond like a large dirt-pie. At the doors and windows some men and women lounged or prowled about, and took little notice of us except to laugh to one another or to say something as we passed about gentlefolks minding their own business and not troubling their heads and muddying their shoes with coming to look after other people’s.

Mrs. Pardiggle, leading the way with a great show of moral determination and talking with much volubility about the untidy habits of the people (though I doubted if the best of us could have been tidy in such a place), conducted us into a cottage at the farthest corner, the ground-floor room of which we nearly filled. Besides ourselves, there were in this damp, offensive room a woman with a black eye, nursing a poor little gasping baby by the fire; a man, all stained with clay and mud and looking very dissipated, lying at full length on the ground, smoking a pipe; a powerful young man fastening a collar on a dog; and a bold girl doing some kind of washing in very dirty water. They all looked up at us as we came in, and the woman seemed to turn her face towards the fire as if to hide her bruised eye; nobody gave us any welcome.

Português → “Well, my friends,” said Mrs. Pardiggle, but her voice had not a friendly sound, I thought; it was much too business-like and systematic. “How do you do, all of you? I am here again. I told you, you couldn’t tire me, you know. I am fond of hard work, and am true to my word.”

“There an’t,” growled the man on the floor, whose head rested on his hand as he stared at us, “any more on you to come in, is there?”

“No, my friend,” said Mrs. Pardiggle, seating herself on one stool and knocking down another. “We are all here.”

“Because I thought there warn’t enough of you, perhaps?” said the man, with his pipe between his lips as he looked round upon us.

The young man and the girl both laughed. Two friends of the young man, whom we had attracted to the doorway and who stood there with their hands in their pockets, echoed the laugh noisily.

“You can’t tire me, good people,” said Mrs. Pardiggle to these latter. “I enjoy hard work, and the harder you make mine, the better I like it.”

“Then make it easy for her!” growled the man upon the floor. “I wants it done, and over. I wants a end of these liberties took with my place. I wants an end of being drawed like a badger. Now you’re a-going to poll-pry and question according to custom - I know what you’re a-going to be up to. Well! You haven’t got no occasion to be up to it. I’ll save you the trouble. Is my daughter a-washin? Yes, she IS a-washin. Look at the water. Smell it! That’s wot we drinks. How do you like it, and what do you think of gin instead! An’t my place dirty? Yes, it is dirty - it’s nat’rally dirty, and it’s nat’rally onwholesome; and we’ve had five dirty and onwholesome children, as is all dead infants, and so much the better for them, and for us besides. Have I read the little book wot you left? No, I an’t read the little book wot you left. There an’t nobody here as knows how to read it; and if there wos, it wouldn’t be suitable to me. It’s a book fit for a babby, and I’m not a babby. If you was to leave me a doll, I shouldn’t nuss it. How have I been conducting of myself? Why, I’ve been drunk for three days; and I’da been drunk four if I’da had the money. Don’t I never mean for to go to church? No, I don’t never mean for to go to church. I shouldn’t be expected there, if I did; the beadle’s too gen-teel for me. And how did my wife get that black eye? Why, I give it her; and if she says I didn’t, she’s a Lie!”

Português → He had pulled his pipe out of his mouth to say all this, and he now turned over on his other side and smoked again. Mrs. Pardiggle, who had been regarding him through her spectacles with a forcible composure, calculated, I could not help thinking, to increase his antagonism, pulled out a good book as if it were a constable’s staff and took the whole family into custody. I mean into religious custody, of course; but she really did it as if she were an inexorable moral policeman carrying them all off to a station-house.

Ada and I were very uncomfortable. We both felt intrusive and out of place, and we both thought that Mrs. Pardiggle would have got on infinitely better if she had not had such a mechanical way of taking possession of people. The children sulked and stared; the family took no notice of us whatever, except when the young man made the dog bark, which he usually did when Mrs. Pardiggle was most emphatic. We both felt painfully sensible that between us and these people there was an iron barrier which could not be removed by our new friend. By whom or how it could be removed, we did not know, but we knew that. Even what she read and said seemed to us to be ill-chosen for such auditors, if it had been imparted ever so modestly and with ever so much tact. As to the little book to which the man on the floor had referred, we acquired a knowledge of it afterwards, and Mr. Jarndyce said he doubted if Robinson Crusoe could have read it, though he had had no other on his desolate island.

We were much relieved, under these circumstances, when Mrs. Pardiggle left off.

The man on the floor, then turning his head round again, said morosely, “Well! You’ve done, have you?”

“For to-day, I have, my friend. But I am never fatigued. I shall come to you again in your regular order,” returned Mrs. Pardiggle with demonstrative cheerfulness.

Português → “So long as you goes now,” said he, folding his arms and shutting his eyes with an oath, “you may do wot you like!”

Mrs. Pardiggle accordingly rose and made a little vortex in the confined room from which the pipe itself very narrowly escaped. Taking one of her young family in each hand, and telling the others to follow closely, and expressing her hope that the brickmaker and all his house would be improved when she saw them next, she then proceeded to another cottage. I hope it is not unkind in me to say that she certainly did make, in this as in everything else, a show that was not conciliatory of doing charity by wholesale and of dealing in it to a large extent.

She supposed that we were following her, but as soon as the space was left clear, we approached the woman sitting by the fire to ask if the baby were ill.

She only looked at it as it lay on her lap. We had observed before that when she looked at it she covered her discoloured eye with her hand, as though she wished to separate any association with noise and violence and ill treatment from the poor little child.

Português → Ada, whose gentle heart was moved by its appearance, bent down to touch its little face. As she did so, I saw what happened and drew her back. The child died.

“Oh, Esther!” cried Ada, sinking on her knees beside it. “Look here! Oh, Esther, my love, the little thing! The suffering, quiet, pretty little thing! I am so sorry for it. I am so sorry for the mother. I never saw a sight so pitiful as this before! Oh, baby, baby!”

Such compassion, such gentleness, as that with which she bent down weeping and put her hand upon the mother’s might have softened any mother’s heart that ever beat. The woman at first gazed at her in astonishment and then burst into tears.

Presently I took the light burden from her lap, did what I could to make the baby’s rest the prettier and gentler, laid it on a shelf, and covered it with my own handkerchief. We tried to comfort the mother, and we whispered to her what Our Saviour said of children. She answered nothing, but sat weeping - weeping very much.

Português → When I turned, I found that the young man had taken out the dog and was standing at the door looking in upon us with dry eyes, but quiet. The girl was quiet too and sat in a corner looking on the ground. The man had risen. He still smoked his pipe with an air of defiance, but he was silent.

An ugly woman, very poorly clothed, hurried in while I was glancing at them, and coming straight up to the mother, said, “Jenny! Jenny!” The mother rose on being so addressed and fell upon the woman’s neck.

She also had upon her face and arms the marks of ill usage. She had no kind of grace about her, but the grace of sympathy; but when she condoled with the woman, and her own tears fell, she wanted no beauty. I say condoled, but her only words were “Jenny! Jenny!” All the rest was in the tone in which she said them.

I thought it very touching to see these two women, coarse and shabby and beaten, so united; to see what they could be to one another; to see how they felt for one another, how the heart of each to each was softened by the hard trials of their lives. I think the best side of such people is almost hidden from us. What the poor are to the poor is little known, excepting to themselves and God.

Português → We felt it better to withdraw and leave them uninterrupted. We stole out quietly and without notice from any one except the man. He was leaning against the wall near the door, and finding that there was scarcely room for us to pass, went out before us. He seemed to want to hide that he did this on our account, but we perceived that he did, and thanked him. He made no answer.

Ada was so full of grief all the way home, and Richard, whom we found at home, was so distressed to see her in tears (though he said to me, when she was not present, how beautiful it was too!), that we arranged to return at night with some little comforts and repeat our visit at the brick-maker’s house. We said as little as we could to Mr. Jarndyce, but the wind changed directly.

Richard accompanied us at night to the scene of our morning expedition. On our way there, we had to pass a noisy drinking-house, where a number of men were flocking about the door. Among them, and prominent in some dispute, was the father of the little child. At a short distance, we passed the young man and the dog, in congenial company. The sister was standing laughing and talking with some other young women at the corner of the row of cottages, but she seemed ashamed and turned away as we went by.

Português → We left our escort within sight of the brickmaker’s dwelling and proceeded by ourselves. When we came to the door, we found the woman who had brought such consolation with her standing there looking anxiously out.

“It’s you, young ladies, is it?” she said in a whisper. “I’m a-watching for my master. My heart’s in my mouth. If he was to catch me away from home, he’d pretty near murder me.”

“Do you mean your husband?” said I.

“Yes, miss, my master. Jenny’s asleep, quite worn out. She’s scarcely had the child off her lap, poor thing, these seven days and nights, except when I’ve been able to take it for a minute or two.”

As she gave way for us, she went softly in and put what we had brought near the miserable bed on which the mother slept. No effort had been made to clean the room - it seemed in its nature almost hopeless of being clean; but the small waxen form from which so much solemnity diffused itself had been composed afresh, and washed, and neatly dressed in some fragments of white linen; and on my handkerchief, which still covered the poor baby, a little bunch of sweet herbs had been laid by the same rough, scarred hands, so lightly, so tenderly!

Português → “May heaven reward you!” we said to her. “You are a good woman.”

“Me, young ladies?” she returned with surprise. “Hush! Jenny, Jenny!”

The mother had moaned in her sleep and moved. The sound of the familiar voice seemed to calm her again. She was quiet once more.

How little I thought, when I raised my handkerchief to look upon the tiny sleeper underneath and seemed to see a halo shine around the child through Ada’s drooping hair as her pity bent her head - how little I thought in whose unquiet bosom that handkerchief would come to lie after covering the motionless and peaceful breast! I only thought that perhaps the Angel of the child might not be all unconscious of the woman who replaced it with so compassionate a hand; not all unconscious of her presently, when we had taken leave, and left her at the door, by turns looking, and listening in terror for herself, and saying in her old soothing manner, “Jenny, Jenny!”

Chapter IX

Português → Signs and Tokens

I don’t know how it is I seem to be always writing about myself. I mean all the time to write about other people, and I try to think about myself as little as possible, and I am sure, when I find myself coming into the story again, I am really vexed and say, “Dear, dear, you tiresome little creature, I wish you wouldn’t!” but it is all of no use. I hope any one who may read what I write will understand that if these pages contain a great deal about me, I can only suppose it must be because I have really something to do with them and can’t be kept out.

My darling and I read together, and worked, and practised, and found so much employment for our time that the winter days flew by us like bright-winged birds. Generally in the afternoons, and always in the evenings, Richard gave us his company. Although he was one of the most restless creatures in the world, he certainly was very fond of our society.

He was very, very, very fond of Ada. I mean it, and I had better say it at once. I had never seen any young people falling in love before, but I found them out quite soon. I could not say so, of course, or show that I knew anything about it. On the contrary, I was so demure and used to seem so unconscious that sometimes I considered within myself while I was sitting at work whether I was not growing quite deceitful.

Português → But there was no help for it. All I had to do was to be quiet, and I was as quiet as a mouse. They were as quiet as mice too, so far as any words were concerned, but the innocent manner in which they relied more and more upon me as they took more and more to one another was so charming that I had great difficulty in not showing how it interested me.

“Our dear little old woman is such a capital old woman,” Richard would say, coming up to meet me in the garden early, with his pleasant laugh and perhaps the least tinge of a blush, “that I can’t get on without her. Before I begin my harum-scarum day - grinding away at those books and instruments and then galloping up hill and down dale, all the country round, like a highwayman - it does me so much good to come and have a steady walk with our comfortable friend, that here I am again!”

“You know, Dame Durden, dear,” Ada would say at night, with her head upon my shoulder and the firelight shining in her thoughtful eyes, “I don’t want to talk when we come upstairs here. Only to sit a little while thinking, with your dear face for company, and to hear the wind and remember the poor sailors at sea - ”

Português → Ah! Perhaps Richard was going to be a sailor. We had talked it over very often now, and there was some talk of gratifying the inclination of his childhood for the sea. Mr. Jarndyce had written to a relation of the family, a great Sir Leicester Dedlock, for his interest in Richard’s favour, generally; and Sir Leicester had replied in a gracious manner that he would be happy to advance the prospects of the young gentleman if it should ever prove to be within his power, which was not at all probable, and that my Lady sent her compliments to the young gentleman (to whom she perfectly remembered that she was allied by remote consanguinity) and trusted that he would ever do his duty in any honourable profession to which he might devote himself.

“So I apprehend it’s pretty clear,” said Richard to me, “that I shall have to work my own way. Never mind! Plenty of people have had to do that before now, and have done it. I only wish I had the command of a clipping privateer to begin with and could carry off the Chancellor and keep him on short allowance until he gave judgment in our cause. He’d find himself growing thin, if he didn’t look sharp!”

With a buoyancy and hopefulness and a gaiety that hardly ever flagged, Richard had a carelessness in his character that quite perplexed me, principally because he mistook it, in such a very odd way, for prudence. It entered into all his calculations about money in a singular manner which I don’t think I can better explain than by reverting for a moment to our loan to Mr. Skimpole.

Português → Mr. Jarndyce had ascertained the amount, either from Mr. Skimpole himself or from Coavinses, and had placed the money in my hands with instructions to me to retain my own part of it and hand the rest to Richard. The number of little acts of thoughtless expenditure which Richard justified by the recovery of his ten pounds, and the number of times he talked to me as if he had saved or realized that amount, would form a sum in simple addition.

“My prudent Mother Hubbard, why not?” he said to me when he wanted, without the least consideration, to bestow five pounds on the brickmaker. “I made ten pounds, clear, out of Coavinses’ business.”

“How was that?” said I.

“Why, I got rid of ten pounds which I was quite content to get rid of and never expected to see any more. You don’t deny that?”

“No,” said I.

“Very well! Then I came into possession of ten pounds - ”

“The same ten pounds,” I hinted.

“That has nothing to do with it!” returned Richard. “I have got ten pounds more than I expected to have, and consequently I can afford to spend it without being particular.”

Português → In exactly the same way, when he was persuaded out of the sacrifice of these five pounds by being convinced that it would do no good, he carried that sum to his credit and drew upon it.

“Let me see!” he would say. “I saved five pounds out of the brickmaker’s affair, so if I have a good rattle to London and back in a post-chaise and put that down at four pounds, I shall have saved one. And it’s a very good thing to save one, let me tell you: a penny saved is a penny got!”

I believe Richard’s was as frank and generous a nature as there possibly can be. He was ardent and brave, and in the midst of all his wild restlessness, was so gentle that I knew him like a brother in a few weeks. His gentleness was natural to him and would have shown itself abundantly even without Ada’s influence; but with it, he became one of the most winning of companions, always so ready to be interested and always so happy, sanguine, and light-hearted. I am sure that I, sitting with them, and walking with them, and talking with them, and noticing from day to day how they went on, falling deeper and deeper in love, and saying nothing about it, and each shyly thinking that this love was the greatest of secrets, perhaps not yet suspected even by the other - I am sure that I was scarcely less enchanted than they were and scarcely less pleased with the pretty dream.

Português → We were going on in this way, when one morning at breakfast Mr. Jarndyce received a letter, and looking at the superscription, said, “From Boythorn? Aye, aye!” and opened and read it with evident pleasure, announcing to us in a parenthesis when he was about half-way through, that Boythorn was “coming down” on a visit. Now who was Boythorn, we all thought. And I dare say we all thought too - I am sure I did, for one - would Boythorn at all interfere with what was going forward?

“I went to school with this fellow, Lawrence Boythorn,” said Mr. Jarndyce, tapping the letter as he laid it on the table, “more than five and forty years ago. He was then the most impetuous boy in the world, and he is now the most impetuous man. He was then the loudest boy in the world, and he is now the loudest man. He was then the heartiest and sturdiest boy in the world, and he is now the heartiest and sturdiest man. He is a tremendous fellow.”

“In stature, sir?” asked Richard.

“Pretty well, Rick, in that respect,” said Mr. Jarndyce; “being some ten years older than I and a couple of inches taller, with his head thrown back like an old soldier, his stalwart chest squared, his hands like a clean blacksmith’s, and his lungs! There’s no simile for his lungs. Talking, laughing, or snoring, they make the beams of the house shake.”

As Mr. Jarndyce sat enjoying the image of his friend Boythorn, we observed the favourable omen that there was not the least indication of any change in the wind.

Português → “But it’s the inside of the man, the warm heart of the man, the passion of the man, the fresh blood of the man, Rick - and Ada, and little Cobweb too, for you are all interested in a visitor - that I speak of,” he pursued. “His language is as sounding as his voice. He is always in extremes, perpetually in the superlative degree. In his condemnation he is all ferocity. You might suppose him to be an ogre from what he says, and I believe he has the reputation of one with some people. There! I tell you no more of him beforehand. You must not be surprised to see him take me under his protection, for he has never forgotten that I was a low boy at school and that our friendship began in his knocking two of my head tyrant’s teeth out (he says six) before breakfast. Boythorn and his man,” to me, “will be here this afternoon, my dear.”

I took care that the necessary preparations were made for Mr. Boythorn’s reception, and we looked forward to his arrival with some curiosity. The afternoon wore away, however, and he did not appear. The dinner-hour arrived, and still he did not appear. The dinner was put back an hour, and we were sitting round the fire with no light but the blaze when the hall-door suddenly burst open and the hall resounded with these words, uttered with the greatest vehemence and in a stentorian tone: “We have been misdirected, Jarndyce, by a most abandoned ruffian, who told us to take the turning to the right instead of to the left. He is the most intolerable scoundrel on the face of the earth. His father must have been a most consummate villain, ever to have such a son. I would have had that fellow shot without the least remorse!”

Português → “Did he do it on purpose?” Mr. Jarndyce inquired.

“I have not the slightest doubt that the scoundrel has passed his whole existence in misdirecting travellers!” returned the other. “By my soul, I thought him the worst-looking dog I had ever beheld when he was telling me to take the turning to the right. And yet I stood before that fellow face to face and didn’t knock his brains out!”

“Teeth, you mean?” said Mr. Jarndyce.

“Ha, ha, ha!” laughed Mr. Lawrence Boythorn, really making the whole house vibrate. “What, you have not forgotten it yet! Ha, ha, ha! And that was another most consummate vagabond! By my soul, the countenance of that fellow when he was a boy was the blackest image of perfidy, cowardice, and cruelty ever set up as a scarecrow in a field of scoundrels. If I were to meet that most unparalleled despot in the streets to-morrow, I would fell him like a rotten tree!”

“I have no doubt of it,” said Mr. Jarndyce. “Now, will you come upstairs?”

“By my soul, Jarndyce,” returned his guest, who seemed to refer to his watch, “if you had been married, I would have turned back at the garden-gate and gone away to the remotest summits of the Himalaya Mountains sooner than I would have presented myself at this unseasonable hour.”

Português → “Not quite so far, I hope?” said Mr. Jarndyce.

“By my life and honour, yes!” cried the visitor. “I wouldn’t be guilty of the audacious insolence of keeping a lady of the house waiting all this time for any earthly consideration. I would infinitely rather destroy myself - infinitely rather!”

Talking thus, they went upstairs, and presently we heard him in his bedroom thundering “Ha, ha, ha!” and again “Ha, ha, ha!” until the flattest echo in the neighbourhood seemed to catch the contagion and to laugh as enjoyingly as he did or as we did when we heard him laugh.

Português → We all conceived a prepossession in his favour, for there was a sterling quality in this laugh, and in his vigorous, healthy voice, and in the roundness and fullness with which he uttered every word he spoke, and in the very fury of his superlatives, which seemed to go off like blank cannons and hurt nothing. But we were hardly prepared to have it so confirmed by his appearance when Mr. Jarndyce presented him. He was not only a very handsome old gentleman - upright and stalwart as he had been described to us - with a massive grey head, a fine composure of face when silent, a figure that might have become corpulent but for his being so continually in earnest that he gave it no rest, and a chin that might have subsided into a double chin but for the vehement emphasis in which it was constantly required to assist; but he was such a true gentleman in his manner, so chivalrously polite, his face was lighted by a smile of so much sweetness and tenderness, and it seemed so plain that he had nothing to hide, but showed himself exactly as he was - incapable, as Richard said, of anything on a limited scale, and firing away with those blank great guns because he carried no small arms whatever - that really I could not help looking at him with equal pleasure as he sat at dinner, whether he smilingly conversed with Ada and me, or was led by Mr. Jarndyce into some great volley of superlatives, or threw up his head like a bloodhound and gave out that tremendous “Ha, ha, ha!”

“You have brought your bird with you, I suppose?” said Mr. Jarndyce.

“By heaven, he is the most astonishing bird in Europe!” replied the other. “He IS the most wonderful creature! I wouldn’t take ten thousand guineas for that bird. I have left an annuity for his sole support in case he should outlive me. He is, in sense and attachment, a phenomenon. And his father before him was one of the most astonishing birds that ever lived!”

Versão em Português B1

1. Prefácio

CAPÍTULO I

CAPÍTULO II

CAPÍTULO III

CAPÍTULO IV

CAPÍTULO V

CAPÍTULO VI

CAPÍTULO VII

CAPÍTULO VIII

CAPÍTULO IX

Contents

Prefácio

English → por Charles Dickens

A CASA SOTURNA

por

CHARLES DICKENS

SUMÁRIO

English → Prefácio I. Na Chancelaria II. Na Alta Sociedade III. Uma Progressão IV. Filantropia Telescópica V. Uma Aventura Matinal VI. Muito à Vontade VII. O Passeio do Fantasma VIII. Cobrindo uma Multidão de Pecados IX. Sinais e Presságios X. O Escrivão Jurídico XI. Nosso Querido Irmão XII. De Vigília XIII. A Narrativa de Esther XIV. Conduta XV. Bell Yard XVI. Tom-all-Alone’s XVII. A Narrativa de Esther XVIII. Lady Dedlock XIX. Seguindo Adiante XX. Um Novo Hóspede XXI. A Família Smallweed XXII. Sr. Bucket XXIII. A Narrativa de Esther XXIV. Um Recurso XXV. Sra. Snagsby Vê Tudo XXVI. Atiradores de Elite XXVII. Mais de Um Velho Soldado XXVIII. O Mestre de Fundição XXIX. O Rapaz XXX. A Narrativa de Esther XXXI. Enfermeira e Paciente XXXII. A Hora Marcada XXXIII. Intrusos XXXIV. Uma Volta do Parafuso XXXV. A Narrativa de Esther XXXVI. Chesney Wold XXXVII. Jarndyce e Jarndyce XXXVIII. Uma Luta XXXIX. Advogado e Cliente XL. Nacional e Doméstico XLI. No Gabinete do Sr. Tulkinghorn XLII. Nos Aposentos do Sr. Tulkinghorn XLIII. A Narrativa de Esther XLIV. A Carta e a Resposta XLV. Em Confiança XLVI. Detenham-no! XLVII. O Testamento de Jo XLVIII. Fechando o Cerco XLIX. Amizade Devotada L. A Narrativa de Esther LI. Esclarecido LII. Obstinação LIII. O Rastro LIV. Preparando uma Mina LV. Fuga LVI. Perseguição LVII. A Narrativa de Esther LVIII. Um Dia e uma Noite de Inverno LIX. A Narrativa de Esther LX. Perspectiva LXI. Uma Descoberta LXII. Outra Descoberta LXIII. Aço e Ferro LXIV. A Narrativa de Esther LXV. Começando a Vida LXVI. Lá em Lincolnshire LXVII. O Final da Narrativa de Esther

English → PREFÁCIO

Certa vez, um juiz disse a uma grande plateia sensata que o Tribunal da Chancelaria era quase perfeito. Admitiu que ele avançava devagar, mas culpou o público por se recusar a nomear mais juízes. Achei que era uma piada muito profunda.

A piada parecia boa demais para a história principal. Caso contrário, eu a teria atribuído ao Sr. Kenge ou ao Sr. Vholes, pois um deles poderia tê-la inventado. Também poderia ter acrescentado estes versos de Shakespeare:

Meu trabalho mudou minha natureza, assim como a tinta colore a mão de um trabalhador. Tenha pena de mim e deseje que eu possa me renovar!

O público deve saber que minha descrição do Tribunal da Chancelaria é verdadeira. O caso de Gridley se baseia de perto em uma injustiça real. Em agosto de 1853, um processo amigável já durava quase vinte anos, consumira setenta mil libras e não estava mais perto do fim. Outro processo durava desde o século anterior e custara mais que o dobro. Eu poderia dar muitos outros exemplos reais para sustentar Jarndyce e Jarndyce.

English → Algumas pessoas negaram que o Sr. Krook pudesse ter morrido por combustão espontânea. Antes de escrever a cena, estudei o assunto com cuidado. Cerca de trinta casos haviam sido registrados, inclusive casos famosos na Itália e na França examinados por especialistas respeitados. Aceitarei as provas humanas comuns até que essas próprias provas de algum modo se queimem.

Em A Casa Soturna, mostrei de propósito o lado romântico das coisas comuns.

English → 1853

English → Outro caso recente foi descrito com clareza por um dentista em Columbus, nos Estados Unidos. Ele envolvia um lojista alemão que bebia demais.

CAPÍTULO I

English → Na Chancelaria

Londres, em um novembro cruel. O Lorde Chanceler está sentado no Lincoln's Inn Hall. As ruas estão tão lamacentas que um enorme animal antigo pareceria à vontade ali. Fumaça negra e fuligem caem como neve suja. Cães e cavalos estão cobertos de lama, enquanto pessoas irritadas batem os guarda-chuvas e escorregam nas esquinas.

Há névoa por toda parte: acima e abaixo do rio, sobre os pântanos e colinas, dentro dos navios e ao redor dos barcos pequenos. Ela enche os olhos e a garganta dos velhos marinheiros, entra na cabine de um capitão e congela o jovem aprendiz no convés. As pessoas nas pontes parecem suspensas em nuvens de névoa.

Os lampiões a gás aparecem fracamente através da névoa, como um sol pálido sobre campos molhados. As lojas os acendem duas horas mais cedo, e até os lampiões parecem cansados e contrariados.

O frio, a névoa e a lama são piores perto de Temple Bar. Bem próximo, no centro da névoa, o Lorde Alto Chanceler está sentado no Tribunal da Chancelaria.

English → Nenhuma névoa pode ser espessa demais, nem a lama profunda demais, para combinar com a condição confusa e impotente deste antigo e pecador Tribunal da Chancelaria.

O Chanceler está sentado entre cortinas vermelhas enquanto um advogado de enormes suíças lê um documento interminável. Ao redor dele, muitos advogados lutam com detalhes técnicos e pilhas de papéis caros em um processo que nunca termina. O tribunal é escuro, cheio de névoa e vazio de verdade. Por toda a Inglaterra, ele destrói casas, terras, dinheiro, mentes e corações. Qualquer advogado honesto aconselharia as pessoas a suportar quase qualquer injustiça em vez de entrar nesse tribunal.

O tribunal está cheio de funcionários entediados porque Jarndyce e Jarndyce não oferece diversão. Os repórteres saem quando o caso começa. Uma velha confusa espera todos os dias uma decisão a seu favor. Um prisioneiro não consegue explicar contas que nunca entendeu, e outro homem arruinado passa há vinte e cinco anos tentando fazer o Chanceler ouvi-lo. Alguns escriturários ficam apenas porque esperam que ele cause alguma diversão.

English → Jarndyce e Jarndyce continua sem fim. Tornou-se tão complicado que ninguém o entende, sobretudo as pessoas envolvidas. Crianças nasceram dentro dele, adultos se casaram com pessoas ligadas a ele e idosos morreram enquanto ele continuava. Famílias herdaram seus ódios. Quase todos os Jarndyce se foram, mas o processo sem esperança ainda se arrasta pelo tribunal.

Jarndyce e Jarndyce virou uma piada jurídica, embora tenha causado muitas mortes. Juízes, advogados experientes e jovens escriturários fizeram piadas sobre um processo que parece menos provável de terminar do que batatas caírem do céu.

O processo prejudicou muitas pessoas que nem estavam diretamente envolvidas. Ensinou advogados e escriturários a enganar, adiar, evitar deveres e tomar dinheiro. Até observadores distantes aprenderam a ignorar injustiças e aceitar que o mundo nunca deveria dar certo.

Assim, o Lorde Alto Chanceler está sentado em seu tribunal, cercado de lama e névoa.

English → - Sr. Tangle - diz o Chanceler, cansando-se do longo discurso do advogado.

- Meu senhor - diz o Sr. Tangle. Ele sabe mais sobre Jarndyce e Jarndyce do que qualquer pessoa e parece não ter lido outra coisa desde a escola.

- Está quase terminando seu argumento?

O Sr. Tangle responde que não, pois sente que é seu dever discutir muitos pontos.

- Creio que vários outros advogados ainda precisam falar? - pergunta o Chanceler com um leve sorriso.

Dezoito advogados se levantam juntos, cada um carregando um resumo de mil e oitocentas páginas. Eles se curvam e voltam a sentar.

O Chanceler adia a audiência por duas semanas. A questão trata apenas das custas, um pequeno ramo do enorme processo, portanto talvez seja resolvida algum dia.

O Chanceler e os advogados se levantam. O prisioneiro é levado às pressas para a frente, e o homem de Shropshire grita: - Meu senhor! Os funcionários do tribunal exigem silêncio com raiva.

O Chanceler continua: - Sobre a jovem...

English → O Sr. Tangle interrompe para dizer que é um menino. O Chanceler explica com cuidado que se refere aos dois jovens, que encontrará antes de decidir se devem morar com o tio.

O Sr. Tangle se levanta novamente e diz: - Perdoe-me, meu senhor, ele está morto.

O Chanceler confere os papéis e troca "tio" por "avô".

O Sr. Tangle pede desculpas outra vez e explica que o avô tirou a própria vida.

Um advogado muito pequeno, com uma voz enorme, se levanta e diz que representa o homem. Não consegue explicar o parentesco exato, mas insiste que o homem é primo.

Depois de falar com voz profunda e séria, o pequeno advogado se senta e desaparece na névoa. Todos o procuram, mas ninguém consegue vê-lo.

O Chanceler diz que falará com os dois jovens e decidirá se devem morar com o primo. Anunciará a questão na manhã seguinte.

English → O prisioneiro é enviado de volta à prisão rapidamente. O homem de Shropshire tenta falar mais uma vez, mas o Chanceler e todos os outros desaparecem. Escriturários levam sacos pesados de papéis, a velha sai com seus documentos e o tribunal vazio é trancado. Seria melhor se toda a injustiça e a miséria dele pudessem ser trancadas lá dentro e queimadas com ele.

CAPÍTULO II

English → Na Alta Sociedade

Agora visitamos brevemente a alta sociedade na mesma tarde lamacenta. Ela se parece com o Tribunal da Chancelaria porque ambos obedecem a velhos costumes e hábitos. Ambos são como pessoas que dormem durante tempestades e esperam um despertar mágico.

A alta sociedade é um mundo muito pequeno. Contém pessoas boas e honestas e tem seu lugar adequado. Mas está envolvida em luxo, incapaz de ouvir ou ver os mundos maiores ao redor. Sem ar fresco, torna-se fraca e doente.

Lady Dedlock deixou sua propriedade úmida e sombria em Lincolnshire e voltou a Londres antes de visitar Paris. A chuva inundou a terra, danificou uma ponte e encharcou árvores e animais. Sua grande casa parece fria, escura e assombrada. Ver uma família feliz junto ao fogo quente de uma cabana deixa Lady Dedlock, que não tem filhos, irritada. Ela diz que está morrendo de tédio.

Lady Dedlock deixou a casa de Lincolnshire para a chuva e os animais selvagens. Enquanto a governanta fecha os quartos escuros, os retratos da família parecem desaparecer nas paredes úmidas. A sociedade conhece o passado e o presente, mas não sabe dizer quando a família voltará.

English → Sir Leicester Dedlock é apenas um baronete, mas considera sua antiga família mais importante do que quase tudo. É honrado, orgulhoso, teimoso, enérgico, cheio de preconceitos e completamente irracional.

Sir Leicester é mais de vinte anos mais velho que Lady Dedlock e agora tem mais de sessenta e cinco anos. Às vezes sofre de gota e anda com rigidez. Com cabelos grisalhos e roupas formais, sempre parece imponente e educado. Admira sinceramente a esposa, e seu amor fiel por ela é sua única qualidade romântica.

Ele se casou com ela por amor, embora as pessoas cochichassem que ela não vinha de uma família importante. Ela tinha beleza, orgulho, ambição, determinação e inteligência. Com riqueza e posição social, logo chegou ao topo da alta sociedade.

Depois que Lady Dedlock conquistou seu mundo social, não ficou alegre, mas fria. Sua vitória a deixou calmamente cansada e sem interesse por nada. Tem modos perfeitos, mas provavelmente nem ir para o céu a deixaria animada.

English → Lady Dedlock ainda é bonita. Seu rosto se tornou mais clássico e formal com sua alta posição social. Ela parece alta e elegante, veste-se com perfeição e cuida especialmente dos cabelos.

Lady Dedlock está em sua casa de Londres antes de ir a Paris. Nessa tarde escura e lamacenta, chega o advogado antiquado dos Dedlock. Um criado de cabelos empoados o conduz por salas grandiosas, mas sem vida, até Lady Dedlock.

O Sr. Tulkinghorn parece velho e sem brilho, mas ficou rico cuidando de casamentos e testamentos aristocráticos. Guarda em silêncio muitos segredos de famílias nobres. Suas roupas pretas nunca brilham, assim como sua personalidade. Só fala a trabalho e recebe cumprimentos educados sem revelar nada.

Sir Leicester fica contente ao ver o Sr. Tulkinghorn. As roupas e o jeito antiquado do advogado lhe agradam porque parecem mostrar o devido respeito e serviço leal à família Dedlock.

Lady Dedlock acredita que as pessoas comuns não conseguem compreendê-la. Na verdade, todos ao redor conhecem suas fraquezas e seus hábitos, desde a criada até os lojistas da moda. Essas pessoas fingem obedecer a ela enquanto orientam cuidadosamente suas escolhas. Ao tornar uma novidade elegante, conseguem conduzir Lady Dedlock e todo o seu grupo social.

English → Assim, o Sr. Tulkinghorn pode saber ou não o que Lady Dedlock está pensando, mas provavelmente sabe.

Sir Leicester cumprimenta o advogado e pergunta se o processo de Lady Dedlock esteve novamente diante do Chanceler.

O Sr. Tulkinghorn diz que o processo foi ouvido novamente naquele dia e faz uma discreta reverência a Lady Dedlock, que está sentada junto ao fogo com um anteparo diante do rosto.

Lady Dedlock diz que provavelmente não adianta perguntar se alguma coisa foi resolvida.

O Sr. Tulkinghorn responde que nada que ela consideraria importante foi feito naquele dia.

Lady Dedlock diz que nada jamais será feito.

Sir Leicester não se incomoda com um processo interminável da Chancelaria porque ele parece tradicionalmente britânico. O caso não é muito importante para ele, e acredita que o tribunal faz parte de um sistema sábio. Reclamar, teme ele, poderia incentivar as classes baixas a se rebelar.

O Sr. Tulkinghorn diz que algumas declarações novas e curtas foram acrescentadas ao processo. Como sempre mantém os clientes informados e eles vão a Paris, trouxe os papéis consigo.

English → Sir Leicester também ia a Paris, mas a alta sociedade se interessava principalmente por Lady Dedlock.

O Sr. Tulkinghorn tira os papéis, coloca-os sobre uma pequena mesa dourada ao lado de Lady Dedlock, põe os óculos e começa a ler à luz de um abajur.

- No Tribunal da Chancelaria. Entre John Jarndyce...

Lady Dedlock interrompe e pede que ele omita o máximo possível da linguagem jurídica formal.

O Sr. Tulkinghorn recomeça mais abaixo na página. Lady Dedlock para de ouvir, enquanto Sir Leicester aprecia as longas frases jurídicas. Sentindo calor junto ao fogo, ela olha os papéis de perto e pergunta de repente: - Quem copiou isso?

O Sr. Tulkinghorn para, surpreso com o interesse repentino e a voz incomum de Lady Dedlock.

Ela pergunta com calma se a escrita é o que os advogados chamam de caligrafia jurídica.

O Sr. Tulkinghorn examina a escrita e diz que não exatamente. O autor provavelmente aprendeu o estilo jurídico depois de aprender a escrever. Ele pergunta por que ela quer saber.

English → Ela diz que só quer algo para quebrar o tédio terrível e manda que ele continue.

O Sr. Tulkinghorn volta a ler. A sala fica mais quente, e Lady Dedlock cobre o rosto. Sir Leicester acorda de um sono leve e pergunta o que foi dito.

O Sr. Tulkinghorn se levanta depressa e diz que teme que Lady Dedlock esteja passando mal.

Com os lábios pálidos, Lady Dedlock diz que apenas desmaiou, mas parece a morte. Ordena que não falem, que toquem a campainha e a levem ao quarto.

O Sr. Tulkinghorn espera em outro aposento. Campainhas tocam e criados correm; depois tudo fica em silêncio. Por fim, um criado pede que ele volte.

Sir Leicester diz que Lady Dedlock está melhor e pede ao advogado que continue lendo apenas para ele. Ficou assustado porque ela nunca havia desmaiado, mas culpa o tempo difícil e o terrível tédio dela em Lincolnshire.

CAPÍTULO III

English → Uma Progressão

Acho difícil começar minha parte desta história porque sei que não sou inteligente. Quando pequena, eu dizia à minha boneca Dolly que tivesse paciência comigo. Ela ficava sentada numa grande poltrona enquanto eu costurava e contava todos os meus segredos.

Eu era tão tímida que Dolly era a única que ouvia meus pensamentos verdadeiros. Depois da escola, corria para casa e contava tudo o que havia notado. Eu entendia as coisas devagar, mas as observava em silêncio e queria compreender mais. O amor às vezes deixava minha mente mais clara, embora talvez isso seja apenas vaidade.

Minha madrinha me criou desde minhas primeiras lembranças. Era religiosa, bonita, séria e severa, mas nunca sorria. Eu me sentia pequena e distante ao lado dela e não conseguia relaxar nem amá-la como desejava. Acreditava que a culpa era minha e muitas vezes dizia a Dolly que esperava ter um coração melhor.

English → Isso me tornou ainda mais tímida e fez de Dolly minha única amiga com quem eu me sentia à vontade. Então, enquanto eu ainda era muito nova, aconteceu algo que aumentou esses sentimentos.

Ninguém jamais falava sobre minha mãe ou meu pai, embora eu pensasse especialmente em minha mãe. Nunca usara roupas de luto nem vira o túmulo dela, e rezava apenas por minha madrinha. Quando perguntei à nossa criada severa, Sra. Rachael, sobre meus pais, ela apenas disse boa-noite e me deixou sozinha.

Sete meninas mais velhas frequentavam minha escola, mas eu nunca as visitava em casa. Sentia-me separada delas por razões além da idade e da inteligência. Uma menina me convidou para uma festa, mas minha madrinha recusou por mim. Na verdade, eu nunca saía.

Era meu aniversário. Outras meninas tinham folga na escola e comemorações em seus aniversários, mas eu não tinha nada. Meu aniversário era o dia mais triste do ano em nossa casa.

English → Talvez eu seja vaidosa, mas acho que o amor me ajuda a entender as coisas mais depressa. Sou muito afetuosa, e a dor que senti naquele aniversário foi forte o bastante para ficar comigo para sempre.

Depois do jantar, minha madrinha e eu ficamos sentadas em silêncio junto ao fogo. Apenas o relógio e o fogo faziam ruídos. Ergui os olhos da costura e li um pensamento terrível no rosto sombrio dela: teria sido melhor se eu nunca tivesse nascido.

Comecei a chorar e perguntei à minha madrinha se minha mãe havia morrido no dia do meu aniversário.

Ela respondeu: - Não. Não me pergunte mais nada, criança.

Implorei que ela me contasse sobre minha mãe. Perguntei o que eu havia feito, como a perdera, por que era diferente das outras crianças e por que a culpa era minha. Implorei que minha madrinha não fosse embora.

O medo se misturou à minha tristeza. Segurei o vestido dela e me ajoelhei diante dela enquanto repetia que eu a soltasse. Então, de repente, ela ficou imóvel.

English → A expressão sombria dela me fez parar. Tentei pegar sua mão, mas recuei quando ela me olhou. Ela me colocou diante de si e disse friamente que minha mãe havia trazido vergonha para nós duas. Afirmou ter perdoado minha mãe por um mal terrível, embora seu rosto não mostrasse perdão. Chamou-me de órfã infeliz e desonrada e mandou que eu rezasse para que os pecados dos outros não me castigassem. Depois, ordenou que eu esquecesse minha mãe e fosse embora.

Antes que eu saísse, paralisada pelo choque, ela acrescentou que a obediência, a abnegação e o trabalho duro deveriam me preparar para minha vida sombria. Disse que eu era diferente das outras crianças e havia sido separada das demais desde o nascimento.

Fui para o meu quarto, encostei minha boneca no rosto molhado de lágrimas e chorei até dormir. Eu sabia que nunca tinha feito ninguém feliz e que ninguém me amava como eu amava Dolly.

English → Depois, passei muitas horas sozinha com minha boneca. Contei a ela sobre meu aniversário e prometi trabalhar muito, ser satisfeita e bondosa, ajudar alguém e tentar conquistar amor. Agora sou feliz e grata, mas essa lembrança ainda me faz chorar.

Pronto, enxuguei minhas lágrimas e posso continuar.

Depois do meu aniversário, senti-me ainda mais distante de minha madrinha. Eu acreditava que ocupava um lugar na casa dela que deveria estar vazio, por isso ficou mais difícil me aproximar, embora eu fosse muito grata. Também me afastei das colegas de escola, da senhora Rachael e da filha dela. Fiquei quieta e estudei muito.

Numa tarde ensolarada, voltei da escola e comecei a subir. Minha madrinha me chamou à sala. Havia ali uma visita incomum: um homem grande e de aparência importante, vestido de preto, com gravata branca, óculos de ouro, relógio de ouro e um anel grande.

English → Em voz baixa, minha madrinha disse ao homem: “Esta é a criança.” Depois falou com severidade: “Esta é Esther, senhor.”

O homem colocou os óculos e pediu que eu me aproximasse e tirasse o chapéu. Ele me examinou, disse “Ah” e “Sim”, guardou os óculos e fez um sinal para minha madrinha. Ela mandou que eu subisse, então fiz uma reverência e saí.

Cerca de dois anos depois, quando eu tinha quase catorze anos, minha madrinha e eu estávamos junto ao fogo numa noite terrível. Como sempre, eu lia a Bíblia em voz alta para ela. Li em São João a história de Jesus e da mulher pecadora.

Jesus se levantou e disse: “Aquele entre vocês que nunca pecou atire a primeira pedra nela.”

Minha madrinha levantou-se de repente, segurou a cabeça e gritou palavras de outra parte da Bíblia: “Fiquem acordados, ou ele poderá chegar de repente e encontrá-los dormindo. Digo a todos: vigiem!”

English → Enquanto repetia aquelas palavras, ela caiu de repente no chão. Não precisei pedir ajuda, pois sua voz tinha sido ouvida em toda a casa e até na rua.

Colocaram-na na cama, onde permaneceu por mais de uma semana. Dia e noite, eu a beijava, agradecia, rezava por ela e pedia sua bênção e seu perdão. Pedi qualquer sinal de que me ouvia, mas seu rosto nunca se moveu nem perdeu a expressão severa, mesmo depois da morte.

No dia seguinte ao enterro de minha querida madrinha, o homem de preto com gravata branca voltou. A senhora Rachael me chamou, e eu o encontrei na mesma sala, como se nunca tivesse saído.

Ele disse: “Meu nome é Kenge. Talvez se lembre: Kenge e Carboy, Lincoln's Inn.”

Respondi que me lembrava de tê-lo visto uma vez antes.

Ele pediu que eu me sentasse perto dele e não me perturbasse. Depois disse à senhora Rachael que o dinheiro da senhorita Barbary terminara com a morte dela e começou a falar de mim, agora que minha tia estava morta.

English → “Minha tia, senhor?”, exclamei.

O senhor Kenge disse com calma que não havia motivo para manter o segredo. A senhorita Barbary tinha sido minha tia de fato, embora não legalmente. Mandou que eu não chorasse nem tremesse e perguntou se eu já ouvira falar de Jarndyce e Jarndyce.

“Nunca”, disse a senhora Rachael.

O senhor Kenge ergueu os óculos, surpreso, e perguntou de novo se eu realmente nunca tinha ouvido falar de Jarndyce e Jarndyce.

Balancei a cabeça e me perguntei o que era aquilo.

O senhor Kenge explicou que Jarndyce e Jarndyce era um dos maiores processos do Tribunal de Chancelaria. Ele incluía repetidamente todo tipo de dificuldade e procedimento legal. O advogado anunciou com orgulho que os custos totais já estavam entre sessenta e setenta mil libras.

Senti-me ignorante, mas não sabia nada sobre o assunto e ainda não conseguia entendê-lo.

O senhor Kenge disse que era surpreendente eu nunca ter ouvido falar do processo.

English → A senhora Rachael começou: “A senhorita Barbary, que agora está entre os anjos...”

“Certamente espero que sim”, disse o senhor Kenge com educação.

A senhora Rachael explicou que a senhorita Barbary queria que Esther aprendesse apenas o que lhe seria útil. Por isso, Esther não sabia nada além do que lhe haviam ensinado naquela casa.

O senhor Kenge disse que aquilo era adequado e chegou ao ponto principal. A senhorita Barbary, minha única parente de fato, estava morta, e ninguém podia esperar que a senhora Rachael...

“Ah, certamente não!”, disse depressa a senhora Rachael.

O senhor Kenge concordou que a senhora Rachael não poderia me sustentar. Disse que uma oferta feita dois anos antes podia agora ser renovada. Ele representava o senhor Jarndyce, um homem bondoso, porém incomum, e perguntou com cautela se era profissionalmente seguro dizer aquilo.

O senhor Kenge claramente adorava o som de sua própria voz rica, que fazia cada palavra parecer importante. Ele ouvia a si mesmo com prazer e movia a cabeça ou a mão conforme suas frases. Fiquei impressionada, antes de saber que o chamavam de Kenge Conversador.

English → O senhor Kenge disse que o senhor Jarndyce sabia que eu estava sozinha e oferecia me mandar para uma excelente escola. Ali eu terminaria minha educação, viveria com conforto e me prepararia para meus deveres futuros.

As palavras e a maneira comovente dele encheram tanto meu coração que tentei falar, mas não consegui.

O senhor Jarndyce exigia apenas que eu não deixasse a escola sem seu conhecimento e sua permissão. Eu deveria estudar com dedicação, aprender as habilidades necessárias para me sustentar e viver com virtude e honra.

Eu conseguia falar ainda menos do que antes.

O senhor Kenge pediu minha resposta, mas repetiu várias vezes que eu podia pensar com calma.

Não preciso repetir o que esta menina sem lar tentou dizer. Eu poderia contar o que ela realmente disse, mas jamais conseguiria descrever o que sentiu então e sentiria por toda a vida.

Essa reunião aconteceu em Windsor, onde eu vivera a vida inteira. Uma semana depois, com tudo de que precisava, parti de carruagem para Reading.

English → A senhora Rachael não mostrou tristeza em nossa despedida, mas chorei muito. Culpei-me por nunca ter me tornado querida o bastante para que sentisse minha falta. Quando ela me deu um beijo frio, abracei-a e disse que era minha culpa ela conseguir se despedir com tanta facilidade.

“Não, Esther”, respondeu ela. “É a sua desgraça.”

A carruagem esperava no portão, e parti com o coração triste. A senhora Rachael entrou antes de colocarem minhas caixas no veículo. Entre lágrimas, vi a casa desaparecer. Os bens seriam vendidos. Eu enterrara minha querida boneca sob a árvore perto da antiga janela, por isso apenas meu pássaro veio comigo.

Depois que a casa desapareceu, observei pela janela da carruagem os campos nevados e as árvores congeladas e brilhantes. O sol vermelho dava pouco calor, e o gelo escuro mostrava onde as pessoas haviam patinado. Um homem grande, envolto em muitas roupas, sentava-se diante de mim, olhando pela outra janela e me ignorando.

English → Pensei em minha madrinha morta, em sua última noite e sua expressão severa, e no lugar e nas pessoas desconhecidas que me esperavam. Então uma voz na carruagem me assustou de repente.

A voz perguntou com rudeza: “Por que você está chorando?”

Fiquei tão assustada que só consegui sussurrar: “Eu, senhor?” Sabia que era o homem envolto em muitas roupas, embora ele ainda olhasse pela janela.

“Sim, você”, disse ele, virando-se.

Eu disse com voz fraca: “Não sabia que estava chorando, senhor.”

O homem disse que eu certamente estava chorando. Sentou-se diante de mim, enxugou com cuidado meus olhos com sua grande manga de pele e mostrou que ela estava molhada.

“Pronto. Agora sabe que está chorando, não sabe?”, disse ele.

“Sim, senhor”, respondi.

O homem perguntou por que eu chorava e se não queria ir para lá.

“Para onde, senhor?”, perguntei.

“Para onde? Para onde quer que esteja indo”, respondeu o homem.

Respondi que estava muito contente por ir para lá.

English → “Então pareça contente!”, disse o homem.

Ele parecia estranho, coberto até o queixo e com quase todo o rosto escondido por um gorro de pele. Contudo, acalmei-me e deixei de temê-lo. Expliquei que provavelmente chorava porque minha madrinha morrera e a senhora Rachael não estava triste por me perder.

“Esqueça a senhora Rachael!”, gritou o homem. “Que um vento forte a leve embora numa vassoura!”

Então comecei realmente a temê-lo e olhei surpresa. Mesmo assim, seus olhos pareciam bondosos, embora ele falasse sozinho com raiva e xingasse a senhora Rachael.

Depois de algum tempo, ele abriu o enorme casaco e enfiou o braço num bolso fundo ao lado.

Ele me mostrou um pedaço bem embrulhado de excelente bolo de frutas, com uma camada grossa de açúcar, e uma pequena torta francesa feita de fígado de gansos gordos. Depois mandou que eu os comesse.

Agradeci muito, mas disse que esperava não ofendê-lo, pois a comida era pesada demais para mim.

English → O homem disse: “Derrotado de novo!” Eu não o entendi, e ele jogou as duas comidas pela janela.

Ele não disse mais nada até sair da carruagem pouco antes de Reading. Aconselhou-me a ser boa e estudar muito, depois apertou minha mão. Senti alívio quando ele partiu. Durante anos, lembrei-me dele sempre que passei por aquele lugar, mas finalmente saiu de meus pensamentos.

Quando a carruagem parou, uma senhora muito bem-arrumada olhou para a janela e disse: “Senhorita Donny.”

Respondi: “Não, senhora. Esther Summerson.”

A senhora disse: “Está certo. Eu sou a senhorita Donny.”

Entendi que ela havia se apresentado e pedi desculpas por meu engano. A pedido dela, mostrei minhas caixas. Uma criada bem-arrumada colocou-as do lado de fora de uma pequena carruagem verde, e a senhorita Donny, a criada e eu partimos.

A senhorita Donny disse que tudo estava pronto. Meus estudos tinham sido planejados exatamente como meu tutor, o senhor Jarndyce, desejava.

English → “Os desejos de quem, senhora?”, perguntei.

A senhorita Donny repetiu: “Seu tutor, o senhor Jarndyce.”

Fiquei tão confusa que a senhorita Donny pensou que o frio me fizera mal e me emprestou seus sais aromáticos.

Depois de muita hesitação, perguntei à senhorita Donny se ela conhecia meu tutor, o senhor Jarndyce.

A senhorita Donny disse que não o conhecia pessoalmente, apenas por meio de seus advogados de Londres, Kenge e Carboy. Ela elogiou o senhor Kenge como um cavalheiro excelente e um orador realmente impressionante.

Concordei, mas estava confusa demais para pensar nisso. Chegamos a Greenleaf, a casa da senhorita Donny, antes que eu me recuperasse. Tudo ali pareceu incerto e irreal naquela tarde.

Logo me acostumei à rotina rígida de Greenleaf, e minha antiga vida na casa de minha madrinha começou a parecer um sonho. Tudo em Greenleaf era exato e organizado. Cada atividade tinha um horário fixo e acontecia naquele momento.

English → Havia doze alunas e duas senhoritas Donny, que eram gêmeas. Como mais tarde eu trabalharia como governanta, estudei todas as matérias e logo ajudei a ensinar as outras. Quanto mais aprendia, mais ensinava. Eu amava o trabalho porque as meninas se afeiçoavam a mim, e cada nova aluna infeliz ficava sob meus cuidados. Eu prometera trabalhar muito, ser bondosa, ajudar os outros e conquistar amor. Sentia vergonha por ter feito tão pouco e recebido tanto amor.

Passei seis anos tranquilos e felizes em Greenleaf. Felizmente, ninguém ali sugeria em meu aniversário que o mundo seria melhor sem mim. Cada aniversário trazia tantos presentes carinhosos que eles decoravam meu quarto o ano inteiro.

Durante aqueles seis anos, saí apenas para visitas próximas nas férias. Depois de seis meses, a senhorita Donny me aconselhou a escrever ao senhor Kenge dizendo que eu estava feliz e grata. O escritório enviou uma resposta formal dizendo que minha mensagem seria entregue ao cliente. Escrevi cerca de duas vezes por ano e sempre recebi exatamente a mesma resposta de Kenge e Carboy.

English → Parece estranho escrever tanto sobre mim, como se esta história fosse realmente sobre minha vida. Mas logo me tornarei menos importante nela.

Depois de seis anos tranquilos em Greenleaf, eu vira alunas mais jovens passarem pelas mesmas etapas de crescimento. Então, numa manhã de novembro, recebi a carta seguinte. Omito a data.

Old Square, Lincoln's Inn

Senhora,

Jarndyce e Jarndyce

Nosso cliente, o senhor Jarndyce, receberá em sua casa uma jovem protegida pelo Tribunal neste processo. Ele deseja que ela tenha uma companheira adequada e pede que a senhora exerça essa função.

Organizamos uma viagem gratuita para a senhora na carruagem das oito horas da próxima segunda-feira, de Reading ao White Horse Cellar, em Londres. Um de nossos funcionários a encontrará lá e a levará ao escritório.

Permanecemos, senhora, seus obedientes servidores,

Kenge e Carboy

Senhorita Esther Summerson

English → Jamais esquecerei a emoção que essa carta causou em Greenleaf. Todos se importavam muito comigo, e meu tutor tornara mais fácil minha vida de órfã e ajudara tantos jovens a me amar. A tristeza deles, meu prazer, orgulho, alegria e humilde pesar se misturaram até que meu coração feliz quase se partiu.

A carta me deu apenas cinco dias antes da partida. Durante esses dias, todos demonstraram ainda mais amor. Na última manhã, as meninas me levaram por cada sala, lembraram onde nos tornamos amigas, pediram mensagens carinhosas, deram-me presentes, abraçaram-me e choraram. Tentei agradecer e abençoar todas, e meu coração estava cheio.

As duas senhoritas Donny ficaram tão tristes quanto as alunas. As criadas me abençoaram, e até o velho jardineiro, que eu pensava mal ter me notado, correu atrás da carruagem com flores e disse que eu tinha sido a luz de seus olhos. Meu coração ficou profundamente comovido.

English → Na pequena escola, crianças pobres acenaram em despedida. Um orgulhoso casal idoso, cuja filha eu ajudara a ensinar, também me desejou felicidade. Sozinha na carruagem, curvei-me sob todo aquele amor e repeti muitas vezes: “Sou tão grata.”

Decidi não levar lágrimas para meu novo lar depois de tudo o que haviam feito por mim. Ordenei a mim mesma que parasse de chorar e por fim me acalmei. Depois de refrescar os olhos com água de lavanda, comecei a procurar sinais de Londres.

A dez milhas de distância, eu tinha certeza de que chegáramos a Londres. Quando realmente entramos na cidade, pensei que a viagem nunca terminaria. Então a carruagem sacudiu sobre ruas de pedra, e os veículos quase batiam uns nos outros. Percebi que estávamos perto do destino, e logo paramos.

Um jovem manchado de tinta falou comigo da rua. Disse que vinha do escritório de Kenge e Carboy, em Lincoln's Inn.

English → “Sim, senhor”, respondi com educação.

Ele gentilmente transferiu minhas caixas e me ajudou a entrar numa carruagem de aluguel. Perguntei se havia um grande incêndio por perto, pois uma fumaça marrom e espessa enchia as ruas e escondia quase tudo.

“Ah, não, senhorita”, disse ele. “Isto é uma característica especial de Londres.”

Eu nunca tinha ouvido falar de tal coisa.

“É neblina, senhorita”, explicou o jovem.

“Ah, é mesmo?”, eu disse.

Seguimos devagar por ruas extremamente sujas, escuras e confusas. Eu me perguntava como as pessoas conseguiam manter a calma ali. Depois, passamos por um portão antigo e entramos numa praça silenciosa. Num canto, uma escada larga e íngreme levava a uma entrada parecida com a porta de uma igreja. Por uma janela, vi lápides num cemitério sob passagens cobertas.

Esse era o escritório de Kenge e Carboy. O jovem cavalheiro me conduziu por uma sala externa até a sala vazia do Sr. Kenge. Educadamente, colocou uma poltrona para mim junto ao fogo e depois apontou um pequeno espelho pendurado ao lado da lareira.

English → “Talvez queira se olhar depois da viagem, senhorita, pois vai se encontrar com o Chanceler. Mas tenho certeza de que não é necessário”, disse o jovem cavalheiro com educação.

“Encontrar o Chanceler?”, perguntei, surpresa de repente.

“É apenas uma formalidade, senhorita”, respondeu o jovem cavalheiro. “O Sr. Kenge está no tribunal. Ele manda lembranças e pergunta se gostaria de comer algo, tomar vinho e ler o jornal.” Ele me entregou o jornal, mexeu no fogo e saiu.

Tudo parecia estranho. Era como se fosse noite durante o dia, e as chamas das velas pareciam pálidas e frias. Li o jornal sem entendê-lo e repeti as mesmas palavras. Por fim, larguei-o, conferi se meu chapéu estava arrumado e observei a sala escura, as mesas empoeiradas, as pilhas de papéis e os livros sem graça. Durante duas horas, continuei pensando enquanto o fogo queimava e as velas tremeluziam. Finalmente, o jovem trouxe uma ferramenta muito suja para aparar os pavios.

English → Por fim, o Sr. Kenge chegou. Ele não havia mudado, mas ficou surpreso com o quanto eu mudara e pareceu satisfeito. Explicou que eu seria a acompanhante da jovem que estava na sala particular do Chanceler, por isso queriam que eu também estivesse presente. Perguntou se o Lorde Chanceler me deixaria nervosa.

“Não, senhor. Acho que não”, respondi, pois não via motivo para ficar nervosa.

O Sr. Kenge me ofereceu o braço. Dobramos a esquina, passamos sob uma fileira de colunas e entramos por uma porta lateral. Um corredor nos levou a uma sala confortável. Uma jovem e um rapaz estavam perto de uma grande lareira crepitante, apoiados num biombo enquanto conversavam.

Os dois ergueram os olhos quando entrei. À luz do fogo, vi uma jovem muito bonita, com cabelos dourados, olhos azuis suaves e um rosto alegre, inocente e confiante.

English → “Srta. Ada”, disse o Sr. Kenge, “esta é a Srta. Summerson.”

Ela veio ao meu encontro, sorrindo e estendendo a mão. Então mudou de ideia e me beijou. Seu jeito era tão natural e encantador que, em poucos minutos, estávamos sentadas junto à janela, à luz do fogo, conversando com liberdade e alegria.

Que alívio! Fiquei encantada por ela poder confiar em mim e gostar de mim. Sua bondade me deu coragem.

Ela me contou que o jovem cavalheiro era seu primo distante, Richard Carstone. Ele era bonito, tinha um rosto sincero e uma risada encantadora. Quando ela o chamou, ele conversou alegremente como um rapaz despreocupado. Tinha cerca de dezenove anos, quase dois a mais que Ada. Os dois eram órfãos e, para minha surpresa, haviam se conhecido naquele mesmo dia. Conversamos sobre como era estranho nós três nos encontrarmos ali. O fogo, agora mais calmo, parecia piscar para nós como um velho leão sonolento da Chancelaria, segundo Richard.

English → Falamos baixo porque um cavalheiro vestido formalmente, com uma grande peruca, entrava e saía com frequência. Sempre que ele aparecia, ouvia-se uma voz lenta ao longe. Ele disse que era um dos advogados do nosso caso falando com o Lorde Chanceler. Logo avisou ao Sr. Kenge que o Chanceler terminaria em cinco minutos. Então ouvimos pessoas se movimentando, e o Sr. Kenge disse que a sessão havia acabado e o Chanceler estava na sala ao lado.

O cavalheiro de peruca logo abriu a porta e pediu que o Sr. Kenge entrasse. Todos o seguimos, com minha querida Ada ao lado dele. O Lorde Chanceler estava numa poltrona junto a uma mesa perto do fogo, vestido simplesmente de preto. Seu manto, com belos enfeites dourados, estava sobre outra cadeira. Ele nos examinou quando entramos, mas seu modo era educado e gentil.

O cavalheiro de peruca colocou maços de papéis sobre a mesa do Chanceler. Em silêncio, o Chanceler escolheu um deles e virou as páginas.

English → “Srta. Clare”, disse o Lorde Chanceler. “Srta. Ada Clare?”

O Sr. Kenge apresentou Ada, e o Chanceler pediu que ela se sentasse perto dele. Percebi logo que ele a admirava e se interessava por sua situação. Entristeceu-me que uma jovem tão bonita tivesse aquele lugar oficial e frio em vez de um lar. Mesmo em seu melhor, o Lorde Chanceler era um fraco substituto para pais amorosos e orgulhosos.

Ainda virando as páginas, o Lorde Chanceler disse: “O Jarndyce em questão é o Sr. Jarndyce da Casa Soturna.”

“Jarndyce da Casa Soturna, meu lorde”, confirmou o Sr. Kenge.

“Um nome sombrio”, disse o Lorde Chanceler.

“Mas não é um lugar sombrio atualmente, meu lorde”, disse o Sr. Kenge.

“E a Casa Soturna”, disse o Chanceler, “ficava em...”

“Hertfordshire, meu lorde.”

“O Sr. Jarndyce da Casa Soturna não é casado, certo?”, perguntou o Chanceler.

“Não, não é, meu lorde”, disse o Sr. Kenge.

Houve uma pausa.

English → Olhando para Richard, o Lorde Chanceler perguntou: “O jovem Sr. Richard Carstone está aqui?”

Richard fez uma reverência e avançou.

“Hum”, disse o Lorde Chanceler enquanto virava mais páginas.

Em voz baixa, o Sr. Kenge lembrou-lhe que o Sr. Jarndyce da Casa Soturna havia providenciado uma acompanhante adequada para alguém.

Achei que ouvi o Chanceler brincar em voz baixa e com um sorriso: “Para o Sr. Richard Carstone?” Mas não tenho certeza.

“Para a Srta. Ada Clare. Esta é a jovem, Srta. Summerson.”

O Chanceler olhou para mim com bondade e aceitou educadamente minha reverência.

“A Srta. Summerson não é parente de ninguém envolvido no processo, certo?”

“Não, meu lorde.”

Antes que a frase terminasse, o Sr. Kenge se inclinou e sussurrou. O Chanceler continuou olhando os papéis, escutou, assentiu várias vezes e virou mais páginas. Não voltou a olhar para mim até sairmos.

English → O Sr. Kenge e Richard recuaram para se juntar a mim perto da porta, deixando minha querida Ada ao lado do Lorde Chanceler. Ele falou brevemente com ela. Como ela me contou depois, perguntou se havia pensado bem no plano, se esperava ser feliz na casa do Sr. Jarndyce e por quê. Depois, dispensou-a com educação e falou com Richard por um ou dois minutos, de pé. Foi menos formal com Richard, como se o cargo de Lorde Chanceler não o impedisse de falar com sinceridade a um rapaz.

“Muito bem”, disse o Chanceler em voz alta. “Vou aprovar a ordem. Pelo que posso julgar, o Sr. Jarndyce escolheu uma excelente acompanhante para a jovem”, acrescentou, olhando para mim. “Todo o plano parece ser o melhor possível nestas circunstâncias.”

Ele nos dispensou de modo agradável, e todos saímos gratos por sua simpatia e educação. Essas qualidades não diminuíram sua dignidade; pareceram aumentá-la.

English → Sob a fileira de colunas, o Sr. Kenge se lembrou de uma pergunta que precisava fazer. Voltou e nos deixou na neblina, ao lado da carruagem e dos criados que esperavam o Lorde Chanceler.

“Bem, isso acabou!”, disse Richard Carstone. “Aonde vamos agora, Srta. Summerson?”

“Você não sabe?”, perguntei.

“Nem um pouco”, respondeu ele.

“E você sabe, minha querida?”, perguntei a Ada.

“Não”, disse ela. “E você?”

“De jeito nenhum”, eu disse.

Olhamos uns para os outros e rimos um pouco, pois parecíamos crianças perdidas na floresta. Então, uma velhinha estranha se aproximou. Usava um chapéu amassado, carregava uma bolsinha e fazia reverências e sorria com muita cerimônia.

“Ah!”, disse ela. “Os tutelados do processo Jarndyce! Fico muito feliz em conhecê-los. É um bom sinal quando juventude, esperança e beleza chegam a este lugar sem saber o que lhes acontecerá.”

English → “Louca”, sussurrou Richard, pensando que ela não podia ouvi-lo.

“Correto! Louca, jovem cavalheiro”, respondeu ela depressa, deixando-o sem graça. Entre profundas reverências e sorrisos, contou que também havia sido tutelada. Tivera juventude, esperança e talvez beleza, mas nenhuma delas a ajudara ou salvara. Agora, comparecia regularmente ao tribunal com seus documentos e esperava uma decisão em breve: no Dia do Juízo Final. Acreditava que o sexto selo do Apocalipse era o Grande Selo e que estava aberto havia muito tempo. Então, pediu que aceitássemos sua bênção.

Ada estava um pouco assustada, então tentei agradar à pobre velhinha dizendo que estávamos muito gratos.

“S-sim”, disse ela de modo afetado. “Imagino que estejam. E aqui vem o Conversador Kenge com seus documentos! Como vai, Vossa Excelência?”

“Muito bem! Agora, por favor, não cause problemas, minha boa senhora”, disse o Sr. Kenge enquanto nos conduzia de volta.

English → “Claro que não”, disse a pobre velhinha, acompanhando Ada e a mim. “Darei propriedades às duas, e isso não é causar problemas, não é? Espero uma decisão em breve, no Dia do Juízo Final. Este é um bom sinal para vocês. Aceitem minha bênção!”

Ela parou ao pé da escada larga e íngreme. Enquanto subíamos, olhamos para trás e a vimos ainda fazendo reverências e sorrindo após cada frase curta: “Juventude. Esperança. Beleza. Chancelaria. E Conversador Kenge! Ah! Por favor, aceitem minha bênção!”

CAPÍTULO IV

English → Caridade a Distância

Quando voltamos à sala dele, o Sr. Kenge nos disse que passaríamos a noite na casa da Sra. Jellyby. Depois se virou para mim, supondo que eu soubesse quem ela era.

“Realmente não sei, senhor”, respondi. “Talvez o Sr. Carstone ou a Srta. Clare saiba.”

Mas eles também não sabiam nada sobre a Sra. Jellyby. O Sr. Kenge ficou de costas para o fogo e olhou para o tapete empoeirado como se lesse ali a história da vida dela. Disse que era uma mulher de personalidade muito forte, inteiramente dedicada a causas públicas. Ela já havia apoiado muitas causas e, naquele momento, interessava-se pela África, até que outro assunto a atraísse. Seu plano era cultivar café, educar a população local e estabelecer o excesso de habitantes da Grã-Bretanha junto aos rios africanos. O Sr. Jarndyce gostava de apoiar boas obras e era muito procurado por pessoas caridosas. O Sr. Kenge acreditava que ele tinha a Sra. Jellyby em alta consideração.

English → O Sr. Kenge ajeitou a gravata e olhou para nós.

“E quanto ao Sr. Jellyby, senhor?”, perguntou Richard.

“Ah, o Sr. Jellyby”, disse o Sr. Kenge. “A melhor maneira de descrevê-lo é simplesmente como o marido da Sra. Jellyby.”

“Então ele não é ninguém importante, senhor?”, perguntou Richard com um olhar divertido.

O Sr. Kenge disse seriamente que não podia afirmar isso, pois não sabia nada sobre o Sr. Jellyby e nunca o havia conhecido. O Sr. Jellyby talvez fosse um homem excelente, mas sua identidade ficava escondida pelas qualidades mais brilhantes da esposa. O Sr. Kenge explicou então que a viagem até a Casa Soturna seria longa, escura e cansativa naquela noite. Como já tínhamos viajado, o Sr. Jarndyce sugerira esse plano. Uma carruagem nos buscaria na casa da Sra. Jellyby cedo na manhã seguinte.

O Sr. Kenge tocou uma pequena campainha, e o jovem cavalheiro entrou. Chamando-o de Guppy, o Sr. Kenge perguntou se as malas da Srta. Summerson e as outras bagagens haviam sido enviadas à casa. O Sr. Guppy respondeu que sim e acrescentou que uma carruagem esperava para nos levar quando estivéssemos prontos.

English → O Sr. Kenge apertou nossas mãos e disse estar muito satisfeito com o acordo feito naquele dia. Entre as despedidas dirigidas a cada um de nós, expressou a grande esperança de que aquilo trouxesse felicidade, bem-estar e todas as vantagens a todos os envolvidos. Depois, mandou Guppy nos levar em segurança.

Enquanto descíamos a escada, Richard perguntou: “Onde exatamente fica ‘lá’, Sr. Guppy?”

“É perto”, disse o Sr. Guppy. “Fica logo ali, em Thavies Inn.”

“Não sei onde fica. Venho de Winchester e não conheço Londres.”

“Fica logo ali”, disse o Sr. Guppy. “Subimos Chancery Lane, seguimos por Holborn e chegamos em cerca de quatro minutos. Hoje temos uma neblina bem típica de Londres, não é, senhorita?” Ele parecia encantado com ela por minha causa.

“A neblina está realmente muito densa”, eu disse.

Enquanto erguia os degraus da carruagem, o Sr. Guppy disse que a neblina não me fazia mal. A julgar por minha aparência, achava que ela até me fazia bem.

English → Eu sabia que ele fizera o elogio com gentileza. Depois que fechou a porta e subiu para o assento do cocheiro, ri de mim mesma por ter corado. Nós três rimos e conversamos sobre nossa falta de experiência e a estranheza de Londres. Por fim, passamos sob um arco e entramos numa rua estreita de casas altas, parecida com um longo tanque que prendia a neblina. Uma multidão confusa, formada principalmente por crianças, estava diante da casa onde paramos. Uma placa de latão sem brilho na porta dizia JELLYBY.

O Sr. Guppy olhou pela janela da carruagem e disse: “Não se assustem. Um dos pequenos Jellyby enfiou a cabeça entre as grades junto ao porão!”

“Ah, pobre criança”, eu disse. “Por favor, deixe-me sair!”

“Por favor, tenha cuidado, senhorita. Os pequenos Jellyby estão sempre se metendo em confusão”, disse o Sr. Guppy.

English → Cheguei até a pobre criança, um dos menininhos mais sujos que eu já vira. Estava com calor, assustado e chorando alto, com o pescoço preso entre duas barras de ferro. Um leiteiro e um funcionário da igreja queriam ajudar, mas puxavam suas pernas como se a cabeça pudesse ficar menor. Depois de acalmá-lo, percebi que sua cabeça era naturalmente grande. Sugeri empurrá-lo para a frente, pois seu corpo talvez passasse por onde a cabeça entrara. Os homens gostaram tanto da ideia que quase o empurraram para a área do porão. Segurei sua roupa enquanto Richard e o Sr. Guppy corriam pela cozinha para recebê-lo embaixo. Ele foi libertado em segurança, mas depois bateu loucamente no Sr. Guppy com uma vareta de arco.

English → Nenhum membro da família havia aparecido. Apenas uma mulher de tamancos tentara empurrar a criança por baixo com uma vassoura, embora nem ela nem eu parecêssemos saber por quê. Por isso, pensei que a Sra. Jellyby estivesse fora. Fiquei surpresa quando a mesma mulher apareceu no corredor sem os tamancos. Ela seguiu na frente de Ada e de mim até uma sala nos fundos do andar de cima e anunciou: “Aquelas duas moças, Sra. Jellyby!” Na escada escura, passamos por mais crianças e mal conseguimos evitar pisar nelas. Quando entramos na sala da Sra. Jellyby, uma pobre criança caiu por um lance inteiro de escadas com um barulho terrível.

A Sra. Jellyby permaneceu completamente calma enquanto a cabeça da criança batia em cada degrau. Richard disse depois que contou sete pancadas, mais uma no patamar. Ela era uma mulher bonita, muito pequena e arredondada, entre quarenta e cinquenta anos, com belos olhos. Porém, seus olhos pareciam sempre olhar para muito longe. Como disse Richard, pareciam incapazes de ver qualquer coisa mais próxima que a África.

English → Com voz agradável, a Sra. Jellyby disse: “Fico muito contente em recebê-los. Tenho grande respeito pelo Sr. Jarndyce, e qualquer pessoa com quem ele se importe também é importante para mim.”

Agradecemos e nos sentamos num sofá velho e estragado atrás da porta. A Sra. Jellyby tinha cabelos bonitos, mas estava ocupada demais com seu trabalho pela África para escová-los. O xale solto caiu sobre a cadeira quando ela nos cumprimentou. Ao se virar para sentar de novo, vimos que o vestido não fechava nas costas. O espaço aberto era atravessado pelos cordões de sua roupa de baixo, como a armação de madeira de uma casa de verão.

Havia papéis por toda a sala, e uma grande escrivaninha estava soterrada sob mais papéis. A sala não era apenas muito desarrumada, mas também muito suja. Não podíamos ignorar aquela visão, mesmo enquanto ouvíamos a pobre criança que caíra da escada. Ela parecia ter chegado à cozinha dos fundos, onde alguém aparentemente tentava fazê-la parar de chorar.

English → O que mais nos surpreendeu foi uma jovem cansada, de aparência doentia, mas bastante bonita, sentada à escrivaninha. Ela mordia a pena e nos encarava. Estava coberta de tinta. Dos cabelos bagunçados aos pés bonitos em sapatos de cetim gastos e rasgados, nenhuma parte de sua roupa estava em bom estado ou no lugar certo.

A Sra. Jellyby aparou duas grandes velas de escritório em castiçais de metal, enchendo a sala com cheiro de gordura quente de vela. O fogo estava apagado, restando apenas cinzas, lenha e um atiçador. Pediu que a perdoássemos porque, como sempre, estava muito ocupada. O projeto africano tomava todo o seu tempo e exigia cartas para organizações e pessoas de todo o país preocupadas com a humanidade. Ela informou com alegria que havia progresso. Até o ano seguinte, esperavam ter de 150 a 200 famílias saudáveis cultivando café e educando o povo de Borrioboola-Gha, na margem esquerda do rio Níger.

English → Ada não disse nada e olhou para mim, então eu disse que devia ser muito gratificante.

“É gratificante”, disse a Sra. Jellyby. “Isso exige toda a minha energia, mas não importa se tiver sucesso. Fico mais confiante a cada dia. Srta. Summerson, surpreende-me que nunca tenha pensado na África.”

A pergunta pessoal dela foi tão inesperada que não soube como responder. Comecei a mencionar o clima.

“É o melhor clima do mundo!”, disse a Sra. Jellyby.

“É mesmo, senhora?”

“Certamente, se tomar cuidado”, disse a Sra. Jellyby. “Você pode ir a Holborn sem cuidado e ser atropelada, ou ir com cuidado e ficar segura. Com a África é a mesma coisa.”

Eu disse: “Sem dúvida.” Estava concordando apenas sobre Holborn.

A Sra. Jellyby empurrou alguns papéis em nossa direção. Sugeriu que lêssemos os comentários amplamente divulgados sobre a África enquanto ela terminava uma carta. Ela a ditava para a filha mais velha, que trabalhava como sua secretária.

English → A jovem à mesa parou de morder a pena e respondeu ao nosso cumprimento de um jeito meio tímido e meio mal-humorado.

Com um sorriso doce, a Sra. Jellyby continuou: “Então terei terminado por enquanto, embora meu trabalho nunca acabe de verdade. Onde você está, Caddy?”

“‘Apresenta seus cumprimentos ao Sr. Swallow e pede...’”, disse Caddy, relendo a carta.

A Sra. Jellyby continuou ditando: “‘E pede para informá-lo, a respeito de sua carta de consulta sobre o projeto africano...’ Não, Peepy! Não pare por minha causa!”

Peepy, como ele chamava a si mesmo, era a criança que havia caído da escada. Entrou com um curativo na testa e nos mostrou os joelhos sujos e machucados. A Sra. Jellyby o chamou calmamente de levado e voltou a atenção para a África.

A Sra. Jellyby continuou ditando, então parei o pobre Peepy em silêncio e o segurei. Ele se surpreendeu quando Ada o beijou, mas logo dormiu em meus braços. Perdi os detalhes da carta, mas ela fazia a África parecer extremamente importante e todo o resto sem importância.

English → A Sra. Jellyby percebeu que eram seis horas, embora o jantar devesse ser às cinco. Mandou Caddy nos mostrar os quartos, desculpou-se por estar ocupada e ordenou que eu colocasse Peepy no chão.

Pedi para ficar com Peepy porque ele não dava trabalho. Levei-o para cima e o coloquei na cama. Ada e eu tínhamos dois quartos ligados, ambos vazios e desarrumados. Minha cortina estava presa com um garfo.

A Srta. Jellyby perguntou se queríamos água quente enquanto procurava, sem sucesso, uma jarra adequada.

Dissemos que gostaríamos, se não desse muito trabalho.

A Srta. Jellyby disse que o trabalho não era o problema; a questão era se havia água quente.

Os quartos frios cheiravam a umidade, e Ada quase chorou. Logo rimos e começamos a desfazer as malas. A Srta. Jellyby voltou para dizer que não havia água quente porque ninguém encontrava a chaleira e a caldeira estava quebrada.

English → Corremos para voltar ao fogo. As crianças se reuniram do lado de fora para olhar Peepy, e nenhuma porta dos quartos fechava. Convidei-as para entrar e contei Chapeuzinho Vermelho enquanto me vestia. Ficaram muito quietas, e Peepy acordou antes de o lobo aparecer.

No andar de baixo, uma caneca era usada como lampião. Uma jovem com o rosto enfaixado tentou acender o fogo e encheu a sala de fumaça. Tossimos com as janelas abertas enquanto a Sra. Jellyby continuava suas cartas sobre a África. As histórias de Richard sobre lavar as mãos numa forma de torta e encontrar a chaleira no quarto nos fizeram rir.

Descemos com cuidado para jantar porque o tapete rasgado da escada era perigoso. A refeição parecia excelente, mas estava quase crua. A criada enfaixada largava cada prato onde ele caía, enquanto a cozinheira discutia com ela na porta.

O jantar durou muito porque tudo dava errado. As batatas foram encontradas na caixa de carvão, e o saca-rolhas quebrou. A Sra. Jellyby permaneceu calma, falou sobre a África e recebeu muitas cartas. Mandou Caddy várias vezes sair da mesa para respondê-las.

English → Um homem calvo e quieto se juntou ao jantar e mostrou pouco interesse pela África. Só depois percebi que era o Sr. Jellyby. O Sr. Quale, um jovem filantropo falante, chamou o casamento dos Jellyby de união entre mente e matéria.

O Sr. Quale falou com orgulho sobre planos para a África e incentivou a Sra. Jellyby a descrever as centenas de cartas e milhares de avisos que administrava. O Sr. Jellyby ficou triste num canto. Parecia querer contar algo a Richard, mas nunca falou.

A Sra. Jellyby ficou entre papéis usados, bebeu café, ditou para Caddy e discutiu a fraternidade humana com o Sr. Quale. Enquanto isso, as crianças pediram histórias a Ada e a mim. A Sra. Jellyby finalmente se lembrou delas e as mandou para a cama, onde a criada rude as empurrou para os pequenos leitos.

Arrumei nosso quarto e finalmente fiz o fogo difícil queimar com força. Quando voltei, a Sra. Jellyby pareceu achar meu trabalho doméstico sem importância. Fiquei triste, embora não afirmasse ter um propósito mais elevado.

English → Só conseguimos ir para a cama quase à meia-noite. A Sra. Jellyby ainda bebia café entre seus papéis, enquanto Caddy continuava escrevendo.

No andar de cima, Ada chamou aquela casa de estranha e perguntou por que o primo Jarndyce nos enviara para lá.

Disse a ela que a casa me confundia. Eu queria entendê-la, mas não conseguia.

Ada sorriu e perguntou o que eu queria dizer.

Eu disse que o trabalho da Sra. Jellyby pelas pessoas da África devia ser bom, mas não conseguia esquecer Peepy abandonado e a péssima administração da casa.

Ada me abraçou e disse que eu era atenciosa, alegre e prestativa sem chamar atenção. Disse que eu poderia transformar até aquela casa num lar.

A querida Ada não percebia que seu elogio mostrava mais a bondade do próprio coração do que qualquer qualidade minha.

Depois de ficarmos algum tempo junto ao fogo, perguntei se podia lhe fazer uma pergunta.

Ada disse, brincando, que eu poderia fazer quinhentas perguntas.

English → Pedi que descrevesse seu primo, o Sr. Jarndyce, porque eu devia muito a ele.

Ada sacudiu os cabelos dourados e me olhou com uma risada surpresa. Sua beleza e surpresa também me encantaram.

Ada exclamou meu nome com surpresa.

Respondi: - Minha querida?

Ela perguntou se eu realmente queria que descrevesse o primo Jarndyce.

Expliquei que nunca o havia visto.

Ada respondeu que também nunca o havia visto.

Isso certamente era surpreendente.

Ada lembrava sua mãe elogiando o caráter generoso e confiável de Jarndyce. Alguns meses antes, ele escrevera uma carta honesta convidando Ada para o novo acordo, na esperança de curar feridas causadas pelo processo da Chancelaria. Richard recebera uma carta parecida. Ele encontrara Jarndyce uma vez na escola e lembrava um homem amigável de rosto corado. Isso era tudo o que Ada sabia.

Depois que Ada adormeceu, fiquei junto ao fogo pensando em Bleak House e em como a manhã anterior parecia distante. Uma batida na porta interrompeu meus pensamentos.

English → Abri a porta em silêncio e encontrei Caddy tremendo, segurando uma vela quebrada e uma xícara.

Ela disse boa-noite com voz irritada.

Também lhe desejei boa-noite com calma.

Ainda parecendo irritada, ela perguntou de repente se podia entrar.

Eu a recebi, mas pedi que não acordasse Ada.

Caddy se recusou a sentar. Junto ao fogo, usou vinagre da xícara para limpar manchas de tinta do rosto enquanto franzia a testa, infeliz.

De repente, disse que desejava que a África estivesse morta.

Comecei a protestar.

Ela insistiu que odiava a África e mandou que eu não discutisse.

Disse que ela estava cansada e toquei com delicadeza sua testa quente. Ela continuou franzindo a testa, depois deixou a xícara e olhou em silêncio para Ada adormecida.

Ainda franzindo a testa, Caddy disse que Ada era muito bonita.

Sorri e concordei.

Caddy perguntou se Ada era órfã.

Eu disse que sim.

Caddy imaginou que Ada sabia muitas coisas: dança, música, canto, francês, geografia e costura.

English → Disse que provavelmente era verdade.

Caddy disse que quase nada sabia fazer além de escrever para a mãe. Acusou-nos de julgá-la quando vimos aquilo e de acreditar que éramos superiores.

Vi que a pobre menina estava perto de chorar. Sentei-me sem falar e olhei para ela com toda a bondade possível.

Caddy chamou a si mesma, as crianças e a casa inteira de vergonhosas. Disse que seu pai era infeliz e que a criada Priscilla estava sempre bêbada, até durante o jantar.

Eu disse com delicadeza que não havia percebido aquilo.

Ela insistiu com rispidez que eu havia percebido.

Pedi que ela me deixasse falar.

Ela disse que eu já estava falando e me acusou de mentir.

Tentei explicar que ela não me deixava terminar.

Caddy disse que não queria me ouvir terminar.

Disse que se recusar a ouvir não era razoável. A criada não chegara perto de mim no jantar, então eu não sabia que estava bêbada. Mesmo assim, acreditei em Caddy e fiquei triste.

English → Caddy mandou que eu não me orgulhasse daquela resposta.

Concordei que fazer isso seria tolice.

Caddy se inclinou e beijou Ada, embora ainda parecesse infeliz. Depois voltou para perto da minha cadeira. Sua respiração mostrava profunda angústia, e senti pena dela em silêncio.

Caddy exclamou de repente que desejava que ela e toda a família estivessem mortos, pois seria melhor para eles.

Um momento depois, ela se ajoelhou ao meu lado, escondeu o rosto no meu vestido, pediu meu perdão e chorou. Tentei levantá-la, mas ela quis ficar ali.

Ela desejou que eu tivesse sido sua professora. Disse que era muito infeliz e gostava muito de mim.

Caddy permaneceu ajoelhada com meu vestido nas mãos até adormecer. Apoiei sua cabeça no meu colo e nos cobri com xales. Ficamos ali a noite toda enquanto o fogo morria. Por fim, minhas lembranças se misturaram aos sonhos, e eu já não sabia quem ela ou eu era.

English → Ao amanhecer, abri os olhos e vi o pequeno Peepy sujo olhando para mim. Ele havia saído da cama e sentia tanto frio que seus dentes batiam.

CAPÍTULO V

English → Uma Aventura Matinal

A manhã estava fria e com névoa, e as janelas sujas bloqueavam grande parte da luz. A casa era desconfortável, e eu queria conhecer Londres, então aceitei com alegria a sugestão de Caddy para caminhar.

Caddy disse que sua mãe dormiria até tarde e o café da manhã poderia atrasar mais uma hora. Seu pai geralmente comia o pão e o leite que a criada deixava, a menos que não houvesse leite ou o gato o bebesse. Então perguntou se eu estava cansada demais para caminhar.

Disse que não estava cansada e preferia muito mais sair.

Caddy disse que se vestiria se eu tivesse certeza.

Ada decidiu vir conosco. Lavei Peepy e o coloquei de volta na minha cama porque ninguém mais cuidaria dele. Ele observou espantado, não reclamou e logo adormeceu.

Depois de cuidar de Peepy e ajudar Ada, eu estava aquecida e pronta. No andar de baixo, tudo continuava sujo e desarrumado desde a noite anterior. A mesa do jantar se tornara a do café, o lixo cobria a casa, a porta estava aberta e a cozinheira saiu de um bar fingindo que só fora ver as horas.

English → Encontramos Richard do lado de fora, pulando para aquecer os pés. Feliz ao nos ver, juntou-se ao passeio e foi com Ada, enquanto Caddy e eu seguimos à frente. Caddy voltara ao mau humor, embora tivesse dito que gostava de mim.

Caddy perguntou aonde eu queria ir.

Respondi que qualquer lugar estava bom.

Caddy parou e disse que qualquer lugar significava lugar nenhum.

Sugeri que simplesmente fôssemos a algum lugar.

Então ela me fez andar muito depressa.

Caddy disse que não se importava, mas pediu que eu testemunhasse que jamais falaria com o Sr. Quale, mesmo que ele os visitasse para sempre. Achava que ele e sua mãe se comportavam como tolos.

Protestei contra sua palavra rude e comecei a mencionar seu dever de filha.

Caddy perguntou sobre o dever de sua mãe como mãe. Disse que todo esse dever fora entregue ao público e à África, então eles deveriam agir como filhos de sua mãe. Disse que nós duas podíamos ficar chocadas e encerrar o assunto.

English → Ela me fez andar ainda mais depressa.

Caddy repetiu que jamais falaria com o Sr. Quale. Odiava as grandes ideias que ele compartilhava com sua mãe porque elas contradiziam totalmente a maneira terrível como a mãe administrava a casa.

Entendi que ela falava do Sr. Quale. Richard e Ada nos alcançaram, rindo e perguntando se estávamos apostando corrida, então a conversa difícil terminou. Caddy caminhou em silêncio enquanto eu observava as longas ruas de Londres, as multidões, o trânsito, as lojas abrindo e os pobres procurando no lixo.

Richard brincou com Ada que eles nunca conseguiriam escapar da Chancelaria. Havíamos voltado por outro caminho ao local do encontro do dia anterior, onde a velha apareceu novamente.

A velha estava diante de nós, curvando-se e sorrindo. Reconheceu com alegria os jovens do processo Jarndyce.

Enquanto ela se curvava, observei que havia saído cedo.

A velha disse que costumava caminhar ali antes de o tribunal abrir. Era um lugar tranquilo para organizar os pensamentos, pois a justiça da Chancelaria era muito difícil de acompanhar.

English → Caddy apertou meu braço e perguntou em voz baixa quem era a mulher.

A pequena velha tinha excelente audição e respondeu imediatamente por conta própria.

Disse que estava envolvida num processo e frequentava o tribunal com seus documentos. Depois perguntou educadamente se Caddy era outra jovem ligada a Jarndyce e Jarndyce.

Querendo corrigir seu comportamento descuidado do dia anterior, Richard explicou com gentileza que Caddy não tinha ligação com o processo.

A velha disse que Caddy não esperava uma decisão, mas ainda envelheceria, embora não tanto quanto ela. Chamou o jardim de Lincoln's Inn de seu e disse que passava ali as longas férias do tribunal, pensando e ouvindo os pássaros.

Concordamos que as férias eram longas porque ela claramente esperava nossa concordância.

A velha disse que as férias terminavam quando as folhas caíam e não restavam flores para o tribunal do Chanceler. Convidou-nos para seu quarto, esperando que nossa juventude, esperança e beleza trouxessem boa sorte. Fazia muito tempo que visitantes assim não apareciam.

English → A velha senhora pegou minha mão e levou a senhorita Jellyby e eu, chamando Richard e Ada para nos seguir. Procurei a ajuda de Richard, mas ele estava divertido, curioso e sem saber como sair sem ofendê-la. Ela sorriu e disse que morava perto.

Ela realmente morava muito perto. Antes que pudéssemos parar de segui-la com educação, ela nos levou por um portão lateral até uma rua estreita. Parou e disse: “Esta é minha casa. Por favor, subam.”

Ela parou na loja de trapos e garrafas de Krook. Placas diziam que ele comprava ossos, restos de cozinha, ferro velho, papel e roupas, mas nada parecia estar à venda. Garrafas sujas, livros de direito antigos, documentos legais, sacos, trapos, chaves e ossos enchiam a loja escura. Um anúncio dizia que um homem chamado Nemo procurava trabalho de cópia. Richard brincou que os ossos talvez pertencessem a clientes de advogados.

A neblina, a escuridão e uma parede próxima bloqueavam quase toda a luz, mas um velho carregava uma lanterna lá dentro. Era baixo, magro e ressecado, com a cabeça curvada entre os ombros. Cabelos brancos, veias grossas e pele enrugada faziam sua cabeça parecer uma raiz velha coberta de neve.

English → O velho veio até a porta e perguntou: “Vocês têm algo para vender?”

Recuamos, e Richard tentou se despedir porque estávamos com pressa. Mas a velha senhora insistiu muito para vermos seu quarto, acreditando que minha visita traria boa sorte. Estávamos curiosos, e o velho também nos convidou a entrar pela loja. Encorajados por Richard, todos entramos.

A velha senhora apresentou seu senhorio, Krook. Disse que os vizinhos o chamavam de Lorde Chanceler e a loja dele de Tribunal de Chancelaria. Garantiu-nos que ele era extremamente estranho.

Ela balançou a cabeça várias vezes e tocou a testa, sugerindo que Krook era um pouco louco. Ele a ouviu e riu.

Caminhando à frente com a lanterna, Krook confirmou que as pessoas o chamavam de Lorde Chanceler e sua loja de Chancelaria. Perguntou por que usavam esses nomes.

Richard respondeu sem muito interesse que não sabia.

English → Krook começou a explicar, mas então percebeu os lindos cabelos de Ada. Disse que tinha três sacos de cabelos de mulheres no andar de baixo, porém nenhum tão fino quanto o dela. Elogiou a cor e a maciez.

Richard protestou com firmeza quando Krook passou uma mecha do cabelo de Ada por sua mão amarela. Disse que Krook podia admirá-lo sem tocá-la.

Krook lançou de repente um olhar duro para Richard. Ada se assustou e corou, mas riu e disse que se sentia orgulhosa de uma admiração tão sincera. Krook imediatamente se acalmou de novo.

Krook explicou que colecionava muitos tipos de coisas inúteis e estragadas, especialmente documentos antigos. Adorava ferrugem, poeira e teias de aranha e nunca jogava nada fora, limpava ou consertava. Por isso chamavam sua loja de Chancelaria. Ele observava com frequência o verdadeiro Chanceler e dizia que os dois trabalhavam na mesma confusão.

Uma grande gata cinzenta chamada Lady Jane saltou de uma prateleira para o ombro de Krook e nos assustou.

English → Krook mandou Lady Jane nos mostrar como arranhava e rasgava as coisas.

A gata saltou e rasgou um monte de trapos com garras de tigre. O som me causou grande desconforto.

Krook disse que ela atacaria qualquer pessoa que ele mandasse. Ele também comprava peles de gato e certa vez lhe ofereceram a dela, mas não a retirara. Brincou que isso era diferente do comportamento comum da Chancelaria.

Krook nos conduziu pela loja e abriu uma porta nos fundos. Antes de deixá-lo, a velha senhora disse que ele tinha boas intenções, mas era irritante. Explicou que estávamos com pressa porque ela precisava ir ao tribunal e anunciou que seus jovens visitantes eram os tutelados no caso Jarndyce.

O nome Jarndyce assustou Krook.

Sua inquilina esclareceu que se referia a Jarndyce e Jarndyce, o grande processo judicial.

Krook arregalou ainda mais os olhos e exclamou admirado: “Pense nisso!”

Krook de repente pareceu perdido em pensamentos e nos examinou de modo estranho. Richard disse que ele parecia muito interessado nos processos diante do verdadeiro Chanceler.

English → Ainda distraído, Krook concordou e começou a adivinhar o nome de Richard.

Richard respondeu: “Richard Carstone.”

Krook repetiu Carstone e contou o nome em um dedo. Nos outros dedos, listou Barbary, Clare e talvez Dedlock.

Surpreso, Richard disse a Ada e a mim que Krook sabia tanto sobre o processo quanto o Chanceler assalariado.

Krook disse que Tom Jarndyce visitara muitas vezes sua loja. Durante o processo, Tom andava inquieto e alertava os comerciantes para evitarem a Chancelaria, pois ela destruía as pessoas lentamente. Krook disse que Tom quase se matara na loja.

Ouvimos horrorizados.

Krook descreveu o último dia de Tom. Tom entrou na loja deprimido porque seu processo voltara ao tribunal. Krook o convenceu a ir à taverna do outro lado da rua, onde parecia confortável junto ao fogo. Pouco depois de Krook voltar, um tiro ecoou pela região, e todos os vizinhos gritaram: “Tom Jarndyce!”

Krook parou, olhou fixamente para nós, examinou a lanterna, apagou a luz e a fechou.

English → Krook confirmou que os vizinhos estavam certos. Multidões entraram no tribunal naquela tarde, mas o Chanceler e os advogados continuaram seu trabalho confuso como sempre. Fingiram não saber da morte de Tom ou agiram como se nada tivessem a ver com ela.

Ada perdeu toda a cor, e Richard também ficou pálido. A longa miséria do processo e suas lembranças terríveis chocaram aqueles jovens. Preocupei-me porque a história também se aplicava à velha senhora confusa, mas ela parecia não perceber. Simplesmente nos levou para cima e tornou a chamar Krook de um pouco louco.

A velha senhora morava num quarto grande no alto da casa, de onde podia ver parte do salão de Lincoln's Inn. O quarto era limpo, mas quase vazio, com poucos móveis, algumas imagens jurídicas e bolsas que, segundo ela, continham documentos. Não havia fogo, roupas nem comida. Sua aparência magra agora me mostrava como era pobre.

English → A pobre mulher disse que se sentia honrada com a visita e grata pelo bom sinal. Morava ali havia anos porque precisava comparecer ao tribunal. Passava os dias lá e as longas noites sem dormir pensando. Pediu desculpas por não ter chocolate e admitiu que o frio e a fome dificultavam manter uma aparência respeitável. Mesmo assim, esperava uma decisão em breve e acreditava que sua vida melhoraria.

Ela afastou a cortina e nos mostrou muitas gaiolas junto à janela baixa do sótão. Elas continham pelo menos vinte cotovias, pintassilgos e outros pequenos pássaros.

Ela explicou que mantinha os pássaros para poder libertá-los quando o tribunal desse sua decisão. Contudo, o processo durava mais que a curta vida deles, por isso todos os grupos haviam morrido na prisão. Ela duvidava que até os pássaros jovens vivessem o bastante para serem livres.

Embora às vezes fizesse perguntas, ela nunca esperava respostas. Continuava falando como se estivesse sozinha.

English → Ela disse que às vezes temia que, antes do fim do processo, também fosse encontrada morta ali, como tantos de seus pássaros.

Vendo compaixão nos olhos de Ada, Richard colocou discretamente algum dinheiro sobre a lareira. Todos nos aproximamos das gaiolas e fingimos observar os pássaros.

A velha senhora disse que normalmente mantinha os pássaros quietos porque o canto deles a confundia enquanto acompanhava os argumentos no tribunal. Mas naquele dia de sorte, podiam cantar em homenagem à juventude, à esperança e à beleza. Ela sorriu, fez reverências e abriu totalmente a cortina.

Os pássaros começaram a se mover e cantar baixinho.

A velha senhora disse que não podia abrir a janela porque Lady Jane queria matar os pássaros. A gata esperava do lado de fora durante horas, com ciúme porque eles talvez fossem libertados em breve. Ela acreditava que a gata cruel e esperta era quase como o lobo de uma velha história e era difícil mantê-la longe da porta.

English → Sinos próximos anunciaram nove e meia e nos ajudaram a terminar a visita. A velha senhora pegou depressa sua bolsa de documentos e perguntou se íamos ao tribunal. Quando dissemos que não e prometemos não atrasá-la, ela nos levou para baixo.

Ela disse que nossa visita de sorte tornava especialmente importante chegar antes do Chanceler. Tinha a forte sensação de que ele mencionaria seu processo primeiro naquela manhã.

Enquanto descíamos, ela sussurrou que a casa inteira estava cheia de objetos estranhos que Krook comprara separadamente e se recusava a vender porque era um pouco louco. No segundo andar, parou e apontou em silêncio para uma porta escura.

Ela sussurrou que o único outro inquilino era um copista jurídico. As crianças locais diziam que ele vendera a alma ao diabo, mas ela se perguntava o que fizera com o dinheiro. Depois nos mandou ficar em silêncio.

Ela parecia temer que o inquilino ouvisse. Repetiu o aviso e caminhou na ponta dos pés para que nem seus passos revelassem suas palavras.

English → Ao sairmos pela loja, encontramos Krook colocando pacotes de papel usado num espaço fundo no chão. Ele trabalhava muito e suava. Para cada pacote, desenhava com giz uma marca torta na parede de madeira.

Depois que os outros passaram, Krook tocou meu braço e me deteve. Desenhou na parede um J maiúsculo ao contrário, começando pelo fim. Parecia exatamente uma letra escrita por um funcionário do escritório de Kenge e Carboy.

Krook olhou atentamente para mim e perguntou se eu conseguia ler aquilo.

Disse que certamente conseguia, pois era muito claro.

Ele perguntou qual era a letra.

Respondi: “J.”

Krook olhou para mim e para a porta, apagou o J e escreveu um “a” minúsculo no lugar. Depois perguntou o que era.

Eu lhe disse. Ele apagou a letra, formou um “r” e perguntou de novo. Rapidamente, desenhando cada letra ao contrário e apagando-a antes da seguinte, formou a palavra inteira Jarndyce.

English → Ele me perguntou que palavra as letras formavam.

Quando respondi, ele riu. Da mesma maneira estranha, porém rápida, formou e apagou cada letra das palavras Bleak House. Eu as li com surpresa, e ele tornou a rir.

Guardando o giz, Krook disse que tinha talento para copiar de memória, embora não soubesse ler nem escrever.

Krook parecia desagradável, e sua gata me encarava como se eu fosse parente dos pássaros do andar de cima. Fiquei aliviada quando Richard apareceu e brincou que eu não deveria vender meu cabelo, pois Krook já tinha três sacos.

Despedi-me depressa de Krook e me juntei aos amigos do lado de fora. A velha senhora nos abençoou formalmente e tornou a prometer deixar bens para Ada e para mim. Ao olhar para trás, vimos Krook à porta nos observando, com a gata no ombro e a cauda erguida junto ao gorro como uma pena.

English → Richard suspirou que aquela tinha sido uma grande aventura para uma manhã em Londres. Depois disse com tristeza que Chancelaria era uma palavra cansativa.

Ada disse que a Chancelaria a preocupava desde que conseguia se lembrar. Odiava ser considerada inimiga de muitos parentes enquanto todos arruinavam uns aos outros sem saber por quê. Perguntava-se por que, depois de tantos anos, nenhum juiz honesto descobrira o que era certo.

Richard concordou que aquele jogo jurídico cheio de desperdício era estranho. O tribunal calmo continuava enquanto as pessoas do processo sofriam como peças num tabuleiro. Aquilo feria sua cabeça e seu coração. Então perguntou se podia chamar sua prima Ada pelo primeiro nome.

Ada disse com carinho ao primo Richard que, naturalmente, ele podia.

Richard disse que a Chancelaria não teria má influência sobre eles. Seu bondoso parente os reunira, e agora o tribunal não poderia separá-los.

English → Ada disse com ternura que esperava que nunca fossem separados.

A senhorita Jellyby apertou meu braço e me deu um olhar significativo. Sorri de volta, e aproveitamos o restante do caminho para casa.

A senhora Jellyby apareceu meia hora depois que voltamos, e o café da manhã chegou aos poucos. Ela parecia não ter trocado de roupa. Cartas sobre a África a mantinham ocupada. As crianças negligenciadas caíam e machucavam as pernas já marcadas. Peepy desapareceu por noventa minutos e um policial o trouxe do mercado, mas a mãe permaneceu igualmente calma durante sua ausência e seu retorno.

A senhora Jellyby continuou ditando enquanto Caddy ficava coberta de tinta outra vez. À uma hora, chegou uma carruagem para nós e uma carroça para a bagagem. A senhora Jellyby mandou lembranças ao senhor Jarndyce. Caddy me beijou e chorou quando partimos. Peepy dormia, enquanto as outras crianças subiram atrás da carruagem, caíram e ficaram espalhadas pelo pátio.

CAPÍTULO VI

English → Em Casa

O dia ficou mais claro enquanto viajávamos para o oeste. O sol e o ar fresco revelaram ruas sem fim, lojas brilhantes, trânsito intenso e multidões coloridas. Finalmente deixamos Londres, atravessamos seus grandes subúrbios e chegamos a estradas rurais com moinhos, fazendas, feno, árvores e campos. A terra verde à frente e a grande cidade atrás nos encantaram. Quando uma carroça com belos cavalos e sinos passou, ficamos alegres o bastante para cantar.

Richard disse que a estrada o fazia lembrar de seu xará Whittington, e a carroça completava a imagem. Então percebeu que havia algo errado.

Nossa carruagem e a carroça tinham parado. Os sinos dos cavalos ficaram quietos, exceto quando um animal movia a cabeça e os fazia tocar suavemente.

Richard viu nosso condutor olhando para o carroceiro, que caminhava de volta em nossa direção. Quando o homem chegou à nossa porta, Richard olhou com atenção e exclamou que ele tinha o nome de Ada no chapéu.

English → O carroceiro tinha os três nomes no chapéu. Três bilhetes estavam presos na faixa, um para cada um de nós. Ele leu cada nome e entregou as cartas. Disse que vinham de seu patrão e partiu com os sinos tocando.

Richard chamou nosso condutor e perguntou se aquela era a carroça do senhor Jarndyce.

O condutor disse que sim e explicou que ela estava indo para Londres.

Abrimos os bilhetes. Eram idênticos e escritos com letra firme e clara.

Minha querida, quero que nosso encontro seja tranquilo e confortável. Vamos nos encontrar como velhos amigos e aceitar o passado sem discuti-lo. Isso tornará as coisas mais fáceis para você e certamente para mim. Com carinho.

John Jarndyce

Fiquei menos surpresa que meus companheiros porque, durante muitos anos, o senhor Jarndyce fora meu único apoio, mas eu nunca lhe agradecera. Minha gratidão era profunda demais para palavras. Agora me perguntava como poderia encontrá-lo sem agradecer e sabia que seria muito difícil.

English → Os bilhetes lembraram Richard e Ada de que seu primo odiava receber agradecimentos por sua bondade. Ele usava métodos estranhos ou até fugia para evitá-los. Ada lembrava ter ouvido que certa vez ele escapara pelo portão dos fundos quando sua mãe foi agradecê-lo e ficou longe por três meses. Falamos sobre ele o dia inteiro e nos perguntamos repetidamente sobre sua casa, nossa chegada e o que diríamos.

As estradas lamacentas eram difíceis para os cavalos, por isso subimos as colinas a pé e continuamos caminhando porque gostamos. Em Barnet, os cavalos novos tinham acabado de comer, então esperamos e atravessamos a pé um campo aberto e um antigo campo de batalha. Esses atrasos fizeram a viagem durar até a noite, quando chegamos a St. Albans, perto de Bleak House.

Ficamos tão nervosos que até Richard desejou voltar. Na noite fria, Ada e eu tremíamos. Fora da cidade, vimos uma luz numa colina, e o condutor disse que era Bleak House. Os cavalos correram ladeira acima em direção a uma casa antiga com três pontas no telhado. Enquanto um sino tocava, cães latiam, a porta se abria iluminada e nossos corações batiam mais depressa, descemos muito confusos.

English → Uma voz acolhedora recebeu Ada, Esther e Rick com carinho e disse que estava muito feliz em vê-los.

O homem alegre colocou um braço em volta de Ada e o outro em mim, beijou-nos como um pai e nos levou a uma sala quente com fogo brilhante. Beijou-nos de novo e nos sentou juntas perto da lareira. Senti que qualquer demonstração de emoção o faria fugir.

Ele se voltou para Rick, ofereceu a mão livre e disse que poucas palavras sinceras bastavam. Estava realmente feliz em vê-lo, disse que ele estava em casa e o convidou a se aquecer.

Richard apertou as duas mãos dele com respeito e franqueza. Simplesmente agradeceu ao senhor Jarndyce por sua bondade, embora com tanta seriedade que temi que nosso anfitrião desaparecesse. Depois Richard tirou o casaco e o chapéu e se aproximou do fogo.

O senhor Jarndyce perguntou a Ada o que achara da viagem e da senhora Jellyby.

English → Enquanto Ada respondia, examinei o senhor Jarndyce. Era bonito, animado, forte e tinha quase sessenta anos, com cabelos grisalhos e rosto expressivo. Sua voz e seus olhos bondosos de repente me lembraram o homem estranho da carruagem seis anos antes. Eu sabia que era ele. Percebeu que eu o reconhecera e olhou para a porta, fazendo-me temer que fugisse.

Felizmente, ele ficou e perguntou o que eu achava da senhora Jellyby.

Disse que ela trabalhava muito pela África.

O senhor Jarndyce chamou o trabalho dela de nobre, mas disse que minha resposta era igual à de Ada. Ele percebia que todos tínhamos outra opinião.

Com Richard e Ada me encorajando em silêncio, eu disse que talvez a senhora Jellyby desse pouca atenção à própria casa.

O senhor Jarndyce exclamou: “Derrotado!”

A reação dele me assustou de novo.

O senhor Jarndyce disse que queria minha opinião sincera e talvez tivesse nos enviado até lá com esse objetivo.

English → Hesitando, eu disse que nossos primeiros deveres deveriam ser com nosso próprio lar. Se ignorarmos e descuidarmos desses deveres, nenhuma outra responsabilidade poderá realmente substituí-los.

Richard veio em meu auxílio e disse com firmeza que as crianças Jellyby estavam em péssimas condições.

“Ela tem boas intenções”, disse depressa o Sr. Jarndyce. “O vento vem do leste.”

Richard observou que o vento viera do norte durante a viagem.

Enquanto mexia no fogo, o Sr. Jarndyce disse a Rick que o vento vinha do leste ou logo viraria para lá. Ele sempre sentia um desconforto quando soprava um vento do leste.

“É reumatismo, senhor?”, perguntou Richard.

O Sr. Jarndyce concordou que provavelmente era. Começou a falar das crianças Jellyby e de suas dúvidas sobre elas, mas de repente voltou a culpar o vento do leste.

English → Enquanto falava em frases interrompidas, ele andava de um lado para outro, indeciso. Segurava o atiçador numa mão e esfregava o cabelo com a outra. Sua irritação bondosa e divertida nos fez gostar ainda mais dele. Ofereceu um braço a Ada e o outro a mim, pediu que Richard trouxesse uma vela e começou a nos conduzir para fora. Então, de repente, fez todos voltarem.

O Sr. Jarndyce perguntou se havíamos feito algo pelas crianças Jellyby, como se pudesse ter chovido doces ou tortinhas de framboesa para elas.

“Ah, primo...”, começou Ada depressa.

Ele disse que gostava de ser chamado de primo, embora “Primo John” talvez fosse ainda melhor.

Rindo, Ada recomeçou: “Então, Primo John...”

O Sr. Jarndyce riu com prazer e disse que aquilo soava muito natural. Depois, convidou-a a continuar.

“Aconteceu algo melhor”, disse Ada. “Choveu Esther.”

O Sr. Jarndyce perguntou com interesse o que Esther havia feito.

English → Segurando o braço do Primo John, Ada contou que Esther se tornara amiga das crianças imediatamente. Cuidara delas, ajudara-as a dormir, dera banho e as vestira, contara histórias, mantivera-as calmas e comprara presentes. Protestei que apenas levara Peepy para passear e comprara um cavalinho para ele. Ada continuou, dizendo que Esther havia acalmado a pobre Caddy, a filha mais velha, e também fora atenciosa e bondosa com ela. Não me deixou negar.

A querida e carinhosa Ada se inclinou por cima do Primo John e me beijou. Depois olhou para ele com coragem e disse que, acontecesse o que acontecesse, agradeceria por ele ter lhe dado tal acompanhante. Parecia que o desafiava a fugir, mas ele ficou.

O Sr. Jarndyce perguntou a Rick de onde ele dissera que vinha o vento.

Richard repetiu que ele viera do norte durante a viagem.

O Sr. Jarndyce concordou e admitiu seu engano. Afinal, não havia vento do leste. Alegremente, convidou as jovens a conhecerem sua casa.

English → A Casa Soturna era uma moradia encantadora e irregular. Degraus subiam e desciam entre os aposentos, e novos quartos apareciam quando se pensava ter visto todos. Havia pequenos vestíbulos, corredores, velhos cômodos de chalé e janelas tocadas por plantas verdes. Meu quarto tinha um teto desigual, muitos cantos e uma lareira cercada de azulejos brancos que refletiam as chamas. Dois degraus abaixo ficava uma linda sala de estar para Ada e para mim, com vista para um jardim de flores. Três degraus acima ficava o quarto de Ada, com uma janela larga, uma bela vista e um grande banco junto à janela. Uma galeria ligava os outros melhores quartos e levava ao vestíbulo por uma escada cheia de curvas. Outros degraus tortos e corredores faziam qualquer um se perder entre móveis incomuns, inclusive uma estranha cadeira indiana que também era sofá, caixa e cama. O confortável quarto de Richard servia de biblioteca, sala de estar e dormitório. Perto dali, o Sr. Jarndyce dormia num quarto simples e arejado, com a janela aberta e um banho frio ao lado. Outros corredores levavam à escada dos fundos e aos estábulos. Como cada aposento tinha pelo menos duas portas, era possível voltar de repente ao vestíbulo sem saber como.

English → Os móveis eram tão agradavelmente irregulares quanto a casa. O quarto florido de Ada tinha tecidos, papel de parede e bordados com flores, além de duas cadeiras formais junto ao fogo. Nossa sala verde exibia estranhas imagens de pássaros, uma truta verdadeira preservada, a morte do capitão Cook e a produção de chá na China. Meu quarto tinha gravuras ovais dos meses, com trabalhadores do campo e nobres em roupas antigas. Retratos em giz estavam espalhados pela casa, de modo que imagens relacionadas apareciam em salas diferentes. Minhas próprias decorações incluíam quatro anjos levando um cavalheiro ao céu e um bordado com frutas, uma chaleira e o alfabeto. Cada objeto tinha seu estilo curioso, mas tudo estava perfeitamente limpo. Linho branco, pétalas de rosa e lavanda enchiam as gavetas. A luz quente nas janelas, os preparativos do jantar ao longe, o rosto alegre de nosso anfitrião generoso e o vento suave lá fora formaram nossas primeiras impressões da Casa Soturna.

De volta à sala de Ada, o Sr. Jarndyce disse estar contente por gostarmos da casa. Ela era simples, mas confortável, e nossos rostos jovens a tornariam mais alegre. Tínhamos apenas meia hora antes do jantar. Acrescentou que o único hóspede era a criatura mais admirável da Terra: uma criança.

English → “Mais crianças, Esther!”, disse Ada.

O Sr. Jarndyce explicou que o homem não era realmente uma criança em idade. Era adulto e pelo menos tão velho quanto ele. Mas sua natureza simples, espontânea e entusiasmada, além da completa incapacidade de cuidar da vida comum, faziam dele uma perfeita criança.

Tivemos certeza de que ele devia ser muito interessante.

O Sr. Jarndyce disse que o homem conhecia a Sra. Jellyby. Era um músico e artista amador talentoso que poderia ter trabalhado profissionalmente. Era culto e encantador, mas sofrera fracassos nos negócios, em seus interesses e na família. Mesmo assim, não se importava, pois era como uma criança.

Richard perguntou se o Sr. Jarndyce queria dizer que o homem tinha filhos.

O Sr. Jarndyce disse que ele tinha mais de seis filhos, talvez quase doze, mas nunca cuidara deles. Não podia fazer isso porque precisava que alguém cuidasse dele. Afinal, ele próprio era uma criança.

English → Richard perguntou se os filhos haviam conseguido cuidar de si mesmos.

O rosto do Sr. Jarndyce ficou triste. Ele disse que as crianças pobres muitas vezes não eram criadas de modo adequado, mas simplesmente cresciam como podiam. Os filhos de Harold Skimpole haviam feito o mesmo de algum modo. Então ele sentiu que o vento talvez estivesse virando para o leste outra vez.

Richard observou que a casa ficava muito exposta numa noite tão fria.

O Sr. Jarndyce concordou que essa devia ser a causa. Até o nome Casa Soturna parecia indicar exposição ao tempo. Depois, convidou Richard a acompanhá-lo.

Nossa bagagem havia chegado, então me vesti depressa e comecei a guardar meus pertences. Depois, uma criada que eu ainda não conhecia trouxe uma cesta ao meu quarto. Ela continha dois molhos de chaves com etiquetas.

A criada disse educadamente que as chaves eram para mim.

“Para mim?”, perguntei.

Ela explicou que eram as chaves da administração da casa.

Mostrei minha surpresa, e a criada também pareceu surpresa. Haviam mandado que trouxesse as chaves assim que eu estivesse sozinha, e ela confirmou se eu era a Srta. Summerson.

English → Confirmei que Summerson era meu nome.

A criada explicou que o molho grande abria os armários da casa e o pequeno abria as adegas. Na manhã seguinte, no horário que eu escolhesse, ela me mostraria os armários e os outros lugares das chaves.

Disse que estaria pronta às seis e meia. Depois que ela saiu, fiquei olhando a cesta, impressionada com a grande responsabilidade. Ada me encontrou assim. Quando mostrei as chaves e expliquei tudo, ela demonstrou uma confiança tão alegre em mim que eu não podia continuar desanimada. Sabia que sua confiança vinha da bondade, mas gostei de acreditar nela.

English → No andar de baixo, conhecemos o Sr. Skimpole, que estava junto ao fogo contando a Richard como gostava de futebol na escola. Era um homem pequeno e animado, com a cabeça um pouco grande, rosto delicado e voz doce. Seu jeito alegre e natural de falar era encantador. Era mais magro que o Sr. Jarndyce, tinha cabelos mais escuros e uma cor mais saudável, por isso parecia mais jovem. Parecia mais um jovem prejudicado pela vida do que um homem mais velho bem conservado. Seu modo descuidado, o cabelo desarrumado, o lenço solto e as roupas de artista lembravam um jovem romântico que perdera parte de seu valor, não alguém envelhecido por anos, preocupações e experiência.

English → Pela conversa, soube que o Sr. Skimpole estudara medicina e trabalhara para um príncipe alemão. Mas dizia que números, pesos e detalhes exatos o desagradavam, por isso não conseguia receitar remédios corretamente. Quando precisava tratar o príncipe ou sua casa, muitas vezes estava na cama lendo jornais ou desenhando e não podia ir. O príncipe, com razão, encerrou seu emprego. Sem nada além do amor para viver, Skimpole se apaixonou, casou-se e teve muitas crianças de faces rosadas. Jarndyce e outros amigos encontraram várias oportunidades para ele, mas nenhuma deu certo. Skimpole admitia que não entendia nem de tempo nem de dinheiro. Perdia compromissos, não conseguia tratar de negócios e nunca sabia o valor das coisas. Ainda assim, gostava de jornais, desenho, natureza e arte. Pedia à sociedade apenas que o deixasse viver. Se lhe dessem conversa, música, comida, café, paisagens, frutas, papel de desenho e um pouco de vinho, não queria mais nada. Como uma criança, pedia ao mundo ocupado que seguisse seus objetivos, mas deixasse Harold Skimpole viver em paz.

English → Ele nos contou tudo isso e muito mais com grande energia, prazer e sinceridade. Falava de si mesmo como se Skimpole fosse outra pessoa, cujos hábitos estranhos e necessidades eram responsabilidade da sociedade. Era encantador. Talvez eu tenha ficado confusa porque suas ideias não combinavam com minhas crenças sobre os deveres e as responsabilidades da vida. Mesmo assim, quase não duvidei de que ele estivesse livre desses deveres, pois ele próprio parecia muito seguro disso.

Skimpole disse com leveza que não queria possuir nada. A excelente casa de Jarndyce lhe dava prazer sem preocupação, custo ou responsabilidade. Podia desenhá-la, mudá-la na imaginação ou transformá-la em música, enquanto Jarndyce cuidava de tudo. Skimpole admirava a força de vontade e a capacidade da Sra. Jellyby para cuidar dos detalhes, sem invejá-la. Podia apoiar suas causas e sonhar com elas. Deitado na grama, podia imaginar-se viajando por um rio africano, amando as pessoas e desenhando as plantas tropicais. Talvez isso não fosse útil, mas era tudo o que conseguia fazer, e fazia por completo. Pediu ao mundo prático que deixasse aquela criança confiante viver, admirar a humanidade e brincar em seu cavalinho de balanço.

English → Estava claro que o Sr. Jarndyce atendera a esse pedido e o apoiava. A posição do Sr. Skimpole na casa já provava isso, mesmo antes de suas palavras seguintes.

Falando conosco como seus novos amigos, Skimpole disse que invejava apenas as pessoas generosas, pois elas podiam ajudar os outros. Ele mesmo gostaria de ter esse poder. Não sentia uma gratidão comum; pelo contrário, talvez devêssemos agradecê-lo por nos dar o prazer de sermos generosos. Talvez tivesse nascido para aumentar nossa felicidade, permitindo que ajudássemos em seus pequenos problemas. Como sua fraqueza nas questões práticas produzia resultados tão agradáveis, não via motivo para lamentá-la.

De todos os discursos divertidos, mas sinceros, de Skimpole, o Sr. Jarndyce pareceu gostar mais desse. Mais tarde, muitas vezes me perguntei por que Jarndyce, que era profundamente grato pela menor bondade, desejava tanto evitar a gratidão dos outros.

English → Todos ficamos encantados. Achei que Ada e Richard mereciam a franqueza de Skimpole e seu grande esforço para agradá-los no primeiro encontro. Eles, especialmente Richard, ficaram naturalmente satisfeitos porque um homem tão atraente confiava neles com tanta liberdade. Enquanto ouvíamos, Skimpole ficava ainda mais alegre. Seu modo animado, sua sinceridade e a facilidade com que ria das próprias fraquezas pareciam dizer que ele era uma criança inocente, enquanto nós éramos adultos espertos, e que devíamos esquecer as regras do mundo e brincar com ele. O efeito era deslumbrante.

Ele também tinha sentimentos profundos e um amor tão delicado pela beleza e pela ternura que só isso poderia conquistar um coração. Naquela noite, enquanto eu preparava o chá e Ada tocava piano suavemente para Richard na sala ao lado, Skimpole sentou-se perto de mim no sofá. Falou de Ada com tanto carinho que quase o amei.

Ele disse que Ada era como uma manhã de verão, com seus cabelos dourados, olhos azuis e cor saudável. Até os pássaros poderiam confundi-la com a manhã. Uma jovem tão adorável, que trazia alegria a todos, não devia ser chamada de órfã. Era filha de todo o universo.

English → Percebi o Sr. Jarndyce perto de nós, com as mãos atrás das costas e um sorriso atento.

O Sr. Jarndyce observou que o universo não era um pai muito atencioso.

Skimpole exclamou alegremente que não tinha tanta certeza.

O Sr. Jarndyce disse que acreditava saber.

Skimpole admitiu que Jarndyce conhecia o mundo, enquanto ele não sabia nada a respeito, por isso aceitou sua opinião. Mas, olhando para Ada e Richard, disse que, se pudesse escolher, o caminho deles não teria problemas práticos e dolorosos. Seria coberto de rosas e passaria por jardins de verão eterno. A idade e a mudança jamais o prejudicariam, e a palavra feia “dinheiro” nunca seria dita perto dele.

English → Sorrindo, o Sr. Jarndyce deu tapinhas na cabeça de Skimpole como se ele fosse realmente uma criança. Depois se afastou, parou e olhou para os jovens primos de modo pensativo, mas bondoso. Ada estava ao piano na sala iluminada pelo fogo, enquanto Richard permanecia bem perto dela. As sombras dos dois se uniam na parede entre estranhas formas móveis criadas pelas chamas instáveis. Ada tocava e cantava tão baixo que o vento em direção às colinas distantes era tão claro quanto a música. Toda a cena parecia conter o mistério do futuro deles e as pequenas pistas oferecidas pelo presente.

Lembro-me da cena por mais do que sua beleza. Primeiro, percebi a diferença entre o olhar silencioso e cheio de sentido de Jarndyce e a enxurrada de palavras anterior de Skimpole. Segundo, quando Jarndyce olhou brevemente para mim, senti que dividia em silêncio uma esperança comigo e sabia que eu a entendia: Ada e Richard talvez um dia se tornassem mais do que primos.

English → Skimpole tocava piano e violoncelo e também compunha. Certa vez, escrevera metade de uma ópera, mas se cansara dela. Depois do chá, ele e Ada fizeram um pequeno concerto, enquanto Richard, o Sr. Jarndyce e eu ouvíamos. Richard estava encantado com o canto de Ada e disse que ela parecia conhecer todas as canções já escritas. Depois de algum tempo, Skimpole desapareceu e, em seguida, Richard também. Enquanto eu me perguntava por que Richard ficava longe e perdia a música, a criada que trouxera as chaves perguntou se eu podia lhe dar um minuto.

Sozinha comigo no vestíbulo, a criada ergueu as mãos, alarmada. Disse que o Sr. Carstone queria que eu subisse ao quarto do Sr. Skimpole porque ele havia sido levado.

“Levado?”, perguntei.

A criada repetiu que acontecera de repente.

English → Temi que Skimpole tivesse sofrido uma doença perigosa. Pedi que a criada ficasse quieta e não incomodasse ninguém. Enquanto subia depressa, preparei-me para ajudar caso ele estivesse tendo uma crise. Mas, quando ela abriu a porta, fiquei espantada. Skimpole não estava doente na cama nem caído no chão. Estava junto ao fogo, sorrindo para Richard. Richard parecia constrangido enquanto observava um homem no sofá. O estranho usava um casaco branco e continuava esfregando com um lenço os poucos cabelos lisos.

Richard disse depressa que estava contente por eu ter vindo, pois poderia aconselhá-los. Pediu que eu não me preocupasse: o amigo deles, Sr. Skimpole, havia sido preso por dívida.

Com uma sinceridade encantadora, Skimpole disse que meu bom senso, meus métodos calmos e meus hábitos úteis eram exatamente aquilo de que precisavam. Afirmou que qualquer pessoa que passasse quinze minutos comigo perceberia essas qualidades.

English → O homem no sofá parecia resfriado. Soltou um ruído nasal tão alto que me assustou.

Perguntei ao Sr. Skimpole se a dívida era grande.

Balançando a cabeça de modo agradável, Skimpole disse que não sabia. Achava que alguém mencionara várias libras, alguns xelins e meios pêbni.

O estranho declarou que a dívida exata era de vinte e quatro libras, dezesseis xelins e sete pence e meio.

Skimpole disse que, de algum modo, a quantia parecia pequena.

O estranho não disse nada e soltou outro forte ruído nasal, que pareceu levantá-lo do assento.

Richard explicou que Skimpole não se sentia à vontade para pedir ajuda ao Primo Jarndyce porque ele já o ajudara recentemente. Fez uma pausa e pediu que Skimpole confirmasse.

Sorrindo, Skimpole concordou, embora tivesse esquecido quanto Jarndyce lhe dera e quando. Jarndyce ajudaria de novo com prazer, mas Skimpole preferia algo novo. Olhando para Richard e para mim, disse que queria ver a generosidade crescer em solo novo, como um novo tipo de flor.

English → Em voz baixa, Richard perguntou o que eu achava melhor fazer.

Antes de responder, perguntei o que aconteceria se não conseguíssemos entregar o dinheiro.

O estranho guardou calmamente o lenço no chapéu a seus pés e respondeu: “Cadeia, ou Coavinses.”

Comecei a perguntar o que aquilo significava.

O estranho explicou que Coavinses era uma casa usada como prisão para devedores.

Richard e eu nos entreolhamos. Estranhamente, a prisão constrangia a nós, e não a Skimpole. Ele nos observava com interesse amigável e não parecia egoísta, embora a situação fosse certamente estranha. Livrara-se por completo do problema, por isso ele se tornara nosso.

Tentando nos ajudar, Skimpole sugeriu que Richard ou sua bela prima assinassem algum papel. Como estavam envolvidos num processo da Chancelaria que, segundo diziam, tratava de bens valiosos, talvez pudessem transferir ou prometer algo como garantia. Ele não sabia o nome jurídico, mas supunha que algum documento ao alcance deles pudesse pagar sua dívida.

English → O estranho respondeu que nada disso ajudaria.

Skimpole disse que aquilo parecia estranho para alguém que não entendia nada desses assuntos.

O estranho repetiu com grosseria que, estranho ou não, aquilo não ajudaria em nada.

Enquanto desenhava a cabeça do estranho num livro, Skimpole lhe disse com gentileza que mantivesse a calma e não deixasse o trabalho irritá-lo. Podiam separar a pessoa de sua profissão. Não supunham que ele fosse um homem mau na vida particular. Talvez fosse muito respeitável e até tivesse uma natureza poética sem saber.

O estranho respondeu apenas com outro forte ruído nasal. Não consegui saber se aceitava o elogio sobre poesia ou se o rejeitava com desprezo.

Olhando seu desenho, Skimpole disse alegremente a Richard e a mim que era totalmente incapaz de ajudar a si mesmo e dependia por completo de nós. Pedia apenas para ser livre. As borboletas eram livres, portanto a humanidade certamente deveria dar a Harold Skimpole a mesma liberdade.

English → Richard sussurrou que tinha dez libras recebidas do Sr. Kenge e precisava ver quanto aquilo ajudaria.

Eu havia economizado pouco mais de quinze libras de minha mesada ao longo de vários anos. Sempre temera que algum acidente pudesse me deixar sozinha no mundo, sem família nem bens, por isso guardava dinheiro para não ficar completamente pobre. Contei a Richard sobre essas economias e disse que não precisava delas naquele momento. Pedi que explicasse com cuidado a Skimpole que teríamos prazer em pagar sua dívida enquanto eu buscava o dinheiro.

Quando voltei, Skimpole beijou minha mão e pareceu profundamente emocionado. Estranhamente, não estava comovido por si mesmo, mas por nós, como se apenas nossa felicidade importasse para ele. Richard pediu que eu concluísse o pagamento com “Coavinses”, como Skimpole chamava o estranho em tom de brincadeira, pois isso tornaria o acontecimento mais elegante. Contei o dinheiro e recebi um recibo, o que também encantou Skimpole.

English → Skimpole fez seus elogios com tanta delicadeza que corei menos do que poderia. Paguei ao estranho de casaco branco sem cometer nenhum erro. Ele guardou o dinheiro no bolso e desejou-me boa noite em poucas palavras.

Depois de deixar o desenho pela metade, Skimpole ficou de costas para o fogo. Perguntou educadamente ao estranho se podia fazer uma pergunta sem ofendê-lo.

Acho que o estranho respondeu: “Vá em frente, então!”

Skimpole perguntou se o estranho sabia naquela manhã que viria cumprir aquela tarefa.

Coavinses disse que sabia desde a hora do chá da tarde anterior.

Skimpole perguntou se esse conhecimento havia prejudicado seu apetite ou o deixado inquieto.

Coavinses disse que não. Sabia que, se Skimpole escapasse naquele dia, poderia apanhá-lo no seguinte. Um dia fazia pouca diferença.

Skimpole continuou, lembrando-lhe que fizera um belo dia durante a viagem. O sol brilhara, o vento soprara, luzes e sombras haviam passado pelos campos, e os pássaros cantaram.

English → Coavinses respondeu que não ouvira ninguém dizer o contrário.

Skimpole concordou e depois perguntou no que Coavinses pensara durante a viagem.

Irritado, Coavinses perguntou o que ele queria dizer. Já tinha trabalho suficiente e recebia pouco por ele, sem precisar pensar também. Repetiu a palavra “pensar” com profundo desprezo.

Skimpole perguntou então se Coavinses havia pensado que Harold Skimpole amava o sol, o vento, as mudanças de luz e sombra e os pássaros cantando como um coro na grande catedral da natureza. Não se perguntara se estava prestes a tirar de Skimpole sua parte nessas coisas, que eram sua única herança natural? Skimpole perguntou se nenhum pensamento assim lhe passara pela mente.

Coavinses disse lenta e firmemente que certamente não, destacando cada palavra e movendo a cabeça de modo brusco.

O Sr. Skimpole chamou, pensativo, a maneira de pensar do homem de negócios de estranha e curiosa. Depois agradeceu e disse boa-noite.

Voltei ao andar de baixo porque havíamos ficado longe por muito tempo. Ada conversava com John, e Skimpole e Richard logo se juntaram a nós. O Sr. Jarndyce me ensinou gamão enquanto Skimpole tocava música e conversava alegremente. Mesmo assim, Richard e eu ainda sentíamos como se tivéssemos sido presos depois do jantar.

English → Ficamos juntos até tarde porque Skimpole tocou música animada e brincou que roubar horas da noite tornava o dia mais longo. Depois da meia-noite, finalmente saiu. Ada e Richard ainda conversavam junto ao fogo quando o Sr. Jarndyce voltou.

O Sr. Jarndyce andou pela sala, esfregou a cabeça e perguntou o que Richard e eu havíamos feito. Queria saber por que pagáramos dinheiro e quanto cada um dera. Culpou o vento mudando por seu desconforto.

Nem Richard nem eu sabíamos como responder.

O Sr. Jarndyce insistiu em resolver a questão antes de dormir. Perguntou quanto dinheiro havíamos perdido e por que ajudáramos Skimpole, culpando novamente o vento leste.

Richard disse que não seria honrado revelar a quantia porque o Sr. Skimpole confiara em nós.

O Sr. Jarndyce disse que Skimpole confiava em todo mundo.

Richard perguntou se aquilo era realmente verdade.

Jarndyce disse que Skimpole teria o mesmo problema de dinheiro na semana seguinte porque estava sempre em dificuldades. Brincou que até o anúncio do nascimento de Skimpole deveria ter dito que ele nascera com problemas.

English → Richard riu, mas disse que não queria trair a confiança de Skimpole. Pediu que Jarndyce considerasse se o segredo deveria ser guardado, embora contasse se Jarndyce insistisse.

Confuso, o Sr. Jarndyce tentou colocar o castiçal no bolso. Concordou em não pressionar Richard, mas reclamou que Skimpole tomara dinheiro de dois jovens inocentes. Previu uma tempestade.

Ele colocou as mãos nos bolsos várias vezes, tirou-as e esfregou a cabeça com força.

Sugeri com delicadeza que Skimpole era como uma criança em todas as questões de dinheiro.

O Sr. Jarndyce percebeu a palavra imediatamente e perguntou o que eu queria dizer.

Repeti que Skimpole era uma criança e muito diferente das outras pessoas.

Jarndyce ficou alegre e concordou que eu estava exatamente certa. Lembrou-nos de que chamara Skimpole de criança desde o início.

Todos concordamos firmemente com ele.

Cada vez mais contente, Jarndyce perguntou novamente se Skimpole realmente era uma criança.

English → Dissemos que certamente era.

Jarndyce disse que era infantil de sua parte tratar Skimpole como um adulto responsável. Riu da ideia de que Skimpole pudesse fazer planos ou entender os resultados de suas ações.

Foi maravilhoso ver a preocupação de Jarndyce desaparecer. Sua felicidade vinha de sua natureza bondosa, que odiava julgar ou desconfiar de alguém. Ada e eu tínhamos lágrimas nos olhos enquanto ríamos com ele.

Jarndyce chamou a si mesmo de tolo por esquecer a natureza infantil de Skimpole. Só uma criança pediria dinheiro a dois jovens sem saber se tinham algum. A quantia não teria importância para ele.

Nossa experiência naquela noite parecia provar o que ele dizia.

Jarndyce fez Richard, Ada e eu prometermos nunca mais emprestar dinheiro a Skimpole, nem mesmo uma pequena moeda.

Prometemos com sinceridade. Richard sorriu para mim e tocou o bolso vazio, mostrando que de qualquer modo não poderíamos quebrar a promessa.

English → Jarndyce brincou que Skimpole só precisava de uma casa de bonecas e pessoas de brinquedo de quem pudesse pedir dinheiro. Depois nos desejou boa-noite e foi dormir.

Jarndyce apareceu de novo e disse alegremente que se enganara sobre o vento; ele vinha do sul. Depois saiu cantando.

No andar de cima, Ada e eu concluímos que as reclamações de Jarndyce sobre o vento eram inventadas. Ele as usava para explicar a decepção porque não queria culpar ninguém. Isso mostrava sua bondade incomum, diferente das pessoas irritadas que culpam o tempo pelo mau humor.

Aquela noite aumentou meu amor e minha gratidão por Jarndyce. Eu ainda não conseguia entender as contradições de Skimpole ou da Sra. Jellyby. Sozinha, pensei em Ada, Richard e meu próprio passado. Lembrei por um instante do antigo sonho de que Jarndyce pudesse ser meu pai, embora já não acreditasse nisso.

Levantei-me do fogo e disse a mim mesma para não pensar no passado. Eu deveria agir com alegria, gratidão e dever. Sacudi minhas chaves da casa, que tocaram como sininhos me levando com esperança para a cama.

CAPÍTULO VII

English → O Passeio do Fantasma

Enquanto Esther dorme e acorda, a chuva continua em Chesney Wold, em Lincolnshire. Cai dia e noite sobre o terraço de pedra chamado Passeio do Fantasma. O tempo parece que nunca vai melhorar. Sir Leicester e Lady Dedlock estão em Paris, então a grande casa permanece escura e solitária.

Talvez os cavalos nos longos estábulos imaginem um tempo bom. Um velho cavalo de caça pode lembrar folhas frescas e corridas com os cães, enquanto seu cuidador pensa apenas no trabalho. Outro cavalo olha com esperança para a porta, embora ninguém precise dele. Os seis cavalos talvez passem as horas chuvosas se comunicando com mais alegria que as pessoas na sala dos criados.

O grande cão que dorme no pátio pode lembrar o sol quente e uma casa cheia de hóspedes, carruagens, cavalos e criados. Ele acorda, sai e encontra apenas chuva sem fim e uma casa vazia. Então volta ao abrigo com um bocejo triste.

English → Os cães de caça podem sonhar com corridas pelo campo. Os coelhos podem lembrar dias de vento e plantas macias. Um peru pode recordar quando encontrou grãos no verão, e um ganso infeliz pode desejar sol. Todos os animais têm lembranças enquanto a chuva os mantém parados.

Fora os animais, pouca imaginação se move em Chesney Wold. Qualquer pensamento incomum logo se volta para fantasmas e mistério na velha casa cheia de ecos.

Chove há tanto tempo que a Sra. Rouncewell, a velha governanta, limpa os óculos para verificar se as gotas estão neles. Ela é uma mulher bonita, formal e muito organizada que se recusa a admitir que é surda. O tempo não a incomoda; cuida da casa a partir de seu quarto. Enquanto a família está longe, a grande casa repousa segura sob seus cuidados.

É difícil imaginar Chesney Wold sem a Sra. Rouncewell, embora ela trabalhe ali há apenas cinquenta anos. Consegue dizer o tempo exato de seu serviço. Seu falecido marido vinha da cidade próxima, e ela começou a trabalhar para o antigo Sir Leicester na sala de destilação.

English → Sir Leicester acredita que seus criados não têm desejos nem opiniões próprias, mas se considera um excelente patrão. Respeita muito a Sra. Rouncewell e sempre aperta sua mão. Se enfrentasse perigo ou doença, confiaria sua dignidade aos cuidados dela antes de qualquer outra pessoa.

A Sra. Rouncewell teve dois filhos. O mais novo, George, tornou-se soldado e nunca voltou. O outro amava construir máquinas em vez de seguir o caminho tradicional em Chesney Wold. Sir Leicester o enviou ao norte para trabalhar na indústria e considerava esses trabalhadores rebeldes perigosos. Mesmo assim, o jovem construiu uma vida bem-sucedida ali.

O filho da Sra. Rouncewell cresceu, teve sucesso, casou-se e teve um filho. Esse neto, Watt, terminou seu treinamento e viajou ao exterior. Hoje está junto à lareira no quarto da avó em Chesney Wold.

A Sra. Rouncewell recebe Watt com alegria várias vezes e o chama de belo jovem. Diz que ele se parece com o tio desaparecido George, o que faz suas mãos se moverem com nervosismo.

English → Watt diz que as pessoas acham que ele se parece com o pai.

A avó concorda, mas diz que ele se parece mais com George. Depois pergunta se o pai de Watt está bem.

Watt diz que seu pai tem sucesso em todos os sentidos.

A Sra. Rouncewell agradece. Ama o filho, mas sente com tristeza que a vida industrial dele o colocou no lado oposto ao mundo dela.

Ela pergunta se o filho é totalmente feliz.

Watt diz que sim.

A Sra. Rouncewell agradece, mas se pergunta sobre a decisão do filho de treinar Watt na indústria e enviá-lo ao exterior. Admite que pode haver um mundo além de Chesney Wold que ela não entende, apesar da idade e da experiência com pessoas importantes.

Mudando de assunto, Watt pergunta sobre a jovem muito bonita chamada Rosa que acabou de conhecer.

A Sra. Rouncewell diz que Rosa é filha de uma viúva da aldeia. Recebeu a menina ainda jovem porque é difícil treinar criadas. Rosa aprende depressa, já mostra a casa aos visitantes e come à sua mesa.

English → Watt espera que sua chegada não tenha feito Rosa sair.

A avó diz que Rosa provavelmente achou que eles precisavam discutir assuntos de família. Elogia a modéstia da jovem e diz que ela é mais rara do que antes.

Watt aceita com respeito a lição da avó. Então a Sra. Rouncewell escuta.

Ela ouve rodas de carruagem e se pergunta quem poderia chegar num dia tão chuvoso. Watt já as ouvira antes.

Logo alguém bate. Rosa entra, uma bela e tímida jovem da aldeia de olhos e cabelos escuros. A chuva em seu rosto e cabelo frescos parece orvalho numa flor.

A Sra. Rouncewell pergunta a Rosa quem chegou.

Rosa diz que dois jovens numa carruagem querem ver a casa. Ela lhes disse que era o dia e a hora errados, mas o condutor pediu educadamente que entregasse seu cartão.

A governanta pede que Watt leia o cartão.

Rosa entrega o cartão a Watt com timidez. Eles o deixam cair e quase batem as cabeças ao pegá-lo, deixando-a ainda mais tímida.

English → O cartão traz apenas o nome Sr. Guppy.

A Sra. Rouncewell repete o nome desconhecido e diz que nunca ouviu falar dele.

Rosa explica que os homens são advogados de Londres que chegaram para tratar de negócios nas proximidades. Depois de terminarem cedo, vieram sob a chuva conhecer a famosa Chesney Wold. Guppy disse que não era do escritório do Sr. Tulkinghorn, mas poderia usar seu nome se fosse necessário. Rosa fica tímida depois do longo discurso.

Como Tulkinghorn está muito ligado à casa, a Sra. Rouncewell permite a entrada dos visitantes como um favor especial. Watt de repente quer participar da visita, então sua avó satisfeita vai com ele, embora ele não queira incomodá-la.

Ao tirar o casaco molhado, Guppy agradece à Sra. Rouncewell e diz que advogados de Londres raramente têm folga, por isso aproveitam cada oportunidade.

A governanta aponta para a grande escada. Guppy e o amigo seguem Rosa, seguidos pela Sra. Rouncewell e Watt. Um jovem jardineiro vai à frente para abrir as venezianas.

English → Como muitos visitantes de casas, Guppy e o amigo ficam cansados quase imediatamente. Olham as coisas erradas e parecem entediados. Em cada sala, a Sra. Rouncewell ouve com orgulho a explicação de Rosa, enquanto Watt observa Rosa tão atentamente que ela fica mais tímida e bonita. Os velhos retratos dos Dedlock aparecem por pouco tempo na luz. Guppy acha que a única conquista da família foi não fazer nada notável por setecentos anos.

Nem a longa sala de visitas anima Guppy. Então ele vê um retrato acima da lareira e de repente recupera a energia. Olha para ele com profundo interesse, completamente fascinado.

Surpreso, Guppy pergunta quem é a mulher.

Rosa explica que o retrato mostra a atual Lady Dedlock. As pessoas o consideram uma representação perfeita e a melhor obra do artista.

Guppy diz ao amigo que não se lembra de vê-la, mas de algum modo conhece seu rosto. Pergunta se cópias do quadro foram impressas.

Rosa diz que o quadro nunca foi copiado porque Sir Leicester sempre recusou permissão.

English → Espantado e em voz baixa, Guppy diz que é muito estranho conhecer tão bem o retrato. Confirma que a mulher é Lady Dedlock.

Rosa aponta os retratos do atual Sir Leicester à direita e de seu falecido pai à esquerda.

Guppy ignora os dois homens e continua olhando para Lady Dedlock. Incapaz de explicar por que conhece seu rosto, sugere que talvez tenha sonhado com o quadro.

Ninguém se interessa pelos sonhos de Guppy, mas ele permanece imóvel diante do retrato até as venezianas se fecharem. Sai da sala confuso e procura em todos os cômodos seguintes como se esperasse ver Lady Dedlock novamente.

Guppy não vê mais nada dela, apenas seus quartos elegantes e a vista que recentemente a entediara. Por fim, a visita cansativa termina. Rosa conclui apontando o admirado terraço abaixo, chamado Passeio do Fantasma por causa de uma antiga história da família.

Guppy pede a história com ansiedade e pergunta se ela trata de um quadro.

English → Watt pede baixinho que Rosa lhes conte a história.

Rosa fica ainda mais tímida e diz que não conhece a história.

A governanta diz que a história não é contada aos visitantes e está quase esquecida. É apenas um antigo conto de família.

Guppy pede desculpas, mas pergunta novamente se a história envolve um quadro. Quanto mais pensa no retrato de Lady Dedlock, mais certeza tem de que o conhece, embora não saiba explicar como.

A governanta garante que a história não tem relação com um quadro. Guppy agradece e sai com o amigo. Ao anoitecer, a Sra. Rouncewell decide que pode confiar em Rosa e Watt e lhes conta por que o terraço tem esse nome fantasmagórico.

Sentada junto à janela que escurece, a Sra. Rouncewell começa. Durante a guerra civil no tempo do rei Carlos I, Sir Morbury Dedlock era dono de Chesney Wold. Ela acredita que a antiga família provavelmente já tinha um fantasma antes disso.

English → A Sra. Rouncewell acha que uma família tão antiga e importante tem direito a um fantasma. Para ela, fantasmas são um privilégio especial das classes altas, não das pessoas comuns.

Sir Morbury apoiava o rei Carlos, mas sua esposa apoiava secretamente os inimigos do rei, inclusive parentes dela. Talvez ouvisse do lado de fora quando os apoiadores do rei se reuniam. A Sra. Rouncewell para e pergunta a Watt se ele ouve um passo no terraço.

Rosa se aproxima da governanta.

Watt ouve a chuva nas pedras e um eco estranho que parece um passo desigual.

A Sra. Rouncewell diz que Sir Morbury e sua esposa orgulhosa tiveram um casamento infeliz e não tinham filhos. Depois que um parente dele matou o irmão amado dela na guerra, ela passou a odiar os Dedlock. À noite, machucava secretamente os cavalos deles. Certa noite, o marido a surpreendeu, e durante a luta um cavalo feriu seu quadril. A partir daí, sua saúde piorou lentamente.

English → A governanta baixa a voz quase até um sussurro.

A senhora ferida nunca reclamou, mas caminhava no terraço todos os dias com dificuldade cada vez maior. Certa tarde, caiu ali. Quando o marido tentou ajudar, ela recusou e disse que morreria onde havia caminhado. Prometeu que seu fantasma andaria ali até o orgulho da família ser humilhado e avisou os Dedlock para ouvirem seus passos antes de desgraças ou vergonha.

Watt olha para Rosa. Na escuridão crescente, ela olha para o chão, assustada e tímida.

A senhora morreu ali, e o terraço se tornou o Passeio do Fantasma. O passo desigual só é ouvido depois de escurecer e pode desaparecer por longos períodos. Mas sempre volta quando doença ou morte se aproximam da família.

Watt lembra à avó que o fantasma também avisou sobre vergonha.

A governanta afirma com firmeza que a vergonha nunca chega a Chesney Wold.

Watt pede desculpas e concorda com ela.

English → A Sra. Rouncewell termina a história. Seja qual for a causa do som inquietante, ele não pode ser ignorado, e até Lady Dedlock, que nada teme, admite isso. Depois pergunta a Watt sobre um alto relógio francês próximo, cuja batida forte e música poderiam cobrir outros sons.

“Funciona muito bem, vovó, eu acho.”

“Ligue-o”, disse ela.

Watt liga a máquina, incluindo a música.

A governanta chama a criança para mais perto do travesseiro de Lady Dedlock. Ela não tem certeza de que esteja escuro o bastante, mas pergunta se a criança consegue ouvir um som no terraço através da música e do ritmo das batidas.

“Sim, certamente consigo ouvir!”

“É o que minha senhora também diz.”

CAPÍTULO VIII

English → Escondendo Muitos Pecados

Antes do nascer do sol, gostei de observar a luz do dia revelar a paisagem desconhecida além da janela. A névoa e as estrelas desapareceram devagar, minhas velas se tornaram desnecessárias e surgiu uma alegre cena rural. A antiga igreja da abadia se erguia sobre ela, e sua torre rústica lançava uma sombra suave. Aprendi que influências gentis podem vir de aparências ásperas.

A casa organizada e os criados prestativos facilitaram meus novos deveres, embora eu ficasse ocupada aprendendo o conteúdo de cada armário. Fiz o chá e depois explorei os belos jardins e o pátio da fazenda antes do café da manhã. Ada sorriu para mim da janela. A casa incomum e acolhedora tinha três pontas no telhado, muitas janelas diferentes e roseiras trepadeiras. Ada disse que era digna de seu primo John.

No café da manhã, o senhor Skimpole brincou sobre abelhas e mel. Não gostava da ideia de que abelhas trabalhadoras devessem servir de exemplo para ele. As abelhas trabalhavam porque gostavam, e depois as pessoas as expulsavam com fumaça e tomavam seu mel. Ele preferia o zangão preguiçoso, que aproveitava o mundo e pedia sustento a um trabalhador. Achava isso mais sábio, desde que o zangão continuasse amigo da abelha.

English → O senhor Skimpole continuou seu argumento divertido, embora em parte falasse sério. Saí para cumprir meus deveres. Mais tarde, enquanto carregava minha cesta de chaves, o senhor Jarndyce me chamou a uma pequena sala ao lado do quarto dele. Era parte biblioteca e parte depósito de sapatos e caixas de chapéus.

O senhor Jarndyce pediu que eu me sentasse e explicou que aquele era o Quarto dos Resmungos, onde ia quando estava mal-humorado.

Eu disse que ele devia usar o quarto muito raramente.

Ele disse que eu ainda não o conhecia. Quando o vento leste o desapontava, ele frequentemente se escondia no Quarto dos Resmungos. Então percebeu que eu estava tremendo.

Sozinha com meu bondoso tutor, senti-me tão feliz, honrada e grata que beijei sua mão. Ele ficou constrangido e foi até a janela, quase como se pudesse saltar. Quando voltou, seus olhos mostravam a emoção que tentara esconder. Tocou minha cabeça com carinho, e eu me sentei.

English → Ele disse que o momento de emoção havia terminado e mandou que eu não fosse tola.

Prometi que não aconteceria de novo, mas disse que era difícil no começo.

Ele chamou aquilo de absurdo. Simplesmente ouvira falar de uma boa órfã sem proteção e decidira protegê-la. Ela crescera e confirmara a boa opinião dele, enquanto ele continuava seu tutor e amigo. Disse que não havia nada extraordinário nisso e recebeu novamente meu rosto calmo e confiante.

Ordenei com firmeza a mim mesma que recuperasse o controle, e funcionou. O senhor Jarndyce aprovou e começou a falar comigo com tanta confiança como se conversássemos todas as manhãs havia anos. Quase parecia verdade.

O senhor Jarndyce perguntou se eu entendia o processo da Chancelaria.

Naturalmente, balancei a cabeça.

Ele disse que ninguém o entendia. Os advogados o haviam tornado tão confuso que a questão original desaparecera. Antes tratava de um testamento e seus fundos, mas agora dizia respeito apenas aos custos legais. Documentos, perguntas, discussões e procedimentos sem fim não levavam a lugar algum, exceto à morte e a mais custos.

English → Para fazê-lo voltar ao assunto, perguntei se o processo originalmente tratava de um testamento.

Ele disse que um Jarndyce fizera fortuna e um grande testamento. Discussões sobre a administração de seus fundos estavam desperdiçando o dinheiro e arruinando as pessoas citadas nele. Todos pagavam repetidamente por cópias inúteis e advogados. Os tribunais mandavam perguntas de um lado para outro, muitos funcionários pagos se envolviam e nada jamais terminava. Ninguém podia abandonar o processo. Pensar nele destruíra seu tio-avô Tom Jarndyce.

Perguntei se ele se referia ao senhor Jarndyce cuja história eu ouvira.

Ele assentiu com seriedade. Herdara de Tom, e Bleak House pertencera a ele. Quando o senhor Jarndyce chegou, a casa era realmente sombria e mostrava em toda parte a miséria de Tom.

Eu disse que a casa devia estar muito mudada agora.

Ele explicou que a casa antes se chamava The Peaks. Tom mudou seu nome e se fechou nela, estudando os documentos do processo e esperando acabar com a confusão. Enquanto isso, as paredes racharam, o telhado começou a vazar, ervas cobriram o caminho e a casa caiu em ruínas. Depois da morte de Tom, parecia que a casa também perdera a razão.

English → O senhor Jarndyce caminhou de um lado para outro, estremecendo com a lembrança. Depois olhou para mim, ficou alegre novamente e sentou-se com as mãos nos bolsos.

Ele me lembrou que aquele era o Quarto dos Resmungos e perguntou onde havia parado.

Eu o lembrei das mudanças esperançosas que fizera em Bleak House.

Ele descreveu outra propriedade em Londres ligada ao processo. Era uma rua de casas vazias e moribundas, com janelas quebradas, venezianas caindo, grades enferrujadas, chaminés danificadas, degraus verdes e apoios apodrecidos. Bleak House sofrera porque seu dono estava na Chancelaria, e lugares arruinados por toda a Inglaterra carregavam a mesma marca.

Mais uma vez, eu disse como Bleak House mudara.

Ele concordou com alegria e disse que eu era sábia por mantê-lo no lado positivo. Só falava dessas coisas no Quarto dos Resmungos. Confiava em mim para decidir se deveria contar a Rick e Ada.

Comecei: “Espero, senhor...”

English → Ele sugeriu com carinho que eu o chamasse de Tutor.

Sua ternura quase me deixou emocionada de novo, embora ele fingisse que o pedido era casual. Sacudi de leve minhas chaves para me controlar, cruzei as mãos com firmeza sobre a cesta e olhei para ele com calma.

Disse ao meu tutor que não confiasse demais em meu julgamento. Admiti honestamente que não era inteligente e temia que essa verdade o desapontasse.

Ele não pareceu nem um pouco desapontado. Sorrindo com carinho, disse que me conhecia muito bem e que eu era inteligente o bastante para ele.

Eu disse que esperava que sim, embora não tivesse confiança.

Com humor, ele disse que eu era inteligente o bastante para ser a boa velhinha da vida deles, como a mulher de uma cantiga infantil.

A cantiga perguntava aonde a velhinha ia, e ela respondia que ia varrer as teias de aranha do céu.

English → Ele disse que minha administração da casa limparia tão bem o céu deles que um dia fechariam para sempre o Quarto dos Resmungos.

Depois disso, deram-me muitos apelidos brincalhões, entre eles Velha, Velhinha, Teia de Aranha e Dame Durden. Meu verdadeiro nome quase desapareceu entre eles.

Voltando à conversa, o senhor Jarndyce disse que Rick era um jovem promissor e perguntou o que deveria ser feito com ele.

Fiquei espantada por ele pedir meu conselho sobre uma questão tão importante.

O senhor Jarndyce disse que Richard precisava escolher uma profissão. Provavelmente haveria muita confusão, mas a decisão precisava ser tomada.

Perguntei ao meu tutor o que ele queria dizer com sua palavra estranha para confusão.

Ele explicou que, como Richard era tutelado pela Chancelaria, advogados, funcionários do tribunal, conselheiros e o Chanceler discutiriam sua escolha e exigiriam honorários. O processo seria formal, cheio de palavras, caro e insatisfatório. Ele chamava tudo aquilo de “wiglomeration” e não sabia por que a humanidade sofria com isso.

English → Ele esfregou a cabeça e tornou a mencionar o vento. Contudo, sempre que olhava para mim, sua expressão bondosa voltava. Logo ficou confortável, pôs as mãos nos bolsos e esticou as pernas.

Sugeri que primeiro perguntassem a Richard qual profissão ele queria.

O senhor Jarndyce concordou com entusiasmo. Pediu que eu discutisse o assunto com calma e cuidado com Richard e Ada. Confiava em mim para descobrir o ponto principal.

Fiquei assustada com minha nova importância e com os muitos segredos confiados a mim. Eu quisera dizer que ele próprio deveria falar com Richard. Mesmo assim, prometi fazer o melhor possível e tornei a avisar que ele me considerava mais sábia do que eu era. Meu tutor apenas riu com carinho.

O senhor Jarndyce se levantou e disse que haviam terminado com o Quarto dos Resmungos naquele dia. Antes de sair, perguntou se eu desejava perguntar alguma coisa.

Ele me olhou com tanta atenção que entendi o que queria dizer.

English → Perguntei se ele queria dizer uma pergunta sobre mim mesma.

Ele disse que sim.

Coloquei minha mão, de repente fria, na dele e disse que não tinha perguntas. Confiava que ele me contaria tudo que eu precisasse saber. Se eu não tivesse fé completa nele, meu coração seria realmente duro.

Ele colocou minha mão em seu braço, e fomos procurar Ada. A partir daquele momento, senti-me completamente à vontade, aberta, satisfeita e feliz com ele.

Nossos primeiros dias em Bleak House foram ocupados porque conhecemos muitas pessoas que conheciam o senhor Jarndyce. Ada e eu achávamos que todos os que procuravam dinheiro para uma causa o conheciam. As cartas pediam de enormes quantidades de folhetos a pensões, monumentos e bules. Grupos com nomes importantes estavam sempre recolhendo votos e dinheiro, mas pareciam nunca alcançar seus objetivos. A vida agitada deles nos dava dor de cabeça.

English → A senhora Pardiggle era uma das damas caridosas mais barulhentas e escrevia quase tanto quanto a senhora Jellyby. O senhor Jarndyce dizia que algumas pessoas faziam pouco e muito barulho, enquanto outras faziam muito em silêncio. O vento sempre o interrompia quando falava da senhora Pardiggle, por isso suspeitamos que ela pertencesse ao primeiro grupo. Ficamos curiosas quando ela nos visitou com seus cinco filhos.

A senhora Pardiggle era uma mulher imponente, com óculos, nariz grande e voz alta. Parecia precisar de muito espaço e derrubava cadeiras distantes com a saia. Ada e eu a recebemos nervosas, enquanto seus filhos infelizes a seguiam como crianças no frio.

A senhora Pardiggle apresentou seus cinco filhos e listou com orgulho o dinheiro que cada um doara. Egbert, de doze anos, dera sua mesada a um grupo indígena, e os meninos menores apoiavam outras causas. Alfred, de cinco anos, prometera nunca usar tabaco.

English → Nunca tínhamos visto crianças tão infelizes. Pareciam magras, zangadas e cheias de ressentimento. O rosto de cada menino escurecia quando mencionavam sua doação. Egbert parecia especialmente feroz, enquanto o pequeno Alfred permanecia silenciosamente infeliz.

A senhora Pardiggle perguntou se tínhamos visitado a senhora Jellyby.

Dissemos que havíamos passado uma noite lá.

Com sua voz alta e dura, a senhora Pardiggle elogiou o trabalho da senhora Jellyby pela África e disse que seus filhos haviam contribuído. Contudo, criticou a senhora Jellyby por excluir as crianças de seu trabalho. A senhora Pardiggle disse com orgulho que levava os próprios filhos a toda parte.

Ada e eu depois concordamos que Egbert soltou um grito agudo ao ouvir aquelas palavras, embora rapidamente o transformasse num bocejo.

A senhora Pardiggle disse que seus filhos iam à igreja cedo o ano inteiro e participavam de todos os seus deveres diários de caridade. Ela servia a muitas escolas, comitês, visitas e campanhas. Seus meninos davam toda a mesada sob sua direção e compareciam a mais reuniões e discursos longos que a maioria dos adultos. Disse com orgulho que Alfred, de cinco anos, permanecera acordado depois de um discurso de duas horas.

English → Alfred nos encarou com raiva, como se jamais pudesse perdoar o que acontecera naquela noite.

A senhora Pardiggle explicou que as listas de caridade também mostravam uma doação do marido. Primeiro ela dava dinheiro, depois cada filho doava uma quantia conforme a idade e, por fim, o senhor Pardiggle contribuía sob sua direção. Ela acreditava que isso tornava a vida agradável para eles e melhorava os outros.

Perguntei-me se o senhor Pardiggle e o senhor Jellyby alguma vez reclamavam em segredo um ao outro sobre suas esposas. Esse pensamento me confundiu.

A senhora Pardiggle disse que morávamos num lugar muito agradável.

Felizes por mudar de assunto, mostramos a ela a bela vista da janela. Ela a observou com surpreendente falta de interesse.

Nossa visitante perguntou se conhecíamos o senhor Gusher.

Tivemos de admitir que não o conhecíamos.

A senhora Pardiggle disse que a perda era nossa. O senhor Gusher era um orador apaixonado que podia falar durante horas numa reunião pública em nosso gramado. Enquanto voltava à cadeira e derrubava uma mesa distante, perguntou se já havíamos descoberto seu verdadeiro caráter.

English → A pergunta nos confundiu. Ada me olhou assustada, e meus pensamentos culpados provavelmente apareceram em minhas faces vermelhas.

A senhora Pardiggle explicou que sua principal qualidade era fácil de ver: era uma mulher de negócios que adorava trabalho duro. O trabalho a animava, e ela afirmava nunca se cansar.

Por educação, murmuramos que aquilo era surpreendente e agradável, embora mal soubéssemos o que queríamos dizer.

A senhora Pardiggle repetiu que ninguém conseguia cansá-la. Até a enorme quantidade de trabalho que fazia às vezes a surpreendia. Seu marido e seus filhos ficavam exaustos apenas observando, enquanto ela permanecia descansada e cheia de energia.

Nesse momento, o filho mais velho e zangado pareceu mais hostil do que nunca. Fechou o punho e deu secretamente um soco no alto do próprio boné.

A senhora Pardiggle disse que sua energia sem fim ajudava durante as visitas. Se alguém se recusava a ouvir, ela anunciava que nunca se cansava e continuaria até terminar. Depois pediu que Ada e eu participássemos de suas visitas.

English → Tentei recusar por causa de meus deveres e minha falta de experiência. Disse que ainda não compreendia suficientemente o coração de pessoas diferentes para aconselhá-las. Preferia ajudar primeiro quem estava perto de mim e deixar meus deveres crescerem naturalmente. Falei sem confiança porque a senhora Pardiggle era mais velha, experiente e autoritária.

A senhora Pardiggle disse que eu estava errada e talvez não suportasse trabalho duro. Convidou Ada e eu para observar sua visita a um fabricante de tijolos da região, a quem chamou de homem mau.

Ada e eu trocamos olhares. Como já planejávamos sair, aceitamos. Quando voltamos usando nossos chapéus, os filhos dela pareciam fracos e infelizes num canto, enquanto a senhora Pardiggle se movia derrubando objetos leves. Ela caminhou com Ada, e eu segui com os meninos.

Ada depois me contou que a senhora Pardiggle descrevera em voz alta uma longa competição com outra mulher caridosa. Elas imprimiam materiais, faziam promessas e recolhiam votos para diferentes candidatos receberem uma pensão. Todos aproveitavam a atividade, exceto os pobres candidatos, pois nenhum vencedor fora escolhido.

English → Normalmente gosto da confiança das crianças, mas aqueles meninos me perturbaram. Egbert exigiu dinheiro porque sua mãe tomava sua mesada para caridade. Disse com raiva que ela apenas fingia dá-la a ele. Ele e dois irmãos beliscaram meus braços, Felix pisou em meus dedos, e o pequeno Alfred ficou roxo de raiva quando passamos por uma confeitaria. A vida forçada deles tornava seu comportamento natural doloroso para mim.

Fiquei aliviada ao chegar à casa do fabricante de tijolos, embora ela ficasse entre cabanas terríveis junto a um campo lamacento. Chiqueiros ficavam perto de janelas quebradas, poças sujas enchiam os jardins e velhos recipientes recolhiam chuva. Os moradores observavam e riam dos visitantes elegantes que sujavam os sapatos ao interferir na vida alheia.

A senhora Pardiggle criticou a desordem dos moradores e nos levou a um quarto úmido e malcheiroso. Uma mulher ferida segurava um bebê doente junto ao fogo. Um homem sujo, com aparência de bêbado, fumava deitado no chão. Um jovem forte cuidava de um cão, e uma garota ousada lavava algo em água imunda. Eles nos olharam, mas não nos receberam.

English → Com uma voz nada amigável e profissional, a senhora Pardiggle cumprimentou a família. Lembrou-lhes que não podiam cansá-la e disse com orgulho que adorava trabalho duro e cumpria suas promessas.

O homem no chão resmungou e perguntou se viriam mais visitantes.

A senhora Pardiggle sentou-se num banco, derrubou outro e disse que todos haviam chegado.

Olhando ao redor, o homem perguntou com sarcasmo se ela achava que ainda não havia visitantes suficientes.

O jovem e a garota riram, e dois amigos dele parados na porta também riram alto.

A senhora Pardiggle disse que eles não podiam cansá-la. Ela gostava de trabalho duro, e quanto mais difícil o tornassem, mais ela gostava.

O homem exigiu o fim da interferência dela e respondeu às perguntas habituais antes que fossem feitas. Sua filha lavava na mesma água suja que eles bebiam. A casa insalubre já perdera cinco bebês. Ninguém sabia ler o livrinho dela, que de qualquer modo era infantil. Ele estivera bêbado por três dias, não iria à igreja e admitiu ter ferido o olho da esposa.

English → Depois de falar, o homem se virou e voltou a fumar. A senhora Pardiggle o encarou com uma calma forçada que aumentava sua raiva. Então tirou um livro religioso como o bastão de um policial e assumiu o controle da família inteira como se os estivesse prendendo.

Ada e eu nos sentimos desconfortáveis e indesejadas. A maneira fria e controladora da senhora Pardiggle piorava a visita. As crianças emburravam, a família nos ignorava, e o jovem fazia o cão latir durante as declarações mais fortes dela. Sentíamos uma barreira dura entre nós e a família e sabíamos que ela não podia removê-la. Até sua leitura era inadequada e não mostrava bondade nem compreensão.

Nessas circunstâncias, sentimos grande alívio quando a Sra. Pardiggle finalmente parou.

O homem no chão virou a cabeça e perguntou, mal-humorado, se ela havia terminado.

A Sra. Pardiggle disse alegremente que havia terminado por aquele dia, embora nunca se cansasse. Voltaria a visitá-lo quando chegasse a vez regular dele.

English → Cruzando os braços e fechando os olhos, o homem praguejou e disse que ela podia fazer o que quisesse, desde que fosse embora naquele momento.

A Sra. Pardiggle se levantou e causou grande agitação no pequeno quarto, quase derrubando o cachimbo. Pegou duas crianças pelas mãos, mandou as outras seguirem e disse esperar que a família do oleiro melhorasse antes da próxima visita. Depois foi a outro chalé. Espero não ser cruel ao dizer que toda a sua caridade parecia uma grande apresentação pública e não tornava as pessoas mais amigáveis com ela.

Ela acreditava que a seguíamos. Mas, assim que o quarto ficou livre, fomos até a mulher junto ao fogo e perguntamos se o bebê estava doente.

A mulher apenas olhou para o bebê em seu colo. Sempre que o fitava, cobria o olho machucado, como se quisesse manter longe da pobre criança qualquer lembrança de barulho, violência e maus-tratos.

English → O coração bondoso de Ada se comoveu com o bebê. Ela se inclinou para tocar seu rostinho, mas vi o que havia acontecido e a puxei para trás. A criança estava morta.

Ada caiu de joelhos ao lado do bebê e me chamou. Chorou pela pequena criança quieta e bonita, dizendo quanto lamentava pelo bebê e pela mãe. Nunca havia visto nada tão triste.

Ada se inclinou chorando e colocou a mão sobre a da mãe com tanta bondade que poderia ter comovido o coração de qualquer mãe. Primeiro, a mulher a encarou surpresa. Depois começou a chorar.

Logo tirei o corpo leve de seu colo, deixei o bebê com uma aparência tranquila, coloquei-o numa prateleira e o cobri com meu lenço. Tentamos consolar a mãe e lembramos em voz baixa as palavras de Cristo sobre as crianças. Ela não disse nada e continuou chorando muito.

English → Quando me virei, o jovem havia levado o cachorro para fora e permanecia em silêncio à porta, observando-nos com os olhos secos. A moça também estava quieta num canto, olhando para o chão. O homem mais velho se levantara. Continuava fumando com orgulho, mas nada dizia.

Uma mulher de aparência desagradável e roupas muito pobres entrou depressa. Foi direto até a mãe e chamou: “Jenny! Jenny!” Jenny se levantou e caiu nos braços dela.

Essa mulher também tinha sinais de maus-tratos no rosto e nos braços. Não possuía beleza física, mas sua compaixão lhe dava outro tipo de graça. Enquanto chorava com Jenny, não precisava de beleza. Suas únicas palavras eram o nome de Jenny, mas sua voz expressava todo o resto.

Comoveu-me profundamente ver aquelas duas mulheres pobres, rudes, malvestidas e espancadas tão unidas. Suas vidas difíceis tornavam seus corações bondosos uma com a outra. A sociedade raramente vê o melhor lado dessas pessoas. Apenas os próprios pobres e Deus sabem de verdade o que os pobres fazem uns pelos outros.

English → Decidimos que era melhor deixar as mulheres sozinhas. Saímos em silêncio sem que ninguém percebesse, exceto o homem. Ele estava encostado perto da porta, onde havia pouco espaço para passar. Saiu para nos dar passagem, mas tentou esconder sua bondade. Percebemos e agradecemos, embora ele não respondesse.

Ada sofreu durante todo o caminho de volta. Richard ficou aflito ao vê-la chorando, embora em particular tenha me dito como sua compaixão era bonita. Decidimos voltar naquela noite à casa do oleiro com presentes úteis. Contamos o mínimo possível ao Sr. Jarndyce, mas ele percebeu imediatamente que havia problemas, como uma mudança no vento.

Richard foi conosco naquela noite. Passamos por uma taberna barulhenta e cheia de homens e vimos o pai da criança morta discutindo entre eles. Mais adiante, o jovem caminhava com o cachorro e companheiros parecidos. Sua irmã ria com outras jovens perto dos chalés, mas pareceu envergonhada e virou o rosto quando passamos.

English → Deixamos Richard num lugar de onde ainda podia ver a casa do oleiro e continuamos sozinhas. À porta, a mulher que consolara Jenny observava tudo com ansiedade.

Sussurrando, ela nos reconheceu e disse que vigiava a chegada do marido. Estava apavorada porque, se ele a encontrasse fora de casa, poderia quase matá-la.

Perguntei se ela queria dizer seu marido.

Ela respondeu que sim e o chamou de seu senhor. Jenny dormia, completamente esgotada. Durante sete dias e noites, quase não largara o bebê, exceto quando a amiga conseguia segurá-lo por alguns minutos.

Ela nos deixou entrar em silêncio e colocou nossos presentes perto da pobre cama onde Jenny dormia. Ninguém havia limpado o quarto, que parecia quase impossível de limpar. Porém, o pequeno corpo fora lavado, arrumado em paz e vestido com pedaços de tecido branco e limpo. Sobre meu lenço que cobria o bebê, as mãos rudes e cheias de cicatrizes da mulher haviam colocado delicadamente ervas perfumadas.

English → Chamamos aquela mulher de bondosa e pedimos que o céu a recompensasse.

Ela reagiu com surpresa e perguntou se realmente falávamos dela. Depois chamou o nome de Jenny em voz baixa.

Jenny havia se mexido e gemido durante o sono. A voz conhecida da amiga a acalmou, e ela ficou quieta outra vez.

Levantei meu lenço para olhar a pequena criança em paz. Ada se inclinou sobre ela com compaixão, e seus cabelos pareciam formar um círculo de luz. Eu não podia imaginar sobre o peito inquieto de quem aquele mesmo lenço repousaria mais tarde. Apenas pensei que o anjo da criança talvez visse a mulher compassiva recolocá-lo com delicadeza. Depois que partimos, ela ficou à porta, observando e escutando com medo a chegada do marido, enquanto chamava baixinho: “Jenny, Jenny.”

CAPÍTULO IX

English → Sinais e Avisos

Não sei por que continuo escrevendo sobre mim mesma. Pretendo descrever outras pessoas e tento não pensar em mim. Quando volto a entrar na história, fico irritada comigo mesma. No entanto, não consigo evitar. Espero que os leitores entendam que estas páginas falam tanto de mim apenas porque realmente participei desses acontecimentos e não posso ser retirada deles.

Minha querida Ada e eu líamos, trabalhávamos e praticávamos juntas. Tínhamos tanto para fazer que os dias de inverno passavam como pássaros brilhantes. Richard costumava se juntar a nós à tarde e sempre à noite. Embora fosse extremamente inquieto, claramente adorava nossa companhia.

Richard estava profundamente apaixonado por Ada, e devo dizer isso diretamente. Nunca havia observado jovens se apaixonarem, mas os compreendi depressa. Não podia mencionar o assunto nem mostrar que sabia. Agia de modo tão sério e distraído que às vezes me perguntava se estava me tornando desonesta.

English → Não havia outra escolha. Fiquei quieta como um rato. Eles também não diziam nada sobre seu amor. No entanto, enquanto se aproximavam, confiavam cada vez mais em mim de um modo tão inocente e encantador que eu lutava para não demonstrar meu interesse.

Richard muitas vezes me encontrava cedo no jardim. Com uma risada e um leve rubor, chamava-me de nossa querida e excelente velhinha e dizia que não podia viver sem mim. Antes de seu dia agitado de estudos e cavalgadas pelo campo, uma caminhada calma com sua amiga tranquila lhe fazia bem. Por isso havia voltado.

À noite, Ada apoiava a cabeça em meu ombro enquanto o fogo brilhava em seus olhos pensativos. Chamando-me de Senhora Durden, dizia que não precisava conversar no andar de cima. Queria apenas sentar e pensar ao lado de meu rosto querido, ouvir o vento e lembrar os pobres marinheiros no mar.

English → Talvez Richard se tornasse marinheiro. Havíamos discutido muitas vezes seu desejo de infância de ir para o mar. O Sr. Jarndyce escrevera a um parente distante da família, o poderoso Sir Leicester Dedlock, pedindo que apoiasse Richard de modo geral. Sir Leicester respondeu educadamente que ajudaria se algum dia tivesse esse poder, embora fosse improvável. Lady Dedlock enviou cumprimentos ao jovem parente distante e esperava que ele cumprisse seu dever em qualquer profissão honrada que escolhesse.

Richard me disse que estava claro que teria de vencer por seu próprio trabalho. Muitas pessoas já haviam feito isso, portanto ele não se importava. Apenas desejava comandar um navio particular veloz. Assim, poderia capturar o Chanceler e dar-lhe pouca comida até que decidisse o processo deles. Se o Chanceler demorasse, logo ficaria magro.

Richard costumava ser alegre, esperançoso e cheio de energia. No entanto, sua natureza descuidada me confundia, principalmente porque ele estranhamente acreditava ser cuidadoso e sensato. Isso afetava em especial todas as suas ideias sobre dinheiro, como mostrou nosso empréstimo ao Sr. Skimpole.

English → O Sr. Jarndyce soube quanto havíamos pagado por Skimpole, por meio dele ou de Coavinses. Entregou-me o dinheiro, dizendo que guardasse minha parte e devolvesse o restante a Richard. Richard então usou as dez libras recuperadas para justificar muitas despesas descuidadas. Falava muitas vezes como se tivesse ganhado ou economizado aquela quantia, e todas essas despesas se acumulavam.

Quando quis dar cinco libras ao oleiro sem pensar, Richard perguntou por que não. Afirmou ter obtido um lucro de dez libras com o caso de Coavinses.

Perguntei como aquilo era possível.

Ele explicou que havia dado dez libras de boa vontade e nunca esperara vê-las novamente. Perguntou se eu negava isso.

Eu disse que não.

Richard continuou, dizendo que depois recebera dez libras.

Lembrei-lhe em voz baixa que eram as mesmas dez libras.

Richard disse que isso não importava. Agora tinha dez libras a mais do que esperava, por isso acreditava que podia gastá-las livremente.

English → Da mesma forma, quando o convencemos a não desperdiçar cinco libras com o oleiro porque isso não ajudaria, ele tratou o dinheiro não gasto como lucro e começou a fazer despesas com base nele.

Ele dizia que havia economizado cinco libras no caso do oleiro. Se uma viagem rápida de carruagem a Londres e de volta custasse quatro libras, ainda teria economizado uma. Insistia que economizar uma libra era excelente, pois dinheiro poupado era dinheiro ganho.

Richard era extremamente sincero e generoso. Era entusiasmado, corajoso, inquieto e naturalmente gentil, por isso em poucas semanas eu o conhecia como um irmão. A influência de Ada fez dele um companheiro ainda mais encantador. Interessava-se por tudo e era feliz, esperançoso e despreocupado. Enquanto me sentava, caminhava e conversava com eles, eu os via se apaixonarem mais a cada dia. Nenhum falava disso, e cada um acreditava timidamente que era um segredo, talvez até para o outro. Eu estava quase tão encantada com o belo sonho quanto eles.

English → Certa manhã, no café, o Sr. Jarndyce recebeu uma carta de Boythorn e a leu com evidente prazer. No meio da leitura, anunciou que Boythorn viria visitá-los. Todos nos perguntamos quem era Boythorn e se sua visita atrapalharia o romance silencioso ao nosso redor.

O Sr. Jarndyce disse que estudara com Lawrence Boythorn mais de quarenta e cinco anos antes. Boythorn fora o menino mais enérgico, barulhento, caloroso e forte do mundo. Agora era o mesmo tipo de homem. Jarndyce o chamou de sujeito extraordinário.

Richard perguntou se ele queria dizer que Boythorn era fisicamente grande.

Jarndyce disse que Boythorn era bastante grande. Era dez anos mais velho e alguns centímetros mais alto que Jarndyce. Mantinha a cabeça como um velho soldado, tinha peito largo e mãos como as de um ferreiro limpo. Seus pulmões poderosos faziam as vigas da casa tremerem quando falava, ria ou roncava.

Enquanto Jarndyce apreciava pensar no amigo, notamos o bom sinal de que o vento não mostrava nenhuma mudança.

English → Jarndyce explicou que o coração caloroso, os sentimentos fortes e a natureza viva de Boythorn eram o mais importante. Sua linguagem era tão poderosa quanto sua voz, e ele sempre falava em extremos. Suas palavras ferozes podiam fazê-lo parecer um monstro, e algumas pessoas o consideravam assim. Jarndyce não diria mais nada antes da visita. Avisou-nos para não nos surpreendermos quando Boythorn o protegesse, pois ainda se lembrava de Jarndyce como um aluno menor. A amizade deles começara quando Boythorn arrancou dois dentes de um aluno mais velho e cruel, embora afirmasse que foram seis. Ele e seu criado chegariam naquela tarde.

Preparei tudo para Boythorn e esperamos com interesse. A tarde e a hora do jantar passaram sem que ele chegasse, por isso o jantar foi adiado uma hora. Enquanto nos sentávamos junto ao fogo no escuro, a porta da frente se abriu de repente. Uma voz muito alta anunciou que um homem terrível os mandara seguir para a direita em vez da esquerda. Boythorn o chamou de pior criminoso da Terra, culpou seu pai e disse que ele merecia ser fuzilado.

English → O Sr. Jarndyce perguntou se o homem lhe dera a direção errada de propósito.

Boythorn declarou que o criminoso certamente passara a vida inteira dando direções erradas aos viajantes. Achara que o homem parecia maligno ao mandá-lo para a direita, mas ficara diante dele sem atacá-lo.

O Sr. Jarndyce perguntou em tom de brincadeira se Boythorn queria dizer dentes.

Lawrence Boythorn riu tão alto que a casa tremeu. Ficou encantado porque Jarndyce se lembrava da briga na escola. Chamou o antigo valentão de maior exemplo de desonestidade, medo e crueldade. Se encontrasse aquele homem cruel na rua no dia seguinte, disse que o derrubaria como uma árvore podre.

O Sr. Jarndyce disse que não duvidava e depois convidou Boythorn a subir.

Conferindo a hora, Boythorn disse que, se Jarndyce fosse casado, teria voltado no portão do jardim. Preferiria ter ido aos pontos mais altos do Himalaia a chegar numa hora tão tardia.

English → O Sr. Jarndyce disse esperar que Boythorn não fosse tão longe.

Boythorn insistiu que iria. Jamais seria rude a ponto de deixar uma senhora esperando por tanto tempo. Preferiria destruir a si mesmo a cometer tal ofensa.

Eles subiram enquanto conversavam. Logo a risada poderosa de Boythorn trovejou repetidas vezes em seu quarto. Até o eco mais fraco da vizinhança pareceu pegá-la e rir tão feliz quanto ele e quanto nós ao escutarmos.

English → Gostamos de Boythorn imediatamente. Sua risada forte, voz saudável, fala cheia e exageros selvagens pareciam sinceros e inofensivos, como canhões disparando sem balas. Sua aparência confirmou nossa boa opinião. Era um cavalheiro mais velho, bonito, ereto e poderoso, com cabelos grisalhos espessos e rosto calmo quando permanecia em silêncio. Sua energia constante mantinha o corpo forte e o queixo firme. Seus modos eram os de um verdadeiro cavalheiro: educados, gentis e calorosos. Seu sorriso doce mostrava que nada escondia. Como disse Richard, ele não conseguia fazer nada em pequena escala, por isso disparava seus grandes canhões inofensivos, pois não possuía armas menores. No jantar, observei-o com prazer enquanto falava com delicadeza a Ada e a mim, gritava opiniões extremas com Jarndyce e enchia a casa de risadas.

O Sr. Jarndyce perguntou se Boythorn trouxera seu pássaro.

Boythorn o chamou de pássaro mais extraordinário da Europa. Não o venderia por dez mil guinéus e havia garantido uma renda para ele caso vivesse mais do que seu dono. Sua inteligência e seu afeto eram extraordinários, e o pai dele também fora um dos maiores pássaros de todos os tempos.

Preface

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

por Charles Dickens

A CASA SOTURNA

por

CHARLES DICKENS

SUMÁRIO

Original English Version

by Charles Dickens

BLEAK HOUSE

by

CHARLES DICKENS

CONTENTS

Tradução Integral em Português

por Charles Dickens

A CASA SOTURNA

por

CHARLES DICKENS

SUMÁRIO

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Prefácio I. Na Chancelaria II. Na Alta Sociedade III. Uma Progressão IV. Filantropia Telescópica V. Uma Aventura Matinal VI. Muito à Vontade VII. O Passeio do Fantasma VIII. Cobrindo uma Multidão de Pecados IX. Sinais e Presságios X. O Escrivão Jurídico XI. Nosso Querido Irmão XII. De Vigília XIII. A Narrativa de Esther XIV. Conduta XV. Bell Yard XVI. Tom-all-Alone’s XVII. A Narrativa de Esther XVIII. Lady Dedlock XIX. Seguindo Adiante XX. Um Novo Hóspede XXI. A Família Smallweed XXII. Sr. Bucket XXIII. A Narrativa de Esther XXIV. Um Recurso XXV. Sra. Snagsby Vê Tudo XXVI. Atiradores de Elite XXVII. Mais de Um Velho Soldado XXVIII. O Mestre de Fundição XXIX. O Rapaz XXX. A Narrativa de Esther XXXI. Enfermeira e Paciente XXXII. A Hora Marcada XXXIII. Intrusos XXXIV. Uma Volta do Parafuso XXXV. A Narrativa de Esther XXXVI. Chesney Wold XXXVII. Jarndyce e Jarndyce XXXVIII. Uma Luta XXXIX. Advogado e Cliente XL. Nacional e Doméstico XLI. No Gabinete do Sr. Tulkinghorn XLII. Nos Aposentos do Sr. Tulkinghorn XLIII. A Narrativa de Esther XLIV. A Carta e a Resposta XLV. Em Confiança XLVI. Detenham-no! XLVII. O Testamento de Jo XLVIII. Fechando o Cerco XLIX. Amizade Devotada L. A Narrativa de Esther LI. Esclarecido LII. Obstinação LIII. O Rastro LIV. Preparando uma Mina LV. Fuga LVI. Perseguição LVII. A Narrativa de Esther LVIII. Um Dia e uma Noite de Inverno LIX. A Narrativa de Esther LX. Perspectiva LXI. Uma Descoberta LXII. Outra Descoberta LXIII. Aço e Ferro LXIV. A Narrativa de Esther LXV. Começando a Vida LXVI. Lá em Lincolnshire LXVII. O Final da Narrativa de Esther

Original English Version

Preface I. In Chancery II. In Fashion III. A Progress IV. Telescopic Philanthropy V. A Morning Adventure VI. Quite at Home VII. The Ghost’s Walk VIII. Covering a Multitude of Sins IX. Signs and Tokens X. The Law-Writer XI. Our Dear Brother XII. On the Watch XIII. Esther’s Narrative XIV. Deportment XV. Bell Yard XVI. Tom-all-Alone’s XVII. Esther’s Narrative XVIII. Lady Dedlock XIX. Moving On XX. A New Lodger XXI. The Smallweed Family XXII. Mr. Bucket XXIII. Esther’s Narrative XXIV. An Appeal Case XXV. Mrs. Snagsby Sees It All XXVI. Sharpshooters XXVII. More Old Soldiers Than One XXVIII. The Ironmaster XXIX. The Young Man XXX. Esther’s Narrative XXXI. Nurse and Patient XXXII. The Appointed Time XXXIII. Interlopers XXXIV. A Turn of the Screw XXXV. Esther’s Narrative XXXVI. Chesney Wold XXXVII. Jarndyce and Jarndyce XXXVIII. A Struggle XXXIX. Attorney and Client XL. National and Domestic XLI. In Mr. Tulkinghorn’s Room XLII. In Mr. Tulkinghorn’s Chambers XLIII. Esther’s Narrative XLIV. The Letter and the Answer XLV. In Trust XLVI. Stop Him! XLVII. Jo’s Will XLVIII. Closing In XLIX. Dutiful Friendship L. Esther’s Narrative LI. Enlightened LII. Obstinacy LIII. The Track LIV. Springing a Mine LV. Flight LVI. Pursuit LVII. Esther’s Narrative LVIII. A Wintry Day and Night LIX. Esther’s Narrative LX. Perspective LXI. A Discovery LXII. Another Discovery LXIII. Steel and Iron LXIV. Esther’s Narrative LXV. Beginning the World LXVI. Down in Lincolnshire LXVII. The Close of Esther’s Narrative

Tradução Integral em Português

Prefácio I. Na Chancelaria II. Na Alta Sociedade III. Uma Progressão IV. Filantropia Telescópica V. Uma Aventura Matinal VI. Muito à Vontade VII. O Passeio do Fantasma VIII. Cobrindo uma Multidão de Pecados IX. Sinais e Presságios X. O Escrivão Jurídico XI. Nosso Querido Irmão XII. De Vigília XIII. A Narrativa de Esther XIV. Conduta XV. Bell Yard XVI. Tom-all-Alone’s XVII. A Narrativa de Esther XVIII. Lady Dedlock XIX. Seguindo Adiante XX. Um Novo Hóspede XXI. A Família Smallweed XXII. Sr. Bucket XXIII. A Narrativa de Esther XXIV. Um Recurso XXV. Sra. Snagsby Vê Tudo XXVI. Atiradores de Elite XXVII. Mais de Um Velho Soldado XXVIII. O Mestre de Fundição XXIX. O Rapaz XXX. A Narrativa de Esther XXXI. Enfermeira e Paciente XXXII. A Hora Marcada XXXIII. Intrusos XXXIV. Uma Volta do Parafuso XXXV. A Narrativa de Esther XXXVI. Chesney Wold XXXVII. Jarndyce e Jarndyce XXXVIII. Uma Luta XXXIX. Advogado e Cliente XL. Nacional e Doméstico XLI. No Gabinete do Sr. Tulkinghorn XLII. Nos Aposentos do Sr. Tulkinghorn XLIII. A Narrativa de Esther XLIV. A Carta e a Resposta XLV. Em Confiança XLVI. Detenham-no! XLVII. O Testamento de Jo XLVIII. Fechando o Cerco XLIX. Amizade Devotada L. A Narrativa de Esther LI. Esclarecido LII. Obstinação LIII. O Rastro LIV. Preparando uma Mina LV. Fuga LVI. Perseguição LVII. A Narrativa de Esther LVIII. Um Dia e uma Noite de Inverno LIX. A Narrativa de Esther LX. Perspectiva LXI. Uma Descoberta LXII. Outra Descoberta LXIII. Aço e Ferro LXIV. A Narrativa de Esther LXV. Começando a Vida LXVI. Lá em Lincolnshire LXVII. O Final da Narrativa de Esther

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

PREFÁCIO

Certa vez, um juiz disse a uma grande plateia sensata que o Tribunal da Chancelaria era quase perfeito. Admitiu que ele avançava devagar, mas culpou o público por se recusar a nomear mais juízes. Achei que era uma piada muito profunda.

A piada parecia boa demais para a história principal. Caso contrário, eu a teria atribuído ao Sr. Kenge ou ao Sr. Vholes, pois um deles poderia tê-la inventado. Também poderia ter acrescentado estes versos de Shakespeare:

Meu trabalho mudou minha natureza, assim como a tinta colore a mão de um trabalhador. Tenha pena de mim e deseje que eu possa me renovar!

O público deve saber que minha descrição do Tribunal da Chancelaria é verdadeira. O caso de Gridley se baseia de perto em uma injustiça real. Em agosto de 1853, um processo amigável já durava quase vinte anos, consumira setenta mil libras e não estava mais perto do fim. Outro processo durava desde o século anterior e custara mais que o dobro. Eu poderia dar muitos outros exemplos reais para sustentar Jarndyce e Jarndyce.

Original English Version

PREFACE

A Chancery judge once had the kindness to inform me, as one of a company of some hundred and fifty men and women not labouring under any suspicions of lunacy, that the Court of Chancery, though the shining subject of much popular prejudice (at which point I thought the judge’s eye had a cast in my direction), was almost immaculate. There had been, he admitted, a trivial blemish or so in its rate of progress, but this was exaggerated and had been entirely owing to the “parsimony of the public,” which guilty public, it appeared, had been until lately bent in the most determined manner on by no means enlarging the number of Chancery judges appointed - I believe by Richard the Second, but any other king will do as well.

This seemed to me too profound a joke to be inserted in the body of this book or I should have restored it to Conversation Kenge or to Mr. Vholes, with one or other of whom I think it must have originated. In such mouths I might have coupled it with an apt quotation from one of Shakespeare’s sonnets:

“My nature is subdued To what it works in, like the dyer’s hand: Pity me, then, and wish I were renewed!”

But as it is wholesome that the parsimonious public should know what has been doing, and still is doing, in this connexion, I mention here that everything set forth in these pages concerning the Court of Chancery is substantially true, and within the truth. The case of Gridley is in no essential altered from one of actual occurrence, made public by a disinterested person who was professionally acquainted with the whole of the monstrous wrong from beginning to end. At the present moment (August, 1853) there is a suit before the court which was commenced nearly twenty years ago, in which from thirty to forty counsel have been known to appear at one time, in which costs have been incurred to the amount of seventy thousand pounds, which is A FRIENDLY SUIT, and which is (I am assured) no nearer to its termination now than when it was begun. There is another well-known suit in Chancery, not yet decided, which was commenced before the close of the last century and in which more than double the amount of seventy thousand pounds has been swallowed up in costs. If I wanted other authorities for Jarndyce and Jarndyce, I could rain them on these pages, to the shame of - a parsimonious public.

Tradução Integral em Português

PREFÁCIO

Certa vez, um juiz da Chancelaria teve a bondade de informar a mim, que integrava um grupo de cerca de cento e cinquenta homens e mulheres não sujeitos a qualquer suspeita de loucura, que o Tribunal da Chancelaria, embora fosse o alvo luminoso de muito preconceito popular (momento em que me pareceu que o olhar do juiz se desviava em minha direção), era quase imaculado. Houvera, admitiu ele, uma ou outra falha insignificante em seu ritmo de progresso, mas isso fora exagerado e se devia inteiramente à “parcimônia do público”; público culpado esse que, ao que parecia, até havia pouco se empenhara com a mais resoluta determinação em de modo algum aumentar o número de juízes da Chancelaria nomeados - creio que por Ricardo II, embora qualquer outro rei sirva igualmente bem.

Isso me pareceu uma piada profunda demais para ser inserida no corpo deste livro; do contrário, eu a teria restituído ao Conversador Kenge ou ao Sr. Vholes, com um dos quais, penso eu, ela deve ter-se originado. Em tais bocas, eu poderia tê-la acompanhado de uma citação apropriada de um dos sonetos de Shakespeare:

“Minha natureza se submete Àquilo em que trabalha, como a mão do tintureiro: Tem piedade de mim, pois, e deseja que eu me renove!”

Mas, como é salutar que o público parcimonioso saiba o que se tem feito, e ainda se faz, a esse respeito, menciono aqui que tudo quanto se expõe nestas páginas acerca do Tribunal da Chancelaria é substancialmente verdadeiro, e fica aquém da verdade. O caso de Gridley não difere, em nenhum ponto essencial, de um caso real, divulgado por uma pessoa desinteressada que conhecia profissionalmente toda a monstruosa injustiça, do princípio ao fim. Neste exato momento (agosto de 1853), há perante o tribunal uma ação iniciada há quase vinte anos, na qual se sabe que entre trinta e quarenta advogados compareceram de uma só vez, na qual se incorreram custas de setenta mil libras, que é UMA AÇÃO AMIGÁVEL e que (segundo me asseguram) não está hoje mais perto de terminar do que quando começou. Há outra conhecida ação na Chancelaria, ainda não decidida, iniciada antes do fim do século passado e na qual mais do dobro de setenta mil libras foi engolido em custas. Se eu quisesse outras autoridades para Jarndyce e Jarndyce, poderia fazê-las chover sobre estas páginas, para vergonha de - um público parcimonioso.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Algumas pessoas negaram que o Sr. Krook pudesse ter morrido por combustão espontânea. Antes de escrever a cena, estudei o assunto com cuidado. Cerca de trinta casos haviam sido registrados, inclusive casos famosos na Itália e na França examinados por especialistas respeitados. Aceitarei as provas humanas comuns até que essas próprias provas de algum modo se queimem.

Em A Casa Soturna, mostrei de propósito o lado romântico das coisas comuns.

Original English Version

There is only one other point on which I offer a word of remark. The possibility of what is called spontaneous combustion has been denied since the death of Mr. Krook; and my good friend Mr. Lewes (quite mistaken, as he soon found, in supposing the thing to have been abandoned by all authorities) published some ingenious letters to me at the time when that event was chronicled, arguing that spontaneous combustion could not possibly be. I have no need to observe that I do not wilfully or negligently mislead my readers and that before I wrote that description I took pains to investigate the subject. There are about thirty cases on record, of which the most famous, that of the Countess Cornelia de Baudi Cesenate, was minutely investigated and described by Giuseppe Bianchini, a prebendary of Verona, otherwise distinguished in letters, who published an account of it at Verona in 1731, which he afterwards republished at Rome. The appearances, beyond all rational doubt, observed in that case are the appearances observed in Mr. Krook’s case. The next most famous instance happened at Rheims six years earlier, and the historian in that case is Le Cat, one of the most renowned surgeons produced by France. The subject was a woman, whose husband was ignorantly convicted of having murdered her; but on solemn appeal to a higher court, he was acquitted because it was shown upon the evidence that she had died the death of which this name of spontaneous combustion is given. I do not think it necessary to add to these notable facts, and that general reference to the authorities which will be found at page 30, vol. ii.,* the recorded opinions and experiences of distinguished medical professors, French, English, and Scotch, in more modern days, contenting myself with observing that I shall not abandon the facts until there shall have been a considerable spontaneous combustion of the testimony on which human occurrences are usually received.**

In Bleak House I have purposely dwelt upon the romantic side of familiar things.

Tradução Integral em Português

Há apenas outro ponto sobre o qual ofereço uma palavra de comentário. A possibilidade daquilo a que se chama combustão espontânea tem sido negada desde a morte do Sr. Krook; e meu bom amigo Sr. Lewes (inteiramente enganado, como logo descobriu, ao supor que todas as autoridades haviam abandonado a questão) publicou na época em que esse acontecimento foi narrado algumas cartas engenhosas dirigidas a mim, argumentando que a combustão espontânea não poderia existir. Não preciso observar que não induzo meus leitores em erro por vontade ou negligência e que, antes de escrever aquela descrição, dei-me ao trabalho de investigar o assunto. Há cerca de trinta casos registrados, dos quais o mais célebre, o da condessa Cornelia de Baudi Cesenate, foi minuciosamente investigado e descrito por Giuseppe Bianchini, prebendário de Verona e também distinto homem de letras, que publicou um relato em Verona em 1731 e depois o republicou em Roma. As aparências observadas naquele caso, para além de toda dúvida racional, são as aparências observadas no caso do Sr. Krook. O exemplo seguinte em celebridade ocorreu em Rheims seis anos antes, e seu historiador é Le Cat, um dos mais renomados cirurgiões que a França produziu. A vítima era uma mulher cujo marido foi, por ignorância, condenado por tê-la assassinado; mas, em recurso solene a um tribunal superior, foi absolvido porque as provas demonstraram que ela morrera da morte à qual se dá o nome de combustão espontânea. Não considero necessário acrescentar a esses fatos notáveis e à referência geral às autoridades que se encontrará na página 30 do vol. ii.,* as opiniões e experiências registradas de eminentes professores de medicina franceses, ingleses e escoceses, em tempos mais modernos; contento-me em observar que não abandonarei os fatos até que tenha havido uma combustão espontânea considerável dos testemunhos com base nos quais os acontecimentos humanos costumam ser aceitos.**

Em A Casa Soturna, detive-me de propósito no lado romântico das coisas familiares.

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Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

1853

Original English Version

1853

Tradução Integral em Português

1853

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Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Outro caso recente foi descrito com clareza por um dentista em Columbus, nos Estados Unidos. Ele envolvia um lojista alemão que bebia demais.

Original English Version

** Another case, very clearly described by a dentist, occurred at the town of Columbus, in the United States of America, quite recently. The subject was a German who kept a liquor-shop and was an inveterate drunkard.

Tradução Integral em Português

** Outro caso, descrito com grande clareza por um dentista, ocorreu muito recentemente na cidade de Columbus, nos Estados Unidos da América. A vítima era um alemão que mantinha uma loja de bebidas e era um bêbado inveterado.

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Chapter I

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Na Chancelaria

Londres, em um novembro cruel. O Lorde Chanceler está sentado no Lincoln's Inn Hall. As ruas estão tão lamacentas que um enorme animal antigo pareceria à vontade ali. Fumaça negra e fuligem caem como neve suja. Cães e cavalos estão cobertos de lama, enquanto pessoas irritadas batem os guarda-chuvas e escorregam nas esquinas.

Há névoa por toda parte: acima e abaixo do rio, sobre os pântanos e colinas, dentro dos navios e ao redor dos barcos pequenos. Ela enche os olhos e a garganta dos velhos marinheiros, entra na cabine de um capitão e congela o jovem aprendiz no convés. As pessoas nas pontes parecem suspensas em nuvens de névoa.

Os lampiões a gás aparecem fracamente através da névoa, como um sol pálido sobre campos molhados. As lojas os acendem duas horas mais cedo, e até os lampiões parecem cansados e contrariados.

O frio, a névoa e a lama são piores perto de Temple Bar. Bem próximo, no centro da névoa, o Lorde Alto Chanceler está sentado no Tribunal da Chancelaria.

Original English Version

In Chancery

London. Michaelmas term lately over, and the Lord Chancellor sitting in Lincoln’s Inn Hall. Implacable November weather. As much mud in the streets as if the waters had but newly retired from the face of the earth, and it would not be wonderful to meet a Megalosaurus, forty feet long or so, waddling like an elephantine lizard up Holborn Hill. Smoke lowering down from chimney-pots, making a soft black drizzle, with flakes of soot in it as big as full-grown snowflakes - gone into mourning, one might imagine, for the death of the sun. Dogs, undistinguishable in mire. Horses, scarcely better; splashed to their very blinkers. Foot passengers, jostling one another’s umbrellas in a general infection of ill temper, and losing their foot-hold at street-corners, where tens of thousands of other foot passengers have been slipping and sliding since the day broke (if this day ever broke), adding new deposits to the crust upon crust of mud, sticking at those points tenaciously to the pavement, and accumulating at compound interest.

Fog everywhere. Fog up the river, where it flows among green aits and meadows; fog down the river, where it rolls defiled among the tiers of shipping and the waterside pollutions of a great (and dirty) city. Fog on the Essex marshes, fog on the Kentish heights. Fog creeping into the cabooses of collier-brigs; fog lying out on the yards and hovering in the rigging of great ships; fog drooping on the gunwales of barges and small boats. Fog in the eyes and throats of ancient Greenwich pensioners, wheezing by the firesides of their wards; fog in the stem and bowl of the afternoon pipe of the wrathful skipper, down in his close cabin; fog cruelly pinching the toes and fingers of his shivering little ’prentice boy on deck. Chance people on the bridges peeping over the parapets into a nether sky of fog, with fog all round them, as if they were up in a balloon and hanging in the misty clouds.

Gas looming through the fog in divers places in the streets, much as the sun may, from the spongey fields, be seen to loom by husbandman and ploughboy. Most of the shops lighted two hours before their time - as the gas seems to know, for it has a haggard and unwilling look.

The raw afternoon is rawest, and the dense fog is densest, and the muddy streets are muddiest near that leaden-headed old obstruction, appropriate ornament for the threshold of a leaden-headed old corporation, Temple Bar. And hard by Temple Bar, in Lincoln’s Inn Hall, at the very heart of the fog, sits the Lord High Chancellor in his High Court of Chancery.

Tradução Integral em Português

Na Chancelaria

Londres. O período judiciário de São Miguel mal terminou, e o Lorde Chanceler está sentado no Lincoln’s Inn Hall. Implacável tempo de novembro. Tanta lama nas ruas como se as águas houvessem acabado de recuar da face da Terra, e não seria de admirar encontrar um Megalossauro, com uns doze metros de comprimento, bamboleando como um lagarto elefantino pela subida de Holborn. Fumaça baixando das chaminés, formando uma garoa negra e macia, com flocos de fuligem tão grandes quanto flocos de neve plenamente formados - postos de luto, poder-se-ia imaginar, pela morte do sol. Cães indistinguíveis na sujeira. Cavalos pouco melhores, salpicados até os tapa-olhos. Pedestres chocando os guarda-chuvas uns dos outros numa epidemia geral de mau humor e perdendo o apoio nas esquinas, onde dezenas de milhares de outros pedestres vêm escorregando e deslizando desde o romper do dia (se é que este dia rompeu), acrescentando novos depósitos às crostas sobre crostas de lama que se agarram tenazmente nesses pontos ao calçamento e se acumulam a juros compostos.

Névoa por toda parte. Névoa rio acima, onde ele corre entre ilhotas verdes e prados; névoa rio abaixo, onde rola maculado entre fileiras de navios e as poluições ribeirinhas de uma cidade grande (e suja). Névoa nos pântanos de Essex, névoa nas colinas de Kent. Névoa penetrando nas cabines dos brigues carvoeiros; névoa deitada nas vergas e pairando no cordame dos grandes navios; névoa pendendo sobre as amuradas das barcaças e dos pequenos barcos. Névoa nos olhos e gargantas dos velhos pensionistas de Greenwich, arfando junto às lareiras de suas enfermarias; névoa na haste e no fornilho do cachimbo vespertino do capitão irado, lá embaixo em sua cabine apertada; névoa beliscando cruelmente os dedos dos pés e das mãos de seu pequeno aprendiz, trêmulo no convés. Pessoas ocasionais nas pontes espiando por cima dos parapeitos para um céu inferior de névoa, com névoa ao redor, como se estivessem no alto de um balão, suspensas nas nuvens brumosas.

O gás assoma através da névoa em diversos pontos das ruas, mais ou menos como o sol pode ser visto, dos campos encharcados, a assomar diante do lavrador e do rapaz do arado. A maioria das lojas está iluminada duas horas antes do tempo - coisa que o gás parece saber, pois exibe um ar descarnado e contrariado.

A tarde gélida é mais gélida, a névoa densa mais densa e as ruas lamacentas mais lamacentas perto daquela velha obstrução de cabeça plúmbea, ornamento apropriado ao limiar de uma velha corporação de cabeça plúmbea, Temple Bar. E bem junto a Temple Bar, no Lincoln’s Inn Hall, no próprio coração da névoa, senta-se o Lorde Alto Chanceler em seu Alto Tribunal da Chancelaria.

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Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Nenhuma névoa pode ser espessa demais, nem a lama profunda demais, para combinar com a condição confusa e impotente deste antigo e pecador Tribunal da Chancelaria.

O Chanceler está sentado entre cortinas vermelhas enquanto um advogado de enormes suíças lê um documento interminável. Ao redor dele, muitos advogados lutam com detalhes técnicos e pilhas de papéis caros em um processo que nunca termina. O tribunal é escuro, cheio de névoa e vazio de verdade. Por toda a Inglaterra, ele destrói casas, terras, dinheiro, mentes e corações. Qualquer advogado honesto aconselharia as pessoas a suportar quase qualquer injustiça em vez de entrar nesse tribunal.

O tribunal está cheio de funcionários entediados porque Jarndyce e Jarndyce não oferece diversão. Os repórteres saem quando o caso começa. Uma velha confusa espera todos os dias uma decisão a seu favor. Um prisioneiro não consegue explicar contas que nunca entendeu, e outro homem arruinado passa há vinte e cinco anos tentando fazer o Chanceler ouvi-lo. Alguns escriturários ficam apenas porque esperam que ele cause alguma diversão.

Original English Version

Never can there come fog too thick, never can there come mud and mire too deep, to assort with the groping and floundering condition which this High Court of Chancery, most pestilent of hoary sinners, holds this day in the sight of heaven and earth.

On such an afternoon, if ever, the Lord High Chancellor ought to be sitting here - as here he is - with a foggy glory round his head, softly fenced in with crimson cloth and curtains, addressed by a large advocate with great whiskers, a little voice, and an interminable brief, and outwardly directing his contemplation to the lantern in the roof, where he can see nothing but fog. On such an afternoon some score of members of the High Court of Chancery bar ought to be - as here they are - mistily engaged in one of the ten thousand stages of an endless cause, tripping one another up on slippery precedents, groping knee-deep in technicalities, running their goat-hair and horsehair warded heads against walls of words and making a pretence of equity with serious faces, as players might. On such an afternoon the various solicitors in the cause, some two or three of whom have inherited it from their fathers, who made a fortune by it, ought to be - as are they not? - ranged in a line, in a long matted well (but you might look in vain for truth at the bottom of it) between the registrar’s red table and the silk gowns, with bills, cross-bills, answers, rejoinders, injunctions, affidavits, issues, references to masters, masters’ reports, mountains of costly nonsense, piled before them. Well may the court be dim, with wasting candles here and there; well may the fog hang heavy in it, as if it would never get out; well may the stained-glass windows lose their colour and admit no light of day into the place; well may the uninitiated from the streets, who peep in through the glass panes in the door, be deterred from entrance by its owlish aspect and by the drawl, languidly echoing to the roof from the padded dais where the Lord High Chancellor looks into the lantern that has no light in it and where the attendant wigs are all stuck in a fog-bank! This is the Court of Chancery, which has its decaying houses and its blighted lands in every shire, which has its worn-out lunatic in every madhouse and its dead in every churchyard, which has its ruined suitor with his slipshod heels and threadbare dress borrowing and begging through the round of every man’s acquaintance, which gives to monied might the means abundantly of wearying out the right, which so exhausts finances, patience, courage, hope, so overthrows the brain and breaks the heart, that there is not an honourable man among its practitioners who would not give - who does not often give - the warning, “Suffer any wrong that can be done you rather than come here!”

Who happen to be in the Lord Chancellor’s court this murky afternoon besides the Lord Chancellor, the counsel in the cause, two or three counsel who are never in any cause, and the well of solicitors before mentioned? There is the registrar below the judge, in wig and gown; and there are two or three maces, or petty-bags, or privy purses, or whatever they may be, in legal court suits. These are all yawning, for no crumb of amusement ever falls from Jarndyce and Jarndyce (the cause in hand), which was squeezed dry years upon years ago. The short-hand writers, the reporters of the court, and the reporters of the newspapers invariably decamp with the rest of the regulars when Jarndyce and Jarndyce comes on. Their places are a blank. Standing on a seat at the side of the hall, the better to peer into the curtained sanctuary, is a little mad old woman in a squeezed bonnet who is always in court, from its sitting to its rising, and always expecting some incomprehensible judgment to be given in her favour. Some say she really is, or was, a party to a suit, but no one knows for certain because no one cares. She carries some small litter in a reticule which she calls her documents, principally consisting of paper matches and dry lavender. A sallow prisoner has come up, in custody, for the half-dozenth time to make a personal application “to purge himself of his contempt,” which, being a solitary surviving executor who has fallen into a state of conglomeration about accounts of which it is not pretended that he had ever any knowledge, he is not at all likely ever to do. In the meantime his prospects in life are ended. Another ruined suitor, who periodically appears from Shropshire and breaks out into efforts to address the Chancellor at the close of the day’s business and who can by no means be made to understand that the Chancellor is legally ignorant of his existence after making it desolate for a quarter of a century, plants himself in a good place and keeps an eye on the judge, ready to call out “My Lord!” in a voice of sonorous complaint on the instant of his rising. A few lawyers’ clerks and others who know this suitor by sight linger on the chance of his furnishing some fun and enlivening the dismal weather a little.

Tradução Integral em Português

Jamais poderá vir névoa espessa demais, jamais lama e lodo profundos demais, para combinar com a condição tateante e atoladiça em que este Alto Tribunal da Chancelaria, o mais pestilento dos pecadores encanecidos, se encontra hoje aos olhos do céu e da Terra.

Numa tarde assim, se alguma houve, o Lorde Alto Chanceler deveria estar sentado aqui - como de fato está - , com uma glória enevoada em torno da cabeça, suavemente cercado por tecido e cortinas carmesins, interpelado por um advogado corpulento de grandes suíças, vozinha pequena e memorial interminável, enquanto dirige exteriormente a contemplação à claraboia do teto, onde nada vê senão névoa. Numa tarde assim, uma vintena de membros da advocacia do Alto Tribunal da Chancelaria deveria estar - como de fato está - nebulosamente ocupada numa das dez mil etapas de uma causa sem fim, tropeçando uns nos outros em precedentes escorregadios, tateando com a lama das tecnicalidades pelos joelhos, batendo contra paredes de palavras as cabeças protegidas por pelos de cabra e crinas de cavalo e simulando equidade com rostos graves, como atores. Numa tarde assim, os vários procuradores da causa, dois ou três dos quais a herdaram dos pais, que com ela fizeram fortuna, deveriam estar - e acaso não estão? - alinhados num longo poço atapetado (mas seria inútil procurar a verdade no fundo dele), entre a mesa vermelha do escrivão e as becas de seda, com petições, reconvenções, respostas, tréplicas, liminares, declarações juramentadas, questões, remessas aos mestres, relatórios dos mestres, montanhas de dispendioso disparate amontoadas diante deles. Bem pode o tribunal estar sombrio, com velas consumindo-se aqui e ali; bem pode a névoa pesar ali como se jamais fosse sair; bem podem os vitrais perder a cor e não admitir no lugar nenhuma luz do dia; bem podem os não iniciados vindos das ruas, espiando pelas vidraças da porta, ser dissuadidos de entrar pelo aspecto corujesco e pelo arrastar de vozes que ecoa languidamente até o teto, vindo do estrado acolchoado onde o Lorde Alto Chanceler fita a claraboia sem luz e onde todas as perucas assistentes estão fincadas num banco de névoa! Este é o Tribunal da Chancelaria, que tem suas casas em ruínas e suas terras crestadas em cada condado, seu lunático exaurido em cada hospício e seus mortos em cada cemitério; que tem seu litigante arruinado, com calcanhares desmazelados e roupa puída, pedindo empréstimos e esmolas por todo o círculo de conhecidos de cada homem; que dá ao poder do dinheiro meios abundantes de levar o direito à exaustão; que exaure tanto as finanças, a paciência, a coragem, a esperança, que transtorna tanto a mente e parte tanto o coração, que não há entre os que nele trabalham um homem honrado que não desse - que não dê muitas vezes - o aviso: “Sofra qualquer injustiça que lhe possam fazer, antes que vir aqui!”

Quem por acaso está no tribunal do Lorde Chanceler nesta tarde sombria, além do Lorde Chanceler, dos advogados da causa, de dois ou três advogados que nunca estão em causa alguma e do poço de procuradores já mencionado? Está o escrivão abaixo do juiz, de peruca e beca; e há dois ou três porta-maças, ou porta-sacolas, ou porta-bolsas privadas, ou seja lá o que forem, em trajes legais de corte. Todos bocejam, pois jamais cai uma migalha de diversão de Jarndyce e Jarndyce (a causa em pauta), espremida até secar anos e anos atrás. Os taquígrafos, os repórteres do tribunal e os repórteres dos jornais invariavelmente debandam com os demais habitués quando entra Jarndyce e Jarndyce. Seus lugares estão vazios. Em pé sobre um banco ao lado do salão, para espiar melhor o santuário cortinado, há uma velhinha louca de chapéu apertado que está sempre no tribunal, da abertura ao encerramento, e sempre à espera de alguma sentença incompreensível a seu favor. Dizem alguns que ela realmente é, ou foi, parte numa ação, mas ninguém sabe ao certo porque ninguém se importa. Carrega numa bolsa de mão uns pequenos detritos que chama de seus documentos, compostos sobretudo de fósforos de papel e lavanda seca. Um prisioneiro amarelado compareceu sob custódia pela meia dúzia de vezes mais uma, para fazer um requerimento pessoal “a fim de purgar-se de seu desacato”, coisa que, por ser o único testamenteiro sobrevivente e ter caído num estado de conglomerado quanto a contas das quais nem sequer se alega que algum dia tivesse conhecimento, é muito improvável que jamais consiga. Nesse ínterim, suas perspectivas na vida acabaram. Outro litigante arruinado, que aparece periodicamente vindo de Shropshire e irrompe em tentativas de dirigir-se ao Chanceler no fim dos trabalhos do dia, e a quem não se consegue de modo algum fazer entender que o Chanceler ignora legalmente sua existência depois de a ter desolado por um quarto de século, instala-se num bom lugar e mantém os olhos no juiz, pronto para bradar “Milorde!” com voz de queixa sonora no instante em que ele se levantar. Alguns escreventes de advogados e outros que conhecem de vista esse litigante ficam por ali, na esperança de que ele proporcione alguma diversão e anime um pouco o tempo lúgubre.

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Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Jarndyce e Jarndyce continua sem fim. Tornou-se tão complicado que ninguém o entende, sobretudo as pessoas envolvidas. Crianças nasceram dentro dele, adultos se casaram com pessoas ligadas a ele e idosos morreram enquanto ele continuava. Famílias herdaram seus ódios. Quase todos os Jarndyce se foram, mas o processo sem esperança ainda se arrasta pelo tribunal.

Jarndyce e Jarndyce virou uma piada jurídica, embora tenha causado muitas mortes. Juízes, advogados experientes e jovens escriturários fizeram piadas sobre um processo que parece menos provável de terminar do que batatas caírem do céu.

O processo prejudicou muitas pessoas que nem estavam diretamente envolvidas. Ensinou advogados e escriturários a enganar, adiar, evitar deveres e tomar dinheiro. Até observadores distantes aprenderam a ignorar injustiças e aceitar que o mundo nunca deveria dar certo.

Assim, o Lorde Alto Chanceler está sentado em seu tribunal, cercado de lama e névoa.

Original English Version

Jarndyce and Jarndyce drones on. This scarecrow of a suit has, in course of time, become so complicated that no man alive knows what it means. The parties to it understand it least, but it has been observed that no two Chancery lawyers can talk about it for five minutes without coming to a total disagreement as to all the premises. Innumerable children have been born into the cause; innumerable young people have married into it; innumerable old people have died out of it. Scores of persons have deliriously found themselves made parties in Jarndyce and Jarndyce without knowing how or why; whole families have inherited legendary hatreds with the suit. The little plaintiff or defendant who was promised a new rocking-horse when Jarndyce and Jarndyce should be settled has grown up, possessed himself of a real horse, and trotted away into the other world. Fair wards of court have faded into mothers and grandmothers; a long procession of Chancellors has come in and gone out; the legion of bills in the suit have been transformed into mere bills of mortality; there are not three Jarndyces left upon the earth perhaps since old Tom Jarndyce in despair blew his brains out at a coffee-house in Chancery Lane; but Jarndyce and Jarndyce still drags its dreary length before the court, perennially hopeless.

Jarndyce and Jarndyce has passed into a joke. That is the only good that has ever come of it. It has been death to many, but it is a joke in the profession. Every master in Chancery has had a reference out of it. Every Chancellor was “in it,” for somebody or other, when he was counsel at the bar. Good things have been said about it by blue-nosed, bulbous-shoed old benchers in select port-wine committee after dinner in hall. Articled clerks have been in the habit of fleshing their legal wit upon it. The last Lord Chancellor handled it neatly, when, correcting Mr. Blowers, the eminent silk gown who said that such a thing might happen when the sky rained potatoes, he observed, “or when we get through Jarndyce and Jarndyce, Mr. Blowers” - a pleasantry that particularly tickled the maces, bags, and purses.

How many people out of the suit Jarndyce and Jarndyce has stretched forth its unwholesome hand to spoil and corrupt would be a very wide question. From the master upon whose impaling files reams of dusty warrants in Jarndyce and Jarndyce have grimly writhed into many shapes, down to the copying-clerk in the Six Clerks’ Office who has copied his tens of thousands of Chancery folio-pages under that eternal heading, no man’s nature has been made better by it. In trickery, evasion, procrastination, spoliation, botheration, under false pretences of all sorts, there are influences that can never come to good. The very solicitors’ boys who have kept the wretched suitors at bay, by protesting time out of mind that Mr. Chizzle, Mizzle, or otherwise was particularly engaged and had appointments until dinner, may have got an extra moral twist and shuffle into themselves out of Jarndyce and Jarndyce. The receiver in the cause has acquired a goodly sum of money by it but has acquired too a distrust of his own mother and a contempt for his own kind. Chizzle, Mizzle, and otherwise have lapsed into a habit of vaguely promising themselves that they will look into that outstanding little matter and see what can be done for Drizzle - who was not well used - when Jarndyce and Jarndyce shall be got out of the office. Shirking and sharking in all their many varieties have been sown broadcast by the ill-fated cause; and even those who have contemplated its history from the outermost circle of such evil have been insensibly tempted into a loose way of letting bad things alone to take their own bad course, and a loose belief that if the world go wrong it was in some off-hand manner never meant to go right.

Thus, in the midst of the mud and at the heart of the fog, sits the Lord High Chancellor in his High Court of Chancery.

Tradução Integral em Português

Jarndyce e Jarndyce prossegue em seu zumbido. Esse espantalho de ação tornou-se, com o tempo, tão complicado que nenhum homem vivo sabe o que significa. As partes são quem menos o compreende, mas já se observou que dois advogados da Chancelaria não conseguem falar dele por cinco minutos sem chegar a um desacordo total quanto a todas as premissas. Inúmeras crianças nasceram dentro da causa; inúmeros jovens casaram-se para dentro dela; inúmeros velhos morreram para fora dela. Dezenas de pessoas viram-se delirantemente transformadas em partes de Jarndyce e Jarndyce sem saber como nem por quê; famílias inteiras herdaram ódios lendários junto com a ação. O pequeno autor ou réu a quem prometeram um cavalinho de balanço quando Jarndyce e Jarndyce fosse resolvida cresceu, adquiriu um cavalo de verdade e trotou para o outro mundo. Belas pupilas do tribunal desbotaram até se tornarem mães e avós; uma longa procissão de Chanceleres entrou e saiu; a legião de petições da ação transformou-se em meros atestados de óbito; talvez não restem três Jarndyces sobre a Terra desde que o velho Tom Jarndyce, desesperado, estourou os miolos numa cafeteria de Chancery Lane; mas Jarndyce e Jarndyce ainda arrasta sua extensão melancólica diante do tribunal, perenemente sem esperança.

Jarndyce e Jarndyce virou piada. É o único bem que jamais veio dela. Foi a morte de muitos, mas é uma piada na profissão. Cada mestre da Chancelaria recebeu dela uma remessa. Todo Chanceler “esteve nela”, por alguém, quando advogava no foro. Velhos conselheiros de nariz azulado e sapatos bulbosos disseram coisas espirituosas a respeito dela em comitês seletos regados a vinho do Porto após o jantar no salão. Escreventes contratados costumavam nela exercitar pela primeira vez o engenho jurídico. O último Lorde Chanceler tratou-a com elegância quando, ao corrigir o Sr. Blowers, eminente beca de seda que dissera que certa coisa poderia acontecer quando chovessem batatas do céu, observou: “ou quando terminarmos Jarndyce e Jarndyce, Sr. Blowers” - graça que fez particular cócega aos porta-maças, porta-sacolas e porta-bolsas.

Quantas pessoas fora da ação Jarndyce e Jarndyce alcançou com sua mão malsã para estragar e corromper seria uma questão vastíssima. Desde o mestre em cujos espetos de arquivo resmas de mandados empoeirados de Jarndyce e Jarndyce contorceram-se sinistramente em muitas formas, até o copista no Escritório dos Seis Escrivães que copiou suas dezenas de milhares de páginas em fólio da Chancelaria sob aquele título eterno, a natureza de homem algum melhorou por causa dela. No embuste, na evasão, na procrastinação, na espoliação, na importunação, sob falsos pretextos de toda espécie, há influências que nunca podem resultar em bem. Os próprios contínuos dos procuradores, que mantiveram os desgraçados litigantes à distância protestando desde tempos imemoriais que o Sr. Chizzle, Mizzle ou outro estava particularmente ocupado e tinha compromissos até o jantar, talvez tenham adquirido por meio de Jarndyce e Jarndyce uma torção e esquiva moral a mais. O administrador judicial da causa adquiriu com ela uma boa soma de dinheiro, mas adquiriu também desconfiança da própria mãe e desprezo pelos semelhantes. Chizzle, Mizzle e os demais caíram no hábito de prometer vagamente a si mesmos que examinariam aquela pendência menor e veriam o que se poderia fazer por Drizzle - que não fora bem tratado - quando Jarndyce e Jarndyce saísse do escritório. Fugir ao dever e rapinar, em todas as suas muitas variedades, foram semeados a mancheias pela malfadada causa; e mesmo aqueles que contemplaram sua história do círculo mais externo de semelhante mal foram insensivelmente tentados a uma maneira frouxa de deixar as coisas ruins seguirem seu próprio rumo ruim e a uma crença frouxa de que, se o mundo anda errado, então de alguma maneira impensada jamais se pretendeu que andasse certo.

Assim, em meio à lama e no coração da névoa, senta-se o Lorde Alto Chanceler em seu Alto Tribunal da Chancelaria.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

- Sr. Tangle - diz o Chanceler, cansando-se do longo discurso do advogado.

- Meu senhor - diz o Sr. Tangle. Ele sabe mais sobre Jarndyce e Jarndyce do que qualquer pessoa e parece não ter lido outra coisa desde a escola.

- Está quase terminando seu argumento?

O Sr. Tangle responde que não, pois sente que é seu dever discutir muitos pontos.

- Creio que vários outros advogados ainda precisam falar? - pergunta o Chanceler com um leve sorriso.

Dezoito advogados se levantam juntos, cada um carregando um resumo de mil e oitocentas páginas. Eles se curvam e voltam a sentar.

O Chanceler adia a audiência por duas semanas. A questão trata apenas das custas, um pequeno ramo do enorme processo, portanto talvez seja resolvida algum dia.

O Chanceler e os advogados se levantam. O prisioneiro é levado às pressas para a frente, e o homem de Shropshire grita: - Meu senhor! Os funcionários do tribunal exigem silêncio com raiva.

O Chanceler continua: - Sobre a jovem...

Original English Version

“Mr. Tangle,” says the Lord High Chancellor, latterly something restless under the eloquence of that learned gentleman.

“Mlud,” says Mr. Tangle. Mr. Tangle knows more of Jarndyce and Jarndyce than anybody. He is famous for it - supposed never to have read anything else since he left school.

“Have you nearly concluded your argument?”

“Mlud, no - variety of points - feel it my duty tsubmit - ludship,” is the reply that slides out of Mr. Tangle.

“Several members of the bar are still to be heard, I believe?” says the Chancellor with a slight smile.

Eighteen of Mr. Tangle’s learned friends, each armed with a little summary of eighteen hundred sheets, bob up like eighteen hammers in a pianoforte, make eighteen bows, and drop into their eighteen places of obscurity.

“We will proceed with the hearing on Wednesday fortnight,” says the Chancellor. For the question at issue is only a question of costs, a mere bud on the forest tree of the parent suit, and really will come to a settlement one of these days.

The Chancellor rises; the bar rises; the prisoner is brought forward in a hurry; the man from Shropshire cries, “My lord!” Maces, bags, and purses indignantly proclaim silence and frown at the man from Shropshire.

“In reference,” proceeds the Chancellor, still on Jarndyce and Jarndyce, “to the young girl - ”

Tradução Integral em Português

- Sr. Tangle - diz o Lorde Alto Chanceler, ultimamente um tanto inquieto sob a eloquência daquele douto cavalheiro.

- M’lorde - diz o Sr. Tangle. O Sr. Tangle sabe mais de Jarndyce e Jarndyce que qualquer pessoa. É famoso por isso - supõe-se que não tenha lido outra coisa desde que deixou a escola.

- Está perto de concluir sua argumentação?

- M’lorde, não - variedade de pontos - sinto ser meu dever ssubmeter - ssinhoria - é a resposta que escorrega para fora do Sr. Tangle.

- Vários membros da advocacia ainda devem ser ouvidos, creio? - diz o Chanceler com um leve sorriso.

Dezoito dos doutos amigos do Sr. Tangle, cada qual armado com um pequeno resumo de mil e oitocentas folhas, saltam como dezoito martelos de um pianoforte, fazem dezoito mesuras e tornam a cair em seus dezoito lugares obscuros.

- Prosseguiremos com a audiência daqui a duas quartas-feiras - diz o Chanceler. Pois a questão em disputa é apenas uma questão de custas, mero botão na árvore florestal da ação-mãe, e realmente haverá de chegar a uma solução um dia destes.

O Chanceler levanta-se; a advocacia levanta-se; o prisioneiro é trazido às pressas; o homem de Shropshire grita: “Milorde!” Porta-maças, sacolas e bolsas proclamam indignadamente silêncio e franzem o cenho ao homem de Shropshire.

- Com referência - prossegue o Chanceler, ainda em Jarndyce e Jarndyce - à jovem...

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

O Sr. Tangle interrompe para dizer que é um menino. O Chanceler explica com cuidado que se refere aos dois jovens, que encontrará antes de decidir se devem morar com o tio.

O Sr. Tangle se levanta novamente e diz: - Perdoe-me, meu senhor, ele está morto.

O Chanceler confere os papéis e troca "tio" por "avô".

O Sr. Tangle pede desculpas outra vez e explica que o avô tirou a própria vida.

Um advogado muito pequeno, com uma voz enorme, se levanta e diz que representa o homem. Não consegue explicar o parentesco exato, mas insiste que o homem é primo.

Depois de falar com voz profunda e séria, o pequeno advogado se senta e desaparece na névoa. Todos o procuram, mas ninguém consegue vê-lo.

O Chanceler diz que falará com os dois jovens e decidirá se devem morar com o primo. Anunciará a questão na manhã seguinte.

Original English Version

“Begludship’s pardon - boy,” says Mr. Tangle prematurely. “In reference,” proceeds the Chancellor with extra distinctness, “to the young girl and boy, the two young people” - Mr. Tangle crushed - “whom I directed to be in attendance to-day and who are now in my private room, I will see them and satisfy myself as to the expediency of making the order for their residing with their uncle.”

Mr. Tangle on his legs again. “Begludship’s pardon - dead.”

“With their” - Chancellor looking through his double eye-glass at the papers on his desk - “grandfather.”

“Begludship’s pardon - victim of rash action - brains.”

Suddenly a very little counsel with a terrific bass voice arises, fully inflated, in the back settlements of the fog, and says, “Will your lordship allow me? I appear for him. He is a cousin, several times removed. I am not at the moment prepared to inform the court in what exact remove he is a cousin, but he IS a cousin.”

Leaving this address (delivered like a sepulchral message) ringing in the rafters of the roof, the very little counsel drops, and the fog knows him no more. Everybody looks for him. Nobody can see him.

“I will speak with both the young people,” says the Chancellor anew, “and satisfy myself on the subject of their residing with their cousin. I will mention the matter to-morrow morning when I take my seat.”

Tradução Integral em Português

- Perdão, m’lorde... rapaz - diz prematuramente o Sr. Tangle. - Com referência - prossegue o Chanceler, com nitidez redobrada - à jovem e ao rapaz, aos dois jovens - o Sr. Tangle esmagado - cuja presença determinei hoje e que se encontram agora em minha sala particular, irei vê-los e certificar-me da conveniência de expedir a ordem para que residam com o tio.

O Sr. Tangle de pé outra vez. - Perdão, m’lorde... morto.

- Com o... - o Chanceler examina através do lorgnon os papéis sobre a mesa - avô.

- Perdão, m’lorde... vítima de ato precipitado... miolos.

De repente, um advogado pequeníssimo de terrível voz de baixo ergue-se, plenamente inflado, nos confins remotos da névoa e diz: - Vossa Senhoria me permite? Eu o represento. Ele é primo em vários graus de distância. Neste momento não estou preparado para informar ao tribunal em que grau exato é primo, mas primo ELE É.

Deixando esse pronunciamento (emitido como uma mensagem sepulcral) a ressoar nas vigas do teto, o advogado pequeníssimo abaixa-se e a névoa não torna a conhecê-lo. Todos o procuram. Ninguém consegue vê-lo.

- Falarei com ambos os jovens - diz novamente o Chanceler - e me certificarei quanto a residirem com o primo. Mencionarei a questão amanhã de manhã, quando tomar meu assento.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

O prisioneiro é enviado de volta à prisão rapidamente. O homem de Shropshire tenta falar mais uma vez, mas o Chanceler e todos os outros desaparecem. Escriturários levam sacos pesados de papéis, a velha sai com seus documentos e o tribunal vazio é trancado. Seria melhor se toda a injustiça e a miséria dele pudessem ser trancadas lá dentro e queimadas com ele.

Original English Version

The Chancellor is about to bow to the bar when the prisoner is presented. Nothing can possibly come of the prisoner’s conglomeration but his being sent back to prison, which is soon done. The man from Shropshire ventures another remonstrative “My lord!” but the Chancellor, being aware of him, has dexterously vanished. Everybody else quickly vanishes too. A battery of blue bags is loaded with heavy charges of papers and carried off by clerks; the little mad old woman marches off with her documents; the empty court is locked up. If all the injustice it has committed and all the misery it has caused could only be locked up with it, and the whole burnt away in a great funeral pyre - why so much the better for other parties than the parties in Jarndyce and Jarndyce!

Tradução Integral em Português

O Chanceler está prestes a inclinar-se para a advocacia quando o prisioneiro é apresentado. Nada pode resultar do conglomerado do prisioneiro senão seu retorno à prisão, o que logo se faz. O homem de Shropshire arrisca outro “Milorde!” em tom de protesto, mas o Chanceler, ciente dele, desapareceu com destreza. Todos os outros também desaparecem rapidamente. Uma bateria de sacolas azuis é carregada com pesadas cargas de papéis e levada pelos escreventes; a velhinha louca marcha com seus documentos; o tribunal vazio é trancado. Se toda a injustiça por ele cometida e toda a miséria por ele causada pudessem ser trancadas junto, e tudo fosse consumido numa grande pira funerária - tanto melhor para outras partes que não as partes de Jarndyce e Jarndyce!

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Chapter II

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Na Alta Sociedade

Agora visitamos brevemente a alta sociedade na mesma tarde lamacenta. Ela se parece com o Tribunal da Chancelaria porque ambos obedecem a velhos costumes e hábitos. Ambos são como pessoas que dormem durante tempestades e esperam um despertar mágico.

A alta sociedade é um mundo muito pequeno. Contém pessoas boas e honestas e tem seu lugar adequado. Mas está envolvida em luxo, incapaz de ouvir ou ver os mundos maiores ao redor. Sem ar fresco, torna-se fraca e doente.

Lady Dedlock deixou sua propriedade úmida e sombria em Lincolnshire e voltou a Londres antes de visitar Paris. A chuva inundou a terra, danificou uma ponte e encharcou árvores e animais. Sua grande casa parece fria, escura e assombrada. Ver uma família feliz junto ao fogo quente de uma cabana deixa Lady Dedlock, que não tem filhos, irritada. Ela diz que está morrendo de tédio.

Lady Dedlock deixou a casa de Lincolnshire para a chuva e os animais selvagens. Enquanto a governanta fecha os quartos escuros, os retratos da família parecem desaparecer nas paredes úmidas. A sociedade conhece o passado e o presente, mas não sabe dizer quando a família voltará.

Original English Version

In Fashion

It is but a glimpse of the world of fashion that we want on this same miry afternoon. It is not so unlike the Court of Chancery but that we may pass from the one scene to the other, as the crow flies. Both the world of fashion and the Court of Chancery are things of precedent and usage: oversleeping Rip Van Winkles who have played at strange games through a deal of thundery weather; sleeping beauties whom the knight will wake one day, when all the stopped spits in the kitchen shall begin to turn prodigiously!

It is not a large world. Relatively even to this world of ours, which has its limits too (as your Highness shall find when you have made the tour of it and are come to the brink of the void beyond), it is a very little speck. There is much good in it; there are many good and true people in it; it has its appointed place. But the evil of it is that it is a world wrapped up in too much jeweller’s cotton and fine wool, and cannot hear the rushing of the larger worlds, and cannot see them as they circle round the sun. It is a deadened world, and its growth is sometimes unhealthy for want of air.

My Lady Dedlock has returned to her house in town for a few days previous to her departure for Paris, where her ladyship intends to stay some weeks, after which her movements are uncertain. The fashionable intelligence says so for the comfort of the Parisians, and it knows all fashionable things. To know things otherwise were to be unfashionable. My Lady Dedlock has been down at what she calls, in familiar conversation, her “place” in Lincolnshire. The waters are out in Lincolnshire. An arch of the bridge in the park has been sapped and sopped away. The adjacent low-lying ground for half a mile in breadth is a stagnant river with melancholy trees for islands in it and a surface punctured all over, all day long, with falling rain. My Lady Dedlock’s place has been extremely dreary. The weather for many a day and night has been so wet that the trees seem wet through, and the soft loppings and prunings of the woodman’s axe can make no crash or crackle as they fall. The deer, looking soaked, leave quagmires where they pass. The shot of a rifle loses its sharpness in the moist air, and its smoke moves in a tardy little cloud towards the green rise, coppice-topped, that makes a background for the falling rain. The view from my Lady Dedlock’s own windows is alternately a lead-coloured view and a view in Indian ink. The vases on the stone terrace in the foreground catch the rain all day; and the heavy drops fall - drip, drip, drip - upon the broad flagged pavement, called from old time the Ghost’s Walk, all night. On Sundays the little church in the park is mouldy; the oaken pulpit breaks out into a cold sweat; and there is a general smell and taste as of the ancient Dedlocks in their graves. My Lady Dedlock (who is childless), looking out in the early twilight from her boudoir at a keeper’s lodge and seeing the light of a fire upon the latticed panes, and smoke rising from the chimney, and a child, chased by a woman, running out into the rain to meet the shining figure of a wrapped-up man coming through the gate, has been put quite out of temper. My Lady Dedlock says she has been “bored to death.”

Therefore my Lady Dedlock has come away from the place in Lincolnshire and has left it to the rain, and the crows, and the rabbits, and the deer, and the partridges and pheasants. The pictures of the Dedlocks past and gone have seemed to vanish into the damp walls in mere lowness of spirits, as the housekeeper has passed along the old rooms shutting up the shutters. And when they will next come forth again, the fashionable intelligence - which, like the fiend, is omniscient of the past and present, but not the future - cannot yet undertake to say.

Tradução Integral em Português

Na Alta Sociedade

É apenas um vislumbre do mundo elegante que desejamos nesta mesma tarde lamacenta. Ele não é tão diferente do Tribunal da Chancelaria que não possamos passar de uma cena à outra em linha reta. Tanto o mundo elegante quanto o Tribunal da Chancelaria são coisas de precedente e costume: Rip Van Winkles que dormiram demais e participaram de jogos estranhos durante muito tempo tempestuoso; belas adormecidas que o cavaleiro despertará um dia, quando todos os espetos parados da cozinha começarem a girar prodigiosamente!

Não é um mundo grande. Mesmo em relação a este nosso mundo, que também tem seus limites (como Vossa Alteza descobrirá quando o tiver percorrido e chegar à beira do vazio além), é uma manchinha minúscula. Há muito bem nele; há nele muitas pessoas boas e verdadeiras; ele tem seu lugar determinado. Mas seu mal é ser um mundo embrulhado em algodão de joalheiro e lã fina demais, incapaz de ouvir o ímpeto dos mundos maiores e de vê-los enquanto giram em torno do sol. É um mundo amortecido, e seu crescimento às vezes é malsão por falta de ar.

Lady Dedlock voltou à sua casa na cidade por alguns dias antes de partir para Paris, onde pretende permanecer algumas semanas, depois das quais seus movimentos são incertos. Assim diz a crônica elegante, para consolo dos parisienses, e ela conhece todas as coisas elegantes. Conhecê-las de outro modo seria deselegante. Lady Dedlock esteve no que chama, em conversa familiar, de sua “propriedade” em Lincolnshire. As águas transbordaram em Lincolnshire. Um arco da ponte do parque foi minado e encharcado até desaparecer. O terreno baixo adjacente, com oitocentos metros de largura, é um rio estagnado com árvores melancólicas por ilhas e a superfície toda perfurada, o dia inteiro, pela chuva. A propriedade de Lady Dedlock tem estado extremamente lúgubre. Há muitos dias e noites o tempo está tão úmido que as árvores parecem encharcadas por inteiro, e os galhos macios cortados e podados pelo machado do lenhador não fazem estrondo nem estalo ao cair. Os cervos, com aspecto ensopado, deixam atoleiros por onde passam. O tiro de uma espingarda perde a agudeza no ar úmido, e a fumaça move-se numa pequena nuvem tardia rumo à elevação verde, coroada de mata, que serve de fundo à chuva cadente. A vista das próprias janelas de Lady Dedlock alterna entre uma paisagem cor de chumbo e outra a nanquim. Os vasos do terraço de pedra, em primeiro plano, recolhem a chuva o dia todo; e as gotas pesadas caem - pinga, pinga, pinga - sobre o largo pavimento de lajes, desde tempos antigos chamado Passeio do Fantasma, a noite toda. Aos domingos, a igrejinha do parque está bolorenta; o púlpito de carvalho rompe num suor frio; e há um cheiro e gosto geral dos antigos Dedlocks em seus túmulos. Lady Dedlock (que não tem filhos), olhando de seu boudoir no crepúsculo precoce para a casa de um guarda, vendo o clarão do fogo nas vidraças de treliça, a fumaça subindo da chaminé e uma criança, perseguida por uma mulher, correndo para a chuva ao encontro da figura reluzente de um homem agasalhado que entra pelo portão, ficou de péssimo humor. Lady Dedlock diz que ficou “entediada até a morte”.

Por isso Lady Dedlock deixou a propriedade em Lincolnshire e a entregou à chuva, aos corvos, coelhos, cervos, perdizes e faisões. Os retratos dos Dedlocks de outrora pareceram sumir dentro das paredes úmidas por puro abatimento, enquanto a governanta percorria os velhos aposentos fechando as venezianas. E quando tornarão a surgir, a crônica elegante - que, como o demônio, é onisciente quanto ao passado e ao presente, mas não quanto ao futuro - ainda não se atreve a dizer.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Sir Leicester Dedlock é apenas um baronete, mas considera sua antiga família mais importante do que quase tudo. É honrado, orgulhoso, teimoso, enérgico, cheio de preconceitos e completamente irracional.

Sir Leicester é mais de vinte anos mais velho que Lady Dedlock e agora tem mais de sessenta e cinco anos. Às vezes sofre de gota e anda com rigidez. Com cabelos grisalhos e roupas formais, sempre parece imponente e educado. Admira sinceramente a esposa, e seu amor fiel por ela é sua única qualidade romântica.

Ele se casou com ela por amor, embora as pessoas cochichassem que ela não vinha de uma família importante. Ela tinha beleza, orgulho, ambição, determinação e inteligência. Com riqueza e posição social, logo chegou ao topo da alta sociedade.

Depois que Lady Dedlock conquistou seu mundo social, não ficou alegre, mas fria. Sua vitória a deixou calmamente cansada e sem interesse por nada. Tem modos perfeitos, mas provavelmente nem ir para o céu a deixaria animada.

Original English Version

Sir Leicester Dedlock is only a baronet, but there is no mightier baronet than he. His family is as old as the hills, and infinitely more respectable. He has a general opinion that the world might get on without hills but would be done up without Dedlocks. He would on the whole admit nature to be a good idea (a little low, perhaps, when not enclosed with a park-fence), but an idea dependent for its execution on your great county families. He is a gentleman of strict conscience, disdainful of all littleness and meanness and ready on the shortest notice to die any death you may please to mention rather than give occasion for the least impeachment of his integrity. He is an honourable, obstinate, truthful, high-spirited, intensely prejudiced, perfectly unreasonable man.

Sir Leicester is twenty years, full measure, older than my Lady. He will never see sixty-five again, nor perhaps sixty-six, nor yet sixty-seven. He has a twist of the gout now and then and walks a little stiffly. He is of a worthy presence, with his light-grey hair and whiskers, his fine shirt-frill, his pure-white waistcoat, and his blue coat with bright buttons always buttoned. He is ceremonious, stately, most polite on every occasion to my Lady, and holds her personal attractions in the highest estimation. His gallantry to my Lady, which has never changed since he courted her, is the one little touch of romantic fancy in him.

Indeed, he married her for love. A whisper still goes about that she had not even family; howbeit, Sir Leicester had so much family that perhaps he had enough and could dispense with any more. But she had beauty, pride, ambition, insolent resolve, and sense enough to portion out a legion of fine ladies. Wealth and station, added to these, soon floated her upward, and for years now my Lady Dedlock has been at the centre of the fashionable intelligence and at the top of the fashionable tree.

How Alexander wept when he had no more worlds to conquer, everybody knows - or has some reason to know by this time, the matter having been rather frequently mentioned. My Lady Dedlock, having conquered HER world, fell not into the melting, but rather into the freezing, mood. An exhausted composure, a worn-out placidity, an equanimity of fatigue not to be ruffled by interest or satisfaction, are the trophies of her victory. She is perfectly well-bred. If she could be translated to heaven to-morrow, she might be expected to ascend without any rapture.

Tradução Integral em Português

Sir Leicester Dedlock é apenas baronete, mas não há baronete mais poderoso. Sua família é tão antiga quanto as colinas, e infinitamente mais respeitável. Ele é de opinião geral que o mundo poderia passar sem colinas, mas estaria perdido sem Dedlocks. Admitiria, em suma, que a natureza é uma boa ideia (talvez um tanto vulgar quando não cercada pela grade de um parque), mas ideia cuja execução depende das grandes famílias dos condados. É um cavalheiro de consciência rigorosa, desdenhoso de toda pequenez e mesquinhez, pronto ao menor aviso a morrer de qualquer morte que se queira mencionar antes de dar ocasião à menor censura de sua integridade. É um homem honrado, obstinado, veraz, brioso, intensamente preconceituoso e perfeitamente irracional.

Sir Leicester é vinte anos inteiros mais velho que Lady Dedlock. Jamais tornará a ver os sessenta e cinco, talvez nem os sessenta e seis, nem tampouco os sessenta e sete. Tem de vez em quando uma pontada de gota e anda um pouco rígido. Sua presença é digna, com cabelos e suíças cinza-claros, fino jabô, colete branco puro e casaca azul de botões brilhantes sempre abotoada. É cerimonioso, majestoso, sempre polidíssimo com Lady Dedlock, e tem suas atrações pessoais na mais alta estima. Sua galanteria para com ela, imutável desde o tempo em que a cortejou, é o único leve toque de fantasia romântica que há nele.

Na verdade, casou-se com ela por amor. Ainda corre um sussurro de que ela nem sequer tinha família; contudo, Sir Leicester tinha tanta família que talvez já lhe bastasse e pudesse dispensar mais. Mas ela possuía beleza, orgulho, ambição, resolução insolente e juízo suficiente para repartir entre uma legião de damas finas. Riqueza e posição, somadas a isso, logo a fizeram flutuar para o alto, e há anos Lady Dedlock ocupa o centro da crônica elegante e o topo da árvore da moda.

Todos sabem como Alexandre chorou quando já não tinha mundos a conquistar - ou têm a esta altura algum motivo para saber, pois o assunto foi mencionado com bastante frequência. Lady Dedlock, depois de conquistar SEU mundo, caiu não num estado de enternecimento, mas antes de congelamento. Uma compostura exaurida, uma placidez gasta, uma equanimidade de cansaço que interesse ou satisfação algum consegue perturbar são os troféus de sua vitória. É perfeitamente bem-educada. Se amanhã fosse transportada ao céu, seria de esperar que subisse sem êxtase algum.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Lady Dedlock ainda é bonita. Seu rosto se tornou mais clássico e formal com sua alta posição social. Ela parece alta e elegante, veste-se com perfeição e cuida especialmente dos cabelos.

Lady Dedlock está em sua casa de Londres antes de ir a Paris. Nessa tarde escura e lamacenta, chega o advogado antiquado dos Dedlock. Um criado de cabelos empoados o conduz por salas grandiosas, mas sem vida, até Lady Dedlock.

O Sr. Tulkinghorn parece velho e sem brilho, mas ficou rico cuidando de casamentos e testamentos aristocráticos. Guarda em silêncio muitos segredos de famílias nobres. Suas roupas pretas nunca brilham, assim como sua personalidade. Só fala a trabalho e recebe cumprimentos educados sem revelar nada.

Sir Leicester fica contente ao ver o Sr. Tulkinghorn. As roupas e o jeito antiquado do advogado lhe agradam porque parecem mostrar o devido respeito e serviço leal à família Dedlock.

Lady Dedlock acredita que as pessoas comuns não conseguem compreendê-la. Na verdade, todos ao redor conhecem suas fraquezas e seus hábitos, desde a criada até os lojistas da moda. Essas pessoas fingem obedecer a ela enquanto orientam cuidadosamente suas escolhas. Ao tornar uma novidade elegante, conseguem conduzir Lady Dedlock e todo o seu grupo social.

Original English Version

She has beauty still, and if it be not in its heyday, it is not yet in its autumn. She has a fine face - originally of a character that would be rather called very pretty than handsome, but improved into classicality by the acquired expression of her fashionable state. Her figure is elegant and has the effect of being tall. Not that she is so, but that “the most is made,” as the Honourable Bob Stables has frequently asserted upon oath, “of all her points.” The same authority observes that she is perfectly got up and remarks in commendation of her hair especially that she is the best-groomed woman in the whole stud.

With all her perfections on her head, my Lady Dedlock has come up from her place in Lincolnshire (hotly pursued by the fashionable intelligence) to pass a few days at her house in town previous to her departure for Paris, where her ladyship intends to stay some weeks, after which her movements are uncertain. And at her house in town, upon this muddy, murky afternoon, presents himself an old-fashioned old gentleman, attorney-at-law and eke solicitor of the High Court of Chancery, who has the honour of acting as legal adviser of the Dedlocks and has as many cast-iron boxes in his office with that name outside as if the present baronet were the coin of the conjuror’s trick and were constantly being juggled through the whole set. Across the hall, and up the stairs, and along the passages, and through the rooms, which are very brilliant in the season and very dismal out of it - fairy-land to visit, but a desert to live in - the old gentleman is conducted by a Mercury in powder to my Lady’s presence.

The old gentleman is rusty to look at, but is reputed to have made good thrift out of aristocratic marriage settlements and aristocratic wills, and to be very rich. He is surrounded by a mysterious halo of family confidences, of which he is known to be the silent depository. There are noble mausoleums rooted for centuries in retired glades of parks among the growing timber and the fern, which perhaps hold fewer noble secrets than walk abroad among men, shut up in the breast of Mr. Tulkinghorn. He is of what is called the old school - a phrase generally meaning any school that seems never to have been young - and wears knee-breeches tied with ribbons, and gaiters or stockings. One peculiarity of his black clothes and of his black stockings, be they silk or worsted, is that they never shine. Mute, close, irresponsive to any glancing light, his dress is like himself. He never converses when not professionally consulted. He is found sometimes, speechless but quite at home, at corners of dinner-tables in great country houses and near doors of drawing-rooms, concerning which the fashionable intelligence is eloquent, where everybody knows him and where half the Peerage stops to say “How do you do, Mr. Tulkinghorn?” He receives these salutations with gravity and buries them along with the rest of his knowledge.

Sir Leicester Dedlock is with my Lady and is happy to see Mr. Tulkinghorn. There is an air of prescription about him which is always agreeable to Sir Leicester; he receives it as a kind of tribute. He likes Mr. Tulkinghorn’s dress; there is a kind of tribute in that too. It is eminently respectable, and likewise, in a general way, retainer-like. It expresses, as it were, the steward of the legal mysteries, the butler of the legal cellar, of the Dedlocks.

Has Mr. Tulkinghorn any idea of this himself? It may be so, or it may not, but there is this remarkable circumstance to be noted in everything associated with my Lady Dedlock as one of a class - as one of the leaders and representatives of her little world. She supposes herself to be an inscrutable Being, quite out of the reach and ken of ordinary mortals - seeing herself in her glass, where indeed she looks so. Yet every dim little star revolving about her, from her maid to the manager of the Italian Opera, knows her weaknesses, prejudices, follies, haughtinesses, and caprices and lives upon as accurate a calculation and as nice a measure of her moral nature as her dressmaker takes of her physical proportions. Is a new dress, a new custom, a new singer, a new dancer, a new form of jewellery, a new dwarf or giant, a new chapel, a new anything, to be set up? There are deferential people in a dozen callings whom my Lady Dedlock suspects of nothing but prostration before her, who can tell you how to manage her as if she were a baby, who do nothing but nurse her all their lives, who, humbly affecting to follow with profound subservience, lead her and her whole troop after them; who, in hooking one, hook all and bear them off as Lemuel Gulliver bore away the stately fleet of the majestic Lilliput. “If you want to address our people, sir,” say Blaze and Sparkle, the jewellers - meaning by our people Lady Dedlock and the rest - “you must remember that you are not dealing with the general public; you must hit our people in their weakest place, and their weakest place is such a place.” “To make this article go down, gentlemen,” say Sheen and Gloss, the mercers, to their friends the manufacturers, “you must come to us, because we know where to have the fashionable people, and we can make it fashionable.” “If you want to get this print upon the tables of my high connexion, sir,” says Mr. Sladdery, the librarian, “or if you want to get this dwarf or giant into the houses of my high connexion, sir, or if you want to secure to this entertainment the patronage of my high connexion, sir, you must leave it, if you please, to me, for I have been accustomed to study the leaders of my high connexion, sir, and I may tell you without vanity that I can turn them round my finger” - in which Mr. Sladdery, who is an honest man, does not exaggerate at all.

Tradução Integral em Português

Ainda possui beleza, e, se esta já não está no auge, tampouco chegou ao outono. Tem um belo rosto - originalmente de caráter que se chamaria antes muito bonito que formoso, mas aprimorado até o clássico pela expressão adquirida de sua condição elegante. Sua figura é elegante e produz o efeito de ser alta. Não que o seja, mas “tira-se o máximo”, como o Honorável Bob Stables afirmou muitas vezes sob juramento, “de todos os seus atributos”. A mesma autoridade observa que ela está perfeitamente montada e, elogiando-lhe em especial o cabelo, comenta ser a mulher mais bem tratada de toda a coudelaria.

Com todas as suas perfeições sobre a cabeça, Lady Dedlock veio de sua propriedade em Lincolnshire (ardentemente perseguida pela crônica elegante) passar alguns dias em sua casa na cidade antes de partir para Paris, onde pretende ficar algumas semanas, depois das quais seus movimentos são incertos. E em sua casa na cidade, nesta tarde lamacenta e sombria, apresenta-se um antiquado senhor idoso, advogado e também procurador do Alto Tribunal da Chancelaria, que tem a honra de servir como consultor jurídico dos Dedlocks e possui no escritório tantas caixas de ferro fundido com esse nome por fora como se o atual baronete fosse a moeda de um truque de prestidigitação, constantemente manipulada através de todo o conjunto. Pelo vestíbulo, escada acima, ao longo dos corredores e através dos aposentos, muito brilhantes durante a temporada e muito lúgubres fora dela - terra de fadas para visitar, deserto para habitar - , o velho senhor é conduzido à presença de Lady Dedlock por um Mercúrio empoado.

O velho senhor tem aparência enferrujada, mas consta que prosperou bastante com contratos matrimoniais e testamentos aristocráticos, sendo muito rico. Cerca-o uma auréola misteriosa de confidências familiares, das quais é conhecido depositário silencioso. Há nobres mausoléus há séculos enraizados em clareiras retiradas de parques, entre árvores crescentes e samambaias, que talvez guardem menos segredos nobres que os que caminham entre os homens encerrados no peito do Sr. Tulkinghorn. Ele pertence ao que se chama velha escola - expressão que em geral significa qualquer escola que parece nunca ter sido jovem - e usa calções atados nos joelhos por fitas, polainas ou meias. Uma peculiaridade de suas roupas e meias pretas, sejam de seda ou lã, é nunca brilharem. Mudo, fechado, insensível a qualquer luz passageira, seu traje é como ele próprio. Nunca conversa quando não é consultado profissionalmente. Às vezes é encontrado, calado mas perfeitamente à vontade, nos cantos das mesas de jantar de grandes casas de campo e perto das portas de salas de visita sobre as quais a crônica elegante é eloquente, onde todos o conhecem e metade da nobreza para e diz: “Como vai, Sr. Tulkinghorn?” Recebe as saudações com gravidade e as enterra com o restante de seu conhecimento.

Sir Leicester Dedlock está com Lady Dedlock e alegra-se em ver o Sr. Tulkinghorn. Há nele um ar de coisa consagrada pelo tempo que sempre agrada a Sir Leicester, que o recebe como espécie de tributo. Gosta do traje do Sr. Tulkinghorn; há nisso também uma espécie de tributo. É eminentemente respeitável e, de modo geral, semelhante ao de um servidor. Expressa, por assim dizer, o intendente dos mistérios jurídicos, o mordomo da adega legal dos Dedlocks.

Tem o Sr. Tulkinghorn alguma noção disso? Talvez sim, talvez não; mas há esta circunstância notável em tudo que se associa a Lady Dedlock como membro de uma classe - uma das líderes e representantes de seu pequeno mundo. Ela se supõe um Ser inescrutável, muito além do alcance e compreensão dos mortais comuns - vendo-se no espelho, onde de fato assim parece. Contudo, cada estrelinha opaca que gira ao seu redor, da criada ao diretor da Ópera Italiana, conhece-lhe as fraquezas, preconceitos, loucuras, altivez e caprichos, e vive segundo cálculo tão exato e medida tão precisa de sua natureza moral quanto os que sua modista toma de suas proporções físicas. Deve-se lançar um vestido novo, um costume novo, um cantor novo, uma bailarina nova, uma nova forma de joia, um novo anão ou gigante, uma capela nova, uma novidade qualquer? Há pessoas deferentes em uma dúzia de ofícios, das quais Lady Dedlock não suspeita senão prostração perante ela, que sabem dizer como manejá-la como se fosse um bebê, que passam a vida inteira apenas a niná-la, que, fingindo humildemente seguir com profunda subserviência, conduzem-na e a todo o séquito atrás de si; que, ao fisgar uma, fisgam todas e as levam como Lemuel Gulliver levou a majestosa frota da majestosa Lilliput. “Se deseja dirigir-se à nossa gente, senhor”, dizem Blaze e Sparkle, os joalheiros - querendo dizer Lady Dedlock e os demais - , “deve lembrar que não trata com o público em geral; deve atingir nossa gente no ponto mais fraco, e o ponto mais fraco é tal ponto.” “Para fazer este artigo pegar, cavalheiros”, dizem Sheen e Gloss, os armarinheiros, a seus amigos fabricantes, “devem procurar-nos, porque sabemos por onde apanhar a gente elegante e podemos torná-lo elegante.” “Se deseja pôr esta gravura nas mesas de minhas altas relações, senhor”, diz o Sr. Sladdery, o livreiro, “ou introduzir este anão ou gigante nas casas de minhas altas relações, senhor, ou garantir a este divertimento o patrocínio de minhas altas relações, senhor, deve deixá-lo, por favor, comigo, pois estou habituado a estudar os líderes de minhas altas relações, senhor, e posso dizer-lhe sem vaidade que os enrolo no dedo” - e nisso o Sr. Sladdery, homem honesto, não exagera em absoluto.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Assim, o Sr. Tulkinghorn pode saber ou não o que Lady Dedlock está pensando, mas provavelmente sabe.

Sir Leicester cumprimenta o advogado e pergunta se o processo de Lady Dedlock esteve novamente diante do Chanceler.

O Sr. Tulkinghorn diz que o processo foi ouvido novamente naquele dia e faz uma discreta reverência a Lady Dedlock, que está sentada junto ao fogo com um anteparo diante do rosto.

Lady Dedlock diz que provavelmente não adianta perguntar se alguma coisa foi resolvida.

O Sr. Tulkinghorn responde que nada que ela consideraria importante foi feito naquele dia.

Lady Dedlock diz que nada jamais será feito.

Sir Leicester não se incomoda com um processo interminável da Chancelaria porque ele parece tradicionalmente britânico. O caso não é muito importante para ele, e acredita que o tribunal faz parte de um sistema sábio. Reclamar, teme ele, poderia incentivar as classes baixas a se rebelar.

O Sr. Tulkinghorn diz que algumas declarações novas e curtas foram acrescentadas ao processo. Como sempre mantém os clientes informados e eles vão a Paris, trouxe os papéis consigo.

Original English Version

Therefore, while Mr. Tulkinghorn may not know what is passing in the Dedlock mind at present, it is very possible that he may.

“My Lady’s cause has been again before the Chancellor, has it, Mr. Tulkinghorn?” says Sir Leicester, giving him his hand.

“Yes. It has been on again to-day,” Mr. Tulkinghorn replies, making one of his quiet bows to my Lady, who is on a sofa near the fire, shading her face with a hand-screen.

“It would be useless to ask,” says my Lady with the dreariness of the place in Lincolnshire still upon her, “whether anything has been done.”

“Nothing that YOU would call anything has been done to-day,” replies Mr. Tulkinghorn.

“Nor ever will be,” says my Lady.

Sir Leicester has no objection to an interminable Chancery suit. It is a slow, expensive, British, constitutional kind of thing. To be sure, he has not a vital interest in the suit in question, her part in which was the only property my Lady brought him; and he has a shadowy impression that for his name - the name of Dedlock - to be in a cause, and not in the title of that cause, is a most ridiculous accident. But he regards the Court of Chancery, even if it should involve an occasional delay of justice and a trifling amount of confusion, as a something devised in conjunction with a variety of other somethings by the perfection of human wisdom for the eternal settlement (humanly speaking) of everything. And he is upon the whole of a fixed opinion that to give the sanction of his countenance to any complaints respecting it would be to encourage some person in the lower classes to rise up somewhere - like Wat Tyler.

“As a few fresh affidavits have been put upon the file,” says Mr. Tulkinghorn, “and as they are short, and as I proceed upon the troublesome principle of begging leave to possess my clients with any new proceedings in a cause” - cautious man Mr. Tulkinghorn, taking no more responsibility than necessary - “and further, as I see you are going to Paris, I have brought them in my pocket.”

Tradução Integral em Português

Portanto, embora o Sr. Tulkinghorn talvez não saiba o que se passa atualmente na mente dos Dedlock, é muito possível que saiba.

- A causa de Lady Dedlock voltou a ser apresentada ao Chanceler, não é, Sr. Tulkinghorn? - diz Sir Leicester, dando-lhe a mão.

- Sim. Voltou à pauta hoje - responde o Sr. Tulkinghorn, fazendo uma de suas discretas mesuras a Lady Dedlock, que está num sofá junto ao fogo, protegendo o rosto com um anteparo de mão.

- Seria inútil perguntar - diz Lady Dedlock, ainda sob o peso da melancolia da propriedade em Lincolnshire - se alguma coisa foi feita.

- Nada que a SENHORA chamaria de alguma coisa foi feito hoje - responde o Sr. Tulkinghorn.

- Nem jamais será - diz Lady Dedlock.

Sir Leicester não tem objeção a uma ação interminável na Chancelaria. É algo lento, dispendioso, britânico, constitucional. É verdade que ele não tem interesse vital na ação em questão, na qual a parte dela foi a única propriedade que Lady Dedlock lhe trouxe; e possui a vaga impressão de que seu nome - o nome Dedlock - figurar numa causa sem figurar no título dela constitui o mais ridículo acidente. Mas considera o Tribunal da Chancelaria, ainda que implique ocasional atraso da justiça e insignificante grau de confusão, algo concebido em conjunto com uma variedade de outras coisas pela perfeição da sabedoria humana para a resolução eterna (humanamente falando) de tudo. E mantém, no conjunto, a opinião fixa de que emprestar a sanção de seu semblante a qualquer queixa a respeito dele seria encorajar alguém das classes inferiores a erguer-se em algum lugar - como Wat Tyler.

- Como alguns novos depoimentos juramentados foram juntados aos autos - diz o Sr. Tulkinghorn - , como são breves e como sigo o incômodo princípio de pedir licença para pôr meus clientes a par de qualquer novo andamento numa causa - homem cauteloso, o Sr. Tulkinghorn, não assumindo responsabilidade maior que a necessária - , e ainda como vejo que vão a Paris, trouxe-os no bolso.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Sir Leicester também ia a Paris, mas a alta sociedade se interessava principalmente por Lady Dedlock.

O Sr. Tulkinghorn tira os papéis, coloca-os sobre uma pequena mesa dourada ao lado de Lady Dedlock, põe os óculos e começa a ler à luz de um abajur.

- No Tribunal da Chancelaria. Entre John Jarndyce...

Lady Dedlock interrompe e pede que ele omita o máximo possível da linguagem jurídica formal.

O Sr. Tulkinghorn recomeça mais abaixo na página. Lady Dedlock para de ouvir, enquanto Sir Leicester aprecia as longas frases jurídicas. Sentindo calor junto ao fogo, ela olha os papéis de perto e pergunta de repente: - Quem copiou isso?

O Sr. Tulkinghorn para, surpreso com o interesse repentino e a voz incomum de Lady Dedlock.

Ela pergunta com calma se a escrita é o que os advogados chamam de caligrafia jurídica.

O Sr. Tulkinghorn examina a escrita e diz que não exatamente. O autor provavelmente aprendeu o estilo jurídico depois de aprender a escrever. Ele pergunta por que ela quer saber.

Original English Version

(Sir Leicester was going to Paris too, by the by, but the delight of the fashionable intelligence was in his Lady.)

Mr. Tulkinghorn takes out his papers, asks permission to place them on a golden talisman of a table at my Lady’s elbow, puts on his spectacles, and begins to read by the light of a shaded lamp.

“‘In Chancery. Between John Jarndyce - ’”

My Lady interrupts, requesting him to miss as many of the formal horrors as he can.

Mr. Tulkinghorn glances over his spectacles and begins again lower down. My Lady carelessly and scornfully abstracts her attention. Sir Leicester in a great chair looks at the file and appears to have a stately liking for the legal repetitions and prolixities as ranging among the national bulwarks. It happens that the fire is hot where my Lady sits and that the hand-screen is more beautiful than useful, being priceless but small. My Lady, changing her position, sees the papers on the table - looks at them nearer - looks at them nearer still - asks impulsively, “Who copied that?”

Mr. Tulkinghorn stops short, surprised by my Lady’s animation and her unusual tone.

“Is it what you people call law-hand?” she asks, looking full at him in her careless way again and toying with her screen.

“Not quite. Probably” - Mr. Tulkinghorn examines it as he speaks - “the legal character which it has was acquired after the original hand was formed. Why do you ask?”

Tradução Integral em Português

(Sir Leicester também ia a Paris, aliás, mas o deleite da crônica elegante estava em Lady Dedlock.)

O Sr. Tulkinghorn tira os papéis, pede licença para colocá-los sobre o talismã dourado de uma mesa ao cotovelo de Lady Dedlock, põe os óculos e começa a ler à luz de uma lâmpada velada.

- “Na Chancelaria. Entre John Jarndyce...”

Lady Dedlock interrompe-o, pedindo que omita tantos horrores formais quanto puder.

O Sr. Tulkinghorn olha por cima dos óculos e recomeça mais abaixo. Lady Dedlock distrai a atenção com descuido e desprezo. Sir Leicester, numa grande poltrona, olha para os autos e parece apreciar majestosamente as repetições e prolixidades legais como se figurassem entre os baluartes nacionais. Acontece que o fogo está quente onde Lady Dedlock se senta e o anteparo de mão é mais belo que útil, pois, embora inestimável, é pequeno. Lady Dedlock, mudando de posição, vê os papéis sobre a mesa - olha-os mais de perto - mais perto ainda - e pergunta por impulso: - Quem copiou isso?

O Sr. Tulkinghorn detém-se abruptamente, surpreso com a animação de Lady Dedlock e seu tom incomum.

- É o que vocês chamam de caligrafia jurídica? - pergunta ela, tornando a fitá-lo diretamente com seu ar descuidado e brincando com o anteparo.

- Não exatamente. Provavelmente - o Sr. Tulkinghorn examina-a enquanto fala - o caráter jurídico que possui foi adquirido depois de formada a caligrafia original. Por que pergunta?

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Ela diz que só quer algo para quebrar o tédio terrível e manda que ele continue.

O Sr. Tulkinghorn volta a ler. A sala fica mais quente, e Lady Dedlock cobre o rosto. Sir Leicester acorda de um sono leve e pergunta o que foi dito.

O Sr. Tulkinghorn se levanta depressa e diz que teme que Lady Dedlock esteja passando mal.

Com os lábios pálidos, Lady Dedlock diz que apenas desmaiou, mas parece a morte. Ordena que não falem, que toquem a campainha e a levem ao quarto.

O Sr. Tulkinghorn espera em outro aposento. Campainhas tocam e criados correm; depois tudo fica em silêncio. Por fim, um criado pede que ele volte.

Sir Leicester diz que Lady Dedlock está melhor e pede ao advogado que continue lendo apenas para ele. Ficou assustado porque ela nunca havia desmaiado, mas culpa o tempo difícil e o terrível tédio dela em Lincolnshire.

Original English Version

“Anything to vary this detestable monotony. Oh, go on, do!”

Mr. Tulkinghorn reads again. The heat is greater; my Lady screens her face. Sir Leicester dozes, starts up suddenly, and cries, “Eh? What do you say?”

“I say I am afraid,” says Mr. Tulkinghorn, who had risen hastily, “that Lady Dedlock is ill.”

“Faint,” my Lady murmurs with white lips, “only that; but it is like the faintness of death. Don’t speak to me. Ring, and take me to my room!”

Mr. Tulkinghorn retires into another chamber; bells ring, feet shuffle and patter, silence ensues. Mercury at last begs Mr. Tulkinghorn to return.

“Better now,” quoth Sir Leicester, motioning the lawyer to sit down and read to him alone. “I have been quite alarmed. I never knew my Lady swoon before. But the weather is extremely trying, and she really has been bored to death down at our place in Lincolnshire.”

Tradução Integral em Português

- Qualquer coisa que varie esta monotonia detestável. Oh, prossiga, por favor!

O Sr. Tulkinghorn torna a ler. O calor é maior; Lady Dedlock protege o rosto. Sir Leicester cochila, desperta de súbito e exclama: - Hein? O que disse?

- Digo que receio - diz o Sr. Tulkinghorn, que se levantara às pressas - que Lady Dedlock esteja passando mal.

- Desmaio - murmura Lady Dedlock com lábios brancos - , apenas isso; mas é como um desmaio de morte. Não falem comigo. Toquem a campainha e levem-me ao meu quarto!

O Sr. Tulkinghorn retira-se para outro aposento; campainhas tocam, pés arrastam-se e correm, segue-se silêncio. Por fim, Mercúrio pede ao Sr. Tulkinghorn que volte.

- Melhor agora - declara Sir Leicester, indicando ao advogado que se sente e leia somente para ele. - Fiquei muito alarmado. Nunca soube que Lady Dedlock desmaiasse antes. Mas o tempo está extremamente penoso, e ela de fato morreu de tédio lá em nossa propriedade em Lincolnshire.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Chapter III

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Uma Progressão

Acho difícil começar minha parte desta história porque sei que não sou inteligente. Quando pequena, eu dizia à minha boneca Dolly que tivesse paciência comigo. Ela ficava sentada numa grande poltrona enquanto eu costurava e contava todos os meus segredos.

Eu era tão tímida que Dolly era a única que ouvia meus pensamentos verdadeiros. Depois da escola, corria para casa e contava tudo o que havia notado. Eu entendia as coisas devagar, mas as observava em silêncio e queria compreender mais. O amor às vezes deixava minha mente mais clara, embora talvez isso seja apenas vaidade.

Minha madrinha me criou desde minhas primeiras lembranças. Era religiosa, bonita, séria e severa, mas nunca sorria. Eu me sentia pequena e distante ao lado dela e não conseguia relaxar nem amá-la como desejava. Acreditava que a culpa era minha e muitas vezes dizia a Dolly que esperava ter um coração melhor.

Original English Version

A Progress

I have a great deal of difficulty in beginning to write my portion of these pages, for I know I am not clever. I always knew that. I can remember, when I was a very little girl indeed, I used to say to my doll when we were alone together, “Now, Dolly, I am not clever, you know very well, and you must be patient with me, like a dear!” And so she used to sit propped up in a great arm-chair, with her beautiful complexion and rosy lips, staring at me - or not so much at me, I think, as at nothing - while I busily stitched away and told her every one of my secrets.

My dear old doll! I was such a shy little thing that I seldom dared to open my lips, and never dared to open my heart, to anybody else. It almost makes me cry to think what a relief it used to be to me when I came home from school of a day to run upstairs to my room and say, “Oh, you dear faithful Dolly, I knew you would be expecting me!” and then to sit down on the floor, leaning on the elbow of her great chair, and tell her all I had noticed since we parted. I had always rather a noticing way - not a quick way, oh, no! - a silent way of noticing what passed before me and thinking I should like to understand it better. I have not by any means a quick understanding. When I love a person very tenderly indeed, it seems to brighten. But even that may be my vanity.

I was brought up, from my earliest remembrance - like some of the princesses in the fairy stories, only I was not charming - by my godmother. At least, I only knew her as such. She was a good, good woman! She went to church three times every Sunday, and to morning prayers on Wednesdays and Fridays, and to lectures whenever there were lectures; and never missed. She was handsome; and if she had ever smiled, would have been (I used to think) like an angel - but she never smiled. She was always grave and strict. She was so very good herself, I thought, that the badness of other people made her frown all her life. I felt so different from her, even making every allowance for the differences between a child and a woman; I felt so poor, so trifling, and so far off that I never could be unrestrained with her - no, could never even love her as I wished. It made me very sorry to consider how good she was and how unworthy of her I was, and I used ardently to hope that I might have a better heart; and I talked it over very often with the dear old doll, but I never loved my godmother as I ought to have loved her and as I felt I must have loved her if I had been a better girl.

Tradução Integral em Português

Uma Progressão

Tenho grande dificuldade para começar a escrever minha parte destas páginas, pois sei que não sou inteligente. Sempre soube disso. Lembro-me de que, quando era pequenininha mesmo, costumava dizer à minha boneca quando estávamos a sós: - Ora, Dolly, não sou inteligente, você bem sabe, e deve ter paciência comigo, minha querida! - E assim ela ficava sentada, apoiada numa grande poltrona, com sua linda tez e lábios rosados, olhando fixamente para mim - ou não tanto para mim, creio, quanto para o nada - , enquanto eu costurava atarefada e lhe contava cada um de meus segredos.

Minha querida e velha boneca! Eu era uma coisinha tão tímida que raramente ousava abrir os lábios, e jamais o coração, para qualquer outra pessoa. Quase me faz chorar pensar no alívio que era para mim voltar da escola, subir correndo ao quarto e dizer: - Oh, minha querida e fiel Dolly, eu sabia que estaria à minha espera! - e então sentar no chão, apoiada no braço da grande poltrona, e contar-lhe tudo que observara desde que nos separáramos. Sempre tive certo jeito de observar - não um jeito rápido, oh, não! - , um modo silencioso de notar o que se passava diante de mim e pensar que gostaria de compreender melhor. De modo algum tenho entendimento rápido. Quando amo alguém com muita ternura, ele parece iluminar-se. Mas até isso talvez seja vaidade minha.

Fui criada, desde minhas primeiras lembranças - como certas princesas dos contos de fadas, só que eu não era encantadora - , por minha madrinha. Ao menos, só a conheci nessa condição. Era uma mulher muito, muito boa! Ia à igreja três vezes a cada domingo, às orações matinais às quartas e sextas-feiras, e às preleções sempre que havia alguma; e nunca faltava. Era formosa; e, se alguma vez houvesse sorrido, teria sido (eu costumava pensar) como um anjo - mas nunca sorria. Era sempre grave e severa. Ela própria era tão boa, eu pensava, que a maldade das outras pessoas a fazia franzir o cenho a vida inteira. Eu me sentia tão diferente dela, mesmo concedendo todas as diferenças entre uma criança e uma mulher; sentia-me tão pobre, tão insignificante e tão distante que jamais conseguia ficar à vontade com ela - não, jamais conseguia sequer amá-la como desejava. Entristecia-me muito considerar quanto era boa e quanto eu era indigna dela, e costumava esperar ardentemente adquirir um coração melhor; conversava muitas vezes sobre isso com a querida e velha boneca, mas nunca amei minha madrinha como devia tê-la amado e como sentia que teria de amá-la se fosse uma menina melhor.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Isso me tornou ainda mais tímida e fez de Dolly minha única amiga com quem eu me sentia à vontade. Então, enquanto eu ainda era muito nova, aconteceu algo que aumentou esses sentimentos.

Ninguém jamais falava sobre minha mãe ou meu pai, embora eu pensasse especialmente em minha mãe. Nunca usara roupas de luto nem vira o túmulo dela, e rezava apenas por minha madrinha. Quando perguntei à nossa criada severa, Sra. Rachael, sobre meus pais, ela apenas disse boa-noite e me deixou sozinha.

Sete meninas mais velhas frequentavam minha escola, mas eu nunca as visitava em casa. Sentia-me separada delas por razões além da idade e da inteligência. Uma menina me convidou para uma festa, mas minha madrinha recusou por mim. Na verdade, eu nunca saía.

Era meu aniversário. Outras meninas tinham folga na escola e comemorações em seus aniversários, mas eu não tinha nada. Meu aniversário era o dia mais triste do ano em nossa casa.

Original English Version

This made me, I dare say, more timid and retiring than I naturally was and cast me upon Dolly as the only friend with whom I felt at ease. But something happened when I was still quite a little thing that helped it very much.

I had never heard my mama spoken of. I had never heard of my papa either, but I felt more interested about my mama. I had never worn a black frock, that I could recollect. I had never been shown my mama’s grave. I had never been told where it was. Yet I had never been taught to pray for any relation but my godmother. I had more than once approached this subject of my thoughts with Mrs. Rachael, our only servant, who took my light away when I was in bed (another very good woman, but austere to me), and she had only said, “Esther, good night!” and gone away and left me.

Although there were seven girls at the neighbouring school where I was a day boarder, and although they called me little Esther Summerson, I knew none of them at home. All of them were older than I, to be sure (I was the youngest there by a good deal), but there seemed to be some other separation between us besides that, and besides their being far more clever than I was and knowing much more than I did. One of them in the first week of my going to the school (I remember it very well) invited me home to a little party, to my great joy. But my godmother wrote a stiff letter declining for me, and I never went. I never went out at all.

It was my birthday. There were holidays at school on other birthdays - none on mine. There were rejoicings at home on other birthdays, as I knew from what I heard the girls relate to one another - there were none on mine. My birthday was the most melancholy day at home in the whole year.

Tradução Integral em Português

Isso me tornou, suponho, mais tímida e retraída do que eu seria por natureza e fez de Dolly a única amiga com quem me sentia à vontade. Mas aconteceu uma coisa quando eu ainda era bem pequena que contribuiu muito para isso.

Nunca ouvira ninguém falar de minha mamãe. Tampouco ouvira falar de meu papai, mas sentia maior interesse por minha mamãe. Até onde me lembrava, nunca usara vestido preto. Nunca me haviam mostrado o túmulo de minha mamãe. Nunca me haviam dito onde ficava. Contudo, nunca me ensinaram a rezar por parente algum além de minha madrinha. Mais de uma vez abordei o tema de meus pensamentos com a Sra. Rachael, nossa única criada, que levava minha luz quando eu já estava na cama (outra mulher muito boa, porém austera comigo), e ela apenas dissera: “Esther, boa noite!”, indo embora e deixando-me só.

Embora houvesse sete meninas na escola vizinha onde eu passava o dia como aluna externa, e embora me chamassem pequena Esther Summerson, eu não conhecia nenhuma delas em casa. Todas eram mais velhas que eu, é verdade (eu era, por grande diferença, a mais nova), mas parecia haver entre nós alguma outra separação além disso, e além de serem muito mais inteligentes e saberem muito mais que eu. Uma delas, na primeira semana em que frequentei a escola (lembro-me muito bem), convidou-me para uma festinha em casa, para minha grande alegria. Mas minha madrinha escreveu uma carta rígida recusando em meu nome, e nunca fui. Eu nunca saía.

Era meu aniversário. Havia feriados na escola nos outros aniversários - no meu, nenhum. Havia festejos em casa nos outros aniversários, como eu sabia pelo que ouvia as meninas contarem umas às outras - no meu, nenhum. Meu aniversário era o dia mais melancólico em casa durante o ano inteiro.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Talvez eu seja vaidosa, mas acho que o amor me ajuda a entender as coisas mais depressa. Sou muito afetuosa, e a dor que senti naquele aniversário foi forte o bastante para ficar comigo para sempre.

Depois do jantar, minha madrinha e eu ficamos sentadas em silêncio junto ao fogo. Apenas o relógio e o fogo faziam ruídos. Ergui os olhos da costura e li um pensamento terrível no rosto sombrio dela: teria sido melhor se eu nunca tivesse nascido.

Comecei a chorar e perguntei à minha madrinha se minha mãe havia morrido no dia do meu aniversário.

Ela respondeu: - Não. Não me pergunte mais nada, criança.

Implorei que ela me contasse sobre minha mãe. Perguntei o que eu havia feito, como a perdera, por que era diferente das outras crianças e por que a culpa era minha. Implorei que minha madrinha não fosse embora.

O medo se misturou à minha tristeza. Segurei o vestido dela e me ajoelhei diante dela enquanto repetia que eu a soltasse. Então, de repente, ela ficou imóvel.

Original English Version

I have mentioned that unless my vanity should deceive me (as I know it may, for I may be very vain without suspecting it, though indeed I don’t), my comprehension is quickened when my affection is. My disposition is very affectionate, and perhaps I might still feel such a wound if such a wound could be received more than once with the quickness of that birthday.

Dinner was over, and my godmother and I were sitting at the table before the fire. The clock ticked, the fire clicked; not another sound had been heard in the room or in the house for I don’t know how long. I happened to look timidly up from my stitching, across the table at my godmother, and I saw in her face, looking gloomily at me, “It would have been far better, little Esther, that you had had no birthday, that you had never been born!”

I broke out crying and sobbing, and I said, “Oh, dear godmother, tell me, pray do tell me, did Mama die on my birthday?”

“No,” she returned. “Ask me no more, child!”

“Oh, do pray tell me something of her. Do now, at last, dear godmother, if you please! What did I do to her? How did I lose her? Why am I so different from other children, and why is it my fault, dear godmother? No, no, no, don’t go away. Oh, speak to me!”

I was in a kind of fright beyond my grief, and I caught hold of her dress and was kneeling to her. She had been saying all the while, “Let me go!” But now she stood still.

Tradução Integral em Português

Já mencionei que, a menos que minha vaidade me engane (como sei que pode, pois talvez eu seja muito vaidosa sem suspeitar, embora na verdade não seja), minha compreensão se torna mais rápida quando meu afeto se aviva. Minha disposição é muito afetuosa, e talvez eu ainda sentisse uma ferida assim se uma ferida assim pudesse ser recebida mais de uma vez com a agudeza daquele aniversário.

O jantar terminara, e minha madrinha e eu estávamos sentadas à mesa diante do fogo. O relógio tiquetaqueava, o fogo estalava; nenhum outro som fora ouvido no aposento ou na casa havia não sei quanto tempo. Por acaso ergui timidamente os olhos da costura, através da mesa, para minha madrinha, e vi em seu rosto, olhando-me com tristeza: “Teria sido muito melhor, pequena Esther, se você não tivesse tido aniversário, se jamais houvesse nascido!”

Rompi em choro e soluços e disse: - Oh, querida madrinha, diga-me, por favor, diga-me: mamãe morreu no dia de meu aniversário?

- Não - respondeu ela. - Não me faça mais perguntas, criança!

- Oh, por favor, conte-me alguma coisa sobre ela. Conte agora, por fim, querida madrinha, por favor! O que fiz a ela? Como a perdi? Por que sou tão diferente das outras crianças e por que a culpa é minha, querida madrinha? Não, não, não, não vá embora. Oh, fale comigo!

Eu estava tomada por uma espécie de medo para além da tristeza, agarrei seu vestido e caí de joelhos diante dela. O tempo todo ela dizia: “Solte-me!” Mas então ficou imóvel.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

A expressão sombria dela me fez parar. Tentei pegar sua mão, mas recuei quando ela me olhou. Ela me colocou diante de si e disse friamente que minha mãe havia trazido vergonha para nós duas. Afirmou ter perdoado minha mãe por um mal terrível, embora seu rosto não mostrasse perdão. Chamou-me de órfã infeliz e desonrada e mandou que eu rezasse para que os pecados dos outros não me castigassem. Depois, ordenou que eu esquecesse minha mãe e fosse embora.

Antes que eu saísse, paralisada pelo choque, ela acrescentou que a obediência, a abnegação e o trabalho duro deveriam me preparar para minha vida sombria. Disse que eu era diferente das outras crianças e havia sido separada das demais desde o nascimento.

Fui para o meu quarto, encostei minha boneca no rosto molhado de lágrimas e chorei até dormir. Eu sabia que nunca tinha feito ninguém feliz e que ninguém me amava como eu amava Dolly.

Original English Version

Her darkened face had such power over me that it stopped me in the midst of my vehemence. I put up my trembling little hand to clasp hers or to beg her pardon with what earnestness I might, but withdrew it as she looked at me, and laid it on my fluttering heart. She raised me, sat in her chair, and standing me before her, said slowly in a cold, low voice - I see her knitted brow and pointed finger - “Your mother, Esther, is your disgrace, and you were hers. The time will come - and soon enough - when you will understand this better and will feel it too, as no one save a woman can. I have forgiven her” - but her face did not relent - “the wrong she did to me, and I say no more of it, though it was greater than you will ever know - than any one will ever know but I, the sufferer. For yourself, unfortunate girl, orphaned and degraded from the first of these evil anniversaries, pray daily that the sins of others be not visited upon your head, according to what is written. Forget your mother and leave all other people to forget her who will do her unhappy child that greatest kindness. Now, go!”

She checked me, however, as I was about to depart from her - so frozen as I was! - and added this, “Submission, self-denial, diligent work, are the preparations for a life begun with such a shadow on it. You are different from other children, Esther, because you were not born, like them, in common sinfulness and wrath. You are set apart.”

I went up to my room, and crept to bed, and laid my doll’s cheek against mine wet with tears, and holding that solitary friend upon my bosom, cried myself to sleep. Imperfect as my understanding of my sorrow was, I knew that I had brought no joy at any time to anybody’s heart and that I was to no one upon earth what Dolly was to me.

Tradução Integral em Português

Seu rosto sombrio exercia tamanho poder sobre mim que me deteve em meio à veemência. Ergui a mãozinha trêmula para segurar a dela ou pedir-lhe perdão com toda a sinceridade possível, mas a recolhi quando ela me fitou e a pus sobre meu coração palpitante. Ela me levantou, sentou-se na poltrona e, colocando-me de pé diante de si, disse lentamente, em voz fria e baixa - ainda vejo suas sobrancelhas cerradas e seu dedo apontado - : - Sua mãe, Esther, é sua desonra, e você foi a dela. Virá o tempo - e bem cedo - em que compreenderá melhor isto e também o sentirá, como ninguém salvo uma mulher pode sentir. Eu a perdoei - mas seu rosto não se abrandou - pelo mal que me fez, e nada mais digo a respeito, embora tenha sido maior do que você algum dia saberá - do que qualquer pessoa saberá, salvo eu, que sofri. Quanto a você, menina infeliz, órfã e degradada desde o primeiro desses aniversários malignos, reze todos os dias para que os pecados dos outros não recaiam sobre sua cabeça, conforme está escrito. Esqueça sua mãe e deixe todos os demais que quiserem fazer a maior bondade possível à infeliz filha dela esquecê-la também. Agora, vá!

Ela me deteve, porém, quando eu ia afastar-me - tão gelada estava! - e acrescentou: - Submissão, abnegação, trabalho diligente são a preparação para uma vida iniciada sob tamanha sombra. Você é diferente das outras crianças, Esther, porque não nasceu, como elas, em pecado e ira comuns. Você foi posta à parte.

Subi para o meu quarto, esgueirei-me para a cama e encostei a face de minha boneca à minha, molhada de lágrimas; e, apertando aquela amiga solitária contra o peito, chorei até adormecer. Por imperfeita que fosse a compreensão que eu tinha de minha tristeza, sabia que jamais levara alegria ao coração de ninguém e que, para pessoa alguma na Terra, eu era o que Dolly era para mim.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Depois, passei muitas horas sozinha com minha boneca. Contei a ela sobre meu aniversário e prometi trabalhar muito, ser satisfeita e bondosa, ajudar alguém e tentar conquistar amor. Agora sou feliz e grata, mas essa lembrança ainda me faz chorar.

Pronto, enxuguei minhas lágrimas e posso continuar.

Depois do meu aniversário, senti-me ainda mais distante de minha madrinha. Eu acreditava que ocupava um lugar na casa dela que deveria estar vazio, por isso ficou mais difícil me aproximar, embora eu fosse muito grata. Também me afastei das colegas de escola, da senhora Rachael e da filha dela. Fiquei quieta e estudei muito.

Numa tarde ensolarada, voltei da escola e comecei a subir. Minha madrinha me chamou à sala. Havia ali uma visita incomum: um homem grande e de aparência importante, vestido de preto, com gravata branca, óculos de ouro, relógio de ouro e um anel grande.

Original English Version

Dear, dear, to think how much time we passed alone together afterwards, and how often I repeated to the doll the story of my birthday and confided to her that I would try as hard as ever I could to repair the fault I had been born with (of which I confessedly felt guilty and yet innocent) and would strive as I grew up to be industrious, contented, and kind-hearted and to do some good to some one, and win some love to myself if I could. I hope it is not self-indulgent to shed these tears as I think of it. I am very thankful, I am very cheerful, but I cannot quite help their coming to my eyes.

There! I have wiped them away now and can go on again properly.

I felt the distance between my godmother and myself so much more after the birthday, and felt so sensible of filling a place in her house which ought to have been empty, that I found her more difficult of approach, though I was fervently grateful to her in my heart, than ever. I felt in the same way towards my school companions; I felt in the same way towards Mrs. Rachael, who was a widow; and oh, towards her daughter, of whom she was proud, who came to see her once a fortnight! I was very retired and quiet, and tried to be very diligent.

One sunny afternoon when I had come home from school with my books and portfolio, watching my long shadow at my side, and as I was gliding upstairs to my room as usual, my godmother looked out of the parlour-door and called me back. Sitting with her, I found - which was very unusual indeed - a stranger. A portly, important-looking gentleman, dressed all in black, with a white cravat, large gold watch seals, a pair of gold eye-glasses, and a large seal-ring upon his little finger.

Tradução Integral em Português

Meu Deus, meu Deus, pensar quanto tempo passamos sozinhas juntas depois disso, e quantas vezes repeti à boneca a história de meu aniversário e lhe confiei que faria todo o possível para corrigir a falta com que nascera (da qual, confesso, sentia-me culpada e, ainda assim, inocente), e que me esforçaria, à medida que crescesse, para ser trabalhadora, satisfeita e bondosa, para fazer algum bem a alguém e conquistar para mim algum amor, se pudesse. Espero que não seja fraqueza derramar estas lágrimas ao pensar nisso. Sou muito grata, sou muito alegre, mas não consigo evitar de todo que elas me venham aos olhos.

Pronto! Já as enxuguei e posso prosseguir como convém.

Depois do aniversário, senti muito mais a distância entre minha madrinha e mim, e tive consciência tão nítida de ocupar em sua casa um lugar que deveria estar vazio, que a achei mais difícil de abordar do que nunca, embora lhe fosse fervorosamente grata no coração. Sentia o mesmo em relação às minhas colegas de escola; sentia o mesmo em relação à Sra. Rachael, que era viúva; e, ah, em relação à filha dela, de quem tanto se orgulhava e que vinha visitá-la uma vez a cada quinze dias! Eu era muito retraída e quieta, e procurava ser muito aplicada.

Numa tarde ensolarada, quando eu voltara da escola com meus livros e minha pasta, observando a longa sombra a meu lado, e subia de mansinho para o quarto, como de costume, minha madrinha espiou pela porta da sala e chamou-me de volta. Sentado com ela, encontrei - coisa de fato muito incomum - um estranho. Um cavalheiro corpulento e de ar importante, todo vestido de preto, com gravata branca, grandes sinetes de ouro no relógio, um par de óculos de ouro e um grande anel de sinete no dedo mínimo.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Em voz baixa, minha madrinha disse ao homem: “Esta é a criança.” Depois falou com severidade: “Esta é Esther, senhor.”

O homem colocou os óculos e pediu que eu me aproximasse e tirasse o chapéu. Ele me examinou, disse “Ah” e “Sim”, guardou os óculos e fez um sinal para minha madrinha. Ela mandou que eu subisse, então fiz uma reverência e saí.

Cerca de dois anos depois, quando eu tinha quase catorze anos, minha madrinha e eu estávamos junto ao fogo numa noite terrível. Como sempre, eu lia a Bíblia em voz alta para ela. Li em São João a história de Jesus e da mulher pecadora.

Jesus se levantou e disse: “Aquele entre vocês que nunca pecou atire a primeira pedra nela.”

Minha madrinha levantou-se de repente, segurou a cabeça e gritou palavras de outra parte da Bíblia: “Fiquem acordados, ou ele poderá chegar de repente e encontrá-los dormindo. Digo a todos: vigiem!”

Original English Version

“This,” said my godmother in an undertone, “is the child.” Then she said in her naturally stern way of speaking, “This is Esther, sir.”

The gentleman put up his eye-glasses to look at me and said, “Come here, my dear!” He shook hands with me and asked me to take off my bonnet, looking at me all the while. When I had complied, he said, “Ah!” and afterwards “Yes!” And then, taking off his eye-glasses and folding them in a red case, and leaning back in his arm-chair, turning the case about in his two hands, he gave my godmother a nod. Upon that, my godmother said, “You may go upstairs, Esther!” And I made him my curtsy and left him.

It must have been two years afterwards, and I was almost fourteen, when one dreadful night my godmother and I sat at the fireside. I was reading aloud, and she was listening. I had come down at nine o’clock as I always did to read the Bible to her, and was reading from St. John how our Saviour stooped down, writing with his finger in the dust, when they brought the sinful woman to him.

“So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself and said unto them, ‘He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her!’”

I was stopped by my godmother’s rising, putting her hand to her head, and crying out in an awful voice from quite another part of the book, “‘Watch ye, therefore, lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you, I say unto all, Watch!’”

Tradução Integral em Português

- Esta - disse minha madrinha em voz baixa - é a criança. - Depois, em seu modo naturalmente severo de falar, acrescentou: - Esta é Esther, senhor.

O cavalheiro pôs os óculos para me examinar e disse: - Venha cá, minha querida! Cumprimentou-me com um aperto de mão e pediu-me que tirasse o chapéu, sem deixar de olhar para mim. Quando obedeci, disse: - Ah! - e depois: - Sim! Então, tirando os óculos, dobrando-os num estojo vermelho e recostando-se na poltrona, enquanto virava o estojo entre as duas mãos, fez um sinal de cabeça para minha madrinha. Diante disso, ela disse: - Pode subir, Esther! Fiz-lhe uma reverência e saí.

Devia ser dois anos mais tarde, quando eu estava quase com catorze anos, que, numa noite terrível, minha madrinha e eu nos sentávamos junto à lareira. Eu lia em voz alta, e ela escutava. Descera às nove horas, como sempre fazia, para ler-lhe a Bíblia, e lia em São João como nosso Salvador se inclinara e escrevera com o dedo no pó, quando lhe trouxeram a mulher pecadora.

- “E, como insistissem em interrogá-lo, ergueu-se e lhes disse: ‘Aquele dentre vós que estiver sem pecado seja o primeiro a atirar-lhe uma pedra!’”

Fui interrompida por minha madrinha, que se levantou, levou a mão à cabeça e bradou, com voz pavorosa, de uma parte inteiramente diferente do livro: - “Vigiai, pois, para que, vindo de repente, ele não vos encontre dormindo. E o que vos digo, digo a todos: Vigiai!”

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Enquanto repetia aquelas palavras, ela caiu de repente no chão. Não precisei pedir ajuda, pois sua voz tinha sido ouvida em toda a casa e até na rua.

Colocaram-na na cama, onde permaneceu por mais de uma semana. Dia e noite, eu a beijava, agradecia, rezava por ela e pedia sua bênção e seu perdão. Pedi qualquer sinal de que me ouvia, mas seu rosto nunca se moveu nem perdeu a expressão severa, mesmo depois da morte.

No dia seguinte ao enterro de minha querida madrinha, o homem de preto com gravata branca voltou. A senhora Rachael me chamou, e eu o encontrei na mesma sala, como se nunca tivesse saído.

Ele disse: “Meu nome é Kenge. Talvez se lembre: Kenge e Carboy, Lincoln's Inn.”

Respondi que me lembrava de tê-lo visto uma vez antes.

Ele pediu que eu me sentasse perto dele e não me perturbasse. Depois disse à senhora Rachael que o dinheiro da senhorita Barbary terminara com a morte dela e começou a falar de mim, agora que minha tia estava morta.

Original English Version

In an instant, while she stood before me repeating these words, she fell down on the floor. I had no need to cry out; her voice had sounded through the house and been heard in the street.

She was laid upon her bed. For more than a week she lay there, little altered outwardly, with her old handsome resolute frown that I so well knew carved upon her face. Many and many a time, in the day and in the night, with my head upon the pillow by her that my whispers might be plainer to her, I kissed her, thanked her, prayed for her, asked her for her blessing and forgiveness, entreated her to give me the least sign that she knew or heard me. No, no, no. Her face was immovable. To the very last, and even afterwards, her frown remained unsoftened.

On the day after my poor good godmother was buried, the gentleman in black with the white neckcloth reappeared. I was sent for by Mrs. Rachael, and found him in the same place, as if he had never gone away.

“My name is Kenge,” he said; “you may remember it, my child; Kenge and Carboy, Lincoln’s Inn.”

I replied that I remembered to have seen him once before.

“Pray be seated - here near me. Don’t distress yourself; it’s of no use. Mrs. Rachael, I needn’t inform you who were acquainted with the late Miss Barbary’s affairs, that her means die with her and that this young lady, now her aunt is dead - ”

Tradução Integral em Português

Num instante, enquanto permanecia diante de mim repetindo essas palavras, caiu ao chão. Não precisei gritar; sua voz ressoara pela casa e fora ouvida na rua.

Deitaram-na em sua cama. Por mais de uma semana ficou ali, pouco mudada por fora, com o velho cenho belo e resoluto que eu tão bem conhecia esculpido no rosto. Muitas e muitas vezes, de dia e de noite, com a cabeça no travesseiro ao lado dela para que meus sussurros lhe chegassem mais claros, eu a beijei, agradeci-lhe, rezei por ela, pedi-lhe sua bênção e seu perdão, supliquei-lhe que me desse o menor sinal de que sabia de minha presença ou me ouvia. Não, não, não. Seu rosto permanecia imóvel. Até o derradeiro instante, e mesmo depois, seu cenho não se abrandou.

No dia seguinte ao enterro de minha pobre e boa madrinha, reapareceu o cavalheiro de preto e colarinho branco. A Sra. Rachael mandou chamar-me, e encontrei-o no mesmo lugar, como se nunca tivesse ido embora.

- Meu nome é Kenge - disse ele. - Talvez se lembre, minha filha; Kenge e Carboy, Lincoln’s Inn.

Respondi que me lembrava de tê-lo visto uma vez.

- Queira sentar-se... aqui, perto de mim. Não se aflija; não adianta. Sra. Rachael, não preciso informar à senhora, que conhecia os negócios da falecida Srta. Barbary, que seus recursos extinguem-se com ela e que esta jovem, agora que sua tia morreu...

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

“Minha tia, senhor?”, exclamei.

O senhor Kenge disse com calma que não havia motivo para manter o segredo. A senhorita Barbary tinha sido minha tia de fato, embora não legalmente. Mandou que eu não chorasse nem tremesse e perguntou se eu já ouvira falar de Jarndyce e Jarndyce.

“Nunca”, disse a senhora Rachael.

O senhor Kenge ergueu os óculos, surpreso, e perguntou de novo se eu realmente nunca tinha ouvido falar de Jarndyce e Jarndyce.

Balancei a cabeça e me perguntei o que era aquilo.

O senhor Kenge explicou que Jarndyce e Jarndyce era um dos maiores processos do Tribunal de Chancelaria. Ele incluía repetidamente todo tipo de dificuldade e procedimento legal. O advogado anunciou com orgulho que os custos totais já estavam entre sessenta e setenta mil libras.

Senti-me ignorante, mas não sabia nada sobre o assunto e ainda não conseguia entendê-lo.

O senhor Kenge disse que era surpreendente eu nunca ter ouvido falar do processo.

Original English Version

“My aunt, sir!”

“It is really of no use carrying on a deception when no object is to be gained by it,” said Mr. Kenge smoothly, “Aunt in fact, though not in law. Don’t distress yourself! Don’t weep! Don’t tremble! Mrs. Rachael, our young friend has no doubt heard of - the - a - Jarndyce and Jarndyce.”

“Never,” said Mrs. Rachael.

“Is it possible,” pursued Mr. Kenge, putting up his eye-glasses, “that our young friend - I BEG you won’t distress yourself! - never heard of Jarndyce and Jarndyce!”

I shook my head, wondering even what it was.

“Not of Jarndyce and Jarndyce?” said Mr. Kenge, looking over his glasses at me and softly turning the case about and about as if he were petting something. “Not of one of the greatest Chancery suits known? Not of Jarndyce and Jarndyce - the - a - in itself a monument of Chancery practice. In which (I would say) every difficulty, every contingency, every masterly fiction, every form of procedure known in that court, is represented over and over again? It is a cause that could not exist out of this free and great country. I should say that the aggregate of costs in Jarndyce and Jarndyce, Mrs. Rachael” - I was afraid he addressed himself to her because I appeared inattentive - “amounts at the present hour to from SIX-ty to SEVEN-ty THOUSAND POUNDS!” said Mr. Kenge, leaning back in his chair.

I felt very ignorant, but what could I do? I was so entirely unacquainted with the subject that I understood nothing about it even then.

“And she really never heard of the cause!” said Mr. Kenge. “Surprising!”

Tradução Integral em Português

- Minha tia, senhor!

- De fato, não adianta sustentar um engano quando não há objetivo algum a ganhar com ele - disse suavemente o Sr. Kenge. - Tia de fato, embora não de direito. Não se aflija! Não chore! Não trema! Sra. Rachael, sem dúvida nossa jovem amiga já ouviu falar de... de... Jarndyce e Jarndyce.

- Nunca - disse a Sra. Rachael.

- É possível - prosseguiu o Sr. Kenge, pondo os óculos - que nossa jovem amiga... EU LHE IMPLORO que não se aflija!... nunca tenha ouvido falar de Jarndyce e Jarndyce?

Balancei a cabeça, perguntando-me até mesmo o que seria aquilo.

- Não ouviu falar de Jarndyce e Jarndyce? - disse o Sr. Kenge, olhando-me por cima dos óculos e virando suavemente o estojo de um lado para outro, como se acariciasse alguma coisa. - Não ouviu falar de um dos maiores processos da Chancelaria de que se tem notícia? Não ouviu falar de Jarndyce e Jarndyce... o... o... em si mesmo um monumento à prática da Chancelaria? No qual (eu diria) toda dificuldade, toda contingência, toda ficção magistral, toda forma processual conhecida naquela corte está repetidas vezes representada? É uma causa que não poderia existir fora deste grande e livre país. Eu diria que o total das custas em Jarndyce e Jarndyce, Sra. Rachael - temi que ele se dirigisse a ela porque eu parecia desatenta - ascende, na presente hora, de SES-senta a SE-tenta MIL LIBRAS! - disse o Sr. Kenge, recostando-se na cadeira.

Senti-me muito ignorante, mas que podia eu fazer? Desconhecia tão completamente o assunto que, mesmo então, nada compreendi a respeito.

- E ela realmente nunca ouviu falar da causa! - disse o Sr. Kenge. - Surpreendente!

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

A senhora Rachael começou: “A senhorita Barbary, que agora está entre os anjos...”

“Certamente espero que sim”, disse o senhor Kenge com educação.

A senhora Rachael explicou que a senhorita Barbary queria que Esther aprendesse apenas o que lhe seria útil. Por isso, Esther não sabia nada além do que lhe haviam ensinado naquela casa.

O senhor Kenge disse que aquilo era adequado e chegou ao ponto principal. A senhorita Barbary, minha única parente de fato, estava morta, e ninguém podia esperar que a senhora Rachael...

“Ah, certamente não!”, disse depressa a senhora Rachael.

O senhor Kenge concordou que a senhora Rachael não poderia me sustentar. Disse que uma oferta feita dois anos antes podia agora ser renovada. Ele representava o senhor Jarndyce, um homem bondoso, porém incomum, e perguntou com cautela se era profissionalmente seguro dizer aquilo.

O senhor Kenge claramente adorava o som de sua própria voz rica, que fazia cada palavra parecer importante. Ele ouvia a si mesmo com prazer e movia a cabeça ou a mão conforme suas frases. Fiquei impressionada, antes de saber que o chamavam de Kenge Conversador.

Original English Version

“Miss Barbary, sir,” returned Mrs. Rachael, “who is now among the Seraphim - ”

“I hope so, I am sure,” said Mr. Kenge politely.

“ - Wished Esther only to know what would be serviceable to her. And she knows, from any teaching she has had here, nothing more.”

“Well!” said Mr. Kenge. “Upon the whole, very proper. Now to the point,” addressing me. “Miss Barbary, your sole relation (in fact that is, for I am bound to observe that in law you had none) being deceased and it naturally not being to be expected that Mrs. Rachael - ”

“Oh, dear no!” said Mrs. Rachael quickly.

“Quite so,” assented Mr. Kenge; “ - that Mrs. Rachael should charge herself with your maintenance and support (I beg you won’t distress yourself), you are in a position to receive the renewal of an offer which I was instructed to make to Miss Barbary some two years ago and which, though rejected then, was understood to be renewable under the lamentable circumstances that have since occurred. Now, if I avow that I represent, in Jarndyce and Jarndyce and otherwise, a highly humane, but at the same time singular, man, shall I compromise myself by any stretch of my professional caution?” said Mr. Kenge, leaning back in his chair again and looking calmly at us both.

He appeared to enjoy beyond everything the sound of his own voice. I couldn’t wonder at that, for it was mellow and full and gave great importance to every word he uttered. He listened to himself with obvious satisfaction and sometimes gently beat time to his own music with his head or rounded a sentence with his hand. I was very much impressed by him - even then, before I knew that he formed himself on the model of a great lord who was his client and that he was generally called Conversation Kenge.

Tradução Integral em Português

- A Srta. Barbary, senhor - respondeu a Sra. Rachael - , que agora está entre os Serafins...

- Assim espero, por certo - disse cortesmente o Sr. Kenge.

- ...desejava que Esther soubesse apenas o que lhe fosse útil. E, de todo o ensino que recebeu aqui, nada mais sabe.

- Bem! - disse o Sr. Kenge. - Considerando tudo, muito apropriado. Agora, ao ponto - disse, dirigindo-se a mim. - Estando falecida a Srta. Barbary, sua única parenta (de fato, quero dizer, pois sou obrigado a observar que, de direito, a senhorita não tinha nenhuma), e como naturalmente não se pode esperar que a Sra. Rachael...

- Ah, meu Deus, não! - disse depressa a Sra. Rachael.

- Perfeitamente - concordou o Sr. Kenge. - ...que a Sra. Rachael se encarregue de sua manutenção e sustento (imploro-lhe que não se aflija), a senhorita está em condições de receber a renovação de uma proposta que fui instruído a fazer à Srta. Barbary há cerca de dois anos e que, embora rejeitada então, ficou entendido que poderia ser renovada nas lamentáveis circunstâncias que desde então ocorreram. Ora, se eu declarar que represento, em Jarndyce e Jarndyce e em outros assuntos, um homem sumamente humano, mas ao mesmo tempo singular, estarei eu me comprometendo por algum excesso de minha cautela profissional? - disse o Sr. Kenge, tornando a recostar-se na cadeira e olhando calmamente para nós duas.

Ele parecia apreciar, acima de tudo, o som da própria voz. Eu não podia estranhá-lo, pois era uma voz aveludada e cheia, que dava grande importância a cada palavra proferida. Escutava a si mesmo com evidente satisfação e, às vezes, marcava suavemente com a cabeça o compasso da própria música ou arredondava uma frase com a mão. Fiquei muito impressionada com ele - mesmo então, antes de saber que se moldara pelo modelo de um grande lorde que era seu cliente e que em geral o chamavam de Kenge Conversação.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

O senhor Kenge disse que o senhor Jarndyce sabia que eu estava sozinha e oferecia me mandar para uma excelente escola. Ali eu terminaria minha educação, viveria com conforto e me prepararia para meus deveres futuros.

As palavras e a maneira comovente dele encheram tanto meu coração que tentei falar, mas não consegui.

O senhor Jarndyce exigia apenas que eu não deixasse a escola sem seu conhecimento e sua permissão. Eu deveria estudar com dedicação, aprender as habilidades necessárias para me sustentar e viver com virtude e honra.

Eu conseguia falar ainda menos do que antes.

O senhor Kenge pediu minha resposta, mas repetiu várias vezes que eu podia pensar com calma.

Não preciso repetir o que esta menina sem lar tentou dizer. Eu poderia contar o que ela realmente disse, mas jamais conseguiria descrever o que sentiu então e sentiria por toda a vida.

Essa reunião aconteceu em Windsor, onde eu vivera a vida inteira. Uma semana depois, com tudo de que precisava, parti de carruagem para Reading.

Original English Version

“Mr. Jarndyce,” he pursued, “being aware of the - I would say, desolate - position of our young friend, offers to place her at a first-rate establishment where her education shall be completed, where her comfort shall be secured, where her reasonable wants shall be anticipated, where she shall be eminently qualified to discharge her duty in that station of life unto which it has pleased - shall I say Providence? - to call her.”

My heart was filled so full, both by what he said and by his affecting manner of saying it, that I was not able to speak, though I tried.

“Mr. Jarndyce,” he went on, “makes no condition beyond expressing his expectation that our young friend will not at any time remove herself from the establishment in question without his knowledge and concurrence. That she will faithfully apply herself to the acquisition of those accomplishments, upon the exercise of which she will be ultimately dependent. That she will tread in the paths of virtue and honour, and - the - a - - so forth.”

I was still less able to speak than before.

“Now, what does our young friend say?” proceeded Mr. Kenge. “Take time, take time! I pause for her reply. But take time!”

What the destitute subject of such an offer tried to say, I need not repeat. What she did say, I could more easily tell, if it were worth the telling. What she felt, and will feel to her dying hour, I could never relate.

This interview took place at Windsor, where I had passed (as far as I knew) my whole life. On that day week, amply provided with all necessaries, I left it, inside the stagecoach, for Reading.

Tradução Integral em Português

- O Sr. Jarndyce - prosseguiu - , ciente da situação... eu diria, desolada... de nossa jovem amiga, oferece-se para colocá-la numa instituição de primeira ordem, onde sua educação será completada, seu conforto será assegurado, suas necessidades razoáveis serão previstas, onde ela será eminentemente habilitada a cumprir seu dever naquela condição de vida à qual aprouve... direi à Providências... chamá-la.

Meu coração ficou tão cheio, tanto pelo que ele disse como pela maneira comovente de dizê-lo, que não consegui falar, embora tentasse.

- O Sr. Jarndyce - continuou ele - não impõe condição alguma, além de expressar sua expectativa de que nossa jovem amiga jamais se retire da instituição em questão sem seu conhecimento e anuência. Que se aplicará fielmente à aquisição daqueles talentos de cujo exercício acabará por depender. Que trilhará os caminhos da virtude e da honra, e... o... o... e assim por diante.

Eu conseguia falar ainda menos do que antes.

- Ora, o que diz nossa jovem amiga? - prosseguiu o Sr. Kenge. - Não tenha pressa, não tenha pressa! Faço uma pausa para sua resposta. Mas não tenha pressa!

O que a desamparada destinatária de tal proposta tentou dizer, não preciso repetir. O que ela de fato disse, eu poderia contar com mais facilidade, se valesse a pena contar. O que sentiu, e sentirá até a hora de sua morte, eu jamais poderia relatar.

Essa entrevista ocorreu em Windsor, onde eu passara (até onde sabia) a vida inteira. Uma semana depois, fartamente provida de tudo o que era necessário, parti dali na diligência, rumo a Reading.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

A senhora Rachael não mostrou tristeza em nossa despedida, mas chorei muito. Culpei-me por nunca ter me tornado querida o bastante para que sentisse minha falta. Quando ela me deu um beijo frio, abracei-a e disse que era minha culpa ela conseguir se despedir com tanta facilidade.

“Não, Esther”, respondeu ela. “É a sua desgraça.”

A carruagem esperava no portão, e parti com o coração triste. A senhora Rachael entrou antes de colocarem minhas caixas no veículo. Entre lágrimas, vi a casa desaparecer. Os bens seriam vendidos. Eu enterrara minha querida boneca sob a árvore perto da antiga janela, por isso apenas meu pássaro veio comigo.

Depois que a casa desapareceu, observei pela janela da carruagem os campos nevados e as árvores congeladas e brilhantes. O sol vermelho dava pouco calor, e o gelo escuro mostrava onde as pessoas haviam patinado. Um homem grande, envolto em muitas roupas, sentava-se diante de mim, olhando pela outra janela e me ignorando.

Original English Version

Mrs. Rachael was too good to feel any emotion at parting, but I was not so good, and wept bitterly. I thought that I ought to have known her better after so many years and ought to have made myself enough of a favourite with her to make her sorry then. When she gave me one cold parting kiss upon my forehead, like a thaw-drop from the stone porch - it was a very frosty day - I felt so miserable and self-reproachful that I clung to her and told her it was my fault, I knew, that she could say good-bye so easily!

“No, Esther!” she returned. “It is your misfortune!”

The coach was at the little lawn-gate - we had not come out until we heard the wheels - and thus I left her, with a sorrowful heart. She went in before my boxes were lifted to the coach-roof and shut the door. As long as I could see the house, I looked back at it from the window through my tears. My godmother had left Mrs. Rachael all the little property she possessed; and there was to be a sale; and an old hearth-rug with roses on it, which always seemed to me the first thing in the world I had ever seen, was hanging outside in the frost and snow. A day or two before, I had wrapped the dear old doll in her own shawl and quietly laid her - I am half ashamed to tell it - in the garden-earth under the tree that shaded my old window. I had no companion left but my bird, and him I carried with me in his cage.

When the house was out of sight, I sat, with my bird-cage in the straw at my feet, forward on the low seat to look out of the high window, watching the frosty trees, that were like beautiful pieces of spar, and the fields all smooth and white with last night’s snow, and the sun, so red but yielding so little heat, and the ice, dark like metal where the skaters and sliders had brushed the snow away. There was a gentleman in the coach who sat on the opposite seat and looked very large in a quantity of wrappings, but he sat gazing out of the other window and took no notice of me.

Tradução Integral em Português

A Sra. Rachael era boa demais para sentir qualquer emoção ao separar-se de mim, mas eu não era tão boa e chorei amargamente. Pensei que deveria tê-la conhecido melhor depois de tantos anos e deveria ter-me feito querida o bastante por ela para que então se entristecesse. Quando me deu na testa um beijo frio de despedida, como uma gota de degelo caída do pórtico de pedra - fazia um dia de geada intensa - , senti-me tão infeliz e cheia de remorso que me agarrei a ela e lhe disse que era culpa minha, bem o sabia, que ela pudesse despedir-se com tamanha facilidade!

- Não, Esther! - respondeu ela. - É o seu infortúnio!

A diligência estava junto ao pequeno portão do gramado - não saíramos até ouvir as rodas - , e assim a deixei, com o coração pesaroso. Ela entrou antes que minhas caixas fossem erguidas ao teto da diligência e fechou a porta. Enquanto pude ver a casa, olhei para trás pela janela, através das lágrimas. Minha madrinha deixara à Sra. Rachael todos os poucos bens que possuía; haveria um leilão; e um velho tapete de lareira com rosas, que sempre me parecera a primeira coisa que eu vira no mundo, pendia do lado de fora, no gelo e na neve. Um ou dois dias antes, eu envolvera a querida boneca velha em seu próprio xale e, em silêncio, a depositara - quase me envergonho de contar - na terra do jardim, sob a árvore que sombreava minha antiga janela. Não me restava companheiro algum além de meu pássaro, e levei-o comigo na gaiola.

Quando a casa desapareceu de vista, sentei-me inclinada para a frente no banco baixo, com a gaiola de meu pássaro na palha a meus pés, para espiar pela janela alta, observando as árvores cobertas de geada, semelhantes a belos pedaços de cristal, os campos todos lisos e brancos com a neve da noite anterior, o sol tão vermelho, mas que dava tão pouco calor, e o gelo, escuro como metal onde patinadores e deslizadores haviam varrido a neve. Havia na diligência um cavalheiro que, sentado no banco oposto, parecia muito grande em meio a tantos agasalhos, mas ele fitava pela outra janela e não prestava atenção em mim.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Pensei em minha madrinha morta, em sua última noite e sua expressão severa, e no lugar e nas pessoas desconhecidas que me esperavam. Então uma voz na carruagem me assustou de repente.

A voz perguntou com rudeza: “Por que você está chorando?”

Fiquei tão assustada que só consegui sussurrar: “Eu, senhor?” Sabia que era o homem envolto em muitas roupas, embora ele ainda olhasse pela janela.

“Sim, você”, disse ele, virando-se.

Eu disse com voz fraca: “Não sabia que estava chorando, senhor.”

O homem disse que eu certamente estava chorando. Sentou-se diante de mim, enxugou com cuidado meus olhos com sua grande manga de pele e mostrou que ela estava molhada.

“Pronto. Agora sabe que está chorando, não sabe?”, disse ele.

“Sim, senhor”, respondi.

O homem perguntou por que eu chorava e se não queria ir para lá.

“Para onde, senhor?”, perguntei.

“Para onde? Para onde quer que esteja indo”, respondeu o homem.

Respondi que estava muito contente por ir para lá.

Original English Version

I thought of my dead godmother, of the night when I read to her, of her frowning so fixedly and sternly in her bed, of the strange place I was going to, of the people I should find there, and what they would be like, and what they would say to me, when a voice in the coach gave me a terrible start.

It said, “What the de-vil are you crying for?”

I was so frightened that I lost my voice and could only answer in a whisper, “Me, sir?” For of course I knew it must have been the gentleman in the quantity of wrappings, though he was still looking out of his window.

“Yes, you,” he said, turning round.

“I didn’t know I was crying, sir,” I faltered.

“But you are!” said the gentleman. “Look here!” He came quite opposite to me from the other corner of the coach, brushed one of his large furry cuffs across my eyes (but without hurting me), and showed me that it was wet.

“There! Now you know you are,” he said. “Don’t you?”

“Yes, sir,” I said.

“And what are you crying for?” said the gentleman, “Don’t you want to go there?”

“Where, sir?”

“Where? Why, wherever you are going,” said the gentleman.

“I am very glad to go there, sir,” I answered.

Tradução Integral em Português

Eu pensava em minha madrinha morta, na noite em que lera para ela, em seu cenho tão fixo e severo na cama, no lugar estranho para onde eu ia, nas pessoas que encontraria ali, em como seriam e no que me diriam, quando uma voz na diligência me deu um susto terrível.

Ela disse: - Por que dia-bos você está chorando?

Fiquei tão assustada que perdi a voz e só consegui responder num sussurro: - Eu, senhor? Pois, é claro, eu sabia que só podia ter sido o cavalheiro envolto em tantos agasalhos, embora ainda olhasse pela janela.

- Sim, você - disse ele, virando-se.

- Eu não sabia que estava chorando, senhor - balbuciei.

- Mas está! - disse o cavalheiro. - Veja aqui! Veio do outro canto da diligência até ficar bem diante de mim, passou um de seus grandes punhos de pele pelos meus olhos (mas sem me machucar) e mostrou-me que estava molhado.

- Pronto! Agora sabe que está - disse ele. - Não sabe?

- Sim, senhor - respondi.

- E por que está chorando? - perguntou o cavalheiro. - Não quer ir para lá?

- Para onde, senhor?

- Para onde? Ora, para onde quer que esteja indo - disse o cavalheiro.

- Estou muito contente de ir para lá, senhor - respondi.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

“Então pareça contente!”, disse o homem.

Ele parecia estranho, coberto até o queixo e com quase todo o rosto escondido por um gorro de pele. Contudo, acalmei-me e deixei de temê-lo. Expliquei que provavelmente chorava porque minha madrinha morrera e a senhora Rachael não estava triste por me perder.

“Esqueça a senhora Rachael!”, gritou o homem. “Que um vento forte a leve embora numa vassoura!”

Então comecei realmente a temê-lo e olhei surpresa. Mesmo assim, seus olhos pareciam bondosos, embora ele falasse sozinho com raiva e xingasse a senhora Rachael.

Depois de algum tempo, ele abriu o enorme casaco e enfiou o braço num bolso fundo ao lado.

Ele me mostrou um pedaço bem embrulhado de excelente bolo de frutas, com uma camada grossa de açúcar, e uma pequena torta francesa feita de fígado de gansos gordos. Depois mandou que eu os comesse.

Agradeci muito, mas disse que esperava não ofendê-lo, pois a comida era pesada demais para mim.

Original English Version

“Well, then! Look glad!” said the gentleman.

I thought he was very strange, or at least that what I could see of him was very strange, for he was wrapped up to the chin, and his face was almost hidden in a fur cap with broad fur straps at the side of his head fastened under his chin; but I was composed again, and not afraid of him. So I told him that I thought I must have been crying because of my godmother’s death and because of Mrs. Rachael’s not being sorry to part with me.

“Confound Mrs. Rachael!” said the gentleman. “Let her fly away in a high wind on a broomstick!”

I began to be really afraid of him now and looked at him with the greatest astonishment. But I thought that he had pleasant eyes, although he kept on muttering to himself in an angry manner and calling Mrs. Rachael names.

After a little while he opened his outer wrapper, which appeared to me large enough to wrap up the whole coach, and put his arm down into a deep pocket in the side.

“Now, look here!” he said. “In this paper,” which was nicely folded, “is a piece of the best plum-cake that can be got for money - sugar on the outside an inch thick, like fat on mutton chops. Here’s a little pie (a gem this is, both for size and quality), made in France. And what do you suppose it’s made of? Livers of fat geese. There’s a pie! Now let’s see you eat ’em.”

“Thank you, sir,” I replied; “thank you very much indeed, but I hope you won’t be offended - they are too rich for me.”

Tradução Integral em Português

- Pois então! Pareça contente! - disse o cavalheiro.

Achei-o muito estranho, ou pelo menos achei muito estranho o que conseguia ver dele, pois estava agasalhado até o queixo, e o rosto quase se escondia num gorro de pele com largas tiras também de pele, presas sob o queixo, de cada lado da cabeça; mas recobrei a calma e já não tinha medo dele. Então lhe contei que julgava ter chorado por causa da morte de minha madrinha e porque a Sra. Rachael não lamentava separar-se de mim.

- Maldita Sra. Rachael! - disse o cavalheiro. - Que saia voando num vento forte montada numa vassoura!

Comecei então a ter verdadeiro medo dele e fitei-o com o maior espanto. Mas achei que tinha olhos agradáveis, embora continuasse resmungando consigo mesmo, furioso, e chamando a Sra. Rachael de nomes feios.

Pouco depois, abriu a capa exterior, que me pareceu grande o bastante para envolver a diligência inteira, e meteu o braço num bolso fundo na lateral.

- Agora, veja aqui! - disse ele. - Neste papel - que estava muito bem dobrado - há uma fatia do melhor bolo de frutas que o dinheiro pode comprar, com açúcar por fora de uma polegada de espessura, como a gordura das costeletas de carneiro. Aqui está uma tortinha (uma joia, tanto no tamanho como na qualidade), feita na França. E de que acha que é feita? Fígados de gansos gordos. Eis uma torta! Agora quero vê-la comer os dois.

- Obrigada, senhor - respondi. - Muito obrigada mesmo, mas espero que não se ofenda... são fortes demais para mim.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

O homem disse: “Derrotado de novo!” Eu não o entendi, e ele jogou as duas comidas pela janela.

Ele não disse mais nada até sair da carruagem pouco antes de Reading. Aconselhou-me a ser boa e estudar muito, depois apertou minha mão. Senti alívio quando ele partiu. Durante anos, lembrei-me dele sempre que passei por aquele lugar, mas finalmente saiu de meus pensamentos.

Quando a carruagem parou, uma senhora muito bem-arrumada olhou para a janela e disse: “Senhorita Donny.”

Respondi: “Não, senhora. Esther Summerson.”

A senhora disse: “Está certo. Eu sou a senhorita Donny.”

Entendi que ela havia se apresentado e pedi desculpas por meu engano. A pedido dela, mostrei minhas caixas. Uma criada bem-arrumada colocou-as do lado de fora de uma pequena carruagem verde, e a senhorita Donny, a criada e eu partimos.

A senhorita Donny disse que tudo estava pronto. Meus estudos tinham sido planejados exatamente como meu tutor, o senhor Jarndyce, desejava.

Original English Version

“Floored again!” said the gentleman, which I didn’t at all understand, and threw them both out of window.

He did not speak to me any more until he got out of the coach a little way short of Reading, when he advised me to be a good girl and to be studious, and shook hands with me. I must say I was relieved by his departure. We left him at a milestone. I often walked past it afterwards, and never for a long time without thinking of him and half expecting to meet him. But I never did; and so, as time went on, he passed out of my mind.

When the coach stopped, a very neat lady looked up at the window and said, “Miss Donny.”

“No, ma’am, Esther Summerson.”

“That is quite right,” said the lady, “Miss Donny.”

I now understood that she introduced herself by that name, and begged Miss Donny’s pardon for my mistake, and pointed out my boxes at her request. Under the direction of a very neat maid, they were put outside a very small green carriage; and then Miss Donny, the maid, and I got inside and were driven away.

“Everything is ready for you, Esther,” said Miss Donny, “and the scheme of your pursuits has been arranged in exact accordance with the wishes of your guardian, Mr. Jarndyce.”

Tradução Integral em Português

- Derrotado de novo! - disse o cavalheiro, coisa que não compreendi de modo algum, e atirou ambos pela janela.

Não voltou a falar comigo até descer da diligência pouco antes de Reading, quando me aconselhou a ser uma boa menina e a estudar, e apertou-me a mão. Devo dizer que sua partida me aliviou. Deixamo-lo junto a um marco de milha. Muitas vezes passei por ele a pé depois disso e, por muito tempo, nunca o fiz sem pensar no cavalheiro e quase esperar encontrá-lo. Mas nunca aconteceu; e assim, com o passar do tempo, ele me saiu da lembrança.

Quando a diligência parou, uma senhora muito asseada ergueu os olhos para a janela e disse: - Srta. Donny.

- Não, senhora, Esther Summerson.

- Exatamente - disse a senhora. - Srta. Donny.

Compreendi então que ela se apresentava por esse nome, pedi à Srta. Donny que perdoasse meu engano e, a seu pedido, indiquei minhas caixas. Sob a direção de uma criada muito asseada, foram colocadas do lado de fora de uma carruagem verde muito pequena; depois a Srta. Donny, a criada e eu entramos e fomos levadas dali.

- Tudo está pronto para você, Esther - disse a Srta. Donny - , e o programa de seus estudos foi organizado em exata conformidade com os desejos de seu tutor, o Sr. Jarndyce.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

“Os desejos de quem, senhora?”, perguntei.

A senhorita Donny repetiu: “Seu tutor, o senhor Jarndyce.”

Fiquei tão confusa que a senhorita Donny pensou que o frio me fizera mal e me emprestou seus sais aromáticos.

Depois de muita hesitação, perguntei à senhorita Donny se ela conhecia meu tutor, o senhor Jarndyce.

A senhorita Donny disse que não o conhecia pessoalmente, apenas por meio de seus advogados de Londres, Kenge e Carboy. Ela elogiou o senhor Kenge como um cavalheiro excelente e um orador realmente impressionante.

Concordei, mas estava confusa demais para pensar nisso. Chegamos a Greenleaf, a casa da senhorita Donny, antes que eu me recuperasse. Tudo ali pareceu incerto e irreal naquela tarde.

Logo me acostumei à rotina rígida de Greenleaf, e minha antiga vida na casa de minha madrinha começou a parecer um sonho. Tudo em Greenleaf era exato e organizado. Cada atividade tinha um horário fixo e acontecia naquele momento.

Original English Version

“Of - did you say, ma’am?”

“Of your guardian, Mr. Jarndyce,” said Miss Donny.

I was so bewildered that Miss Donny thought the cold had been too severe for me and lent me her smelling-bottle.

“Do you know my - guardian, Mr. Jarndyce, ma’am?” I asked after a good deal of hesitation.

“Not personally, Esther,” said Miss Donny; “merely through his solicitors, Messrs. Kenge and Carboy, of London. A very superior gentleman, Mr. Kenge. Truly eloquent indeed. Some of his periods quite majestic!”

I felt this to be very true but was too confused to attend to it. Our speedy arrival at our destination, before I had time to recover myself, increased my confusion, and I never shall forget the uncertain and the unreal air of everything at Greenleaf (Miss Donny’s house) that afternoon!

But I soon became used to it. I was so adapted to the routine of Greenleaf before long that I seemed to have been there a great while and almost to have dreamed rather than really lived my old life at my godmother’s. Nothing could be more precise, exact, and orderly than Greenleaf. There was a time for everything all round the dial of the clock, and everything was done at its appointed moment.

Tradução Integral em Português

- De... como disse, senhora?

- De seu tutor, o Sr. Jarndyce - disse a Srta. Donny.

Fiquei tão desnorteada que a Srta. Donny pensou que o frio fora excessivo para mim e emprestou-me seu frasco de sais.

- A senhora conhece meu... tutor, o Sr. Jarndyce? - perguntei, depois de muita hesitação.

- Não pessoalmente, Esther - disse a Srta. Donny. - Apenas por intermédio de seus advogados, os senhores Kenge e Carboy, de Londres. Um cavalheiro muito superior, o Sr. Kenge. De fato, verdadeiramente eloquente. Alguns de seus períodos são absolutamente majestosos!

Senti que isso era muito verdadeiro, mas estava confusa demais para prestar atenção. Nossa rápida chegada ao destino, antes que eu tivesse tempo de me recompor, aumentou minha confusão, e jamais esquecerei o ar incerto e irreal de tudo em Greenleaf (a casa da Srta. Donny) naquela tarde!

Mas logo me acostumei. Em pouco tempo, estava tão adaptada à rotina de Greenleaf que parecia ter passado ali muitos anos e quase ter sonhado, em vez de realmente vivido, minha antiga vida na casa de minha madrinha. Nada poderia ser mais preciso, exato e ordeiro que Greenleaf. Havia hora para tudo em toda a volta do mostrador do relógio, e tudo era feito no momento designado.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Havia doze alunas e duas senhoritas Donny, que eram gêmeas. Como mais tarde eu trabalharia como governanta, estudei todas as matérias e logo ajudei a ensinar as outras. Quanto mais aprendia, mais ensinava. Eu amava o trabalho porque as meninas se afeiçoavam a mim, e cada nova aluna infeliz ficava sob meus cuidados. Eu prometera trabalhar muito, ser bondosa, ajudar os outros e conquistar amor. Sentia vergonha por ter feito tão pouco e recebido tanto amor.

Passei seis anos tranquilos e felizes em Greenleaf. Felizmente, ninguém ali sugeria em meu aniversário que o mundo seria melhor sem mim. Cada aniversário trazia tantos presentes carinhosos que eles decoravam meu quarto o ano inteiro.

Durante aqueles seis anos, saí apenas para visitas próximas nas férias. Depois de seis meses, a senhorita Donny me aconselhou a escrever ao senhor Kenge dizendo que eu estava feliz e grata. O escritório enviou uma resposta formal dizendo que minha mensagem seria entregue ao cliente. Escrevi cerca de duas vezes por ano e sempre recebi exatamente a mesma resposta de Kenge e Carboy.

Original English Version

We were twelve boarders, and there were two Miss Donnys, twins. It was understood that I would have to depend, by and by, on my qualifications as a governess, and I was not only instructed in everything that was taught at Greenleaf, but was very soon engaged in helping to instruct others. Although I was treated in every other respect like the rest of the school, this single difference was made in my case from the first. As I began to know more, I taught more, and so in course of time I had plenty to do, which I was very fond of doing because it made the dear girls fond of me. At last, whenever a new pupil came who was a little downcast and unhappy, she was so sure - indeed I don’t know why - to make a friend of me that all new-comers were confided to my care. They said I was so gentle, but I am sure THEY were! I often thought of the resolution I had made on my birthday to try to be industrious, contented, and true-hearted and to do some good to some one and win some love if I could; and indeed, indeed, I felt almost ashamed to have done so little and have won so much.

I passed at Greenleaf six happy, quiet years. I never saw in any face there, thank heaven, on my birthday, that it would have been better if I had never been born. When the day came round, it brought me so many tokens of affectionate remembrance that my room was beautiful with them from New Year’s Day to Christmas.

In those six years I had never been away except on visits at holiday time in the neighbourhood. After the first six months or so I had taken Miss Donny’s advice in reference to the propriety of writing to Mr. Kenge to say that I was happy and grateful, and with her approval I had written such a letter. I had received a formal answer acknowledging its receipt and saying, “We note the contents thereof, which shall be duly communicated to our client.” After that I sometimes heard Miss Donny and her sister mention how regular my accounts were paid, and about twice a year I ventured to write a similar letter. I always received by return of post exactly the same answer in the same round hand, with the signature of Kenge and Carboy in another writing, which I supposed to be Mr. Kenge’s.

Tradução Integral em Português

Éramos doze internas, e havia duas senhoritas Donny, gêmeas. Ficara entendido que eu teria, no devido tempo, de depender de minhas habilitações como governanta, e não somente me instruíam em tudo o que era ensinado em Greenleaf, como muito cedo passei a ajudar a instruir as outras. Embora em todos os demais aspectos eu fosse tratada como as outras alunas, desde o início fizeram essa única distinção em meu caso. À medida que sabia mais, ensinava mais, e assim, com o tempo, passei a ter muito o que fazer, o que muito me agradava porque fazia as queridas meninas gostarem de mim. Por fim, sempre que chegava uma aluna nova um pouco abatida e infeliz, ela tão certamente - de fato, não sei por quê - fazia amizade comigo que todas as recém-chegadas eram confiadas a meus cuidados. Diziam que eu era tão meiga, mas tenho certeza de que ELAS é que eram! Muitas vezes pensei na resolução que tomara em meu aniversário de procurar ser trabalhadora, satisfeita e sincera, de fazer algum bem a alguém e conquistar algum amor, se pudesse; e, de fato, de fato, quase me envergonhava de ter feito tão pouco e conquistado tanto.

Passei em Greenleaf seis anos felizes e tranquilos. Graças a Deus, nunca vi ali, em rosto algum, no dia de meu aniversário, que teria sido melhor se eu nunca tivesse nascido. Quando a data chegava, trazia-me tantas lembranças afetuosas que meu quarto ficava belo com elas desde o Ano-Novo até o Natal.

Nesses seis anos eu nunca me ausentara, exceto para visitas nas férias, ali pela vizinhança. Passados mais ou menos os primeiros seis meses, eu seguira o conselho da Srta. Donny quanto à conveniência de escrever ao Sr. Kenge dizendo que estava feliz e grata, e, com sua aprovação, escrevera tal carta. Recebera uma resposta formal acusando o recebimento e dizendo: “Tomamos nota do conteúdo desta, que será devidamente comunicado a nosso cliente.” Depois disso, às vezes ouvi a Srta. Donny e sua irmã mencionarem com que regularidade minhas contas eram pagas, e cerca de duas vezes por ano eu me atrevia a escrever uma carta semelhante. Recebia sempre, pela volta do correio, exatamente a mesma resposta na mesma letra arredondada, com a assinatura Kenge e Carboy em outra caligrafia, que supunha ser a do Sr. Kenge.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Parece estranho escrever tanto sobre mim, como se esta história fosse realmente sobre minha vida. Mas logo me tornarei menos importante nela.

Depois de seis anos tranquilos em Greenleaf, eu vira alunas mais jovens passarem pelas mesmas etapas de crescimento. Então, numa manhã de novembro, recebi a carta seguinte. Omito a data.

Old Square, Lincoln's Inn

Senhora,

Jarndyce e Jarndyce

Nosso cliente, o senhor Jarndyce, receberá em sua casa uma jovem protegida pelo Tribunal neste processo. Ele deseja que ela tenha uma companheira adequada e pede que a senhora exerça essa função.

Organizamos uma viagem gratuita para a senhora na carruagem das oito horas da próxima segunda-feira, de Reading ao White Horse Cellar, em Londres. Um de nossos funcionários a encontrará lá e a levará ao escritório.

Permanecemos, senhora, seus obedientes servidores,

Kenge e Carboy

Senhorita Esther Summerson

Original English Version

It seems so curious to me to be obliged to write all this about myself! As if this narrative were the narrative of MY life! But my little body will soon fall into the background now.

Six quiet years (I find I am saying it for the second time) I had passed at Greenleaf, seeing in those around me, as it might be in a looking-glass, every stage of my own growth and change there, when, one November morning, I received this letter. I omit the date.

Old Square, Lincoln’s Inn

Madam,

Jarndyce and Jarndyce

Our clt Mr. Jarndyce being abt to rece into his house, under an Order of the Ct of Chy, a Ward of the Ct in this cause, for whom he wishes to secure an elgble compn, directs us to inform you that he will be glad of your serces in the afsd capacity.

We have arrngd for your being forded, carriage free, pr eight o’clock coach from Reading, on Monday morning next, to White Horse Cellar, Piccadilly, London, where one of our clks will be in waiting to convey you to our offe as above.

We are, Madam, Your obedt Servts,

Kenge and Carboy

Miss Esther Summerson

Tradução Integral em Português

Parece-me tão curioso ser obrigada a escrever tudo isso sobre mim mesma! Como se esta narrativa fosse a narrativa de MINHA vida! Mas minha pequena pessoa logo passará agora para o segundo plano.

Seis anos tranquilos (percebo que o digo pela segunda vez) eu passara em Greenleaf, vendo nas pessoas ao meu redor, como se fosse num espelho, cada fase de meu próprio crescimento e mudança naquele lugar, quando, certa manhã de novembro, recebi esta carta. Omito a data.

Old Square, Lincoln’s Inn

Senhora,

Jarndyce e Jarndyce

Estando nosso clte Sr. Jarndyce prestes a recber em sua casa, por Ordem do Trib. da Chancel., uma Pupila do Trib. nesta causa, para quem deseja assegurar uma comp. adequda, instrui-nos a informá-la de que lhe convirão seus servços na supracitada qualidde.

Providencimos seu transp., livre de desp. de viagem, pela dilig. das oito horas de Reading, na próxima segunda-feira de manhã, até White Horse Cellar, Piccadilly, Londres, onde um de nossos func. estará à espera para conduzi-la ao nosso escrt. acima indicado.

Somos, Senhora, Seus obedtes Servdores,

Kenge e Carboy

Srta. Esther Summerson

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Jamais esquecerei a emoção que essa carta causou em Greenleaf. Todos se importavam muito comigo, e meu tutor tornara mais fácil minha vida de órfã e ajudara tantos jovens a me amar. A tristeza deles, meu prazer, orgulho, alegria e humilde pesar se misturaram até que meu coração feliz quase se partiu.

A carta me deu apenas cinco dias antes da partida. Durante esses dias, todos demonstraram ainda mais amor. Na última manhã, as meninas me levaram por cada sala, lembraram onde nos tornamos amigas, pediram mensagens carinhosas, deram-me presentes, abraçaram-me e choraram. Tentei agradecer e abençoar todas, e meu coração estava cheio.

As duas senhoritas Donny ficaram tão tristes quanto as alunas. As criadas me abençoaram, e até o velho jardineiro, que eu pensava mal ter me notado, correu atrás da carruagem com flores e disse que eu tinha sido a luz de seus olhos. Meu coração ficou profundamente comovido.

Original English Version

Oh, never, never, never shall I forget the emotion this letter caused in the house! It was so tender in them to care so much for me, it was so gracious in that father who had not forgotten me to have made my orphan way so smooth and easy and to have inclined so many youthful natures towards me, that I could hardly bear it. Not that I would have had them less sorry - I am afraid not; but the pleasure of it, and the pain of it, and the pride and joy of it, and the humble regret of it were so blended that my heart seemed almost breaking while it was full of rapture.

The letter gave me only five days’ notice of my removal. When every minute added to the proofs of love and kindness that were given me in those five days, and when at last the morning came and when they took me through all the rooms that I might see them for the last time, and when some cried, “Esther, dear, say good-bye to me here at my bedside, where you first spoke so kindly to me!” and when others asked me only to write their names, “With Esther’s love,” and when they all surrounded me with their parting presents and clung to me weeping and cried, “What shall we do when dear, dear Esther’s gone!” and when I tried to tell them how forbearing and how good they had all been to me and how I blessed and thanked them every one, what a heart I had!

And when the two Miss Donnys grieved as much to part with me as the least among them, and when the maids said, “Bless you, miss, wherever you go!” and when the ugly lame old gardener, who I thought had hardly noticed me in all those years, came panting after the coach to give me a little nosegay of geraniums and told me I had been the light of his eyes - indeed the old man said so! - what a heart I had then!

Tradução Integral em Português

Ah, nunca, nunca, nunca esquecerei a emoção que essa carta causou na casa! Era tão terno da parte delas importarem-se tanto comigo, era tão generoso daquele pai que não me esquecera ter tornado tão suave e fácil meu caminho de órfã e inclinado em minha direção tantas naturezas jovens, que eu mal conseguia suportar. Não que desejasse que sentissem menos tristeza - receio que não - ; mas o prazer, a dor, o orgulho e a alegria, e o humilde pesar de tudo aquilo estavam tão misturados que meu coração parecia quase partir-se enquanto transbordava de êxtase.

A carta deu-me aviso de apenas cinco dias para minha partida. Quando cada minuto acrescentava novas provas do amor e da bondade que me demonstravam naqueles cinco dias, e quando enfim chegou a manhã, e elas me conduziram por todos os cômodos para que eu os visse pela última vez, e quando algumas choravam: “Esther, querida, despeça-se de mim aqui, ao lado de minha cama, onde você falou comigo com tanta bondade pela primeira vez!”, e quando outras pediam apenas que eu escrevesse seus nomes, “Com o amor de Esther”, e quando todas me cercaram com seus presentes de despedida, agarraram-se a mim chorando e exclamaram: “Que faremos quando nossa querida, querida Esther tiver partido!”, e quando tentei dizer-lhes como todas haviam sido tolerantes e bondosas comigo e como eu abençoava e agradecia a cada uma delas, que coração eu tinha!

E quando as duas senhoritas Donny sofreram tanto por se separar de mim quanto a menor de todas, e quando as criadas disseram: “Deus a abençoe, senhorita, aonde quer que vá!”, e quando o velho jardineiro feio e coxo, que eu julgava mal ter reparado em mim durante todos aqueles anos, veio ofegante atrás da diligência para me dar um pequeno ramalhete de gerânios e disse-me que eu fora a luz de seus olhos - de fato, o velho disse isso! - , que coração eu tinha então!

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Na pequena escola, crianças pobres acenaram em despedida. Um orgulhoso casal idoso, cuja filha eu ajudara a ensinar, também me desejou felicidade. Sozinha na carruagem, curvei-me sob todo aquele amor e repeti muitas vezes: “Sou tão grata.”

Decidi não levar lágrimas para meu novo lar depois de tudo o que haviam feito por mim. Ordenei a mim mesma que parasse de chorar e por fim me acalmei. Depois de refrescar os olhos com água de lavanda, comecei a procurar sinais de Londres.

A dez milhas de distância, eu tinha certeza de que chegáramos a Londres. Quando realmente entramos na cidade, pensei que a viagem nunca terminaria. Então a carruagem sacudiu sobre ruas de pedra, e os veículos quase batiam uns nos outros. Percebi que estávamos perto do destino, e logo paramos.

Um jovem manchado de tinta falou comigo da rua. Disse que vinha do escritório de Kenge e Carboy, em Lincoln's Inn.

Original English Version

And could I help it if with all this, and the coming to the little school, and the unexpected sight of the poor children outside waving their hats and bonnets to me, and of a grey-haired gentleman and lady whose daughter I had helped to teach and at whose house I had visited (who were said to be the proudest people in all that country), caring for nothing but calling out, “Good-bye, Esther. May you be very happy!” - could I help it if I was quite bowed down in the coach by myself and said “Oh, I am so thankful, I am so thankful!” many times over!

But of course I soon considered that I must not take tears where I was going after all that had been done for me. Therefore, of course, I made myself sob less and persuaded myself to be quiet by saying very often, “Esther, now you really must! This WILL NOT do!” I cheered myself up pretty well at last, though I am afraid I was longer about it than I ought to have been; and when I had cooled my eyes with lavender water, it was time to watch for London.

I was quite persuaded that we were there when we were ten miles off, and when we really were there, that we should never get there. However, when we began to jolt upon a stone pavement, and particularly when every other conveyance seemed to be running into us, and we seemed to be running into every other conveyance, I began to believe that we really were approaching the end of our journey. Very soon afterwards we stopped.

A young gentleman who had inked himself by accident addressed me from the pavement and said, “I am from Kenge and Carboy’s, miss, of Lincoln’s Inn.”

Tradução Integral em Português

E podia eu evitar que, com tudo isso, e com a chegada à pequena escola, e com a visão inesperada das pobres crianças lá fora acenando para mim com seus chapéus e toucas, e de um senhor e uma senhora de cabelos grisalhos cuja filha eu ajudara a ensinar e em cuja casa fizera visitas (dizia-se que eram as pessoas mais orgulhosas de toda aquela região), sem se importarem com nada senão gritar: “Adeus, Esther. Que você seja muito feliz!” - podia eu evitar curvar-me por completo, sozinha na diligência, e dizer: “Ah, sou tão grata, sou tão grata!”, muitas e muitas vezes?

Mas, é claro, logo considerei que não devia levar lágrimas para o lugar aonde ia, depois de tudo o que fora feito por mim. Portanto, é claro, obriguei-me a soluçar menos e persuadi-me a ficar calma, dizendo muitas vezes: - Esther, agora você realmente precisa! Isso NÃO PODE continuar! Por fim, consegui animar-me bastante, embora receie ter levado mais tempo do que deveria; e, quando refresquei os olhos com água de lavanda, já era hora de ficar atenta a Londres.

Fiquei plenamente convencida de que já estávamos lá quando ainda faltavam dez milhas e, quando de fato estávamos lá, de que nunca chegaríamos. Contudo, quando começamos a sacolejar sobre o calçamento de pedra e, sobretudo, quando todos os outros veículos pareciam correr contra nós e nós parecíamos correr contra todos os outros veículos, comecei a acreditar que realmente nos aproximávamos do fim da viagem. Pouco depois, paramos.

Um jovem cavalheiro que por acidente se manchara de tinta dirigiu-se a mim da calçada e disse: - Sou da firma Kenge e Carboy, senhorita, de Lincoln’s Inn.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

“Sim, senhor”, respondi com educação.

Ele gentilmente transferiu minhas caixas e me ajudou a entrar numa carruagem de aluguel. Perguntei se havia um grande incêndio por perto, pois uma fumaça marrom e espessa enchia as ruas e escondia quase tudo.

“Ah, não, senhorita”, disse ele. “Isto é uma característica especial de Londres.”

Eu nunca tinha ouvido falar de tal coisa.

“É neblina, senhorita”, explicou o jovem.

“Ah, é mesmo?”, eu disse.

Seguimos devagar por ruas extremamente sujas, escuras e confusas. Eu me perguntava como as pessoas conseguiam manter a calma ali. Depois, passamos por um portão antigo e entramos numa praça silenciosa. Num canto, uma escada larga e íngreme levava a uma entrada parecida com a porta de uma igreja. Por uma janela, vi lápides num cemitério sob passagens cobertas.

Esse era o escritório de Kenge e Carboy. O jovem cavalheiro me conduziu por uma sala externa até a sala vazia do Sr. Kenge. Educadamente, colocou uma poltrona para mim junto ao fogo e depois apontou um pequeno espelho pendurado ao lado da lareira.

Original English Version

“If you please, sir,” said I.

He was very obliging, and as he handed me into a fly after superintending the removal of my boxes, I asked him whether there was a great fire anywhere? For the streets were so full of dense brown smoke that scarcely anything was to be seen.

“Oh, dear no, miss,” he said. “This is a London particular.”

I had never heard of such a thing.

“A fog, miss,” said the young gentleman.

“Oh, indeed!” said I.

We drove slowly through the dirtiest and darkest streets that ever were seen in the world (I thought) and in such a distracting state of confusion that I wondered how the people kept their senses, until we passed into sudden quietude under an old gateway and drove on through a silent square until we came to an odd nook in a corner, where there was an entrance up a steep, broad flight of stairs, like an entrance to a church. And there really was a churchyard outside under some cloisters, for I saw the gravestones from the staircase window.

This was Kenge and Carboy’s. The young gentleman showed me through an outer office into Mr. Kenge’s room - there was no one in it - and politely put an arm-chair for me by the fire. He then called my attention to a little looking-glass hanging from a nail on one side of the chimney-piece.

Tradução Integral em Português

- Pois não, senhor - respondi.

Ele foi muito prestativo e, quando me ajudou a entrar num fiacre depois de supervisionar a retirada de minhas caixas, perguntei-lhe se havia algum grande incêndio em algum lugar. Pois as ruas estavam tão cheias de uma densa fumaça marrom que quase nada se podia ver.

- Ah, de modo algum, senhorita - disse ele. - Este é um típico londrino.

Eu nunca ouvira falar de tal coisa.

- Um nevoeiro, senhorita - disse o jovem cavalheiro.

“Ah, deveras!”, disse eu.

Seguimos devagar pelas ruas mais sujas e escuras que jamais se viram no mundo (assim pensei), e num estado de confusão tão desnorteante que eu me perguntava como as pessoas conservavam o juízo, até que passamos de súbito para a quietude sob um velho portal e prosseguimos por uma praça silenciosa, até chegarmos a um recanto esquisito num canto, onde havia uma entrada no alto de uma escadaria íngreme e larga, semelhante à entrada de uma igreja. E havia realmente do lado de fora um cemitério, sob umas arcadas, pois vi as lápides pela janela da escada.

Ali era o escritório de Kenge e Carboy. O jovem cavalheiro conduziu-me por uma sala externa até o gabinete do Sr. Kenge - onde não havia ninguém - e, com toda a cortesia, colocou para mim uma poltrona junto ao fogo. Em seguida chamou minha atenção para um pequeno espelho pendurado num prego a um dos lados do consolo da lareira.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

“Talvez queira se olhar depois da viagem, senhorita, pois vai se encontrar com o Chanceler. Mas tenho certeza de que não é necessário”, disse o jovem cavalheiro com educação.

“Encontrar o Chanceler?”, perguntei, surpresa de repente.

“É apenas uma formalidade, senhorita”, respondeu o jovem cavalheiro. “O Sr. Kenge está no tribunal. Ele manda lembranças e pergunta se gostaria de comer algo, tomar vinho e ler o jornal.” Ele me entregou o jornal, mexeu no fogo e saiu.

Tudo parecia estranho. Era como se fosse noite durante o dia, e as chamas das velas pareciam pálidas e frias. Li o jornal sem entendê-lo e repeti as mesmas palavras. Por fim, larguei-o, conferi se meu chapéu estava arrumado e observei a sala escura, as mesas empoeiradas, as pilhas de papéis e os livros sem graça. Durante duas horas, continuei pensando enquanto o fogo queimava e as velas tremeluziam. Finalmente, o jovem trouxe uma ferramenta muito suja para aparar os pavios.

Original English Version

“In case you should wish to look at yourself, miss, after the journey, as you’re going before the Chancellor. Not that it’s requisite, I am sure,” said the young gentleman civilly.

“Going before the Chancellor?” I said, startled for a moment.

“Only a matter of form, miss,” returned the young gentleman. “Mr. Kenge is in court now. He left his compliments, and would you partake of some refreshment” - there were biscuits and a decanter of wine on a small table - “and look over the paper,” which the young gentleman gave me as he spoke. He then stirred the fire and left me.

Everything was so strange - the stranger from its being night in the day-time, the candles burning with a white flame, and looking raw and cold - that I read the words in the newspaper without knowing what they meant and found myself reading the same words repeatedly. As it was of no use going on in that way, I put the paper down, took a peep at my bonnet in the glass to see if it was neat, and looked at the room, which was not half lighted, and at the shabby, dusty tables, and at the piles of writings, and at a bookcase full of the most inexpressive-looking books that ever had anything to say for themselves. Then I went on, thinking, thinking, thinking; and the fire went on, burning, burning, burning; and the candles went on flickering and guttering, and there were no snuffers - until the young gentleman by and by brought a very dirty pair - for two hours.

Tradução Integral em Português

“Caso queira olhar-se, senhorita, depois da viagem, já que vai comparecer perante o Chanceler. Não que seja necessário, estou certo”, disse o jovem cavalheiro, gentilmente.

“Comparecer perante o Chanceler?”, disse eu, sobressaltada por um instante.

“É mera formalidade, senhorita”, respondeu o jovem cavalheiro. “O Sr. Kenge está agora no tribunal. Deixou-lhe seus cumprimentos e perguntou se aceitaria algum refresco” - havia biscoitos e uma garrafa de vinho sobre uma mesinha - “e se gostaria de dar uma olhada no jornal”, que o jovem cavalheiro me entregou enquanto falava. Depois atiçou o fogo e deixou-me só.

Tudo era tão estranho - tanto mais estranho por ser noite em pleno dia, pelas velas que ardiam com chama branca e pareciam cruas e frias - que li as palavras do jornal sem saber o que significavam e dei comigo lendo repetidamente as mesmas palavras. Como não adiantava continuar assim, baixei o jornal, lancei um olhar para minha touca no espelho, para ver se estava bem-arrumada, e contemplei a sala, que não estava nem meio iluminada, as mesas puídas e empoeiradas, as pilhas de papéis e uma estante cheia dos livros de aparência mais inexpressiva que jamais tiveram algo a dizer por si mesmos. Então continuei, pensando, pensando, pensando; e o fogo continuou, ardendo, ardendo, ardendo; e as velas continuaram tremeluzindo e escorrendo, e não havia espevitadeiras - até que, tempos depois, o jovem cavalheiro trouxe um par muito sujo - durante duas horas.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Por fim, o Sr. Kenge chegou. Ele não havia mudado, mas ficou surpreso com o quanto eu mudara e pareceu satisfeito. Explicou que eu seria a acompanhante da jovem que estava na sala particular do Chanceler, por isso queriam que eu também estivesse presente. Perguntou se o Lorde Chanceler me deixaria nervosa.

“Não, senhor. Acho que não”, respondi, pois não via motivo para ficar nervosa.

O Sr. Kenge me ofereceu o braço. Dobramos a esquina, passamos sob uma fileira de colunas e entramos por uma porta lateral. Um corredor nos levou a uma sala confortável. Uma jovem e um rapaz estavam perto de uma grande lareira crepitante, apoiados num biombo enquanto conversavam.

Os dois ergueram os olhos quando entrei. À luz do fogo, vi uma jovem muito bonita, com cabelos dourados, olhos azuis suaves e um rosto alegre, inocente e confiante.

Original English Version

At last Mr. Kenge came. HE was not altered, but he was surprised to see how altered I was and appeared quite pleased. “As you are going to be the companion of the young lady who is now in the Chancellor’s private room, Miss Summerson,” he said, “we thought it well that you should be in attendance also. You will not be discomposed by the Lord Chancellor, I dare say?”

“No, sir,” I said, “I don’t think I shall,” really not seeing on consideration why I should be.

So Mr. Kenge gave me his arm and we went round the corner, under a colonnade, and in at a side door. And so we came, along a passage, into a comfortable sort of room where a young lady and a young gentleman were standing near a great, loud-roaring fire. A screen was interposed between them and it, and they were leaning on the screen, talking.

They both looked up when I came in, and I saw in the young lady, with the fire shining upon her, such a beautiful girl! With such rich golden hair, such soft blue eyes, and such a bright, innocent, trusting face!

Tradução Integral em Português

Por fim chegou o Sr. Kenge. ELE não mudara, mas surpreendeu-se ao ver o quanto eu mudara e pareceu muito satisfeito. “Como a senhorita será a acompanhante da jovem que se encontra agora na sala particular do Chanceler, Srta. Summerson”, disse ele, “julgamos conveniente que também estivesse presente. O Lorde Chanceler não a deixará perturbada, suponho?”

“Não, senhor”, respondi. “Creio que não”, pois, pensando bem, realmente não via motivo para isso.

Assim, o Sr. Kenge deu-me o braço e contornamos a esquina, passamos sob uma colunata e entramos por uma porta lateral. E assim chegamos, por um corredor, a uma espécie de sala confortável, onde uma jovem e um jovem cavalheiro estavam de pé perto de um fogo enorme, que rugia alto. Havia um biombo entre eles e o fogo, e os dois, apoiados no biombo, conversavam.

Ambos ergueram os olhos quando entrei, e vi na jovem, sobre quem incidia o brilho do fogo, uma moça tão linda! Com cabelos dourados tão opulentos, olhos azuis tão meigos e um rosto tão luminoso, inocente e confiante!

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

“Srta. Ada”, disse o Sr. Kenge, “esta é a Srta. Summerson.”

Ela veio ao meu encontro, sorrindo e estendendo a mão. Então mudou de ideia e me beijou. Seu jeito era tão natural e encantador que, em poucos minutos, estávamos sentadas junto à janela, à luz do fogo, conversando com liberdade e alegria.

Que alívio! Fiquei encantada por ela poder confiar em mim e gostar de mim. Sua bondade me deu coragem.

Ela me contou que o jovem cavalheiro era seu primo distante, Richard Carstone. Ele era bonito, tinha um rosto sincero e uma risada encantadora. Quando ela o chamou, ele conversou alegremente como um rapaz despreocupado. Tinha cerca de dezenove anos, quase dois a mais que Ada. Os dois eram órfãos e, para minha surpresa, haviam se conhecido naquele mesmo dia. Conversamos sobre como era estranho nós três nos encontrarmos ali. O fogo, agora mais calmo, parecia piscar para nós como um velho leão sonolento da Chancelaria, segundo Richard.

Original English Version

“Miss Ada,” said Mr. Kenge, “this is Miss Summerson.”

She came to meet me with a smile of welcome and her hand extended, but seemed to change her mind in a moment and kissed me. In short, she had such a natural, captivating, winning manner that in a few minutes we were sitting in the window-seat, with the light of the fire upon us, talking together as free and happy as could be.

What a load off my mind! It was so delightful to know that she could confide in me and like me! It was so good of her, and so encouraging to me!

The young gentleman was her distant cousin, she told me, and his name Richard Carstone. He was a handsome youth with an ingenuous face and a most engaging laugh; and after she had called him up to where we sat, he stood by us, in the light of the fire, talking gaily, like a light-hearted boy. He was very young, not more than nineteen then, if quite so much, but nearly two years older than she was. They were both orphans and (what was very unexpected and curious to me) had never met before that day. Our all three coming together for the first time in such an unusual place was a thing to talk about, and we talked about it; and the fire, which had left off roaring, winked its red eyes at us - as Richard said - like a drowsy old Chancery lion.

Tradução Integral em Português

“Srta. Ada”, disse o Sr. Kenge, “esta é a Srta. Summerson.”

Ela veio receber-me com um sorriso de boas-vindas e a mão estendida, mas pareceu mudar de ideia num instante e beijou-me. Em suma, tinha modos tão naturais, cativantes e encantadores que, poucos minutos depois, estávamos sentadas no assento da janela, sob a luz do fogo, conversando com toda a liberdade e felicidade possíveis.

Que peso me saiu do espírito! Era tão maravilhoso saber que ela podia confiar em mim e gostar de mim! Que bondade da parte dela, e que estímulo para mim!

O jovem cavalheiro era seu primo distante, contou-me ela, e chamava-se Richard Carstone. Era um belo rapaz, de rosto franco e riso extremamente cativante; depois que ela o chamou para junto de nós, ele ficou ao nosso lado, à luz do fogo, conversando alegremente como um menino despreocupado. Era muito jovem, não mais de dezenove anos então, se tanto, mas quase dois anos mais velho que ela. Ambos eram órfãos e (o que para mim era muito inesperado e curioso) nunca se haviam encontrado antes daquele dia. O fato de nós três nos reunirmos pela primeira vez num lugar tão incomum era assunto para conversa, e sobre isso conversamos; e o fogo, que deixara de rugir, piscava para nós seus olhos vermelhos - como disse Richard - à maneira de um velho leão sonolento da Chancelaria.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Falamos baixo porque um cavalheiro vestido formalmente, com uma grande peruca, entrava e saía com frequência. Sempre que ele aparecia, ouvia-se uma voz lenta ao longe. Ele disse que era um dos advogados do nosso caso falando com o Lorde Chanceler. Logo avisou ao Sr. Kenge que o Chanceler terminaria em cinco minutos. Então ouvimos pessoas se movimentando, e o Sr. Kenge disse que a sessão havia acabado e o Chanceler estava na sala ao lado.

O cavalheiro de peruca logo abriu a porta e pediu que o Sr. Kenge entrasse. Todos o seguimos, com minha querida Ada ao lado dele. O Lorde Chanceler estava numa poltrona junto a uma mesa perto do fogo, vestido simplesmente de preto. Seu manto, com belos enfeites dourados, estava sobre outra cadeira. Ele nos examinou quando entramos, mas seu modo era educado e gentil.

O cavalheiro de peruca colocou maços de papéis sobre a mesa do Chanceler. Em silêncio, o Chanceler escolheu um deles e virou as páginas.

Original English Version

We conversed in a low tone because a full-dressed gentleman in a bag wig frequently came in and out, and when he did so, we could hear a drawling sound in the distance, which he said was one of the counsel in our case addressing the Lord Chancellor. He told Mr. Kenge that the Chancellor would be up in five minutes; and presently we heard a bustle and a tread of feet, and Mr. Kenge said that the Court had risen and his lordship was in the next room.

The gentleman in the bag wig opened the door almost directly and requested Mr. Kenge to come in. Upon that, we all went into the next room, Mr. Kenge first, with my darling - it is so natural to me now that I can’t help writing it; and there, plainly dressed in black and sitting in an arm-chair at a table near the fire, was his lordship, whose robe, trimmed with beautiful gold lace, was thrown upon another chair. He gave us a searching look as we entered, but his manner was both courtly and kind.

The gentleman in the bag wig laid bundles of papers on his lordship’s table, and his lordship silently selected one and turned over the leaves.

Tradução Integral em Português

Conversávamos em voz baixa porque um cavalheiro em traje de gala e peruca de saco entrava e saía com frequência e, quando o fazia, ouvíamos ao longe uma voz arrastada, que ele disse ser a de um dos advogados de nossa causa dirigindo-se ao Lorde Chanceler. Ele informou ao Sr. Kenge que o Chanceler encerraria a sessão em cinco minutos; pouco depois ouvimos uma agitação e passos, e o Sr. Kenge disse que o Tribunal se havia levantado e que Sua Senhoria estava na sala ao lado.

O cavalheiro de peruca de saco abriu a porta quase imediatamente e pediu ao Sr. Kenge que entrasse. Diante disso, todos passamos à sala seguinte, primeiro o Sr. Kenge, acompanhado de minha querida - é-me agora tão natural chamá-la assim que não consigo deixar de escrevê-lo; e ali, vestido simplesmente de preto e sentado numa poltrona junto a uma mesa perto do fogo, estava Sua Senhoria, cuja toga, guarnecida de magníficos galões de ouro, fora lançada sobre outra cadeira. Ele lançou-nos um olhar perscrutador ao entrarmos, mas seus modos eram ao mesmo tempo corteses e bondosos.

O cavalheiro de peruca de saco depositou maços de papéis sobre a mesa de Sua Senhoria, e Sua Senhoria escolheu um em silêncio e folheou-o.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

“Srta. Clare”, disse o Lorde Chanceler. “Srta. Ada Clare?”

O Sr. Kenge apresentou Ada, e o Chanceler pediu que ela se sentasse perto dele. Percebi logo que ele a admirava e se interessava por sua situação. Entristeceu-me que uma jovem tão bonita tivesse aquele lugar oficial e frio em vez de um lar. Mesmo em seu melhor, o Lorde Chanceler era um fraco substituto para pais amorosos e orgulhosos.

Ainda virando as páginas, o Lorde Chanceler disse: “O Jarndyce em questão é o Sr. Jarndyce da Casa Soturna.”

“Jarndyce da Casa Soturna, meu lorde”, confirmou o Sr. Kenge.

“Um nome sombrio”, disse o Lorde Chanceler.

“Mas não é um lugar sombrio atualmente, meu lorde”, disse o Sr. Kenge.

“E a Casa Soturna”, disse o Chanceler, “ficava em...”

“Hertfordshire, meu lorde.”

“O Sr. Jarndyce da Casa Soturna não é casado, certo?”, perguntou o Chanceler.

“Não, não é, meu lorde”, disse o Sr. Kenge.

Houve uma pausa.

Original English Version

“Miss Clare,” said the Lord Chancellor. “Miss Ada Clare?”

Mr. Kenge presented her, and his lordship begged her to sit down near him. That he admired her and was interested by her even I could see in a moment. It touched me that the home of such a beautiful young creature should be represented by that dry, official place. The Lord High Chancellor, at his best, appeared so poor a substitute for the love and pride of parents.

“The Jarndyce in question,” said the Lord Chancellor, still turning over leaves, “is Jarndyce of Bleak House.”

“Jarndyce of Bleak House, my lord,” said Mr. Kenge.

“A dreary name,” said the Lord Chancellor.

“But not a dreary place at present, my lord,” said Mr. Kenge.

“And Bleak House,” said his lordship, “is in - ”

“Hertfordshire, my lord.”

“Mr. Jarndyce of Bleak House is not married?” said his lordship.

“He is not, my lord,” said Mr. Kenge.

A pause.

Tradução Integral em Português

“Srta. Clare”, disse o Lorde Chanceler. “Srta. Ada Clare?”

O Sr. Kenge apresentou-a, e Sua Senhoria pediu-lhe que se sentasse perto dele. Até eu pude perceber num instante que ele a admirava e se interessava por ela. Comoveu-me que o lar de uma criatura tão bela fosse representado por aquele lugar árido e oficial. O Lorde Alto Chanceler, mesmo no melhor de si, parecia um substituto tão pobre para o amor e o orgulho dos pais.

“O Jarndyce em questão”, disse o Lorde Chanceler, ainda folheando, “é Jarndyce, da Casa Soturna.”

“Jarndyce, da Casa Soturna, milorde”, disse o Sr. Kenge.

“Um nome lúgubre”, disse o Lorde Chanceler.

“Mas não é hoje um lugar lúgubre, milorde”, disse o Sr. Kenge.

“E a Casa Soturna”, disse Sua Senhoria, “fica em...”

“Hertfordshire, milorde.”

“O Sr. Jarndyce, da Casa Soturna, não é casado?”, perguntou Sua Senhoria.

“Não é, milorde”, disse o Sr. Kenge.

Uma pausa.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Olhando para Richard, o Lorde Chanceler perguntou: “O jovem Sr. Richard Carstone está aqui?”

Richard fez uma reverência e avançou.

“Hum”, disse o Lorde Chanceler enquanto virava mais páginas.

Em voz baixa, o Sr. Kenge lembrou-lhe que o Sr. Jarndyce da Casa Soturna havia providenciado uma acompanhante adequada para alguém.

Achei que ouvi o Chanceler brincar em voz baixa e com um sorriso: “Para o Sr. Richard Carstone?” Mas não tenho certeza.

“Para a Srta. Ada Clare. Esta é a jovem, Srta. Summerson.”

O Chanceler olhou para mim com bondade e aceitou educadamente minha reverência.

“A Srta. Summerson não é parente de ninguém envolvido no processo, certo?”

“Não, meu lorde.”

Antes que a frase terminasse, o Sr. Kenge se inclinou e sussurrou. O Chanceler continuou olhando os papéis, escutou, assentiu várias vezes e virou mais páginas. Não voltou a olhar para mim até sairmos.

Original English Version

“Young Mr. Richard Carstone is present?” said the Lord Chancellor, glancing towards him.

Richard bowed and stepped forward.

“Hum!” said the Lord Chancellor, turning over more leaves.

“Mr. Jarndyce of Bleak House, my lord,” Mr. Kenge observed in a low voice, “if I may venture to remind your lordship, provides a suitable companion for - ”

“For Mr. Richard Carstone?” I thought (but I am not quite sure) I heard his lordship say in an equally low voice and with a smile.

“For Miss Ada Clare. This is the young lady. Miss Summerson.”

His lordship gave me an indulgent look and acknowledged my curtsy very graciously.

“Miss Summerson is not related to any party in the cause, I think?”

“No, my lord.”

Mr. Kenge leant over before it was quite said and whispered. His lordship, with his eyes upon his papers, listened, nodded twice or thrice, turned over more leaves, and did not look towards me again until we were going away.

Tradução Integral em Português

“O jovem Sr. Richard Carstone está presente?”, perguntou o Lorde Chanceler, olhando em sua direção.

Richard fez uma reverência e adiantou-se.

“Hum!”, disse o Lorde Chanceler, folheando outras páginas.

“O Sr. Jarndyce, da Casa Soturna, milorde”, observou o Sr. Kenge em voz baixa, “se me for permitido lembrar a Sua Senhoria, providencia uma acompanhante adequada para...”

“Para o Sr. Richard Carstone?” Julguei ouvir (mas não tenho absoluta certeza) Sua Senhoria dizer, num tom igualmente baixo e com um sorriso.

“Para a Srta. Ada Clare. Esta é a jovem. Srta. Summerson.”

Sua Senhoria lançou-me um olhar indulgente e acolheu minha mesura com muita benevolência.

“A Srta. Summerson não é parente de nenhuma das partes da causa, creio?”

“Não, milorde.”

Antes que a frase fosse inteiramente pronunciada, o Sr. Kenge inclinou-se para a frente e sussurrou. Sua Senhoria, com os olhos nos papéis, ouviu, assentiu duas ou três vezes, folheou mais páginas e não voltou a olhar para mim até estarmos de saída.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

O Sr. Kenge e Richard recuaram para se juntar a mim perto da porta, deixando minha querida Ada ao lado do Lorde Chanceler. Ele falou brevemente com ela. Como ela me contou depois, perguntou se havia pensado bem no plano, se esperava ser feliz na casa do Sr. Jarndyce e por quê. Depois, dispensou-a com educação e falou com Richard por um ou dois minutos, de pé. Foi menos formal com Richard, como se o cargo de Lorde Chanceler não o impedisse de falar com sinceridade a um rapaz.

“Muito bem”, disse o Chanceler em voz alta. “Vou aprovar a ordem. Pelo que posso julgar, o Sr. Jarndyce escolheu uma excelente acompanhante para a jovem”, acrescentou, olhando para mim. “Todo o plano parece ser o melhor possível nestas circunstâncias.”

Ele nos dispensou de modo agradável, e todos saímos gratos por sua simpatia e educação. Essas qualidades não diminuíram sua dignidade; pareceram aumentá-la.

Original English Version

Mr. Kenge now retired, and Richard with him, to where I was, near the door, leaving my pet (it is so natural to me that again I can’t help it!) sitting near the Lord Chancellor, with whom his lordship spoke a little part, asking her, as she told me afterwards, whether she had well reflected on the proposed arrangement, and if she thought she would be happy under the roof of Mr. Jarndyce of Bleak House, and why she thought so? Presently he rose courteously and released her, and then he spoke for a minute or two with Richard Carstone, not seated, but standing, and altogether with more ease and less ceremony, as if he still knew, though he WAS Lord Chancellor, how to go straight to the candour of a boy.

“Very well!” said his lordship aloud. “I shall make the order. Mr. Jarndyce of Bleak House has chosen, so far as I may judge,” and this was when he looked at me, “a very good companion for the young lady, and the arrangement altogether seems the best of which the circumstances admit.”

He dismissed us pleasantly, and we all went out, very much obliged to him for being so affable and polite, by which he had certainly lost no dignity but seemed to us to have gained some.

Tradução Integral em Português

O Sr. Kenge retirou-se então, e Richard com ele, para onde eu estava, perto da porta, deixando minha menina (é-me tão natural que mais uma vez não consigo evitá-lo!) sentada junto ao Lorde Chanceler, com quem Sua Senhoria falou por algum tempo, perguntando-lhe, segundo ela me contou depois, se havia refletido bem sobre o acordo proposto, se julgava que seria feliz sob o teto do Sr. Jarndyce, da Casa Soturna, e por que assim pensava. Logo ele se levantou cortesmente e dispensou-a; depois falou por um ou dois minutos com Richard Carstone, não sentado, mas de pé, e de modo geral com mais desembaraço e menos cerimônia, como se ainda soubesse, embora FOSSE Lorde Chanceler, atingir diretamente a franqueza de um rapaz.

“Muito bem!”, disse Sua Senhoria em voz alta. “Lavrei a ordem. O Sr. Jarndyce, da Casa Soturna, escolheu, tanto quanto posso julgar” - e foi então que olhou para mim - “uma excelente acompanhante para a jovem, e o acordo em seu conjunto parece ser o melhor que as circunstâncias permitem.”

Despediu-nos agradavelmente, e todos saímos muito gratos por ele haver sido tão afável e cortês, com o que decerto não perdera dignidade alguma, mas aos nossos olhos parecera ganhar um pouco.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Sob a fileira de colunas, o Sr. Kenge se lembrou de uma pergunta que precisava fazer. Voltou e nos deixou na neblina, ao lado da carruagem e dos criados que esperavam o Lorde Chanceler.

“Bem, isso acabou!”, disse Richard Carstone. “Aonde vamos agora, Srta. Summerson?”

“Você não sabe?”, perguntei.

“Nem um pouco”, respondeu ele.

“E você sabe, minha querida?”, perguntei a Ada.

“Não”, disse ela. “E você?”

“De jeito nenhum”, eu disse.

Olhamos uns para os outros e rimos um pouco, pois parecíamos crianças perdidas na floresta. Então, uma velhinha estranha se aproximou. Usava um chapéu amassado, carregava uma bolsinha e fazia reverências e sorria com muita cerimônia.

“Ah!”, disse ela. “Os tutelados do processo Jarndyce! Fico muito feliz em conhecê-los. É um bom sinal quando juventude, esperança e beleza chegam a este lugar sem saber o que lhes acontecerá.”

Original English Version

When we got under the colonnade, Mr. Kenge remembered that he must go back for a moment to ask a question and left us in the fog, with the Lord Chancellor’s carriage and servants waiting for him to come out.

“Well!” said Richard Carstone. “THAT’S over! And where do we go next, Miss Summerson?”

“Don’t you know?” I said.

“Not in the least,” said he.

“And don’t YOU know, my love?” I asked Ada.

“No!” said she. “Don’t you?”

“Not at all!” said I.

We looked at one another, half laughing at our being like the children in the wood, when a curious little old woman in a squeezed bonnet and carrying a reticule came curtsying and smiling up to us with an air of great ceremony.

“Oh!” said she. “The wards in Jarndyce! Ve-ry happy, I am sure, to have the honour! It is a good omen for youth, and hope, and beauty when they find themselves in this place, and don’t know what’s to come of it.”

Tradução Integral em Português

Quando chegamos sob a colunata, o Sr. Kenge lembrou-se de que precisava voltar por um instante para fazer uma pergunta e deixou-nos na névoa, junto à carruagem e aos criados do Lorde Chanceler, que esperavam que ele saísse.

“Bem!”, disse Richard Carstone. “ISSO acabou! E para onde vamos agora, Srta. Summerson?”

“O senhor não sabe?”, perguntei.

“Nem um pouco”, disse ele.

“E VOCÊ não sabe, meu amor?”, perguntei a Ada.

“Não!”, disse ela. “Você não sabe?”

“De modo algum!”, respondi.

Olhamos uns para os outros, quase rindo por parecermos as crianças perdidas no bosque, quando uma velhinha curiosa, de touca amassada e uma bolsinha de mão, aproximou-se de nós fazendo mesuras e sorrindo, com ares de grande cerimônia.

“Oh!”, disse ela. “Os tutelados de Jarndyce! Mui-to feliz, estou certa, pela honra! É um bom presságio para a juventude, a esperança e a beleza quando se veem neste lugar sem saber no que tudo isso vai dar.”

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

“Louca”, sussurrou Richard, pensando que ela não podia ouvi-lo.

“Correto! Louca, jovem cavalheiro”, respondeu ela depressa, deixando-o sem graça. Entre profundas reverências e sorrisos, contou que também havia sido tutelada. Tivera juventude, esperança e talvez beleza, mas nenhuma delas a ajudara ou salvara. Agora, comparecia regularmente ao tribunal com seus documentos e esperava uma decisão em breve: no Dia do Juízo Final. Acreditava que o sexto selo do Apocalipse era o Grande Selo e que estava aberto havia muito tempo. Então, pediu que aceitássemos sua bênção.

Ada estava um pouco assustada, então tentei agradar à pobre velhinha dizendo que estávamos muito gratos.

“S-sim”, disse ela de modo afetado. “Imagino que estejam. E aqui vem o Conversador Kenge com seus documentos! Como vai, Vossa Excelência?”

“Muito bem! Agora, por favor, não cause problemas, minha boa senhora”, disse o Sr. Kenge enquanto nos conduzia de volta.

Original English Version

“Mad!” whispered Richard, not thinking she could hear him.

“Right! Mad, young gentleman,” she returned so quickly that he was quite abashed. “I was a ward myself. I was not mad at that time,” curtsying low and smiling between every little sentence. “I had youth and hope. I believe, beauty. It matters very little now. Neither of the three served or saved me. I have the honour to attend court regularly. With my documents. I expect a judgment. Shortly. On the Day of Judgment. I have discovered that the sixth seal mentioned in the Revelations is the Great Seal. It has been open a long time! Pray accept my blessing.”

As Ada was a little frightened, I said, to humour the poor old lady, that we were much obliged to her.

“Ye-es!” she said mincingly. “I imagine so. And here is Conversation Kenge. With HIS documents! How does your honourable worship do?”

“Quite well, quite well! Now don’t be troublesome, that’s a good soul!” said Mr. Kenge, leading the way back.

Tradução Integral em Português

“Louca!”, sussurrou Richard, sem imaginar que ela pudesse ouvi-lo.

“Exato! Louca, jovem cavalheiro”, retrucou ela tão depressa que ele ficou bastante desconcertado. “Eu mesma já fui tutelada. Naquele tempo, não era louca” - fazia uma mesura profunda e sorria entre cada frasezinha. “Eu tinha juventude e esperança. E, creio, beleza. Agora isso pouco importa. Nenhuma das três me serviu ou me salvou. Tenho a honra de comparecer regularmente ao tribunal. Com meus documentos. Espero uma sentença. Em breve. No Dia do Juízo. Descobri que o sexto selo mencionado no Apocalipse é o Grande Selo. Está aberto há muito tempo! Queiram aceitar minha bênção.”

Como Ada estava um pouco assustada, eu disse, para comprazer a pobre velhinha, que lhe estávamos muito agradecidas.

“Si-im!”, disse ela com afetação. “Imagino que sim. E eis aí o Conversação Kenge. Com os documentos DELE! Como passa Vossa Honorável Excelência?”

“Muito bem, muito bem! Agora não importune, seja uma boa alma!”, disse o Sr. Kenge, abrindo o caminho de volta.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

“Claro que não”, disse a pobre velhinha, acompanhando Ada e a mim. “Darei propriedades às duas, e isso não é causar problemas, não é? Espero uma decisão em breve, no Dia do Juízo Final. Este é um bom sinal para vocês. Aceitem minha bênção!”

Ela parou ao pé da escada larga e íngreme. Enquanto subíamos, olhamos para trás e a vimos ainda fazendo reverências e sorrindo após cada frase curta: “Juventude. Esperança. Beleza. Chancelaria. E Conversador Kenge! Ah! Por favor, aceitem minha bênção!”

Original English Version

“By no means,” said the poor old lady, keeping up with Ada and me. “Anything but troublesome. I shall confer estates on both - which is not being troublesome, I trust? I expect a judgment. Shortly. On the Day of Judgment. This is a good omen for you. Accept my blessing!”

She stopped at the bottom of the steep, broad flight of stairs; but we looked back as we went up, and she was still there, saying, still with a curtsy and a smile between every little sentence, “Youth. And hope. And beauty. And Chancery. And Conversation Kenge! Ha! Pray accept my blessing!”

Tradução Integral em Português

“De modo algum”, disse a pobre velhinha, acompanhando Ada e a mim. “Tudo, menos importunar. Concederei propriedades a ambas - o que não é importunar, espero? Aguardo uma sentença. Em breve. No Dia do Juízo. Este é um bom presságio para as senhoritas. Aceitem minha bênção!”

Ela parou ao pé da escadaria íngreme e larga; mas olhamos para trás enquanto subíamos, e ela ainda estava ali, dizendo, sempre com uma mesura e um sorriso entre cada frasezinha: “Juventude. E esperança. E beleza. E Chancelaria. E Conversação Kenge! Ah! Queiram aceitar minha bênção!”

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Chapter IV

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Caridade a Distância

Quando voltamos à sala dele, o Sr. Kenge nos disse que passaríamos a noite na casa da Sra. Jellyby. Depois se virou para mim, supondo que eu soubesse quem ela era.

“Realmente não sei, senhor”, respondi. “Talvez o Sr. Carstone ou a Srta. Clare saiba.”

Mas eles também não sabiam nada sobre a Sra. Jellyby. O Sr. Kenge ficou de costas para o fogo e olhou para o tapete empoeirado como se lesse ali a história da vida dela. Disse que era uma mulher de personalidade muito forte, inteiramente dedicada a causas públicas. Ela já havia apoiado muitas causas e, naquele momento, interessava-se pela África, até que outro assunto a atraísse. Seu plano era cultivar café, educar a população local e estabelecer o excesso de habitantes da Grã-Bretanha junto aos rios africanos. O Sr. Jarndyce gostava de apoiar boas obras e era muito procurado por pessoas caridosas. O Sr. Kenge acreditava que ele tinha a Sra. Jellyby em alta consideração.

Original English Version

Telescopic Philanthropy

We were to pass the night, Mr. Kenge told us when we arrived in his room, at Mrs. Jellyby’s; and then he turned to me and said he took it for granted I knew who Mrs. Jellyby was.

“I really don’t, sir,” I returned. “Perhaps Mr. Carstone - or Miss Clare - ”

But no, they knew nothing whatever about Mrs. Jellyby. “In-deed! Mrs. Jellyby,” said Mr. Kenge, standing with his back to the fire and casting his eyes over the dusty hearth-rug as if it were Mrs. Jellyby’s biography, “is a lady of very remarkable strength of character who devotes herself entirely to the public. She has devoted herself to an extensive variety of public subjects at various times and is at present (until something else attracts her) devoted to the subject of Africa, with a view to the general cultivation of the coffee berry - AND the natives - and the happy settlement, on the banks of the African rivers, of our superabundant home population. Mr. Jarndyce, who is desirous to aid any work that is considered likely to be a good work and who is much sought after by philanthropists, has, I believe, a very high opinion of Mrs. Jellyby.”

Tradução Integral em Português

Filantropia Telescópica

Passaríamos a noite, disse-nos o Sr. Kenge quando chegamos a seu gabinete, na casa da Sra. Jellyby; então se voltou para mim e disse tomar por certo que eu sabia quem era a Sra. Jellyby.

“Na verdade, não sei, senhor”, respondi. “Talvez o Sr. Carstone... ou a Srta. Clare...”

Mas não; eles tampouco sabiam coisa alguma sobre a Sra. Jellyby. “De-veras! A Sra. Jellyby”, disse o Sr. Kenge, de pé e de costas para o fogo, percorrendo com os olhos o empoeirado tapete da lareira como se fosse a biografia da Sra. Jellyby, “é uma dama de notabilíssima força de caráter, que se dedica inteiramente ao público. Em épocas diversas, dedicou-se a uma grande variedade de questões públicas e, no presente (até que alguma outra coisa a atraia), dedica-se à questão da África, tendo em vista o cultivo geral do cafeeiro - E dos nativos - e o feliz estabelecimento, às margens dos rios africanos, de nossa excedente população doméstica. O Sr. Jarndyce, desejoso de ajudar toda obra que se considere propensa a ser uma boa obra, e muito procurado por filantropos, tem, creio eu, a mais elevada opinião da Sra. Jellyby.”

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

O Sr. Kenge ajeitou a gravata e olhou para nós.

“E quanto ao Sr. Jellyby, senhor?”, perguntou Richard.

“Ah, o Sr. Jellyby”, disse o Sr. Kenge. “A melhor maneira de descrevê-lo é simplesmente como o marido da Sra. Jellyby.”

“Então ele não é ninguém importante, senhor?”, perguntou Richard com um olhar divertido.

O Sr. Kenge disse seriamente que não podia afirmar isso, pois não sabia nada sobre o Sr. Jellyby e nunca o havia conhecido. O Sr. Jellyby talvez fosse um homem excelente, mas sua identidade ficava escondida pelas qualidades mais brilhantes da esposa. O Sr. Kenge explicou então que a viagem até a Casa Soturna seria longa, escura e cansativa naquela noite. Como já tínhamos viajado, o Sr. Jarndyce sugerira esse plano. Uma carruagem nos buscaria na casa da Sra. Jellyby cedo na manhã seguinte.

O Sr. Kenge tocou uma pequena campainha, e o jovem cavalheiro entrou. Chamando-o de Guppy, o Sr. Kenge perguntou se as malas da Srta. Summerson e as outras bagagens haviam sido enviadas à casa. O Sr. Guppy respondeu que sim e acrescentou que uma carruagem esperava para nos levar quando estivéssemos prontos.

Original English Version

Mr. Kenge, adjusting his cravat, then looked at us.

“And Mr. Jellyby, sir?” suggested Richard.

“Ah! Mr. Jellyby,” said Mr. Kenge, “is - a - I don’t know that I can describe him to you better than by saying that he is the husband of Mrs. Jellyby.”

“A nonentity, sir?” said Richard with a droll look.

“I don’t say that,” returned Mr. Kenge gravely. “I can’t say that, indeed, for I know nothing whatever OF Mr. Jellyby. I never, to my knowledge, had the pleasure of seeing Mr. Jellyby. He may be a very superior man, but he is, so to speak, merged - merged - in the more shining qualities of his wife.” Mr. Kenge proceeded to tell us that as the road to Bleak House would have been very long, dark, and tedious on such an evening, and as we had been travelling already, Mr. Jarndyce had himself proposed this arrangement. A carriage would be at Mrs. Jellyby’s to convey us out of town early in the forenoon of to-morrow.

He then rang a little bell, and the young gentleman came in. Addressing him by the name of Guppy, Mr. Kenge inquired whether Miss Summerson’s boxes and the rest of the baggage had been “sent round.” Mr. Guppy said yes, they had been sent round, and a coach was waiting to take us round too as soon as we pleased.

Tradução Integral em Português

O Sr. Kenge, ajeitando a gravata, olhou então para nós.

“E o Sr. Jellyby, senhor?”, sugeriu Richard.

“Ah! O Sr. Jellyby”, disse o Sr. Kenge, “é... hum... não sei se poderia descrevê-lo melhor do que dizendo que é o marido da Sra. Jellyby.”

“Uma nulidade, senhor?”, perguntou Richard com uma expressão jocosa.

“Não digo isso”, retrucou gravemente o Sr. Kenge. “Na verdade, não posso dizê-lo, pois nada sei A RESPEITO do Sr. Jellyby. Até onde me consta, nunca tive o prazer de ver o Sr. Jellyby. Pode ser um homem muito superior, mas está, por assim dizer, fundido - fundido - nas qualidades mais resplandecentes da esposa.” O Sr. Kenge passou a explicar-nos que, como o caminho para a Casa Soturna seria muito longo, escuro e tedioso numa noite como aquela, e como já havíamos viajado, o próprio Sr. Jarndyce propusera aquele arranjo. Uma carruagem estaria na casa da Sra. Jellyby para levar-nos para fora da cidade logo no início da manhã seguinte.

Tocou então uma campainha, e o jovem cavalheiro entrou. Chamando-o pelo nome de Guppy, o Sr. Kenge perguntou se os baús da Srta. Summerson e o restante da bagagem haviam sido “mandados adiante”. O Sr. Guppy disse que sim, haviam sido mandados, e que uma carruagem esperava para levar-nos também, assim que quiséssemos.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

O Sr. Kenge apertou nossas mãos e disse estar muito satisfeito com o acordo feito naquele dia. Entre as despedidas dirigidas a cada um de nós, expressou a grande esperança de que aquilo trouxesse felicidade, bem-estar e todas as vantagens a todos os envolvidos. Depois, mandou Guppy nos levar em segurança.

Enquanto descíamos a escada, Richard perguntou: “Onde exatamente fica ‘lá’, Sr. Guppy?”

“É perto”, disse o Sr. Guppy. “Fica logo ali, em Thavies Inn.”

“Não sei onde fica. Venho de Winchester e não conheço Londres.”

“Fica logo ali”, disse o Sr. Guppy. “Subimos Chancery Lane, seguimos por Holborn e chegamos em cerca de quatro minutos. Hoje temos uma neblina bem típica de Londres, não é, senhorita?” Ele parecia encantado com ela por minha causa.

“A neblina está realmente muito densa”, eu disse.

Enquanto erguia os degraus da carruagem, o Sr. Guppy disse que a neblina não me fazia mal. A julgar por minha aparência, achava que ela até me fazia bem.

Original English Version

“Then it only remains,” said Mr. Kenge, shaking hands with us, “for me to express my lively satisfaction in (good day, Miss Clare!) the arrangement this day concluded and my (GOOD-bye to you, Miss Summerson!) lively hope that it will conduce to the happiness, the (glad to have had the honour of making your acquaintance, Mr. Carstone!) welfare, the advantage in all points of view, of all concerned! Guppy, see the party safely there.”

“Where IS ‘there,’ Mr. Guppy?” said Richard as we went downstairs.

“No distance,” said Mr. Guppy; “round in Thavies Inn, you know.”

“I can’t say I know where it is, for I come from Winchester and am strange in London.”

“Only round the corner,” said Mr. Guppy. “We just twist up Chancery Lane, and cut along Holborn, and there we are in four minutes’ time, as near as a toucher. This is about a London particular NOW, ain’t it, miss?” He seemed quite delighted with it on my account.

“The fog is very dense indeed!” said I.

“Not that it affects you, though, I’m sure,” said Mr. Guppy, putting up the steps. “On the contrary, it seems to do you good, miss, judging from your appearance.”

Tradução Integral em Português

“Então só me resta”, disse o Sr. Kenge, apertando-nos as mãos, “expressar minha viva satisfação com (bom dia, Srta. Clare!) o acordo concluído neste dia e minha (MUITO prazer, Srta. Summerson!) viva esperança de que ele contribua para a felicidade, o (alegre por ter tido a honra de conhecê-lo, Sr. Carstone!) bem-estar, a vantagem, sob todos os pontos de vista, de todos os envolvidos! Guppy, conduza o grupo até lá em segurança.”

“Onde FICA esse ‘lá’, Sr. Guppy?”, perguntou Richard enquanto descíamos a escada.

“Não é longe”, disse o Sr. Guppy; “logo ali, em Thavies Inn, sabe?”

“Não posso dizer que saiba onde fica, pois venho de Winchester e sou forasteiro em Londres.”

“É logo depois da esquina”, disse o Sr. Guppy. “Basta dobrarmos a Chancery Lane, cortarmos por Holborn e estaremos lá em quatro minutos, por um triz. Isto aqui AGORA é mesmo uma especialidade londrina, não é, senhorita?” Parecia encantadíssimo com ela por minha causa.

“A névoa está realmente muito densa!”, disse eu.

“Não que a afete, tenho certeza”, disse o Sr. Guppy, erguendo os degraus. “Ao contrário, parece fazer-lhe bem, senhorita, a julgar por sua aparência.”

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Eu sabia que ele fizera o elogio com gentileza. Depois que fechou a porta e subiu para o assento do cocheiro, ri de mim mesma por ter corado. Nós três rimos e conversamos sobre nossa falta de experiência e a estranheza de Londres. Por fim, passamos sob um arco e entramos numa rua estreita de casas altas, parecida com um longo tanque que prendia a neblina. Uma multidão confusa, formada principalmente por crianças, estava diante da casa onde paramos. Uma placa de latão sem brilho na porta dizia JELLYBY.

O Sr. Guppy olhou pela janela da carruagem e disse: “Não se assustem. Um dos pequenos Jellyby enfiou a cabeça entre as grades junto ao porão!”

“Ah, pobre criança”, eu disse. “Por favor, deixe-me sair!”

“Por favor, tenha cuidado, senhorita. Os pequenos Jellyby estão sempre se metendo em confusão”, disse o Sr. Guppy.

Original English Version

I knew he meant well in paying me this compliment, so I laughed at myself for blushing at it when he had shut the door and got upon the box; and we all three laughed and chatted about our inexperience and the strangeness of London until we turned up under an archway to our destination - a narrow street of high houses like an oblong cistern to hold the fog. There was a confused little crowd of people, principally children, gathered about the house at which we stopped, which had a tarnished brass plate on the door with the inscription JELLYBY.

“Don’t be frightened!” said Mr. Guppy, looking in at the coach-window. “One of the young Jellybys been and got his head through the area railings!”

“Oh, poor child,” said I; “let me out, if you please!”

“Pray be careful of yourself, miss. The young Jellybys are always up to something,” said Mr. Guppy.

Tradução Integral em Português

Eu sabia que ele tinha boa intenção ao fazer-me esse elogio, por isso ri de mim mesma por ter corado quando ele fechou a porta e subiu para a boleia; e nós três rimos e conversamos sobre nossa inexperiência e a estranheza de Londres, até entrarmos sob um arco e chegarmos ao destino - uma rua estreita de casas altas, semelhante a uma cisterna oblonga para conter a névoa. Uma pequena e confusa multidão, composta principalmente de crianças, reunira-se diante da casa onde paramos, cuja porta tinha uma placa de latão embaçada com a inscrição JELLYBY.

“Não se assuste!”, disse o Sr. Guppy, olhando pela janela da carruagem. “Um dos jovens Jellyby foi enfiar a cabeça entre as grades do subsolo!”

“Oh, pobre criança”, disse eu; “deixe-me sair, por favor!”

“Tenha o cuidado de se proteger, senhorita. Os jovens Jellyby estão sempre aprontando alguma”, disse o Sr. Guppy.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Cheguei até a pobre criança, um dos menininhos mais sujos que eu já vira. Estava com calor, assustado e chorando alto, com o pescoço preso entre duas barras de ferro. Um leiteiro e um funcionário da igreja queriam ajudar, mas puxavam suas pernas como se a cabeça pudesse ficar menor. Depois de acalmá-lo, percebi que sua cabeça era naturalmente grande. Sugeri empurrá-lo para a frente, pois seu corpo talvez passasse por onde a cabeça entrara. Os homens gostaram tanto da ideia que quase o empurraram para a área do porão. Segurei sua roupa enquanto Richard e o Sr. Guppy corriam pela cozinha para recebê-lo embaixo. Ele foi libertado em segurança, mas depois bateu loucamente no Sr. Guppy com uma vareta de arco.

Original English Version

I made my way to the poor child, who was one of the dirtiest little unfortunates I ever saw, and found him very hot and frightened and crying loudly, fixed by the neck between two iron railings, while a milkman and a beadle, with the kindest intentions possible, were endeavouring to drag him back by the legs, under a general impression that his skull was compressible by those means. As I found (after pacifying him) that he was a little boy with a naturally large head, I thought that perhaps where his head could go, his body could follow, and mentioned that the best mode of extrication might be to push him forward. This was so favourably received by the milkman and beadle that he would immediately have been pushed into the area if I had not held his pinafore while Richard and Mr. Guppy ran down through the kitchen to catch him when he should be released. At last he was happily got down without any accident, and then he began to beat Mr. Guppy with a hoop-stick in quite a frantic manner.

Tradução Integral em Português

Abri caminho até a pobre criança, que era uma das criaturinhas desventuradas mais sujas que já vi, e encontrei-a muito acalorada, assustada e chorando alto, presa pelo pescoço entre duas grades de ferro, enquanto um leiteiro e um bedel, com as melhores intenções possíveis, procuravam puxá-la de volta pelas pernas, sob a impressão geral de que por esse meio seu crânio poderia ser comprimido. Como descobri (depois de acalmá-la) que se tratava de um menino com uma cabeça naturalmente grande, pensei que talvez, por onde passara sua cabeça, o corpo pudesse segui-la, e mencionei que a melhor maneira de soltá-lo talvez fosse empurrá-lo para a frente. O leiteiro e o bedel receberam tão favoravelmente a ideia que o teriam empurrado imediatamente para a área do subsolo, se eu não houvesse segurado seu avental enquanto Richard e o Sr. Guppy desciam correndo pela cozinha para apanhá-lo quando fosse solto. Por fim conseguiram descê-lo em segurança e sem acidente algum; então ele começou a golpear o Sr. Guppy com uma vareta de aro, de maneira inteiramente frenética.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Nenhum membro da família havia aparecido. Apenas uma mulher de tamancos tentara empurrar a criança por baixo com uma vassoura, embora nem ela nem eu parecêssemos saber por quê. Por isso, pensei que a Sra. Jellyby estivesse fora. Fiquei surpresa quando a mesma mulher apareceu no corredor sem os tamancos. Ela seguiu na frente de Ada e de mim até uma sala nos fundos do andar de cima e anunciou: “Aquelas duas moças, Sra. Jellyby!” Na escada escura, passamos por mais crianças e mal conseguimos evitar pisar nelas. Quando entramos na sala da Sra. Jellyby, uma pobre criança caiu por um lance inteiro de escadas com um barulho terrível.

A Sra. Jellyby permaneceu completamente calma enquanto a cabeça da criança batia em cada degrau. Richard disse depois que contou sete pancadas, mais uma no patamar. Ela era uma mulher bonita, muito pequena e arredondada, entre quarenta e cinquenta anos, com belos olhos. Porém, seus olhos pareciam sempre olhar para muito longe. Como disse Richard, pareciam incapazes de ver qualquer coisa mais próxima que a África.

Original English Version

Nobody had appeared belonging to the house except a person in pattens, who had been poking at the child from below with a broom; I don’t know with what object, and I don’t think she did. I therefore supposed that Mrs. Jellyby was not at home, and was quite surprised when the person appeared in the passage without the pattens, and going up to the back room on the first floor before Ada and me, announced us as, “Them two young ladies, Missis Jellyby!” We passed several more children on the way up, whom it was difficult to avoid treading on in the dark; and as we came into Mrs. Jellyby’s presence, one of the poor little things fell downstairs - down a whole flight (as it sounded to me), with a great noise.

Mrs. Jellyby, whose face reflected none of the uneasiness which we could not help showing in our own faces as the dear child’s head recorded its passage with a bump on every stair - Richard afterwards said he counted seven, besides one for the landing - received us with perfect equanimity. She was a pretty, very diminutive, plump woman of from forty to fifty, with handsome eyes, though they had a curious habit of seeming to look a long way off. As if - I am quoting Richard again - they could see nothing nearer than Africa!

Tradução Integral em Português

Ninguém pertencente à casa aparecera, salvo uma pessoa de tamancos, que de baixo vinha cutucando a criança com uma vassoura; não sei com que propósito, e creio que ela tampouco sabia. Supus, portanto, que a Sra. Jellyby não estivesse em casa e fiquei muito surpresa quando a pessoa apareceu no corredor sem os tamancos e, subindo diante de Ada e de mim até a sala dos fundos no primeiro andar, anunciou-nos como: “Aquelas duas mocinhas, Sinhá Jellyby!” No caminho para cima, passamos por várias outras crianças, nas quais era difícil evitar pisar no escuro; e, quando entrávamos na presença da Sra. Jellyby, uma das pobres criaturinhas caiu escada abaixo - por um lance inteiro (segundo me pareceu pelo som) - , com grande estrondo.

A Sra. Jellyby, cujo rosto não refletia nada da inquietação que não pudemos deixar de demonstrar nos nossos enquanto a cabeça da querida criança registrava sua passagem com uma pancada em cada degrau - Richard disse depois haver contado sete, além de uma no patamar - , recebeu-nos com perfeita equanimidade. Era uma mulher bonita, muito pequena e roliça, entre os quarenta e os cinquenta anos, de belos olhos, embora estes tivessem o curioso hábito de parecer olhar para muito longe. Como se - volto a citar Richard - não conseguissem ver nada mais próximo que a África!

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Com voz agradável, a Sra. Jellyby disse: “Fico muito contente em recebê-los. Tenho grande respeito pelo Sr. Jarndyce, e qualquer pessoa com quem ele se importe também é importante para mim.”

Agradecemos e nos sentamos num sofá velho e estragado atrás da porta. A Sra. Jellyby tinha cabelos bonitos, mas estava ocupada demais com seu trabalho pela África para escová-los. O xale solto caiu sobre a cadeira quando ela nos cumprimentou. Ao se virar para sentar de novo, vimos que o vestido não fechava nas costas. O espaço aberto era atravessado pelos cordões de sua roupa de baixo, como a armação de madeira de uma casa de verão.

Havia papéis por toda a sala, e uma grande escrivaninha estava soterrada sob mais papéis. A sala não era apenas muito desarrumada, mas também muito suja. Não podíamos ignorar aquela visão, mesmo enquanto ouvíamos a pobre criança que caíra da escada. Ela parecia ter chegado à cozinha dos fundos, onde alguém aparentemente tentava fazê-la parar de chorar.

Original English Version

“I am very glad indeed,” said Mrs. Jellyby in an agreeable voice, “to have the pleasure of receiving you. I have a great respect for Mr. Jarndyce, and no one in whom he is interested can be an object of indifference to me.”

We expressed our acknowledgments and sat down behind the door, where there was a lame invalid of a sofa. Mrs. Jellyby had very good hair but was too much occupied with her African duties to brush it. The shawl in which she had been loosely muffled dropped onto her chair when she advanced to us; and as she turned to resume her seat, we could not help noticing that her dress didn’t nearly meet up the back and that the open space was railed across with a lattice-work of stay-lace - like a summer-house.

The room, which was strewn with papers and nearly filled by a great writing-table covered with similar litter, was, I must say, not only very untidy but very dirty. We were obliged to take notice of that with our sense of sight, even while, with our sense of hearing, we followed the poor child who had tumbled downstairs: I think into the back kitchen, where somebody seemed to stifle him.

Tradução Integral em Português

“Estou realmente muito contente”, disse a Sra. Jellyby com voz agradável, “por ter o prazer de recebê-los. Tenho grande respeito pelo Sr. Jarndyce, e ninguém por quem ele se interesse pode ser objeto de indiferença para mim.”

Expressamos nossos agradecimentos e nos sentamos atrás da porta, onde havia um sofá manco e inválido. A Sra. Jellyby tinha cabelos muito bonitos, mas estava ocupada demais com seus deveres africanos para escová-los. O xale em que estivera frouxamente envolta caiu sobre a cadeira quando veio ao nosso encontro; e, quando se virou para retomar o assento, não pudemos deixar de notar que as costas do vestido nem de longe se encontravam e que o espaço aberto era cruzado por uma treliça de cordões de espartilho - como um caramanchão.

A sala, que estava semeada de papéis e quase toda ocupada por uma grande escrivaninha coberta de semelhante desordem, era, devo dizer, não só muito desarrumada como também muito suja. Fomos obrigados a notar isso com o sentido da visão, mesmo enquanto, com o sentido da audição, acompanhávamos a pobre criança que caíra pela escada: acho que até a cozinha dos fundos, onde alguém parecia sufocá-la.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

O que mais nos surpreendeu foi uma jovem cansada, de aparência doentia, mas bastante bonita, sentada à escrivaninha. Ela mordia a pena e nos encarava. Estava coberta de tinta. Dos cabelos bagunçados aos pés bonitos em sapatos de cetim gastos e rasgados, nenhuma parte de sua roupa estava em bom estado ou no lugar certo.

A Sra. Jellyby aparou duas grandes velas de escritório em castiçais de metal, enchendo a sala com cheiro de gordura quente de vela. O fogo estava apagado, restando apenas cinzas, lenha e um atiçador. Pediu que a perdoássemos porque, como sempre, estava muito ocupada. O projeto africano tomava todo o seu tempo e exigia cartas para organizações e pessoas de todo o país preocupadas com a humanidade. Ela informou com alegria que havia progresso. Até o ano seguinte, esperavam ter de 150 a 200 famílias saudáveis cultivando café e educando o povo de Borrioboola-Gha, na margem esquerda do rio Níger.

Original English Version

But what principally struck us was a jaded and unhealthy-looking though by no means plain girl at the writing-table, who sat biting the feather of her pen and staring at us. I suppose nobody ever was in such a state of ink. And from her tumbled hair to her pretty feet, which were disfigured with frayed and broken satin slippers trodden down at heel, she really seemed to have no article of dress upon her, from a pin upwards, that was in its proper condition or its right place.

“You find me, my dears,” said Mrs. Jellyby, snuffing the two great office candles in tin candlesticks, which made the room taste strongly of hot tallow (the fire had gone out, and there was nothing in the grate but ashes, a bundle of wood, and a poker), “you find me, my dears, as usual, very busy; but that you will excuse. The African project at present employs my whole time. It involves me in correspondence with public bodies and with private individuals anxious for the welfare of their species all over the country. I am happy to say it is advancing. We hope by this time next year to have from a hundred and fifty to two hundred healthy families cultivating coffee and educating the natives of Borrioboola-Gha, on the left bank of the Niger.”

Tradução Integral em Português

Mas o que principalmente nos chamou a atenção foi uma moça de aparência exausta e doentia, embora de modo algum feia, sentada à escrivaninha, mordendo a pena e fitando-nos. Suponho que ninguém jamais tenha ficado em tal estado de tinta. E, dos cabelos revoltos aos lindos pés, desfigurados por sapatilhas de cetim puídas e rasgadas, de saltos esmagados, realmente parecia não ter sobre si uma única peça de vestuário, do alfinete em diante, que estivesse em boas condições ou no devido lugar.

“Encontram-me, minhas queridas”, disse a Sra. Jellyby, espevitando as duas grandes velas de escritório em castiçais de lata, que davam à sala um forte gosto de sebo quente (o fogo se apagara, e na grelha só havia cinzas, um feixe de lenha e um atiçador), “encontram-me, minhas queridas, como sempre, muito ocupada; mas haverão de desculpar-me. O projeto africano toma agora todo o meu tempo. Envolve-me em correspondência com órgãos públicos e pessoas particulares de todo o país, zelosas pelo bem-estar de sua espécie. Alegra-me dizer que está avançando. Esperamos, por esta época no próximo ano, ter de cento e cinquenta a duzentas famílias saudáveis cultivando café e educando os nativos de Borrioboola-Gha, na margem esquerda do Níger.”

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Ada não disse nada e olhou para mim, então eu disse que devia ser muito gratificante.

“É gratificante”, disse a Sra. Jellyby. “Isso exige toda a minha energia, mas não importa se tiver sucesso. Fico mais confiante a cada dia. Srta. Summerson, surpreende-me que nunca tenha pensado na África.”

A pergunta pessoal dela foi tão inesperada que não soube como responder. Comecei a mencionar o clima.

“É o melhor clima do mundo!”, disse a Sra. Jellyby.

“É mesmo, senhora?”

“Certamente, se tomar cuidado”, disse a Sra. Jellyby. “Você pode ir a Holborn sem cuidado e ser atropelada, ou ir com cuidado e ficar segura. Com a África é a mesma coisa.”

Eu disse: “Sem dúvida.” Estava concordando apenas sobre Holborn.

A Sra. Jellyby empurrou alguns papéis em nossa direção. Sugeriu que lêssemos os comentários amplamente divulgados sobre a África enquanto ela terminava uma carta. Ela a ditava para a filha mais velha, que trabalhava como sua secretária.

Original English Version

As Ada said nothing, but looked at me, I said it must be very gratifying.

“It IS gratifying,” said Mrs. Jellyby. “It involves the devotion of all my energies, such as they are; but that is nothing, so that it succeeds; and I am more confident of success every day. Do you know, Miss Summerson, I almost wonder that YOU never turned your thoughts to Africa.”

This application of the subject was really so unexpected to me that I was quite at a loss how to receive it. I hinted that the climate -

“The finest climate in the world!” said Mrs. Jellyby.

“Indeed, ma’am?”

“Certainly. With precaution,” said Mrs. Jellyby. “You may go into Holborn, without precaution, and be run over. You may go into Holborn, with precaution, and never be run over. Just so with Africa.”

I said, “No doubt.” I meant as to Holborn.

“If you would like,” said Mrs. Jellyby, putting a number of papers towards us, “to look over some remarks on that head, and on the general subject, which have been extensively circulated, while I finish a letter I am now dictating to my eldest daughter, who is my amanuensis - ”

Tradução Integral em Português

Como Ada nada disse, mas olhou para mim, falei que devia ser muito gratificante.

“É gratificante”, disse a Sra. Jellyby. “Exige a dedicação de todas as minhas energias, tais como são; mas isso não é nada, contanto que tenha êxito; e a cada dia sinto-me mais confiante no sucesso. Sabe, Srta. Summerson, quase me admira que a SENHORITA nunca tenha voltado seus pensamentos para a África.”

Essa aplicação do assunto a mim foi realmente tão inesperada que fiquei sem saber como recebê-la. Insinuei que o clima...

“O melhor clima do mundo!”, disse a Sra. Jellyby.

“De fato, senhora?”

“Certamente. Com precaução”, disse a Sra. Jellyby. “Pode-se ir a Holborn sem precaução e ser atropelado. Pode-se ir a Holborn com precaução e jamais ser atropelado. Dá-se precisamente o mesmo com a África.”

Eu disse: “Sem dúvida.” Referia-me a Holborn.

“Se quiserem”, disse a Sra. Jellyby, empurrando uma quantidade de papéis em nossa direção, “examinar algumas observações sobre esse ponto e sobre o assunto em geral, que tiveram ampla circulação, enquanto termino uma carta que estou ditando a minha filha mais velha, que é minha amanuense...”

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

A jovem à mesa parou de morder a pena e respondeu ao nosso cumprimento de um jeito meio tímido e meio mal-humorado.

Com um sorriso doce, a Sra. Jellyby continuou: “Então terei terminado por enquanto, embora meu trabalho nunca acabe de verdade. Onde você está, Caddy?”

“‘Apresenta seus cumprimentos ao Sr. Swallow e pede...’”, disse Caddy, relendo a carta.

A Sra. Jellyby continuou ditando: “‘E pede para informá-lo, a respeito de sua carta de consulta sobre o projeto africano...’ Não, Peepy! Não pare por minha causa!”

Peepy, como ele chamava a si mesmo, era a criança que havia caído da escada. Entrou com um curativo na testa e nos mostrou os joelhos sujos e machucados. A Sra. Jellyby o chamou calmamente de levado e voltou a atenção para a África.

A Sra. Jellyby continuou ditando, então parei o pobre Peepy em silêncio e o segurei. Ele se surpreendeu quando Ada o beijou, mas logo dormiu em meus braços. Perdi os detalhes da carta, mas ela fazia a África parecer extremamente importante e todo o resto sem importância.

Original English Version

The girl at the table left off biting her pen and made a return to our recognition, which was half bashful and half sulky.

“ - I shall then have finished for the present,” proceeded Mrs. Jellyby with a sweet smile, “though my work is never done. Where are you, Caddy?”

“‘Presents her compliments to Mr. Swallow, and begs - ’” said Caddy.

“‘And begs,’” said Mrs. Jellyby, dictating, “‘to inform him, in reference to his letter of inquiry on the African project - ’ No, Peepy! Not on my account!”

Peepy (so self-named) was the unfortunate child who had fallen downstairs, who now interrupted the correspondence by presenting himself, with a strip of plaster on his forehead, to exhibit his wounded knees, in which Ada and I did not know which to pity most - the bruises or the dirt. Mrs. Jellyby merely added, with the serene composure with which she said everything, “Go along, you naughty Peepy!” and fixed her fine eyes on Africa again.

However, as she at once proceeded with her dictation, and as I interrupted nothing by doing it, I ventured quietly to stop poor Peepy as he was going out and to take him up to nurse. He looked very much astonished at it and at Ada’s kissing him, but soon fell fast asleep in my arms, sobbing at longer and longer intervals, until he was quiet. I was so occupied with Peepy that I lost the letter in detail, though I derived such a general impression from it of the momentous importance of Africa, and the utter insignificance of all other places and things, that I felt quite ashamed to have thought so little about it.

Tradução Integral em Português

A moça à mesa parou de morder a pena e correspondeu ao nosso reconhecimento com um gesto meio tímido, meio amuado.

“...então terei terminado por ora”, prosseguiu a Sra. Jellyby com um sorriso doce, “embora meu trabalho nunca termine. Onde está, Caddy?”

“‘Apresenta seus cumprimentos ao Sr. Swallow e solicita...’”, disse Caddy.

“‘E solicita’”, ditou a Sra. Jellyby, “‘informá-lo, com referência a sua carta de indagação sobre o projeto africano...’ Não, Peepy! Não por minha causa!”

Peepy (nome que ele próprio se dera) era a infeliz criança que caíra escada abaixo e que agora interrompia a correspondência, apresentando-se com uma tira de esparadrapo na testa para exibir os joelhos feridos, nos quais Ada e eu não sabíamos o que mais deplorar - os machucados ou a sujeira. A Sra. Jellyby apenas acrescentou, com a serena compostura com que dizia tudo: - Vá embora, seu levado, Peepy! - e tornou a fixar seus belos olhos na África.

Contudo, como ela retomou imediatamente o ditado e como eu nada interromperia ao fazê-lo, aventurei-me a deter discretamente o pobre Peepy quando ele saía e a pegá-lo no colo para cuidar dele. Pareceu muito espantado com isso e com o beijo de Ada, mas logo adormeceu profundamente em meus braços, soluçando a intervalos cada vez mais longos, até aquietar-se. Eu estava tão ocupada com Peepy que perdi os pormenores da carta, embora dela recebesse uma impressão geral tão forte da momentosa importância da África e da completa insignificância de todos os demais lugares e coisas que fiquei deveras envergonhada de ter pensado tão pouco nela.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

A Sra. Jellyby percebeu que eram seis horas, embora o jantar devesse ser às cinco. Mandou Caddy nos mostrar os quartos, desculpou-se por estar ocupada e ordenou que eu colocasse Peepy no chão.

Pedi para ficar com Peepy porque ele não dava trabalho. Levei-o para cima e o coloquei na cama. Ada e eu tínhamos dois quartos ligados, ambos vazios e desarrumados. Minha cortina estava presa com um garfo.

A Srta. Jellyby perguntou se queríamos água quente enquanto procurava, sem sucesso, uma jarra adequada.

Dissemos que gostaríamos, se não desse muito trabalho.

A Srta. Jellyby disse que o trabalho não era o problema; a questão era se havia água quente.

Os quartos frios cheiravam a umidade, e Ada quase chorou. Logo rimos e começamos a desfazer as malas. A Srta. Jellyby voltou para dizer que não havia água quente porque ninguém encontrava a chaleira e a caldeira estava quebrada.

Original English Version

“Six o’clock!” said Mrs. Jellyby. “And our dinner hour is nominally (for we dine at all hours) five! Caddy, show Miss Clare and Miss Summerson their rooms. You will like to make some change, perhaps? You will excuse me, I know, being so much occupied. Oh, that very bad child! Pray put him down, Miss Summerson!”

I begged permission to retain him, truly saying that he was not at all troublesome, and carried him upstairs and laid him on my bed. Ada and I had two upper rooms with a door of communication between. They were excessively bare and disorderly, and the curtain to my window was fastened up with a fork.

“You would like some hot water, wouldn’t you?” said Miss Jellyby, looking round for a jug with a handle to it, but looking in vain.

“If it is not being troublesome,” said we.

“Oh, it’s not the trouble,” returned Miss Jellyby; “the question is, if there IS any.”

The evening was so very cold and the rooms had such a marshy smell that I must confess it was a little miserable, and Ada was half crying. We soon laughed, however, and were busily unpacking when Miss Jellyby came back to say that she was sorry there was no hot water, but they couldn’t find the kettle, and the boiler was out of order.

Tradução Integral em Português

- Seis horas! - disse a Sra. Jellyby. - E nossa hora nominal de jantar (pois jantamos a qualquer hora) são cinco! Caddy, mostre os quartos à Srta. Clare e à Srta. Summerson. Talvez queiram trocar de roupa? Sei que me perdoarão por estar tão ocupada. Oh, que criança terrível! Por favor, ponha-o no chão, Srta. Summerson!

Pedi licença para ficar com ele, dizendo com toda a verdade que não incomodava em absoluto, e carreguei-o para cima, deitando-o em minha cama. Ada e eu tínhamos dois quartos no andar superior, com uma porta de comunicação entre eles. Eram excessivamente nus e desordenados, e a cortina de minha janela estava presa com um garfo.

- Gostariam de água quente, não é? - disse a Srta. Jellyby, procurando ao redor uma jarra com alça, mas procurando em vão.

- Se não for incômodo - dissemos.

- Oh, o problema não é o incômodo - replicou a Srta. Jellyby - ; a questão é saber se HÁ alguma.

A noite estava tão fria e os quartos tinham um cheiro tão pantanoso que devo confessar que era tudo um pouco miserável, e Ada estava quase chorando. Logo rimos, porém, e desfazíamos atarefadas as malas quando a Srta. Jellyby voltou para dizer que lamentava não haver água quente, mas não conseguiam encontrar a chaleira e a caldeira estava quebrada.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Corremos para voltar ao fogo. As crianças se reuniram do lado de fora para olhar Peepy, e nenhuma porta dos quartos fechava. Convidei-as para entrar e contei Chapeuzinho Vermelho enquanto me vestia. Ficaram muito quietas, e Peepy acordou antes de o lobo aparecer.

No andar de baixo, uma caneca era usada como lampião. Uma jovem com o rosto enfaixado tentou acender o fogo e encheu a sala de fumaça. Tossimos com as janelas abertas enquanto a Sra. Jellyby continuava suas cartas sobre a África. As histórias de Richard sobre lavar as mãos numa forma de torta e encontrar a chaleira no quarto nos fizeram rir.

Descemos com cuidado para jantar porque o tapete rasgado da escada era perigoso. A refeição parecia excelente, mas estava quase crua. A criada enfaixada largava cada prato onde ele caía, enquanto a cozinheira discutia com ela na porta.

O jantar durou muito porque tudo dava errado. As batatas foram encontradas na caixa de carvão, e o saca-rolhas quebrou. A Sra. Jellyby permaneceu calma, falou sobre a África e recebeu muitas cartas. Mandou Caddy várias vezes sair da mesa para respondê-las.

Original English Version

We begged her not to mention it and made all the haste we could to get down to the fire again. But all the little children had come up to the landing outside to look at the phenomenon of Peepy lying on my bed, and our attention was distracted by the constant apparition of noses and fingers in situations of danger between the hinges of the doors. It was impossible to shut the door of either room, for my lock, with no knob to it, looked as if it wanted to be wound up; and though the handle of Ada’s went round and round with the greatest smoothness, it was attended with no effect whatever on the door. Therefore I proposed to the children that they should come in and be very good at my table, and I would tell them the story of Little Red Riding Hood while I dressed; which they did, and were as quiet as mice, including Peepy, who awoke opportunely before the appearance of the wolf.

When we went downstairs we found a mug with “A Present from Tunbridge Wells” on it lighted up in the staircase window with a floating wick, and a young woman, with a swelled face bound up in a flannel bandage blowing the fire of the drawing-room (now connected by an open door with Mrs. Jellyby’s room) and choking dreadfully. It smoked to that degree, in short, that we all sat coughing and crying with the windows open for half an hour, during which Mrs. Jellyby, with the same sweetness of temper, directed letters about Africa. Her being so employed was, I must say, a great relief to me, for Richard told us that he had washed his hands in a pie-dish and that they had found the kettle on his dressing-table, and he made Ada laugh so that they made me laugh in the most ridiculous manner.

Soon after seven o’clock we went down to dinner, carefully, by Mrs. Jellyby’s advice, for the stair-carpets, besides being very deficient in stair-wires, were so torn as to be absolute traps. We had a fine cod-fish, a piece of roast beef, a dish of cutlets, and a pudding; an excellent dinner, if it had had any cooking to speak of, but it was almost raw. The young woman with the flannel bandage waited, and dropped everything on the table wherever it happened to go, and never moved it again until she put it on the stairs. The person I had seen in pattens, who I suppose to have been the cook, frequently came and skirmished with her at the door, and there appeared to be ill will between them.

All through dinner - which was long, in consequence of such accidents as the dish of potatoes being mislaid in the coal skuttle and the handle of the corkscrew coming off and striking the young woman in the chin - Mrs. Jellyby preserved the evenness of her disposition. She told us a great deal that was interesting about Borrioboola-Gha and the natives, and received so many letters that Richard, who sat by her, saw four envelopes in the gravy at once. Some of the letters were proceedings of ladies’ committees or resolutions of ladies’ meetings, which she read to us; others were applications from people excited in various ways about the cultivation of coffee, and natives; others required answers, and these she sent her eldest daughter from the table three or four times to write. She was full of business and undoubtedly was, as she had told us, devoted to the cause.

Tradução Integral em Português

Pedimos que não se preocupasse e nos apressamos o máximo possível para tornar a descer até o fogo. Mas todas as criancinhas haviam subido ao patamar para contemplar o fenômeno de Peepy deitado em minha cama, e nossa atenção se dispersava com a constante aparição de narizes e dedos em posições perigosas entre as dobradiças das portas. Era impossível fechar a porta de qualquer dos quartos, pois minha fechadura, sem maçaneta, parecia precisar que lhe dessem corda; e, embora a maçaneta da porta de Ada girasse sem parar com a maior suavidade, não produzia efeito algum sobre a porta. Propus então às crianças que entrassem e se comportassem muito bem junto à minha mesa, e eu lhes contaria a história de Chapeuzinho Vermelho enquanto me vestia; assim fizeram, ficando quietas como ratinhos, inclusive Peepy, que oportunamente despertou antes do aparecimento do lobo.

Quando descemos, encontramos uma caneca com a inscrição “Uma Lembrança de Tunbridge Wells” iluminando a janela da escada com um pavio flutuante, e uma jovem de rosto inchado, envolto numa faixa de flanela, soprando o fogo da sala de visitas (agora ligada por uma porta aberta ao aposento da Sra. Jellyby) e engasgando terrivelmente. Em suma, a fumaça era tanta que todos ficamos tossindo e chorando, com as janelas abertas, durante meia hora, ao longo da qual a Sra. Jellyby, com a mesma doçura de temperamento, ditou cartas sobre a África. Devo dizer que vê-la assim ocupada foi um grande alívio para mim, pois Richard nos contou que lavara as mãos numa travessa de torta, que tinham encontrado a chaleira sobre sua penteadeira, e fez Ada rir de tal modo que ambos me fizeram rir da maneira mais ridícula.

Pouco depois das sete descemos para jantar, com cuidado, seguindo o conselho da Sra. Jellyby, pois os tapetes das escadas, além de muito deficientes em hastes de fixação, estavam tão rasgados que eram verdadeiras armadilhas. Tivemos um belo bacalhau, um pedaço de carne assada, uma travessa de costeletas e um pudim; excelente jantar, se tivesse recebido algum cozimento digno de menção, mas estava quase cru. A jovem com a faixa de flanela serviu e deixava cair cada coisa sobre a mesa onde quer que fosse parar, jamais tornando a movê-la até colocá-la na escada. A pessoa que eu vira de tamancos, e que suponho ser a cozinheira, aparecia com frequência para travar escaramuças com ela à porta, e parecia haver má vontade entre as duas.

Durante todo o jantar - que foi longo, em consequência de acidentes tais como a travessa de batatas ser encontrada fora do lugar no balde de carvão e o cabo do saca-rolhas desprender-se e atingir a jovem no queixo - , a Sra. Jellyby preservou a uniformidade de sua disposição. Contou-nos muitas coisas interessantes sobre Borrioboola-Gha e os nativos e recebeu tantas cartas que Richard, sentado a seu lado, viu quatro envelopes de uma só vez dentro do molho da carne. Algumas cartas eram atas de comitês de senhoras ou resoluções de reuniões de senhoras, que ela leu para nós; outras eram requerimentos de pessoas excitadas de vários modos com o cultivo do café e os nativos; outras exigiam resposta, e para escrevê-las ela mandou a filha mais velha sair da mesa três ou quatro vezes. Estava repleta de negócios e era sem dúvida, como nos dissera, devotada à causa.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Um homem calvo e quieto se juntou ao jantar e mostrou pouco interesse pela África. Só depois percebi que era o Sr. Jellyby. O Sr. Quale, um jovem filantropo falante, chamou o casamento dos Jellyby de união entre mente e matéria.

O Sr. Quale falou com orgulho sobre planos para a África e incentivou a Sra. Jellyby a descrever as centenas de cartas e milhares de avisos que administrava. O Sr. Jellyby ficou triste num canto. Parecia querer contar algo a Richard, mas nunca falou.

A Sra. Jellyby ficou entre papéis usados, bebeu café, ditou para Caddy e discutiu a fraternidade humana com o Sr. Quale. Enquanto isso, as crianças pediram histórias a Ada e a mim. A Sra. Jellyby finalmente se lembrou delas e as mandou para a cama, onde a criada rude as empurrou para os pequenos leitos.

Arrumei nosso quarto e finalmente fiz o fogo difícil queimar com força. Quando voltei, a Sra. Jellyby pareceu achar meu trabalho doméstico sem importância. Fiquei triste, embora não afirmasse ter um propósito mais elevado.

Original English Version

I was a little curious to know who a mild bald gentleman in spectacles was, who dropped into a vacant chair (there was no top or bottom in particular) after the fish was taken away and seemed passively to submit himself to Borrioboola-Gha but not to be actively interested in that settlement. As he never spoke a word, he might have been a native but for his complexion. It was not until we left the table and he remained alone with Richard that the possibility of his being Mr. Jellyby ever entered my head. But he WAS Mr. Jellyby; and a loquacious young man called Mr. Quale, with large shining knobs for temples and his hair all brushed to the back of his head, who came in the evening, and told Ada he was a philanthropist, also informed her that he called the matrimonial alliance of Mrs. Jellyby with Mr. Jellyby the union of mind and matter.

This young man, besides having a great deal to say for himself about Africa and a project of his for teaching the coffee colonists to teach the natives to turn piano-forte legs and establish an export trade, delighted in drawing Mrs. Jellyby out by saying, “I believe now, Mrs. Jellyby, you have received as many as from one hundred and fifty to two hundred letters respecting Africa in a single day, have you not?” or, “If my memory does not deceive me, Mrs. Jellyby, you once mentioned that you had sent off five thousand circulars from one post-office at one time?” - always repeating Mrs. Jellyby’s answer to us like an interpreter. During the whole evening, Mr. Jellyby sat in a corner with his head against the wall as if he were subject to low spirits. It seemed that he had several times opened his mouth when alone with Richard after dinner, as if he had something on his mind, but had always shut it again, to Richard’s extreme confusion, without saying anything.

Mrs. Jellyby, sitting in quite a nest of waste paper, drank coffee all the evening and dictated at intervals to her eldest daughter. She also held a discussion with Mr. Quale, of which the subject seemed to be - if I understood it - the brotherhood of humanity, and gave utterance to some beautiful sentiments. I was not so attentive an auditor as I might have wished to be, however, for Peepy and the other children came flocking about Ada and me in a corner of the drawing-room to ask for another story; so we sat down among them and told them in whispers “Puss in Boots” and I don’t know what else until Mrs. Jellyby, accidentally remembering them, sent them to bed. As Peepy cried for me to take him to bed, I carried him upstairs, where the young woman with the flannel bandage charged into the midst of the little family like a dragon and overturned them into cribs.

After that I occupied myself in making our room a little tidy and in coaxing a very cross fire that had been lighted to burn, which at last it did, quite brightly. On my return downstairs, I felt that Mrs. Jellyby looked down upon me rather for being so frivolous, and I was sorry for it, though at the same time I knew that I had no higher pretensions.

Tradução Integral em Português

Eu tinha certa curiosidade de saber quem era um amável cavalheiro calvo de óculos que, depois de retirado o peixe, se deixou cair numa cadeira vazia (não havia lugar de honra definido numa ponta ou noutra) e parecia submeter-se passivamente a Borrioboola-Gha, sem contudo interessar-se ativamente pelo assentamento. Como não disse uma palavra, poderia ter sido um nativo, não fosse a tez. Somente depois que deixamos a mesa e ele permaneceu a sós com Richard ocorreu-me a possibilidade de ser o Sr. Jellyby. Mas ERA o Sr. Jellyby; e um jovem loquaz chamado Sr. Quale, com grandes protuberâncias reluzentes nas têmporas e todo o cabelo penteado para trás, que chegou à noite e disse a Ada ser filantropo, também a informou de que chamava a aliança matrimonial da Sra. Jellyby com o Sr. Jellyby de união entre mente e matéria.

Esse jovem, além de ter muito a dizer por conta própria acerca da África e de um projeto seu para ensinar os colonos cafeicultores a ensinar os nativos a tornear pernas de pianoforte e estabelecer um comércio de exportação, deliciava-se em provocar a Sra. Jellyby dizendo: - Creio, Sra. Jellyby, que a senhora já recebeu entre cento e cinquenta e duzentas cartas referentes à África num único dia, não é? - ou: - Se a memória não me engana, Sra. Jellyby, a senhora mencionou certa vez ter despachado cinco mil circulares de uma só agência dos correios e de uma só vez? - , repetindo sempre para nós, como intérprete, a resposta da Sra. Jellyby. Durante toda a noite, o Sr. Jellyby ficou sentado num canto, com a cabeça encostada à parede, como se estivesse sujeito à melancolia. Parecia que várias vezes, quando a sós com Richard após o jantar, abrira a boca como se algo lhe pesasse na mente, mas sempre a fechara de novo sem dizer nada, para extrema confusão de Richard.

A Sra. Jellyby, sentada num verdadeiro ninho de papel descartado, bebeu café a noite inteira e ditou a intervalos para a filha mais velha. Também manteve com o Sr. Quale uma discussão cujo tema parecia ser - se bem compreendi - a fraternidade da humanidade, e expressou alguns belos sentimentos. Eu, porém, não era uma ouvinte tão atenta quanto gostaria, pois Peepy e as outras crianças vieram aglomerar-se em torno de Ada e de mim num canto da sala, pedindo outra história; sentamo-nos então entre elas e lhes contamos em sussurros “O Gato de Botas” e não sei mais o quê, até que a Sra. Jellyby, lembrando-se delas por acaso, mandou-as para a cama. Como Peepy chorou para que eu o levasse, carreguei-o escada acima, onde a jovem da faixa de flanela arremeteu para o meio da pequena família como um dragão e derrubou todos dentro dos berços.

Depois disso, ocupei-me em arrumar um pouco nosso quarto e em persuadir a arder um fogo muito mal-humorado que haviam acendido e que por fim ardeu, com muito brilho. Quando voltei para baixo, senti que a Sra. Jellyby me desprezava um pouco por ser tão frívola, e lamentei isso, embora ao mesmo tempo soubesse não ter pretensões mais elevadas.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Só conseguimos ir para a cama quase à meia-noite. A Sra. Jellyby ainda bebia café entre seus papéis, enquanto Caddy continuava escrevendo.

No andar de cima, Ada chamou aquela casa de estranha e perguntou por que o primo Jarndyce nos enviara para lá.

Disse a ela que a casa me confundia. Eu queria entendê-la, mas não conseguia.

Ada sorriu e perguntou o que eu queria dizer.

Eu disse que o trabalho da Sra. Jellyby pelas pessoas da África devia ser bom, mas não conseguia esquecer Peepy abandonado e a péssima administração da casa.

Ada me abraçou e disse que eu era atenciosa, alegre e prestativa sem chamar atenção. Disse que eu poderia transformar até aquela casa num lar.

A querida Ada não percebia que seu elogio mostrava mais a bondade do próprio coração do que qualquer qualidade minha.

Depois de ficarmos algum tempo junto ao fogo, perguntei se podia lhe fazer uma pergunta.

Ada disse, brincando, que eu poderia fazer quinhentas perguntas.

Original English Version

It was nearly midnight before we found an opportunity of going to bed, and even then we left Mrs. Jellyby among her papers drinking coffee and Miss Jellyby biting the feather of her pen.

“What a strange house!” said Ada when we got upstairs. “How curious of my cousin Jarndyce to send us here!”

“My love,” said I, “it quite confuses me. I want to understand it, and I can’t understand it at all.”

“What?” asked Ada with her pretty smile.

“All this, my dear,” said I. “It MUST be very good of Mrs. Jellyby to take such pains about a scheme for the benefit of natives - and yet - Peepy and the housekeeping!”

Ada laughed and put her arm about my neck as I stood looking at the fire, and told me I was a quiet, dear, good creature and had won her heart. “You are so thoughtful, Esther,” she said, “and yet so cheerful! And you do so much, so unpretendingly! You would make a home out of even this house.”

My simple darling! She was quite unconscious that she only praised herself and that it was in the goodness of her own heart that she made so much of me!

“May I ask you a question?” said I when we had sat before the fire a little while.

“Five hundred,” said Ada.

Tradução Integral em Português

Era quase meia-noite quando encontramos oportunidade de ir para a cama, e mesmo então deixamos a Sra. Jellyby em meio aos papéis, bebendo café, e a Srta. Jellyby mordendo a pena de escrever.

- Que casa estranha! - disse Ada quando chegamos ao andar de cima. - Que curioso meu primo Jarndyce mandar-nos para cá!

- Minha querida - disse eu - , isso me deixa completamente confusa. Quero compreender, mas não consigo compreender nada.

- O quê? - perguntou Ada com seu lindo sorriso.

- Tudo isto, minha querida - disse eu. - DEVE ser muita bondade da Sra. Jellyby dar-se a tanto trabalho por um projeto em benefício dos nativos... e, no entanto... Peepy e os cuidados da casa!

Ada riu, passou o braço em torno de meu pescoço enquanto eu contemplava o fogo e disse que eu era uma criatura sossegada, querida e boa e conquistara seu coração. - Você é tão atenciosa, Esther - disse ela - , e ao mesmo tempo tão alegre! E faz tanto, sem a menor pretensão! Você transformaria até esta casa num lar.

Minha querida ingênua! Não percebia em absoluto que apenas elogiava a si mesma e que era pela bondade do próprio coração que fazia tanto caso de mim!

- Posso fazer-lhe uma pergunta? - disse eu depois de ficarmos algum tempo sentadas diante do fogo.

- Quinhentas - disse Ada.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Pedi que descrevesse seu primo, o Sr. Jarndyce, porque eu devia muito a ele.

Ada sacudiu os cabelos dourados e me olhou com uma risada surpresa. Sua beleza e surpresa também me encantaram.

Ada exclamou meu nome com surpresa.

Respondi: - Minha querida?

Ela perguntou se eu realmente queria que descrevesse o primo Jarndyce.

Expliquei que nunca o havia visto.

Ada respondeu que também nunca o havia visto.

Isso certamente era surpreendente.

Ada lembrava sua mãe elogiando o caráter generoso e confiável de Jarndyce. Alguns meses antes, ele escrevera uma carta honesta convidando Ada para o novo acordo, na esperança de curar feridas causadas pelo processo da Chancelaria. Richard recebera uma carta parecida. Ele encontrara Jarndyce uma vez na escola e lembrava um homem amigável de rosto corado. Isso era tudo o que Ada sabia.

Depois que Ada adormeceu, fiquei junto ao fogo pensando em Bleak House e em como a manhã anterior parecia distante. Uma batida na porta interrompeu meus pensamentos.

Original English Version

“Your cousin, Mr. Jarndyce. I owe so much to him. Would you mind describing him to me?”

Shaking her golden hair, Ada turned her eyes upon me with such laughing wonder that I was full of wonder too, partly at her beauty, partly at her surprise.

“Esther!” she cried.

“My dear!”

“You want a description of my cousin Jarndyce?”

“My dear, I never saw him.”

“And I never saw him!” returned Ada.

Well, to be sure!

No, she had never seen him. Young as she was when her mama died, she remembered how the tears would come into her eyes when she spoke of him and of the noble generosity of his character, which she had said was to be trusted above all earthly things; and Ada trusted it. Her cousin Jarndyce had written to her a few months ago - “a plain, honest letter,” Ada said - proposing the arrangement we were now to enter on and telling her that “in time it might heal some of the wounds made by the miserable Chancery suit.” She had replied, gratefully accepting his proposal. Richard had received a similar letter and had made a similar response. He HAD seen Mr. Jarndyce once, but only once, five years ago, at Winchester school. He had told Ada, when they were leaning on the screen before the fire where I found them, that he recollected him as “a bluff, rosy fellow.” This was the utmost description Ada could give me.

It set me thinking so that when Ada was asleep, I still remained before the fire, wondering and wondering about Bleak House, and wondering and wondering that yesterday morning should seem so long ago. I don’t know where my thoughts had wandered when they were recalled by a tap at the door.

Tradução Integral em Português

- Seu primo, o Sr. Jarndyce. Devo tanto a ele. Você se importaria de descrevê-lo para mim?

Sacudindo o cabelo dourado, Ada voltou para mim os olhos com tão risonho espanto que eu também me enchi de espanto, em parte por sua beleza, em parte por sua surpresa.

- Esther! - exclamou.

- Minha querida!

- Você quer uma descrição de meu primo Jarndyce?

- Minha querida, nunca o vi.

- Nem eu jamais o vi! - replicou Ada.

Ora essa!

Não, ela nunca o vira. Embora fosse muito pequena quando a mamãe morreu, lembrava-se de que lágrimas lhe vinham aos olhos quando falava dele e da nobre generosidade de seu caráter, que, segundo ela, merecia confiança acima de todas as coisas terrenas; e Ada confiava nela. Seu primo Jarndyce lhe escrevera alguns meses antes - “uma carta simples e honesta”, disse Ada - propondo o acordo em que agora entraríamos e dizendo-lhe que “com o tempo talvez curasse algumas das feridas causadas pela miserável ação na Chancelaria”. Ela respondera, aceitando agradecida a proposta. Richard recebera carta semelhante e dera resposta semelhante. Ele de fato VIRA o Sr. Jarndyce uma vez, mas uma única vez, cinco anos antes, na escola de Winchester. Dissera a Ada, quando ambos estavam apoiados no anteparo diante do fogo onde os encontrei, que o recordava como “um sujeito franco e corado”. Era essa a descrição máxima que Ada podia me dar.

Isso me pôs a pensar tanto que, quando Ada adormeceu, continuei diante do fogo, a imaginar e imaginar a Casa Soturna e a admirar e admirar que a manhã de ontem parecesse tão distante. Não sei por onde vagavam meus pensamentos quando uma batida à porta os chamou de volta.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Abri a porta em silêncio e encontrei Caddy tremendo, segurando uma vela quebrada e uma xícara.

Ela disse boa-noite com voz irritada.

Também lhe desejei boa-noite com calma.

Ainda parecendo irritada, ela perguntou de repente se podia entrar.

Eu a recebi, mas pedi que não acordasse Ada.

Caddy se recusou a sentar. Junto ao fogo, usou vinagre da xícara para limpar manchas de tinta do rosto enquanto franzia a testa, infeliz.

De repente, disse que desejava que a África estivesse morta.

Comecei a protestar.

Ela insistiu que odiava a África e mandou que eu não discutisse.

Disse que ela estava cansada e toquei com delicadeza sua testa quente. Ela continuou franzindo a testa, depois deixou a xícara e olhou em silêncio para Ada adormecida.

Ainda franzindo a testa, Caddy disse que Ada era muito bonita.

Sorri e concordei.

Caddy perguntou se Ada era órfã.

Eu disse que sim.

Caddy imaginou que Ada sabia muitas coisas: dança, música, canto, francês, geografia e costura.

Original English Version

I opened it softly and found Miss Jellyby shivering there with a broken candle in a broken candlestick in one hand and an egg-cup in the other.

“Good night!” she said very sulkily.

“Good night!” said I.

“May I come in?” she shortly and unexpectedly asked me in the same sulky way.

“Certainly,” said I. “Don’t wake Miss Clare.”

She would not sit down, but stood by the fire dipping her inky middle finger in the egg-cup, which contained vinegar, and smearing it over the ink stains on her face, frowning the whole time and looking very gloomy.

“I wish Africa was dead!” she said on a sudden.

I was going to remonstrate.

“I do!” she said “Don’t talk to me, Miss Summerson. I hate it and detest it. It’s a beast!”

I told her she was tired, and I was sorry. I put my hand upon her head, and touched her forehead, and said it was hot now but would be cool to-morrow. She still stood pouting and frowning at me, but presently put down her egg-cup and turned softly towards the bed where Ada lay.

“She is very pretty!” she said with the same knitted brow and in the same uncivil manner.

I assented with a smile.

“An orphan. Ain’t she?”

“Yes.”

“But knows a quantity, I suppose? Can dance, and play music, and sing? She can talk French, I suppose, and do geography, and globes, and needlework, and everything?”

Tradução Integral em Português

Abri-a com cuidado e encontrei ali a Srta. Jellyby tremendo, com uma vela quebrada num castiçal quebrado em uma das mãos e um cálice para ovos na outra.

- Boa noite! - disse ela muito mal-humorada.

- Boa noite! - disse eu.

- Posso entrar? - perguntou-me de maneira breve e inesperada, no mesmo tom mal-humorado.

- Claro - disse eu. - Não acorde a Srta. Clare.

Ela não quis sentar-se, mas ficou de pé junto ao fogo, mergulhando no cálice de vinagre o dedo médio manchado de tinta e espalhando-o sobre as manchas de tinta no rosto, de cenho fechado o tempo inteiro e com ar muito sombrio.

- Eu queria que a África morresse! - disse de repente.

Eu ia protestar.

- Queria mesmo! - disse ela. - Não fale comigo, Srta. Summerson. Eu a odeio e detesto. É uma besta!

Disse-lhe que estava cansada e que eu lamentava. Pus a mão sobre sua cabeça, toquei-lhe a testa e disse que estava quente agora, mas estaria fresca amanhã. Ela continuou amuada, franzindo o cenho para mim, mas logo pousou o cálice e voltou-se suavemente para a cama onde Ada jazia.

- Ela é muito bonita! - disse com o mesmo cenho cerrado e os mesmos modos descorteses.

Concordei com um sorriso.

- Órfã. Não é?

- Sim.

- Mas sabe uma porção de coisas, suponho? Sabe dançar, tocar e cantar? Suponho que fale francês, conheça geografia, globos, trabalhos de agulha e tudo o mais?

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Disse que provavelmente era verdade.

Caddy disse que quase nada sabia fazer além de escrever para a mãe. Acusou-nos de julgá-la quando vimos aquilo e de acreditar que éramos superiores.

Vi que a pobre menina estava perto de chorar. Sentei-me sem falar e olhei para ela com toda a bondade possível.

Caddy chamou a si mesma, as crianças e a casa inteira de vergonhosas. Disse que seu pai era infeliz e que a criada Priscilla estava sempre bêbada, até durante o jantar.

Eu disse com delicadeza que não havia percebido aquilo.

Ela insistiu com rispidez que eu havia percebido.

Pedi que ela me deixasse falar.

Ela disse que eu já estava falando e me acusou de mentir.

Tentei explicar que ela não me deixava terminar.

Caddy disse que não queria me ouvir terminar.

Disse que se recusar a ouvir não era razoável. A criada não chegara perto de mim no jantar, então eu não sabia que estava bêbada. Mesmo assim, acreditei em Caddy e fiquei triste.

Original English Version

“No doubt,” said I.

“I can’t,” she returned. “I can’t do anything hardly, except write. I’m always writing for Ma. I wonder you two were not ashamed of yourselves to come in this afternoon and see me able to do nothing else. It was like your ill nature. Yet you think yourselves very fine, I dare say!”

I could see that the poor girl was near crying, and I resumed my chair without speaking and looked at her (I hope) as mildly as I felt towards her.

“It’s disgraceful,” she said. “You know it is. The whole house is disgraceful. The children are disgraceful. I’M disgraceful. Pa’s miserable, and no wonder! Priscilla drinks - she’s always drinking. It’s a great shame and a great story of you if you say you didn’t smell her to-day. It was as bad as a public-house, waiting at dinner; you know it was!”

“My dear, I don’t know it,” said I.

“You do,” she said very shortly. “You shan’t say you don’t. You do!”

“Oh, my dear!” said I. “If you won’t let me speak - ”

“You’re speaking now. You know you are. Don’t tell stories, Miss Summerson.”

“My dear,” said I, “as long as you won’t hear me out - ”

“I don’t want to hear you out.”

“Oh, yes, I think you do,” said I, “because that would be so very unreasonable. I did not know what you tell me because the servant did not come near me at dinner; but I don’t doubt what you tell me, and I am sorry to hear it.”

Tradução Integral em Português

- Sem dúvida - disse eu.

- Eu não sei - replicou. - Mal sei fazer qualquer coisa, salvo escrever. Estou sempre escrevendo para mamãe. Espanta-me que vocês duas não tenham ficado envergonhadas de entrar esta tarde e me ver incapaz de fazer outra coisa. Foi por maldade de vocês. Contudo, aposto que se julgam muito finas!

Eu via que a pobre moça estava prestes a chorar, e retomei minha cadeira sem dizer nada, olhando para ela (espero) com tanta brandura quanto a que sentia a seu respeito.

- É vergonhoso - disse ela. - Você sabe que é. A casa inteira é vergonhosa. As crianças são vergonhosas. EU sou vergonhosa. Papai é infeliz, e não é de admirar! Priscilla bebe - está sempre bebendo. É uma grande vergonha e uma grande mentira sua se disser que não sentiu o cheiro dela hoje. Servindo o jantar, estava pior que uma taberna; você sabe que estava!

- Minha querida, não sei disso - disse eu.

- Sabe - disse ela com muita rispidez. - Não vai dizer que não. Sabe!

- Oh, minha querida! - disse eu. - Se não me deixa falar...

- Está falando agora. Sabe que está. Não conte mentiras, Srta. Summerson.

- Minha querida - disse eu - , enquanto não me deixar terminar...

- Não quero ouvi-la terminar.

- Oh, sim, creio que quer - disse eu - , porque o contrário seria muito pouco razoável. Eu não sabia do que me conta porque a criada não chegou perto de mim durante o jantar; mas não duvido do que me diz e lamento ouvir isso.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Caddy mandou que eu não me orgulhasse daquela resposta.

Concordei que fazer isso seria tolice.

Caddy se inclinou e beijou Ada, embora ainda parecesse infeliz. Depois voltou para perto da minha cadeira. Sua respiração mostrava profunda angústia, e senti pena dela em silêncio.

Caddy exclamou de repente que desejava que ela e toda a família estivessem mortos, pois seria melhor para eles.

Um momento depois, ela se ajoelhou ao meu lado, escondeu o rosto no meu vestido, pediu meu perdão e chorou. Tentei levantá-la, mas ela quis ficar ali.

Ela desejou que eu tivesse sido sua professora. Disse que era muito infeliz e gostava muito de mim.

Caddy permaneceu ajoelhada com meu vestido nas mãos até adormecer. Apoiei sua cabeça no meu colo e nos cobri com xales. Ficamos ali a noite toda enquanto o fogo morria. Por fim, minhas lembranças se misturaram aos sonhos, e eu já não sabia quem ela ou eu era.

Original English Version

“You needn’t make a merit of that,” said she.

“No, my dear,” said I. “That would be very foolish.”

She was still standing by the bed, and now stooped down (but still with the same discontented face) and kissed Ada. That done, she came softly back and stood by the side of my chair. Her bosom was heaving in a distressful manner that I greatly pitied, but I thought it better not to speak.

“I wish I was dead!” she broke out. “I wish we were all dead. It would be a great deal better for us.”

In a moment afterwards, she knelt on the ground at my side, hid her face in my dress, passionately begged my pardon, and wept. I comforted her and would have raised her, but she cried no, no; she wanted to stay there!

“You used to teach girls,” she said, “If you could only have taught me, I could have learnt from you! I am so very miserable, and I like you so much!”

I could not persuade her to sit by me or to do anything but move a ragged stool to where she was kneeling, and take that, and still hold my dress in the same manner. By degrees the poor tired girl fell asleep, and then I contrived to raise her head so that it should rest on my lap, and to cover us both with shawls. The fire went out, and all night long she slumbered thus before the ashy grate. At first I was painfully awake and vainly tried to lose myself, with my eyes closed, among the scenes of the day. At length, by slow degrees, they became indistinct and mingled. I began to lose the identity of the sleeper resting on me. Now it was Ada, now one of my old Reading friends from whom I could not believe I had so recently parted. Now it was the little mad woman worn out with curtsying and smiling, now some one in authority at Bleak House. Lastly, it was no one, and I was no one.

Tradução Integral em Português

- Não precisa fazer disso uma virtude - disse ela.

- Não, minha querida - disse eu. - Seria muita tolice.

Ela ainda estava junto à cama e então se inclinou (ainda com a mesma expressão descontente) e beijou Ada. Feito isso, voltou suavemente e ficou ao lado de minha cadeira. Seu peito arfava de modo aflito, o que muito me enterneceu, mas achei melhor não falar.

- Queria estar morta! - irrompeu. - Queria que todos estivéssemos mortos. Seria muito melhor para nós.

Um instante depois, ajoelhou-se ao meu lado, escondeu o rosto em meu vestido, pediu apaixonadamente meu perdão e chorou. Consolei-a e teria feito com que se levantasse, mas ela exclamou não, não; queria ficar ali!

- Você ensinava meninas - disse ela. - Se pudesse ter me ensinado, eu teria aprendido com você! Sou tão infeliz, e gosto tanto de você!

Não consegui persuadi-la a sentar-se ao meu lado nem a fazer qualquer coisa além de puxar um banquinho esfarrapado para onde estava ajoelhada, acomodar-se nele e continuar segurando meu vestido da mesma maneira. Aos poucos a pobre moça cansada adormeceu, e então consegui erguer-lhe a cabeça para que repousasse em meu colo e cobrir nós duas com xales. O fogo apagou-se, e assim ela dormiu a noite inteira diante da lareira coberta de cinzas. A princípio permaneci dolorosamente desperta e em vão tentei, de olhos fechados, perder-me entre as cenas do dia. Por fim, lentamente, elas se tornaram indistintas e se misturaram. Comecei a perder a identidade da adormecida que repousava sobre mim. Ora era Ada, ora uma de minhas velhas amigas de Reading, de quem eu mal podia acreditar que me separara tão recentemente. Ora era a velhinha louca, exausta de fazer mesuras e sorrir, ora alguém investido de autoridade na Casa Soturna. Por fim, não era ninguém, e eu não era ninguém.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Ao amanhecer, abri os olhos e vi o pequeno Peepy sujo olhando para mim. Ele havia saído da cama e sentia tanto frio que seus dentes batiam.

Original English Version

The purblind day was feebly struggling with the fog when I opened my eyes to encounter those of a dirty-faced little spectre fixed upon me. Peepy had scaled his crib, and crept down in his bed-gown and cap, and was so cold that his teeth were chattering as if he had cut them all.

Tradução Integral em Português

O dia quase cego lutava debilmente contra a névoa quando abri os olhos e deparei com os de um pequeno espectro de rosto sujo, fixos em mim. Peepy escalara o berço e descera furtivamente de camisola e touca, e estava com tanto frio que os dentes lhe batiam como se todos tivessem acabado de nascer.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Chapter V

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Uma Aventura Matinal

A manhã estava fria e com névoa, e as janelas sujas bloqueavam grande parte da luz. A casa era desconfortável, e eu queria conhecer Londres, então aceitei com alegria a sugestão de Caddy para caminhar.

Caddy disse que sua mãe dormiria até tarde e o café da manhã poderia atrasar mais uma hora. Seu pai geralmente comia o pão e o leite que a criada deixava, a menos que não houvesse leite ou o gato o bebesse. Então perguntou se eu estava cansada demais para caminhar.

Disse que não estava cansada e preferia muito mais sair.

Caddy disse que se vestiria se eu tivesse certeza.

Ada decidiu vir conosco. Lavei Peepy e o coloquei de volta na minha cama porque ninguém mais cuidaria dele. Ele observou espantado, não reclamou e logo adormeceu.

Depois de cuidar de Peepy e ajudar Ada, eu estava aquecida e pronta. No andar de baixo, tudo continuava sujo e desarrumado desde a noite anterior. A mesa do jantar se tornara a do café, o lixo cobria a casa, a porta estava aberta e a cozinheira saiu de um bar fingindo que só fora ver as horas.

Original English Version

A Morning Adventure

Although the morning was raw, and although the fog still seemed heavy - I say seemed, for the windows were so encrusted with dirt that they would have made midsummer sunshine dim - I was sufficiently forewarned of the discomfort within doors at that early hour and sufficiently curious about London to think it a good idea on the part of Miss Jellyby when she proposed that we should go out for a walk.

“Ma won’t be down for ever so long,” she said, “and then it’s a chance if breakfast’s ready for an hour afterwards, they dawdle so. As to Pa, he gets what he can and goes to the office. He never has what you would call a regular breakfast. Priscilla leaves him out the loaf and some milk, when there is any, overnight. Sometimes there isn’t any milk, and sometimes the cat drinks it. But I’m afraid you must be tired, Miss Summerson, and perhaps you would rather go to bed.”

“I am not at all tired, my dear,” said I, “and would much prefer to go out.”

“If you’re sure you would,” returned Miss Jellyby, “I’ll get my things on.”

Ada said she would go too, and was soon astir. I made a proposal to Peepy, in default of being able to do anything better for him, that he should let me wash him and afterwards lay him down on my bed again. To this he submitted with the best grace possible, staring at me during the whole operation as if he never had been, and never could again be, so astonished in his life - looking very miserable also, certainly, but making no complaint, and going snugly to sleep as soon as it was over. At first I was in two minds about taking such a liberty, but I soon reflected that nobody in the house was likely to notice it.

What with the bustle of dispatching Peepy and the bustle of getting myself ready and helping Ada, I was soon quite in a glow. We found Miss Jellyby trying to warm herself at the fire in the writing-room, which Priscilla was then lighting with a smutty parlour candlestick, throwing the candle in to make it burn better. Everything was just as we had left it last night and was evidently intended to remain so. Below-stairs the dinner-cloth had not been taken away, but had been left ready for breakfast. Crumbs, dust, and waste-paper were all over the house. Some pewter pots and a milk-can hung on the area railings; the door stood open; and we met the cook round the corner coming out of a public-house, wiping her mouth. She mentioned, as she passed us, that she had been to see what o’clock it was.

Tradução Integral em Português

Uma Aventura Matinal

Embora a manhã estivesse gélida e a névoa ainda parecesse espessa - digo parecesse porque as janelas estavam tão incrustadas de sujeira que teriam obscurecido o sol do pleno verão - , eu já estava suficientemente prevenida contra o desconforto dentro de casa naquela hora matutina e suficientemente curiosa a respeito de Londres para considerar boa a ideia da Srta. Jellyby quando propôs que saíssemos a passeio.

- Mamãe vai demorar uma eternidade para descer - disse ela - , e depois ainda é incerto se o desjejum ficará pronto dentro de uma hora, de tanto que se arrastam. Quanto a papai, consegue o que pode e vai para o escritório. Nunca toma o que se poderia chamar de desjejum regular. Priscilla deixa-lhe o pão e um pouco de leite durante a noite, quando há. Às vezes não há leite e às vezes o gato o bebe. Mas receio que esteja cansada, Srta. Summerson, e talvez prefira ir para a cama.

- Não estou nem um pouco cansada, minha querida - disse eu - , e preferiria muito sair.

- Se tem certeza de que prefere - replicou a Srta. Jellyby - , vou me arrumar.

Ada disse que também iria e logo se pôs em movimento. Como não podia fazer nada melhor por Peepy, propus-lhe que me deixasse lavá-lo e depois tornasse a deitar-se em minha cama. A isso se submeteu com a melhor disposição possível, fitando-me durante toda a operação como se jamais houvesse ficado, nem pudesse tornar a ficar, tão espantado na vida - parecendo também muito infeliz, sem dúvida, mas sem apresentar queixa e adormecendo aconchegado assim que terminamos. A princípio hesitei quanto a tomar semelhante liberdade, mas logo refleti que ninguém na casa provavelmente notaria.

Entre o alvoroço de acomodar Peepy, o de me aprontar e o de ajudar Ada, logo fiquei inteiramente aquecida. Encontramos a Srta. Jellyby tentando aquecer-se junto ao fogo na sala de escrever, que Priscilla então acendia com um castiçal de sala todo tisnado, atirando a vela lá dentro para fazê-lo arder melhor. Tudo estava exatamente como deixáramos na noite anterior e evidentemente deveria permanecer assim. No andar de baixo, a toalha do jantar não fora retirada, mas ficara pronta para o desjejum. Migalhas, poeira e papéis descartados cobriam a casa inteira. Alguns canecos de estanho e uma lata de leite pendiam na grade do pavimento inferior; a porta estava aberta; e encontramos a cozinheira ao dobrar a esquina, saindo de uma taberna e enxugando a boca. Ao passar por nós, mencionou que fora ver que horas eram.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Encontramos Richard do lado de fora, pulando para aquecer os pés. Feliz ao nos ver, juntou-se ao passeio e foi com Ada, enquanto Caddy e eu seguimos à frente. Caddy voltara ao mau humor, embora tivesse dito que gostava de mim.

Caddy perguntou aonde eu queria ir.

Respondi que qualquer lugar estava bom.

Caddy parou e disse que qualquer lugar significava lugar nenhum.

Sugeri que simplesmente fôssemos a algum lugar.

Então ela me fez andar muito depressa.

Caddy disse que não se importava, mas pediu que eu testemunhasse que jamais falaria com o Sr. Quale, mesmo que ele os visitasse para sempre. Achava que ele e sua mãe se comportavam como tolos.

Protestei contra sua palavra rude e comecei a mencionar seu dever de filha.

Caddy perguntou sobre o dever de sua mãe como mãe. Disse que todo esse dever fora entregue ao público e à África, então eles deveriam agir como filhos de sua mãe. Disse que nós duas podíamos ficar chocadas e encerrar o assunto.

Original English Version

But before we met the cook, we met Richard, who was dancing up and down Thavies Inn to warm his feet. He was agreeably surprised to see us stirring so soon and said he would gladly share our walk. So he took care of Ada, and Miss Jellyby and I went first. I may mention that Miss Jellyby had relapsed into her sulky manner and that I really should not have thought she liked me much unless she had told me so.

“Where would you wish to go?” she asked.

“Anywhere, my dear,” I replied.

“Anywhere’s nowhere,” said Miss Jellyby, stopping perversely.

“Let us go somewhere at any rate,” said I.

She then walked me on very fast.

“I don’t care!” she said. “Now, you are my witness, Miss Summerson, I say I don’t care - but if he was to come to our house with his great, shining, lumpy forehead night after night till he was as old as Methuselah, I wouldn’t have anything to say to him. Such ASSES as he and Ma make of themselves!”

“My dear!” I remonstrated, in allusion to the epithet and the vigorous emphasis Miss Jellyby set upon it. “Your duty as a child - ”

“Oh! Don’t talk of duty as a child, Miss Summerson; where’s Ma’s duty as a parent? All made over to the public and Africa, I suppose! Then let the public and Africa show duty as a child; it’s much more their affair than mine. You are shocked, I dare say! Very well, so am I shocked too; so we are both shocked, and there’s an end of it!”

Tradução Integral em Português

Mas, antes de encontrarmos a cozinheira, encontramos Richard, que dançava para cima e para baixo em Thavies Inn a fim de aquecer os pés. Ficou agradavelmente surpreso de nos ver em movimento tão cedo e disse que com prazer partilharia o passeio. Assim, tomou conta de Ada, enquanto a Srta. Jellyby e eu seguimos à frente. Posso mencionar que a Srta. Jellyby recaíra em seus modos mal-humorados e que eu de fato não teria pensado que gostava muito de mim se ela própria não o houvesse dito.

- Aonde gostaria de ir? - perguntou.

- A qualquer lugar, minha querida - respondi.

- Qualquer lugar não é lugar nenhum - disse a Srta. Jellyby, parando com perversidade.

- Vamos a algum lugar, seja como for - disse eu.

Ela então me fez avançar muito depressa.

- Não me importo! - disse. - Agora, a senhora é minha testemunha, Srta. Summerson: digo que não me importo; mas, ainda que ele viesse à nossa casa com aquela testa enorme, reluzente e nodosa, noite após noite, até ficar tão velho quanto Matusalém, eu não teria nada a dizer-lhe. Que ASINOS ele e mamãe fazem de si mesmos!

- Minha querida! - protestei, aludindo ao epíteto e à vigorosa ênfase que a Srta. Jellyby lhe dera. - Seu dever de filha...

- Oh! Não fale de dever de filha, Srta. Summerson; onde está o dever de mãe de mamãe? Entregue por inteiro ao público e à África, suponho! Então que o público e a África demonstrem dever de filhos; é muito mais assunto deles que meu. Aposto que a senhora está chocada! Muito bem, eu também estou chocada; estamos ambas chocadas, e fim de conversa!

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Ela me fez andar ainda mais depressa.

Caddy repetiu que jamais falaria com o Sr. Quale. Odiava as grandes ideias que ele compartilhava com sua mãe porque elas contradiziam totalmente a maneira terrível como a mãe administrava a casa.

Entendi que ela falava do Sr. Quale. Richard e Ada nos alcançaram, rindo e perguntando se estávamos apostando corrida, então a conversa difícil terminou. Caddy caminhou em silêncio enquanto eu observava as longas ruas de Londres, as multidões, o trânsito, as lojas abrindo e os pobres procurando no lixo.

Richard brincou com Ada que eles nunca conseguiriam escapar da Chancelaria. Havíamos voltado por outro caminho ao local do encontro do dia anterior, onde a velha apareceu novamente.

A velha estava diante de nós, curvando-se e sorrindo. Reconheceu com alegria os jovens do processo Jarndyce.

Enquanto ela se curvava, observei que havia saído cedo.

A velha disse que costumava caminhar ali antes de o tribunal abrir. Era um lugar tranquilo para organizar os pensamentos, pois a justiça da Chancelaria era muito difícil de acompanhar.

Original English Version

She walked me on faster yet.

“But for all that, I say again, he may come, and come, and come, and I won’t have anything to say to him. I can’t bear him. If there’s any stuff in the world that I hate and detest, it’s the stuff he and Ma talk. I wonder the very paving-stones opposite our house can have the patience to stay there and be a witness of such inconsistencies and contradictions as all that sounding nonsense, and Ma’s management!”

I could not but understand her to refer to Mr. Quale, the young gentleman who had appeared after dinner yesterday. I was saved the disagreeable necessity of pursuing the subject by Richard and Ada coming up at a round pace, laughing and asking us if we meant to run a race. Thus interrupted, Miss Jellyby became silent and walked moodily on at my side while I admired the long successions and varieties of streets, the quantity of people already going to and fro, the number of vehicles passing and repassing, the busy preparations in the setting forth of shop windows and the sweeping out of shops, and the extraordinary creatures in rags secretly groping among the swept-out rubbish for pins and other refuse.

“So, cousin,” said the cheerful voice of Richard to Ada behind me. “We are never to get out of Chancery! We have come by another way to our place of meeting yesterday, and - by the Great Seal, here’s the old lady again!”

Truly, there she was, immediately in front of us, curtsying, and smiling, and saying with her yesterday’s air of patronage, “The wards in Jarndyce! Ve-ry happy, I am sure!”

“You are out early, ma’am,” said I as she curtsied to me.

“Ye-es! I usually walk here early. Before the court sits. It’s retired. I collect my thoughts here for the business of the day,” said the old lady mincingly. “The business of the day requires a great deal of thought. Chancery justice is so ve-ry difficult to follow.”

Tradução Integral em Português

Ela me fez andar ainda mais depressa.

- Mas, apesar de tudo, repito: ele pode vir e vir e vir, e eu não terei nada a lhe dizer. Não o suporto. Se há no mundo alguma conversa que odeio e detesto, é a conversa dele e de mamãe. Espanta-me que até as pedras do calçamento diante de nossa casa tenham paciência de permanecer ali e testemunhar inconsistências e contradições tais como todo aquele disparate retumbante e a administração de mamãe!

Não pude deixar de compreender que ela se referia ao Sr. Quale, o jovem cavalheiro que aparecera após o jantar na véspera. Fui poupada da desagradável necessidade de prosseguir no assunto por Richard e Ada, que nos alcançaram a passos rápidos, rindo e perguntando se pretendíamos apostar uma corrida. Assim interrompida, a Srta. Jellyby calou-se e seguiu carrancuda a meu lado, enquanto eu admirava as longas sucessões e variedades de ruas, a quantidade de pessoas já indo e vindo, o número de veículos que passavam e tornavam a passar, os atarefados preparativos na montagem das vitrines e na varredura das lojas, e as extraordinárias criaturas em farrapos que tateavam às escondidas no lixo varrido, em busca de alfinetes e outros refugos.

- Então, prima - disse atrás de mim a voz alegre de Richard a Ada - , jamais conseguiremos sair da Chancelaria! Viemos por outro caminho ao lugar onde nos encontramos ontem e... pelo Grande Selo, lá está outra vez a velhinha!

E de fato lá estava ela, bem diante de nós, fazendo mesuras, sorrindo e dizendo com o ar de patrocínio da véspera: - Os pupilos de Jarndyce! Mui-to contente, com certeza!

- A senhora saiu cedo - disse eu enquanto ela me fazia uma mesura.

- Si-im! Costumo caminhar aqui cedo. Antes de o tribunal abrir. É retirado. Aqui reúno meus pensamentos para os negócios do dia - disse a velha senhora com afetação. - Os negócios do dia exigem muita reflexão. A justiça da Chancelaria é mui-to difícil de acompanhar.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Caddy apertou meu braço e perguntou em voz baixa quem era a mulher.

A pequena velha tinha excelente audição e respondeu imediatamente por conta própria.

Disse que estava envolvida num processo e frequentava o tribunal com seus documentos. Depois perguntou educadamente se Caddy era outra jovem ligada a Jarndyce e Jarndyce.

Querendo corrigir seu comportamento descuidado do dia anterior, Richard explicou com gentileza que Caddy não tinha ligação com o processo.

A velha disse que Caddy não esperava uma decisão, mas ainda envelheceria, embora não tanto quanto ela. Chamou o jardim de Lincoln's Inn de seu e disse que passava ali as longas férias do tribunal, pensando e ouvindo os pássaros.

Concordamos que as férias eram longas porque ela claramente esperava nossa concordância.

A velha disse que as férias terminavam quando as folhas caíam e não restavam flores para o tribunal do Chanceler. Convidou-nos para seu quarto, esperando que nossa juventude, esperança e beleza trouxessem boa sorte. Fazia muito tempo que visitantes assim não apareciam.

Original English Version

“Who’s this, Miss Summerson?” whispered Miss Jellyby, drawing my arm tighter through her own.

The little old lady’s hearing was remarkably quick. She answered for herself directly.

“A suitor, my child. At your service. I have the honour to attend court regularly. With my documents. Have I the pleasure of addressing another of the youthful parties in Jarndyce?” said the old lady, recovering herself, with her head on one side, from a very low curtsy.

Richard, anxious to atone for his thoughtlessness of yesterday, good-naturedly explained that Miss Jellyby was not connected with the suit.

“Ha!” said the old lady. “She does not expect a judgment? She will still grow old. But not so old. Oh, dear, no! This is the garden of Lincoln’s Inn. I call it my garden. It is quite a bower in the summer-time. Where the birds sing melodiously. I pass the greater part of the long vacation here. In contemplation. You find the long vacation exceedingly long, don’t you?”

We said yes, as she seemed to expect us to say so.

“When the leaves are falling from the trees and there are no more flowers in bloom to make up into nosegays for the Lord Chancellor’s court,” said the old lady, “the vacation is fulfilled and the sixth seal, mentioned in the Revelations, again prevails. Pray come and see my lodging. It will be a good omen for me. Youth, and hope, and beauty are very seldom there. It is a long, long time since I had a visit from either.”

Tradução Integral em Português

- Quem é esta, Srta. Summerson? - sussurrou a Srta. Jellyby, apertando meu braço contra o dela.

A audição da velhinha era extraordinariamente aguda. Ela própria respondeu de imediato.

- Uma litigante, minha filha. Às suas ordens. Tenho a honra de comparecer regularmente ao tribunal. Com meus documentos. Tenho o prazer de me dirigir a mais uma das jovens partes de Jarndyce? - disse a velha senhora, recuperando-se, a cabeça inclinada para um lado, de uma mesura muito profunda.

Richard, ansioso por reparar sua falta de consideração da véspera, explicou com bondade que a Srta. Jellyby não tinha ligação com a ação.

- Ah! - disse a velha senhora. - Ela não espera uma sentença? Ainda ficará velha. Mas não tão velha. Oh, céus, não! Este é o jardim de Lincoln’s Inn. Chamo-o de meu jardim. É um verdadeiro caramanchão no verão. Onde os pássaros cantam melodiosamente. Passo aqui a maior parte das longas férias. Em contemplação. Vocês acham as longas férias excessivamente longas, não acham?

Dissemos que sim, pois ela parecia esperar que assim disséssemos.

- Quando as folhas caem das árvores e já não há flores desabrochadas para compor ramalhetes para o tribunal do Lorde Chanceler - disse a velha senhora - , as férias se cumprem e o sexto selo, mencionado no Apocalipse, torna a prevalecer. Por favor, venham conhecer meus aposentos. Será um bom presságio para mim. Juventude, esperança e beleza muito raramente aparecem por lá. Faz muito, muito tempo que recebi a visita de qualquer uma delas.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

A velha senhora pegou minha mão e levou a senhorita Jellyby e eu, chamando Richard e Ada para nos seguir. Procurei a ajuda de Richard, mas ele estava divertido, curioso e sem saber como sair sem ofendê-la. Ela sorriu e disse que morava perto.

Ela realmente morava muito perto. Antes que pudéssemos parar de segui-la com educação, ela nos levou por um portão lateral até uma rua estreita. Parou e disse: “Esta é minha casa. Por favor, subam.”

Ela parou na loja de trapos e garrafas de Krook. Placas diziam que ele comprava ossos, restos de cozinha, ferro velho, papel e roupas, mas nada parecia estar à venda. Garrafas sujas, livros de direito antigos, documentos legais, sacos, trapos, chaves e ossos enchiam a loja escura. Um anúncio dizia que um homem chamado Nemo procurava trabalho de cópia. Richard brincou que os ossos talvez pertencessem a clientes de advogados.

A neblina, a escuridão e uma parede próxima bloqueavam quase toda a luz, mas um velho carregava uma lanterna lá dentro. Era baixo, magro e ressecado, com a cabeça curvada entre os ombros. Cabelos brancos, veias grossas e pele enrugada faziam sua cabeça parecer uma raiz velha coberta de neve.

Original English Version

She had taken my hand, and leading me and Miss Jellyby away, beckoned Richard and Ada to come too. I did not know how to excuse myself and looked to Richard for aid. As he was half amused and half curious and all in doubt how to get rid of the old lady without offence, she continued to lead us away, and he and Ada continued to follow, our strange conductress informing us all the time, with much smiling condescension, that she lived close by.

It was quite true, as it soon appeared. She lived so close by that we had not time to have done humouring her for a few moments before she was at home. Slipping us out at a little side gate, the old lady stopped most unexpectedly in a narrow back street, part of some courts and lanes immediately outside the wall of the inn, and said, “This is my lodging. Pray walk up!”

She had stopped at a shop over which was written KROOK, RAG AND BOTTLE WAREHOUSE. Also, in long thin letters, KROOK, DEALER IN MARINE STORES. In one part of the window was a picture of a red paper mill at which a cart was unloading a quantity of sacks of old rags. In another was the inscription BONES BOUGHT. In another, KITCHEN-STUFF BOUGHT. In another, OLD IRON BOUGHT. In another, WASTE-PAPER BOUGHT. In another, LADIES’ AND GENTLEMEN’S WARDROBES BOUGHT. Everything seemed to be bought and nothing to be sold there. In all parts of the window were quantities of dirty bottles - blacking bottles, medicine bottles, ginger-beer and soda-water bottles, pickle bottles, wine bottles, ink bottles; I am reminded by mentioning the latter that the shop had in several little particulars the air of being in a legal neighbourhood and of being, as it were, a dirty hanger-on and disowned relation of the law. There were a great many ink bottles. There was a little tottering bench of shabby old volumes outside the door, labelled “Law Books, all at 9d.” Some of the inscriptions I have enumerated were written in law-hand, like the papers I had seen in Kenge and Carboy’s office and the letters I had so long received from the firm. Among them was one, in the same writing, having nothing to do with the business of the shop, but announcing that a respectable man aged forty-five wanted engrossing or copying to execute with neatness and dispatch: Address to Nemo, care of Mr. Krook, within. There were several second-hand bags, blue and red, hanging up. A little way within the shop-door lay heaps of old crackled parchment scrolls and discoloured and dog’s-eared law-papers. I could have fancied that all the rusty keys, of which there must have been hundreds huddled together as old iron, had once belonged to doors of rooms or strong chests in lawyers’ offices. The litter of rags tumbled partly into and partly out of a one-legged wooden scale, hanging without any counterpoise from a beam, might have been counsellors’ bands and gowns torn up. One had only to fancy, as Richard whispered to Ada and me while we all stood looking in, that yonder bones in a corner, piled together and picked very clean, were the bones of clients, to make the picture complete.

As it was still foggy and dark, and as the shop was blinded besides by the wall of Lincoln’s Inn, intercepting the light within a couple of yards, we should not have seen so much but for a lighted lantern that an old man in spectacles and a hairy cap was carrying about in the shop. Turning towards the door, he now caught sight of us. He was short, cadaverous, and withered, with his head sunk sideways between his shoulders and the breath issuing in visible smoke from his mouth as if he were on fire within. His throat, chin, and eyebrows were so frosted with white hairs and so gnarled with veins and puckered skin that he looked from his breast upward like some old root in a fall of snow.

Tradução Integral em Português

Ela tomara minha mão e, conduzindo a mim e à Srta. Jellyby para longe, fez sinal a Richard e Ada para que também viessem. Eu não sabia como me desculpar e procurei auxílio em Richard. Como ele estava meio divertido, meio curioso e de todo incerto sobre como se livrar da velha senhora sem ofendê-la, ela continuou a nos levar, e ele e Ada continuaram a seguir-nos, enquanto nossa estranha guia informava a todos, com muita condescendência sorridente, que morava bem perto.

Era verdade, como logo se viu. Morava tão perto que mal tivemos tempo de lhe fazer a vontade por alguns instantes e ela já estava em casa. Fazendo-nos sair por um pequeno portão lateral, a velha senhora parou, de modo absolutamente inesperado, numa estreita rua dos fundos, parte de alguns pátios e vielas logo além do muro da hospedaria, e disse: - Esta é minha residência. Queiram subir!

Ela parara diante de uma loja sobre a qual se lia: KROOK, DEPÓSITO DE TRAPOS E GARRAFAS. Também, em letras compridas e finas: KROOK, NEGOCIANTE DE ARTIGOS NÁUTICOS USADOS. Numa parte da vitrine havia a gravura de uma fábrica de papel vermelha, diante da qual uma carroça descarregava numerosos sacos de trapos velhos. Em outra, a inscrição COMPRAM-SE OSSOS. Em outra, COMPRAM-SE RESÍDUOS DE COZINHA. Em outra, COMPRA-SE FERRO-VELHO. Em outra, COMPRA-SE PAPEL VELHO. Em outra, COMPRAM-SE GUARDA-ROUPAS DE DAMAS E CAVALHEIROS. Tudo ali parecia ser comprado, e nada vendido. Em todas as partes da vitrine havia grande quantidade de garrafas sujas - garrafas de graxa, de remédio, de cerveja de gengibre e de água com gás, de conservas, de vinho, de tinta; mencionar estas últimas faz-me lembrar que, em vários pequenos aspectos, a loja tinha o ar de pertencer a uma vizinhança jurídica e de ser, por assim dizer, uma parasita imunda e parenta renegada da lei. Havia muitíssimas garrafas de tinta. Do lado de fora da porta, via-se um pequeno banco cambaleante com velhos volumes maltratados, sob o letreiro “Livros de Direito, todos a 9 pence”. Algumas das inscrições que enumerei estavam escritas em caligrafia jurídica, como os papéis que eu vira no escritório de Kenge e Carboy e as cartas que por tanto tempo recebera da firma. Entre elas havia uma, na mesma letra, sem relação alguma com os negócios da loja, anunciando que um homem respeitável de quarenta e cinco anos procurava trabalhos de escrituração ou cópia, a executar com esmero e rapidez: Dirigir-se a Nemo, aos cuidados do Sr. Krook, aqui dentro. Penduravam-se várias sacolas usadas, azuis e vermelhas. Pouco além da porta da loja jaziam montes de velhos rolos de pergaminho quebradiços e papéis jurídicos descoloridos e de orelhas dobradas. Eu poderia imaginar que todas as chaves enferrujadas - devia haver centenas amontoadas como ferro-velho - haviam pertencido outrora a portas de salas ou cofres-fortes de escritórios de advogados. O emaranhado de trapos, parte caído dentro e parte fora de uma balança de madeira de uma só perna, pendente de uma viga sem contrapeso algum, poderia ter sido feito de bandas e becas rasgadas de juristas. Bastava imaginar, como Richard sussurrou a Ada e a mim enquanto todos olhávamos para dentro, que aqueles ossos num canto, empilhados e muito bem limpos, eram ossos de clientes, para completar o quadro.

Como ainda havia nevoeiro e escuridão, e como, além disso, a loja estava privada de luz pelo muro de Lincoln’s Inn, que a interceptava a menos de dois metros, não teríamos visto tanto não fosse uma lanterna acesa que um velho de óculos e gorro peludo carregava pela loja. Ao virar-se para a porta, avistou-nos. Era baixo, cadavérico e mirrado, com a cabeça afundada de lado entre os ombros e o hálito saindo-lhe da boca em fumaça visível, como se ardesse por dentro. A garganta, o queixo e as sobrancelhas eram tão cobertos pela geada de pelos brancos, e tão nodosos de veias e pele enrugada, que, do peito para cima, parecia alguma velha raiz sob uma nevasca.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

O velho veio até a porta e perguntou: “Vocês têm algo para vender?”

Recuamos, e Richard tentou se despedir porque estávamos com pressa. Mas a velha senhora insistiu muito para vermos seu quarto, acreditando que minha visita traria boa sorte. Estávamos curiosos, e o velho também nos convidou a entrar pela loja. Encorajados por Richard, todos entramos.

A velha senhora apresentou seu senhorio, Krook. Disse que os vizinhos o chamavam de Lorde Chanceler e a loja dele de Tribunal de Chancelaria. Garantiu-nos que ele era extremamente estranho.

Ela balançou a cabeça várias vezes e tocou a testa, sugerindo que Krook era um pouco louco. Ele a ouviu e riu.

Caminhando à frente com a lanterna, Krook confirmou que as pessoas o chamavam de Lorde Chanceler e sua loja de Chancelaria. Perguntou por que usavam esses nomes.

Richard respondeu sem muito interesse que não sabia.

Original English Version

“Hi, hi!” said the old man, coming to the door. “Have you anything to sell?”

We naturally drew back and glanced at our conductress, who had been trying to open the house-door with a key she had taken from her pocket, and to whom Richard now said that as we had had the pleasure of seeing where she lived, we would leave her, being pressed for time. But she was not to be so easily left. She became so fantastically and pressingly earnest in her entreaties that we would walk up and see her apartment for an instant, and was so bent, in her harmless way, on leading me in, as part of the good omen she desired, that I (whatever the others might do) saw nothing for it but to comply. I suppose we were all more or less curious; at any rate, when the old man added his persuasions to hers and said, “Aye, aye! Please her! It won’t take a minute! Come in, come in! Come in through the shop if t’other door’s out of order!” we all went in, stimulated by Richard’s laughing encouragement and relying on his protection.

“My landlord, Krook,” said the little old lady, condescending to him from her lofty station as she presented him to us. “He is called among the neighbours the Lord Chancellor. His shop is called the Court of Chancery. He is a very eccentric person. He is very odd. Oh, I assure you he is very odd!”

She shook her head a great many times and tapped her forehead with her finger to express to us that we must have the goodness to excuse him, “For he is a little - you know - M!” said the old lady with great stateliness. The old man overheard, and laughed.

“It’s true enough,” he said, going before us with the lantern, “that they call me the Lord Chancellor and call my shop Chancery. And why do you think they call me the Lord Chancellor and my shop Chancery?”

“I don’t know, I am sure!” said Richard rather carelessly.

Tradução Integral em Português

- Ei, ei! - disse o velho, vindo até a porta. - Têm alguma coisa para vender?

Naturalmente recuamos e olhamos para nossa guia, que tentava abrir a porta da casa com uma chave tirada do bolso e a quem Richard disse então que, tendo tido o prazer de ver onde ela morava, nós nos despediríamos, pois estávamos com pressa. Mas não seria abandonada com tanta facilidade. Tornou-se tão fantasticamente insistente e fervorosa em suas súplicas para que subíssemos e víssemos seu aposento por um instante, e estava tão decidida, à sua maneira inofensiva, a conduzir-me para dentro como parte do bom presságio que desejava, que eu (fizessem os outros o que fizessem) não vi alternativa senão concordar. Suponho que todos estávamos mais ou menos curiosos; seja como for, quando o velho somou sua persuasão à dela e disse: “Sim, sim! Façam-lhe a vontade! Não levará um minuto! Entrem, entrem! Entrem pela loja se a outra porta não funciona!”, todos entramos, estimulados pelo incentivo risonho de Richard e confiando em sua proteção.

- Meu senhorio, Krook - disse a velhinha, condescendendo com ele do alto de sua posição ao apresentá-lo. - Entre os vizinhos, é chamado de Lorde Chanceler. Sua loja é chamada Tribunal da Chancelaria. É uma pessoa muito excêntrica. Muito esquisito. Ah, asseguro-lhes que é muito esquisito!

Sacudiu a cabeça muitas vezes e bateu com o dedo na testa para dar-nos a entender que tivéssemos a bondade de desculpá-lo. - Pois ele é um pouco... sabem... M! - disse a velha senhora com grande imponência. O velho ouviu e riu.

- É bem verdade - disse ele, seguindo à nossa frente com a lanterna - que me chamam de Lorde Chanceler e à minha loja, de Chancelaria. E por que acham que me chamam de Lorde Chanceler e à loja, de Chancelaria?

- Não sei, com certeza! - disse Richard, um tanto displicente.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Krook começou a explicar, mas então percebeu os lindos cabelos de Ada. Disse que tinha três sacos de cabelos de mulheres no andar de baixo, porém nenhum tão fino quanto o dela. Elogiou a cor e a maciez.

Richard protestou com firmeza quando Krook passou uma mecha do cabelo de Ada por sua mão amarela. Disse que Krook podia admirá-lo sem tocá-la.

Krook lançou de repente um olhar duro para Richard. Ada se assustou e corou, mas riu e disse que se sentia orgulhosa de uma admiração tão sincera. Krook imediatamente se acalmou de novo.

Krook explicou que colecionava muitos tipos de coisas inúteis e estragadas, especialmente documentos antigos. Adorava ferrugem, poeira e teias de aranha e nunca jogava nada fora, limpava ou consertava. Por isso chamavam sua loja de Chancelaria. Ele observava com frequência o verdadeiro Chanceler e dizia que os dois trabalhavam na mesma confusão.

Uma grande gata cinzenta chamada Lady Jane saltou de uma prateleira para o ombro de Krook e nos assustou.

Original English Version

“You see,” said the old man, stopping and turning round, “they - Hi! Here’s lovely hair! I have got three sacks of ladies’ hair below, but none so beautiful and fine as this. What colour, and what texture!”

“That’ll do, my good friend!” said Richard, strongly disapproving of his having drawn one of Ada’s tresses through his yellow hand. “You can admire as the rest of us do without taking that liberty.”

The old man darted at him a sudden look which even called my attention from Ada, who, startled and blushing, was so remarkably beautiful that she seemed to fix the wandering attention of the little old lady herself. But as Ada interposed and laughingly said she could only feel proud of such genuine admiration, Mr. Krook shrunk into his former self as suddenly as he had leaped out of it.

“You see, I have so many things here,” he resumed, holding up the lantern, “of so many kinds, and all as the neighbours think (but THEY know nothing), wasting away and going to rack and ruin, that that’s why they have given me and my place a christening. And I have so many old parchmentses and papers in my stock. And I have a liking for rust and must and cobwebs. And all’s fish that comes to my net. And I can’t abear to part with anything I once lay hold of (or so my neighbours think, but what do THEY know?) or to alter anything, or to have any sweeping, nor scouring, nor cleaning, nor repairing going on about me. That’s the way I’ve got the ill name of Chancery. I don’t mind. I go to see my noble and learned brother pretty well every day, when he sits in the Inn. He don’t notice me, but I notice him. There’s no great odds betwixt us. We both grub on in a muddle. Hi, Lady Jane!”

A large grey cat leaped from some neighbouring shelf on his shoulder and startled us all.

Tradução Integral em Português

- Vejam - disse o velho, parando e virando-se - , eles... Ei! Que cabelo encantador! Tenho lá embaixo três sacos de cabelos de senhora, mas nenhum tão belo e fino como este. Que cor, e que textura!

- Já basta, meu bom amigo! - disse Richard, desaprovando energicamente que ele tivesse passado uma das mechas de Ada por sua mão amarela. - Pode admirá-la como todos nós, sem tomar essa liberdade.

O velho lançou-lhe um olhar súbito que chegou a desviar minha atenção de Ada, que, assustada e corada, estava tão extraordinariamente bela que pareceu fixar até a atenção errante da própria velhinha. Mas, como Ada interveio e disse, rindo, que só podia sentir orgulho de admiração tão genuína, o Sr. Krook encolheu-se de volta em sua antiga personalidade tão subitamente quanto dela saltara.

- Vejam, tenho tantas coisas aqui - retomou ele, erguendo a lanterna - , de tantos tipos, e todas, segundo pensam os vizinhos (mas ELES nada sabem), definhando e indo para o diabo, que por isso deram um batismo a mim e ao meu lugar. E tenho tantos pergaminhoses e papéis velhos em meu estoque. E gosto de ferrugem, mofo e teias de aranha. E tudo é peixe que cai na minha rede. E não suporto separar-me de nada em que pus a mão uma vez (ou assim pensam meus vizinhos, mas que sabem ELES?), nem mudar coisa alguma, nem deixar que façam varredura, esfregação, limpeza ou conserto ao meu redor. Foi assim que ganhei a má fama de Chancelaria. Não me importo. Vou ver meu nobre e douto irmão quase todos os dias, quando ele se reúne na hospedaria. Ele não repara em mim, mas eu reparo nele. Não há grande diferença entre nós. Ambos remexemos uma confusão. Ei, Lady Jane!

Uma grande gata cinzenta saltou de uma prateleira próxima para o ombro dele e assustou a todos nós.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Krook mandou Lady Jane nos mostrar como arranhava e rasgava as coisas.

A gata saltou e rasgou um monte de trapos com garras de tigre. O som me causou grande desconforto.

Krook disse que ela atacaria qualquer pessoa que ele mandasse. Ele também comprava peles de gato e certa vez lhe ofereceram a dela, mas não a retirara. Brincou que isso era diferente do comportamento comum da Chancelaria.

Krook nos conduziu pela loja e abriu uma porta nos fundos. Antes de deixá-lo, a velha senhora disse que ele tinha boas intenções, mas era irritante. Explicou que estávamos com pressa porque ela precisava ir ao tribunal e anunciou que seus jovens visitantes eram os tutelados no caso Jarndyce.

O nome Jarndyce assustou Krook.

Sua inquilina esclareceu que se referia a Jarndyce e Jarndyce, o grande processo judicial.

Krook arregalou ainda mais os olhos e exclamou admirado: “Pense nisso!”

Krook de repente pareceu perdido em pensamentos e nos examinou de modo estranho. Richard disse que ele parecia muito interessado nos processos diante do verdadeiro Chanceler.

Original English Version

“Hi! Show ’em how you scratch. Hi! Tear, my lady!” said her master.

The cat leaped down and ripped at a bundle of rags with her tigerish claws, with a sound that it set my teeth on edge to hear.

“She’d do as much for any one I was to set her on,” said the old man. “I deal in cat-skins among other general matters, and hers was offered to me. It’s a very fine skin, as you may see, but I didn’t have it stripped off! THAT warn’t like Chancery practice though, says you!”

He had by this time led us across the shop, and now opened a door in the back part of it, leading to the house-entry. As he stood with his hand upon the lock, the little old lady graciously observed to him before passing out, “That will do, Krook. You mean well, but are tiresome. My young friends are pressed for time. I have none to spare myself, having to attend court very soon. My young friends are the wards in Jarndyce.”

“Jarndyce!” said the old man with a start.

“Jarndyce and Jarndyce. The great suit, Krook,” returned his lodger.

“Hi!” exclaimed the old man in a tone of thoughtful amazement and with a wider stare than before. “Think of it!”

He seemed so rapt all in a moment and looked so curiously at us that Richard said, “Why, you appear to trouble yourself a good deal about the causes before your noble and learned brother, the other Chancellor!”

Tradução Integral em Português

- Ei! Mostre-lhes como você arranha. Ei! Rasgue, milady! - disse seu dono.

A gata saltou ao chão e retalhou um fardo de trapos com suas garras de tigre, produzindo um som que me deu arrepios nos dentes.

- Faria o mesmo com qualquer pessoa contra quem eu a lançasse - disse o velho. - Negocio peles de gato, entre outros artigos gerais, e ofereceram-me a dela. É uma pele muito bonita, como podem ver, mas não mandei arrancá-la! ISSO não foi bem à maneira da Chancelaria, dirão vocês!

A essa altura ele já nos conduzira através da loja e abriu então uma porta nos fundos, que dava para a entrada da casa. Enquanto ele permanecia com a mão na fechadura, a velhinha observou-lhe graciosamente antes de sair: - Isso basta, Krook. Suas intenções são boas, mas você é enfadonho. Meus jovens amigos estão com pressa. Eu mesma não tenho tempo a perder, pois muito em breve devo comparecer ao tribunal. Meus jovens amigos são os pupilos de Jarndyce.

- Jarndyce! - disse o velho, sobressaltando-se.

- Jarndyce e Jarndyce. O grande processo, Krook - respondeu sua inquilina.

- Ei! - exclamou o velho, num tom de assombro pensativo e arregalando os olhos mais que antes. - Imaginem só!

De repente pareceu tão absorto e olhou-nos com tamanha curiosidade que Richard disse: - Ora, parece preocupar-se muito com as causas diante de seu nobre e douto irmão, o outro Chanceler!

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Ainda distraído, Krook concordou e começou a adivinhar o nome de Richard.

Richard respondeu: “Richard Carstone.”

Krook repetiu Carstone e contou o nome em um dedo. Nos outros dedos, listou Barbary, Clare e talvez Dedlock.

Surpreso, Richard disse a Ada e a mim que Krook sabia tanto sobre o processo quanto o Chanceler assalariado.

Krook disse que Tom Jarndyce visitara muitas vezes sua loja. Durante o processo, Tom andava inquieto e alertava os comerciantes para evitarem a Chancelaria, pois ela destruía as pessoas lentamente. Krook disse que Tom quase se matara na loja.

Ouvimos horrorizados.

Krook descreveu o último dia de Tom. Tom entrou na loja deprimido porque seu processo voltara ao tribunal. Krook o convenceu a ir à taverna do outro lado da rua, onde parecia confortável junto ao fogo. Pouco depois de Krook voltar, um tiro ecoou pela região, e todos os vizinhos gritaram: “Tom Jarndyce!”

Krook parou, olhou fixamente para nós, examinou a lanterna, apagou a luz e a fechou.

Original English Version

“Yes,” said the old man abstractedly. “Sure! YOUR name now will be - ”

“Richard Carstone.”

“Carstone,” he repeated, slowly checking off that name upon his forefinger; and each of the others he went on to mention upon a separate finger. “Yes. There was the name of Barbary, and the name of Clare, and the name of Dedlock, too, I think.”

“He knows as much of the cause as the real salaried Chancellor!” said Richard, quite astonished, to Ada and me.

“Aye!” said the old man, coming slowly out of his abstraction. “Yes! Tom Jarndyce - you’ll excuse me, being related; but he was never known about court by any other name, and was as well known there as - she is now,” nodding slightly at his lodger. “Tom Jarndyce was often in here. He got into a restless habit of strolling about when the cause was on, or expected, talking to the little shopkeepers and telling ’em to keep out of Chancery, whatever they did. ‘For,’ says he, ‘it’s being ground to bits in a slow mill; it’s being roasted at a slow fire; it’s being stung to death by single bees; it’s being drowned by drops; it’s going mad by grains.’ He was as near making away with himself, just where the young lady stands, as near could be.”

We listened with horror.

“He come in at the door,” said the old man, slowly pointing an imaginary track along the shop, “on the day he did it - the whole neighbourhood had said for months before that he would do it, of a certainty sooner or later - he come in at the door that day, and walked along there, and sat himself on a bench that stood there, and asked me (you’ll judge I was a mortal sight younger then) to fetch him a pint of wine. ‘For,’ says he, ‘Krook, I am much depressed; my cause is on again, and I think I’m nearer judgment than I ever was.’ I hadn’t a mind to leave him alone; and I persuaded him to go to the tavern over the way there, t’other side my lane (I mean Chancery Lane); and I followed and looked in at the window, and saw him, comfortable as I thought, in the arm-chair by the fire, and company with him. I hadn’t hardly got back here when I heard a shot go echoing and rattling right away into the inn. I ran out - neighbours ran out - twenty of us cried at once, ‘Tom Jarndyce!’”

The old man stopped, looked hard at us, looked down into the lantern, blew the light out, and shut the lantern up.

Tradução Integral em Português

- Sim - disse o velho, distraído. - Claro! Agora, SEU nome será...

- Richard Carstone.

- Carstone - repetiu, assinalando lentamente aquele nome no indicador; e passou a mencionar cada um dos outros num dedo separado. - Sim. Havia o nome Barbary, e o nome Clare, e também o nome Dedlock, creio.

- Ele sabe tanto sobre a causa quanto o verdadeiro Chanceler assalariado! - disse Richard a Ada e a mim, muito espantado.

- Sim! - disse o velho, saindo aos poucos de sua abstração. - Sim! Tom Jarndyce... hão de desculpar-me, por serem parentes; mas no tribunal nunca foi conhecido por outro nome, e era tão conhecido ali quanto... ela é agora - acrescentou, fazendo um leve aceno para a inquilina. - Tom Jarndyce vinha aqui muitas vezes. Adquiriu o hábito inquieto de perambular quando a causa estava em pauta, ou era esperada, falando com os pequenos lojistas e dizendo-lhes que ficassem longe da Chancelaria, não importava o que fizessem. “Pois”, dizia ele, “é ser moído em pedaços num moinho lento; é ser assado num fogo baixo; é ser picado até a morte por abelhas solitárias; é ser afogado por gotas; é enlouquecer grão a grão.” Esteve quase a dar cabo de si mesmo, bem onde está a jovem, tão perto quanto se pode estar.

Ouvimos horrorizados.

- Ele entrou pela porta - disse o velho, indicando devagar um caminho imaginário pela loja - no dia em que fez aquilo... toda a vizinhança dissera por meses que ele o faria, sem falta, mais cedo ou mais tarde... entrou pela porta naquele dia, caminhou por ali, sentou-se num banco que ficava acolá e pediu-me (hão de calcular que eu era muitíssimo mais jovem então) que lhe buscasse uma pinta de vinho. “Pois”, disse ele, “Krook, estou muito deprimido; minha causa voltou à pauta, e acho que estou mais perto da sentença do que jamais estive.” Eu não queria deixá-lo sozinho; convenci-o a ir à taverna logo ali do outro lado, na outra margem de minha viela (quero dizer, Chancery Lane); segui-o, espiei pela janela e vi-o, confortável como pensei, numa poltrona junto ao fogo, com companhia. Mal tinha voltado para cá quando ouvi um tiro ecoar e ribombar até lá dentro da hospedaria. Corri para fora... os vizinhos correram para fora... vinte de nós gritamos de uma vez: “Tom Jarndyce!”

O velho parou, fitou-nos atentamente, olhou para dentro da lanterna, apagou a luz com um sopro e fechou-a.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Krook confirmou que os vizinhos estavam certos. Multidões entraram no tribunal naquela tarde, mas o Chanceler e os advogados continuaram seu trabalho confuso como sempre. Fingiram não saber da morte de Tom ou agiram como se nada tivessem a ver com ela.

Ada perdeu toda a cor, e Richard também ficou pálido. A longa miséria do processo e suas lembranças terríveis chocaram aqueles jovens. Preocupei-me porque a história também se aplicava à velha senhora confusa, mas ela parecia não perceber. Simplesmente nos levou para cima e tornou a chamar Krook de um pouco louco.

A velha senhora morava num quarto grande no alto da casa, de onde podia ver parte do salão de Lincoln's Inn. O quarto era limpo, mas quase vazio, com poucos móveis, algumas imagens jurídicas e bolsas que, segundo ela, continham documentos. Não havia fogo, roupas nem comida. Sua aparência magra agora me mostrava como era pobre.

Original English Version

“We were right, I needn’t tell the present hearers. Hi! To be sure, how the neighbourhood poured into court that afternoon while the cause was on! How my noble and learned brother, and all the rest of ’em, grubbed and muddled away as usual and tried to look as if they hadn’t heard a word of the last fact in the case or as if they had - Oh, dear me! - nothing at all to do with it if they had heard of it by any chance!”

Ada’s colour had entirely left her, and Richard was scarcely less pale. Nor could I wonder, judging even from my emotions, and I was no party in the suit, that to hearts so untried and fresh it was a shock to come into the inheritance of a protracted misery, attended in the minds of many people with such dreadful recollections. I had another uneasiness, in the application of the painful story to the poor half-witted creature who had brought us there; but, to my surprise, she seemed perfectly unconscious of that and only led the way upstairs again, informing us with the toleration of a superior creature for the infirmities of a common mortal that her landlord was “a little - M - , you know!”

She lived at the top of the house, in a pretty large room, from which she had a glimpse of Lincoln’s Inn Hall. This seemed to have been her principal inducement, originally, for taking up her residence there. She could look at it, she said, in the night, especially in the moonshine. Her room was clean, but very, very bare. I noticed the scantiest necessaries in the way of furniture; a few old prints from books, of Chancellors and barristers, wafered against the wall; and some half-dozen reticles and work-bags, “containing documents,” as she informed us. There were neither coals nor ashes in the grate, and I saw no articles of clothing anywhere, nor any kind of food. Upon a shelf in an open cupboard were a plate or two, a cup or two, and so forth, but all dry and empty. There was a more affecting meaning in her pinched appearance, I thought as I looked round, than I had understood before.

Tradução Integral em Português

- Estávamos certos, não preciso dizer aos presentes ouvintes. Ei! Sem dúvida, como a vizinhança afluiu ao tribunal naquela tarde, enquanto a causa era julgada! Como meu nobre e douto irmão, e todos os demais, remexeram e confundiram tudo como sempre, e tentaram parecer que não tinham ouvido uma palavra do último fato da causa ou que, se tivessem... Ah, meu Deus!... nada tinham que ver com isso, caso por acaso houvessem ouvido falar!

A cor abandonara por completo o rosto de Ada, e Richard estava quase tão pálido quanto ela. Eu tampouco podia estranhar, a julgar até por minhas próprias emoções - e eu não era parte no processo - , que para corações tão inexperientes e puros fosse um choque receber a herança de uma desgraça prolongada, associada na mente de tantas pessoas a lembranças tão terríveis. Eu sentia ainda outro mal-estar, ao aplicar a história dolorosa à pobre criatura de pouco juízo que nos levara até ali; mas, para minha surpresa, ela pareceu inteiramente inconsciente disso e apenas tornou a abrir caminho escada acima, informando-nos, com a tolerância de uma criatura superior diante das fraquezas de um mortal comum, que seu senhorio era “um pouco... M..., sabem!”.

Ela morava no alto da casa, num cômodo bastante grande de onde tinha um vislumbre do salão de Lincoln’s Inn. Parecia ter sido esse, a princípio, seu principal motivo para estabelecer-se ali. Podia contemplá-lo, disse, à noite, sobretudo ao luar. Seu quarto era limpo, mas muito, muito despojado. Notei apenas o mínimo indispensável em mobília; algumas velhas gravuras tiradas de livros, representando Chanceleres e advogados, coladas à parede com obreias; e cerca de meia dúzia de bolsas e sacolas de trabalho, “contendo documentos”, segundo nos informou. Não havia carvão nem cinzas na lareira, e não vi em parte alguma peças de roupa nem espécie alguma de alimento. Numa prateleira de um armário aberto havia um ou dois pratos, uma ou duas xícaras, e assim por diante, mas tudo seco e vazio. Enquanto eu olhava ao redor, pareceu-me haver em sua aparência consumida um sentido mais comovente do que antes compreendera.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

A pobre mulher disse que se sentia honrada com a visita e grata pelo bom sinal. Morava ali havia anos porque precisava comparecer ao tribunal. Passava os dias lá e as longas noites sem dormir pensando. Pediu desculpas por não ter chocolate e admitiu que o frio e a fome dificultavam manter uma aparência respeitável. Mesmo assim, esperava uma decisão em breve e acreditava que sua vida melhoraria.

Ela afastou a cortina e nos mostrou muitas gaiolas junto à janela baixa do sótão. Elas continham pelo menos vinte cotovias, pintassilgos e outros pequenos pássaros.

Ela explicou que mantinha os pássaros para poder libertá-los quando o tribunal desse sua decisão. Contudo, o processo durava mais que a curta vida deles, por isso todos os grupos haviam morrido na prisão. Ela duvidava que até os pássaros jovens vivessem o bastante para serem livres.

Embora às vezes fizesse perguntas, ela nunca esperava respostas. Continuava falando como se estivesse sozinha.

Original English Version

“Extremely honoured, I am sure,” said our poor hostess with the greatest suavity, “by this visit from the wards in Jarndyce. And very much indebted for the omen. It is a retired situation. Considering. I am limited as to situation. In consequence of the necessity of attending on the Chancellor. I have lived here many years. I pass my days in court, my evenings and my nights here. I find the nights long, for I sleep but little and think much. That is, of course, unavoidable, being in Chancery. I am sorry I cannot offer chocolate. I expect a judgment shortly and shall then place my establishment on a superior footing. At present, I don’t mind confessing to the wards in Jarndyce (in strict confidence) that I sometimes find it difficult to keep up a genteel appearance. I have felt the cold here. I have felt something sharper than cold. It matters very little. Pray excuse the introduction of such mean topics.”

She partly drew aside the curtain of the long, low garret window and called our attention to a number of bird-cages hanging there, some containing several birds. There were larks, linnets, and goldfinches - I should think at least twenty.

“I began to keep the little creatures,” she said, “with an object that the wards will readily comprehend. With the intention of restoring them to liberty. When my judgment should be given. Ye-es! They die in prison, though. Their lives, poor silly things, are so short in comparison with Chancery proceedings that, one by one, the whole collection has died over and over again. I doubt, do you know, whether one of these, though they are all young, will live to be free! Ve-ry mortifying, is it not?”

Although she sometimes asked a question, she never seemed to expect a reply, but rambled on as if she were in the habit of doing so when no one but herself was present.

Tradução Integral em Português

- Sinto-me extremamente honrada, com certeza - disse nossa pobre anfitriã com a maior suavidade - , por esta visita dos pupilos de Jarndyce. E muito grata pelo presságio. É uma situação retirada. Considerando-se tudo. Tenho limitações quanto à situação. Em consequência da necessidade de acompanhar o Chanceler. Moro aqui há muitos anos. Passo os dias no tribunal; as noites e madrugadas, aqui. Acho longas as noites, pois durmo pouco e penso muito. Isso, é claro, é inevitável, estando na Chancelaria. Lamento não poder oferecer chocolate. Espero uma sentença em breve e então porei meu estabelecimento em nível superior. Por ora, não me incomoda confessar aos pupilos de Jarndyce (em estrita confidência) que às vezes encontro dificuldade para manter uma aparência distinta. Senti frio aqui. Senti algo mais cortante que o frio. Pouco importa. Queiram perdoar a introdução de temas tão vulgares.

Ela afastou em parte a cortina da comprida e baixa janela do sótão e chamou nossa atenção para várias gaiolas penduradas ali, algumas contendo diversos pássaros. Havia cotovias, pintassilgos-verdes e pintassilgos - ao menos vinte, eu diria.

- Comecei a criar essas pequenas criaturas - disse ela - com um objetivo que os pupilos prontamente compreenderão. Com a intenção de restituí-las à liberdade. Quando minha sentença fosse proferida. Si-im! Contudo, elas morrem na prisão. A vida delas, pobres coisinhas tolas, é tão breve em comparação com os procedimentos da Chancelaria que, uma a uma, toda a coleção já morreu e tornou a morrer. Duvido, sabem, que uma só destas, embora todas jovens, viva até ser libertada! Mui-to mortificante, não é?

Embora às vezes fizesse uma pergunta, nunca parecia esperar resposta, apenas divagava como se tivesse o hábito de fazê-lo quando ninguém além dela estava presente.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Ela disse que às vezes temia que, antes do fim do processo, também fosse encontrada morta ali, como tantos de seus pássaros.

Vendo compaixão nos olhos de Ada, Richard colocou discretamente algum dinheiro sobre a lareira. Todos nos aproximamos das gaiolas e fingimos observar os pássaros.

A velha senhora disse que normalmente mantinha os pássaros quietos porque o canto deles a confundia enquanto acompanhava os argumentos no tribunal. Mas naquele dia de sorte, podiam cantar em homenagem à juventude, à esperança e à beleza. Ela sorriu, fez reverências e abriu totalmente a cortina.

Os pássaros começaram a se mover e cantar baixinho.

A velha senhora disse que não podia abrir a janela porque Lady Jane queria matar os pássaros. A gata esperava do lado de fora durante horas, com ciúme porque eles talvez fossem libertados em breve. Ela acreditava que a gata cruel e esperta era quase como o lobo de uma velha história e era difícil mantê-la longe da porta.

Original English Version

“Indeed,” she pursued, “I positively doubt sometimes, I do assure you, whether while matters are still unsettled, and the sixth or Great Seal still prevails, I may not one day be found lying stark and senseless here, as I have found so many birds!”

Richard, answering what he saw in Ada’s compassionate eyes, took the opportunity of laying some money, softly and unobserved, on the chimney-piece. We all drew nearer to the cages, feigning to examine the birds.

“I can’t allow them to sing much,” said the little old lady, “for (you’ll think this curious) I find my mind confused by the idea that they are singing while I am following the arguments in court. And my mind requires to be so very clear, you know! Another time, I’ll tell you their names. Not at present. On a day of such good omen, they shall sing as much as they like. In honour of youth,” a smile and curtsy, “hope,” a smile and curtsy, “and beauty,” a smile and curtsy. “There! We’ll let in the full light.”

The birds began to stir and chirp.

“I cannot admit the air freely,” said the little old lady - the room was close, and would have been the better for it - “because the cat you saw downstairs, called Lady Jane, is greedy for their lives. She crouches on the parapet outside for hours and hours. I have discovered,” whispering mysteriously, “that her natural cruelty is sharpened by a jealous fear of their regaining their liberty. In consequence of the judgment I expect being shortly given. She is sly and full of malice. I half believe, sometimes, that she is no cat, but the wolf of the old saying. It is so very difficult to keep her from the door.”

Tradução Integral em Português

- De fato - prosseguiu - , às vezes duvido francamente, asseguro-lhes, que, enquanto os assuntos continuam sem solução e o sexto ou Grande Selo ainda prevalece, eu mesma não seja um dia encontrada aqui, estendida, rígida e sem sentidos, como encontrei tantos pássaros!

Richard, respondendo ao que viu nos olhos compassivos de Ada, aproveitou a oportunidade para depositar algum dinheiro, silenciosamente e sem ser notado, sobre o consolo da lareira. Todos nos aproximamos das gaiolas, fingindo examinar os pássaros.

- Não posso deixá-los cantar muito - disse a velhinha - , pois (acharão curioso) vejo minha mente confundir-se com a ideia de que eles cantam enquanto acompanho os argumentos no tribunal. E minha mente precisa estar tão límpida, sabem! Em outra ocasião, eu lhes direi os nomes. Agora não. Num dia de tão bom presságio, cantarão tanto quanto quiserem. Em honra da juventude - um sorriso e uma reverência - , da esperança - um sorriso e uma reverência - e da beleza - um sorriso e uma reverência. - Pronto! Deixaremos entrar toda a luz.

Os pássaros começaram a mover-se e a chilrear.

- Não posso deixar o ar entrar livremente - disse a velhinha - o aposento era abafado e só teria a ganhar com isso - porque a gata que viram lá embaixo, chamada Lady Jane, cobiça-lhes a vida. Fica agachada por horas e horas no parapeito lá fora. Descobri - sussurrou misteriosamente - que sua crueldade natural é aguçada por um temor ciumento de que eles recuperem a liberdade. Em consequência da sentença que espero ser proferida em breve. Ela é ardilosa e cheia de malícia. Às vezes, quase acredito que não é gata, mas o lobo do velho ditado. É tão difícil mantê-la longe da porta.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Sinos próximos anunciaram nove e meia e nos ajudaram a terminar a visita. A velha senhora pegou depressa sua bolsa de documentos e perguntou se íamos ao tribunal. Quando dissemos que não e prometemos não atrasá-la, ela nos levou para baixo.

Ela disse que nossa visita de sorte tornava especialmente importante chegar antes do Chanceler. Tinha a forte sensação de que ele mencionaria seu processo primeiro naquela manhã.

Enquanto descíamos, ela sussurrou que a casa inteira estava cheia de objetos estranhos que Krook comprara separadamente e se recusava a vender porque era um pouco louco. No segundo andar, parou e apontou em silêncio para uma porta escura.

Ela sussurrou que o único outro inquilino era um copista jurídico. As crianças locais diziam que ele vendera a alma ao diabo, mas ela se perguntava o que fizera com o dinheiro. Depois nos mandou ficar em silêncio.

Ela parecia temer que o inquilino ouvisse. Repetiu o aviso e caminhou na ponta dos pés para que nem seus passos revelassem suas palavras.

Original English Version

Some neighbouring bells, reminding the poor soul that it was half-past nine, did more for us in the way of bringing our visit to an end than we could easily have done for ourselves. She hurriedly took up her little bag of documents, which she had laid upon the table on coming in, and asked if we were also going into court. On our answering no, and that we would on no account detain her, she opened the door to attend us downstairs.

“With such an omen, it is even more necessary than usual that I should be there before the Chancellor comes in,” said she, “for he might mention my case the first thing. I have a presentiment that he WILL mention it the first thing this morning.”

She stopped to tell us in a whisper as we were going down that the whole house was filled with strange lumber which her landlord had bought piecemeal and had no wish to sell, in consequence of being a little M. This was on the first floor. But she had made a previous stoppage on the second floor and had silently pointed at a dark door there.

“The only other lodger,” she now whispered in explanation, “a law-writer. The children in the lanes here say he has sold himself to the devil. I don’t know what he can have done with the money. Hush!”

She appeared to mistrust that the lodger might hear her even there, and repeating “Hush!” went before us on tiptoe as though even the sound of her footsteps might reveal to him what she had said.

Tradução Integral em Português

Alguns sinos nas proximidades, lembrando à pobre alma que eram nove e meia, fizeram mais por encerrar nossa visita do que nós mesmos teríamos podido fazer com facilidade. Ela apanhou depressa a pequena sacola de documentos que deixara sobre a mesa ao entrar e perguntou se também íamos ao tribunal. Quando respondemos que não e que de modo algum a deteríamos, abriu a porta para acompanhar-nos escada abaixo.

- Com tal presságio, é ainda mais necessário que o habitual que eu esteja lá antes da entrada do Chanceler - disse ela - , pois ele pode mencionar minha causa logo em primeiro lugar. Tenho um pressentimento de que ele VAI mencioná-la logo em primeiro lugar esta manhã.

Enquanto descíamos, ela parou para dizer-nos num sussurro que a casa inteira estava cheia de estranhos cacarecos que seu senhorio comprara aos poucos e não desejava vender, em consequência de ser um pouco M. Isso foi no primeiro andar. Mas ela fizera uma parada anterior no segundo e apontara em silêncio para uma porta escura.

- O único outro inquilino - sussurrou agora, explicando - , um copista jurídico. As crianças das vielas daqui dizem que ele vendeu a alma ao diabo. Não sei o que pode ter feito com o dinheiro. Silêncio!

Pareceu recear que o inquilino pudesse ouvi-la mesmo ali e, repetindo “Silêncio!”, seguiu à nossa frente na ponta dos pés, como se até o ruído de seus passos pudesse revelar-lhe o que dissera.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Ao sairmos pela loja, encontramos Krook colocando pacotes de papel usado num espaço fundo no chão. Ele trabalhava muito e suava. Para cada pacote, desenhava com giz uma marca torta na parede de madeira.

Depois que os outros passaram, Krook tocou meu braço e me deteve. Desenhou na parede um J maiúsculo ao contrário, começando pelo fim. Parecia exatamente uma letra escrita por um funcionário do escritório de Kenge e Carboy.

Krook olhou atentamente para mim e perguntou se eu conseguia ler aquilo.

Disse que certamente conseguia, pois era muito claro.

Ele perguntou qual era a letra.

Respondi: “J.”

Krook olhou para mim e para a porta, apagou o J e escreveu um “a” minúsculo no lugar. Depois perguntou o que era.

Eu lhe disse. Ele apagou a letra, formou um “r” e perguntou de novo. Rapidamente, desenhando cada letra ao contrário e apagando-a antes da seguinte, formou a palavra inteira Jarndyce.

Original English Version

Passing through the shop on our way out, as we had passed through it on our way in, we found the old man storing a quantity of packets of waste-paper in a kind of well in the floor. He seemed to be working hard, with the perspiration standing on his forehead, and had a piece of chalk by him, with which, as he put each separate package or bundle down, he made a crooked mark on the panelling of the wall.

Richard and Ada, and Miss Jellyby, and the little old lady had gone by him, and I was going when he touched me on the arm to stay me, and chalked the letter J upon the wall - in a very curious manner, beginning with the end of the letter and shaping it backward. It was a capital letter, not a printed one, but just such a letter as any clerk in Messrs. Kenge and Carboy’s office would have made.

“Can you read it?” he asked me with a keen glance.

“Surely,” said I. “It’s very plain.”

“What is it?”

“J.”

With another glance at me, and a glance at the door, he rubbed it out and turned an “a” in its place (not a capital letter this time), and said, “What’s that?”

I told him. He then rubbed that out and turned the letter “r,” and asked me the same question. He went on quickly until he had formed in the same curious manner, beginning at the ends and bottoms of the letters, the word Jarndyce, without once leaving two letters on the wall together.

Tradução Integral em Português

Ao atravessarmos a loja para sair, como a atravessáramos para entrar, encontramos o velho guardando numerosos pacotes de papel velho numa espécie de poço no chão. Parecia trabalhar com afinco, o suor acumulado na testa, e tinha ao lado um pedaço de giz com o qual, ao baixar cada pacote ou fardo, fazia uma marca torta no revestimento da parede.

Richard e Ada, a Srta. Jellyby e a velhinha já haviam passado por ele, e eu ia passando quando me tocou no braço para deter-me e desenhou com giz a letra J na parede - de maneira muito curiosa, começando pelo fim da letra e traçando-a ao contrário. Era uma maiúscula, não de imprensa, mas exatamente a letra que faria qualquer funcionário do escritório dos senhores Kenge e Carboy.

- Consegue ler? - perguntou-me com um olhar penetrante.

- Claro - respondi. - É muito nítida.

- O que é?

- J.

Depois de tornar a olhar para mim e de lançar um olhar à porta, apagou-a e desenhou um “a” em seu lugar (desta vez não uma maiúscula), dizendo: - E isso?

Eu lhe disse. Ele então apagou a letra, desenhou um “r” e fez-me a mesma pergunta. Prosseguiu depressa até formar, da mesma maneira curiosa, começando pelas pontas e bases das letras, a palavra Jarndyce, sem deixar em momento algum duas letras juntas na parede.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Ele me perguntou que palavra as letras formavam.

Quando respondi, ele riu. Da mesma maneira estranha, porém rápida, formou e apagou cada letra das palavras Bleak House. Eu as li com surpresa, e ele tornou a rir.

Guardando o giz, Krook disse que tinha talento para copiar de memória, embora não soubesse ler nem escrever.

Krook parecia desagradável, e sua gata me encarava como se eu fosse parente dos pássaros do andar de cima. Fiquei aliviada quando Richard apareceu e brincou que eu não deveria vender meu cabelo, pois Krook já tinha três sacos.

Despedi-me depressa de Krook e me juntei aos amigos do lado de fora. A velha senhora nos abençoou formalmente e tornou a prometer deixar bens para Ada e para mim. Ao olhar para trás, vimos Krook à porta nos observando, com a gata no ombro e a cauda erguida junto ao gorro como uma pena.

Original English Version

“What does that spell?” he asked me.

When I told him, he laughed. In the same odd way, yet with the same rapidity, he then produced singly, and rubbed out singly, the letters forming the words Bleak House. These, in some astonishment, I also read; and he laughed again.

“Hi!” said the old man, laying aside the chalk. “I have a turn for copying from memory, you see, miss, though I can neither read nor write.”

He looked so disagreeable and his cat looked so wickedly at me, as if I were a blood-relation of the birds upstairs, that I was quite relieved by Richard’s appearing at the door and saying, “Miss Summerson, I hope you are not bargaining for the sale of your hair. Don’t be tempted. Three sacks below are quite enough for Mr. Krook!”

I lost no time in wishing Mr. Krook good morning and joining my friends outside, where we parted with the little old lady, who gave us her blessing with great ceremony and renewed her assurance of yesterday in reference to her intention of settling estates on Ada and me. Before we finally turned out of those lanes, we looked back and saw Mr. Krook standing at his shop-door, in his spectacles, looking after us, with his cat upon his shoulder, and her tail sticking up on one side of his hairy cap like a tall feather.

Tradução Integral em Português

- Que palavra isso forma? - perguntou-me.

Quando lhe disse, ele riu. Da mesma forma estranha, e contudo com a mesma rapidez, produziu então, uma a uma, e apagou, uma a uma, as letras que formavam as palavras Bleak House. Um tanto espantada, também as li; e ele tornou a rir.

- Ei! - disse o velho, pondo o giz de lado. - Tenho certo talento para copiar de memória, como vê, senhorita, embora não saiba ler nem escrever.

Ele parecia tão desagradável, e sua gata fitava-me com tamanha maldade, como se eu fosse parenta consanguínea dos pássaros lá de cima, que fiquei muito aliviada quando Richard apareceu à porta e disse: - Srta. Summerson, espero que não esteja negociando a venda de seu cabelo. Não ceda à tentação. Três sacos lá embaixo bastam perfeitamente para o Sr. Krook!

Não perdi tempo em desejar bom-dia ao Sr. Krook e juntei-me a meus amigos lá fora, onde nos despedimos da velhinha, que nos deu sua bênção com grande cerimônia e renovou a garantia da véspera quanto à intenção de deixar propriedades para Ada e para mim. Antes de enfim sairmos daquelas vielas, olhamos para trás e vimos o Sr. Krook parado à porta da loja, de óculos, observando-nos, com a gata no ombro e a cauda erguida de um lado de seu gorro peludo como uma pluma alta.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Richard suspirou que aquela tinha sido uma grande aventura para uma manhã em Londres. Depois disse com tristeza que Chancelaria era uma palavra cansativa.

Ada disse que a Chancelaria a preocupava desde que conseguia se lembrar. Odiava ser considerada inimiga de muitos parentes enquanto todos arruinavam uns aos outros sem saber por quê. Perguntava-se por que, depois de tantos anos, nenhum juiz honesto descobrira o que era certo.

Richard concordou que aquele jogo jurídico cheio de desperdício era estranho. O tribunal calmo continuava enquanto as pessoas do processo sofriam como peças num tabuleiro. Aquilo feria sua cabeça e seu coração. Então perguntou se podia chamar sua prima Ada pelo primeiro nome.

Ada disse com carinho ao primo Richard que, naturalmente, ele podia.

Richard disse que a Chancelaria não teria má influência sobre eles. Seu bondoso parente os reunira, e agora o tribunal não poderia separá-los.

Original English Version

“Quite an adventure for a morning in London!” said Richard with a sigh. “Ah, cousin, cousin, it’s a weary word this Chancery!”

“It is to me, and has been ever since I can remember,” returned Ada. “I am grieved that I should be the enemy - as I suppose I am - of a great number of relations and others, and that they should be my enemies - as I suppose they are - and that we should all be ruining one another without knowing how or why and be in constant doubt and discord all our lives. It seems very strange, as there must be right somewhere, that an honest judge in real earnest has not been able to find out through all these years where it is.”

“Ah, cousin!” said Richard. “Strange, indeed! All this wasteful, wanton chess-playing IS very strange. To see that composed court yesterday jogging on so serenely and to think of the wretchedness of the pieces on the board gave me the headache and the heartache both together. My head ached with wondering how it happened, if men were neither fools nor rascals; and my heart ached to think they could possibly be either. But at all events, Ada - I may call you Ada?”

“Of course you may, cousin Richard.”

“At all events, Chancery will work none of its bad influences on US. We have happily been brought together, thanks to our good kinsman, and it can’t divide us now!”

Tradução Integral em Português

- Uma bela aventura para uma manhã em Londres! - disse Richard com um suspiro. - Ah, prima, prima, que palavra exaustiva é essa Chancelaria!

- É para mim, e tem sido desde que me lembro - respondeu Ada. - Entristece-me ser inimiga - como suponho que sou - de tantos parentes e outras pessoas, e que sejam meus inimigos - como suponho que são - , e que todos estejamos arruinando uns aos outros sem saber como nem por quê, e vivamos em constante dúvida e discórdia por toda a vida. Parece muito estranho, pois em algum lugar deve haver justiça, que um juiz honesto e verdadeiramente empenhado não tenha conseguido descobrir durante todos esses anos onde ela está.

- Ah, prima! - disse Richard. - Estranho, de fato! Todo esse jogo de xadrez perdulário e leviano É muito estranho. Ver ontem aquele tribunal sereno avançando com tanta placidez e pensar na desgraça das peças no tabuleiro deu-me dor de cabeça e dor no coração ao mesmo tempo. Doía-me a cabeça de perguntar-me como aquilo acontecia, se os homens não eram nem tolos nem patifes; e doía-me o coração ao pensar que pudessem ser uma coisa ou outra. Mas, de todo modo, Ada... posso chamá-la de Ada?

- É claro que pode, primo Richard.

- De todo modo, a Chancelaria não exercerá nenhuma de suas más influências sobre NÓS. Fomos felizmente reunidos, graças a nosso bom parente, e agora ela não pode separar-nos!

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Ada disse com ternura que esperava que nunca fossem separados.

A senhorita Jellyby apertou meu braço e me deu um olhar significativo. Sorri de volta, e aproveitamos o restante do caminho para casa.

A senhora Jellyby apareceu meia hora depois que voltamos, e o café da manhã chegou aos poucos. Ela parecia não ter trocado de roupa. Cartas sobre a África a mantinham ocupada. As crianças negligenciadas caíam e machucavam as pernas já marcadas. Peepy desapareceu por noventa minutos e um policial o trouxe do mercado, mas a mãe permaneceu igualmente calma durante sua ausência e seu retorno.

A senhora Jellyby continuou ditando enquanto Caddy ficava coberta de tinta outra vez. À uma hora, chegou uma carruagem para nós e uma carroça para a bagagem. A senhora Jellyby mandou lembranças ao senhor Jarndyce. Caddy me beijou e chorou quando partimos. Peepy dormia, enquanto as outras crianças subiram atrás da carruagem, caíram e ficaram espalhadas pelo pátio.

Original English Version

“Never, I hope, cousin Richard!” said Ada gently.

Miss Jellyby gave my arm a squeeze and me a very significant look. I smiled in return, and we made the rest of the way back very pleasantly.

In half an hour after our arrival, Mrs. Jellyby appeared; and in the course of an hour the various things necessary for breakfast straggled one by one into the dining-room. I do not doubt that Mrs. Jellyby had gone to bed and got up in the usual manner, but she presented no appearance of having changed her dress. She was greatly occupied during breakfast, for the morning’s post brought a heavy correspondence relative to Borrioboola-Gha, which would occasion her (she said) to pass a busy day. The children tumbled about, and notched memoranda of their accidents in their legs, which were perfect little calendars of distress; and Peepy was lost for an hour and a half, and brought home from Newgate market by a policeman. The equable manner in which Mrs. Jellyby sustained both his absence and his restoration to the family circle surprised us all.

She was by that time perseveringly dictating to Caddy, and Caddy was fast relapsing into the inky condition in which we had found her. At one o’clock an open carriage arrived for us, and a cart for our luggage. Mrs. Jellyby charged us with many remembrances to her good friend Mr. Jarndyce; Caddy left her desk to see us depart, kissed me in the passage, and stood biting her pen and sobbing on the steps; Peepy, I am happy to say, was asleep and spared the pain of separation (I was not without misgivings that he had gone to Newgate market in search of me); and all the other children got up behind the barouche and fell off, and we saw them, with great concern, scattered over the surface of Thavies Inn as we rolled out of its precincts.

Tradução Integral em Português

- Nunca, espero, primo Richard! - disse Ada com doçura.

A Srta. Jellyby apertou-me o braço e lançou-me um olhar muito significativo. Retribuí-lhe com um sorriso, e fizemos agradavelmente todo o caminho de volta.

Meia hora depois de nossa chegada, a Sra. Jellyby apareceu; e, ao longo de uma hora, as várias coisas necessárias ao desjejum entraram uma a uma e em desordem na sala de jantar. Não duvido de que a Sra. Jellyby se deitara e levantara da maneira habitual, mas sua aparência não dava indício algum de que houvesse mudado de roupa. Durante o desjejum, esteve ocupadíssima, pois o correio da manhã trouxera volumosa correspondência relativa a Borrioboola-Gha, que a faria (segundo disse) passar um dia atarefado. As crianças rolavam de um lado para outro e entalhavam registros de seus acidentes nas pernas, que eram perfeitos pequenos calendários de desgraças; e Peepy ficou perdido por uma hora e meia, sendo trazido para casa do mercado de Newgate por um policial. A serenidade com que a Sra. Jellyby suportou tanto sua ausência quanto sua restituição ao círculo familiar surpreendeu a todos.

Àquela altura, ela ditava com perseverança para Caddy, e Caddy recaía depressa na condição manchada de tinta em que a encontráramos. À uma hora, chegou para nós uma carruagem aberta, e uma carroça para a bagagem. A Sra. Jellyby encarregou-nos de muitas lembranças para seu bom amigo, o Sr. Jarndyce; Caddy deixou a escrivaninha para ver-nos partir, beijou-me no corredor e ficou mordendo a pena e soluçando nos degraus; Peepy, folgo em dizer, estava dormindo e foi poupado da dor da separação (não deixei de temer que tivesse ido ao mercado de Newgate à minha procura); e todas as outras crianças subiram na parte traseira da carruagem e caíram, e nós as vimos, com grande preocupação, espalhadas pela superfície de Thavies Inn enquanto deixávamos seus limites.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Chapter VI

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Em Casa

O dia ficou mais claro enquanto viajávamos para o oeste. O sol e o ar fresco revelaram ruas sem fim, lojas brilhantes, trânsito intenso e multidões coloridas. Finalmente deixamos Londres, atravessamos seus grandes subúrbios e chegamos a estradas rurais com moinhos, fazendas, feno, árvores e campos. A terra verde à frente e a grande cidade atrás nos encantaram. Quando uma carroça com belos cavalos e sinos passou, ficamos alegres o bastante para cantar.

Richard disse que a estrada o fazia lembrar de seu xará Whittington, e a carroça completava a imagem. Então percebeu que havia algo errado.

Nossa carruagem e a carroça tinham parado. Os sinos dos cavalos ficaram quietos, exceto quando um animal movia a cabeça e os fazia tocar suavemente.

Richard viu nosso condutor olhando para o carroceiro, que caminhava de volta em nossa direção. Quando o homem chegou à nossa porta, Richard olhou com atenção e exclamou que ele tinha o nome de Ada no chapéu.

Original English Version

Quite at Home

The day had brightened very much, and still brightened as we went westward. We went our way through the sunshine and the fresh air, wondering more and more at the extent of the streets, the brilliancy of the shops, the great traffic, and the crowds of people whom the pleasanter weather seemed to have brought out like many-coloured flowers. By and by we began to leave the wonderful city and to proceed through suburbs which, of themselves, would have made a pretty large town in my eyes; and at last we got into a real country road again, with windmills, rick-yards, milestones, farmers’ waggons, scents of old hay, swinging signs, and horse troughs: trees, fields, and hedge-rows. It was delightful to see the green landscape before us and the immense metropolis behind; and when a waggon with a train of beautiful horses, furnished with red trappings and clear-sounding bells, came by us with its music, I believe we could all three have sung to the bells, so cheerful were the influences around.

“The whole road has been reminding me of my namesake Whittington,” said Richard, “and that waggon is the finishing touch. Halloa! What’s the matter?”

We had stopped, and the waggon had stopped too. Its music changed as the horses came to a stand, and subsided to a gentle tinkling, except when a horse tossed his head or shook himself and sprinkled off a little shower of bell-ringing.

“Our postilion is looking after the waggoner,” said Richard, “and the waggoner is coming back after us. Good day, friend!” The waggoner was at our coach-door. “Why, here’s an extraordinary thing!” added Richard, looking closely at the man. “He has got your name, Ada, in his hat!”

Tradução Integral em Português

Inteiramente em Casa

O dia clareara muito e clareava ainda mais enquanto seguíamos para oeste. Prosseguimos sob o sol e o ar fresco, admirando cada vez mais a extensão das ruas, o brilho das lojas, o intenso tráfego e as multidões que o tempo mais agradável parecia ter feito brotar como flores multicores. Pouco a pouco começamos a deixar a cidade maravilhosa e a avançar por subúrbios que, por si sós, teriam formado a meus olhos uma cidade bastante grande; e por fim tornamos a entrar numa verdadeira estrada rural, com moinhos de vento, terreiros de medas, marcos de milha, carroças de fazendeiros, aromas de feno velho, letreiros oscilantes e bebedouros para cavalos: árvores, campos e sebes. Era delicioso ver a paisagem verde diante de nós e a imensa metrópole para trás; e, quando uma carroça com uma fileira de belos cavalos, adornados com arreios vermelhos e sinos de som cristalino, passou por nós com sua música, creio que nós três poderíamos ter cantado ao som dos sinos, tão alegres eram as influências ao redor.

- A estrada inteira vem lembrando-me de meu xará Whittington - disse Richard - , e aquela carroça é o toque final. Olá! O que houve?

Havíamos parado, e a carroça também. Sua música mudou quando os cavalos se imobilizaram e reduziu-se a um suave tilintar, exceto quando algum cavalo sacudia a cabeça ou o corpo e fazia chover uma pequena cascata de sinos.

- Nosso postilhão está olhando para o carroceiro - disse Richard - , e o carroceiro está voltando para nós. Bom-dia, amigo! O carroceiro estava à porta de nossa carruagem. - Ora, eis uma coisa extraordinária! - acrescentou Richard, examinando o homem. - Ele tem seu nome, Ada, no chapéu!

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

O carroceiro tinha os três nomes no chapéu. Três bilhetes estavam presos na faixa, um para cada um de nós. Ele leu cada nome e entregou as cartas. Disse que vinham de seu patrão e partiu com os sinos tocando.

Richard chamou nosso condutor e perguntou se aquela era a carroça do senhor Jarndyce.

O condutor disse que sim e explicou que ela estava indo para Londres.

Abrimos os bilhetes. Eram idênticos e escritos com letra firme e clara.

Minha querida, quero que nosso encontro seja tranquilo e confortável. Vamos nos encontrar como velhos amigos e aceitar o passado sem discuti-lo. Isso tornará as coisas mais fáceis para você e certamente para mim. Com carinho.

John Jarndyce

Fiquei menos surpresa que meus companheiros porque, durante muitos anos, o senhor Jarndyce fora meu único apoio, mas eu nunca lhe agradecera. Minha gratidão era profunda demais para palavras. Agora me perguntava como poderia encontrá-lo sem agradecer e sabia que seria muito difícil.

Original English Version

He had all our names in his hat. Tucked within the band were three small notes - one addressed to Ada, one to Richard, one to me. These the waggoner delivered to each of us respectively, reading the name aloud first. In answer to Richard’s inquiry from whom they came, he briefly answered, “Master, sir, if you please”; and putting on his hat again (which was like a soft bowl), cracked his whip, re-awakened his music, and went melodiously away.

“Is that Mr. Jarndyce’s waggon?” said Richard, calling to our post-boy.

“Yes, sir,” he replied. “Going to London.”

We opened the notes. Each was a counterpart of the other and contained these words in a solid, plain hand.

I look forward, my dear, to our meeting easily and without constraint on either side. I therefore have to propose that we meet as old friends and take the past for granted. It will be a relief to you possibly, and to me certainly, and so my love to you.

John Jarndyce

I had perhaps less reason to be surprised than either of my companions, having never yet enjoyed an opportunity of thanking one who had been my benefactor and sole earthly dependence through so many years. I had not considered how I could thank him, my gratitude lying too deep in my heart for that; but I now began to consider how I could meet him without thanking him, and felt it would be very difficult indeed.

Tradução Integral em Português

Tinha todos os nossos nomes no chapéu. Presos por dentro da fita havia três pequenos bilhetes - um endereçado a Ada, um a Richard, um a mim. O carroceiro entregou-os a cada qual, lendo antes o nome em voz alta. Em resposta à pergunta de Richard sobre quem os enviara, respondeu brevemente: “O patrão, senhor, com licença”; e, tornando a pôr o chapéu (que parecia uma tigela mole), estalou o chicote, reavivou sua música e afastou-se melodiosamente.

- Aquela carroça é do Sr. Jarndyce? - perguntou Richard, chamando nosso postilhão.

- Sim, senhor - respondeu ele. - Vai para Londres.

Abrimos os bilhetes. Cada um era cópia dos outros e continha estas palavras numa letra firme e simples.

Espero, minha querida, que nos encontremos com naturalidade e sem constrangimento de parte a parte. Proponho, portanto, que nos encontremos como velhos amigos e tomemos o passado por entendido. Isso será um alívio, possivelmente para você e certamente para mim, e assim lhe envio meu afeto.

John Jarndyce

Talvez eu tivesse menos razão para ficar surpresa que qualquer de meus companheiros, pois jamais tivera oportunidade de agradecer àquele que fora meu benfeitor e meu único amparo terreno durante tantos anos. Não pensara em como poderia agradecer-lhe, pois minha gratidão estava profunda demais no coração para isso; mas comecei então a pensar em como poderia encontrá-lo sem lhe agradecer, e senti que seria dificílimo.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Os bilhetes lembraram Richard e Ada de que seu primo odiava receber agradecimentos por sua bondade. Ele usava métodos estranhos ou até fugia para evitá-los. Ada lembrava ter ouvido que certa vez ele escapara pelo portão dos fundos quando sua mãe foi agradecê-lo e ficou longe por três meses. Falamos sobre ele o dia inteiro e nos perguntamos repetidamente sobre sua casa, nossa chegada e o que diríamos.

As estradas lamacentas eram difíceis para os cavalos, por isso subimos as colinas a pé e continuamos caminhando porque gostamos. Em Barnet, os cavalos novos tinham acabado de comer, então esperamos e atravessamos a pé um campo aberto e um antigo campo de batalha. Esses atrasos fizeram a viagem durar até a noite, quando chegamos a St. Albans, perto de Bleak House.

Ficamos tão nervosos que até Richard desejou voltar. Na noite fria, Ada e eu tremíamos. Fora da cidade, vimos uma luz numa colina, e o condutor disse que era Bleak House. Os cavalos correram ladeira acima em direção a uma casa antiga com três pontas no telhado. Enquanto um sino tocava, cães latiam, a porta se abria iluminada e nossos corações batiam mais depressa, descemos muito confusos.

Original English Version

The notes revived in Richard and Ada a general impression that they both had, without quite knowing how they came by it, that their cousin Jarndyce could never bear acknowledgments for any kindness he performed and that sooner than receive any he would resort to the most singular expedients and evasions or would even run away. Ada dimly remembered to have heard her mother tell, when she was a very little child, that he had once done her an act of uncommon generosity and that on her going to his house to thank him, he happened to see her through a window coming to the door, and immediately escaped by the back gate, and was not heard of for three months. This discourse led to a great deal more on the same theme, and indeed it lasted us all day, and we talked of scarcely anything else. If we did by any chance diverge into another subject, we soon returned to this, and wondered what the house would be like, and when we should get there, and whether we should see Mr. Jarndyce as soon as we arrived or after a delay, and what he would say to us, and what we should say to him. All of which we wondered about, over and over again.

The roads were very heavy for the horses, but the pathway was generally good, so we alighted and walked up all the hills, and liked it so well that we prolonged our walk on the level ground when we got to the top. At Barnet there were other horses waiting for us, but as they had only just been fed, we had to wait for them too, and got a long fresh walk over a common and an old battle-field before the carriage came up. These delays so protracted the journey that the short day was spent and the long night had closed in before we came to St. Albans, near to which town Bleak House was, we knew.

By that time we were so anxious and nervous that even Richard confessed, as we rattled over the stones of the old street, to feeling an irrational desire to drive back again. As to Ada and me, whom he had wrapped up with great care, the night being sharp and frosty, we trembled from head to foot. When we turned out of the town, round a corner, and Richard told us that the post-boy, who had for a long time sympathized with our heightened expectation, was looking back and nodding, we both stood up in the carriage (Richard holding Ada lest she should be jolted down) and gazed round upon the open country and the starlight night for our destination. There was a light sparkling on the top of a hill before us, and the driver, pointing to it with his whip and crying, “That’s Bleak House!” put his horses into a canter and took us forward at such a rate, uphill though it was, that the wheels sent the road drift flying about our heads like spray from a water-mill. Presently we lost the light, presently saw it, presently lost it, presently saw it, and turned into an avenue of trees and cantered up towards where it was beaming brightly. It was in a window of what seemed to be an old-fashioned house with three peaks in the roof in front and a circular sweep leading to the porch. A bell was rung as we drew up, and amidst the sound of its deep voice in the still air, and the distant barking of some dogs, and a gush of light from the opened door, and the smoking and steaming of the heated horses, and the quickened beating of our own hearts, we alighted in no inconsiderable confusion.

Tradução Integral em Português

Os bilhetes reavivaram em Richard e Ada uma impressão geral que ambos tinham, sem saber muito bem como a haviam adquirido: a de que seu primo Jarndyce jamais suportava agradecimentos por qualquer bondade que praticasse e que, antes de recebê-los, recorreria aos mais singulares expedientes e evasivas, ou até fugiria. Ada lembrava-se vagamente de ouvir a mãe contar, quando ela era muito pequena, que certa vez ele lhe fizera uma generosidade incomum e que, ao ir à casa dele agradecer-lhe, ele por acaso a vira por uma janela chegando à porta, escapara imediatamente pelo portão dos fundos e não dera notícias por três meses. Essa conversa levou a muitas outras sobre o mesmo tema e, na verdade, durou o dia inteiro, e quase não falamos de outra coisa. Se por acaso nos desviávamos para outro assunto, logo tornávamos a este, imaginando como seria a casa, quando chegaríamos, se veríamos o Sr. Jarndyce assim que chegássemos ou depois de certa demora, o que ele nos diria e o que nós lhe diríamos. E ficávamos imaginando tudo isso repetidas vezes.

As estradas eram muito pesadas para os cavalos, mas o caminho para pedestres em geral era bom, de modo que descemos e subimos a pé todas as colinas, e gostamos tanto que prolongamos a caminhada no terreno plano ao chegar ao topo. Em Barnet, outros cavalos esperavam por nós, mas, como acabavam de ser alimentados, tivemos de esperar também por eles e fizemos uma longa e revigorante caminhada por um campo comunal e um antigo campo de batalha antes de a carruagem alcançar-nos. Esses atrasos prolongaram tanto a viagem que o dia curto terminou e a longa noite fechou-se antes que chegássemos a St. Albans, perto de cuja cidade ficava Bleak House, como sabíamos.

Àquela altura estávamos tão ansiosos e nervosos que até Richard confessou, enquanto sacolejávamos sobre as pedras da velha rua, sentir um desejo irracional de voltar. Quanto a Ada e a mim, a quem ele envolvera com grande cuidado, pois a noite estava cortante e gelada, tremíamos da cabeça aos pés. Quando saímos da cidade, dobramos uma esquina e Richard nos disse que o postilhão, havia muito solidário com nossa crescente expectativa, olhava para trás e fazia sinais com a cabeça, ambas nos levantamos na carruagem (Richard segurando Ada para que um solavanco não a derrubasse) e perscrutamos o campo aberto e a noite estrelada em busca de nosso destino. Uma luz cintilava no alto de uma colina à nossa frente, e o cocheiro, apontando para ela com o chicote e gritando “Aquilo é Bleak House!”, pôs os cavalos a meio galope e levou-nos adiante com tal velocidade, apesar da subida, que as rodas lançavam a neve solta da estrada em torno de nossas cabeças como os borrifos de um moinho-d’água. Num instante perdíamos a luz, depois a víamos, tornávamos a perdê-la, tornávamos a vê-la; entramos numa alameda de árvores e avançamos a meio galope para onde ela brilhava intensamente. Estava numa janela do que parecia ser uma casa antiquada, com três pontas no telhado da fachada e uma entrada circular conduzindo ao pórtico. Tocaram um sino quando paramos e, em meio ao som de sua voz profunda no ar imóvel, aos latidos distantes de alguns cães, a uma torrente de luz vinda da porta aberta, ao fumegar e resfolegar dos cavalos aquecidos e às batidas aceleradas de nossos próprios corações, descemos numa confusão nada pequena.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Uma voz acolhedora recebeu Ada, Esther e Rick com carinho e disse que estava muito feliz em vê-los.

O homem alegre colocou um braço em volta de Ada e o outro em mim, beijou-nos como um pai e nos levou a uma sala quente com fogo brilhante. Beijou-nos de novo e nos sentou juntas perto da lareira. Senti que qualquer demonstração de emoção o faria fugir.

Ele se voltou para Rick, ofereceu a mão livre e disse que poucas palavras sinceras bastavam. Estava realmente feliz em vê-lo, disse que ele estava em casa e o convidou a se aquecer.

Richard apertou as duas mãos dele com respeito e franqueza. Simplesmente agradeceu ao senhor Jarndyce por sua bondade, embora com tanta seriedade que temi que nosso anfitrião desaparecesse. Depois Richard tirou o casaco e o chapéu e se aproximou do fogo.

O senhor Jarndyce perguntou a Ada o que achara da viagem e da senhora Jellyby.

Original English Version

“Ada, my love, Esther, my dear, you are welcome. I rejoice to see you! Rick, if I had a hand to spare at present, I would give it you!”

The gentleman who said these words in a clear, bright, hospitable voice had one of his arms round Ada’s waist and the other round mine, and kissed us both in a fatherly way, and bore us across the hall into a ruddy little room, all in a glow with a blazing fire. Here he kissed us again, and opening his arms, made us sit down side by side on a sofa ready drawn out near the hearth. I felt that if we had been at all demonstrative, he would have run away in a moment.

“Now, Rick!” said he. “I have a hand at liberty. A word in earnest is as good as a speech. I am heartily glad to see you. You are at home. Warm yourself!”

Richard shook him by both hands with an intuitive mixture of respect and frankness, and only saying (though with an earnestness that rather alarmed me, I was so afraid of Mr. Jarndyce’s suddenly disappearing), “You are very kind, sir! We are very much obliged to you!” laid aside his hat and coat and came up to the fire.

“And how did you like the ride? And how did you like Mrs. Jellyby, my dear?” said Mr. Jarndyce to Ada.

Tradução Integral em Português

- Ada, meu amor, Esther, minha querida, sejam bem-vindas. Alegra-me vê-las! Rick, se eu tivesse agora uma mão livre, estenderia a você!

O cavalheiro que disse essas palavras numa voz clara, viva e hospitaleira tinha um braço em torno da cintura de Ada e o outro em torno da minha, beijou-nos ambas como um pai e conduziu-nos pelo vestíbulo até uma salinha rubra, toda resplandecente de um fogo ardente. Ali tornou a beijar-nos e, abrindo os braços, fez-nos sentar lado a lado num sofá já colocado junto à lareira. Senti que, se fôssemos minimamente efusivos, ele fugiria num instante.

- Agora, Rick! - disse ele. - Tenho uma mão livre. Uma palavra sincera vale tanto quanto um discurso. Alegra-me de coração vê-lo. Está em casa. Aqueça-se!

Richard apertou-lhe ambas as mãos com uma mistura intuitiva de respeito e franqueza e, dizendo apenas (embora com uma seriedade que me alarmou um pouco, tamanho era meu medo de que o Sr. Jarndyce desaparecesse de repente): “O senhor é muito bondoso! Estamos muito agradecidos!”, pôs de lado o chapéu e o casaco e aproximou-se do fogo.

- E o que acharam da viagem? E o que achou da Sra. Jellyby, minha querida? - perguntou o Sr. Jarndyce a Ada.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Enquanto Ada respondia, examinei o senhor Jarndyce. Era bonito, animado, forte e tinha quase sessenta anos, com cabelos grisalhos e rosto expressivo. Sua voz e seus olhos bondosos de repente me lembraram o homem estranho da carruagem seis anos antes. Eu sabia que era ele. Percebeu que eu o reconhecera e olhou para a porta, fazendo-me temer que fugisse.

Felizmente, ele ficou e perguntou o que eu achava da senhora Jellyby.

Disse que ela trabalhava muito pela África.

O senhor Jarndyce chamou o trabalho dela de nobre, mas disse que minha resposta era igual à de Ada. Ele percebia que todos tínhamos outra opinião.

Com Richard e Ada me encorajando em silêncio, eu disse que talvez a senhora Jellyby desse pouca atenção à própria casa.

O senhor Jarndyce exclamou: “Derrotado!”

A reação dele me assustou de novo.

O senhor Jarndyce disse que queria minha opinião sincera e talvez tivesse nos enviado até lá com esse objetivo.

Original English Version

While Ada was speaking to him in reply, I glanced (I need not say with how much interest) at his face. It was a handsome, lively, quick face, full of change and motion; and his hair was a silvered iron-grey. I took him to be nearer sixty than fifty, but he was upright, hearty, and robust. From the moment of his first speaking to us his voice had connected itself with an association in my mind that I could not define; but now, all at once, a something sudden in his manner and a pleasant expression in his eyes recalled the gentleman in the stagecoach six years ago on the memorable day of my journey to Reading. I was certain it was he. I never was so frightened in my life as when I made the discovery, for he caught my glance, and appearing to read my thoughts, gave such a look at the door that I thought we had lost him.

However, I am happy to say he remained where he was, and asked me what I thought of Mrs. Jellyby.

“She exerts herself very much for Africa, sir,” I said.

“Nobly!” returned Mr. Jarndyce. “But you answer like Ada.” Whom I had not heard. “You all think something else, I see.”

“We rather thought,” said I, glancing at Richard and Ada, who entreated me with their eyes to speak, “that perhaps she was a little unmindful of her home.”

“Floored!” cried Mr. Jarndyce.

I was rather alarmed again.

“Well! I want to know your real thoughts, my dear. I may have sent you there on purpose.”

Tradução Integral em Português

Enquanto Ada lhe respondia, lancei um olhar (nem preciso dizer com quanto interesse) para seu rosto. Era um rosto belo, vivaz, ágil, cheio de mudanças e movimentos; seus cabelos eram de um cinza-ferro prateado. Pareceu-me estar mais perto dos sessenta que dos cinquenta anos, mas era ereto, vigoroso e robusto. Desde o momento em que nos dirigira as primeiras palavras, sua voz ligara-se em minha mente a uma associação que eu não conseguia definir; mas então, de repente, algo súbito em seus modos e uma expressão agradável em seus olhos fizeram-me recordar o cavalheiro da diligência, seis anos antes, no dia memorável de minha viagem a Reading. Tive certeza de que era ele. Nunca senti tanto medo na vida quanto ao fazer a descoberta, pois ele surpreendeu meu olhar e, parecendo ler meus pensamentos, lançou tal olhar à porta que pensei que o havíamos perdido.

Contudo, alegra-me dizer que permaneceu onde estava e perguntou-me o que eu achara da Sra. Jellyby.

- Ela se empenha muito pela África, senhor - respondi.

- Nobremente! - respondeu o Sr. Jarndyce. - Mas você responde como Ada. - A quem eu não ouvira. - Vejo que todos pensam também outra coisa.

- Pensamos um pouco - disse eu, olhando para Richard e Ada, que me suplicavam com os olhos que falasse - que talvez ela se esquecesse um pouco de seu lar.

- Derrotado! - exclamou o Sr. Jarndyce.

Fiquei outra vez um tanto alarmada.

- Bem! Quero saber o que você realmente pensa, minha querida. Posso tê-los enviado até lá de propósito.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Hesitando, eu disse que nossos primeiros deveres deveriam ser com nosso próprio lar. Se ignorarmos e descuidarmos desses deveres, nenhuma outra responsabilidade poderá realmente substituí-los.

Richard veio em meu auxílio e disse com firmeza que as crianças Jellyby estavam em péssimas condições.

“Ela tem boas intenções”, disse depressa o Sr. Jarndyce. “O vento vem do leste.”

Richard observou que o vento viera do norte durante a viagem.

Enquanto mexia no fogo, o Sr. Jarndyce disse a Rick que o vento vinha do leste ou logo viraria para lá. Ele sempre sentia um desconforto quando soprava um vento do leste.

“É reumatismo, senhor?”, perguntou Richard.

O Sr. Jarndyce concordou que provavelmente era. Começou a falar das crianças Jellyby e de suas dúvidas sobre elas, mas de repente voltou a culpar o vento do leste.

Original English Version

“We thought that, perhaps,” said I, hesitating, “it is right to begin with the obligations of home, sir; and that, perhaps, while those are overlooked and neglected, no other duties can possibly be substituted for them.”

“The little Jellybys,” said Richard, coming to my relief, “are really - I can’t help expressing myself strongly, sir - in a devil of a state.”

“She means well,” said Mr. Jarndyce hastily. “The wind’s in the east.”

“It was in the north, sir, as we came down,” observed Richard.

“My dear Rick,” said Mr. Jarndyce, poking the fire, “I’ll take an oath it’s either in the east or going to be. I am always conscious of an uncomfortable sensation now and then when the wind is blowing in the east.”

“Rheumatism, sir?” said Richard.

“I dare say it is, Rick. I believe it is. And so the little Jell - I had my doubts about ’em - are in a - oh, Lord, yes, it’s easterly!” said Mr. Jarndyce.

Tradução Integral em Português

- Pensamos que talvez - disse eu, hesitante - seja correto começar pelas obrigações do lar, senhor; e que talvez, enquanto estas forem ignoradas e negligenciadas, nenhum outro dever possa vir a substituí-las.

“Os pequenos Jellyby”, disse Richard, vindo em meu socorro, “estão realmente - não consigo deixar de me exprimir com veemência, senhor - num estado dos diabos.”

“Ela tem boas intenções”, disse depressa o Sr. Jarndyce. “O vento sopra do leste.”

“Soprava do norte, senhor, quando viemos”, observou Richard.

“Meu caro Rick”, disse o Sr. Jarndyce, atiçando o fogo, “juro que sopra do leste ou está prestes a soprar. De vez em quando, sempre tenho consciência de uma sensação incômoda quando o vento sopra do leste.”

“Reumatismo, senhor?”, perguntou Richard.

“É bem possível, Rick. Creio que sim. E então os pequenos Jell... eu tinha minhas dúvidas a respeito deles... estão num... oh, Senhor, sim, vem do leste!”, disse o Sr. Jarndyce.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Enquanto falava em frases interrompidas, ele andava de um lado para outro, indeciso. Segurava o atiçador numa mão e esfregava o cabelo com a outra. Sua irritação bondosa e divertida nos fez gostar ainda mais dele. Ofereceu um braço a Ada e o outro a mim, pediu que Richard trouxesse uma vela e começou a nos conduzir para fora. Então, de repente, fez todos voltarem.

O Sr. Jarndyce perguntou se havíamos feito algo pelas crianças Jellyby, como se pudesse ter chovido doces ou tortinhas de framboesa para elas.

“Ah, primo...”, começou Ada depressa.

Ele disse que gostava de ser chamado de primo, embora “Primo John” talvez fosse ainda melhor.

Rindo, Ada recomeçou: “Então, Primo John...”

O Sr. Jarndyce riu com prazer e disse que aquilo soava muito natural. Depois, convidou-a a continuar.

“Aconteceu algo melhor”, disse Ada. “Choveu Esther.”

O Sr. Jarndyce perguntou com interesse o que Esther havia feito.

Original English Version

He had taken two or three undecided turns up and down while uttering these broken sentences, retaining the poker in one hand and rubbing his hair with the other, with a good-natured vexation at once so whimsical and so lovable that I am sure we were more delighted with him than we could possibly have expressed in any words. He gave an arm to Ada and an arm to me, and bidding Richard bring a candle, was leading the way out when he suddenly turned us all back again.

“Those little Jellybys. Couldn’t you - didn’t you - now, if it had rained sugar-plums, or three-cornered raspberry tarts, or anything of that sort!” said Mr. Jarndyce.

“Oh, cousin - ” Ada hastily began.

“Good, my pretty pet. I like cousin. Cousin John, perhaps, is better.”

“Then, cousin John - ” Ada laughingly began again.

“Ha, ha! Very good indeed!” said Mr. Jarndyce with great enjoyment. “Sounds uncommonly natural. Yes, my dear?”

“It did better than that. It rained Esther.”

“Aye?” said Mr. Jarndyce. “What did Esther do?”

Tradução Integral em Português

Ele dera duas ou três voltas indecisas de um lado para outro enquanto proferia essas frases entrecortadas, conservando o atiçador numa das mãos e esfregando o cabelo com a outra, com uma aflição bem-humorada, ao mesmo tempo tão extravagante e tão adorável, que tenho certeza de que ficamos mais encantados com ele do que jamais poderíamos expressar em palavras. Deu um braço a Ada e outro a mim e, dizendo a Richard que trouxesse uma vela, ia conduzindo-nos para fora quando, de repente, fez todos voltarmos.

“Aqueles pequenos Jellyby. Vocês não poderiam... não fizeram... ora, se tivesse chovido confeitos, ou tortinhas triangulares de framboesa, ou qualquer coisa desse gênero!”, disse o Sr. Jarndyce.

“Oh, primo...”, começou Ada, apressada.

“Ótimo, minha linda querida. Gosto de primo. Primo John, talvez, seja melhor.”

“Então, primo John...”, recomeçou Ada, rindo.

“Ha, ha! Muito bom, deveras!”, disse o Sr. Jarndyce, deliciado. “Soa extraordinariamente natural. Sim, minha querida?”

“Foi melhor que isso. Choveu Esther.”

“É mesmo?”, disse o Sr. Jarndyce. “O que Esther fez?”

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Segurando o braço do Primo John, Ada contou que Esther se tornara amiga das crianças imediatamente. Cuidara delas, ajudara-as a dormir, dera banho e as vestira, contara histórias, mantivera-as calmas e comprara presentes. Protestei que apenas levara Peepy para passear e comprara um cavalinho para ele. Ada continuou, dizendo que Esther havia acalmado a pobre Caddy, a filha mais velha, e também fora atenciosa e bondosa com ela. Não me deixou negar.

A querida e carinhosa Ada se inclinou por cima do Primo John e me beijou. Depois olhou para ele com coragem e disse que, acontecesse o que acontecesse, agradeceria por ele ter lhe dado tal acompanhante. Parecia que o desafiava a fugir, mas ele ficou.

O Sr. Jarndyce perguntou a Rick de onde ele dissera que vinha o vento.

Richard repetiu que ele viera do norte durante a viagem.

O Sr. Jarndyce concordou e admitiu seu engano. Afinal, não havia vento do leste. Alegremente, convidou as jovens a conhecerem sua casa.

Original English Version

“Why, cousin John,” said Ada, clasping her hands upon his arm and shaking her head at me across him - for I wanted her to be quiet - “Esther was their friend directly. Esther nursed them, coaxed them to sleep, washed and dressed them, told them stories, kept them quiet, bought them keepsakes” - My dear girl! I had only gone out with Peepy after he was found and given him a little, tiny horse! - “and, cousin John, she softened poor Caroline, the eldest one, so much and was so thoughtful for me and so amiable! No, no, I won’t be contradicted, Esther dear! You know, you know, it’s true!”

The warm-hearted darling leaned across her cousin John and kissed me, and then looking up in his face, boldly said, “At all events, cousin John, I WILL thank you for the companion you have given me.” I felt as if she challenged him to run away. But he didn’t.

“Where did you say the wind was, Rick?” asked Mr. Jarndyce.

“In the north as we came down, sir.”

“You are right. There’s no east in it. A mistake of mine. Come, girls, come and see your home!”

Tradução Integral em Português

“Ora, primo John”, disse Ada, entrelaçando as mãos no braço dele e sacudindo a cabeça para mim por cima dele - pois eu queria que ela se calasse - , “Esther tornou-se amiga deles na mesma hora. Esther cuidou deles, embalou-os até dormirem, lavou-os e vestiu-os, contou-lhes histórias, manteve-os quietos, comprou-lhes lembrancinhas” - Minha querida menina! Eu apenas saí com Peepy depois que o encontraram e lhe dei um cavalinho minúsculo! - “e, primo John, ela enterneceu tanto a pobre Caroline, a mais velha, e foi tão atenciosa comigo e tão amável! Não, não, não admito que me contradiga, querida Esther! Você sabe, sabe que é verdade!”

A querida de coração caloroso inclinou-se por cima do primo John e beijou-me; depois, erguendo os olhos para o rosto dele, disse com audácia: “De qualquer modo, primo John, eu VOU agradecer-lhe pela acompanhante que me deu.” Senti como se ela o desafiasse a fugir. Mas ele não fugiu.

“De onde você disse que soprava o vento, Rick?”, perguntou o Sr. Jarndyce.

“Do norte, quando viemos, senhor.”

“Você tem razão. Não há nada de leste nele. Engano meu. Venham, meninas, venham conhecer sua casa!”

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

A Casa Soturna era uma moradia encantadora e irregular. Degraus subiam e desciam entre os aposentos, e novos quartos apareciam quando se pensava ter visto todos. Havia pequenos vestíbulos, corredores, velhos cômodos de chalé e janelas tocadas por plantas verdes. Meu quarto tinha um teto desigual, muitos cantos e uma lareira cercada de azulejos brancos que refletiam as chamas. Dois degraus abaixo ficava uma linda sala de estar para Ada e para mim, com vista para um jardim de flores. Três degraus acima ficava o quarto de Ada, com uma janela larga, uma bela vista e um grande banco junto à janela. Uma galeria ligava os outros melhores quartos e levava ao vestíbulo por uma escada cheia de curvas. Outros degraus tortos e corredores faziam qualquer um se perder entre móveis incomuns, inclusive uma estranha cadeira indiana que também era sofá, caixa e cama. O confortável quarto de Richard servia de biblioteca, sala de estar e dormitório. Perto dali, o Sr. Jarndyce dormia num quarto simples e arejado, com a janela aberta e um banho frio ao lado. Outros corredores levavam à escada dos fundos e aos estábulos. Como cada aposento tinha pelo menos duas portas, era possível voltar de repente ao vestíbulo sem saber como.

Original English Version

It was one of those delightfully irregular houses where you go up and down steps out of one room into another, and where you come upon more rooms when you think you have seen all there are, and where there is a bountiful provision of little halls and passages, and where you find still older cottage-rooms in unexpected places with lattice windows and green growth pressing through them. Mine, which we entered first, was of this kind, with an up-and-down roof that had more corners in it than I ever counted afterwards and a chimney (there was a wood fire on the hearth) paved all around with pure white tiles, in every one of which a bright miniature of the fire was blazing. Out of this room, you went down two steps into a charming little sitting-room looking down upon a flower-garden, which room was henceforth to belong to Ada and me. Out of this you went up three steps into Ada’s bedroom, which had a fine broad window commanding a beautiful view (we saw a great expanse of darkness lying underneath the stars), to which there was a hollow window-seat, in which, with a spring-lock, three dear Adas might have been lost at once. Out of this room you passed into a little gallery, with which the other best rooms (only two) communicated, and so, by a little staircase of shallow steps with a number of corner stairs in it, considering its length, down into the hall. But if instead of going out at Ada’s door you came back into my room, and went out at the door by which you had entered it, and turned up a few crooked steps that branched off in an unexpected manner from the stairs, you lost yourself in passages, with mangles in them, and three-cornered tables, and a native Hindu chair, which was also a sofa, a box, and a bedstead, and looked in every form something between a bamboo skeleton and a great bird-cage, and had been brought from India nobody knew by whom or when. From these you came on Richard’s room, which was part library, part sitting-room, part bedroom, and seemed indeed a comfortable compound of many rooms. Out of that you went straight, with a little interval of passage, to the plain room where Mr. Jarndyce slept, all the year round, with his window open, his bedstead without any furniture standing in the middle of the floor for more air, and his cold bath gaping for him in a smaller room adjoining. Out of that you came into another passage, where there were back-stairs and where you could hear the horses being rubbed down outside the stable and being told to “Hold up” and “Get over,” as they slipped about very much on the uneven stones. Or you might, if you came out at another door (every room had at least two doors), go straight down to the hall again by half-a-dozen steps and a low archway, wondering how you got back there or had ever got out of it.

Tradução Integral em Português

Era uma daquelas casas deliciosamente irregulares em que se sobem e descem degraus de um aposento para outro, em que se descobrem mais aposentos quando se pensa já ter visto todos, em que há uma farta provisão de pequenos vestíbulos e corredores, e onde ainda se encontram, em lugares inesperados, quartos mais antigos, próprios de uma casa de campo, com janelas de treliça por onde a vegetação verde se comprime para entrar. O meu, no qual entramos primeiro, era desse tipo, com um teto que subia e descia e tinha mais cantos do que jamais consegui contar depois, e uma chaminé (ardia um fogo de lenha na lareira) revestida em toda a volta de azulejos de um branco puro, em cada um dos quais ardia uma miniatura luminosa do fogo. Desse quarto, desciam-se dois degraus para uma encantadora saleta com vista para um jardim florido, que dali em diante pertenceria a Ada e a mim. Dela subiam-se três degraus para o quarto de Ada, dotado de uma bela janela larga que dominava uma vista magnífica (víamos uma grande extensão de trevas sob as estrelas), com um assento fundo no vão, onde, por uma fechadura de mola, três queridas Adas poderiam ter-se perdido de uma só vez. Desse quarto passava-se para uma pequena galeria, à qual se ligavam os outros melhores aposentos (apenas dois), e daí, por uma pequena escada de degraus rasos, com um número surpreendente de degraus de canto para seu comprimento, descia-se ao vestíbulo. Mas se, em vez de sair pela porta de Ada, voltássemos a meu quarto, saíssemos pela porta por onde havíamos entrado e subíssemos alguns degraus tortuosos que se desviavam inesperadamente da escada, perdíamo-nos em corredores onde havia calandras, mesas triangulares e uma cadeira hindu nativa, que também era sofá, caixa e armação de cama, e que, sob qualquer forma, parecia algo entre um esqueleto de bambu e uma grande gaiola de pássaros, trazida da Índia não se sabia por quem nem quando. Dali chegava-se ao quarto de Richard, em parte biblioteca, em parte sala de estar, em parte dormitório, e que de fato parecia uma confortável combinação de muitos aposentos. Dali seguia-se diretamente, com um pequeno intervalo de corredor, para o quarto simples onde o Sr. Jarndyce dormia o ano inteiro de janela aberta, a armação da cama sem cortinados no meio do piso para receber mais ar, e seu banho frio escancarado à espera dele num aposento menor contíguo. Dali saía-se para outro corredor, onde havia escadas de serviço e onde se podiam ouvir os cavalos sendo esfregados do lado de fora da estrebaria e ouvindo ordens de “Firme!” e “Para lá!”, enquanto escorregavam muito nas pedras irregulares. Ou se podia, saindo por outra porta (cada aposento tinha pelo menos duas), descer diretamente outra vez ao vestíbulo por meia dúzia de degraus e um arco baixo, perguntando-se como se voltara até ali ou como algum dia se conseguira sair.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Os móveis eram tão agradavelmente irregulares quanto a casa. O quarto florido de Ada tinha tecidos, papel de parede e bordados com flores, além de duas cadeiras formais junto ao fogo. Nossa sala verde exibia estranhas imagens de pássaros, uma truta verdadeira preservada, a morte do capitão Cook e a produção de chá na China. Meu quarto tinha gravuras ovais dos meses, com trabalhadores do campo e nobres em roupas antigas. Retratos em giz estavam espalhados pela casa, de modo que imagens relacionadas apareciam em salas diferentes. Minhas próprias decorações incluíam quatro anjos levando um cavalheiro ao céu e um bordado com frutas, uma chaleira e o alfabeto. Cada objeto tinha seu estilo curioso, mas tudo estava perfeitamente limpo. Linho branco, pétalas de rosa e lavanda enchiam as gavetas. A luz quente nas janelas, os preparativos do jantar ao longe, o rosto alegre de nosso anfitrião generoso e o vento suave lá fora formaram nossas primeiras impressões da Casa Soturna.

De volta à sala de Ada, o Sr. Jarndyce disse estar contente por gostarmos da casa. Ela era simples, mas confortável, e nossos rostos jovens a tornariam mais alegre. Tínhamos apenas meia hora antes do jantar. Acrescentou que o único hóspede era a criatura mais admirável da Terra: uma criança.

Original English Version

The furniture, old-fashioned rather than old, like the house, was as pleasantly irregular. Ada’s sleeping-room was all flowers - in chintz and paper, in velvet, in needlework, in the brocade of two stiff courtly chairs which stood, each attended by a little page of a stool for greater state, on either side of the fire-place. Our sitting-room was green and had framed and glazed upon the walls numbers of surprising and surprised birds, staring out of pictures at a real trout in a case, as brown and shining as if it had been served with gravy; at the death of Captain Cook; and at the whole process of preparing tea in China, as depicted by Chinese artists. In my room there were oval engravings of the months - ladies haymaking in short waists and large hats tied under the chin, for June; smooth-legged noblemen pointing with cocked-hats to village steeples, for October. Half-length portraits in crayons abounded all through the house, but were so dispersed that I found the brother of a youthful officer of mine in the china-closet and the grey old age of my pretty young bride, with a flower in her bodice, in the breakfast-room. As substitutes, I had four angels, of Queen Anne’s reign, taking a complacent gentleman to heaven, in festoons, with some difficulty; and a composition in needlework representing fruit, a kettle, and an alphabet. All the movables, from the wardrobes to the chairs and tables, hangings, glasses, even to the pincushions and scent-bottles on the dressing-tables, displayed the same quaint variety. They agreed in nothing but their perfect neatness, their display of the whitest linen, and their storing-up, wheresoever the existence of a drawer, small or large, rendered it possible, of quantities of rose-leaves and sweet lavender. Such, with its illuminated windows, softened here and there by shadows of curtains, shining out upon the starlight night; with its light, and warmth, and comfort; with its hospitable jingle, at a distance, of preparations for dinner; with the face of its generous master brightening everything we saw; and just wind enough without to sound a low accompaniment to everything we heard, were our first impressions of Bleak House.

“I am glad you like it,” said Mr. Jarndyce when he had brought us round again to Ada’s sitting-room. “It makes no pretensions, but it is a comfortable little place, I hope, and will be more so with such bright young looks in it. You have barely half an hour before dinner. There’s no one here but the finest creature upon earth - a child.”

Tradução Integral em Português

A mobília, mais fora de moda do que velha, como a casa, era igualmente irregular e agradável. O dormitório de Ada era todo flores - no chintz e no papel, no veludo, nos bordados, no brocado de duas cadeiras rígidas e majestosas que ficavam, cada qual assistida por um pequeno pajem de banquinho para maior pompa, a cada lado da lareira. Nossa saleta era verde e tinha nas paredes, emolduradas e protegidas por vidro, numerosas aves surpreendentes e surpreendidas, que fitavam de dentro dos quadros uma truta verdadeira numa caixa, tão castanha e lustrosa como se tivesse sido servida com molho; a morte do Capitão Cook; e todo o processo do preparo do chá na China, tal como representado por artistas chineses. Em meu quarto havia gravuras ovais dos meses - damas ceifando feno com corpetes curtos e grandes chapéus atados sob o queixo, para junho; nobres de pernas lisas apontando, com chapéus de três bicos, para campanários de aldeia, para outubro. Retratos a giz, de meio corpo, abundavam por toda a casa, mas estavam tão dispersos que encontrei no armário de louças o irmão de um jovem oficial meu, e, na sala de desjejum, a velhice grisalha de minha linda jovem noiva, com uma flor no corpete. Como substitutos, eu tinha quatro anjos do reinado da Rainha Ana levando para o céu, em festões e com certa dificuldade, um cavalheiro satisfeito consigo mesmo; e uma composição bordada representando frutas, uma chaleira e um alfabeto. Todos os móveis, dos guarda-roupas às cadeiras e mesas, tapeçarias e espelhos, chegando até às almofadinhas de alfinetes e aos frascos de perfume sobre os toucadores, exibiam a mesma variedade pitoresca. Nada tinham em comum, salvo o asseio perfeito, a exibição dos linhos mais brancos e o armazenamento, onde quer que a existência de uma gaveta, pequena ou grande, o tornasse possível, de grandes quantidades de pétalas de rosa e alfazema aromática. Tais eram nossas primeiras impressões da Casa Soturna: suas janelas iluminadas, suavizadas aqui e ali pelas sombras das cortinas, brilhando na noite estrelada; sua luz, seu calor e seu conforto; o tilintar hospitaleiro, ao longe, dos preparativos para o jantar; o rosto de seu generoso dono alegrando tudo quanto víamos; e apenas vento bastante lá fora para fazer um acompanhamento baixo a tudo quanto ouvíamos.

“Alegro-me de que tenham gostado”, disse o Sr. Jarndyce, quando nos trouxe de volta à saleta de Ada. “Ela não tem pretensões, mas é um lugarzinho confortável, espero, e o será ainda mais com semblantes jovens e radiantes dentro dela. Vocês mal têm meia hora antes do jantar. Não há ninguém aqui além da criatura mais excelente da Terra - uma criança.”

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

“Mais crianças, Esther!”, disse Ada.

O Sr. Jarndyce explicou que o homem não era realmente uma criança em idade. Era adulto e pelo menos tão velho quanto ele. Mas sua natureza simples, espontânea e entusiasmada, além da completa incapacidade de cuidar da vida comum, faziam dele uma perfeita criança.

Tivemos certeza de que ele devia ser muito interessante.

O Sr. Jarndyce disse que o homem conhecia a Sra. Jellyby. Era um músico e artista amador talentoso que poderia ter trabalhado profissionalmente. Era culto e encantador, mas sofrera fracassos nos negócios, em seus interesses e na família. Mesmo assim, não se importava, pois era como uma criança.

Richard perguntou se o Sr. Jarndyce queria dizer que o homem tinha filhos.

O Sr. Jarndyce disse que ele tinha mais de seis filhos, talvez quase doze, mas nunca cuidara deles. Não podia fazer isso porque precisava que alguém cuidasse dele. Afinal, ele próprio era uma criança.

Original English Version

“More children, Esther!” said Ada.

“I don’t mean literally a child,” pursued Mr. Jarndyce; “not a child in years. He is grown up - he is at least as old as I am - but in simplicity, and freshness, and enthusiasm, and a fine guileless inaptitude for all worldly affairs, he is a perfect child.”

We felt that he must be very interesting.

“He knows Mrs. Jellyby,” said Mr. Jarndyce. “He is a musical man, an amateur, but might have been a professional. He is an artist too, an amateur, but might have been a professional. He is a man of attainments and of captivating manners. He has been unfortunate in his affairs, and unfortunate in his pursuits, and unfortunate in his family; but he don’t care - he’s a child!”

“Did you imply that he has children of his own, sir?” inquired Richard.

“Yes, Rick! Half-a-dozen. More! Nearer a dozen, I should think. But he has never looked after them. How could he? He wanted somebody to look after HIM. He is a child, you know!” said Mr. Jarndyce.

Tradução Integral em Português

“Mais crianças, Esther!”, disse Ada.

“Não quero dizer literalmente uma criança”, prosseguiu o Sr. Jarndyce; “não uma criança em anos. É um homem feito - tem pelo menos a minha idade - , mas em simplicidade, frescor, entusiasmo e numa bela inaptidão ingênua para todos os assuntos mundanos, é uma criança perfeita.”

Sentimos que ele devia ser muito interessante.

“Ele conhece a Sra. Jellyby”, disse o Sr. Jarndyce. “É músico, amador, mas poderia ter sido profissional. Também é artista, amador, mas poderia ter sido profissional. É um homem de talentos e modos cativantes. Teve má sorte nos negócios, má sorte em suas atividades e má sorte na família; mas não se importa - é uma criança!”

“O senhor quis dizer que ele tem filhos próprios?”, perguntou Richard.

“Sim, Rick! Meia dúzia. Mais! Perto de uma dúzia, eu diria. Mas ele nunca cuidou deles. Como poderia? Precisava de alguém que cuidasse DELE. É uma criança, sabe?”, disse o Sr. Jarndyce.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Richard perguntou se os filhos haviam conseguido cuidar de si mesmos.

O rosto do Sr. Jarndyce ficou triste. Ele disse que as crianças pobres muitas vezes não eram criadas de modo adequado, mas simplesmente cresciam como podiam. Os filhos de Harold Skimpole haviam feito o mesmo de algum modo. Então ele sentiu que o vento talvez estivesse virando para o leste outra vez.

Richard observou que a casa ficava muito exposta numa noite tão fria.

O Sr. Jarndyce concordou que essa devia ser a causa. Até o nome Casa Soturna parecia indicar exposição ao tempo. Depois, convidou Richard a acompanhá-lo.

Nossa bagagem havia chegado, então me vesti depressa e comecei a guardar meus pertences. Depois, uma criada que eu ainda não conhecia trouxe uma cesta ao meu quarto. Ela continha dois molhos de chaves com etiquetas.

A criada disse educadamente que as chaves eram para mim.

“Para mim?”, perguntei.

Ela explicou que eram as chaves da administração da casa.

Mostrei minha surpresa, e a criada também pareceu surpresa. Haviam mandado que trouxesse as chaves assim que eu estivesse sozinha, e ela confirmou se eu era a Srta. Summerson.

Original English Version

“And have the children looked after themselves at all, sir?” inquired Richard.

“Why, just as you may suppose,” said Mr. Jarndyce, his countenance suddenly falling. “It is said that the children of the very poor are not brought up, but dragged up. Harold Skimpole’s children have tumbled up somehow or other. The wind’s getting round again, I am afraid. I feel it rather!”

Richard observed that the situation was exposed on a sharp night.

“It IS exposed,” said Mr. Jarndyce. “No doubt that’s the cause. Bleak House has an exposed sound. But you are coming my way. Come along!”

Our luggage having arrived and being all at hand, I was dressed in a few minutes and engaged in putting my worldly goods away when a maid (not the one in attendance upon Ada, but another, whom I had not seen) brought a basket into my room with two bunches of keys in it, all labelled.

“For you, miss, if you please,” said she.

“For me?” said I.

“The housekeeping keys, miss.”

I showed my surprise, for she added with some little surprise on her own part, “I was told to bring them as soon as you was alone, miss. Miss Summerson, if I don’t deceive myself?”

Tradução Integral em Português

“E os filhos conseguiram cuidar de si mesmos, senhor?”, perguntou Richard.

“Ora, exatamente como podem supor”, disse o Sr. Jarndyce, cujo semblante de súbito decaiu. “Dizem que os filhos dos muito pobres não são criados, mas arrastados para cima. Os filhos de Harold Skimpole foram subindo aos tombos, de um jeito ou de outro. O vento está mudando outra vez, receio. Sinto-o um pouco!”

Richard observou que a casa ficava muito exposta numa noite cortante.

“É mesmo exposta”, disse o Sr. Jarndyce. “Sem dúvida é essa a causa. Casa Soturna tem um som exposto. Mas estão vindo em minha direção. Venham!”

Como nossa bagagem havia chegado e estava toda à mão, vesti-me em poucos minutos e ocupava-me em guardar meus bens terrenos quando uma criada (não a que atendia Ada, mas outra, que eu ainda não vira) trouxe a meu quarto uma cesta contendo dois molhos de chaves, todos etiquetados.

“Para a senhorita, se me permite”, disse ela.

“Para mim?”, perguntei.

“As chaves da casa, senhorita.”

Demonstrei minha surpresa, pois ela acrescentou, com alguma surpresa de sua parte: “Mandaram-me trazê-las assim que a senhorita estivesse sozinha. Srta. Summerson, se não estou enganada?”

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Confirmei que Summerson era meu nome.

A criada explicou que o molho grande abria os armários da casa e o pequeno abria as adegas. Na manhã seguinte, no horário que eu escolhesse, ela me mostraria os armários e os outros lugares das chaves.

Disse que estaria pronta às seis e meia. Depois que ela saiu, fiquei olhando a cesta, impressionada com a grande responsabilidade. Ada me encontrou assim. Quando mostrei as chaves e expliquei tudo, ela demonstrou uma confiança tão alegre em mim que eu não podia continuar desanimada. Sabia que sua confiança vinha da bondade, mas gostei de acreditar nela.

Original English Version

“Yes,” said I. “That is my name.”

“The large bunch is the housekeeping, and the little bunch is the cellars, miss. Any time you was pleased to appoint to-morrow morning, I was to show you the presses and things they belong to.”

I said I would be ready at half-past six, and after she was gone, stood looking at the basket, quite lost in the magnitude of my trust. Ada found me thus and had such a delightful confidence in me when I showed her the keys and told her about them that it would have been insensibility and ingratitude not to feel encouraged. I knew, to be sure, that it was the dear girl’s kindness, but I liked to be so pleasantly cheated.

Tradução Integral em Português

“Sim”, disse eu. “Esse é meu nome.”

“O molho grande é da casa, e o pequeno é das adegas, senhorita. A qualquer hora que queira marcar amanhã cedo, devo mostrar-lhe os armários e as coisas a que pertencem.”

Disse que estaria pronta às seis e meia e, depois que ela se foi, fiquei olhando para a cesta, inteiramente perdida diante da grandeza da confiança depositada em mim. Ada encontrou-me assim e demonstrou uma confiança tão deliciosa em mim quando lhe mostrei as chaves e contei a respeito delas que seria insensibilidade e ingratidão não me sentir encorajada. Eu sabia, sem dúvida, que era a bondade da querida menina, mas gostava de ser enganada de maneira tão agradável.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

No andar de baixo, conhecemos o Sr. Skimpole, que estava junto ao fogo contando a Richard como gostava de futebol na escola. Era um homem pequeno e animado, com a cabeça um pouco grande, rosto delicado e voz doce. Seu jeito alegre e natural de falar era encantador. Era mais magro que o Sr. Jarndyce, tinha cabelos mais escuros e uma cor mais saudável, por isso parecia mais jovem. Parecia mais um jovem prejudicado pela vida do que um homem mais velho bem conservado. Seu modo descuidado, o cabelo desarrumado, o lenço solto e as roupas de artista lembravam um jovem romântico que perdera parte de seu valor, não alguém envelhecido por anos, preocupações e experiência.

Original English Version

When we went downstairs, we were presented to Mr. Skimpole, who was standing before the fire telling Richard how fond he used to be, in his school-time, of football. He was a little bright creature with a rather large head, but a delicate face and a sweet voice, and there was a perfect charm in him. All he said was so free from effort and spontaneous and was said with such a captivating gaiety that it was fascinating to hear him talk. Being of a more slender figure than Mr. Jarndyce and having a richer complexion, with browner hair, he looked younger. Indeed, he had more the appearance in all respects of a damaged young man than a well-preserved elderly one. There was an easy negligence in his manner and even in his dress (his hair carelessly disposed, and his neck-kerchief loose and flowing, as I have seen artists paint their own portraits) which I could not separate from the idea of a romantic youth who had undergone some unique process of depreciation. It struck me as being not at all like the manner or appearance of a man who had advanced in life by the usual road of years, cares, and experiences.

Tradução Integral em Português

Quando descemos, fomos apresentados ao Sr. Skimpole, que estava diante do fogo contando a Richard como, em seus tempos de escola, gostava de jogar futebol. Era uma criaturinha vivaz, de cabeça um tanto grande, mas rosto delicado e voz doce, e havia nele um encanto perfeito. Tudo quanto dizia era tão espontâneo e sem esforço, e dito com uma alegria tão cativante, que ouvi-lo falar era fascinante. Por ter uma figura mais esbelta que o Sr. Jarndyce e uma tez mais viçosa, com cabelos mais castanhos, parecia mais jovem. De fato, em todos os aspectos tinha mais a aparência de um jovem desgastado que a de um velho bem-conservado. Havia em seus modos e até em seu traje uma negligência fácil (os cabelos dispostos descuidadamente e o lenço do pescoço solto e ondulante, como já vi artistas pintarem os próprios retratos) que eu não conseguia separar da ideia de um jovem romântico submetido a algum processo singular de depreciação. Não me parecia em nada semelhante aos modos ou à aparência de um homem que houvesse avançado pela vida na estrada habitual dos anos, cuidados e experiências.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Pela conversa, soube que o Sr. Skimpole estudara medicina e trabalhara para um príncipe alemão. Mas dizia que números, pesos e detalhes exatos o desagradavam, por isso não conseguia receitar remédios corretamente. Quando precisava tratar o príncipe ou sua casa, muitas vezes estava na cama lendo jornais ou desenhando e não podia ir. O príncipe, com razão, encerrou seu emprego. Sem nada além do amor para viver, Skimpole se apaixonou, casou-se e teve muitas crianças de faces rosadas. Jarndyce e outros amigos encontraram várias oportunidades para ele, mas nenhuma deu certo. Skimpole admitia que não entendia nem de tempo nem de dinheiro. Perdia compromissos, não conseguia tratar de negócios e nunca sabia o valor das coisas. Ainda assim, gostava de jornais, desenho, natureza e arte. Pedia à sociedade apenas que o deixasse viver. Se lhe dessem conversa, música, comida, café, paisagens, frutas, papel de desenho e um pouco de vinho, não queria mais nada. Como uma criança, pedia ao mundo ocupado que seguisse seus objetivos, mas deixasse Harold Skimpole viver em paz.

Original English Version

I gathered from the conversation that Mr. Skimpole had been educated for the medical profession and had once lived, in his professional capacity, in the household of a German prince. He told us, however, that as he had always been a mere child in point of weights and measures and had never known anything about them (except that they disgusted him), he had never been able to prescribe with the requisite accuracy of detail. In fact, he said, he had no head for detail. And he told us, with great humour, that when he was wanted to bleed the prince or physic any of his people, he was generally found lying on his back in bed, reading the newspapers or making fancy-sketches in pencil, and couldn’t come. The prince, at last, objecting to this, “in which,” said Mr. Skimpole, in the frankest manner, “he was perfectly right,” the engagement terminated, and Mr. Skimpole having (as he added with delightful gaiety) “nothing to live upon but love, fell in love, and married, and surrounded himself with rosy cheeks.” His good friend Jarndyce and some other of his good friends then helped him, in quicker or slower succession, to several openings in life, but to no purpose, for he must confess to two of the oldest infirmities in the world: one was that he had no idea of time, the other that he had no idea of money. In consequence of which he never kept an appointment, never could transact any business, and never knew the value of anything! Well! So he had got on in life, and here he was! He was very fond of reading the papers, very fond of making fancy-sketches with a pencil, very fond of nature, very fond of art. All he asked of society was to let him live. THAT wasn’t much. His wants were few. Give him the papers, conversation, music, mutton, coffee, landscape, fruit in the season, a few sheets of Bristol-board, and a little claret, and he asked no more. He was a mere child in the world, but he didn’t cry for the moon. He said to the world, “Go your several ways in peace! Wear red coats, blue coats, lawn sleeves; put pens behind your ears, wear aprons; go after glory, holiness, commerce, trade, any object you prefer; only - let Harold Skimpole live!”

Tradução Integral em Português

Depreendi da conversa que o Sr. Skimpole fora educado para a profissão médica e certa vez vivera, nessa qualidade profissional, na casa de um príncipe alemão. Contudo, contou-nos que, como sempre fora uma simples criança em matéria de pesos e medidas e nunca soubera coisa alguma a respeito deles (exceto que o repugnavam), jamais conseguira prescrever com a necessária exatidão de pormenores. Na verdade, disse ele, não tinha cabeça para detalhes. E contou-nos, com grande humor, que, quando era chamado para sangrar o príncipe ou medicar alguém de sua gente, em geral o encontravam deitado de costas na cama, lendo os jornais ou fazendo esboços imaginativos a lápis, e ele não podia ir. O príncipe acabou fazendo objeções a isso, “no que”, disse o Sr. Skimpole com a maior franqueza, “tinha toda a razão”; o compromisso terminou e o Sr. Skimpole, tendo (como acrescentou com uma alegria deliciosa) “nada de que viver além do amor, apaixonou-se, casou-se e cercou-se de faces rosadas”. Seu bom amigo Jarndyce e alguns outros bons amigos ajudaram-no então, em sucessão mais rápida ou mais lenta, a encontrar várias oportunidades na vida, mas sem proveito, pois ele precisava confessar duas das mais antigas enfermidades do mundo: uma era não ter noção do tempo; a outra, não ter noção do dinheiro. Em consequência disso, nunca cumpria um compromisso, jamais conseguia realizar negócio algum e nunca sabia o valor de coisa nenhuma! Bem! Assim avançara pela vida, e ali estava! Gostava muitíssimo de ler os jornais, muitíssimo de fazer esboços imaginativos a lápis, muitíssimo da natureza, muitíssimo da arte. Tudo quanto pedia à sociedade era que o deixasse viver. ISSO não era muito. Suas necessidades eram poucas. Que lhe dessem jornais, conversa, música, carneiro, café, paisagem, frutas da estação, algumas folhas de cartolina Bristol e um pouco de clarete, e nada mais pediria. Era apenas uma criança no mundo, mas não pedia a lua. Dizia ao mundo: “Sigam em paz seus diversos caminhos! Vistam casacas vermelhas, casacas azuis, mangas episcopais; ponham penas atrás das orelhas, usem aventais; persigam a glória, a santidade, os negócios, o comércio, qualquer objetivo que prefiram; apenas... deixem Harold Skimpole viver!”

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Ele nos contou tudo isso e muito mais com grande energia, prazer e sinceridade. Falava de si mesmo como se Skimpole fosse outra pessoa, cujos hábitos estranhos e necessidades eram responsabilidade da sociedade. Era encantador. Talvez eu tenha ficado confusa porque suas ideias não combinavam com minhas crenças sobre os deveres e as responsabilidades da vida. Mesmo assim, quase não duvidei de que ele estivesse livre desses deveres, pois ele próprio parecia muito seguro disso.

Skimpole disse com leveza que não queria possuir nada. A excelente casa de Jarndyce lhe dava prazer sem preocupação, custo ou responsabilidade. Podia desenhá-la, mudá-la na imaginação ou transformá-la em música, enquanto Jarndyce cuidava de tudo. Skimpole admirava a força de vontade e a capacidade da Sra. Jellyby para cuidar dos detalhes, sem invejá-la. Podia apoiar suas causas e sonhar com elas. Deitado na grama, podia imaginar-se viajando por um rio africano, amando as pessoas e desenhando as plantas tropicais. Talvez isso não fosse útil, mas era tudo o que conseguia fazer, e fazia por completo. Pediu ao mundo prático que deixasse aquela criança confiante viver, admirar a humanidade e brincar em seu cavalinho de balanço.

Original English Version

All this and a great deal more he told us, not only with the utmost brilliancy and enjoyment, but with a certain vivacious candour - speaking of himself as if he were not at all his own affair, as if Skimpole were a third person, as if he knew that Skimpole had his singularities but still had his claims too, which were the general business of the community and must not be slighted. He was quite enchanting. If I felt at all confused at that early time in endeavouring to reconcile anything he said with anything I had thought about the duties and accountabilities of life (which I am far from sure of), I was confused by not exactly understanding why he was free of them. That he WAS free of them, I scarcely doubted; he was so very clear about it himself.

“I covet nothing,” said Mr. Skimpole in the same light way. “Possession is nothing to me. Here is my friend Jarndyce’s excellent house. I feel obliged to him for possessing it. I can sketch it and alter it. I can set it to music. When I am here, I have sufficient possession of it and have neither trouble, cost, nor responsibility. My steward’s name, in short, is Jarndyce, and he can’t cheat me. We have been mentioning Mrs. Jellyby. There is a bright-eyed woman, of a strong will and immense power of business detail, who throws herself into objects with surprising ardour! I don’t regret that I have not a strong will and an immense power of business detail to throw myself into objects with surprising ardour. I can admire her without envy. I can sympathize with the objects. I can dream of them. I can lie down on the grass - in fine weather - and float along an African river, embracing all the natives I meet, as sensible of the deep silence and sketching the dense overhanging tropical growth as accurately as if I were there. I don’t know that it’s of any direct use my doing so, but it’s all I can do, and I do it thoroughly. Then, for heaven’s sake, having Harold Skimpole, a confiding child, petitioning you, the world, an agglomeration of practical people of business habits, to let him live and admire the human family, do it somehow or other, like good souls, and suffer him to ride his rocking-horse!”

Tradução Integral em Português

Tudo isso, e muito mais, contou-nos não só com o máximo brilho e prazer, mas com certa franqueza vivaz - falando de si mesmo como se não fosse absolutamente assunto seu, como se Skimpole fosse uma terceira pessoa, como se soubesse que Skimpole tinha suas singularidades, mas também suas reivindicações, que eram assunto geral da comunidade e não deviam ser desprezadas. Era absolutamente encantador. Se naquela época inicial senti alguma confusão ao procurar conciliar qualquer coisa que dizia com qualquer coisa que eu pensara sobre os deveres e as responsabilidades da vida (do que estou longe de ter certeza), fiquei confusa por não compreender exatamente por que ele estava isento deles. De que ESTAVA isento, quase não duvidei; ele próprio era tão absolutamente claro a esse respeito.

“Nada cobiço”, disse o Sr. Skimpole com a mesma leveza. “A posse nada significa para mim. Aqui está a excelente casa de meu amigo Jarndyce. Sou-lhe grato por possuí-la. Posso desenhá-la e alterá-la. Posso musicá-la. Quando estou aqui, tenho posse suficiente dela e não tenho trabalho, custo nem responsabilidade. Em suma, meu administrador chama-se Jarndyce, e ele não pode roubar-me. Mencionamos a Sra. Jellyby. Eis uma mulher de olhos brilhantes, vontade forte e imensa capacidade para os detalhes práticos, que se lança a seus objetivos com ardor surpreendente! Não lamento não possuir vontade forte e imensa capacidade para os detalhes práticos a fim de me lançar a objetivos com ardor surpreendente. Posso admirá-la sem inveja. Posso simpatizar com os objetivos. Posso sonhar com eles. Posso deitar-me na relva - quando faz bom tempo - e flutuar por um rio africano, abraçando todos os nativos que encontro, tão consciente do silêncio profundo e desenhando a densa vegetação tropical que pende sobre mim com tanta precisão como se estivesse lá. Não sei se há qualquer utilidade direta em fazê-lo, mas é tudo quanto posso fazer, e faço-o por completo. Então, pelo amor de Deus, tendo Harold Skimpole, uma criança confiante, suplicando a vocês, o mundo, uma aglomeração de pessoas práticas e de hábitos laboriosos, que o deixem viver e admirar a família humana, façam isso de um jeito ou de outro, como boas almas, e permitam-lhe cavalgar seu cavalinho de balanço!”

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Estava claro que o Sr. Jarndyce atendera a esse pedido e o apoiava. A posição do Sr. Skimpole na casa já provava isso, mesmo antes de suas palavras seguintes.

Falando conosco como seus novos amigos, Skimpole disse que invejava apenas as pessoas generosas, pois elas podiam ajudar os outros. Ele mesmo gostaria de ter esse poder. Não sentia uma gratidão comum; pelo contrário, talvez devêssemos agradecê-lo por nos dar o prazer de sermos generosos. Talvez tivesse nascido para aumentar nossa felicidade, permitindo que ajudássemos em seus pequenos problemas. Como sua fraqueza nas questões práticas produzia resultados tão agradáveis, não via motivo para lamentá-la.

De todos os discursos divertidos, mas sinceros, de Skimpole, o Sr. Jarndyce pareceu gostar mais desse. Mais tarde, muitas vezes me perguntei por que Jarndyce, que era profundamente grato pela menor bondade, desejava tanto evitar a gratidão dos outros.

Original English Version

It was plain enough that Mr. Jarndyce had not been neglectful of the adjuration. Mr. Skimpole’s general position there would have rendered it so without the addition of what he presently said.

“It’s only you, the generous creatures, whom I envy,” said Mr. Skimpole, addressing us, his new friends, in an impersonal manner. “I envy you your power of doing what you do. It is what I should revel in myself. I don’t feel any vulgar gratitude to you. I almost feel as if YOU ought to be grateful to ME for giving you the opportunity of enjoying the luxury of generosity. I know you like it. For anything I can tell, I may have come into the world expressly for the purpose of increasing your stock of happiness. I may have been born to be a benefactor to you by sometimes giving you an opportunity of assisting me in my little perplexities. Why should I regret my incapacity for details and worldly affairs when it leads to such pleasant consequences? I don’t regret it therefore.”

Of all his playful speeches (playful, yet always fully meaning what they expressed) none seemed to be more to the taste of Mr. Jarndyce than this. I had often new temptations, afterwards, to wonder whether it was really singular, or only singular to me, that he, who was probably the most grateful of mankind upon the least occasion, should so desire to escape the gratitude of others.

Tradução Integral em Português

Era bastante evidente que o Sr. Jarndyce não negligenciara a súplica. A posição geral do Sr. Skimpole ali o teria demonstrado, mesmo sem o acréscimo do que ele disse em seguida.

“São apenas vocês, criaturas generosas, que invejo”, disse o Sr. Skimpole, dirigindo-se a nós, seus novos amigos, de modo impessoal. “Invejo-lhes o poder de fazer o que fazem. É algo em que eu próprio me regalaria. Não sinto por vocês nenhuma gratidão vulgar. Quase sinto que VOCÊS deveriam ser gratos a MIM por lhes dar a oportunidade de desfrutar o luxo da generosidade. Sei que gostam disso. Pelo que sei, posso ter vindo ao mundo expressamente com o propósito de aumentar seu cabedal de felicidade. Posso ter nascido para ser seu benfeitor, dando-lhes por vezes a oportunidade de ajudar-me em minhas pequenas perplexidades. Por que lamentaria minha incapacidade para os detalhes e os assuntos mundanos, quando ela conduz a consequências tão agradáveis? Portanto, não a lamento.”

De todos os seus discursos brincalhões (brincalhões, embora sempre querendo dizer plenamente aquilo que exprimiam), nenhum pareceu agradar mais ao Sr. Jarndyce que esse. Depois, muitas vezes tive novas tentações de perguntar-me se era de fato singular, ou singular apenas para mim, que ele, provavelmente o mais grato dos homens pela menor ocasião, desejasse tanto escapar da gratidão alheia.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Todos ficamos encantados. Achei que Ada e Richard mereciam a franqueza de Skimpole e seu grande esforço para agradá-los no primeiro encontro. Eles, especialmente Richard, ficaram naturalmente satisfeitos porque um homem tão atraente confiava neles com tanta liberdade. Enquanto ouvíamos, Skimpole ficava ainda mais alegre. Seu modo animado, sua sinceridade e a facilidade com que ria das próprias fraquezas pareciam dizer que ele era uma criança inocente, enquanto nós éramos adultos espertos, e que devíamos esquecer as regras do mundo e brincar com ele. O efeito era deslumbrante.

Ele também tinha sentimentos profundos e um amor tão delicado pela beleza e pela ternura que só isso poderia conquistar um coração. Naquela noite, enquanto eu preparava o chá e Ada tocava piano suavemente para Richard na sala ao lado, Skimpole sentou-se perto de mim no sofá. Falou de Ada com tanto carinho que quase o amei.

Ele disse que Ada era como uma manhã de verão, com seus cabelos dourados, olhos azuis e cor saudável. Até os pássaros poderiam confundi-la com a manhã. Uma jovem tão adorável, que trazia alegria a todos, não devia ser chamada de órfã. Era filha de todo o universo.

Original English Version

We were all enchanted. I felt it a merited tribute to the engaging qualities of Ada and Richard that Mr. Skimpole, seeing them for the first time, should be so unreserved and should lay himself out to be so exquisitely agreeable. They (and especially Richard) were naturally pleased, for similar reasons, and considered it no common privilege to be so freely confided in by such an attractive man. The more we listened, the more gaily Mr. Skimpole talked. And what with his fine hilarious manner and his engaging candour and his genial way of lightly tossing his own weaknesses about, as if he had said, “I am a child, you know! You are designing people compared with me” (he really made me consider myself in that light) “but I am gay and innocent; forget your worldly arts and play with me!” the effect was absolutely dazzling.

He was so full of feeling too and had such a delicate sentiment for what was beautiful or tender that he could have won a heart by that alone. In the evening, when I was preparing to make tea and Ada was touching the piano in the adjoining room and softly humming a tune to her cousin Richard, which they had happened to mention, he came and sat down on the sofa near me and so spoke of Ada that I almost loved him.

“She is like the morning,” he said. “With that golden hair, those blue eyes, and that fresh bloom on her cheek, she is like the summer morning. The birds here will mistake her for it. We will not call such a lovely young creature as that, who is a joy to all mankind, an orphan. She is the child of the universe.”

Tradução Integral em Português

Todos estávamos encantados. Senti que era uma homenagem merecida às qualidades cativantes de Ada e Richard que o Sr. Skimpole, vendo-os pela primeira vez, fosse tão franco e se empenhasse em ser tão primorosamente agradável. Eles (e sobretudo Richard), por motivos semelhantes, ficaram naturalmente satisfeitos e consideraram privilégio nada comum receber tão livremente a confiança de um homem tão atraente. Quanto mais ouvíamos, mais alegremente o Sr. Skimpole falava. E, entre seus belos modos joviais, sua franqueza cativante e sua maneira afável de lançar ao ar, com leveza, as próprias fraquezas, como se houvesse dito: “Sou uma criança, sabem! Comparados comigo, vocês são pessoas cheias de ardis” (ele realmente me fez considerar-me sob essa luz), “mas sou alegre e inocente; esqueçam suas artes mundanas e brinquem comigo!”, o efeito era absolutamente deslumbrante.

Também era tão cheio de sensibilidade e tinha sentimento tão delicado para tudo quanto fosse belo ou terno que apenas isso poderia conquistar um coração. À noite, quando eu me preparava para fazer o chá, Ada tocava o piano na sala contígua e cantarolava baixinho para seu primo Richard uma melodia que por acaso haviam mencionado, ele veio sentar-se no sofá perto de mim e falou de Ada de tal maneira que quase o amei.

“Ela é como a manhã”, disse ele. “Com esses cabelos dourados, esses olhos azuis e esse viço fresco nas faces, é como a manhã de verão. Os pássaros daqui a confundirão com ela. Não chamaremos de órfã uma jovem criatura tão bela, que é uma alegria para toda a humanidade. Ela é filha do universo.”

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Percebi o Sr. Jarndyce perto de nós, com as mãos atrás das costas e um sorriso atento.

O Sr. Jarndyce observou que o universo não era um pai muito atencioso.

Skimpole exclamou alegremente que não tinha tanta certeza.

O Sr. Jarndyce disse que acreditava saber.

Skimpole admitiu que Jarndyce conhecia o mundo, enquanto ele não sabia nada a respeito, por isso aceitou sua opinião. Mas, olhando para Ada e Richard, disse que, se pudesse escolher, o caminho deles não teria problemas práticos e dolorosos. Seria coberto de rosas e passaria por jardins de verão eterno. A idade e a mudança jamais o prejudicariam, e a palavra feia “dinheiro” nunca seria dita perto dele.

Original English Version

Mr. Jarndyce, I found, was standing near us with his hands behind him and an attentive smile upon his face.

“The universe,” he observed, “makes rather an indifferent parent, I am afraid.”

“Oh! I don’t know!” cried Mr. Skimpole buoyantly.

“I think I do know,” said Mr. Jarndyce.

“Well!” cried Mr. Skimpole. “You know the world (which in your sense is the universe), and I know nothing of it, so you shall have your way. But if I had mine,” glancing at the cousins, “there should be no brambles of sordid realities in such a path as that. It should be strewn with roses; it should lie through bowers, where there was no spring, autumn, nor winter, but perpetual summer. Age or change should never wither it. The base word money should never be breathed near it!”

Tradução Integral em Português

Descobri que o Sr. Jarndyce estava de pé perto de nós, com as mãos atrás das costas e um sorriso atento no rosto.

“O universo”, observou ele, “é um pai bastante indiferente, receio.”

“Oh! Não sei!”, exclamou vivamente o Sr. Skimpole.

“Creio que eu sei”, disse o Sr. Jarndyce.

“Bem!”, exclamou o Sr. Skimpole. “Você conhece o mundo (que, no seu sentido, é o universo), e eu nada sei a respeito, portanto prevalecerá sua opinião. Mas se prevalecesse a minha”, disse, olhando para os primos, “não haveria espinheiros de realidades sórdidas num caminho como aquele. Seria semeado de rosas; atravessaria caramanchões onde não houvesse primavera, outono nem inverno, mas verão perpétuo. A idade ou a mudança jamais o fariam murchar. A palavra vil dinheiro jamais seria pronunciada perto dele!”

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Sorrindo, o Sr. Jarndyce deu tapinhas na cabeça de Skimpole como se ele fosse realmente uma criança. Depois se afastou, parou e olhou para os jovens primos de modo pensativo, mas bondoso. Ada estava ao piano na sala iluminada pelo fogo, enquanto Richard permanecia bem perto dela. As sombras dos dois se uniam na parede entre estranhas formas móveis criadas pelas chamas instáveis. Ada tocava e cantava tão baixo que o vento em direção às colinas distantes era tão claro quanto a música. Toda a cena parecia conter o mistério do futuro deles e as pequenas pistas oferecidas pelo presente.

Lembro-me da cena por mais do que sua beleza. Primeiro, percebi a diferença entre o olhar silencioso e cheio de sentido de Jarndyce e a enxurrada de palavras anterior de Skimpole. Segundo, quando Jarndyce olhou brevemente para mim, senti que dividia em silêncio uma esperança comigo e sabia que eu a entendia: Ada e Richard talvez um dia se tornassem mais do que primos.

Original English Version

Mr. Jarndyce patted him on the head with a smile, as if he had been really a child, and passing a step or two on, and stopping a moment, glanced at the young cousins. His look was thoughtful, but had a benignant expression in it which I often (how often!) saw again, which has long been engraven on my heart. The room in which they were, communicating with that in which he stood, was only lighted by the fire. Ada sat at the piano; Richard stood beside her, bending down. Upon the wall, their shadows blended together, surrounded by strange forms, not without a ghostly motion caught from the unsteady fire, though reflecting from motionless objects. Ada touched the notes so softly and sang so low that the wind, sighing away to the distant hills, was as audible as the music. The mystery of the future and the little clue afforded to it by the voice of the present seemed expressed in the whole picture.

But it is not to recall this fancy, well as I remember it, that I recall the scene. First, I was not quite unconscious of the contrast in respect of meaning and intention between the silent look directed that way and the flow of words that had preceded it. Secondly, though Mr. Jarndyce’s glance as he withdrew it rested for but a moment on me, I felt as if in that moment he confided to me - and knew that he confided to me and that I received the confidence - his hope that Ada and Richard might one day enter on a dearer relationship.

Tradução Integral em Português

O Sr. Jarndyce deu-lhe palmadinhas na cabeça, sorrindo, como se ele fosse realmente uma criança, e, depois de avançar um ou dois passos e deter-se um instante, olhou para os jovens primos. Seu olhar era pensativo, mas tinha uma expressão benigna que muitas vezes (quantas vezes!) tornei a ver, e que há muito está gravada em meu coração. O aposento em que eles estavam, ligado àquele onde ele se encontrava, era iluminado apenas pelo fogo. Ada estava sentada ao piano; Richard permanecia ao lado dela, inclinado. Na parede, suas sombras se fundiam, cercadas por formas estranhas, não destituídas de um movimento espectral apanhado do fogo instável, embora fossem reflexo de objetos imóveis. Ada tocava as notas com tamanha suavidade e cantava tão baixo que o vento, suspirando em direção às colinas distantes, era tão audível quanto a música. O mistério do futuro e a pequena pista que a voz do presente oferecia para ele pareciam expressos em todo o quadro.

Mas não é para recordar essa fantasia, embora me lembre bem dela, que recordo a cena. Primeiro, eu não estava inteiramente inconsciente do contraste, quanto ao sentido e à intenção, entre o olhar silencioso dirigido naquela direção e a torrente de palavras que o precedera. Segundo, embora o olhar do Sr. Jarndyce, ao retirar-se, repousasse em mim por apenas um instante, senti como se naquele instante ele me confiasse - e soubesse que me confiava, e que eu recebia a confidência - sua esperança de que Ada e Richard pudessem um dia iniciar uma relação mais querida.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Skimpole tocava piano e violoncelo e também compunha. Certa vez, escrevera metade de uma ópera, mas se cansara dela. Depois do chá, ele e Ada fizeram um pequeno concerto, enquanto Richard, o Sr. Jarndyce e eu ouvíamos. Richard estava encantado com o canto de Ada e disse que ela parecia conhecer todas as canções já escritas. Depois de algum tempo, Skimpole desapareceu e, em seguida, Richard também. Enquanto eu me perguntava por que Richard ficava longe e perdia a música, a criada que trouxera as chaves perguntou se eu podia lhe dar um minuto.

Sozinha comigo no vestíbulo, a criada ergueu as mãos, alarmada. Disse que o Sr. Carstone queria que eu subisse ao quarto do Sr. Skimpole porque ele havia sido levado.

“Levado?”, perguntei.

A criada repetiu que acontecera de repente.

Original English Version

Mr. Skimpole could play on the piano and the violoncello, and he was a composer - had composed half an opera once, but got tired of it - and played what he composed with taste. After tea we had quite a little concert, in which Richard - who was enthralled by Ada’s singing and told me that she seemed to know all the songs that ever were written - and Mr. Jarndyce, and I were the audience. After a little while I missed first Mr. Skimpole and afterwards Richard, and while I was thinking how could Richard stay away so long and lose so much, the maid who had given me the keys looked in at the door, saying, “If you please, miss, could you spare a minute?”

When I was shut out with her in the hall, she said, holding up her hands, “Oh, if you please, miss, Mr. Carstone says would you come upstairs to Mr. Skimpole’s room. He has been took, miss!”

“Took?” said I.

“Took, miss. Sudden,” said the maid.

Tradução Integral em Português

O Sr. Skimpole sabia tocar piano e violoncelo, e era compositor - compusera certa vez metade de uma ópera, mas cansara-se - e tocava com bom gosto aquilo que compunha. Depois do chá tivemos um pequeno concerto, no qual Richard - fascinado pelo canto de Ada e dizendo-me que ela parecia conhecer todas as canções jamais escritas - , o Sr. Jarndyce e eu formávamos a plateia. Passado algum tempo, notei primeiro a ausência do Sr. Skimpole e depois a de Richard e, enquanto pensava como Richard podia ficar tanto tempo longe e perder tanta coisa, a criada que me dera as chaves espiou pela porta, dizendo: “Por favor, senhorita, poderia dispensar um minuto?”

Quando fiquei com ela no vestíbulo, do lado de fora e com a porta fechada, disse-me, erguendo as mãos: “Oh, por favor, senhorita, o Sr. Carstone pergunta se poderia subir ao quarto do Sr. Skimpole. Ele foi apanhado, senhorita!”

“Apanhado?”, perguntei.

“Apanhado, senhorita. De repente”, disse a criada.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Temi que Skimpole tivesse sofrido uma doença perigosa. Pedi que a criada ficasse quieta e não incomodasse ninguém. Enquanto subia depressa, preparei-me para ajudar caso ele estivesse tendo uma crise. Mas, quando ela abriu a porta, fiquei espantada. Skimpole não estava doente na cama nem caído no chão. Estava junto ao fogo, sorrindo para Richard. Richard parecia constrangido enquanto observava um homem no sofá. O estranho usava um casaco branco e continuava esfregando com um lenço os poucos cabelos lisos.

Richard disse depressa que estava contente por eu ter vindo, pois poderia aconselhá-los. Pediu que eu não me preocupasse: o amigo deles, Sr. Skimpole, havia sido preso por dívida.

Com uma sinceridade encantadora, Skimpole disse que meu bom senso, meus métodos calmos e meus hábitos úteis eram exatamente aquilo de que precisavam. Afirmou que qualquer pessoa que passasse quinze minutos comigo perceberia essas qualidades.

Original English Version

I was apprehensive that his illness might be of a dangerous kind, but of course I begged her to be quiet and not disturb any one and collected myself, as I followed her quickly upstairs, sufficiently to consider what were the best remedies to be applied if it should prove to be a fit. She threw open a door and I went into a chamber, where, to my unspeakable surprise, instead of finding Mr. Skimpole stretched upon the bed or prostrate on the floor, I found him standing before the fire smiling at Richard, while Richard, with a face of great embarrassment, looked at a person on the sofa, in a white great-coat, with smooth hair upon his head and not much of it, which he was wiping smoother and making less of with a pocket-handkerchief.

“Miss Summerson,” said Richard hurriedly, “I am glad you are come. You will be able to advise us. Our friend Mr. Skimpole - don’t be alarmed! - is arrested for debt.”

“And really, my dear Miss Summerson,” said Mr. Skimpole with his agreeable candour, “I never was in a situation in which that excellent sense and quiet habit of method and usefulness, which anybody must observe in you who has the happiness of being a quarter of an hour in your society, was more needed.”

Tradução Integral em Português

Temi que sua enfermidade pudesse ser de natureza perigosa, mas naturalmente pedi-lhe que ficasse quieta e não perturbasse ninguém e, enquanto a seguia depressa escada acima, recobrei-me o bastante para ponderar quais seriam os melhores remédios a aplicar caso se revelasse um ataque. Ela escancarou uma porta e entrei num quarto onde, para minha indizível surpresa, em vez de encontrar o Sr. Skimpole estendido na cama ou prostrado no chão, encontrei-o de pé diante do fogo, sorrindo para Richard, enquanto Richard, com um rosto de grande constrangimento, olhava para uma pessoa sentada no sofá, de sobretudo branco, com cabelos lisos na cabeça e não muitos, que ele alisava ainda mais e reduzia ainda mais com um lenço.

“Srta. Summerson”, disse Richard apressadamente, “alegro-me de que tenha vindo. Poderá aconselhar-nos. Nosso amigo Sr. Skimpole - não se assuste! - foi preso por dívida.”

“E realmente, minha cara Srta. Summerson”, disse o Sr. Skimpole com sua agradável franqueza, “nunca estive numa situação em que fossem mais necessários esse excelente bom senso e esses hábitos tranquilos de ordem e utilidade que qualquer pessoa deve observar na senhorita se tiver a felicidade de passar quinze minutos em sua companhia.”

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

O homem no sofá parecia resfriado. Soltou um ruído nasal tão alto que me assustou.

Perguntei ao Sr. Skimpole se a dívida era grande.

Balançando a cabeça de modo agradável, Skimpole disse que não sabia. Achava que alguém mencionara várias libras, alguns xelins e meios pêbni.

O estranho declarou que a dívida exata era de vinte e quatro libras, dezesseis xelins e sete pence e meio.

Skimpole disse que, de algum modo, a quantia parecia pequena.

O estranho não disse nada e soltou outro forte ruído nasal, que pareceu levantá-lo do assento.

Richard explicou que Skimpole não se sentia à vontade para pedir ajuda ao Primo Jarndyce porque ele já o ajudara recentemente. Fez uma pausa e pediu que Skimpole confirmasse.

Sorrindo, Skimpole concordou, embora tivesse esquecido quanto Jarndyce lhe dera e quando. Jarndyce ajudaria de novo com prazer, mas Skimpole preferia algo novo. Olhando para Richard e para mim, disse que queria ver a generosidade crescer em solo novo, como um novo tipo de flor.

Original English Version

The person on the sofa, who appeared to have a cold in his head, gave such a very loud snort that he startled me.

“Are you arrested for much, sir?” I inquired of Mr. Skimpole.

“My dear Miss Summerson,” said he, shaking his head pleasantly, “I don’t know. Some pounds, odd shillings, and halfpence, I think, were mentioned.”

“It’s twenty-four pound, sixteen, and sevenpence ha’penny,” observed the stranger. “That’s wot it is.”

“And it sounds - somehow it sounds,” said Mr. Skimpole, “like a small sum?”

The strange man said nothing but made another snort. It was such a powerful one that it seemed quite to lift him out of his seat.

“Mr. Skimpole,” said Richard to me, “has a delicacy in applying to my cousin Jarndyce because he has lately - I think, sir, I understood you that you had lately - ”

“Oh, yes!” returned Mr. Skimpole, smiling. “Though I forgot how much it was and when it was. Jarndyce would readily do it again, but I have the epicure-like feeling that I would prefer a novelty in help, that I would rather,” and he looked at Richard and me, “develop generosity in a new soil and in a new form of flower.”

Tradução Integral em Português

A pessoa no sofá, que parecia estar resfriada, soltou um ronco nasal tão alto que me sobressaltou.

“O senhor está preso por uma quantia elevada?”, perguntei ao Sr. Skimpole.

“Minha cara Srta. Summerson”, disse ele, sacudindo a cabeça agradavelmente, “não sei. Creio que mencionaram algumas libras, uns tantos xelins e meios pêni.”

“São vinte e quatro libras, dezesseis xelins e sete pence e meio”, observou o estranho. “É isso que é.”

“E parece... de algum modo parece”, disse o Sr. Skimpole, “uma soma pequena?”

O homem estranho nada disse, mas soltou outro ronco. Foi tão poderoso que pareceu quase erguê-lo do assento.

“O Sr. Skimpole”, disse-me Richard, “tem escrúpulos em recorrer a meu primo Jarndyce porque este recentemente... creio, senhor, que entendi que recentemente...”

“Oh, sim!”, respondeu o Sr. Skimpole, sorrindo. “Embora eu tenha esquecido quanto foi e quando foi. Jarndyce prontamente faria isso de novo, mas tenho o sentimento de um epicurista de que preferiria uma novidade na ajuda, de que antes gostaria”, e olhou para Richard e para mim, “de cultivar a generosidade num solo novo e sob uma nova forma de flor.”

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Em voz baixa, Richard perguntou o que eu achava melhor fazer.

Antes de responder, perguntei o que aconteceria se não conseguíssemos entregar o dinheiro.

O estranho guardou calmamente o lenço no chapéu a seus pés e respondeu: “Cadeia, ou Coavinses.”

Comecei a perguntar o que aquilo significava.

O estranho explicou que Coavinses era uma casa usada como prisão para devedores.

Richard e eu nos entreolhamos. Estranhamente, a prisão constrangia a nós, e não a Skimpole. Ele nos observava com interesse amigável e não parecia egoísta, embora a situação fosse certamente estranha. Livrara-se por completo do problema, por isso ele se tornara nosso.

Tentando nos ajudar, Skimpole sugeriu que Richard ou sua bela prima assinassem algum papel. Como estavam envolvidos num processo da Chancelaria que, segundo diziam, tratava de bens valiosos, talvez pudessem transferir ou prometer algo como garantia. Ele não sabia o nome jurídico, mas supunha que algum documento ao alcance deles pudesse pagar sua dívida.

Original English Version

“What do you think will be best, Miss Summerson?” said Richard, aside.

I ventured to inquire, generally, before replying, what would happen if the money were not produced.

“Jail,” said the strange man, coolly putting his handkerchief into his hat, which was on the floor at his feet. “Or Coavinses.”

“May I ask, sir, what is - ”

“Coavinses?” said the strange man. “A ’ouse.”

Richard and I looked at one another again. It was a most singular thing that the arrest was our embarrassment and not Mr. Skimpole’s. He observed us with a genial interest, but there seemed, if I may venture on such a contradiction, nothing selfish in it. He had entirely washed his hands of the difficulty, and it had become ours.

“I thought,” he suggested, as if good-naturedly to help us out, “that being parties in a Chancery suit concerning (as people say) a large amount of property, Mr. Richard or his beautiful cousin, or both, could sign something, or make over something, or give some sort of undertaking, or pledge, or bond? I don’t know what the business name of it may be, but I suppose there is some instrument within their power that would settle this?”

Tradução Integral em Português

“O que acha melhor, Srta. Summerson?”, perguntou Richard à parte.

Antes de responder, ousei perguntar, em termos gerais, o que aconteceria se o dinheiro não fosse apresentado.

“Cadeia”, disse o homem estranho, guardando calmamente o lenço no chapéu, que estava no chão a seus pés. “Ou Coavinses.”

“Posso perguntar-lhe, senhor, o que é...”

“Coavinses?”, disse o homem estranho. “Uma casa.”

Richard e eu tornamos a olhar um para o outro. Era sumamente singular que a prisão fosse um embaraço nosso, e não do Sr. Skimpole. Ele observava-nos com interesse afável, mas, se me permitem aventurar semelhante contradição, não parecia haver nisso nada de egoísta. Lavara inteiramente as mãos da dificuldade, que se tornara nossa.

“Pensei”, sugeriu ele, como se bondosamente nos ajudasse a sair da situação, “que, sendo partes numa causa da Chancelaria relativa (segundo dizem) a uma grande quantidade de propriedades, o Sr. Richard ou sua bela prima, ou ambos, poderiam assinar alguma coisa, transferir alguma coisa ou dar alguma espécie de garantia, penhor ou fiança? Não sei qual seria o nome comercial disso, mas suponho que tenham ao alcance algum instrumento que resolveria a questão?”

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

O estranho respondeu que nada disso ajudaria.

Skimpole disse que aquilo parecia estranho para alguém que não entendia nada desses assuntos.

O estranho repetiu com grosseria que, estranho ou não, aquilo não ajudaria em nada.

Enquanto desenhava a cabeça do estranho num livro, Skimpole lhe disse com gentileza que mantivesse a calma e não deixasse o trabalho irritá-lo. Podiam separar a pessoa de sua profissão. Não supunham que ele fosse um homem mau na vida particular. Talvez fosse muito respeitável e até tivesse uma natureza poética sem saber.

O estranho respondeu apenas com outro forte ruído nasal. Não consegui saber se aceitava o elogio sobre poesia ou se o rejeitava com desprezo.

Olhando seu desenho, Skimpole disse alegremente a Richard e a mim que era totalmente incapaz de ajudar a si mesmo e dependia por completo de nós. Pedia apenas para ser livre. As borboletas eram livres, portanto a humanidade certamente deveria dar a Harold Skimpole a mesma liberdade.

Original English Version

“Not a bit on it,” said the strange man.

“Really?” returned Mr. Skimpole. “That seems odd, now, to one who is no judge of these things!”

“Odd or even,” said the stranger gruffly, “I tell you, not a bit on it!”

“Keep your temper, my good fellow, keep your temper!” Mr. Skimpole gently reasoned with him as he made a little drawing of his head on the fly-leaf of a book. “Don’t be ruffled by your occupation. We can separate you from your office; we can separate the individual from the pursuit. We are not so prejudiced as to suppose that in private life you are otherwise than a very estimable man, with a great deal of poetry in your nature, of which you may not be conscious.”

The stranger only answered with another violent snort, whether in acceptance of the poetry-tribute or in disdainful rejection of it, he did not express to me.

“Now, my dear Miss Summerson, and my dear Mr. Richard,” said Mr. Skimpole gaily, innocently, and confidingly as he looked at his drawing with his head on one side, “here you see me utterly incapable of helping myself, and entirely in your hands! I only ask to be free. The butterflies are free. Mankind will surely not deny to Harold Skimpole what it concedes to the butterflies!”

Tradução Integral em Português

“Nem sombra disso”, disse o homem estranho.

“Realmente?”, retrucou o Sr. Skimpole. “Ora, isso parece esquisito para quem não entende dessas coisas!”

“Esquisito ou não”, disse rudemente o estranho, “estou dizendo: nem sombra disso!”

“Não perca a calma, meu bom homem, não perca a calma!”, ponderou gentilmente o Sr. Skimpole, enquanto fazia um pequeno desenho da cabeça dele na folha de guarda de um livro. “Não se deixe irritar por sua ocupação. Podemos separá-lo de seu ofício; podemos separar o indivíduo da atividade. Não somos tão preconceituosos a ponto de supor que, na vida privada, o senhor seja outra coisa que não um homem muito estimável, com muita poesia em sua natureza, da qual talvez não tenha consciência.”

O estranho apenas respondeu com outro ronco violento; se em aceitação à homenagem poética ou em desdenhosa rejeição dela, não me deu a entender.

“Agora, minha cara Srta. Summerson e meu caro Sr. Richard”, disse o Sr. Skimpole com alegria, inocência e confiança, olhando para o desenho com a cabeça inclinada para um lado, “aqui me veem inteiramente incapaz de ajudar a mim mesmo e inteiramente em suas mãos! Só peço para ser livre. As borboletas são livres. A humanidade certamente não negará a Harold Skimpole aquilo que concede às borboletas!”

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Richard sussurrou que tinha dez libras recebidas do Sr. Kenge e precisava ver quanto aquilo ajudaria.

Eu havia economizado pouco mais de quinze libras de minha mesada ao longo de vários anos. Sempre temera que algum acidente pudesse me deixar sozinha no mundo, sem família nem bens, por isso guardava dinheiro para não ficar completamente pobre. Contei a Richard sobre essas economias e disse que não precisava delas naquele momento. Pedi que explicasse com cuidado a Skimpole que teríamos prazer em pagar sua dívida enquanto eu buscava o dinheiro.

Quando voltei, Skimpole beijou minha mão e pareceu profundamente emocionado. Estranhamente, não estava comovido por si mesmo, mas por nós, como se apenas nossa felicidade importasse para ele. Richard pediu que eu concluísse o pagamento com “Coavinses”, como Skimpole chamava o estranho em tom de brincadeira, pois isso tornaria o acontecimento mais elegante. Contei o dinheiro e recebi um recibo, o que também encantou Skimpole.

Original English Version

“My dear Miss Summerson,” said Richard in a whisper, “I have ten pounds that I received from Mr. Kenge. I must try what that will do.”

I possessed fifteen pounds, odd shillings, which I had saved from my quarterly allowance during several years. I had always thought that some accident might happen which would throw me suddenly, without any relation or any property, on the world and had always tried to keep some little money by me that I might not be quite penniless. I told Richard of my having this little store and having no present need of it, and I asked him delicately to inform Mr. Skimpole, while I should be gone to fetch it, that we would have the pleasure of paying his debt.

When I came back, Mr. Skimpole kissed my hand and seemed quite touched. Not on his own account (I was again aware of that perplexing and extraordinary contradiction), but on ours, as if personal considerations were impossible with him and the contemplation of our happiness alone affected him. Richard, begging me, for the greater grace of the transaction, as he said, to settle with Coavinses (as Mr. Skimpole now jocularly called him), I counted out the money and received the necessary acknowledgment. This, too, delighted Mr. Skimpole.

Tradução Integral em Português

“Minha cara Srta. Summerson”, disse Richard num sussurro, “tenho dez libras que recebi do Sr. Kenge. Preciso tentar ver o que se pode fazer com isso.”

Eu possuía quinze libras e alguns xelins, que poupara de minha mesada trimestral ao longo de vários anos. Sempre pensara que algum acidente poderia acontecer e lançar-me de repente ao mundo, sem parentes nem bens, e sempre procurara conservar comigo algum dinheirinho para não ficar inteiramente sem um tostão. Contei a Richard que tinha essa pequena reserva e que não precisava dela no momento, e pedi-lhe com delicadeza que informasse ao Sr. Skimpole, enquanto eu ia buscá-la, que teríamos o prazer de pagar sua dívida.

Quando voltei, o Sr. Skimpole beijou minha mão e pareceu muito comovido. Não por si mesmo (tornei a perceber aquela contradição desconcertante e extraordinária), mas por nós, como se considerações pessoais fossem impossíveis para ele e somente a contemplação de nossa felicidade o afetasse. Richard pediu-me que, para dar maior graça à transação, como disse, acertasse as contas com Coavinses (como o Sr. Skimpole agora o chamava por brincadeira); contei o dinheiro e recebi o necessário recibo. Isso também encantou o Sr. Skimpole.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Skimpole fez seus elogios com tanta delicadeza que corei menos do que poderia. Paguei ao estranho de casaco branco sem cometer nenhum erro. Ele guardou o dinheiro no bolso e desejou-me boa noite em poucas palavras.

Depois de deixar o desenho pela metade, Skimpole ficou de costas para o fogo. Perguntou educadamente ao estranho se podia fazer uma pergunta sem ofendê-lo.

Acho que o estranho respondeu: “Vá em frente, então!”

Skimpole perguntou se o estranho sabia naquela manhã que viria cumprir aquela tarefa.

Coavinses disse que sabia desde a hora do chá da tarde anterior.

Skimpole perguntou se esse conhecimento havia prejudicado seu apetite ou o deixado inquieto.

Coavinses disse que não. Sabia que, se Skimpole escapasse naquele dia, poderia apanhá-lo no seguinte. Um dia fazia pouca diferença.

Skimpole continuou, lembrando-lhe que fizera um belo dia durante a viagem. O sol brilhara, o vento soprara, luzes e sombras haviam passado pelos campos, e os pássaros cantaram.

Original English Version

His compliments were so delicately administered that I blushed less than I might have done and settled with the stranger in the white coat without making any mistakes. He put the money in his pocket and shortly said, “Well, then, I’ll wish you a good evening, miss.”

“My friend,” said Mr. Skimpole, standing with his back to the fire after giving up the sketch when it was half finished, “I should like to ask you something, without offence.”

I think the reply was, “Cut away, then!”

“Did you know this morning, now, that you were coming out on this errand?” said Mr. Skimpole.

“Know’d it yes’day aft’noon at tea-time,” said Coavinses.

“It didn’t affect your appetite? Didn’t make you at all uneasy?”

“Not a bit,” said Coavinses. “I know’d if you wos missed to-day, you wouldn’t be missed to-morrow. A day makes no such odds.”

“But when you came down here,” proceeded Mr. Skimpole, “it was a fine day. The sun was shining, the wind was blowing, the lights and shadows were passing across the fields, the birds were singing.”

Tradução Integral em Português

Seus elogios foram administrados com tanta delicadeza que corei menos do que poderia ter corado e acertei com o estranho de casaco branco sem cometer erro algum. Ele pôs o dinheiro no bolso e disse secamente: “Pois bem, desejo-lhe boa noite, senhorita.”

“Meu amigo”, disse o Sr. Skimpole, de pé e de costas para o fogo, depois de abandonar o esboço pela metade, “gostaria de lhe fazer uma pergunta, sem ofensa.”

Creio que a resposta foi: “Mande ver, então!”

“Ora, sabia esta manhã que sairia para cumprir esta missão?”, perguntou o Sr. Skimpole.

“Sôbe onte à tarde, na hora do chá”, disse Coavinses.

“Isso não afetou seu apetite? Não o deixou nem um pouco inquieto?”

“Nem um pouco”, disse Coavinses. “Eu sabia que, se não encontrasse o sinhô hoje, encontrava amanhã. Um dia num faz diferença.”

“Mas quando veio para cá”, prosseguiu o Sr. Skimpole, “fazia um belo dia. O sol brilhava, o vento soprava, luzes e sombras passavam pelos campos, os pássaros cantavam.”

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Coavinses respondeu que não ouvira ninguém dizer o contrário.

Skimpole concordou e depois perguntou no que Coavinses pensara durante a viagem.

Irritado, Coavinses perguntou o que ele queria dizer. Já tinha trabalho suficiente e recebia pouco por ele, sem precisar pensar também. Repetiu a palavra “pensar” com profundo desprezo.

Skimpole perguntou então se Coavinses havia pensado que Harold Skimpole amava o sol, o vento, as mudanças de luz e sombra e os pássaros cantando como um coro na grande catedral da natureza. Não se perguntara se estava prestes a tirar de Skimpole sua parte nessas coisas, que eram sua única herança natural? Skimpole perguntou se nenhum pensamento assim lhe passara pela mente.

Coavinses disse lenta e firmemente que certamente não, destacando cada palavra e movendo a cabeça de modo brusco.

O Sr. Skimpole chamou, pensativo, a maneira de pensar do homem de negócios de estranha e curiosa. Depois agradeceu e disse boa-noite.

Voltei ao andar de baixo porque havíamos ficado longe por muito tempo. Ada conversava com John, e Skimpole e Richard logo se juntaram a nós. O Sr. Jarndyce me ensinou gamão enquanto Skimpole tocava música e conversava alegremente. Mesmo assim, Richard e eu ainda sentíamos como se tivéssemos sido presos depois do jantar.

Original English Version

“Nobody said they warn’t, in MY hearing,” returned Coavinses.

“No,” observed Mr. Skimpole. “But what did you think upon the road?”

“Wot do you mean?” growled Coavinses with an appearance of strong resentment. “Think! I’ve got enough to do, and little enough to get for it without thinking. Thinking!” (with profound contempt).

“Then you didn’t think, at all events,” proceeded Mr. Skimpole, “to this effect: ‘Harold Skimpole loves to see the sun shine, loves to hear the wind blow, loves to watch the changing lights and shadows, loves to hear the birds, those choristers in Nature’s great cathedral. And does it seem to me that I am about to deprive Harold Skimpole of his share in such possessions, which are his only birthright!’ You thought nothing to that effect?”

“I - certainly - did - NOT,” said Coavinses, whose doggedness in utterly renouncing the idea was of that intense kind that he could only give adequate expression to it by putting a long interval between each word, and accompanying the last with a jerk that might have dislocated his neck.

“Very odd and very curious, the mental process is, in you men of business!” said Mr. Skimpole thoughtfully. “Thank you, my friend. Good night.”

As our absence had been long enough already to seem strange downstairs, I returned at once and found Ada sitting at work by the fireside talking to her cousin John. Mr. Skimpole presently appeared, and Richard shortly after him. I was sufficiently engaged during the remainder of the evening in taking my first lesson in backgammon from Mr. Jarndyce, who was very fond of the game and from whom I wished of course to learn it as quickly as I could in order that I might be of the very small use of being able to play when he had no better adversary. But I thought, occasionally, when Mr. Skimpole played some fragments of his own compositions or when, both at the piano and the violoncello, and at our table, he preserved with an absence of all effort his delightful spirits and his easy flow of conversation, that Richard and I seemed to retain the transferred impression of having been arrested since dinner and that it was very curious altogether.

Tradução Integral em Português

“Ninguém disse que num cantava, que EU ouvisse”, retrucou Coavinses.

“Não”, observou o Sr. Skimpole. “Mas em que pensou pelo caminho?”

“Que que o sinhô qué dizê?”, rosnou Coavinses, com aparência de forte ressentimento. “Pensá! Tenho trabalho que chega e ganho pouco que só sem precisá pensá. Pensá!” (com profundo desprezo).

“Então, de qualquer modo, não pensou”, prosseguiu o Sr. Skimpole, “nisto: ‘Harold Skimpole adora ver o sol brilhar, adora ouvir o vento soprar, adora observar as luzes e sombras cambiantes, adora ouvir os pássaros, esses coristas da grande catedral da Natureza. E será possível que eu esteja prestes a privar Harold Skimpole de sua parte em tais bens, que são seu único direito de nascença?’ Não pensou em nada semelhante?”

- Eu... certamente... NÃO... pensei - disse Coavinses, cuja obstinação em renunciar por completo à ideia era de tal intensidade que só conseguia expressá-la adequadamente deixando um longo intervalo entre cada palavra e acompanhando a última de um safanão que poderia ter-lhe deslocado o pescoço.

- Muito estranho e muito curioso é o processo mental de vocês, homens de negócios! - disse pensativo o Sr. Skimpole. - Obrigado, meu amigo. Boa noite.

Como nossa ausência já durara o bastante para parecer estranha lá embaixo, voltei de imediato e encontrei Ada sentada junto à lareira, ocupada com seu trabalho e conversando com o primo John. O Sr. Skimpole logo apareceu, e Richard pouco depois dele. Durante o restante da noite, estive suficientemente empenhada em receber minha primeira lição de gamão do Sr. Jarndyce, que gostava muito do jogo e com quem eu naturalmente desejava aprendê-lo tão depressa quanto pudesse, a fim de prestar o pequeníssimo serviço de jogar quando ele não tivesse adversário melhor. Mas pensei por vezes, quando o Sr. Skimpole tocava fragmentos de suas próprias composições ou quando, tanto ao piano e ao violoncelo quanto à nossa mesa, conservava sem o menor esforço sua deliciosa vivacidade e seu fácil fluxo de conversa, que Richard e eu parecíamos reter a impressão transferida de termos sido detidos desde o jantar e que tudo aquilo era muito curioso.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Ficamos juntos até tarde porque Skimpole tocou música animada e brincou que roubar horas da noite tornava o dia mais longo. Depois da meia-noite, finalmente saiu. Ada e Richard ainda conversavam junto ao fogo quando o Sr. Jarndyce voltou.

O Sr. Jarndyce andou pela sala, esfregou a cabeça e perguntou o que Richard e eu havíamos feito. Queria saber por que pagáramos dinheiro e quanto cada um dera. Culpou o vento mudando por seu desconforto.

Nem Richard nem eu sabíamos como responder.

O Sr. Jarndyce insistiu em resolver a questão antes de dormir. Perguntou quanto dinheiro havíamos perdido e por que ajudáramos Skimpole, culpando novamente o vento leste.

Richard disse que não seria honrado revelar a quantia porque o Sr. Skimpole confiara em nós.

O Sr. Jarndyce disse que Skimpole confiava em todo mundo.

Richard perguntou se aquilo era realmente verdade.

Jarndyce disse que Skimpole teria o mesmo problema de dinheiro na semana seguinte porque estava sempre em dificuldades. Brincou que até o anúncio do nascimento de Skimpole deveria ter dito que ele nascera com problemas.

Original English Version

It was late before we separated, for when Ada was going at eleven o’clock, Mr. Skimpole went to the piano and rattled hilariously that the best of all ways to lengthen our days was to steal a few hours from night, my dear! It was past twelve before he took his candle and his radiant face out of the room, and I think he might have kept us there, if he had seen fit, until daybreak. Ada and Richard were lingering for a few moments by the fire, wondering whether Mrs. Jellyby had yet finished her dictation for the day, when Mr. Jarndyce, who had been out of the room, returned.

“Oh, dear me, what’s this, what’s this!” he said, rubbing his head and walking about with his good-humoured vexation. “What’s this they tell me? Rick, my boy, Esther, my dear, what have you been doing? Why did you do it? How could you do it? How much apiece was it? The wind’s round again. I feel it all over me!”

We neither of us quite knew what to answer.

“Come, Rick, come! I must settle this before I sleep. How much are you out of pocket? You two made the money up, you know! Why did you? How could you? Oh, Lord, yes, it’s due east - must be!”

“Really, sir,” said Richard, “I don’t think it would be honourable in me to tell you. Mr. Skimpole relied upon us - ”

“Lord bless you, my dear boy! He relies upon everybody!” said Mr. Jarndyce, giving his head a great rub and stopping short.

“Indeed, sir?”

“Everybody! And he’ll be in the same scrape again next week!” said Mr. Jarndyce, walking again at a great pace, with a candle in his hand that had gone out. “He’s always in the same scrape. He was born in the same scrape. I verily believe that the announcement in the newspapers when his mother was confined was ‘On Tuesday last, at her residence in Botheration Buildings, Mrs. Skimpole of a son in difficulties.’”

Tradução Integral em Português

Era tarde quando nos separamos, pois, quando Ada ia partir às onze horas, o Sr. Skimpole foi ao piano e repicou alegremente que o melhor de todos os meios de alongar nossos dias era roubar algumas horas da noite, minha querida! Já passava da meia-noite quando levou para fora da sala sua vela e seu rosto radiante, e creio que poderia ter-nos mantido ali, se assim quisesse, até o raiar do dia. Ada e Richard ainda se demoravam alguns instantes junto ao fogo, perguntando-se se a Sra. Jellyby já terminara o ditado daquele dia, quando o Sr. Jarndyce, que saíra da sala, voltou.

- Oh, céus, o que é isto, o que é isto! - disse, esfregando a cabeça e andando de um lado para outro com sua contrariedade bem-humorada. - O que é isto que me contam? Rick, meu rapaz, Esther, minha querida, o que fizeram? Por que fizeram? Como puderam? Quanto coube a cada um? O vento virou outra vez. Sinto-o no corpo inteiro!

Nenhum de nós sabia muito bem o que responder.

- Vamos, Rick, vamos! Preciso resolver isso antes de dormir. Quanto saiu de seu bolso? Vocês dois completaram a quantia, bem sei! Por que fizeram isso? Como puderam? Oh, Senhor, sim, vem bem de leste... só pode ser!

- Na verdade, senhor - disse Richard - , não creio que seria honrado de minha parte contar-lhe. O Sr. Skimpole confiou em nós...

- Deus o abençoe, meu caro rapaz! Ele confia em todo mundo! - disse o Sr. Jarndyce, esfregando vigorosamente a cabeça e parando de repente.

- É mesmo, senhor?

- Todo mundo! E estará na mesma enrascada de novo na semana que vem! - disse o Sr. Jarndyce, tornando a andar a grandes passos, com uma vela apagada na mão. - Está sempre na mesma enrascada. Nasceu na mesma enrascada. Creio piamente que o anúncio nos jornais quando sua mãe deu à luz foi: “Na terça-feira passada, em sua residência em Edifícios da Atrapalhação, a Sra. Skimpole deu à luz um filho em dificuldades.”

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Richard riu, mas disse que não queria trair a confiança de Skimpole. Pediu que Jarndyce considerasse se o segredo deveria ser guardado, embora contasse se Jarndyce insistisse.

Confuso, o Sr. Jarndyce tentou colocar o castiçal no bolso. Concordou em não pressionar Richard, mas reclamou que Skimpole tomara dinheiro de dois jovens inocentes. Previu uma tempestade.

Ele colocou as mãos nos bolsos várias vezes, tirou-as e esfregou a cabeça com força.

Sugeri com delicadeza que Skimpole era como uma criança em todas as questões de dinheiro.

O Sr. Jarndyce percebeu a palavra imediatamente e perguntou o que eu queria dizer.

Repeti que Skimpole era uma criança e muito diferente das outras pessoas.

Jarndyce ficou alegre e concordou que eu estava exatamente certa. Lembrou-nos de que chamara Skimpole de criança desde o início.

Todos concordamos firmemente com ele.

Cada vez mais contente, Jarndyce perguntou novamente se Skimpole realmente era uma criança.

Original English Version

Richard laughed heartily but added, “Still, sir, I don’t want to shake his confidence or to break his confidence, and if I submit to your better knowledge again, that I ought to keep his secret, I hope you will consider before you press me any more. Of course, if you do press me, sir, I shall know I am wrong and will tell you.”

“Well!” cried Mr. Jarndyce, stopping again, and making several absent endeavours to put his candlestick in his pocket. “I - here! Take it away, my dear. I don’t know what I am about with it; it’s all the wind - invariably has that effect - I won’t press you, Rick; you may be right. But really - to get hold of you and Esther - and to squeeze you like a couple of tender young Saint Michael’s oranges! It’ll blow a gale in the course of the night!”

He was now alternately putting his hands into his pockets as if he were going to keep them there a long time, and taking them out again and vehemently rubbing them all over his head.

I ventured to take this opportunity of hinting that Mr. Skimpole, being in all such matters quite a child -

“Eh, my dear?” said Mr. Jarndyce, catching at the word.

“Being quite a child, sir,” said I, “and so different from other people - ”

“You are right!” said Mr. Jarndyce, brightening. “Your woman’s wit hits the mark. He is a child - an absolute child. I told you he was a child, you know, when I first mentioned him.”

Certainly! Certainly! we said.

“And he IS a child. Now, isn’t he?” asked Mr. Jarndyce, brightening more and more.

Tradução Integral em Português

Richard riu de coração, mas acrescentou: - Ainda assim, senhor, não quero abalar a confiança dele nem trair o que me confiou; e, se volto a submeter a seu juízo superior que devo guardar o segredo, espero que reflita antes de me pressionar mais. Naturalmente, se insistir, senhor, saberei que estou errado e lhe contarei.

- Bem! - exclamou o Sr. Jarndyce, parando de novo e fazendo várias tentativas distraídas de pôr o castiçal no bolso. - Eu... aqui! Tire isto, minha querida. Não sei o que estou fazendo com ele; é tudo culpa do vento... sempre produz esse efeito... Não insistirei, Rick; talvez você tenha razão. Mas realmente... apanhar você e Esther... e espremê-los como um par de tenras laranjas de São Miguel! Vai soprar um vendaval durante a noite!

Ora enfiava as mãos nos bolsos como se pretendesse deixá-las ali por muito tempo, ora tornava a tirá-las e esfregava-as com veemência por toda a cabeça.

Aventurei-me a aproveitar a oportunidade para sugerir que o Sr. Skimpole, sendo em todas essas questões uma verdadeira criança...

- Hein, minha querida? - disse o Sr. Jarndyce, agarrando-se à palavra.

- Sendo uma verdadeira criança, senhor - disse eu - , e tão diferente das demais pessoas...

- Você tem razão! - disse o Sr. Jarndyce, iluminando-se. - Sua intuição feminina acertou no alvo. Ele é uma criança... uma criança absoluta. Eu lhes disse que era uma criança, sabem, quando o mencionei pela primeira vez.

Claro! Claro! - dissemos.

- E ele É uma criança. Ora, não é? - perguntou o Sr. Jarndyce, iluminando-se cada vez mais.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Dissemos que certamente era.

Jarndyce disse que era infantil de sua parte tratar Skimpole como um adulto responsável. Riu da ideia de que Skimpole pudesse fazer planos ou entender os resultados de suas ações.

Foi maravilhoso ver a preocupação de Jarndyce desaparecer. Sua felicidade vinha de sua natureza bondosa, que odiava julgar ou desconfiar de alguém. Ada e eu tínhamos lágrimas nos olhos enquanto ríamos com ele.

Jarndyce chamou a si mesmo de tolo por esquecer a natureza infantil de Skimpole. Só uma criança pediria dinheiro a dois jovens sem saber se tinham algum. A quantia não teria importância para ele.

Nossa experiência naquela noite parecia provar o que ele dizia.

Jarndyce fez Richard, Ada e eu prometermos nunca mais emprestar dinheiro a Skimpole, nem mesmo uma pequena moeda.

Prometemos com sinceridade. Richard sorriu para mim e tocou o bolso vazio, mostrando que de qualquer modo não poderíamos quebrar a promessa.

Original English Version

He was indeed, we said.

“When you come to think of it, it’s the height of childishness in you - I mean me - ” said Mr. Jarndyce, “to regard him for a moment as a man. You can’t make HIM responsible. The idea of Harold Skimpole with designs or plans, or knowledge of consequences! Ha, ha, ha!”

It was so delicious to see the clouds about his bright face clearing, and to see him so heartily pleased, and to know, as it was impossible not to know, that the source of his pleasure was the goodness which was tortured by condemning, or mistrusting, or secretly accusing any one, that I saw the tears in Ada’s eyes, while she echoed his laugh, and felt them in my own.

“Why, what a cod’s head and shoulders I am,” said Mr. Jarndyce, “to require reminding of it! The whole business shows the child from beginning to end. Nobody but a child would have thought of singling YOU two out for parties in the affair! Nobody but a child would have thought of YOUR having the money! If it had been a thousand pounds, it would have been just the same!” said Mr. Jarndyce with his whole face in a glow.

We all confirmed it from our night’s experience.

“To be sure, to be sure!” said Mr. Jarndyce. “However, Rick, Esther, and you too, Ada, for I don’t know that even your little purse is safe from his inexperience - I must have a promise all round that nothing of this sort shall ever be done any more. No advances! Not even sixpences.”

We all promised faithfully, Richard with a merry glance at me touching his pocket as if to remind me that there was no danger of OUR transgressing.

Tradução Integral em Português

De fato era, dissemos.

- Pensando bem, é o cúmulo da infantilidade de sua parte... quero dizer, de minha parte - disse o Sr. Jarndyce - considerá-lo por um instante um homem. Não se pode responsabilizá-LO. A ideia de Harold Skimpole ter desígnios ou planos, ou conhecer consequências! Ha, ha, ha!

Era tão delicioso ver dissiparem-se as nuvens em torno de seu rosto luminoso, vê-lo tão sinceramente satisfeito e saber, como era impossível não saber, que a fonte de seu prazer era a bondade que se torturava ao condenar, desconfiar ou acusar alguém em segredo, que vi lágrimas nos olhos de Ada enquanto ela ecoava sua risada, e senti-as nos meus.

- Mas que cabeça e ombros de bacalhau eu sou - disse o Sr. Jarndyce - para precisar que me lembrem disso! Toda a história revela a criança, do começo ao fim. Ninguém senão uma criança pensaria em escolher VOCÊS dois como partes da questão! Ninguém senão uma criança pensaria que VOCÊS tinham dinheiro! Se fossem mil libras, daria na mesma! - disse o Sr. Jarndyce, com o rosto inteiro resplandecente.

Todos confirmamos isso com a experiência daquela noite.

- Sem dúvida, sem dúvida! - disse o Sr. Jarndyce. - Contudo, Rick, Esther, e você também, Ada, pois não sei se nem mesmo sua bolsinha está a salvo da inexperiência dele... preciso que todos prometam que nada semelhante voltará a ser feito. Nada de adiantamentos! Nem sequer seis pence.

Todos prometemos fielmente, e Richard, lançando-me um olhar divertido, tocou o bolso como para lembrar-me de que não havia perigo de NÓS transgredirmos.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Jarndyce brincou que Skimpole só precisava de uma casa de bonecas e pessoas de brinquedo de quem pudesse pedir dinheiro. Depois nos desejou boa-noite e foi dormir.

Jarndyce apareceu de novo e disse alegremente que se enganara sobre o vento; ele vinha do sul. Depois saiu cantando.

No andar de cima, Ada e eu concluímos que as reclamações de Jarndyce sobre o vento eram inventadas. Ele as usava para explicar a decepção porque não queria culpar ninguém. Isso mostrava sua bondade incomum, diferente das pessoas irritadas que culpam o tempo pelo mau humor.

Aquela noite aumentou meu amor e minha gratidão por Jarndyce. Eu ainda não conseguia entender as contradições de Skimpole ou da Sra. Jellyby. Sozinha, pensei em Ada, Richard e meu próprio passado. Lembrei por um instante do antigo sonho de que Jarndyce pudesse ser meu pai, embora já não acreditasse nisso.

Levantei-me do fogo e disse a mim mesma para não pensar no passado. Eu deveria agir com alegria, gratidão e dever. Sacudi minhas chaves da casa, que tocaram como sininhos me levando com esperança para a cama.

Original English Version

“As to Skimpole,” said Mr. Jarndyce, “a habitable doll’s house with good board and a few tin people to get into debt with and borrow money of would set the boy up in life. He is in a child’s sleep by this time, I suppose; it’s time I should take my craftier head to my more worldly pillow. Good night, my dears. God bless you!”

He peeped in again, with a smiling face, before we had lighted our candles, and said, “Oh! I have been looking at the weather-cock. I find it was a false alarm about the wind. It’s in the south!” And went away singing to himself.

Ada and I agreed, as we talked together for a little while upstairs, that this caprice about the wind was a fiction and that he used the pretence to account for any disappointment he could not conceal, rather than he would blame the real cause of it or disparage or depreciate any one. We thought this very characteristic of his eccentric gentleness and of the difference between him and those petulant people who make the weather and the winds (particularly that unlucky wind which he had chosen for such a different purpose) the stalking-horses of their splenetic and gloomy humours.

Indeed, so much affection for him had been added in this one evening to my gratitude that I hoped I already began to understand him through that mingled feeling. Any seeming inconsistencies in Mr. Skimpole or in Mrs. Jellyby I could not expect to be able to reconcile, having so little experience or practical knowledge. Neither did I try, for my thoughts were busy when I was alone, with Ada and Richard and with the confidence I had seemed to receive concerning them. My fancy, made a little wild by the wind perhaps, would not consent to be all unselfish, either, though I would have persuaded it to be so if I could. It wandered back to my godmother’s house and came along the intervening track, raising up shadowy speculations which had sometimes trembled there in the dark as to what knowledge Mr. Jarndyce had of my earliest history - even as to the possibility of his being my father, though that idle dream was quite gone now.

It was all gone now, I remembered, getting up from the fire. It was not for me to muse over bygones, but to act with a cheerful spirit and a grateful heart. So I said to myself, “Esther, Esther, Esther! Duty, my dear!” and gave my little basket of housekeeping keys such a shake that they sounded like little bells and rang me hopefully to bed.

Tradução Integral em Português

- Quanto a Skimpole - disse o Sr. Jarndyce - , uma casa de bonecas habitável, com boa comida e algumas pessoas de lata com quem se endividar e de quem tomar dinheiro emprestado, deixaria o rapaz encaminhado na vida. A esta altura suponho que esteja no sono de uma criança; é hora de eu levar minha cabeça mais astuta ao meu travesseiro mais mundano. Boa noite, meus queridos. Deus os abençoe!

Ele tornou a espiar para dentro, o rosto sorridente, antes que acendêssemos as velas, e disse: - Oh! Estive olhando o cata-vento. Descobri que foi alarme falso quanto ao vento. Está no sul! - E afastou-se cantando para si.

Ada e eu concordamos, enquanto conversávamos algum tempo no andar de cima, que esse capricho a respeito do vento era uma ficção e que ele usava o pretexto para explicar qualquer decepção que não conseguisse ocultar, em vez de culpar sua causa verdadeira ou desacreditar e depreciar alguém. Pareceu-nos muito característico de sua excêntrica brandura e da diferença entre ele e aquelas pessoas irritadiças que fazem do tempo e dos ventos (em particular daquele infeliz vento que ele escolhera para propósito tão diferente) meros cavalos de cobertura para seus humores biliosos e sombrios.

De fato, naquela única noite tanto afeto por ele se somara à minha gratidão que eu esperava já começar a compreendê-lo através desse sentimento misto. Não podia esperar reconciliar quaisquer aparentes incoerências no Sr. Skimpole ou na Sra. Jellyby, pois tinha tão pouca experiência ou conhecimento prático. Tampouco tentei, porque, quando fiquei só, meus pensamentos estavam ocupados com Ada e Richard e com a confiança que eu parecera receber a respeito deles. Minha imaginação, talvez um pouco enlouquecida pelo vento, também não consentia em ser inteiramente abnegada, embora eu a tivesse persuadido a isso se pudesse. Vagou de volta à casa de minha madrinha e percorreu o caminho intermediário, erguendo especulações sombrias que às vezes ali tremularam na escuridão quanto ao conhecimento que o Sr. Jarndyce tinha de minha história mais antiga - até mesmo quanto à possibilidade de ele ser meu pai, embora esse sonho vão houvesse agora desaparecido por completo.

Tudo desaparecera agora, recordei, levantando-me de junto do fogo. Não me cabia cismar sobre o passado, mas agir com espírito alegre e coração agradecido. Assim, disse a mim mesma: “Esther, Esther, Esther! O dever, minha querida!”, e sacudi de tal modo minha pequena cesta de chaves domésticas que elas soaram como sininhos e me chamaram esperançosamente para a cama.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Chapter VII

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

O Passeio do Fantasma

Enquanto Esther dorme e acorda, a chuva continua em Chesney Wold, em Lincolnshire. Cai dia e noite sobre o terraço de pedra chamado Passeio do Fantasma. O tempo parece que nunca vai melhorar. Sir Leicester e Lady Dedlock estão em Paris, então a grande casa permanece escura e solitária.

Talvez os cavalos nos longos estábulos imaginem um tempo bom. Um velho cavalo de caça pode lembrar folhas frescas e corridas com os cães, enquanto seu cuidador pensa apenas no trabalho. Outro cavalo olha com esperança para a porta, embora ninguém precise dele. Os seis cavalos talvez passem as horas chuvosas se comunicando com mais alegria que as pessoas na sala dos criados.

O grande cão que dorme no pátio pode lembrar o sol quente e uma casa cheia de hóspedes, carruagens, cavalos e criados. Ele acorda, sai e encontra apenas chuva sem fim e uma casa vazia. Então volta ao abrigo com um bocejo triste.

Original English Version

The Ghost’s Walk

While Esther sleeps, and while Esther wakes, it is still wet weather down at the place in Lincolnshire. The rain is ever falling - drip, drip, drip - by day and night upon the broad flagged terrace-pavement, the Ghost’s Walk. The weather is so very bad down in Lincolnshire that the liveliest imagination can scarcely apprehend its ever being fine again. Not that there is any superabundant life of imagination on the spot, for Sir Leicester is not here (and, truly, even if he were, would not do much for it in that particular), but is in Paris with my Lady; and solitude, with dusky wings, sits brooding upon Chesney Wold.

There may be some motions of fancy among the lower animals at Chesney Wold. The horses in the stables - the long stables in a barren, red-brick court-yard, where there is a great bell in a turret, and a clock with a large face, which the pigeons who live near it and who love to perch upon its shoulders seem to be always consulting - THEY may contemplate some mental pictures of fine weather on occasions, and may be better artists at them than the grooms. The old roan, so famous for cross-country work, turning his large eyeball to the grated window near his rack, may remember the fresh leaves that glisten there at other times and the scents that stream in, and may have a fine run with the hounds, while the human helper, clearing out the next stall, never stirs beyond his pitchfork and birch-broom. The grey, whose place is opposite the door and who with an impatient rattle of his halter pricks his ears and turns his head so wistfully when it is opened, and to whom the opener says, “Woa grey, then, steady! Noabody wants you to-day!” may know it quite as well as the man. The whole seemingly monotonous and uncompanionable half-dozen, stabled together, may pass the long wet hours when the door is shut in livelier communication than is held in the servants’ hall or at the Dedlock Arms, or may even beguile the time by improving (perhaps corrupting) the pony in the loose-box in the corner.

So the mastiff, dozing in his kennel in the court-yard with his large head on his paws, may think of the hot sunshine when the shadows of the stable-buildings tire his patience out by changing and leave him at one time of the day no broader refuge than the shadow of his own house, where he sits on end, panting and growling short, and very much wanting something to worry besides himself and his chain. So now, half-waking and all-winking, he may recall the house full of company, the coach-houses full of vehicles, the stables full of horses, and the out-buildings full of attendants upon horses, until he is undecided about the present and comes forth to see how it is. Then, with that impatient shake of himself, he may growl in the spirit, “Rain, rain, rain! Nothing but rain - and no family here!” as he goes in again and lies down with a gloomy yawn.

Tradução Integral em Português

O Passeio do Fantasma

Enquanto Esther dorme e enquanto Esther vela, o tempo continua chuvoso lá na propriedade em Lincolnshire. A chuva cai sem cessar - pinga, pinga, pinga - , dia e noite, sobre o largo pavimento de lajes do terraço, o Passeio do Fantasma. O tempo está tão ruim lá em Lincolnshire que a imaginação mais viva mal consegue conceber que algum dia volte a fazer bom tempo. Não que haja no lugar qualquer superabundância de vida imaginativa, pois Sir Leicester não está aqui (e, em verdade, mesmo que estivesse, não faria muito por ela nesse aspecto), mas em Paris com Lady Dedlock; e a solidão, de asas sombrias, paira meditando sobre Chesney Wold.

Talvez haja alguns movimentos de fantasia entre os animais inferiores de Chesney Wold. Os cavalos nas cocheiras - as longas cocheiras num pátio estéril de tijolos vermelhos, onde há um grande sino numa torre e um relógio de mostrador enorme que os pombos, moradores das proximidades e apreciadores de pousar-lhe nos ombros, parecem estar sempre consultando - , ELES talvez contemplem por vezes algumas imagens mentais de bom tempo, sendo nelas artistas melhores que os cavalariços. O velho ruão, tão famoso por suas façanhas campo afora, voltando o grande globo ocular para a janela gradeada perto da manjedoura, talvez se lembre das folhas frescas que ali brilham em outras épocas e dos aromas que entram em torrentes, e talvez faça uma bela corrida com os cães de caça, enquanto o ajudante humano, limpando a baia vizinha, nunca se aventura além do forcado e da vassoura de bétula. O tordilho, cujo lugar fica diante da porta e que, com um chocalhar impaciente do cabresto, aguça as orelhas e vira a cabeça tão ansioso quando ela se abre, e a quem quem a abriu diz: “Ô, tordilho, quieto! Ninguém quer você hoje!”, pode saber disso tão bem quanto o homem. A meia dúzia inteira, aparentemente monótona e pouco sociável, estabulada em conjunto, talvez passe as longas horas úmidas, quando a porta está fechada, em comunicação mais animada do que a mantida no salão dos criados ou no Dedlock Arms, ou talvez até entretenha o tempo aprimorando (talvez corrompendo) o pônei da baia solta no canto.

Do mesmo modo, o mastim, cochilando no canil do pátio com a grande cabeça sobre as patas, talvez pense no sol quente quando as sombras dos edifícios das cocheiras lhe esgotam a paciência ao mudarem e, em certa hora do dia, não lhe deixam refúgio mais largo que a sombra da própria casinha, onde fica sentado ereto, ofegando e rosnando brevemente, desejando muito ter algo para atormentar além de si mesmo e da corrente. Agora, meio desperto e todo piscadelas, talvez recorde a casa cheia de gente, as cocheiras de carruagens cheias de veículos, os estábulos cheios de cavalos e as dependências cheias de seus tratadores, até ficar em dúvida quanto ao presente e sair para verificar como estão as coisas. Então, com aquele sacudir impaciente do corpo, talvez rosne em espírito: “Chuva, chuva, chuva! Nada além de chuva... e a família não está aqui!”, enquanto torna a entrar e se deita com um bocejo sombrio.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Os cães de caça podem sonhar com corridas pelo campo. Os coelhos podem lembrar dias de vento e plantas macias. Um peru pode recordar quando encontrou grãos no verão, e um ganso infeliz pode desejar sol. Todos os animais têm lembranças enquanto a chuva os mantém parados.

Fora os animais, pouca imaginação se move em Chesney Wold. Qualquer pensamento incomum logo se volta para fantasmas e mistério na velha casa cheia de ecos.

Chove há tanto tempo que a Sra. Rouncewell, a velha governanta, limpa os óculos para verificar se as gotas estão neles. Ela é uma mulher bonita, formal e muito organizada que se recusa a admitir que é surda. O tempo não a incomoda; cuida da casa a partir de seu quarto. Enquanto a família está longe, a grande casa repousa segura sob seus cuidados.

É difícil imaginar Chesney Wold sem a Sra. Rouncewell, embora ela trabalhe ali há apenas cinquenta anos. Consegue dizer o tempo exato de seu serviço. Seu falecido marido vinha da cidade próxima, e ela começou a trabalhar para o antigo Sir Leicester na sala de destilação.

Original English Version

So with the dogs in the kennel-buildings across the park, who have their restless fits and whose doleful voices when the wind has been very obstinate have even made it known in the house itself - upstairs, downstairs, and in my Lady’s chamber. They may hunt the whole country-side, while the raindrops are pattering round their inactivity. So the rabbits with their self-betraying tails, frisking in and out of holes at roots of trees, may be lively with ideas of the breezy days when their ears are blown about or of those seasons of interest when there are sweet young plants to gnaw. The turkey in the poultry-yard, always troubled with a class-grievance (probably Christmas), may be reminiscent of that summer morning wrongfully taken from him when he got into the lane among the felled trees, where there was a barn and barley. The discontented goose, who stoops to pass under the old gateway, twenty feet high, may gabble out, if we only knew it, a waddling preference for weather when the gateway casts its shadow on the ground.

Be this as it may, there is not much fancy otherwise stirring at Chesney Wold. If there be a little at any odd moment, it goes, like a little noise in that old echoing place, a long way and usually leads off to ghosts and mystery.

It has rained so hard and rained so long down in Lincolnshire that Mrs. Rouncewell, the old housekeeper at Chesney Wold, has several times taken off her spectacles and cleaned them to make certain that the drops were not upon the glasses. Mrs. Rouncewell might have been sufficiently assured by hearing the rain, but that she is rather deaf, which nothing will induce her to believe. She is a fine old lady, handsome, stately, wonderfully neat, and has such a back and such a stomacher that if her stays should turn out when she dies to have been a broad old-fashioned family fire-grate, nobody who knows her would have cause to be surprised. Weather affects Mrs. Rouncewell little. The house is there in all weathers, and the house, as she expresses it, “is what she looks at.” She sits in her room (in a side passage on the ground floor, with an arched window commanding a smooth quadrangle, adorned at regular intervals with smooth round trees and smooth round blocks of stone, as if the trees were going to play at bowls with the stones), and the whole house reposes on her mind. She can open it on occasion and be busy and fluttered, but it is shut up now and lies on the breadth of Mrs. Rouncewell’s iron-bound bosom in a majestic sleep.

It is the next difficult thing to an impossibility to imagine Chesney Wold without Mrs. Rouncewell, but she has only been here fifty years. Ask her how long, this rainy day, and she shall answer “fifty year, three months, and a fortnight, by the blessing of heaven, if I live till Tuesday.” Mr. Rouncewell died some time before the decease of the pretty fashion of pig-tails, and modestly hid his own (if he took it with him) in a corner of the churchyard in the park near the mouldy porch. He was born in the market-town, and so was his young widow. Her progress in the family began in the time of the last Sir Leicester and originated in the still-room.

Tradução Integral em Português

Assim também com os cães nos canis além do parque, que têm seus acessos de inquietação e cujas vozes lúgubres, quando o vento tem sido muito obstinado, chegam a fazer-se ouvir na própria casa - no andar de cima, no de baixo e nos aposentos de Lady Dedlock. Talvez cacem por toda a região enquanto as gotas tamborilam em torno de sua inatividade. Assim também os coelhos de caudas delatoras, saltitando para dentro e para fora de buracos junto às raízes das árvores, talvez se animem com ideias dos dias arejados em que as orelhas lhes são sopradas de um lado para outro, ou daquelas estações interessantes em que há tenras plantas doces para roer. O peru no galinheiro, sempre afligido por uma queixa de classe (provavelmente o Natal), talvez recorde aquela manhã de verão injustamente tomada dele, quando entrou na alameda entre as árvores abatidas, onde havia um celeiro e cevada. O ganso descontente, que se abaixa para passar sob o antigo portão de seis metros de altura, talvez grasne, se ao menos soubéssemos, uma preferência bamboleante pelo tempo em que o portão projeta sua sombra sobre o chão.

Seja como for, não há muita fantasia a mover-se em Chesney Wold fora disso. Se há um pouco em algum momento fortuito, ela percorre, como um pequeno ruído naquele velho lugar cheio de ecos, uma longa distância e em geral conduz a fantasmas e mistérios.

Choveu tanto e por tanto tempo lá em Lincolnshire que a Sra. Rouncewell, velha governanta de Chesney Wold, várias vezes tirou os óculos e os limpou para certificar-se de que as gotas não estavam nas lentes. A Sra. Rouncewell poderia ter-se convencido apenas ouvindo a chuva, não fosse um tanto surda, coisa em que nada a persuadirá a acreditar. É uma bela senhora idosa, formosa, majestosa, admiravelmente asseada, e tem tais costas e tal corpete que, se depois de sua morte se descobrisse que seus espartilhos eram uma larga e antiquada grelha de lareira familiar, ninguém que a conhecesse teria motivo para surpresa. O tempo pouco afeta a Sra. Rouncewell. A casa está ali sob qualquer tempo, e a casa, como ela diz, “é aquilo de que cuida”. Senta-se em seu aposento (num corredor lateral no térreo, com uma janela em arco que domina um quadrilátero liso, adornado a intervalos regulares por árvores redondas e lisas e blocos de pedra redondos e lisos, como se as árvores fossem jogar boliche com as pedras), e a casa inteira repousa em sua mente. Pode abri-la em certas ocasiões e ficar atarefada e alvoroçada, mas agora ela está fechada e jaz sobre a amplitude do peito encouraçado da Sra. Rouncewell em sono majestoso.

Imaginar Chesney Wold sem a Sra. Rouncewell é quase impossível, embora esteja aqui há apenas cinquenta anos. Pergunte-lhe há quanto tempo neste dia chuvoso, e ela responderá: “Cinquenta anos, três meses e uma quinzena, com a bênção do céu, se eu viver até terça-feira.” O Sr. Rouncewell morreu algum tempo antes do falecimento da graciosa moda das tranças masculinas e ocultou modestamente a sua (se a levou consigo) num canto do cemitério da igreja no parque, perto do pórtico bolorento. Nascera na cidade mercantil, assim como sua jovem viúva. O progresso dela na família começou no tempo do último Sir Leicester e teve origem na despensa.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Sir Leicester acredita que seus criados não têm desejos nem opiniões próprias, mas se considera um excelente patrão. Respeita muito a Sra. Rouncewell e sempre aperta sua mão. Se enfrentasse perigo ou doença, confiaria sua dignidade aos cuidados dela antes de qualquer outra pessoa.

A Sra. Rouncewell teve dois filhos. O mais novo, George, tornou-se soldado e nunca voltou. O outro amava construir máquinas em vez de seguir o caminho tradicional em Chesney Wold. Sir Leicester o enviou ao norte para trabalhar na indústria e considerava esses trabalhadores rebeldes perigosos. Mesmo assim, o jovem construiu uma vida bem-sucedida ali.

O filho da Sra. Rouncewell cresceu, teve sucesso, casou-se e teve um filho. Esse neto, Watt, terminou seu treinamento e viajou ao exterior. Hoje está junto à lareira no quarto da avó em Chesney Wold.

A Sra. Rouncewell recebe Watt com alegria várias vezes e o chama de belo jovem. Diz que ele se parece com o tio desaparecido George, o que faz suas mãos se moverem com nervosismo.

Original English Version

The present representative of the Dedlocks is an excellent master. He supposes all his dependents to be utterly bereft of individual characters, intentions, or opinions, and is persuaded that he was born to supersede the necessity of their having any. If he were to make a discovery to the contrary, he would be simply stunned - would never recover himself, most likely, except to gasp and die. But he is an excellent master still, holding it a part of his state to be so. He has a great liking for Mrs. Rouncewell; he says she is a most respectable, creditable woman. He always shakes hands with her when he comes down to Chesney Wold and when he goes away; and if he were very ill, or if he were knocked down by accident, or run over, or placed in any situation expressive of a Dedlock at a disadvantage, he would say if he could speak, “Leave me, and send Mrs. Rouncewell here!” feeling his dignity, at such a pass, safer with her than with anybody else.

Mrs. Rouncewell has known trouble. She has had two sons, of whom the younger ran wild, and went for a soldier, and never came back. Even to this hour, Mrs. Rouncewell’s calm hands lose their composure when she speaks of him, and unfolding themselves from her stomacher, hover about her in an agitated manner as she says what a likely lad, what a fine lad, what a gay, good-humoured, clever lad he was! Her second son would have been provided for at Chesney Wold and would have been made steward in due season, but he took, when he was a schoolboy, to constructing steam-engines out of saucepans and setting birds to draw their own water with the least possible amount of labour, so assisting them with artful contrivance of hydraulic pressure that a thirsty canary had only, in a literal sense, to put his shoulder to the wheel and the job was done. This propensity gave Mrs. Rouncewell great uneasiness. She felt it with a mother’s anguish to be a move in the Wat Tyler direction, well knowing that Sir Leicester had that general impression of an aptitude for any art to which smoke and a tall chimney might be considered essential. But the doomed young rebel (otherwise a mild youth, and very persevering), showing no sign of grace as he got older but, on the contrary, constructing a model of a power-loom, she was fain, with many tears, to mention his backslidings to the baronet. “Mrs. Rouncewell,” said Sir Leicester, “I can never consent to argue, as you know, with any one on any subject. You had better get rid of your boy; you had better get him into some Works. The iron country farther north is, I suppose, the congenial direction for a boy with these tendencies.” Farther north he went, and farther north he grew up; and if Sir Leicester Dedlock ever saw him when he came to Chesney Wold to visit his mother, or ever thought of him afterwards, it is certain that he only regarded him as one of a body of some odd thousand conspirators, swarthy and grim, who were in the habit of turning out by torchlight two or three nights in the week for unlawful purposes.

Nevertheless, Mrs. Rouncewell’s son has, in the course of nature and art, grown up, and established himself, and married, and called unto him Mrs. Rouncewell’s grandson, who, being out of his apprenticeship, and home from a journey in far countries, whither he was sent to enlarge his knowledge and complete his preparations for the venture of this life, stands leaning against the chimney-piece this very day in Mrs. Rouncewell’s room at Chesney Wold.

“And, again and again, I am glad to see you, Watt! And, once again, I am glad to see you, Watt!” says Mrs. Rouncewell. “You are a fine young fellow. You are like your poor uncle George. Ah!” Mrs. Rouncewell’s hands unquiet, as usual, on this reference.

Tradução Integral em Português

O atual representante dos Dedlocks é um patrão excelente. Supõe que todos os seus dependentes sejam completamente destituídos de caráter, intenções ou opiniões individuais e está convencido de que nasceu para eliminar a necessidade de terem qualquer um deles. Se descobrisse o contrário, ficaria simplesmente aturdido - provavelmente jamais se recuperaria, salvo para arquejar e morrer. Mas ainda assim é um patrão excelente, considerando parte de sua condição sê-lo. Gosta muito da Sra. Rouncewell; diz que é uma mulher respeitabilíssima e digna. Sempre aperta sua mão quando chega a Chesney Wold e quando parte; e, se estivesse muito doente, se fosse derrubado por acidente, atropelado ou posto em qualquer situação que mostrasse um Dedlock em desvantagem, diria, se pudesse falar: “Deixem-me e mandem chamar a Sra. Rouncewell!”, sentindo sua dignidade, em semelhante apuro, mais segura com ela do que com qualquer outra pessoa.

A Sra. Rouncewell conheceu a aflição. Teve dois filhos, dos quais o mais moço se tornou indomável, alistou-se como soldado e nunca voltou. Até hoje as mãos serenas da Sra. Rouncewell perdem a compostura quando fala dele e, desprendendo-se do corpete, pairam agitadas ao redor enquanto ela diz que rapaz promissor, que belo rapaz, que alegre, bem-humorado e inteligente rapaz ele era! Seu segundo filho teria recebido uma posição em Chesney Wold e no devido tempo seria nomeado administrador, mas, quando estudante, começou a construir máquinas a vapor com panelas e a fazer os pássaros tirarem a própria água com o mínimo trabalho possível, auxiliando-os por um engenhoso mecanismo de pressão hidráulica, de modo que um canário sedento precisava apenas, em sentido literal, pôr o ombro à roda, e o serviço estava feito. Essa propensão causou grande inquietação à Sra. Rouncewell. Com angústia materna, sentiu que aquilo era um passo na direção de Wat Tyler, bem sabendo que Sir Leicester tinha essa impressão geral acerca da aptidão para qualquer arte na qual fumaça e chaminé alta pudessem ser consideradas essenciais. Mas o jovem rebelde condenado (de resto um rapaz amável e muito perseverante), não mostrando sinal de regeneração ao crescer e, ao contrário, construindo um modelo de tear mecânico, ela se viu obrigada, com muitas lágrimas, a mencionar suas transgressões ao baronete. “Sra. Rouncewell”, disse Sir Leicester, “como sabe, jamais posso consentir em discutir com alguém sobre tema algum. Será melhor livrar-se do rapaz; será melhor colocá-lo em alguma Fábrica. A região do ferro mais ao norte é, suponho, a direção congênita para um rapaz com essas tendências.” Mais ao norte ele foi, e mais ao norte cresceu; e, se Sir Leicester Dedlock alguma vez o viu quando veio a Chesney Wold visitar a mãe, ou se depois pensou nele, é certo que só o considerou membro de um corpo de alguns milhares de conspiradores, morenos e sinistros, que tinham o hábito de sair à luz de tochas duas ou três noites por semana para fins ilícitos.

Não obstante, o filho da Sra. Rouncewell, no curso da natureza e da arte, cresceu, estabeleceu-se, casou-se e chamou para junto de si o neto da Sra. Rouncewell, que, concluído o aprendizado e regressando de uma viagem a países distantes, para onde fora enviado a fim de ampliar os conhecimentos e completar os preparativos para a aventura desta vida, encontra-se neste exato dia apoiado à cornija da lareira no aposento da Sra. Rouncewell em Chesney Wold.

- E mais uma vez, e outra vez, estou contente de vê-lo, Watt! E, uma vez mais, estou contente de vê-lo, Watt! - diz a Sra. Rouncewell. - Você é um belo rapaz. Parece-se com seu pobre tio George. Ah! - As mãos da Sra. Rouncewell ficam inquietas, como sempre, diante dessa referência.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Watt diz que as pessoas acham que ele se parece com o pai.

A avó concorda, mas diz que ele se parece mais com George. Depois pergunta se o pai de Watt está bem.

Watt diz que seu pai tem sucesso em todos os sentidos.

A Sra. Rouncewell agradece. Ama o filho, mas sente com tristeza que a vida industrial dele o colocou no lado oposto ao mundo dela.

Ela pergunta se o filho é totalmente feliz.

Watt diz que sim.

A Sra. Rouncewell agradece, mas se pergunta sobre a decisão do filho de treinar Watt na indústria e enviá-lo ao exterior. Admite que pode haver um mundo além de Chesney Wold que ela não entende, apesar da idade e da experiência com pessoas importantes.

Mudando de assunto, Watt pergunta sobre a jovem muito bonita chamada Rosa que acabou de conhecer.

A Sra. Rouncewell diz que Rosa é filha de uma viúva da aldeia. Recebeu a menina ainda jovem porque é difícil treinar criadas. Rosa aprende depressa, já mostra a casa aos visitantes e come à sua mesa.

Original English Version

“They say I am like my father, grandmother.”

“Like him, also, my dear - but most like your poor uncle George! And your dear father.” Mrs. Rouncewell folds her hands again. “He is well?”

“Thriving, grandmother, in every way.”

“I am thankful!” Mrs. Rouncewell is fond of her son but has a plaintive feeling towards him, much as if he were a very honourable soldier who had gone over to the enemy.

“He is quite happy?” says she.

“Quite.”

“I am thankful! So he has brought you up to follow in his ways and has sent you into foreign countries and the like? Well, he knows best. There may be a world beyond Chesney Wold that I don’t understand. Though I am not young, either. And I have seen a quantity of good company too!”

“Grandmother,” says the young man, changing the subject, “what a very pretty girl that was I found with you just now. You called her Rosa?”

“Yes, child. She is daughter of a widow in the village. Maids are so hard to teach, now-a-days, that I have put her about me young. She’s an apt scholar and will do well. She shows the house already, very pretty. She lives with me at my table here.”

Tradução Integral em Português

- Dizem que me pareço com meu pai, vovó.

- Com ele também, meu querido... mas sobretudo com seu pobre tio George! E seu querido pai... - A Sra. Rouncewell torna a cruzar as mãos. - Está bem?

- Prosperando em todos os sentidos, vovó.

- Dou graças a Deus! - A Sra. Rouncewell ama o filho, mas sente por ele uma tristeza que se assemelha à que sentiria se fosse um soldado muito honrado que passara para o inimigo.

- Está inteiramente feliz? - pergunta.

- Inteiramente.

- Dou graças a Deus! Então ele o criou para seguir os caminhos dele e o mandou a países estrangeiros e coisas assim? Bem, ele sabe o que é melhor. Talvez haja um mundo além de Chesney Wold que não compreendo. Embora eu também não seja jovem. E já vi muita companhia de alta categoria!

- Vovó - diz o jovem, mudando de assunto - , que moça lindíssima era aquela que encontrei aqui com a senhora agora mesmo. Chamou-a de Rosa?

- Sim, criança. É filha de uma viúva da aldeia. Hoje em dia é tão difícil ensinar as criadas que a pus a meu serviço ainda jovem. É uma aluna capaz e haverá de sair-se bem. Já mostra a casa, muito direitinho. Vive comigo, à minha mesa aqui.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Watt espera que sua chegada não tenha feito Rosa sair.

A avó diz que Rosa provavelmente achou que eles precisavam discutir assuntos de família. Elogia a modéstia da jovem e diz que ela é mais rara do que antes.

Watt aceita com respeito a lição da avó. Então a Sra. Rouncewell escuta.

Ela ouve rodas de carruagem e se pergunta quem poderia chegar num dia tão chuvoso. Watt já as ouvira antes.

Logo alguém bate. Rosa entra, uma bela e tímida jovem da aldeia de olhos e cabelos escuros. A chuva em seu rosto e cabelo frescos parece orvalho numa flor.

A Sra. Rouncewell pergunta a Rosa quem chegou.

Rosa diz que dois jovens numa carruagem querem ver a casa. Ela lhes disse que era o dia e a hora errados, mas o condutor pediu educadamente que entregasse seu cartão.

A governanta pede que Watt leia o cartão.

Rosa entrega o cartão a Watt com timidez. Eles o deixam cair e quase batem as cabeças ao pegá-lo, deixando-a ainda mais tímida.

Original English Version

“I hope I have not driven her away?”

“She supposes we have family affairs to speak about, I dare say. She is very modest. It is a fine quality in a young woman. And scarcer,” says Mrs. Rouncewell, expanding her stomacher to its utmost limits, “than it formerly was!”

The young man inclines his head in acknowledgment of the precepts of experience. Mrs. Rouncewell listens.

“Wheels!” says she. They have long been audible to the younger ears of her companion. “What wheels on such a day as this, for gracious sake?”

After a short interval, a tap at the door. “Come in!” A dark-eyed, dark-haired, shy, village beauty comes in - so fresh in her rosy and yet delicate bloom that the drops of rain which have beaten on her hair look like the dew upon a flower fresh gathered.

“What company is this, Rosa?” says Mrs. Rouncewell.

“It’s two young men in a gig, ma’am, who want to see the house - yes, and if you please, I told them so!” in quick reply to a gesture of dissent from the housekeeper. “I went to the hall-door and told them it was the wrong day and the wrong hour, but the young man who was driving took off his hat in the wet and begged me to bring this card to you.”

“Read it, my dear Watt,” says the housekeeper.

Rosa is so shy as she gives it to him that they drop it between them and almost knock their foreheads together as they pick it up. Rosa is shyer than before.

Tradução Integral em Português

- Espero não tê-la afugentado.

- Suponho que pense que temos assuntos de família sobre os quais falar. É muito modesta. Uma bela qualidade numa jovem. E mais rara - diz a Sra. Rouncewell, expandindo o corpete até seus limites máximos - do que era antigamente!

O jovem inclina a cabeça em reconhecimento aos preceitos da experiência. A Sra. Rouncewell escuta.

- Rodas! - diz ela. Há muito eram audíveis aos ouvidos mais jovens de seu companheiro. - Que rodas são essas num dia como este, pelo amor de Deus?

Após breve intervalo, uma batida à porta. - Entre! - Entra uma beleza tímida da aldeia, de olhos e cabelos escuros - tão viçosa em seu róseo e delicado florescer que as gotas de chuva que lhe bateram no cabelo parecem orvalho sobre uma flor recém-colhida.

- Quem é essa visita, Rosa? - pergunta a Sra. Rouncewell.

- São dois jovens numa charrete, senhora, que querem ver a casa... sim, e, com sua licença, foi o que lhes disse! - responde depressa a um gesto de desaprovação da governanta. - Fui à porta principal e disse-lhes que era o dia errado e a hora errada, mas o jovem que conduzia tirou o chapéu na chuva e suplicou que eu lhe trouxesse este cartão.

- Leia-o, meu querido Watt - diz a governanta.

Rosa fica tão tímida ao entregá-lo que o deixam cair entre ambos e quase batem as testas ao apanhá-lo. Rosa fica ainda mais tímida.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

O cartão traz apenas o nome Sr. Guppy.

A Sra. Rouncewell repete o nome desconhecido e diz que nunca ouviu falar dele.

Rosa explica que os homens são advogados de Londres que chegaram para tratar de negócios nas proximidades. Depois de terminarem cedo, vieram sob a chuva conhecer a famosa Chesney Wold. Guppy disse que não era do escritório do Sr. Tulkinghorn, mas poderia usar seu nome se fosse necessário. Rosa fica tímida depois do longo discurso.

Como Tulkinghorn está muito ligado à casa, a Sra. Rouncewell permite a entrada dos visitantes como um favor especial. Watt de repente quer participar da visita, então sua avó satisfeita vai com ele, embora ele não queira incomodá-la.

Ao tirar o casaco molhado, Guppy agradece à Sra. Rouncewell e diz que advogados de Londres raramente têm folga, por isso aproveitam cada oportunidade.

A governanta aponta para a grande escada. Guppy e o amigo seguem Rosa, seguidos pela Sra. Rouncewell e Watt. Um jovem jardineiro vai à frente para abrir as venezianas.

Original English Version

“Mr. Guppy” is all the information the card yields.

“Guppy!” repeats Mrs. Rouncewell, “MR. Guppy! Nonsense, I never heard of him!”

“If you please, he told ME that!” says Rosa. “But he said that he and the other young gentleman came from London only last night by the mail, on business at the magistrates’ meeting, ten miles off, this morning, and that as their business was soon over, and they had heard a great deal said of Chesney Wold, and really didn’t know what to do with themselves, they had come through the wet to see it. They are lawyers. He says he is not in Mr. Tulkinghorn’s office, but he is sure he may make use of Mr. Tulkinghorn’s name if necessary.” Finding, now she leaves off, that she has been making quite a long speech, Rosa is shyer than ever.

Now, Mr. Tulkinghorn is, in a manner, part and parcel of the place, and besides, is supposed to have made Mrs. Rouncewell’s will. The old lady relaxes, consents to the admission of the visitors as a favour, and dismisses Rosa. The grandson, however, being smitten by a sudden wish to see the house himself, proposes to join the party. The grandmother, who is pleased that he should have that interest, accompanies him - though to do him justice, he is exceedingly unwilling to trouble her.

“Much obliged to you, ma’am!” says Mr. Guppy, divesting himself of his wet dreadnought in the hall. “Us London lawyers don’t often get an out, and when we do, we like to make the most of it, you know.”

The old housekeeper, with a gracious severity of deportment, waves her hand towards the great staircase. Mr. Guppy and his friend follow Rosa; Mrs. Rouncewell and her grandson follow them; a young gardener goes before to open the shutters.

Tradução Integral em Português

“Sr. Guppy” é toda a informação fornecida pelo cartão.

- Guppy! - repete a Sra. Rouncewell. - SR. Guppy! Que absurdo, nunca ouvi falar nele!

- Com sua licença, foi o que ELE me disse! - diz Rosa. - Mas disse que ele e o outro jovem cavalheiro vieram de Londres somente ontem à noite, na diligência do correio, a negócios na reunião dos magistrados, a dez milhas daqui, esta manhã; e que, como os negócios terminaram cedo, como tinham ouvido falar muito de Chesney Wold e realmente não sabiam o que fazer consigo mesmos, atravessaram a chuva para vê-la. São advogados. Ele diz não trabalhar no escritório do Sr. Tulkinghorn, mas tem certeza de que pode usar o nome do Sr. Tulkinghorn, se necessário. - Percebendo, agora que parou, ter feito um discurso bastante longo, Rosa fica mais tímida que nunca.

Ora, o Sr. Tulkinghorn é, de certo modo, parte integrante do lugar e, além disso, supõe-se que tenha feito o testamento da Sra. Rouncewell. A velha senhora cede, consente como favor na admissão dos visitantes e dispensa Rosa. O neto, porém, tomado de súbito desejo de ver ele próprio a casa, propõe juntar-se ao grupo. A avó, satisfeita por ele demonstrar esse interesse, acompanha-o - embora, para fazer-lhe justiça, ele esteja extremamente relutante em incomodá-la.

- Muito agradecido, senhora! - diz o Sr. Guppy, despindo no vestíbulo seu casacão molhado. - Nós, advogados de Londres, não saímos muitas vezes, e quando saímos gostamos de aproveitar ao máximo, sabe.

A velha governanta, com graciosa severidade de maneiras, acena a mão em direção à grande escadaria. O Sr. Guppy e o amigo seguem Rosa; a Sra. Rouncewell e o neto seguem-nos; um jovem jardineiro vai à frente para abrir as venezianas.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Como muitos visitantes de casas, Guppy e o amigo ficam cansados quase imediatamente. Olham as coisas erradas e parecem entediados. Em cada sala, a Sra. Rouncewell ouve com orgulho a explicação de Rosa, enquanto Watt observa Rosa tão atentamente que ela fica mais tímida e bonita. Os velhos retratos dos Dedlock aparecem por pouco tempo na luz. Guppy acha que a única conquista da família foi não fazer nada notável por setecentos anos.

Nem a longa sala de visitas anima Guppy. Então ele vê um retrato acima da lareira e de repente recupera a energia. Olha para ele com profundo interesse, completamente fascinado.

Surpreso, Guppy pergunta quem é a mulher.

Rosa explica que o retrato mostra a atual Lady Dedlock. As pessoas o consideram uma representação perfeita e a melhor obra do artista.

Guppy diz ao amigo que não se lembra de vê-la, mas de algum modo conhece seu rosto. Pergunta se cópias do quadro foram impressas.

Rosa diz que o quadro nunca foi copiado porque Sir Leicester sempre recusou permissão.

Original English Version

As is usually the case with people who go over houses, Mr. Guppy and his friend are dead beat before they have well begun. They straggle about in wrong places, look at wrong things, don’t care for the right things, gape when more rooms are opened, exhibit profound depression of spirits, and are clearly knocked up. In each successive chamber that they enter, Mrs. Rouncewell, who is as upright as the house itself, rests apart in a window-seat or other such nook and listens with stately approval to Rosa’s exposition. Her grandson is so attentive to it that Rosa is shyer than ever - and prettier. Thus they pass on from room to room, raising the pictured Dedlocks for a few brief minutes as the young gardener admits the light, and reconsigning them to their graves as he shuts it out again. It appears to the afflicted Mr. Guppy and his inconsolable friend that there is no end to the Dedlocks, whose family greatness seems to consist in their never having done anything to distinguish themselves for seven hundred years.

Even the long drawing-room of Chesney Wold cannot revive Mr. Guppy’s spirits. He is so low that he droops on the threshold and has hardly strength of mind to enter. But a portrait over the chimney-piece, painted by the fashionable artist of the day, acts upon him like a charm. He recovers in a moment. He stares at it with uncommon interest; he seems to be fixed and fascinated by it.

“Dear me!” says Mr. Guppy. “Who’s that?”

“The picture over the fire-place,” says Rosa, “is the portrait of the present Lady Dedlock. It is considered a perfect likeness, and the best work of the master.”

“Blest,” says Mr. Guppy, staring in a kind of dismay at his friend, “if I can ever have seen her. Yet I know her! Has the picture been engraved, miss?”

“The picture has never been engraved. Sir Leicester has always refused permission.”

Tradução Integral em Português

Como geralmente acontece com quem visita casas, o Sr. Guppy e o amigo já estão exaustos antes mesmo de começar direito. Arrastam-se pelos lugares errados, olham as coisas erradas, não se importam com as certas, escancaram a boca quando mais aposentos são abertos, demonstram profundo abatimento de espírito e estão claramente rendidos. Em cada aposento sucessivo em que entram, a Sra. Rouncewell, tão ereta quanto a própria casa, repousa à parte num assento de janela ou noutro recanto semelhante e escuta com majestosa aprovação a exposição de Rosa. Seu neto está tão atento a ela que Rosa fica mais tímida que nunca - e mais bonita. Assim passam de aposento em aposento, ressuscitando por alguns breves minutos os Dedlocks retratados enquanto o jovem jardineiro admite a luz e tornando a entregá-los aos túmulos quando ele volta a excluí-la. Ao aflito Sr. Guppy e ao inconsolável amigo parece não haver fim para os Dedlocks, cuja grandeza familiar parece consistir em jamais terem feito nada para se distinguirem durante setecentos anos.

Nem mesmo a longa sala de visitas de Chesney Wold consegue reanimar o Sr. Guppy. Está tão abatido que verga à soleira e mal tem força de espírito para entrar. Mas um retrato sobre a cornija da lareira, pintado pelo artista em voga naquela época, age sobre ele como um encanto. Recupera-se num instante. Fita-o com interesse incomum; parece preso e fascinado por ele.

- Santo Deus! - diz o Sr. Guppy. - Quem é?

- O quadro sobre a lareira - diz Rosa - é o retrato da atual Lady Dedlock. Consideram-no uma semelhança perfeita e a melhor obra do mestre.

- Maldito seja eu - diz o Sr. Guppy, fitando o amigo com uma espécie de consternação - se algum dia posso tê-la visto. Contudo, eu a conheço! O quadro foi gravado, senhorita?

- O quadro nunca foi gravado. Sir Leicester sempre recusou permissão.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Espantado e em voz baixa, Guppy diz que é muito estranho conhecer tão bem o retrato. Confirma que a mulher é Lady Dedlock.

Rosa aponta os retratos do atual Sir Leicester à direita e de seu falecido pai à esquerda.

Guppy ignora os dois homens e continua olhando para Lady Dedlock. Incapaz de explicar por que conhece seu rosto, sugere que talvez tenha sonhado com o quadro.

Ninguém se interessa pelos sonhos de Guppy, mas ele permanece imóvel diante do retrato até as venezianas se fecharem. Sai da sala confuso e procura em todos os cômodos seguintes como se esperasse ver Lady Dedlock novamente.

Guppy não vê mais nada dela, apenas seus quartos elegantes e a vista que recentemente a entediara. Por fim, a visita cansativa termina. Rosa conclui apontando o admirado terraço abaixo, chamado Passeio do Fantasma por causa de uma antiga história da família.

Guppy pede a história com ansiedade e pergunta se ela trata de um quadro.

Original English Version

“Well!” says Mr. Guppy in a low voice. “I’ll be shot if it ain’t very curious how well I know that picture! So that’s Lady Dedlock, is it!”

“The picture on the right is the present Sir Leicester Dedlock. The picture on the left is his father, the late Sir Leicester.”

Mr. Guppy has no eyes for either of these magnates. “It’s unaccountable to me,” he says, still staring at the portrait, “how well I know that picture! I’m dashed,” adds Mr. Guppy, looking round, “if I don’t think I must have had a dream of that picture, you know!”

As no one present takes any especial interest in Mr. Guppy’s dreams, the probability is not pursued. But he still remains so absorbed by the portrait that he stands immovable before it until the young gardener has closed the shutters, when he comes out of the room in a dazed state that is an odd though a sufficient substitute for interest and follows into the succeeding rooms with a confused stare, as if he were looking everywhere for Lady Dedlock again.

He sees no more of her. He sees her rooms, which are the last shown, as being very elegant, and he looks out of the windows from which she looked out, not long ago, upon the weather that bored her to death. All things have an end, even houses that people take infinite pains to see and are tired of before they begin to see them. He has come to the end of the sight, and the fresh village beauty to the end of her description; which is always this: “The terrace below is much admired. It is called, from an old story in the family, the Ghost’s Walk.”

“No?” says Mr. Guppy, greedily curious. “What’s the story, miss? Is it anything about a picture?”

Tradução Integral em Português

- Bem! - diz o Sr. Guppy em voz baixa. - Que eu leve um tiro se não é muito curioso o quanto conheço esse quadro! Então essa é Lady Dedlock!

- O quadro à direita é o atual Sir Leicester Dedlock. O quadro à esquerda é seu pai, o falecido Sir Leicester.

O Sr. Guppy não tem olhos para nenhum desses magnatas. - É inexplicável para mim - diz, ainda contemplando o retrato - o quanto conheço esse quadro! Que me enforquem - acrescenta o Sr. Guppy, olhando ao redor - se não acho que devo ter sonhado com esse quadro, sabem!

Como nenhum dos presentes demonstra interesse especial pelos sonhos do Sr. Guppy, a possibilidade não é investigada. Mas ele continua tão absorto pelo retrato que permanece imóvel diante dele até que o jovem jardineiro feche as venezianas; então sai do aposento num estado de torpor que é um substituto estranho, embora suficiente, para o interesse, e segue para os aposentos seguintes com olhar confuso, como se procurasse Lady Dedlock novamente por toda parte.

Não a vê mais. Vê os aposentos dela, os últimos a serem mostrados, por serem muito elegantes, e olha pelas janelas das quais ela contemplou, não muito tempo antes, o tempo que a entediava até a morte. Todas as coisas têm fim, até as casas que as pessoas se dão a um trabalho infinito para ver e das quais se cansam antes de começar a vê-las. Ele chegou ao fim do espetáculo, e a viçosa beleza da aldeia ao fim de sua descrição, que é sempre esta: - O terraço abaixo é muito admirado. É chamado, devido a uma velha história da família, de Passeio do Fantasma.

- Não diga? - diz o Sr. Guppy, avidamente curioso. - Qual é a história, senhorita? Tem alguma coisa que ver com um quadro?

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Watt pede baixinho que Rosa lhes conte a história.

Rosa fica ainda mais tímida e diz que não conhece a história.

A governanta diz que a história não é contada aos visitantes e está quase esquecida. É apenas um antigo conto de família.

Guppy pede desculpas, mas pergunta novamente se a história envolve um quadro. Quanto mais pensa no retrato de Lady Dedlock, mais certeza tem de que o conhece, embora não saiba explicar como.

A governanta garante que a história não tem relação com um quadro. Guppy agradece e sai com o amigo. Ao anoitecer, a Sra. Rouncewell decide que pode confiar em Rosa e Watt e lhes conta por que o terraço tem esse nome fantasmagórico.

Sentada junto à janela que escurece, a Sra. Rouncewell começa. Durante a guerra civil no tempo do rei Carlos I, Sir Morbury Dedlock era dono de Chesney Wold. Ela acredita que a antiga família provavelmente já tinha um fantasma antes disso.

Original English Version

“Pray tell us the story,” says Watt in a half whisper.

“I don’t know it, sir.” Rosa is shyer than ever.

“It is not related to visitors; it is almost forgotten,” says the housekeeper, advancing. “It has never been more than a family anecdote.”

“You’ll excuse my asking again if it has anything to do with a picture, ma’am,” observes Mr. Guppy, “because I do assure you that the more I think of that picture the better I know it, without knowing how I know it!”

The story has nothing to do with a picture; the housekeeper can guarantee that. Mr. Guppy is obliged to her for the information and is, moreover, generally obliged. He retires with his friend, guided down another staircase by the young gardener, and presently is heard to drive away. It is now dusk. Mrs. Rouncewell can trust to the discretion of her two young hearers and may tell THEM how the terrace came to have that ghostly name.

She seats herself in a large chair by the fast-darkening window and tells them: “In the wicked days, my dears, of King Charles the First - I mean, of course, in the wicked days of the rebels who leagued themselves against that excellent king - Sir Morbury Dedlock was the owner of Chesney Wold. Whether there was any account of a ghost in the family before those days, I can’t say. I should think it very likely indeed.”

Tradução Integral em Português

- Por favor, conte-nos a história - diz Watt num meio sussurro.

- Não a conheço, senhor. - Rosa está mais tímida que nunca.

- Ela não é contada aos visitantes; está quase esquecida - diz a governanta, aproximando-se. - Nunca passou de uma anedota de família.

- Perdoe-me por perguntar outra vez se tem alguma coisa que ver com um quadro, senhora - observa o Sr. Guppy - , pois lhe asseguro que, quanto mais penso naquele quadro, melhor o conheço, sem saber como o conheço!

A história nada tem que ver com um quadro; a governanta pode garanti-lo. O Sr. Guppy agradece-lhe a informação e, além disso, agradece de modo geral. Retira-se com o amigo, guiado por outra escada pelo jovem jardineiro, e logo se ouve a charrete afastar-se. Agora é crepúsculo. A Sra. Rouncewell pode confiar na discrição de seus dois jovens ouvintes e contar a ELES como o terraço recebeu aquele nome fantasmagórico.

Senta-se numa grande poltrona junto à janela que escurece depressa e lhes conta: - Nos dias perversos, meus queridos, do rei Carlos I... quero dizer, naturalmente, nos dias perversos dos rebeldes que se uniram contra aquele excelente rei... Sir Morbury Dedlock era o proprietário de Chesney Wold. Se havia algum relato de fantasma na família antes daqueles dias, não sei dizer. Eu julgaria muito provável.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

A Sra. Rouncewell acha que uma família tão antiga e importante tem direito a um fantasma. Para ela, fantasmas são um privilégio especial das classes altas, não das pessoas comuns.

Sir Morbury apoiava o rei Carlos, mas sua esposa apoiava secretamente os inimigos do rei, inclusive parentes dela. Talvez ouvisse do lado de fora quando os apoiadores do rei se reuniam. A Sra. Rouncewell para e pergunta a Watt se ele ouve um passo no terraço.

Rosa se aproxima da governanta.

Watt ouve a chuva nas pedras e um eco estranho que parece um passo desigual.

A Sra. Rouncewell diz que Sir Morbury e sua esposa orgulhosa tiveram um casamento infeliz e não tinham filhos. Depois que um parente dele matou o irmão amado dela na guerra, ela passou a odiar os Dedlock. À noite, machucava secretamente os cavalos deles. Certa noite, o marido a surpreendeu, e durante a luta um cavalo feriu seu quadril. A partir daí, sua saúde piorou lentamente.

Original English Version

Mrs. Rouncewell holds this opinion because she considers that a family of such antiquity and importance has a right to a ghost. She regards a ghost as one of the privileges of the upper classes, a genteel distinction to which the common people have no claim.

“Sir Morbury Dedlock,” says Mrs. Rouncewell, “was, I have no occasion to say, on the side of the blessed martyr. But it IS supposed that his Lady, who had none of the family blood in her veins, favoured the bad cause. It is said that she had relations among King Charles’s enemies, that she was in correspondence with them, and that she gave them information. When any of the country gentlemen who followed his Majesty’s cause met here, it is said that my Lady was always nearer to the door of their council-room than they supposed. Do you hear a sound like a footstep passing along the terrace, Watt?”

Rosa draws nearer to the housekeeper.

“I hear the rain-drip on the stones,” replies the young man, “and I hear a curious echo - I suppose an echo - which is very like a halting step.”

The housekeeper gravely nods and continues: “Partly on account of this division between them, and partly on other accounts, Sir Morbury and his Lady led a troubled life. She was a lady of a haughty temper. They were not well suited to each other in age or character, and they had no children to moderate between them. After her favourite brother, a young gentleman, was killed in the civil wars (by Sir Morbury’s near kinsman), her feeling was so violent that she hated the race into which she had married. When the Dedlocks were about to ride out from Chesney Wold in the king’s cause, she is supposed to have more than once stolen down into the stables in the dead of night and lamed their horses; and the story is that once at such an hour, her husband saw her gliding down the stairs and followed her into the stall where his own favourite horse stood. There he seized her by the wrist, and in a struggle or in a fall or through the horse being frightened and lashing out, she was lamed in the hip and from that hour began to pine away.”

Tradução Integral em Português

A Sra. Rouncewell sustenta essa opinião porque considera que uma família de tamanha antiguidade e importância tem direito a um fantasma. Encara um fantasma como um dos privilégios das classes superiores, uma distinção aristocrática que o povo comum não tem o direito de reivindicar.

- Sir Morbury Dedlock - diz a Sra. Rouncewell - estava, nem preciso dizer, ao lado do abençoado mártir. Mas SUPOSTAMENTE sua esposa, que não tinha nas veias uma só gota do sangue da família, favorecia a má causa. Diz-se que tinha parentes entre os inimigos do rei Carlos, que se correspondia com eles e lhes fornecia informações. Quando alguns dos cavalheiros da região que seguiam a causa de Sua Majestade se reuniam aqui, dizem que Lady Dedlock estava sempre mais perto da porta da sala de conselho do que supunham. Ouve um som como o de um passo percorrendo o terraço, Watt?

Rosa se aproxima mais da governanta.

- Ouço a chuva pingando nas pedras - responde o jovem - e um eco curioso... suponho que seja eco... muito semelhante a um passo claudicante.

A governanta assente gravemente e prossegue: - Em parte por causa dessa divisão entre eles e em parte por outras razões, Sir Morbury e Lady Dedlock levaram uma vida atribulada. Ela era uma senhora de temperamento altivo. Não combinavam bem em idade nem caráter e não tinham filhos que servissem de moderação entre os dois. Depois que o irmão favorito dela, um jovem cavalheiro, morreu nas guerras civis (pelas mãos de um parente próximo de Sir Morbury), seus sentimentos tornaram-se tão violentos que ela passou a odiar a raça em que se casara. Quando os Dedlocks estavam prestes a partir a cavalo de Chesney Wold pela causa do rei, supõe-se que mais de uma vez ela tenha descido furtivamente aos estábulos no coração da noite e aleijado os cavalos; e conta a história que certa vez, àquela hora, o marido a viu deslizando escada abaixo e a seguiu até a baia onde ficava o cavalo favorito dele. Ali agarrou-lhe o pulso, e, numa luta ou numa queda ou porque o cavalo se assustou e deu um coice, ela ficou aleijada do quadril e a partir daquela hora começou a definhar.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

A governanta baixa a voz quase até um sussurro.

A senhora ferida nunca reclamou, mas caminhava no terraço todos os dias com dificuldade cada vez maior. Certa tarde, caiu ali. Quando o marido tentou ajudar, ela recusou e disse que morreria onde havia caminhado. Prometeu que seu fantasma andaria ali até o orgulho da família ser humilhado e avisou os Dedlock para ouvirem seus passos antes de desgraças ou vergonha.

Watt olha para Rosa. Na escuridão crescente, ela olha para o chão, assustada e tímida.

A senhora morreu ali, e o terraço se tornou o Passeio do Fantasma. O passo desigual só é ouvido depois de escurecer e pode desaparecer por longos períodos. Mas sempre volta quando doença ou morte se aproximam da família.

Watt lembra à avó que o fantasma também avisou sobre vergonha.

A governanta afirma com firmeza que a vergonha nunca chega a Chesney Wold.

Watt pede desculpas e concorda com ela.

Original English Version

The housekeeper has dropped her voice to a little more than a whisper.

“She had been a lady of a handsome figure and a noble carriage. She never complained of the change; she never spoke to any one of being crippled or of being in pain, but day by day she tried to walk upon the terrace, and with the help of the stone balustrade, went up and down, up and down, up and down, in sun and shadow, with greater difficulty every day. At last, one afternoon her husband (to whom she had never, on any persuasion, opened her lips since that night), standing at the great south window, saw her drop upon the pavement. He hastened down to raise her, but she repulsed him as he bent over her, and looking at him fixedly and coldly, said, ‘I will die here where I have walked. And I will walk here, though I am in my grave. I will walk here until the pride of this house is humbled. And when calamity or when disgrace is coming to it, let the Dedlocks listen for my step!’”

Watt looks at Rosa. Rosa in the deepening gloom looks down upon the ground, half frightened and half shy.

“There and then she died. And from those days,” says Mrs. Rouncewell, “the name has come down - the Ghost’s Walk. If the tread is an echo, it is an echo that is only heard after dark, and is often unheard for a long while together. But it comes back from time to time; and so sure as there is sickness or death in the family, it will be heard then.”

“And disgrace, grandmother - ” says Watt.

“Disgrace never comes to Chesney Wold,” returns the housekeeper.

Her grandson apologizes with “True. True.”

Tradução Integral em Português

A governanta baixou a voz para pouco mais que um sussurro.

- Fora uma dama de bela figura e porte nobre. Nunca se queixou da mudança; nunca falou a ninguém sobre estar aleijada ou sentir dor, mas dia após dia tentava caminhar pelo terraço e, com a ajuda da balaustrada de pedra, ia e vinha, ia e vinha, ia e vinha, ao sol e à sombra, com maior dificuldade a cada dia. Por fim, certa tarde, o marido (a quem ela, não obstante qualquer persuasão, jamais dirigira palavra desde aquela noite), em pé junto à grande janela sul, viu-a tombar sobre o pavimento. Correu para erguê-la, mas ela o repeliu quando se inclinou sobre ela e, fitando-o com frieza, disse: “Morrerei aqui onde caminhei. E caminharei aqui embora esteja no túmulo. Caminharei aqui até que o orgulho desta casa seja humilhado. E, quando calamidade ou desonra vierem sobre ela, que os Dedlocks escutem meus passos!”

Watt olha para Rosa. Rosa, na penumbra que se aprofunda, baixa os olhos para o chão, meio assustada e meio tímida.

- Ali mesmo ela morreu. E desde aqueles dias - diz a Sra. Rouncewell - o nome chegou até nós: Passeio do Fantasma. Se o caminhar é um eco, é um eco ouvido somente depois do escurecer, e muitas vezes não se ouve por um longo período. Mas volta de tempos em tempos; e tão certo como há doença ou morte na família, ele será então ouvido.

- E desonra, vovó... - diz Watt.

- A desonra jamais vem a Chesney Wold - replica a governanta.

O neto se desculpa com um: - É verdade. É verdade.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

A Sra. Rouncewell termina a história. Seja qual for a causa do som inquietante, ele não pode ser ignorado, e até Lady Dedlock, que nada teme, admite isso. Depois pergunta a Watt sobre um alto relógio francês próximo, cuja batida forte e música poderiam cobrir outros sons.

“Funciona muito bem, vovó, eu acho.”

“Ligue-o”, disse ela.

Watt liga a máquina, incluindo a música.

A governanta chama a criança para mais perto do travesseiro de Lady Dedlock. Ela não tem certeza de que esteja escuro o bastante, mas pergunta se a criança consegue ouvir um som no terraço através da música e do ritmo das batidas.

“Sim, certamente consigo ouvir!”

“É o que minha senhora também diz.”

Original English Version

“That is the story. Whatever the sound is, it is a worrying sound,” says Mrs. Rouncewell, getting up from her chair; “and what is to be noticed in it is that it MUST BE HEARD. My Lady, who is afraid of nothing, admits that when it is there, it must be heard. You cannot shut it out. Watt, there is a tall French clock behind you (placed there, ’a purpose) that has a loud beat when it is in motion and can play music. You understand how those things are managed?”

“Pretty well, grandmother, I think.”

“Set it a-going.”

Watt sets it a-going - music and all.

“Now, come hither,” says the housekeeper. “Hither, child, towards my Lady’s pillow. I am not sure that it is dark enough yet, but listen! Can you hear the sound upon the terrace, through the music, and the beat, and everything?”

“I certainly can!”

“So my Lady says.”

Tradução Integral em Português

- Essa é a história. Seja o que for o som, é um som inquietante - diz a Sra. Rouncewell, levantando-se da poltrona - ; e o que se deve observar nele é que PRECISA SER OUVIDO. Lady Dedlock, que não teme coisa alguma, admite que, quando está presente, precisa ser ouvido. Não se pode excluí-lo. Watt, há atrás de você um alto relógio francês (posto ali de propósito) que tem um tique-taque forte quando funciona e pode tocar música. Você entende como essas coisas são manejadas?

- Razoavelmente bem, vovó, creio.

- Ponha-o para funcionar.

Watt o põe para funcionar - música e tudo.

- Agora venha cá - diz a governanta. - Cá, criança, para perto do travesseiro de milady. Não sei se já está escuro o bastante, mas escute! Consegue ouvir o som no terraço, através da música, da batida e de tudo o mais?

- Certamente consigo!

- É o que milady diz.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Chapter VIII

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Escondendo Muitos Pecados

Antes do nascer do sol, gostei de observar a luz do dia revelar a paisagem desconhecida além da janela. A névoa e as estrelas desapareceram devagar, minhas velas se tornaram desnecessárias e surgiu uma alegre cena rural. A antiga igreja da abadia se erguia sobre ela, e sua torre rústica lançava uma sombra suave. Aprendi que influências gentis podem vir de aparências ásperas.

A casa organizada e os criados prestativos facilitaram meus novos deveres, embora eu ficasse ocupada aprendendo o conteúdo de cada armário. Fiz o chá e depois explorei os belos jardins e o pátio da fazenda antes do café da manhã. Ada sorriu para mim da janela. A casa incomum e acolhedora tinha três pontas no telhado, muitas janelas diferentes e roseiras trepadeiras. Ada disse que era digna de seu primo John.

No café da manhã, o senhor Skimpole brincou sobre abelhas e mel. Não gostava da ideia de que abelhas trabalhadoras devessem servir de exemplo para ele. As abelhas trabalhavam porque gostavam, e depois as pessoas as expulsavam com fumaça e tomavam seu mel. Ele preferia o zangão preguiçoso, que aproveitava o mundo e pedia sustento a um trabalhador. Achava isso mais sábio, desde que o zangão continuasse amigo da abelha.

Original English Version

Covering a Multitude of Sins

It was interesting when I dressed before daylight to peep out of window, where my candles were reflected in the black panes like two beacons, and finding all beyond still enshrouded in the indistinctness of last night, to watch how it turned out when the day came on. As the prospect gradually revealed itself and disclosed the scene over which the wind had wandered in the dark, like my memory over my life, I had a pleasure in discovering the unknown objects that had been around me in my sleep. At first they were faintly discernible in the mist, and above them the later stars still glimmered. That pale interval over, the picture began to enlarge and fill up so fast that at every new peep I could have found enough to look at for an hour. Imperceptibly my candles became the only incongruous part of the morning, the dark places in my room all melted away, and the day shone bright upon a cheerful landscape, prominent in which the old Abbey Church, with its massive tower, threw a softer train of shadow on the view than seemed compatible with its rugged character. But so from rough outsides (I hope I have learnt), serene and gentle influences often proceed.

Every part of the house was in such order, and every one was so attentive to me, that I had no trouble with my two bunches of keys, though what with trying to remember the contents of each little store-room drawer and cupboard; and what with making notes on a slate about jams, and pickles, and preserves, and bottles, and glass, and china, and a great many other things; and what with being generally a methodical, old-maidish sort of foolish little person, I was so busy that I could not believe it was breakfast-time when I heard the bell ring. Away I ran, however, and made tea, as I had already been installed into the responsibility of the tea-pot; and then, as they were all rather late and nobody was down yet, I thought I would take a peep at the garden and get some knowledge of that too. I found it quite a delightful place - in front, the pretty avenue and drive by which we had approached (and where, by the by, we had cut up the gravel so terribly with our wheels that I asked the gardener to roll it); at the back, the flower-garden, with my darling at her window up there, throwing it open to smile out at me, as if she would have kissed me from that distance. Beyond the flower-garden was a kitchen-garden, and then a paddock, and then a snug little rick-yard, and then a dear little farm-yard. As to the house itself, with its three peaks in the roof; its various-shaped windows, some so large, some so small, and all so pretty; its trellis-work, against the south-front for roses and honey-suckle, and its homely, comfortable, welcoming look - it was, as Ada said when she came out to meet me with her arm through that of its master, worthy of her cousin John, a bold thing to say, though he only pinched her dear cheek for it.

Mr. Skimpole was as agreeable at breakfast as he had been overnight. There was honey on the table, and it led him into a discourse about bees. He had no objection to honey, he said (and I should think he had not, for he seemed to like it), but he protested against the overweening assumptions of bees. He didn’t at all see why the busy bee should be proposed as a model to him; he supposed the bee liked to make honey, or he wouldn’t do it - nobody asked him. It was not necessary for the bee to make such a merit of his tastes. If every confectioner went buzzing about the world banging against everything that came in his way and egotistically calling upon everybody to take notice that he was going to his work and must not be interrupted, the world would be quite an unsupportable place. Then, after all, it was a ridiculous position to be smoked out of your fortune with brimstone as soon as you had made it. You would have a very mean opinion of a Manchester man if he spun cotton for no other purpose. He must say he thought a drone the embodiment of a pleasanter and wiser idea. The drone said unaffectedly, “You will excuse me; I really cannot attend to the shop! I find myself in a world in which there is so much to see and so short a time to see it in that I must take the liberty of looking about me and begging to be provided for by somebody who doesn’t want to look about him.” This appeared to Mr. Skimpole to be the drone philosophy, and he thought it a very good philosophy, always supposing the drone to be willing to be on good terms with the bee, which, so far as he knew, the easy fellow always was, if the consequential creature would only let him, and not be so conceited about his honey!

Tradução Integral em Português

Cobrindo uma Multidão de Pecados

Era interessante, ao vestir-me antes do amanhecer, espiar pela janela, onde minhas velas se refletiam nas vidraças negras como dois faróis, e, encontrando tudo além ainda envolto na imprecisão da noite anterior, observar o que surgia quando o dia chegava. À medida que a vista se revelava e descobria o cenário sobre o qual o vento vagara no escuro, como minha memória sobre minha vida, eu tinha prazer em descobrir os objetos desconhecidos que me haviam cercado durante o sono. A princípio eram vagamente discerníveis na névoa, e acima deles ainda cintilavam as estrelas tardias. Terminado aquele intervalo pálido, o quadro começou a ampliar-se e preencher-se tão depressa que, a cada nova espiada, eu poderia ter encontrado o bastante para contemplar por uma hora. Imperceptivelmente, minhas velas tornaram-se a única parte incongruente da manhã, os lugares escuros de meu quarto todos se dissolveram, e o dia brilhou sobre uma paisagem alegre, na qual a velha igreja da Abadia, com sua torre maciça, projetava uma faixa de sombra mais suave do que parecia compatível com seu caráter áspero. Mas é assim que de exteriores rudes (espero ter aprendido) muitas vezes procedem influências serenas e gentis.

Cada parte da casa estava em tamanha ordem, e todos eram tão atenciosos comigo, que não tive dificuldades com meus dois molhos de chaves, embora, entre tentar lembrar o conteúdo de cada gavetinha e armário das despensas, fazer anotações numa lousa sobre geleias, picles, conservas, garrafas, cristais, porcelanas e muitas outras coisas, e ser em geral uma criaturinha metódica, tola e com jeito de solteirona, eu estivesse tão ocupada que não pude acreditar que fosse hora do desjejum quando ouvi o sino. Corri para lá, porém, e fiz o chá, pois já fora investida da responsabilidade do bule; então, como todos estavam um tanto atrasados e ninguém ainda descera, pensei em dar uma espiada no jardim e também conhecê-lo. Achei-o absolutamente encantador: à frente, a bonita alameda e a entrada por onde chegáramos (e onde, a propósito, havíamos estragado terrivelmente o cascalho com nossas rodas, tanto que pedi ao jardineiro que o aplainasse); nos fundos, o jardim de flores, com minha querida lá no alto, à janela, abrindo-a para sorrir para mim, como se quisesse beijar-me àquela distância. Além do jardim de flores havia uma horta, depois um cercado, depois um pequeno e aconchegante terreiro de medas, e então um adorável terreiro da fazenda. Quanto à própria casa, com suas três pontas no telhado; suas janelas de formatos variados, umas tão grandes, outras tão pequenas, e todas tão bonitas; as treliças contra a fachada sul para rosas e madressilvas; e seu aspecto simples, confortável e acolhedor - ela era, como disse Ada quando saiu a meu encontro de braço dado com o dono, digna de seu primo John, coisa ousada de dizer, embora ele apenas lhe beliscasse a querida face por isso.

O Sr. Skimpole estava tão agradável ao desjejum quanto estivera na noite anterior. Havia mel à mesa, o que o levou a discorrer sobre abelhas. Não tinha objeção ao mel, disse (e eu diria que não, pois parecia apreciá-lo), mas protestava contra as pretensões desmedidas das abelhas. Não via por que a abelha laboriosa deveria ser-lhe proposta como modelo; supunha que ela gostasse de fazer mel, ou não o faria - ninguém lhe pedira. Não era preciso que a abelha fizesse tamanho mérito de seus gostos. Se todo confeiteiro saísse zumbindo pelo mundo, chocando-se contra tudo em seu caminho e conclamando egoisticamente todos a notar que ia trabalhar e não devia ser interrompido, o mundo seria um lugar absolutamente insuportável. Afinal, era uma situação ridícula ser expulso de sua fortuna com fumaça de enxofre assim que a produzisse. Teríamos péssima opinião de um homem de Manchester se ele fiasse algodão com esse único propósito. Devia dizer que julgava o zangão a encarnação de uma ideia mais agradável e sábia. O zangão dizia sem afetação: “Queiram desculpar-me; realmente não posso cuidar da loja! Encontro-me num mundo em que há tanto para ver e tão pouco tempo para vê-lo que preciso tomar a liberdade de olhar ao redor e pedir sustento a alguém que não queira olhar ao redor.” Essa parecia ao Sr. Skimpole a filosofia do zangão, e ele a julgava muito boa, sempre supondo que o zangão estivesse disposto a manter boas relações com a abelha - o que, até onde sabia, aquele sujeito despreocupado sempre estava, se a criatura presunçosa apenas permitisse e não se envaidecesse tanto de seu mel!

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

O senhor Skimpole continuou seu argumento divertido, embora em parte falasse sério. Saí para cumprir meus deveres. Mais tarde, enquanto carregava minha cesta de chaves, o senhor Jarndyce me chamou a uma pequena sala ao lado do quarto dele. Era parte biblioteca e parte depósito de sapatos e caixas de chapéus.

O senhor Jarndyce pediu que eu me sentasse e explicou que aquele era o Quarto dos Resmungos, onde ia quando estava mal-humorado.

Eu disse que ele devia usar o quarto muito raramente.

Ele disse que eu ainda não o conhecia. Quando o vento leste o desapontava, ele frequentemente se escondia no Quarto dos Resmungos. Então percebeu que eu estava tremendo.

Sozinha com meu bondoso tutor, senti-me tão feliz, honrada e grata que beijei sua mão. Ele ficou constrangido e foi até a janela, quase como se pudesse saltar. Quando voltou, seus olhos mostravam a emoção que tentara esconder. Tocou minha cabeça com carinho, e eu me sentei.

Original English Version

He pursued this fancy with the lightest foot over a variety of ground and made us all merry, though again he seemed to have as serious a meaning in what he said as he was capable of having. I left them still listening to him when I withdrew to attend to my new duties. They had occupied me for some time, and I was passing through the passages on my return with my basket of keys on my arm when Mr. Jarndyce called me into a small room next his bed-chamber, which I found to be in part a little library of books and papers and in part quite a little museum of his boots and shoes and hat-boxes.

“Sit down, my dear,” said Mr. Jarndyce. “This, you must know, is the growlery. When I am out of humour, I come and growl here.”

“You must be here very seldom, sir,” said I.

“Oh, you don’t know me!” he returned. “When I am deceived or disappointed in - the wind, and it’s easterly, I take refuge here. The growlery is the best-used room in the house. You are not aware of half my humours yet. My dear, how you are trembling!”

I could not help it; I tried very hard, but being alone with that benevolent presence, and meeting his kind eyes, and feeling so happy and so honoured there, and my heart so full - I kissed his hand. I don’t know what I said, or even that I spoke. He was disconcerted and walked to the window; I almost believed with an intention of jumping out, until he turned and I was reassured by seeing in his eyes what he had gone there to hide. He gently patted me on the head, and I sat down.

Tradução Integral em Português

Ele perseguiu essa fantasia com os passos mais leves por variados terrenos e divertiu a todos, embora outra vez parecesse haver no que dizia um sentido tão sério quanto lhe era possível ter. Deixei-os ainda ouvindo-o quando me retirei para cuidar de meus novos deveres. Estes me haviam ocupado por algum tempo, e eu atravessava os corredores ao voltar, com o cesto de chaves no braço, quando o Sr. Jarndyce chamou-me a uma pequena sala ao lado de seu quarto, que descobri ser em parte uma pequena biblioteca de livros e papéis, em parte um verdadeiro museuzinho de suas botas, sapatos e caixas de chapéu.

- Sente-se, minha querida - disse o Sr. Jarndyce. - Isto, saiba, é o resmungatório. Quando fico mal-humorado, venho resmungar aqui.

- O senhor deve vir aqui muito raramente - respondi.

- Ah, você não me conhece! - replicou. - Quando sou enganado ou desapontado com... o vento, e ele sopra de leste, refugio-me aqui. O resmungatório é o cômodo mais usado da casa. Você ainda não conhece metade de meus humores. Minha querida, como está tremendo!

Eu não conseguia evitar; tentei muito, mas, estando a sós com aquela presença benevolente, encontrando seus olhos bondosos, sentindo-me tão feliz e honrada ali, e com o coração tão cheio... beijei-lhe a mão. Não sei o que disse, nem sequer se falei. Ele ficou desconcertado e caminhou até a janela; quase acreditei que pretendesse saltar por ela, até que se virou e tranquilizei-me ao ver em seus olhos o que fora esconder ali. Afagou-me suavemente a cabeça, e sentei-me.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Ele disse que o momento de emoção havia terminado e mandou que eu não fosse tola.

Prometi que não aconteceria de novo, mas disse que era difícil no começo.

Ele chamou aquilo de absurdo. Simplesmente ouvira falar de uma boa órfã sem proteção e decidira protegê-la. Ela crescera e confirmara a boa opinião dele, enquanto ele continuava seu tutor e amigo. Disse que não havia nada extraordinário nisso e recebeu novamente meu rosto calmo e confiante.

Ordenei com firmeza a mim mesma que recuperasse o controle, e funcionou. O senhor Jarndyce aprovou e começou a falar comigo com tanta confiança como se conversássemos todas as manhãs havia anos. Quase parecia verdade.

O senhor Jarndyce perguntou se eu entendia o processo da Chancelaria.

Naturalmente, balancei a cabeça.

Ele disse que ninguém o entendia. Os advogados o haviam tornado tão confuso que a questão original desaparecera. Antes tratava de um testamento e seus fundos, mas agora dizia respeito apenas aos custos legais. Documentos, perguntas, discussões e procedimentos sem fim não levavam a lugar algum, exceto à morte e a mais custos.

Original English Version

“There! There!” he said. “That’s over. Pooh! Don’t be foolish.”

“It shall not happen again, sir,” I returned, “but at first it is difficult - ”

“Nonsense!” he said. “It’s easy, easy. Why not? I hear of a good little orphan girl without a protector, and I take it into my head to be that protector. She grows up, and more than justifies my good opinion, and I remain her guardian and her friend. What is there in all this? So, so! Now, we have cleared off old scores, and I have before me thy pleasant, trusting, trusty face again.”

I said to myself, “Esther, my dear, you surprise me! This really is not what I expected of you!” And it had such a good effect that I folded my hands upon my basket and quite recovered myself. Mr. Jarndyce, expressing his approval in his face, began to talk to me as confidentially as if I had been in the habit of conversing with him every morning for I don’t know how long. I almost felt as if I had.

“Of course, Esther,” he said, “you don’t understand this Chancery business?”

And of course I shook my head.

“I don’t know who does,” he returned. “The lawyers have twisted it into such a state of bedevilment that the original merits of the case have long disappeared from the face of the earth. It’s about a will and the trusts under a will - or it was once. It’s about nothing but costs now. We are always appearing, and disappearing, and swearing, and interrogating, and filing, and cross-filing, and arguing, and sealing, and motioning, and referring, and reporting, and revolving about the Lord Chancellor and all his satellites, and equitably waltzing ourselves off to dusty death, about costs. That’s the great question. All the rest, by some extraordinary means, has melted away.”

Tradução Integral em Português

- Pronto! Pronto! - disse ele. - Acabou. Ora! Não seja tola.

- Não acontecerá de novo, senhor - respondi - , mas no começo é difícil...

- Bobagem! - disse ele. - É fácil, fácil. Por que não? Ouço falar de uma boa órfãzinha sem protetor e ponho na cabeça ser esse protetor. Ela cresce, mais que justifica minha boa opinião, e eu continuo seu tutor e amigo. Que há em tudo isso? Muito bem! Agora acertamos as velhas contas, e tenho outra vez diante de mim seu rosto agradável, confiante e digno de confiança.

Disse a mim mesma: “Esther, minha querida, você me surpreende! Isto realmente não é o que eu esperava de você!” E teve efeito tão bom que cruzei as mãos sobre o cesto e recuperei inteiramente o controle. O Sr. Jarndyce, exprimindo aprovação no rosto, começou a falar comigo tão confidencialmente como se eu tivesse o hábito de conversar com ele todas as manhãs havia não sei quanto tempo. Quase senti como se tivesse.

- É claro, Esther - disse - , que você não entende esse negócio da Chancelaria?

E é claro que balancei a cabeça.

- Não sei quem entende - respondeu. - Os advogados retorceram-no até tal estado diabólico que os méritos originais da causa há muito desapareceram da face da Terra. Trata-se de um testamento e dos fideicomissos instituídos por ele - ou tratava-se, um dia. Agora trata-se apenas de custas. Estamos sempre comparecendo e desaparecendo, jurando e interrogando, protocolando e contraprotocolando, argumentando e selando, peticionando e remetendo, relatando e girando em torno do Lorde Chanceler e de todos os seus satélites, valsando equitativamente rumo à morte empoeirada, por causa das custas. Essa é a grande questão. Todo o resto, por algum meio extraordinário, derreteu-se.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Para fazê-lo voltar ao assunto, perguntei se o processo originalmente tratava de um testamento.

Ele disse que um Jarndyce fizera fortuna e um grande testamento. Discussões sobre a administração de seus fundos estavam desperdiçando o dinheiro e arruinando as pessoas citadas nele. Todos pagavam repetidamente por cópias inúteis e advogados. Os tribunais mandavam perguntas de um lado para outro, muitos funcionários pagos se envolviam e nada jamais terminava. Ninguém podia abandonar o processo. Pensar nele destruíra seu tio-avô Tom Jarndyce.

Perguntei se ele se referia ao senhor Jarndyce cuja história eu ouvira.

Ele assentiu com seriedade. Herdara de Tom, e Bleak House pertencera a ele. Quando o senhor Jarndyce chegou, a casa era realmente sombria e mostrava em toda parte a miséria de Tom.

Eu disse que a casa devia estar muito mudada agora.

Ele explicou que a casa antes se chamava The Peaks. Tom mudou seu nome e se fechou nela, estudando os documentos do processo e esperando acabar com a confusão. Enquanto isso, as paredes racharam, o telhado começou a vazar, ervas cobriram o caminho e a casa caiu em ruínas. Depois da morte de Tom, parecia que a casa também perdera a razão.

Original English Version

“But it was, sir,” said I, to bring him back, for he began to rub his head, “about a will?”

“Why, yes, it was about a will when it was about anything,” he returned. “A certain Jarndyce, in an evil hour, made a great fortune, and made a great will. In the question how the trusts under that will are to be administered, the fortune left by the will is squandered away; the legatees under the will are reduced to such a miserable condition that they would be sufficiently punished if they had committed an enormous crime in having money left them, and the will itself is made a dead letter. All through the deplorable cause, everything that everybody in it, except one man, knows already is referred to that only one man who don’t know, it to find out - all through the deplorable cause, everybody must have copies, over and over again, of everything that has accumulated about it in the way of cartloads of papers (or must pay for them without having them, which is the usual course, for nobody wants them) and must go down the middle and up again through such an infernal country-dance of costs and fees and nonsense and corruption as was never dreamed of in the wildest visions of a witch’s Sabbath. Equity sends questions to law, law sends questions back to equity; law finds it can’t do this, equity finds it can’t do that; neither can so much as say it can’t do anything, without this solicitor instructing and this counsel appearing for A, and that solicitor instructing and that counsel appearing for B; and so on through the whole alphabet, like the history of the apple pie. And thus, through years and years, and lives and lives, everything goes on, constantly beginning over and over again, and nothing ever ends. And we can’t get out of the suit on any terms, for we are made parties to it, and MUST BE parties to it, whether we like it or not. But it won’t do to think of it! When my great uncle, poor Tom Jarndyce, began to think of it, it was the beginning of the end!”

“The Mr. Jarndyce, sir, whose story I have heard?”

He nodded gravely. “I was his heir, and this was his house, Esther. When I came here, it was bleak indeed. He had left the signs of his misery upon it.”

“How changed it must be now!” I said.

“It had been called, before his time, the Peaks. He gave it its present name and lived here shut up, day and night poring over the wicked heaps of papers in the suit and hoping against hope to disentangle it from its mystification and bring it to a close. In the meantime, the place became dilapidated, the wind whistled through the cracked walls, the rain fell through the broken roof, the weeds choked the passage to the rotting door. When I brought what remained of him home here, the brains seemed to me to have been blown out of the house too, it was so shattered and ruined.”

Tradução Integral em Português

- Mas era, senhor - disse eu para fazê-lo voltar ao assunto, pois começara a esfregar a cabeça - , sobre um testamento?

- Ora, sim, era sobre um testamento quando era sobre alguma coisa - respondeu. - Certo Jarndyce, numa hora nefasta, fez grande fortuna e grande testamento. Na questão de como administrar os fideicomissos desse testamento, a fortuna por ele deixada é dissipada; os legatários são reduzidos a condição tão miserável que já estariam suficientemente punidos se houvessem cometido o crime hediondo de receber uma herança, e o próprio testamento torna-se letra morta. Ao longo de toda a deplorável causa, tudo o que todos nela, salvo um homem, já sabem é remetido a esse único homem que não sabe, para que descubra; ao longo de toda a deplorável causa, todos devem receber, repetidas vezes, cópias de tudo quanto se acumulou a seu respeito em carradas de papéis (ou pagar por elas sem recebê-las, que é o procedimento habitual, pois ninguém as quer) e devem descer pelo meio e subir de novo numa dança campestre tão infernal de custas, honorários, disparates e corrupção quanto jamais se sonhou nas mais delirantes visões de um sabá de bruxas. A Equidade envia perguntas à Lei, a Lei devolve perguntas à Equidade; a Lei descobre que não pode fazer isto, a Equidade descobre que não pode fazer aquilo; nenhuma sequer pode dizer que nada pode fazer sem este procurador instruir e este advogado comparecer por A, e aquele procurador instruir e aquele advogado comparecer por B; e assim por todo o alfabeto, como na história da torta de maçã. E desse modo, por anos e anos, vidas e vidas, tudo prossegue, recomeçando constantemente, e nada jamais termina. E não podemos sair do processo em condição alguma, pois somos feitos partes dele, e TEMOS DE SER partes dele, gostemos ou não. Mas não adianta pensar nisso! Quando meu tio-avô, o pobre Tom Jarndyce, começou a pensar nisso, foi o princípio do fim!

- O Sr. Jarndyce, senhor, cuja história ouvi?

Ele assentiu gravemente. - Eu era seu herdeiro, e esta era sua casa, Esther. Quando vim para cá, era de fato desolada. Ele deixara nela as marcas de sua miséria.

- Como deve estar mudada agora! - disse eu.

- Antes de seu tempo, fora chamada de Os Picos. Ele deu-lhe o nome atual e viveu aqui encerrado, debruçado dia e noite sobre os perversos montes de papéis do processo, esperando contra toda esperança desemaranhá-lo de sua mistificação e levá-lo ao fim. Nesse ínterim, o lugar arruinou-se, o vento assobiava pelas paredes rachadas, a chuva caía pelo telhado partido, as ervas daninhas sufocavam a passagem até a porta apodrecida. Quando trouxe para cá o que restava dele, pareceu-me que os miolos da casa também haviam sido estourados, tão destroçada e arruinada ela estava.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

O senhor Jarndyce caminhou de um lado para outro, estremecendo com a lembrança. Depois olhou para mim, ficou alegre novamente e sentou-se com as mãos nos bolsos.

Ele me lembrou que aquele era o Quarto dos Resmungos e perguntou onde havia parado.

Eu o lembrei das mudanças esperançosas que fizera em Bleak House.

Ele descreveu outra propriedade em Londres ligada ao processo. Era uma rua de casas vazias e moribundas, com janelas quebradas, venezianas caindo, grades enferrujadas, chaminés danificadas, degraus verdes e apoios apodrecidos. Bleak House sofrera porque seu dono estava na Chancelaria, e lugares arruinados por toda a Inglaterra carregavam a mesma marca.

Mais uma vez, eu disse como Bleak House mudara.

Ele concordou com alegria e disse que eu era sábia por mantê-lo no lado positivo. Só falava dessas coisas no Quarto dos Resmungos. Confiava em mim para decidir se deveria contar a Rick e Ada.

Comecei: “Espero, senhor...”

Original English Version

He walked a little to and fro after saying this to himself with a shudder, and then looked at me, and brightened, and came and sat down again with his hands in his pockets.

“I told you this was the growlery, my dear. Where was I?”

I reminded him, at the hopeful change he had made in Bleak House.

“Bleak House; true. There is, in that city of London there, some property of ours which is much at this day what Bleak House was then; I say property of ours, meaning of the suit’s, but I ought to call it the property of costs, for costs is the only power on earth that will ever get anything out of it now or will ever know it for anything but an eyesore and a heartsore. It is a street of perishing blind houses, with their eyes stoned out, without a pane of glass, without so much as a window-frame, with the bare blank shutters tumbling from their hinges and falling asunder, the iron rails peeling away in flakes of rust, the chimneys sinking in, the stone steps to every door (and every door might be death’s door) turning stagnant green, the very crutches on which the ruins are propped decaying. Although Bleak House was not in Chancery, its master was, and it was stamped with the same seal. These are the Great Seal’s impressions, my dear, all over England - the children know them!”

“How changed it is!” I said again.

“Why, so it is,” he answered much more cheerfully; “and it is wisdom in you to keep me to the bright side of the picture.” (The idea of my wisdom!) “These are things I never talk about or even think about, excepting in the growlery here. If you consider it right to mention them to Rick and Ada,” looking seriously at me, “you can. I leave it to your discretion, Esther.”

“I hope, sir - ” said I.

Tradução Integral em Português

Depois de dizer isso para si mesmo com um arrepio, caminhou um pouco de um lado para outro; então olhou para mim, animou-se e voltou a sentar-se, com as mãos nos bolsos.

- Eu lhe disse que este era o resmungatório, minha querida. Onde estava?

Recordei-lhe a esperançosa transformação que fizera em Bleak House.

- Bleak House; é verdade. Há, naquela cidade de Londres, uma propriedade nossa hoje muito semelhante ao que Bleak House era então; digo propriedade nossa no sentido de pertencer ao processo, mas deveria chamá-la propriedade das custas, pois as custas são o único poder na Terra que ainda arrancará alguma coisa dali ou que jamais a reconhecerá como algo além de uma chaga para os olhos e o coração. É uma rua de casas cegas e moribundas, com os olhos empedrados, sem vidraça alguma, sem sequer um caixilho, com as venezianas nuas e vazias desprendendo-se das dobradiças e desmanchando-se, as grades de ferro descamando em flocos de ferrugem, as chaminés afundando, os degraus de pedra de cada porta (e cada porta poderia ser a porta da morte) tornando-se verdes de água estagnada, até as muletas que sustentam as ruínas apodrecendo. Embora Bleak House não estivesse na Chancelaria, seu dono estava, e ela recebeu a marca do mesmo selo. Estas são as impressões do Grande Selo, minha querida, por toda a Inglaterra - as crianças as conhecem!

- Como está mudada! - tornei a dizer.

- Ora, está mesmo - respondeu ele, muito mais alegre - , e é sábio de sua parte manter-me no lado luminoso do quadro. - A ideia de eu ser sábia! - São coisas de que nunca falo, nem sequer penso, exceto aqui no resmungatório. Se julgar correto mencioná-las a Rick e Ada - disse, olhando-me seriamente - , pode fazê-lo. Deixo a seu critério, Esther.

- Espero, senhor... - comecei.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Ele sugeriu com carinho que eu o chamasse de Tutor.

Sua ternura quase me deixou emocionada de novo, embora ele fingisse que o pedido era casual. Sacudi de leve minhas chaves para me controlar, cruzei as mãos com firmeza sobre a cesta e olhei para ele com calma.

Disse ao meu tutor que não confiasse demais em meu julgamento. Admiti honestamente que não era inteligente e temia que essa verdade o desapontasse.

Ele não pareceu nem um pouco desapontado. Sorrindo com carinho, disse que me conhecia muito bem e que eu era inteligente o bastante para ele.

Eu disse que esperava que sim, embora não tivesse confiança.

Com humor, ele disse que eu era inteligente o bastante para ser a boa velhinha da vida deles, como a mulher de uma cantiga infantil.

A cantiga perguntava aonde a velhinha ia, e ela respondia que ia varrer as teias de aranha do céu.

Original English Version

“I think you had better call me guardian, my dear.”

I felt that I was choking again - I taxed myself with it, “Esther, now, you know you are!” - when he feigned to say this slightly, as if it were a whim instead of a thoughtful tenderness. But I gave the housekeeping keys the least shake in the world as a reminder to myself, and folding my hands in a still more determined manner on the basket, looked at him quietly.

“I hope, guardian,” said I, “that you may not trust too much to my discretion. I hope you may not mistake me. I am afraid it will be a disappointment to you to know that I am not clever, but it really is the truth, and you would soon find it out if I had not the honesty to confess it.”

He did not seem at all disappointed; quite the contrary. He told me, with a smile all over his face, that he knew me very well indeed and that I was quite clever enough for him.

“I hope I may turn out so,” said I, “but I am much afraid of it, guardian.”

“You are clever enough to be the good little woman of our lives here, my dear,” he returned playfully; “the little old woman of the child’s (I don’t mean Skimpole’s) rhyme:

“‘Little old woman, and whither so high?’ ‘To sweep the cobwebs out of the sky.’”

Tradução Integral em Português

- Acho melhor chamar-me de tutor, minha querida.

Senti que tornava a sufocar - repreendi-me: “Esther, agora, você sabe que está!” - quando ele fingiu dizer aquilo levianamente, como se fosse um capricho em vez de ternura refletida. Mas dei a menor sacudidela do mundo nas chaves da casa para lembrar a mim mesma e, cruzando as mãos sobre o cesto de maneira ainda mais decidida, olhei-o com calma.

- Espero, tutor - disse - , que não confie demais em meu critério. Espero que não se engane a meu respeito. Receio que seja uma decepção saber que não sou inteligente, mas essa é realmente a verdade, e logo o descobriria se eu não tivesse a honestidade de confessá-lo.

Ele não pareceu nem um pouco decepcionado; muito pelo contrário. Disse-me, com um sorriso por todo o rosto, que me conhecia muitíssimo bem e que eu era inteligente o bastante para ele.

- Espero mostrar que sou - disse eu - , mas tenho muito medo disso, tutor.

- Você é inteligente o bastante para ser a boa mulherzinha de nossa vida aqui, minha querida - respondeu, brincalhão - ; a velhinha da cantiga infantil (não quero dizer de Skimpole):

“‘Velhinha, velhinha, por que vai tão alto?’ ‘Para varrer do céu toda teia e sobressalto.’”

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Ele disse que minha administração da casa limparia tão bem o céu deles que um dia fechariam para sempre o Quarto dos Resmungos.

Depois disso, deram-me muitos apelidos brincalhões, entre eles Velha, Velhinha, Teia de Aranha e Dame Durden. Meu verdadeiro nome quase desapareceu entre eles.

Voltando à conversa, o senhor Jarndyce disse que Rick era um jovem promissor e perguntou o que deveria ser feito com ele.

Fiquei espantada por ele pedir meu conselho sobre uma questão tão importante.

O senhor Jarndyce disse que Richard precisava escolher uma profissão. Provavelmente haveria muita confusão, mas a decisão precisava ser tomada.

Perguntei ao meu tutor o que ele queria dizer com sua palavra estranha para confusão.

Ele explicou que, como Richard era tutelado pela Chancelaria, advogados, funcionários do tribunal, conselheiros e o Chanceler discutiriam sua escolha e exigiriam honorários. O processo seria formal, cheio de palavras, caro e insatisfatório. Ele chamava tudo aquilo de “wiglomeration” e não sabia por que a humanidade sofria com isso.

Original English Version

“You will sweep them so neatly out of OUR sky in the course of your housekeeping, Esther, that one of these days we shall have to abandon the growlery and nail up the door.”

This was the beginning of my being called Old Woman, and Little Old Woman, and Cobweb, and Mrs. Shipton, and Mother Hubbard, and Dame Durden, and so many names of that sort that my own name soon became quite lost among them.

“However,” said Mr. Jarndyce, “to return to our gossip. Here’s Rick, a fine young fellow full of promise. What’s to be done with him?”

Oh, my goodness, the idea of asking my advice on such a point!

“Here he is, Esther,” said Mr. Jarndyce, comfortably putting his hands into his pockets and stretching out his legs. “He must have a profession; he must make some choice for himself. There will be a world more wiglomeration about it, I suppose, but it must be done.”

“More what, guardian?” said I.

“More wiglomeration,” said he. “It’s the only name I know for the thing. He is a ward in Chancery, my dear. Kenge and Carboy will have something to say about it; Master Somebody - a sort of ridiculous sexton, digging graves for the merits of causes in a back room at the end of Quality Court, Chancery Lane - will have something to say about it; counsel will have something to say about it; the Chancellor will have something to say about it; the satellites will have something to say about it; they will all have to be handsomely fee’d, all round, about it; the whole thing will be vastly ceremonious, wordy, unsatisfactory, and expensive, and I call it, in general, wiglomeration. How mankind ever came to be afflicted with Wiglomeration, or for whose sins these young people ever fell into a pit of it, I don’t know; so it is.”

Tradução Integral em Português

- Você as varrerá com tanto asseio de NOSSO céu, no curso de sua administração doméstica, Esther, que um dia teremos de abandonar o resmungatório e pregar a porta.

Foi assim que começaram a chamar-me de Velha, Velhinha, Teia de Aranha, Sra. Shipton, Mãe Hubbard, Dama Durden e tantos nomes desse tipo que meu próprio nome logo se perdeu por completo entre eles.

- Contudo - disse o Sr. Jarndyce - , voltemos a nossa conversa. Aqui está Rick, um ótimo rapaz, cheio de promessas. Que faremos com ele?

Meu Deus, a ideia de pedir meu conselho em tal questão!

- Aqui está ele, Esther - disse o Sr. Jarndyce, metendo confortavelmente as mãos nos bolsos e esticando as pernas. - Precisa de uma profissão; deve fazer alguma escolha. Haverá um mundo a mais de complicalhada a respeito, suponho, mas terá de ser feito.

- Mais o quê, tutor? - perguntei.

- Mais complicalhada - disse ele. - É o único nome que conheço para a coisa. Ele é pupilo da Chancelaria, minha querida. Kenge e Carboy terão algo a dizer; o Mestre Fulano - uma espécie de sacristão ridículo, que cava sepulturas para os méritos das causas numa sala dos fundos, no fim de Quality Court, Chancery Lane - terá algo a dizer; os advogados terão algo a dizer; o Chanceler terá algo a dizer; os satélites terão algo a dizer; todos terão de receber belos honorários, de todos os lados, a respeito; a coisa inteira será imensamente cerimoniosa, verbosa, insatisfatória e cara, e chamo-a, em geral, de complicalhada. Como a humanidade veio a ser afligida pela Complicalhada, ou pelos pecados de quem esses jovens caíram nesse poço, não sei; mas assim é.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Ele esfregou a cabeça e tornou a mencionar o vento. Contudo, sempre que olhava para mim, sua expressão bondosa voltava. Logo ficou confortável, pôs as mãos nos bolsos e esticou as pernas.

Sugeri que primeiro perguntassem a Richard qual profissão ele queria.

O senhor Jarndyce concordou com entusiasmo. Pediu que eu discutisse o assunto com calma e cuidado com Richard e Ada. Confiava em mim para descobrir o ponto principal.

Fiquei assustada com minha nova importância e com os muitos segredos confiados a mim. Eu quisera dizer que ele próprio deveria falar com Richard. Mesmo assim, prometi fazer o melhor possível e tornei a avisar que ele me considerava mais sábia do que eu era. Meu tutor apenas riu com carinho.

O senhor Jarndyce se levantou e disse que haviam terminado com o Quarto dos Resmungos naquele dia. Antes de sair, perguntou se eu desejava perguntar alguma coisa.

Ele me olhou com tanta atenção que entendi o que queria dizer.

Original English Version

He began to rub his head again and to hint that he felt the wind. But it was a delightful instance of his kindness towards me that whether he rubbed his head, or walked about, or did both, his face was sure to recover its benignant expression as it looked at mine; and he was sure to turn comfortable again and put his hands in his pockets and stretch out his legs.

“Perhaps it would be best, first of all,” said I, “to ask Mr. Richard what he inclines to himself.”

“Exactly so,” he returned. “That’s what I mean! You know, just accustom yourself to talk it over, with your tact and in your quiet way, with him and Ada, and see what you all make of it. We are sure to come at the heart of the matter by your means, little woman.”

I really was frightened at the thought of the importance I was attaining and the number of things that were being confided to me. I had not meant this at all; I had meant that he should speak to Richard. But of course I said nothing in reply except that I would do my best, though I feared (I really felt it necessary to repeat this) that he thought me much more sagacious than I was. At which my guardian only laughed the pleasantest laugh I ever heard.

“Come!” he said, rising and pushing back his chair. “I think we may have done with the growlery for one day! Only a concluding word. Esther, my dear, do you wish to ask me anything?”

He looked so attentively at me that I looked attentively at him and felt sure I understood him.

Tradução Integral em Português

Ele tornou a esfregar a cabeça e a insinuar que sentia o vento. Mas era um exemplo encantador de sua bondade para comigo que, esfregasse a cabeça, caminhasse de um lado para outro ou fizesse ambas as coisas, seu rosto sempre recuperava a expressão benigna ao olhar para o meu; e ele sempre tornava a acomodar-se, enfiava as mãos nos bolsos e esticava as pernas.

- Talvez fosse melhor, antes de tudo - disse eu - , perguntar ao Sr. Richard para o que ele próprio se inclina.

- Exatamente - respondeu. - É o que quero dizer! Vá se acostumando a conversar sobre isso, com seu tato e seu jeito tranquilo, com ele e Ada, e veja a que conclusão chegam. Por seu intermédio, mulherzinha, certamente alcançaremos o cerne da questão.

Fiquei de fato assustada ao pensar na importância que adquiria e no número de coisas que me confiavam. Não fora absolutamente isso que eu quisera dizer; quisera dizer que ele falasse com Richard. Mas, é claro, nada respondi senão que faria o melhor possível, embora receasse (realmente achei necessário repeti-lo) que ele me julgasse muito mais sagaz do que eu era. Ao que meu tutor apenas deu a risada mais agradável que já ouvi.

- Vamos! - disse, levantando-se e empurrando a cadeira para trás. - Creio que já tivemos bastante do resmungatório por hoje! Apenas uma última palavra. Esther, minha querida, deseja perguntar-me alguma coisa?

Olhou-me com tanta atenção que o olhei atentamente e tive certeza de compreendê-lo.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Perguntei se ele queria dizer uma pergunta sobre mim mesma.

Ele disse que sim.

Coloquei minha mão, de repente fria, na dele e disse que não tinha perguntas. Confiava que ele me contaria tudo que eu precisasse saber. Se eu não tivesse fé completa nele, meu coração seria realmente duro.

Ele colocou minha mão em seu braço, e fomos procurar Ada. A partir daquele momento, senti-me completamente à vontade, aberta, satisfeita e feliz com ele.

Nossos primeiros dias em Bleak House foram ocupados porque conhecemos muitas pessoas que conheciam o senhor Jarndyce. Ada e eu achávamos que todos os que procuravam dinheiro para uma causa o conheciam. As cartas pediam de enormes quantidades de folhetos a pensões, monumentos e bules. Grupos com nomes importantes estavam sempre recolhendo votos e dinheiro, mas pareciam nunca alcançar seus objetivos. A vida agitada deles nos dava dor de cabeça.

Original English Version

“About myself, sir?” said I.

“Yes.”

“Guardian,” said I, venturing to put my hand, which was suddenly colder than I could have wished, in his, “nothing! I am quite sure that if there were anything I ought to know or had any need to know, I should not have to ask you to tell it to me. If my whole reliance and confidence were not placed in you, I must have a hard heart indeed. I have nothing to ask you, nothing in the world.”

He drew my hand through his arm and we went away to look for Ada. From that hour I felt quite easy with him, quite unreserved, quite content to know no more, quite happy.

We lived, at first, rather a busy life at Bleak House, for we had to become acquainted with many residents in and out of the neighbourhood who knew Mr. Jarndyce. It seemed to Ada and me that everybody knew him who wanted to do anything with anybody else’s money. It amazed us when we began to sort his letters and to answer some of them for him in the growlery of a morning to find how the great object of the lives of nearly all his correspondents appeared to be to form themselves into committees for getting in and laying out money. The ladies were as desperate as the gentlemen; indeed, I think they were even more so. They threw themselves into committees in the most impassioned manner and collected subscriptions with a vehemence quite extraordinary. It appeared to us that some of them must pass their whole lives in dealing out subscription-cards to the whole post-office directory - shilling cards, half-crown cards, half-sovereign cards, penny cards. They wanted everything. They wanted wearing apparel, they wanted linen rags, they wanted money, they wanted coals, they wanted soup, they wanted interest, they wanted autographs, they wanted flannel, they wanted whatever Mr. Jarndyce had - or had not. Their objects were as various as their demands. They were going to raise new buildings, they were going to pay off debts on old buildings, they were going to establish in a picturesque building (engraving of proposed west elevation attached) the Sisterhood of Mediaeval Marys, they were going to give a testimonial to Mrs. Jellyby, they were going to have their secretary’s portrait painted and presented to his mother-in-law, whose deep devotion to him was well known, they were going to get up everything, I really believe, from five hundred thousand tracts to an annuity and from a marble monument to a silver tea-pot. They took a multitude of titles. They were the Women of England, the Daughters of Britain, the Sisters of all the cardinal virtues separately, the Females of America, the Ladies of a hundred denominations. They appeared to be always excited about canvassing and electing. They seemed to our poor wits, and according to their own accounts, to be constantly polling people by tens of thousands, yet never bringing their candidates in for anything. It made our heads ache to think, on the whole, what feverish lives they must lead.

Tradução Integral em Português

- Sobre mim mesma, senhor? - perguntei.

- Sim.

- Tutor - disse eu, aventurando-me a pôr minha mão, que de repente estava mais fria do que eu desejaria, na dele - , nada! Tenho absoluta certeza de que, se houvesse algo que eu devesse ou precisasse saber, não teria de pedir-lhe que me contasse. Se toda a minha confiança e segurança não estivessem depositadas no senhor, eu teria mesmo um coração empedernido. Nada tenho a perguntar-lhe, nada no mundo.

Ele passou minha mão por seu braço e saímos à procura de Ada. Desde aquela hora senti-me inteiramente à vontade com ele, sem reservas, satisfeita por nada mais saber, inteiramente feliz.

No início levamos uma vida bastante ocupada em Bleak House, pois tivemos de conhecer muitos moradores de dentro e de fora da vizinhança que conheciam o Sr. Jarndyce. Parecia a Ada e a mim que todos os que queriam fazer alguma coisa com o dinheiro alheio o conheciam. Quando começamos a separar suas cartas e a responder a algumas por ele, de manhã no resmungatório, espantou-nos descobrir que o grande objetivo da vida de quase todos os correspondentes parecia ser organizarem-se em comitês para arrecadar e gastar dinheiro. As damas eram tão desesperadas quanto os cavalheiros; na verdade, creio que eram ainda mais. Atiravam-se aos comitês da maneira mais apaixonada e coletavam subscrições com veemência extraordinária. Parecia-nos que algumas deviam passar a vida inteira distribuindo cartões de subscrição a todos os nomes do catálogo dos correios - cartões de um xelim, de meia coroa, de meio soberano, de um penny. Queriam tudo. Queriam roupas, trapos de linho, dinheiro, carvão, sopa, influência, autógrafos, flanela, queriam o que quer que o Sr. Jarndyce tivesse - ou não tivesse. Seus objetivos eram tão variados quanto suas exigências. Iam erguer prédios novos, pagar dívidas de prédios antigos, estabelecer num prédio pitoresco (anexa, gravura da fachada oeste proposta) a Irmandade das Marias Medievais, oferecer um testemunho à Sra. Jellyby, mandar pintar o retrato do secretário e presenteá-lo à sogra deste, cuja profunda devoção a ele era bem conhecida; iam providenciar tudo, creio sinceramente, desde quinhentos mil folhetos até uma anuidade e desde um monumento de mármore até um bule de prata. Adotavam uma multidão de títulos. Eram as Mulheres da Inglaterra, as Filhas da Bretanha, as Irmãs de cada virtude cardinal em separado, as Fêmeas da América, as Damas de cem denominações. Pareciam sempre excitadas com campanhas e eleições. Para nossos pobres entendimentos, e segundo seus próprios relatos, pareciam apurar constantemente votos de dezenas de milhares de pessoas, sem jamais eleger seus candidatos para coisa alguma. Pensar, em suma, na vida febril que deviam levar dava-nos dor de cabeça.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

A senhora Pardiggle era uma das damas caridosas mais barulhentas e escrevia quase tanto quanto a senhora Jellyby. O senhor Jarndyce dizia que algumas pessoas faziam pouco e muito barulho, enquanto outras faziam muito em silêncio. O vento sempre o interrompia quando falava da senhora Pardiggle, por isso suspeitamos que ela pertencesse ao primeiro grupo. Ficamos curiosas quando ela nos visitou com seus cinco filhos.

A senhora Pardiggle era uma mulher imponente, com óculos, nariz grande e voz alta. Parecia precisar de muito espaço e derrubava cadeiras distantes com a saia. Ada e eu a recebemos nervosas, enquanto seus filhos infelizes a seguiam como crianças no frio.

A senhora Pardiggle apresentou seus cinco filhos e listou com orgulho o dinheiro que cada um doara. Egbert, de doze anos, dera sua mesada a um grupo indígena, e os meninos menores apoiavam outras causas. Alfred, de cinco anos, prometera nunca usar tabaco.

Original English Version

Among the ladies who were most distinguished for this rapacious benevolence (if I may use the expression) was a Mrs. Pardiggle, who seemed, as I judged from the number of her letters to Mr. Jarndyce, to be almost as powerful a correspondent as Mrs. Jellyby herself. We observed that the wind always changed when Mrs. Pardiggle became the subject of conversation and that it invariably interrupted Mr. Jarndyce and prevented his going any farther, when he had remarked that there were two classes of charitable people; one, the people who did a little and made a great deal of noise; the other, the people who did a great deal and made no noise at all. We were therefore curious to see Mrs. Pardiggle, suspecting her to be a type of the former class, and were glad when she called one day with her five young sons.

She was a formidable style of lady with spectacles, a prominent nose, and a loud voice, who had the effect of wanting a great deal of room. And she really did, for she knocked down little chairs with her skirts that were quite a great way off. As only Ada and I were at home, we received her timidly, for she seemed to come in like cold weather and to make the little Pardiggles blue as they followed.

“These, young ladies,” said Mrs. Pardiggle with great volubility after the first salutations, “are my five boys. You may have seen their names in a printed subscription list (perhaps more than one) in the possession of our esteemed friend Mr. Jarndyce. Egbert, my eldest (twelve), is the boy who sent out his pocket-money, to the amount of five and threepence, to the Tockahoopo Indians. Oswald, my second (ten and a half), is the child who contributed two and nine-pence to the Great National Smithers Testimonial. Francis, my third (nine), one and sixpence halfpenny; Felix, my fourth (seven), eightpence to the Superannuated Widows; Alfred, my youngest (five), has voluntarily enrolled himself in the Infant Bonds of Joy, and is pledged never, through life, to use tobacco in any form.”

Tradução Integral em Português

Entre as damas que mais se distinguiam por essa benevolência voraz (se posso usar a expressão) estava uma Sra. Pardiggle, que, a julgar pelo número de cartas que enviava ao Sr. Jarndyce, parecia uma correspondente quase tão poderosa quanto a própria Sra. Jellyby. Observamos que o vento sempre mudava quando a Sra. Pardiggle se tornava assunto da conversa e invariavelmente interrompia o Sr. Jarndyce, impedindo-o de prosseguir, quando ele observava haver duas classes de pessoas caridosas: uma, as que faziam pouco e muito barulho; outra, as que faziam muito e barulho nenhum. Tínhamos, pois, curiosidade de ver a Sra. Pardiggle, suspeitando que fosse um exemplo da primeira classe, e alegramo-nos quando um dia veio visitar-nos com seus cinco filhos pequenos.

Era uma espécie formidável de senhora, de óculos, nariz proeminente e voz alta, que dava a impressão de precisar de muito espaço. E precisava mesmo, pois derrubava com as saias cadeirinhas que estavam a uma boa distância. Como apenas Ada e eu estávamos em casa, recebemo-la timidamente, pois pareceu entrar como o tempo frio e deixar azulados os pequenos Pardiggle que a seguiam.

- Estes, jovens senhoritas - disse a Sra. Pardiggle com grande loquacidade depois dos primeiros cumprimentos - , são meus cinco meninos. Talvez tenham visto seus nomes numa lista impressa de subscrições (talvez em mais de uma) em poder de nosso estimado amigo Sr. Jarndyce. Egbert, o mais velho (doze), é o menino que enviou sua mesada, no valor de cinco xelins e três pence, aos índios Tockahoopo. Oswald, o segundo (dez e meio), é a criança que contribuiu com dois xelins e nove pence para a Grande Homenagem Nacional a Smithers. Francis, o terceiro (nove), com um xelim, seis pence e meio; Felix, o quarto (sete), com oito pence para as Viúvas Aposentadas; Alfred, o caçula (cinco), alistou-se voluntariamente nos Laços Infantis da Alegria e comprometeu-se a jamais, por toda a vida, usar tabaco sob forma alguma.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Nunca tínhamos visto crianças tão infelizes. Pareciam magras, zangadas e cheias de ressentimento. O rosto de cada menino escurecia quando mencionavam sua doação. Egbert parecia especialmente feroz, enquanto o pequeno Alfred permanecia silenciosamente infeliz.

A senhora Pardiggle perguntou se tínhamos visitado a senhora Jellyby.

Dissemos que havíamos passado uma noite lá.

Com sua voz alta e dura, a senhora Pardiggle elogiou o trabalho da senhora Jellyby pela África e disse que seus filhos haviam contribuído. Contudo, criticou a senhora Jellyby por excluir as crianças de seu trabalho. A senhora Pardiggle disse com orgulho que levava os próprios filhos a toda parte.

Ada e eu depois concordamos que Egbert soltou um grito agudo ao ouvir aquelas palavras, embora rapidamente o transformasse num bocejo.

A senhora Pardiggle disse que seus filhos iam à igreja cedo o ano inteiro e participavam de todos os seus deveres diários de caridade. Ela servia a muitas escolas, comitês, visitas e campanhas. Seus meninos davam toda a mesada sob sua direção e compareciam a mais reuniões e discursos longos que a maioria dos adultos. Disse com orgulho que Alfred, de cinco anos, permanecera acordado depois de um discurso de duas horas.

Original English Version

We had never seen such dissatisfied children. It was not merely that they were weazened and shrivelled - though they were certainly that too - but they looked absolutely ferocious with discontent. At the mention of the Tockahoopo Indians, I could really have supposed Egbert to be one of the most baleful members of that tribe, he gave me such a savage frown. The face of each child, as the amount of his contribution was mentioned, darkened in a peculiarly vindictive manner, but his was by far the worst. I must except, however, the little recruit into the Infant Bonds of Joy, who was stolidly and evenly miserable.

“You have been visiting, I understand,” said Mrs. Pardiggle, “at Mrs. Jellyby’s?”

We said yes, we had passed one night there.

“Mrs. Jellyby,” pursued the lady, always speaking in the same demonstrative, loud, hard tone, so that her voice impressed my fancy as if it had a sort of spectacles on too - and I may take the opportunity of remarking that her spectacles were made the less engaging by her eyes being what Ada called “choking eyes,” meaning very prominent - “Mrs. Jellyby is a benefactor to society and deserves a helping hand. My boys have contributed to the African project - Egbert, one and six, being the entire allowance of nine weeks; Oswald, one and a penny halfpenny, being the same; the rest, according to their little means. Nevertheless, I do not go with Mrs. Jellyby in all things. I do not go with Mrs. Jellyby in her treatment of her young family. It has been noticed. It has been observed that her young family are excluded from participation in the objects to which she is devoted. She may be right, she may be wrong; but, right or wrong, this is not my course with MY young family. I take them everywhere.”

I was afterwards convinced (and so was Ada) that from the ill-conditioned eldest child, these words extorted a sharp yell. He turned it off into a yawn, but it began as a yell.

“They attend matins with me (very prettily done) at half-past six o’clock in the morning all the year round, including of course the depth of winter,” said Mrs. Pardiggle rapidly, “and they are with me during the revolving duties of the day. I am a School lady, I am a Visiting lady, I am a Reading lady, I am a Distributing lady; I am on the local Linen Box Committee and many general committees; and my canvassing alone is very extensive - perhaps no one’s more so. But they are my companions everywhere; and by these means they acquire that knowledge of the poor, and that capacity of doing charitable business in general - in short, that taste for the sort of thing - which will render them in after life a service to their neighbours and a satisfaction to themselves. My young family are not frivolous; they expend the entire amount of their allowance in subscriptions, under my direction; and they have attended as many public meetings and listened to as many lectures, orations, and discussions as generally fall to the lot of few grown people. Alfred (five), who, as I mentioned, has of his own election joined the Infant Bonds of Joy, was one of the very few children who manifested consciousness on that occasion after a fervid address of two hours from the chairman of the evening.”

Tradução Integral em Português

Nunca víramos crianças tão descontentes. Não era apenas que fossem mirradas e ressequidas - embora certamente também o fossem - , mas pareciam absolutamente ferozes de insatisfação. Ao se mencionarem os índios Tockahoopo, eu realmente poderia ter suposto que Egbert era um dos membros mais funestos daquela tribo, tamanho o cenho selvagem que me lançou. O rosto de cada criança, quando se mencionava o valor de sua contribuição, escurecia de maneira peculiarmente vingativa, mas o dele era de longe o pior. Devo excetuar, porém, o pequeno recruta dos Laços Infantis da Alegria, que era impassível e uniformemente infeliz.

- Soube que estiveram visitando a Sra. Jellyby? - perguntou a Sra. Pardiggle.

Dissemos que sim, que passáramos uma noite lá.

- A Sra. Jellyby - prosseguiu a dama, sempre falando no mesmo tom demonstrativo, alto e duro, de modo que sua voz impressionava minha imaginação como se também usasse uma espécie de óculos - e posso aproveitar a oportunidade para observar que seus óculos se tornavam menos cativantes porque seus olhos eram o que Ada chamava de “olhos que sufocavam”, querendo dizer muito salientes - , a Sra. Jellyby é uma benfeitora da sociedade e merece auxílio. Meus meninos contribuíram para o projeto africano: Egbert, um xelim e seis pence, toda a mesada de nove semanas; Oswald, um xelim e um penny e meio, o mesmo; os demais, conforme seus pequenos recursos. Não obstante, não acompanho a Sra. Jellyby em tudo. Não acompanho a Sra. Jellyby no tratamento dado à jovem família. Isso foi notado. Observou-se que sua jovem família é excluída da participação nos objetivos a que ela se dedica. Pode estar certa, pode estar errada; mas, certa ou errada, não é esse meu procedimento com MINHA jovem família. Levo-os a toda parte.

Depois me convenci (e Ada também) de que essas palavras arrancaram um uivo agudo do mal-humorado primogênito. Ele o disfarçou num bocejo, mas começou como uivo.

- Eles comparecem comigo às matinas (muito bem celebradas) às seis e meia da manhã durante o ano inteiro, incluindo, é claro, o coração do inverno - disse rapidamente a Sra. Pardiggle - , e acompanham-me nos deveres rotativos do dia. Sou uma dama Escolar, uma dama Visitadora, uma dama Leitora, uma dama Distribuidora; faço parte do Comitê local da Caixa de Linho e de muitos comitês gerais; e só minhas campanhas já são muito extensas - talvez as de ninguém sejam mais. Mas eles são meus companheiros em toda parte; por esses meios adquirem o conhecimento dos pobres e a capacidade de conduzir negócios caridosos em geral - em suma, aquele gosto pela coisa - que na vida futura fará deles um auxílio aos vizinhos e uma satisfação para si mesmos. Minha jovem família não é frívola; gasta a mesada inteira em subscrições, sob minha direção; e compareceu a tantas reuniões públicas e ouviu tantas palestras, discursos e debates quantos em geral cabem a poucos adultos. Alfred (cinco), que, como mencionei, escolheu por vontade própria juntar-se aos Laços Infantis da Alegria, foi uma das pouquíssimas crianças que manifestaram consciência naquela ocasião, depois de um fervoroso discurso de duas horas do presidente da noite.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Alfred nos encarou com raiva, como se jamais pudesse perdoar o que acontecera naquela noite.

A senhora Pardiggle explicou que as listas de caridade também mostravam uma doação do marido. Primeiro ela dava dinheiro, depois cada filho doava uma quantia conforme a idade e, por fim, o senhor Pardiggle contribuía sob sua direção. Ela acreditava que isso tornava a vida agradável para eles e melhorava os outros.

Perguntei-me se o senhor Pardiggle e o senhor Jellyby alguma vez reclamavam em segredo um ao outro sobre suas esposas. Esse pensamento me confundiu.

A senhora Pardiggle disse que morávamos num lugar muito agradável.

Felizes por mudar de assunto, mostramos a ela a bela vista da janela. Ela a observou com surpreendente falta de interesse.

Nossa visitante perguntou se conhecíamos o senhor Gusher.

Tivemos de admitir que não o conhecíamos.

A senhora Pardiggle disse que a perda era nossa. O senhor Gusher era um orador apaixonado que podia falar durante horas numa reunião pública em nosso gramado. Enquanto voltava à cadeira e derrubava uma mesa distante, perguntou se já havíamos descoberto seu verdadeiro caráter.

Original English Version

Alfred glowered at us as if he never could, or would, forgive the injury of that night.

“You may have observed, Miss Summerson,” said Mrs. Pardiggle, “in some of the lists to which I have referred, in the possession of our esteemed friend Mr. Jarndyce, that the names of my young family are concluded with the name of O. A. Pardiggle, F.R.S., one pound. That is their father. We usually observe the same routine. I put down my mite first; then my young family enrol their contributions, according to their ages and their little means; and then Mr. Pardiggle brings up the rear. Mr. Pardiggle is happy to throw in his limited donation, under my direction; and thus things are made not only pleasant to ourselves, but, we trust, improving to others.”

Suppose Mr. Pardiggle were to dine with Mr. Jellyby, and suppose Mr. Jellyby were to relieve his mind after dinner to Mr. Pardiggle, would Mr. Pardiggle, in return, make any confidential communication to Mr. Jellyby? I was quite confused to find myself thinking this, but it came into my head.

“You are very pleasantly situated here!” said Mrs. Pardiggle.

We were glad to change the subject, and going to the window, pointed out the beauties of the prospect, on which the spectacles appeared to me to rest with curious indifference.

“You know Mr. Gusher?” said our visitor.

We were obliged to say that we had not the pleasure of Mr. Gusher’s acquaintance.

“The loss is yours, I assure you,” said Mrs. Pardiggle with her commanding deportment. “He is a very fervid, impassioned speaker - full of fire! Stationed in a waggon on this lawn, now, which, from the shape of the land, is naturally adapted to a public meeting, he would improve almost any occasion you could mention for hours and hours! By this time, young ladies,” said Mrs. Pardiggle, moving back to her chair and overturning, as if by invisible agency, a little round table at a considerable distance with my work-basket on it, “by this time you have found me out, I dare say?”

Tradução Integral em Português

Alfred fulminou-nos com os olhos como se jamais pudesse, ou quisesse, perdoar a ofensa daquela noite.

- Talvez tenha observado, Srta. Summerson - disse a Sra. Pardiggle - , em algumas das listas a que me referi, em poder de nosso estimado amigo Sr. Jarndyce, que os nomes de minha jovem família terminam com o nome de O. A. Pardiggle, F.R.S., uma libra. É o pai deles. Em geral seguimos a mesma rotina. Anoto primeiro meu óbolo; depois minha jovem família registra suas contribuições, conforme a idade e os pequenos recursos; então o Sr. Pardiggle fecha o cortejo. O Sr. Pardiggle tem prazer em acrescentar sua limitada doação, sob minha direção; assim, tornamos as coisas não apenas agradáveis para nós mesmos, mas, confiamos, edificantes para os outros.

Supondo que o Sr. Pardiggle fosse jantar com o Sr. Jellyby, e supondo que o Sr. Jellyby aliviasse seu espírito com o Sr. Pardiggle depois do jantar, faria o Sr. Pardiggle, em troca, alguma confidência ao Sr. Jellyby? Fiquei muito confusa ao me descobrir pensando nisso, mas a ideia me ocorreu.

- Estão instaladas de maneira muito agradável aqui! - disse a Sra. Pardiggle.

Alegramo-nos com a mudança de assunto e, indo à janela, apontamos as belezas da vista, sobre as quais os óculos pareceram-me repousar com curiosa indiferença.

- Conhecem o Sr. Gusher? - perguntou nossa visitante.

Fomos obrigadas a dizer que não tínhamos o prazer de conhecer o Sr. Gusher.

- A perda é das senhoritas, asseguro-lhes - disse a Sra. Pardiggle com seu porte imperioso. - É um orador muito fervoroso, apaixonado... cheio de fogo! Instalado agora numa carroça neste gramado, que, pelo formato do terreno, é naturalmente adequado a uma reunião pública, ele edificaria por horas e horas quase qualquer ocasião que pudessem mencionar! A esta altura, jovens senhoritas - disse a Sra. Pardiggle, voltando à cadeira e derrubando, como que por intervenção invisível, uma mesinha redonda a considerável distância, sobre a qual estava meu cesto de costura - , a esta altura sem dúvida já me descobriram?

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

A pergunta nos confundiu. Ada me olhou assustada, e meus pensamentos culpados provavelmente apareceram em minhas faces vermelhas.

A senhora Pardiggle explicou que sua principal qualidade era fácil de ver: era uma mulher de negócios que adorava trabalho duro. O trabalho a animava, e ela afirmava nunca se cansar.

Por educação, murmuramos que aquilo era surpreendente e agradável, embora mal soubéssemos o que queríamos dizer.

A senhora Pardiggle repetiu que ninguém conseguia cansá-la. Até a enorme quantidade de trabalho que fazia às vezes a surpreendia. Seu marido e seus filhos ficavam exaustos apenas observando, enquanto ela permanecia descansada e cheia de energia.

Nesse momento, o filho mais velho e zangado pareceu mais hostil do que nunca. Fechou o punho e deu secretamente um soco no alto do próprio boné.

A senhora Pardiggle disse que sua energia sem fim ajudava durante as visitas. Se alguém se recusava a ouvir, ela anunciava que nunca se cansava e continuaria até terminar. Depois pediu que Ada e eu participássemos de suas visitas.

Original English Version

This was really such a confusing question that Ada looked at me in perfect dismay. As to the guilty nature of my own consciousness after what I had been thinking, it must have been expressed in the colour of my cheeks.

“Found out, I mean,” said Mrs. Pardiggle, “the prominent point in my character. I am aware that it is so prominent as to be discoverable immediately. I lay myself open to detection, I know. Well! I freely admit, I am a woman of business. I love hard work; I enjoy hard work. The excitement does me good. I am so accustomed and inured to hard work that I don’t know what fatigue is.”

We murmured that it was very astonishing and very gratifying, or something to that effect. I don’t think we knew what it was either, but this is what our politeness expressed.

“I do not understand what it is to be tired; you cannot tire me if you try!” said Mrs. Pardiggle. “The quantity of exertion (which is no exertion to me), the amount of business (which I regard as nothing), that I go through sometimes astonishes myself. I have seen my young family, and Mr. Pardiggle, quite worn out with witnessing it, when I may truly say I have been as fresh as a lark!”

If that dark-visaged eldest boy could look more malicious than he had already looked, this was the time when he did it. I observed that he doubled his right fist and delivered a secret blow into the crown of his cap, which was under his left arm.

“This gives me a great advantage when I am making my rounds,” said Mrs. Pardiggle. “If I find a person unwilling to hear what I have to say, I tell that person directly, ‘I am incapable of fatigue, my good friend, I am never tired, and I mean to go on until I have done.’ It answers admirably! Miss Summerson, I hope I shall have your assistance in my visiting rounds immediately, and Miss Clare’s very soon.”

Tradução Integral em Português

Era uma pergunta de fato tão desconcertante que Ada me olhou em completo desalento. Quanto à natureza culpada de minha própria consciência depois do que estivera pensando, devia estar expressa na cor de minhas faces.

- Descobriram, quero dizer - disse a Sra. Pardiggle - , o ponto proeminente de meu caráter. Sei que é tão proeminente que pode ser descoberto de imediato. Sei que me exponho à detecção. Bem! Admito livremente: sou uma mulher de ação. Adoro trabalho árduo; aprecio trabalho árduo. A excitação me faz bem. Estou tão habituada e calejada pelo trabalho árduo que não sei o que é fadiga.

Murmuramos que era muito assombroso e gratificante, ou algo nesse sentido. Não creio que tampouco soubéssemos o que era, mas foi isso que nossa cortesia exprimiu.

- Não compreendo o que é estar cansada; não conseguiriam cansar-me se tentassem! - disse a Sra. Pardiggle. - A quantidade de esforço (que para mim não é esforço), o volume de negócios (que considero nada) pelos quais às vezes passo surpreendem a mim mesma. Já vi minha jovem família e o Sr. Pardiggle inteiramente exaustos só de presenciar tudo, quando posso dizer com franqueza que eu estava fresca como uma cotovia!

Se aquele primogênito de rosto sombrio podia parecer mais malicioso do que já parecera, esse foi o momento. Observei que fechou o punho direito e desferiu um golpe secreto no alto do boné que trazia sob o braço esquerdo.

- Isso me dá grande vantagem quando faço minhas rondas - disse a Sra. Pardiggle. - Se encontro alguém sem disposição para ouvir o que tenho a dizer, digo-lhe diretamente: “Sou incapaz de fadiga, meu bom amigo, nunca me canso e pretendo continuar até terminar.” Funciona admiravelmente! Srta. Summerson, espero contar imediatamente com seu auxílio em minhas rondas de visitas, e muito em breve com o da Srta. Clare.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Tentei recusar por causa de meus deveres e minha falta de experiência. Disse que ainda não compreendia suficientemente o coração de pessoas diferentes para aconselhá-las. Preferia ajudar primeiro quem estava perto de mim e deixar meus deveres crescerem naturalmente. Falei sem confiança porque a senhora Pardiggle era mais velha, experiente e autoritária.

A senhora Pardiggle disse que eu estava errada e talvez não suportasse trabalho duro. Convidou Ada e eu para observar sua visita a um fabricante de tijolos da região, a quem chamou de homem mau.

Ada e eu trocamos olhares. Como já planejávamos sair, aceitamos. Quando voltamos usando nossos chapéus, os filhos dela pareciam fracos e infelizes num canto, enquanto a senhora Pardiggle se movia derrubando objetos leves. Ela caminhou com Ada, e eu segui com os meninos.

Ada depois me contou que a senhora Pardiggle descrevera em voz alta uma longa competição com outra mulher caridosa. Elas imprimiam materiais, faziam promessas e recolhiam votos para diferentes candidatos receberem uma pensão. Todos aproveitavam a atividade, exceto os pobres candidatos, pois nenhum vencedor fora escolhido.

Original English Version

At first I tried to excuse myself for the present on the general ground of having occupations to attend to which I must not neglect. But as this was an ineffectual protest, I then said, more particularly, that I was not sure of my qualifications. That I was inexperienced in the art of adapting my mind to minds very differently situated, and addressing them from suitable points of view. That I had not that delicate knowledge of the heart which must be essential to such a work. That I had much to learn, myself, before I could teach others, and that I could not confide in my good intentions alone. For these reasons I thought it best to be as useful as I could, and to render what kind services I could to those immediately about me, and to try to let that circle of duty gradually and naturally expand itself. All this I said with anything but confidence, because Mrs. Pardiggle was much older than I, and had great experience, and was so very military in her manners.

“You are wrong, Miss Summerson,” said she, “but perhaps you are not equal to hard work or the excitement of it, and that makes a vast difference. If you would like to see how I go through my work, I am now about - with my young family - to visit a brickmaker in the neighbourhood (a very bad character) and shall be glad to take you with me. Miss Clare also, if she will do me the favour.”

Ada and I interchanged looks, and as we were going out in any case, accepted the offer. When we hastily returned from putting on our bonnets, we found the young family languishing in a corner and Mrs. Pardiggle sweeping about the room, knocking down nearly all the light objects it contained. Mrs. Pardiggle took possession of Ada, and I followed with the family.

Ada told me afterwards that Mrs. Pardiggle talked in the same loud tone (that, indeed, I overheard) all the way to the brickmaker’s about an exciting contest which she had for two or three years waged against another lady relative to the bringing in of their rival candidates for a pension somewhere. There had been a quantity of printing, and promising, and proxying, and polling, and it appeared to have imparted great liveliness to all concerned, except the pensioners - who were not elected yet.

Tradução Integral em Português

A princípio tentei desculpar-me naquele momento com o argumento geral de ter ocupações às quais devia atender e que não podia negligenciar. Mas, como foi um protesto ineficaz, disse então, mais especificamente, que não tinha certeza de minhas aptidões. Que era inexperiente na arte de adaptar minha mente a mentes em situações muito diferentes e dirigir-me a elas dos pontos de vista adequados. Que não possuía aquele conhecimento delicado do coração que devia ser essencial a tal trabalho. Que eu mesma tinha muito a aprender antes de poder ensinar aos outros e que não podia confiar apenas em minhas boas intenções. Por essas razões, julgava melhor ser tão útil quanto pudesse, prestar os serviços bondosos que pudesse aos que estavam imediatamente a meu redor e procurar deixar que esse círculo de deveres se expandisse gradual e naturalmente. Disse tudo isso sem confiança alguma, pois a Sra. Pardiggle era muito mais velha que eu, tinha grande experiência e modos extremamente militares.

- Está errada, Srta. Summerson - disse ela - , mas talvez não esteja à altura do trabalho árduo ou de sua excitação, e isso faz enorme diferença. Se quiser ver como realizo meu trabalho, estou agora a caminho - com minha jovem família - de visitar um fabricante de tijolos da vizinhança (um péssimo caráter) e terei prazer em levá-la comigo. Também a Srta. Clare, se me der essa honra.

Ada e eu trocamos olhares e, como sairíamos de qualquer modo, aceitamos a oferta. Quando voltamos às pressas, depois de pôr os chapéus, encontramos a jovem família definhando num canto e a Sra. Pardiggle varrendo a sala de um lado para outro, derrubando quase todos os objetos leves que ela continha. A Sra. Pardiggle apossou-se de Ada, e eu segui com a família.

Ada contou-me depois que a Sra. Pardiggle falou no mesmo tom alto (que, de fato, ouvi) por todo o caminho até a casa do fabricante de tijolos, sobre uma disputa emocionante que travara por dois ou três anos com outra dama a respeito da eleição de suas candidatas rivais a uma pensão em algum lugar. Houvera grande quantidade de impressos, promessas, procurações e votos, e aquilo parecia ter comunicado grande vivacidade a todos os envolvidos, exceto às pensionistas - que ainda não haviam sido eleitas.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Normalmente gosto da confiança das crianças, mas aqueles meninos me perturbaram. Egbert exigiu dinheiro porque sua mãe tomava sua mesada para caridade. Disse com raiva que ela apenas fingia dá-la a ele. Ele e dois irmãos beliscaram meus braços, Felix pisou em meus dedos, e o pequeno Alfred ficou roxo de raiva quando passamos por uma confeitaria. A vida forçada deles tornava seu comportamento natural doloroso para mim.

Fiquei aliviada ao chegar à casa do fabricante de tijolos, embora ela ficasse entre cabanas terríveis junto a um campo lamacento. Chiqueiros ficavam perto de janelas quebradas, poças sujas enchiam os jardins e velhos recipientes recolhiam chuva. Os moradores observavam e riam dos visitantes elegantes que sujavam os sapatos ao interferir na vida alheia.

A senhora Pardiggle criticou a desordem dos moradores e nos levou a um quarto úmido e malcheiroso. Uma mulher ferida segurava um bebê doente junto ao fogo. Um homem sujo, com aparência de bêbado, fumava deitado no chão. Um jovem forte cuidava de um cão, e uma garota ousada lavava algo em água imunda. Eles nos olharam, mas não nos receberam.

Original English Version

I am very fond of being confided in by children and am happy in being usually favoured in that respect, but on this occasion it gave me great uneasiness. As soon as we were out of doors, Egbert, with the manner of a little footpad, demanded a shilling of me on the ground that his pocket-money was “boned” from him. On my pointing out the great impropriety of the word, especially in connexion with his parent (for he added sulkily “By her!”), he pinched me and said, “Oh, then! Now! Who are you! YOU wouldn’t like it, I think? What does she make a sham for, and pretend to give me money, and take it away again? Why do you call it my allowance, and never let me spend it?” These exasperating questions so inflamed his mind and the minds of Oswald and Francis that they all pinched me at once, and in a dreadfully expert way - screwing up such little pieces of my arms that I could hardly forbear crying out. Felix, at the same time, stamped upon my toes. And the Bond of Joy, who on account of always having the whole of his little income anticipated stood in fact pledged to abstain from cakes as well as tobacco, so swelled with grief and rage when we passed a pastry-cook’s shop that he terrified me by becoming purple. I never underwent so much, both in body and mind, in the course of a walk with young people as from these unnaturally constrained children when they paid me the compliment of being natural.

I was glad when we came to the brickmaker’s house, though it was one of a cluster of wretched hovels in a brick-field, with pigsties close to the broken windows and miserable little gardens before the doors growing nothing but stagnant pools. Here and there an old tub was put to catch the droppings of rain-water from a roof, or they were banked up with mud into a little pond like a large dirt-pie. At the doors and windows some men and women lounged or prowled about, and took little notice of us except to laugh to one another or to say something as we passed about gentlefolks minding their own business and not troubling their heads and muddying their shoes with coming to look after other people’s.

Mrs. Pardiggle, leading the way with a great show of moral determination and talking with much volubility about the untidy habits of the people (though I doubted if the best of us could have been tidy in such a place), conducted us into a cottage at the farthest corner, the ground-floor room of which we nearly filled. Besides ourselves, there were in this damp, offensive room a woman with a black eye, nursing a poor little gasping baby by the fire; a man, all stained with clay and mud and looking very dissipated, lying at full length on the ground, smoking a pipe; a powerful young man fastening a collar on a dog; and a bold girl doing some kind of washing in very dirty water. They all looked up at us as we came in, and the woman seemed to turn her face towards the fire as if to hide her bruised eye; nobody gave us any welcome.

Tradução Integral em Português

Gosto muito de que as crianças façam-me confidências e tenho a felicidade de ser em geral favorecida nesse aspecto, mas nessa ocasião isso me causou grande inquietação. Assim que saímos, Egbert, com modos de pequeno salteador, exigiu-me um xelim, alegando que sua mesada lhe era “afanada”. Quando assinalei a grande impropriedade da palavra, sobretudo em relação a sua mãe (pois acrescentou, mal-humorado: “Por ela!”), ele me beliscou e disse: “Ah, então! Ora! Quem é você! VOCÊ não gostaria, acho? Por que ela faz essa farsa, finge dar-me dinheiro e torna a tomá-lo? Por que chamam isso de minha mesada e nunca me deixam gastá-la?” Essas perguntas exasperantes inflamaram de tal modo seu espírito e o de Oswald e Francis que todos me beliscaram ao mesmo tempo e com uma destreza terrível - apertando pedacinhos tão pequenos de meus braços que mal pude deixar de gritar. Felix, ao mesmo tempo, pisava em meus dedos. E o Laço da Alegria, que, por ter sempre antecipada toda a sua pequena renda, estava na prática comprometido a abster-se tanto de bolos como de tabaco, inchou de tal maneira de dor e fúria quando passamos por uma confeitaria que me aterrorizou ao ficar roxo. Nunca sofri tanto, no corpo e no espírito, durante um passeio com jovens quanto sofri com essas crianças artificialmente constrangidas quando me concederam o privilégio de ser naturais.

Fiquei contente quando chegamos à casa do fabricante de tijolos, embora fosse parte de um aglomerado de casebres miseráveis num barreiro, com chiqueiros junto às janelas quebradas e míseros jardins diante das portas onde nada crescia senão poças estagnadas. Aqui e ali, um velho tonel fora posto para recolher as gotas de chuva de um telhado, ou elas eram cercadas de barro num pequeno lago semelhante a uma grande torta de lama. Às portas e janelas, alguns homens e mulheres vadiavam ou rondavam, e pouco reparavam em nós, salvo para rir uns com os outros ou dizer, quando passávamos, alguma coisa sobre gente distinta que cuidava da própria vida e não esquentava a cabeça nem enlameava os sapatos indo cuidar da vida alheia.

A Sra. Pardiggle, abrindo caminho com grande exibição de determinação moral e falando com muita loquacidade dos hábitos desleixados do povo (embora eu duvidasse que o melhor de nós pudesse ser asseado em tal lugar), conduziu-nos a uma cabana no canto mais afastado, cujo aposento térreo quase lotamos. Além de nós, havia naquele cômodo úmido e repugnante uma mulher de olho roxo, acalentando junto ao fogo um pobre bebê que respirava com dificuldade; um homem todo manchado de argila e lama, de aparência muito dissoluta, estendido no chão a fumar cachimbo; um jovem vigoroso prendendo uma coleira num cão; e uma moça atrevida lavando alguma coisa em água muito suja. Todos ergueram os olhos quando entramos, e a mulher pareceu virar o rosto para o fogo, como se quisesse esconder o olho machucado; ninguém nos deu boas-vindas.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Com uma voz nada amigável e profissional, a senhora Pardiggle cumprimentou a família. Lembrou-lhes que não podiam cansá-la e disse com orgulho que adorava trabalho duro e cumpria suas promessas.

O homem no chão resmungou e perguntou se viriam mais visitantes.

A senhora Pardiggle sentou-se num banco, derrubou outro e disse que todos haviam chegado.

Olhando ao redor, o homem perguntou com sarcasmo se ela achava que ainda não havia visitantes suficientes.

O jovem e a garota riram, e dois amigos dele parados na porta também riram alto.

A senhora Pardiggle disse que eles não podiam cansá-la. Ela gostava de trabalho duro, e quanto mais difícil o tornassem, mais ela gostava.

O homem exigiu o fim da interferência dela e respondeu às perguntas habituais antes que fossem feitas. Sua filha lavava na mesma água suja que eles bebiam. A casa insalubre já perdera cinco bebês. Ninguém sabia ler o livrinho dela, que de qualquer modo era infantil. Ele estivera bêbado por três dias, não iria à igreja e admitiu ter ferido o olho da esposa.

Original English Version

“Well, my friends,” said Mrs. Pardiggle, but her voice had not a friendly sound, I thought; it was much too business-like and systematic. “How do you do, all of you? I am here again. I told you, you couldn’t tire me, you know. I am fond of hard work, and am true to my word.”

“There an’t,” growled the man on the floor, whose head rested on his hand as he stared at us, “any more on you to come in, is there?”

“No, my friend,” said Mrs. Pardiggle, seating herself on one stool and knocking down another. “We are all here.”

“Because I thought there warn’t enough of you, perhaps?” said the man, with his pipe between his lips as he looked round upon us.

The young man and the girl both laughed. Two friends of the young man, whom we had attracted to the doorway and who stood there with their hands in their pockets, echoed the laugh noisily.

“You can’t tire me, good people,” said Mrs. Pardiggle to these latter. “I enjoy hard work, and the harder you make mine, the better I like it.”

“Then make it easy for her!” growled the man upon the floor. “I wants it done, and over. I wants a end of these liberties took with my place. I wants an end of being drawed like a badger. Now you’re a-going to poll-pry and question according to custom - I know what you’re a-going to be up to. Well! You haven’t got no occasion to be up to it. I’ll save you the trouble. Is my daughter a-washin? Yes, she IS a-washin. Look at the water. Smell it! That’s wot we drinks. How do you like it, and what do you think of gin instead! An’t my place dirty? Yes, it is dirty - it’s nat’rally dirty, and it’s nat’rally onwholesome; and we’ve had five dirty and onwholesome children, as is all dead infants, and so much the better for them, and for us besides. Have I read the little book wot you left? No, I an’t read the little book wot you left. There an’t nobody here as knows how to read it; and if there wos, it wouldn’t be suitable to me. It’s a book fit for a babby, and I’m not a babby. If you was to leave me a doll, I shouldn’t nuss it. How have I been conducting of myself? Why, I’ve been drunk for three days; and I’da been drunk four if I’da had the money. Don’t I never mean for to go to church? No, I don’t never mean for to go to church. I shouldn’t be expected there, if I did; the beadle’s too gen-teel for me. And how did my wife get that black eye? Why, I give it her; and if she says I didn’t, she’s a Lie!”

Tradução Integral em Português

- Bem, meus amigos - disse a Sra. Pardiggle, mas sua voz não tinha som amistoso, pensei; era profissional e sistemática demais. - Como estão todos? Aqui estou novamente. Eu lhes disse que não podiam cansar-me, sabem. Gosto de trabalho árduo e cumpro minha palavra.

- Num tem - rosnou o homem no chão, com a cabeça apoiada na mão enquanto nos fitava - mais nenhum de vocês pra entrar, tem?

- Não, meu amigo - disse a Sra. Pardiggle, sentando-se num banco e derrubando outro. - Estamos todos aqui.

- Porque achei que talvez num tivesse gente bastante? - disse o homem, com o cachimbo entre os lábios, olhando ao redor para nós.

O jovem e a moça riram. Dois amigos do jovem, que atraíramos até a porta e que ali estavam com as mãos nos bolsos, ecoaram ruidosamente a risada.

- Não podem cansar-me, boa gente - disse a Sra. Pardiggle a estes últimos. - Aprecio trabalho árduo e, quanto mais dificultarem o meu, mais gostarei.

- Então facilita pra ela! - rosnou o homem no chão. - Quero isso feito e acabado. Quero o fim dessas liberdades que tomam na minha casa. Quero parar de ser acossado feito um texugo. Agora vai começar a sondar e perguntar de costume... sei bem o que vai aprontar. Pois bem! Num precisa aprontar nada. Poupo o trabalho. Minha filha tá lavando? Sim, TÁ lavando. Olhe a água. Cheire! É isso que a gente bebe. Que acha, e que tal gim no lugar! Minha casa num tá suja? Sim, tá suja... é suja por natureza e insalubre por natureza; e tivemos cinco filhos sujos e insalubres, todos mortos bebês, tanto melhor pra eles e pra nós também. Li o livrinho que deixou? Não, num li o livrinho que deixou. Num tem ninguém aqui que saiba ler; e, se tivesse, num serviria pra mim. É livro pra bebê, e eu num sou bebê. Se deixasse uma boneca, eu num ia embalar. Como tenho me comportado? Ora, fiquei bêbado três dias; teria ficado quatro se tivesse dinheiro. Num pretendo nunca ir à igreja? Não, num pretendo nunca ir à igreja. Nem me esperavam lá se eu fosse; o bedel é fino de-mais pra mim. E como minha mulher ganhou esse olho roxo? Ora, eu dei; e, se ela disser que não, é uma Mentirosa!

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Depois de falar, o homem se virou e voltou a fumar. A senhora Pardiggle o encarou com uma calma forçada que aumentava sua raiva. Então tirou um livro religioso como o bastão de um policial e assumiu o controle da família inteira como se os estivesse prendendo.

Ada e eu nos sentimos desconfortáveis e indesejadas. A maneira fria e controladora da senhora Pardiggle piorava a visita. As crianças emburravam, a família nos ignorava, e o jovem fazia o cão latir durante as declarações mais fortes dela. Sentíamos uma barreira dura entre nós e a família e sabíamos que ela não podia removê-la. Até sua leitura era inadequada e não mostrava bondade nem compreensão.

Nessas circunstâncias, sentimos grande alívio quando a Sra. Pardiggle finalmente parou.

O homem no chão virou a cabeça e perguntou, mal-humorado, se ela havia terminado.

A Sra. Pardiggle disse alegremente que havia terminado por aquele dia, embora nunca se cansasse. Voltaria a visitá-lo quando chegasse a vez regular dele.

Original English Version

He had pulled his pipe out of his mouth to say all this, and he now turned over on his other side and smoked again. Mrs. Pardiggle, who had been regarding him through her spectacles with a forcible composure, calculated, I could not help thinking, to increase his antagonism, pulled out a good book as if it were a constable’s staff and took the whole family into custody. I mean into religious custody, of course; but she really did it as if she were an inexorable moral policeman carrying them all off to a station-house.

Ada and I were very uncomfortable. We both felt intrusive and out of place, and we both thought that Mrs. Pardiggle would have got on infinitely better if she had not had such a mechanical way of taking possession of people. The children sulked and stared; the family took no notice of us whatever, except when the young man made the dog bark, which he usually did when Mrs. Pardiggle was most emphatic. We both felt painfully sensible that between us and these people there was an iron barrier which could not be removed by our new friend. By whom or how it could be removed, we did not know, but we knew that. Even what she read and said seemed to us to be ill-chosen for such auditors, if it had been imparted ever so modestly and with ever so much tact. As to the little book to which the man on the floor had referred, we acquired a knowledge of it afterwards, and Mr. Jarndyce said he doubted if Robinson Crusoe could have read it, though he had had no other on his desolate island.

We were much relieved, under these circumstances, when Mrs. Pardiggle left off.

The man on the floor, then turning his head round again, said morosely, “Well! You’ve done, have you?”

“For to-day, I have, my friend. But I am never fatigued. I shall come to you again in your regular order,” returned Mrs. Pardiggle with demonstrative cheerfulness.

Tradução Integral em Português

Ele tirara o cachimbo da boca para dizer tudo isso e agora virou-se para o outro lado e tornou a fumar. A Sra. Pardiggle, que o observara através dos óculos com uma serenidade vigorosa, calculada, não pude deixar de pensar, para aumentar-lhe o antagonismo, sacou um bom livro como se fosse o cassetete de um policial e deteve a família inteira. Quero dizer, deteve-a religiosamente, é claro; mas de fato agiu como se fosse uma inexorável policial da moral levando todos para a delegacia.

Ada e eu estávamos muito constrangidas. Ambas nos sentíamos intrusas e deslocadas, e ambas pensávamos que a Sra. Pardiggle se teria saído infinitamente melhor se não tivesse aquele modo tão mecânico de apossar-se das pessoas. As crianças emburravam-se e encaravam; a família não nos dava atenção alguma, exceto quando o jovem fazia o cão latir, o que em geral fazia quando a Sra. Pardiggle era mais enfática. Ambas sentíamos dolorosamente que entre nós e aquela gente havia uma barreira de ferro que nossa nova amiga não podia remover. Por quem ou como poderia ser removida, não sabíamos, mas isso sabíamos. Até o que ela lia e dizia parecia-nos mal escolhido para tais ouvintes, ainda que fosse transmitido com toda a modéstia e todo o tato. Quanto ao livrinho a que o homem no chão se referira, viemos a conhecê-lo depois, e o Sr. Jarndyce disse duvidar que Robinson Crusoé pudesse tê-lo lido, embora não dispusesse de outro em sua ilha deserta.

Nessas circunstâncias, sentimos grande alívio quando a Sra. Pardiggle terminou.

O homem no chão, tornando então a virar a cabeça, disse sombriamente: “Bem! Acabou, foi?”

“Por hoje, sim, meu amigo. Mas eu nunca me canso. Voltarei a visitá-lo em sua ordem regular”, respondeu a Sra. Pardiggle, com ostensiva alegria.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Cruzando os braços e fechando os olhos, o homem praguejou e disse que ela podia fazer o que quisesse, desde que fosse embora naquele momento.

A Sra. Pardiggle se levantou e causou grande agitação no pequeno quarto, quase derrubando o cachimbo. Pegou duas crianças pelas mãos, mandou as outras seguirem e disse esperar que a família do oleiro melhorasse antes da próxima visita. Depois foi a outro chalé. Espero não ser cruel ao dizer que toda a sua caridade parecia uma grande apresentação pública e não tornava as pessoas mais amigáveis com ela.

Ela acreditava que a seguíamos. Mas, assim que o quarto ficou livre, fomos até a mulher junto ao fogo e perguntamos se o bebê estava doente.

A mulher apenas olhou para o bebê em seu colo. Sempre que o fitava, cobria o olho machucado, como se quisesse manter longe da pobre criança qualquer lembrança de barulho, violência e maus-tratos.

Original English Version

“So long as you goes now,” said he, folding his arms and shutting his eyes with an oath, “you may do wot you like!”

Mrs. Pardiggle accordingly rose and made a little vortex in the confined room from which the pipe itself very narrowly escaped. Taking one of her young family in each hand, and telling the others to follow closely, and expressing her hope that the brickmaker and all his house would be improved when she saw them next, she then proceeded to another cottage. I hope it is not unkind in me to say that she certainly did make, in this as in everything else, a show that was not conciliatory of doing charity by wholesale and of dealing in it to a large extent.

She supposed that we were following her, but as soon as the space was left clear, we approached the woman sitting by the fire to ask if the baby were ill.

She only looked at it as it lay on her lap. We had observed before that when she looked at it she covered her discoloured eye with her hand, as though she wished to separate any association with noise and violence and ill treatment from the poor little child.

Tradução Integral em Português

“Contanto que vá embora agora”, disse ele, cruzando os braços e fechando os olhos com um palavrão, “pode fazê o que quisé!”

A Sra. Pardiggle levantou-se, portanto, e produziu no aposento apertado um pequeno redemoinho, do qual o próprio cachimbo escapou por muito pouco. Tomando um membro de sua jovem família em cada mão, mandando os demais seguirem bem de perto e exprimindo a esperança de que o oleiro e toda a sua casa estivessem melhorados quando tornasse a vê-los, seguiu então para outra cabana. Espero que não seja maldade de minha parte dizer que ela certamente fazia, nisso como em tudo mais, uma exibição pouco conciliadora de praticar caridade por atacado e comerciar com ela em larga escala.

Ela supôs que a seguíamos, mas, assim que o espaço ficou livre, aproximamo-nos da mulher sentada junto ao fogo para perguntar se o bebê estava doente.

Ela apenas olhou para ele, deitado em seu colo. Já havíamos observado que, ao fitá-lo, cobria com a mão o olho descolorido, como se desejasse afastar da pobre criancinha toda associação com barulho, violência e maus-tratos.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

O coração bondoso de Ada se comoveu com o bebê. Ela se inclinou para tocar seu rostinho, mas vi o que havia acontecido e a puxei para trás. A criança estava morta.

Ada caiu de joelhos ao lado do bebê e me chamou. Chorou pela pequena criança quieta e bonita, dizendo quanto lamentava pelo bebê e pela mãe. Nunca havia visto nada tão triste.

Ada se inclinou chorando e colocou a mão sobre a da mãe com tanta bondade que poderia ter comovido o coração de qualquer mãe. Primeiro, a mulher a encarou surpresa. Depois começou a chorar.

Logo tirei o corpo leve de seu colo, deixei o bebê com uma aparência tranquila, coloquei-o numa prateleira e o cobri com meu lenço. Tentamos consolar a mãe e lembramos em voz baixa as palavras de Cristo sobre as crianças. Ela não disse nada e continuou chorando muito.

Original English Version

Ada, whose gentle heart was moved by its appearance, bent down to touch its little face. As she did so, I saw what happened and drew her back. The child died.

“Oh, Esther!” cried Ada, sinking on her knees beside it. “Look here! Oh, Esther, my love, the little thing! The suffering, quiet, pretty little thing! I am so sorry for it. I am so sorry for the mother. I never saw a sight so pitiful as this before! Oh, baby, baby!”

Such compassion, such gentleness, as that with which she bent down weeping and put her hand upon the mother’s might have softened any mother’s heart that ever beat. The woman at first gazed at her in astonishment and then burst into tears.

Presently I took the light burden from her lap, did what I could to make the baby’s rest the prettier and gentler, laid it on a shelf, and covered it with my own handkerchief. We tried to comfort the mother, and we whispered to her what Our Saviour said of children. She answered nothing, but sat weeping - weeping very much.

Tradução Integral em Português

Ada, cujo coração delicado se comoveu com a aparência do bebê, inclinou-se para tocar-lhe o rostinho. Quando o fez, vi o que acontecera e puxei-a para trás. A criança morreu.

“Oh, Esther!”, exclamou Ada, caindo de joelhos ao lado dela. “Veja! Oh, Esther, meu amor, a criaturinha! A criaturinha sofrida, quieta e bonita! Sinto tanto por ela. Sinto tanto pela mãe. Nunca vi na vida cena tão digna de piedade! Oh, bebê, bebê!”

Compaixão e ternura como aquelas com que ela se curvou, chorando, e pousou a mão sobre a da mãe poderiam enternecer qualquer coração materno que já bateu. A mulher primeiro fitou-a assombrada, depois rompeu em lágrimas.

Pouco depois, tirei-lhe do colo o leve fardo, fiz o que pude para tornar mais belo e suave o repouso do bebê, deitei-o numa prateleira e cobri-o com meu próprio lenço. Procuramos consolar a mãe e sussurramos-lhe o que Nosso Salvador dissera sobre as crianças. Ela nada respondeu, apenas continuou sentada, chorando - chorando muito.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Quando me virei, o jovem havia levado o cachorro para fora e permanecia em silêncio à porta, observando-nos com os olhos secos. A moça também estava quieta num canto, olhando para o chão. O homem mais velho se levantara. Continuava fumando com orgulho, mas nada dizia.

Uma mulher de aparência desagradável e roupas muito pobres entrou depressa. Foi direto até a mãe e chamou: “Jenny! Jenny!” Jenny se levantou e caiu nos braços dela.

Essa mulher também tinha sinais de maus-tratos no rosto e nos braços. Não possuía beleza física, mas sua compaixão lhe dava outro tipo de graça. Enquanto chorava com Jenny, não precisava de beleza. Suas únicas palavras eram o nome de Jenny, mas sua voz expressava todo o resto.

Comoveu-me profundamente ver aquelas duas mulheres pobres, rudes, malvestidas e espancadas tão unidas. Suas vidas difíceis tornavam seus corações bondosos uma com a outra. A sociedade raramente vê o melhor lado dessas pessoas. Apenas os próprios pobres e Deus sabem de verdade o que os pobres fazem uns pelos outros.

Original English Version

When I turned, I found that the young man had taken out the dog and was standing at the door looking in upon us with dry eyes, but quiet. The girl was quiet too and sat in a corner looking on the ground. The man had risen. He still smoked his pipe with an air of defiance, but he was silent.

An ugly woman, very poorly clothed, hurried in while I was glancing at them, and coming straight up to the mother, said, “Jenny! Jenny!” The mother rose on being so addressed and fell upon the woman’s neck.

She also had upon her face and arms the marks of ill usage. She had no kind of grace about her, but the grace of sympathy; but when she condoled with the woman, and her own tears fell, she wanted no beauty. I say condoled, but her only words were “Jenny! Jenny!” All the rest was in the tone in which she said them.

I thought it very touching to see these two women, coarse and shabby and beaten, so united; to see what they could be to one another; to see how they felt for one another, how the heart of each to each was softened by the hard trials of their lives. I think the best side of such people is almost hidden from us. What the poor are to the poor is little known, excepting to themselves and God.

Tradução Integral em Português

Quando me virei, vi que o rapaz levara o cão para fora e estava à porta, olhando-nos com os olhos secos, mas quieto. A moça também estava quieta e, sentada num canto, olhava para o chão. O homem se levantara. Ainda fumava o cachimbo com ar desafiador, mas permanecia em silêncio.

Enquanto eu os observava, entrou às pressas uma mulher feia, muito pobremente vestida, que foi diretamente até a mãe e disse: “Jenny! Jenny!” Ao ouvir-se chamada assim, a mãe levantou-se e lançou-se ao pescoço da mulher.

Também ela trazia no rosto e nos braços marcas de maus-tratos. Não possuía graça alguma, salvo a graça da compaixão; mas, quando se condoeu da mulher e suas próprias lágrimas caíram, beleza nenhuma lhe fazia falta. Digo condoeu-se, mas suas únicas palavras foram “Jenny! Jenny!” Todo o resto estava no tom em que as pronunciou.

Achei muito comovente ver aquelas duas mulheres, grosseiras, maltrapilhas e espancadas, tão unidas; ver o que podiam ser uma para a outra; ver como se compadeciam uma da outra, como o coração de cada qual se enternecia pela outra diante das duras provações de suas vidas. Creio que o melhor lado de pessoas assim permanece quase oculto de nós. O que os pobres representam para os pobres é pouco conhecido, salvo por eles próprios e por Deus.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Decidimos que era melhor deixar as mulheres sozinhas. Saímos em silêncio sem que ninguém percebesse, exceto o homem. Ele estava encostado perto da porta, onde havia pouco espaço para passar. Saiu para nos dar passagem, mas tentou esconder sua bondade. Percebemos e agradecemos, embora ele não respondesse.

Ada sofreu durante todo o caminho de volta. Richard ficou aflito ao vê-la chorando, embora em particular tenha me dito como sua compaixão era bonita. Decidimos voltar naquela noite à casa do oleiro com presentes úteis. Contamos o mínimo possível ao Sr. Jarndyce, mas ele percebeu imediatamente que havia problemas, como uma mudança no vento.

Richard foi conosco naquela noite. Passamos por uma taberna barulhenta e cheia de homens e vimos o pai da criança morta discutindo entre eles. Mais adiante, o jovem caminhava com o cachorro e companheiros parecidos. Sua irmã ria com outras jovens perto dos chalés, mas pareceu envergonhada e virou o rosto quando passamos.

Original English Version

We felt it better to withdraw and leave them uninterrupted. We stole out quietly and without notice from any one except the man. He was leaning against the wall near the door, and finding that there was scarcely room for us to pass, went out before us. He seemed to want to hide that he did this on our account, but we perceived that he did, and thanked him. He made no answer.

Ada was so full of grief all the way home, and Richard, whom we found at home, was so distressed to see her in tears (though he said to me, when she was not present, how beautiful it was too!), that we arranged to return at night with some little comforts and repeat our visit at the brick-maker’s house. We said as little as we could to Mr. Jarndyce, but the wind changed directly.

Richard accompanied us at night to the scene of our morning expedition. On our way there, we had to pass a noisy drinking-house, where a number of men were flocking about the door. Among them, and prominent in some dispute, was the father of the little child. At a short distance, we passed the young man and the dog, in congenial company. The sister was standing laughing and talking with some other young women at the corner of the row of cottages, but she seemed ashamed and turned away as we went by.

Tradução Integral em Português

Julgamos melhor retirar-nos e deixá-las sem interrupção. Saímos furtivamente, em silêncio, sem sermos notados por ninguém além do homem. Ele estava encostado à parede junto à porta e, percebendo que mal havia espaço para passarmos, saiu antes de nós. Pareceu querer esconder que o fazia por nossa causa, mas percebemos que sim e agradecemos-lhe. Ele não respondeu.

Ada esteve tão cheia de tristeza por todo o caminho para casa, e Richard, que encontramos em casa, ficou tão aflito ao vê-la em lágrimas (embora me dissesse, na ausência dela, como aquilo também era belo!), que combinamos voltar à noite com alguns pequenos confortos e repetir nossa visita à casa do oleiro. Dissemos ao Sr. Jarndyce o mínimo possível, mas o vento mudou imediatamente.

À noite, Richard acompanhou-nos ao cenário de nossa expedição matinal. No caminho, tivemos de passar por uma taberna ruidosa, onde vários homens se aglomeravam junto à porta. Entre eles, destacado numa discussão, estava o pai da criancinha. Pouco adiante, passamos pelo rapaz e pelo cão, em companhia congenial. A irmã estava numa esquina da fileira de cabanas, rindo e conversando com outras jovens, mas pareceu envergonhada e virou-se quando passamos.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Deixamos Richard num lugar de onde ainda podia ver a casa do oleiro e continuamos sozinhas. À porta, a mulher que consolara Jenny observava tudo com ansiedade.

Sussurrando, ela nos reconheceu e disse que vigiava a chegada do marido. Estava apavorada porque, se ele a encontrasse fora de casa, poderia quase matá-la.

Perguntei se ela queria dizer seu marido.

Ela respondeu que sim e o chamou de seu senhor. Jenny dormia, completamente esgotada. Durante sete dias e noites, quase não largara o bebê, exceto quando a amiga conseguia segurá-lo por alguns minutos.

Ela nos deixou entrar em silêncio e colocou nossos presentes perto da pobre cama onde Jenny dormia. Ninguém havia limpado o quarto, que parecia quase impossível de limpar. Porém, o pequeno corpo fora lavado, arrumado em paz e vestido com pedaços de tecido branco e limpo. Sobre meu lenço que cobria o bebê, as mãos rudes e cheias de cicatrizes da mulher haviam colocado delicadamente ervas perfumadas.

Original English Version

We left our escort within sight of the brickmaker’s dwelling and proceeded by ourselves. When we came to the door, we found the woman who had brought such consolation with her standing there looking anxiously out.

“It’s you, young ladies, is it?” she said in a whisper. “I’m a-watching for my master. My heart’s in my mouth. If he was to catch me away from home, he’d pretty near murder me.”

“Do you mean your husband?” said I.

“Yes, miss, my master. Jenny’s asleep, quite worn out. She’s scarcely had the child off her lap, poor thing, these seven days and nights, except when I’ve been able to take it for a minute or two.”

As she gave way for us, she went softly in and put what we had brought near the miserable bed on which the mother slept. No effort had been made to clean the room - it seemed in its nature almost hopeless of being clean; but the small waxen form from which so much solemnity diffused itself had been composed afresh, and washed, and neatly dressed in some fragments of white linen; and on my handkerchief, which still covered the poor baby, a little bunch of sweet herbs had been laid by the same rough, scarred hands, so lightly, so tenderly!

Tradução Integral em Português

Deixamos nosso acompanhante à vista da casa do oleiro e prosseguimos sozinhas. Quando chegamos à porta, encontramos ali, olhando ansiosamente para fora, a mulher que trouxera consigo tamanha consolação.

“São as senhoritas, é?”, disse ela num sussurro. “Tô vigiando meu patrão. Tô com o coração na boca. Se ele me pegasse fora de casa, era capaz de quase me matá.”

“Quer dizer seu marido?”, perguntei.

“Sim, senhorita, meu patrão. Jenny está dormindo, esgotada. Faz sete dias e sete noites que quase não tira a criança do colo, pobre coitada, a não ser quando consigo pegá-la por um minuto ou dois.”

Enquanto nos dava passagem, entrou de mansinho e colocou o que havíamos trazido perto da cama miserável em que a mãe dormia. Não se fizera esforço algum para limpar o quarto - por sua própria natureza, ele parecia quase incapaz de ficar limpo - , mas a pequena forma de cera, da qual emanava tamanha solenidade, fora novamente composta, lavada e vestida com esmero em alguns retalhos de linho branco; e sobre meu lenço, que ainda cobria o pobre bebê, as mesmas mãos ásperas e marcadas por cicatrizes haviam depositado um pequeno ramo de ervas aromáticas, com tanta leveza, tanta ternura!

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Chamamos aquela mulher de bondosa e pedimos que o céu a recompensasse.

Ela reagiu com surpresa e perguntou se realmente falávamos dela. Depois chamou o nome de Jenny em voz baixa.

Jenny havia se mexido e gemido durante o sono. A voz conhecida da amiga a acalmou, e ela ficou quieta outra vez.

Levantei meu lenço para olhar a pequena criança em paz. Ada se inclinou sobre ela com compaixão, e seus cabelos pareciam formar um círculo de luz. Eu não podia imaginar sobre o peito inquieto de quem aquele mesmo lenço repousaria mais tarde. Apenas pensei que o anjo da criança talvez visse a mulher compassiva recolocá-lo com delicadeza. Depois que partimos, ela ficou à porta, observando e escutando com medo a chegada do marido, enquanto chamava baixinho: “Jenny, Jenny.”

Original English Version

“May heaven reward you!” we said to her. “You are a good woman.”

“Me, young ladies?” she returned with surprise. “Hush! Jenny, Jenny!”

The mother had moaned in her sleep and moved. The sound of the familiar voice seemed to calm her again. She was quiet once more.

How little I thought, when I raised my handkerchief to look upon the tiny sleeper underneath and seemed to see a halo shine around the child through Ada’s drooping hair as her pity bent her head - how little I thought in whose unquiet bosom that handkerchief would come to lie after covering the motionless and peaceful breast! I only thought that perhaps the Angel of the child might not be all unconscious of the woman who replaced it with so compassionate a hand; not all unconscious of her presently, when we had taken leave, and left her at the door, by turns looking, and listening in terror for herself, and saying in her old soothing manner, “Jenny, Jenny!”

Tradução Integral em Português

“Que o céu a recompense!”, dissemos-lhe. “A senhora é uma boa mulher.”

“Eu, senhoritas?”, respondeu ela, surpresa. “Silêncio! Jenny, Jenny!”

A mãe gemera durante o sono e se mexera. O som da voz familiar pareceu acalmá-la de novo. Tornou a ficar quieta.

Quão pouco pensei, quando ergui meu lenço para contemplar o minúsculo adormecido sob ele e julguei ver uma auréola brilhar ao redor da criança por entre os cabelos caídos de Ada, enquanto a piedade lhe inclinava a cabeça - quão pouco pensei em que peito inquieto aquele lenço viria a repousar, depois de cobrir o peito imóvel e sereno! Pensei apenas que talvez o Anjo da criança não estivesse inteiramente inconsciente da mulher que o recolocava com mão tão compassiva; nem inteiramente inconsciente dela pouco depois, quando nos despedimos e a deixamos à porta, ora espiando, ora escutando, aterrorizada por si mesma, e dizendo em seu antigo tom consolador: “Jenny, Jenny!”

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Chapter IX

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Sinais e Avisos

Não sei por que continuo escrevendo sobre mim mesma. Pretendo descrever outras pessoas e tento não pensar em mim. Quando volto a entrar na história, fico irritada comigo mesma. No entanto, não consigo evitar. Espero que os leitores entendam que estas páginas falam tanto de mim apenas porque realmente participei desses acontecimentos e não posso ser retirada deles.

Minha querida Ada e eu líamos, trabalhávamos e praticávamos juntas. Tínhamos tanto para fazer que os dias de inverno passavam como pássaros brilhantes. Richard costumava se juntar a nós à tarde e sempre à noite. Embora fosse extremamente inquieto, claramente adorava nossa companhia.

Richard estava profundamente apaixonado por Ada, e devo dizer isso diretamente. Nunca havia observado jovens se apaixonarem, mas os compreendi depressa. Não podia mencionar o assunto nem mostrar que sabia. Agia de modo tão sério e distraído que às vezes me perguntava se estava me tornando desonesta.

Original English Version

Signs and Tokens

I don’t know how it is I seem to be always writing about myself. I mean all the time to write about other people, and I try to think about myself as little as possible, and I am sure, when I find myself coming into the story again, I am really vexed and say, “Dear, dear, you tiresome little creature, I wish you wouldn’t!” but it is all of no use. I hope any one who may read what I write will understand that if these pages contain a great deal about me, I can only suppose it must be because I have really something to do with them and can’t be kept out.

My darling and I read together, and worked, and practised, and found so much employment for our time that the winter days flew by us like bright-winged birds. Generally in the afternoons, and always in the evenings, Richard gave us his company. Although he was one of the most restless creatures in the world, he certainly was very fond of our society.

He was very, very, very fond of Ada. I mean it, and I had better say it at once. I had never seen any young people falling in love before, but I found them out quite soon. I could not say so, of course, or show that I knew anything about it. On the contrary, I was so demure and used to seem so unconscious that sometimes I considered within myself while I was sitting at work whether I was not growing quite deceitful.

Tradução Integral em Português

Sinais e Presságios

Não sei por que pareço estar sempre escrevendo a meu respeito. O tempo todo pretendo escrever sobre outras pessoas, e procuro pensar em mim o mínimo possível, e tenho certeza de que, quando dou comigo entrando novamente na história, fico de fato contrariada e digo: “Ora, ora, sua criaturinha importuna, quem dera não fizesse isso!”, mas de nada adianta. Espero que qualquer pessoa que venha a ler o que escrevo compreenda que, se estas páginas contêm muita coisa sobre mim, só posso supor que seja porque realmente tenho algo que ver com elas e não posso ser mantida de fora.

Minha querida e eu líamos juntas, trabalhávamos, praticávamos e encontrávamos tanta ocupação para nosso tempo que os dias de inverno voavam por nós como aves de asas luminosas. Em geral à tarde, e sempre à noite, Richard fazia-nos companhia. Embora fosse uma das criaturas mais irrequietas do mundo, certamente gostava muito de nossa companhia.

Gostava muitíssimo, muitíssimo, muitíssimo de Ada. É exatamente o que quero dizer, e é melhor dizê-lo de uma vez. Eu nunca vira jovens se apaixonando, mas descobri-os muito depressa. Naturalmente, não podia dizê-lo nem demonstrar que sabia coisa alguma. Ao contrário, mostrava-me tão recatada e parecia tão inconsciente que às vezes, enquanto me sentava para trabalhar, perguntava a mim mesma se não estaria ficando muito dissimulada.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Não havia outra escolha. Fiquei quieta como um rato. Eles também não diziam nada sobre seu amor. No entanto, enquanto se aproximavam, confiavam cada vez mais em mim de um modo tão inocente e encantador que eu lutava para não demonstrar meu interesse.

Richard muitas vezes me encontrava cedo no jardim. Com uma risada e um leve rubor, chamava-me de nossa querida e excelente velhinha e dizia que não podia viver sem mim. Antes de seu dia agitado de estudos e cavalgadas pelo campo, uma caminhada calma com sua amiga tranquila lhe fazia bem. Por isso havia voltado.

À noite, Ada apoiava a cabeça em meu ombro enquanto o fogo brilhava em seus olhos pensativos. Chamando-me de Senhora Durden, dizia que não precisava conversar no andar de cima. Queria apenas sentar e pensar ao lado de meu rosto querido, ouvir o vento e lembrar os pobres marinheiros no mar.

Original English Version

But there was no help for it. All I had to do was to be quiet, and I was as quiet as a mouse. They were as quiet as mice too, so far as any words were concerned, but the innocent manner in which they relied more and more upon me as they took more and more to one another was so charming that I had great difficulty in not showing how it interested me.

“Our dear little old woman is such a capital old woman,” Richard would say, coming up to meet me in the garden early, with his pleasant laugh and perhaps the least tinge of a blush, “that I can’t get on without her. Before I begin my harum-scarum day - grinding away at those books and instruments and then galloping up hill and down dale, all the country round, like a highwayman - it does me so much good to come and have a steady walk with our comfortable friend, that here I am again!”

“You know, Dame Durden, dear,” Ada would say at night, with her head upon my shoulder and the firelight shining in her thoughtful eyes, “I don’t want to talk when we come upstairs here. Only to sit a little while thinking, with your dear face for company, and to hear the wind and remember the poor sailors at sea - ”

Tradução Integral em Português

Mas não havia remédio. Tudo quanto me cabia fazer era ficar quieta, e fiquei quieta como um camundongo. Eles também estavam quietos como camundongos, no que dizia respeito a palavras, mas a maneira inocente como se apoiavam cada vez mais em mim à medida que se afeiçoavam cada vez mais um ao outro era tão encantadora que eu tinha grande dificuldade em não revelar quanto aquilo me interessava.

“Nossa querida velhinha é uma velhinha tão extraordinária”, dizia Richard, vindo cedo encontrar-me no jardim, com seu riso agradável e talvez o mais leve rubor, “que não consigo passar sem ela. Antes de começar meu dia tresloucado - matando-me sobre aqueles livros e instrumentos e depois galopando por montes e vales, por toda a região, como um salteador de estrada - faz-me tão bem vir dar uma caminhada tranquila com nossa sensata amiga, que aqui estou outra vez!”

“Sabe, querida Comadre Durden”, dizia Ada à noite, com a cabeça em meu ombro e a luz do fogo brilhando em seus olhos pensativos, “não quero conversar quando subimos para cá. Quero apenas sentar-me um pouco, pensando, tendo seu querido rosto por companhia, e ouvir o vento e lembrar-me dos pobres marinheiros no mar...”

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Talvez Richard se tornasse marinheiro. Havíamos discutido muitas vezes seu desejo de infância de ir para o mar. O Sr. Jarndyce escrevera a um parente distante da família, o poderoso Sir Leicester Dedlock, pedindo que apoiasse Richard de modo geral. Sir Leicester respondeu educadamente que ajudaria se algum dia tivesse esse poder, embora fosse improvável. Lady Dedlock enviou cumprimentos ao jovem parente distante e esperava que ele cumprisse seu dever em qualquer profissão honrada que escolhesse.

Richard me disse que estava claro que teria de vencer por seu próprio trabalho. Muitas pessoas já haviam feito isso, portanto ele não se importava. Apenas desejava comandar um navio particular veloz. Assim, poderia capturar o Chanceler e dar-lhe pouca comida até que decidisse o processo deles. Se o Chanceler demorasse, logo ficaria magro.

Richard costumava ser alegre, esperançoso e cheio de energia. No entanto, sua natureza descuidada me confundia, principalmente porque ele estranhamente acreditava ser cuidadoso e sensato. Isso afetava em especial todas as suas ideias sobre dinheiro, como mostrou nosso empréstimo ao Sr. Skimpole.

Original English Version

Ah! Perhaps Richard was going to be a sailor. We had talked it over very often now, and there was some talk of gratifying the inclination of his childhood for the sea. Mr. Jarndyce had written to a relation of the family, a great Sir Leicester Dedlock, for his interest in Richard’s favour, generally; and Sir Leicester had replied in a gracious manner that he would be happy to advance the prospects of the young gentleman if it should ever prove to be within his power, which was not at all probable, and that my Lady sent her compliments to the young gentleman (to whom she perfectly remembered that she was allied by remote consanguinity) and trusted that he would ever do his duty in any honourable profession to which he might devote himself.

“So I apprehend it’s pretty clear,” said Richard to me, “that I shall have to work my own way. Never mind! Plenty of people have had to do that before now, and have done it. I only wish I had the command of a clipping privateer to begin with and could carry off the Chancellor and keep him on short allowance until he gave judgment in our cause. He’d find himself growing thin, if he didn’t look sharp!”

With a buoyancy and hopefulness and a gaiety that hardly ever flagged, Richard had a carelessness in his character that quite perplexed me, principally because he mistook it, in such a very odd way, for prudence. It entered into all his calculations about money in a singular manner which I don’t think I can better explain than by reverting for a moment to our loan to Mr. Skimpole.

Tradução Integral em Português

Ah! Talvez Richard viesse a ser marinheiro. Já havíamos conversado muitas vezes sobre isso, e falava-se em satisfazer a inclinação que ele tivera desde a infância para o mar. O Sr. Jarndyce escrevera a um parente da família, o grande Sir Leicester Dedlock, pedindo, de modo geral, seu patrocínio em favor de Richard; e Sir Leicester respondera graciosamente que teria prazer em promover as perspectivas do jovem cavalheiro, se isso algum dia viesse a estar em seu poder, o que não era absolutamente provável, e que milady enviava seus cumprimentos ao jovem cavalheiro (de quem se lembrava perfeitamente de ser parenta por consanguinidade remota) e confiava que ele sempre cumpriria seu dever em qualquer profissão honrosa a que viesse a dedicar-se.

“Portanto, creio que está bastante claro”, disse-me Richard, “que terei de abrir meu próprio caminho. Não faz mal! Muita gente já teve de fazer isso e conseguiu. Só queria começar comandando um veloz navio corsário, para poder raptar o Chanceler e mantê-lo com rações escassas até que pronunciasse a sentença em nossa causa. Ele perceberia que estava emagrecendo, se não se apressasse!”

Com uma vivacidade, uma esperança e uma alegria que quase nunca esmoreciam, Richard tinha no caráter uma imprevidência que me deixava inteiramente perplexa, principalmente porque, de modo muito estranho, ele a confundia com prudência. Ela entrava em todos os seus cálculos sobre dinheiro de maneira singular, que creio não poder explicar melhor do que voltando por um instante a nosso empréstimo ao Sr. Skimpole.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

O Sr. Jarndyce soube quanto havíamos pagado por Skimpole, por meio dele ou de Coavinses. Entregou-me o dinheiro, dizendo que guardasse minha parte e devolvesse o restante a Richard. Richard então usou as dez libras recuperadas para justificar muitas despesas descuidadas. Falava muitas vezes como se tivesse ganhado ou economizado aquela quantia, e todas essas despesas se acumulavam.

Quando quis dar cinco libras ao oleiro sem pensar, Richard perguntou por que não. Afirmou ter obtido um lucro de dez libras com o caso de Coavinses.

Perguntei como aquilo era possível.

Ele explicou que havia dado dez libras de boa vontade e nunca esperara vê-las novamente. Perguntou se eu negava isso.

Eu disse que não.

Richard continuou, dizendo que depois recebera dez libras.

Lembrei-lhe em voz baixa que eram as mesmas dez libras.

Richard disse que isso não importava. Agora tinha dez libras a mais do que esperava, por isso acreditava que podia gastá-las livremente.

Original English Version

Mr. Jarndyce had ascertained the amount, either from Mr. Skimpole himself or from Coavinses, and had placed the money in my hands with instructions to me to retain my own part of it and hand the rest to Richard. The number of little acts of thoughtless expenditure which Richard justified by the recovery of his ten pounds, and the number of times he talked to me as if he had saved or realized that amount, would form a sum in simple addition.

“My prudent Mother Hubbard, why not?” he said to me when he wanted, without the least consideration, to bestow five pounds on the brickmaker. “I made ten pounds, clear, out of Coavinses’ business.”

“How was that?” said I.

“Why, I got rid of ten pounds which I was quite content to get rid of and never expected to see any more. You don’t deny that?”

“No,” said I.

“Very well! Then I came into possession of ten pounds - ”

“The same ten pounds,” I hinted.

“That has nothing to do with it!” returned Richard. “I have got ten pounds more than I expected to have, and consequently I can afford to spend it without being particular.”

Tradução Integral em Português

O Sr. Jarndyce averiguara a quantia, fosse com o próprio Sr. Skimpole, fosse com Coavinses, e colocara o dinheiro em minhas mãos, instruindo-me a conservar minha parte e entregar o restante a Richard. O número de pequenos atos de gasto irrefletido que Richard justificou com a recuperação de suas dez libras, e o número de vezes em que falou comigo como se houvesse poupado ou ganho aquela quantia, formariam uma bela soma em simples adição.

“Minha prudente Mamãe Hubbard, por que não?”, disse-me ele quando quis, sem a menor consideração, conceder cinco libras ao oleiro. “Ganhei dez libras líquidas com o negócio de Coavinses.”

“Como assim?”, perguntei.

“Ora, livrei-me de dez libras das quais estava perfeitamente disposto a me livrar e que nunca esperava tornar a ver. Você não nega isso?”

“Não”, respondi.

“Muito bem! Então entrei na posse de dez libras...”

“As mesmas dez libras”, insinuei.

“Isso não tem nada que ver com a questão!”, retrucou Richard. “Tenho dez libras a mais do que esperava ter e, por conseguinte, posso gastá-las sem tantos cuidados.”

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Da mesma forma, quando o convencemos a não desperdiçar cinco libras com o oleiro porque isso não ajudaria, ele tratou o dinheiro não gasto como lucro e começou a fazer despesas com base nele.

Ele dizia que havia economizado cinco libras no caso do oleiro. Se uma viagem rápida de carruagem a Londres e de volta custasse quatro libras, ainda teria economizado uma. Insistia que economizar uma libra era excelente, pois dinheiro poupado era dinheiro ganho.

Richard era extremamente sincero e generoso. Era entusiasmado, corajoso, inquieto e naturalmente gentil, por isso em poucas semanas eu o conhecia como um irmão. A influência de Ada fez dele um companheiro ainda mais encantador. Interessava-se por tudo e era feliz, esperançoso e despreocupado. Enquanto me sentava, caminhava e conversava com eles, eu os via se apaixonarem mais a cada dia. Nenhum falava disso, e cada um acreditava timidamente que era um segredo, talvez até para o outro. Eu estava quase tão encantada com o belo sonho quanto eles.

Original English Version

In exactly the same way, when he was persuaded out of the sacrifice of these five pounds by being convinced that it would do no good, he carried that sum to his credit and drew upon it.

“Let me see!” he would say. “I saved five pounds out of the brickmaker’s affair, so if I have a good rattle to London and back in a post-chaise and put that down at four pounds, I shall have saved one. And it’s a very good thing to save one, let me tell you: a penny saved is a penny got!”

I believe Richard’s was as frank and generous a nature as there possibly can be. He was ardent and brave, and in the midst of all his wild restlessness, was so gentle that I knew him like a brother in a few weeks. His gentleness was natural to him and would have shown itself abundantly even without Ada’s influence; but with it, he became one of the most winning of companions, always so ready to be interested and always so happy, sanguine, and light-hearted. I am sure that I, sitting with them, and walking with them, and talking with them, and noticing from day to day how they went on, falling deeper and deeper in love, and saying nothing about it, and each shyly thinking that this love was the greatest of secrets, perhaps not yet suspected even by the other - I am sure that I was scarcely less enchanted than they were and scarcely less pleased with the pretty dream.

Tradução Integral em Português

Exatamente do mesmo modo, quando foi dissuadido de sacrificar aquelas cinco libras por se convencer de que isso não faria bem algum, lançou a quantia a seu crédito e sacou contra ela.

“Deixe-me ver!”, dizia. “Poupei cinco libras no caso do oleiro; portanto, se eu fizer uma bela corrida a Londres e voltar numa carruagem de posta, e lançar isso por quatro libras, terei poupado uma. E poupar uma é coisa muito boa, fique sabendo: moeda poupada é moeda ganha!”

Creio que a natureza de Richard era tão franca e generosa quanto possível. Era ardente e corajoso e, em meio a toda a sua irrequietação desvairada, tão afável que em poucas semanas passei a conhecê-lo como a um irmão. Sua afabilidade lhe era natural e teria aparecido em abundância mesmo sem a influência de Ada; mas, com ela, tornou-se um dos mais cativantes companheiros, sempre tão pronto a interessar-se e sempre tão feliz, otimista e despreocupado. Tenho certeza de que eu, sentada com eles, caminhando com eles, conversando com eles e observando dia após dia como iam avançando, apaixonando-se cada vez mais profundamente, sem nada dizer a respeito, e cada qual pensando timidamente que aquele amor era o maior dos segredos, talvez nem sequer suspeitado pelo outro - tenho certeza de que eu estava pouco menos encantada que eles e pouco menos satisfeita com o lindo sonho.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Certa manhã, no café, o Sr. Jarndyce recebeu uma carta de Boythorn e a leu com evidente prazer. No meio da leitura, anunciou que Boythorn viria visitá-los. Todos nos perguntamos quem era Boythorn e se sua visita atrapalharia o romance silencioso ao nosso redor.

O Sr. Jarndyce disse que estudara com Lawrence Boythorn mais de quarenta e cinco anos antes. Boythorn fora o menino mais enérgico, barulhento, caloroso e forte do mundo. Agora era o mesmo tipo de homem. Jarndyce o chamou de sujeito extraordinário.

Richard perguntou se ele queria dizer que Boythorn era fisicamente grande.

Jarndyce disse que Boythorn era bastante grande. Era dez anos mais velho e alguns centímetros mais alto que Jarndyce. Mantinha a cabeça como um velho soldado, tinha peito largo e mãos como as de um ferreiro limpo. Seus pulmões poderosos faziam as vigas da casa tremerem quando falava, ria ou roncava.

Enquanto Jarndyce apreciava pensar no amigo, notamos o bom sinal de que o vento não mostrava nenhuma mudança.

Original English Version

We were going on in this way, when one morning at breakfast Mr. Jarndyce received a letter, and looking at the superscription, said, “From Boythorn? Aye, aye!” and opened and read it with evident pleasure, announcing to us in a parenthesis when he was about half-way through, that Boythorn was “coming down” on a visit. Now who was Boythorn, we all thought. And I dare say we all thought too - I am sure I did, for one - would Boythorn at all interfere with what was going forward?

“I went to school with this fellow, Lawrence Boythorn,” said Mr. Jarndyce, tapping the letter as he laid it on the table, “more than five and forty years ago. He was then the most impetuous boy in the world, and he is now the most impetuous man. He was then the loudest boy in the world, and he is now the loudest man. He was then the heartiest and sturdiest boy in the world, and he is now the heartiest and sturdiest man. He is a tremendous fellow.”

“In stature, sir?” asked Richard.

“Pretty well, Rick, in that respect,” said Mr. Jarndyce; “being some ten years older than I and a couple of inches taller, with his head thrown back like an old soldier, his stalwart chest squared, his hands like a clean blacksmith’s, and his lungs! There’s no simile for his lungs. Talking, laughing, or snoring, they make the beams of the house shake.”

As Mr. Jarndyce sat enjoying the image of his friend Boythorn, we observed the favourable omen that there was not the least indication of any change in the wind.

Tradução Integral em Português

Assim prosseguíamos quando, certa manhã, durante o desjejum, o Sr. Jarndyce recebeu uma carta e, olhando o sobrescrito, disse: “De Boythorn? Ora, ora!”, abriu-a e leu-a com evidente prazer, anunciando-nos entre parênteses, quando chegara mais ou menos à metade, que Boythorn “viria até aqui” para uma visita. Ora, quem era Boythorn?, todos pensamos. E ouso dizer que todos também pensamos - eu, pelo menos, com toda a certeza - : Boythorn interferiria de algum modo no que estava acontecendo?

“Fui à escola com esse sujeito, Lawrence Boythorn”, disse o Sr. Jarndyce, batendo na carta ao colocá-la sobre a mesa, “há mais de quarenta e cinco anos. Era então o menino mais impetuoso do mundo, e agora é o homem mais impetuoso. Era então o menino mais barulhento do mundo, e agora é o homem mais barulhento. Era então o menino mais cordial e robusto do mundo, e agora é o homem mais cordial e robusto. É um sujeito tremendo.”

“Em estatura, senhor?”, perguntou Richard.

“Bastante, Rick, também nesse aspecto”, disse o Sr. Jarndyce; “é cerca de dez anos mais velho que eu e alguns centímetros mais alto, com a cabeça inclinada para trás como um velho soldado, o peito vigoroso bem aprumado, mãos de ferreiro limpo, e os pulmões! Não há comparação possível para seus pulmões. Falando, rindo ou roncando, fazem as vigas da casa tremer.”

Enquanto o Sr. Jarndyce se comprazia na imagem do amigo Boythorn, observamos o presságio favorável de que não havia o menor indício de mudança no vento.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Jarndyce explicou que o coração caloroso, os sentimentos fortes e a natureza viva de Boythorn eram o mais importante. Sua linguagem era tão poderosa quanto sua voz, e ele sempre falava em extremos. Suas palavras ferozes podiam fazê-lo parecer um monstro, e algumas pessoas o consideravam assim. Jarndyce não diria mais nada antes da visita. Avisou-nos para não nos surpreendermos quando Boythorn o protegesse, pois ainda se lembrava de Jarndyce como um aluno menor. A amizade deles começara quando Boythorn arrancou dois dentes de um aluno mais velho e cruel, embora afirmasse que foram seis. Ele e seu criado chegariam naquela tarde.

Preparei tudo para Boythorn e esperamos com interesse. A tarde e a hora do jantar passaram sem que ele chegasse, por isso o jantar foi adiado uma hora. Enquanto nos sentávamos junto ao fogo no escuro, a porta da frente se abriu de repente. Uma voz muito alta anunciou que um homem terrível os mandara seguir para a direita em vez da esquerda. Boythorn o chamou de pior criminoso da Terra, culpou seu pai e disse que ele merecia ser fuzilado.

Original English Version

“But it’s the inside of the man, the warm heart of the man, the passion of the man, the fresh blood of the man, Rick - and Ada, and little Cobweb too, for you are all interested in a visitor - that I speak of,” he pursued. “His language is as sounding as his voice. He is always in extremes, perpetually in the superlative degree. In his condemnation he is all ferocity. You might suppose him to be an ogre from what he says, and I believe he has the reputation of one with some people. There! I tell you no more of him beforehand. You must not be surprised to see him take me under his protection, for he has never forgotten that I was a low boy at school and that our friendship began in his knocking two of my head tyrant’s teeth out (he says six) before breakfast. Boythorn and his man,” to me, “will be here this afternoon, my dear.”

I took care that the necessary preparations were made for Mr. Boythorn’s reception, and we looked forward to his arrival with some curiosity. The afternoon wore away, however, and he did not appear. The dinner-hour arrived, and still he did not appear. The dinner was put back an hour, and we were sitting round the fire with no light but the blaze when the hall-door suddenly burst open and the hall resounded with these words, uttered with the greatest vehemence and in a stentorian tone: “We have been misdirected, Jarndyce, by a most abandoned ruffian, who told us to take the turning to the right instead of to the left. He is the most intolerable scoundrel on the face of the earth. His father must have been a most consummate villain, ever to have such a son. I would have had that fellow shot without the least remorse!”

Tradução Integral em Português

“Mas é do interior do homem, do coração caloroso do homem, da paixão do homem, do sangue fresco do homem, Rick - e Ada, e a pequena Teia de Aranha também, pois todos se interessam por um visitante - , que estou falando”, prosseguiu. “Sua linguagem é tão retumbante quanto sua voz. Está sempre nos extremos, perpetuamente no grau superlativo. Em sua condenação, é pura ferocidade. Pelo que diz, poderiam supô-lo um ogro, e creio que tenha essa reputação entre algumas pessoas. Pronto! Não lhes conto mais nada sobre ele de antemão. Não devem ficar surpresos ao vê-lo tomar-me sob sua proteção, pois ele nunca esqueceu que eu era um dos meninos menores na escola e que nossa amizade começou quando arrancou dois dentes (ele diz seis) de meu tirano do internato antes do desjejum. Boythorn e seu criado”, disse a mim, “estarão aqui esta tarde, minha querida.”

Providenciei os preparativos necessários para a recepção do Sr. Boythorn, e aguardamos sua chegada com alguma curiosidade. A tarde, contudo, foi passando, e ele não apareceu. Chegou a hora do jantar, e ainda não apareceu. O jantar foi adiado uma hora, e estávamos sentados ao redor do fogo, sem outra luz além das chamas, quando a porta do vestíbulo de repente se escancarou e o vestíbulo ressoou com estas palavras, proferidas com máxima veemência e voz estentórea: “Fomos orientados para o caminho errado, Jarndyce, por um tratante dos mais depravados, que nos mandou dobrar à direita em vez de à esquerda. É o patife mais intolerável sobre a face da Terra. Seu pai deve ter sido um vilão consumado para jamais gerar semelhante filho. Eu mandaria fuzilar aquele sujeito sem o menor remorso!”

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

O Sr. Jarndyce perguntou se o homem lhe dera a direção errada de propósito.

Boythorn declarou que o criminoso certamente passara a vida inteira dando direções erradas aos viajantes. Achara que o homem parecia maligno ao mandá-lo para a direita, mas ficara diante dele sem atacá-lo.

O Sr. Jarndyce perguntou em tom de brincadeira se Boythorn queria dizer dentes.

Lawrence Boythorn riu tão alto que a casa tremeu. Ficou encantado porque Jarndyce se lembrava da briga na escola. Chamou o antigo valentão de maior exemplo de desonestidade, medo e crueldade. Se encontrasse aquele homem cruel na rua no dia seguinte, disse que o derrubaria como uma árvore podre.

O Sr. Jarndyce disse que não duvidava e depois convidou Boythorn a subir.

Conferindo a hora, Boythorn disse que, se Jarndyce fosse casado, teria voltado no portão do jardim. Preferiria ter ido aos pontos mais altos do Himalaia a chegar numa hora tão tardia.

Original English Version

“Did he do it on purpose?” Mr. Jarndyce inquired.

“I have not the slightest doubt that the scoundrel has passed his whole existence in misdirecting travellers!” returned the other. “By my soul, I thought him the worst-looking dog I had ever beheld when he was telling me to take the turning to the right. And yet I stood before that fellow face to face and didn’t knock his brains out!”

“Teeth, you mean?” said Mr. Jarndyce.

“Ha, ha, ha!” laughed Mr. Lawrence Boythorn, really making the whole house vibrate. “What, you have not forgotten it yet! Ha, ha, ha! And that was another most consummate vagabond! By my soul, the countenance of that fellow when he was a boy was the blackest image of perfidy, cowardice, and cruelty ever set up as a scarecrow in a field of scoundrels. If I were to meet that most unparalleled despot in the streets to-morrow, I would fell him like a rotten tree!”

“I have no doubt of it,” said Mr. Jarndyce. “Now, will you come upstairs?”

“By my soul, Jarndyce,” returned his guest, who seemed to refer to his watch, “if you had been married, I would have turned back at the garden-gate and gone away to the remotest summits of the Himalaya Mountains sooner than I would have presented myself at this unseasonable hour.”

Tradução Integral em Português

“Ele fez isso de propósito?”, perguntou o Sr. Jarndyce.

“Não tenho a menor dúvida de que o patife passou toda a existência orientando viajantes para o caminho errado!”, retrucou o outro. “Por minha alma, achei que era o cão de pior aspecto que já contemplei quando me mandou dobrar à direita. E, no entanto, fiquei diante daquele sujeito, face a face, e não lhe arrebentei os miolos!”

“Os dentes, quer dizer?”, disse o Sr. Jarndyce.

“Ha, ha, ha!”, riu o Sr. Lawrence Boythorn, fazendo realmente vibrar a casa inteira. “Ora, ainda não esqueceu! Ha, ha, ha! E aquele era outro vagabundo dos mais consumados! Por minha alma, o semblante daquele sujeito quando menino era a mais negra imagem de perfídia, covardia e crueldade jamais erguida como espantalho num campo de patifes. Se eu encontrasse amanhã na rua aquele déspota sem paralelo, eu o derrubaria como uma árvore podre!”

“Não tenho dúvida”, disse o Sr. Jarndyce. “Agora, quer subir?”

“Por minha alma, Jarndyce”, respondeu o hóspede, que pareceu consultar o relógio, “se você fosse casado, eu teria voltado do portão do jardim e partido para os mais remotos cumes do Himalaia antes de me apresentar a uma hora tão imprópria.”

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

O Sr. Jarndyce disse esperar que Boythorn não fosse tão longe.

Boythorn insistiu que iria. Jamais seria rude a ponto de deixar uma senhora esperando por tanto tempo. Preferiria destruir a si mesmo a cometer tal ofensa.

Eles subiram enquanto conversavam. Logo a risada poderosa de Boythorn trovejou repetidas vezes em seu quarto. Até o eco mais fraco da vizinhança pareceu pegá-la e rir tão feliz quanto ele e quanto nós ao escutarmos.

Original English Version

“Not quite so far, I hope?” said Mr. Jarndyce.

“By my life and honour, yes!” cried the visitor. “I wouldn’t be guilty of the audacious insolence of keeping a lady of the house waiting all this time for any earthly consideration. I would infinitely rather destroy myself - infinitely rather!”

Talking thus, they went upstairs, and presently we heard him in his bedroom thundering “Ha, ha, ha!” and again “Ha, ha, ha!” until the flattest echo in the neighbourhood seemed to catch the contagion and to laugh as enjoyingly as he did or as we did when we heard him laugh.

Tradução Integral em Português

“Não tão longe, espero?”, disse o Sr. Jarndyce.

“Por minha vida e minha honra, sim!”, exclamou o visitante. “Por consideração terrena alguma eu me tornaria culpado da audaciosa insolência de fazer uma dona de casa esperar por todo esse tempo. Eu preferiria infinitamente destruir-me - infinitamente!”

Conversando assim, subiram e logo o ouvimos trovejar no quarto “Ha, ha, ha!”, e outra vez “Ha, ha, ha!”, até que o eco mais apagado da vizinhança pareceu pegar o contágio e rir com tanto prazer quanto ele, ou quanto nós ao ouvi-lo rir.

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Tradução da Versão Simplificada (B1)

Gostamos de Boythorn imediatamente. Sua risada forte, voz saudável, fala cheia e exageros selvagens pareciam sinceros e inofensivos, como canhões disparando sem balas. Sua aparência confirmou nossa boa opinião. Era um cavalheiro mais velho, bonito, ereto e poderoso, com cabelos grisalhos espessos e rosto calmo quando permanecia em silêncio. Sua energia constante mantinha o corpo forte e o queixo firme. Seus modos eram os de um verdadeiro cavalheiro: educados, gentis e calorosos. Seu sorriso doce mostrava que nada escondia. Como disse Richard, ele não conseguia fazer nada em pequena escala, por isso disparava seus grandes canhões inofensivos, pois não possuía armas menores. No jantar, observei-o com prazer enquanto falava com delicadeza a Ada e a mim, gritava opiniões extremas com Jarndyce e enchia a casa de risadas.

O Sr. Jarndyce perguntou se Boythorn trouxera seu pássaro.

Boythorn o chamou de pássaro mais extraordinário da Europa. Não o venderia por dez mil guinéus e havia garantido uma renda para ele caso vivesse mais do que seu dono. Sua inteligência e seu afeto eram extraordinários, e o pai dele também fora um dos maiores pássaros de todos os tempos.

Original English Version

We all conceived a prepossession in his favour, for there was a sterling quality in this laugh, and in his vigorous, healthy voice, and in the roundness and fullness with which he uttered every word he spoke, and in the very fury of his superlatives, which seemed to go off like blank cannons and hurt nothing. But we were hardly prepared to have it so confirmed by his appearance when Mr. Jarndyce presented him. He was not only a very handsome old gentleman - upright and stalwart as he had been described to us - with a massive grey head, a fine composure of face when silent, a figure that might have become corpulent but for his being so continually in earnest that he gave it no rest, and a chin that might have subsided into a double chin but for the vehement emphasis in which it was constantly required to assist; but he was such a true gentleman in his manner, so chivalrously polite, his face was lighted by a smile of so much sweetness and tenderness, and it seemed so plain that he had nothing to hide, but showed himself exactly as he was - incapable, as Richard said, of anything on a limited scale, and firing away with those blank great guns because he carried no small arms whatever - that really I could not help looking at him with equal pleasure as he sat at dinner, whether he smilingly conversed with Ada and me, or was led by Mr. Jarndyce into some great volley of superlatives, or threw up his head like a bloodhound and gave out that tremendous “Ha, ha, ha!”

“You have brought your bird with you, I suppose?” said Mr. Jarndyce.

“By heaven, he is the most astonishing bird in Europe!” replied the other. “He IS the most wonderful creature! I wouldn’t take ten thousand guineas for that bird. I have left an annuity for his sole support in case he should outlive me. He is, in sense and attachment, a phenomenon. And his father before him was one of the most astonishing birds that ever lived!”

Tradução Integral em Português

Todos concebemos uma predisposição favorável a ele, pois havia uma qualidade genuína naquele riso, em sua voz vigorosa e saudável, na rotundidade e plenitude com que proferia cada palavra e na própria fúria de seus superlativos, que pareciam disparar como canhões sem bala e nada ferir. Mas dificilmente estávamos preparados para vê-la tão confirmada por sua aparência quando o Sr. Jarndyce o apresentou. Ele não era apenas um velho cavalheiro muito bonito - ereto e vigoroso como nos fora descrito - , de cabeça grisalha e maciça, rosto de bela serenidade quando calado, figura que poderia ter-se tornado corpulenta se sua contínua veemência lhe desse algum descanso, e queixo que poderia ter caído num queixo duplo se não fosse constantemente chamado a auxiliar sua ênfase impetuosa; era também um cavalheiro tão autêntico nos modos, tão cavalheirescamente cortês, seu rosto iluminava-se com um sorriso de tamanha doçura e ternura, e parecia tão claro que nada tinha a esconder, mas se mostrava exatamente como era - incapaz, segundo Richard, de qualquer coisa em escala limitada e disparando aqueles grandes canhões sem bala por não carregar arma pequena alguma - que realmente não pude deixar de contemplá-lo com o mesmo prazer enquanto estava sentado ao jantar, quer conversasse sorridente com Ada e comigo, quer fosse conduzido pelo Sr. Jarndyce a alguma grande salva de superlativos, quer atirasse a cabeça para trás como um sabujo e soltasse aquele tremendo “Ha, ha, ha!”

“Suponho que trouxe seu pássaro?”, disse o Sr. Jarndyce.

“Por Deus, é o pássaro mais assombroso da Europa!”, respondeu o outro. “É a criatura mais maravilhosa! Eu não aceitaria dez mil guinéus por aquele pássaro. Deixei uma renda vitalícia destinada exclusivamente a seu sustento, caso ele sobreviva a mim. Em inteligência e apego, é um fenômeno. E seu pai antes dele foi um dos pássaros mais extraordinários que já viveram!”

Retorna à Versão Inglês Simplificada    Go to the Original English Version

Glossary: New Words (1/4)

Priority words from the simplified reading and post-nominal letters found in this book. Post-nominals are abbreviations placed after a person's name to identify honours, professional memberships, academic titles or qualifications. Each entry shows up to six real uses; Back to B1 opens the exact simplified sentence, while Back to Original opens the exact paragraph in Original English.

accompanies /əˈkʌmpəniz/ (6 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: acompanha

Simple English: Goes somewhere together with someone.

Example: The servant accompanies her mistress everywhere.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. The grandmother, who is pleased that he should have that interest, accompanies him - though to do him justice, he is exceedingly unwilling to trouble her. Go to

ache /eɪk/ (7 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: doem

Simple English: To hurt with a steady dull pain.

Example: My legs ache after the long walk.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Their restless lives made our heads ache. Go to

Original English Version

1. It made our heads ache to think, on the whole, what feverish lives they must lead. Go to

ada's /ˈeɪdəz/ (100 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: de Ada

Simple English: Possessive form of the woman's first name Ada.

Example: Out of this you went up three steps into Ada's bedroom.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Krook began to explain, then noticed Ada's beautiful hair. Go to

2. Richard strongly objected when Krook pulled a lock of Ada's hair through his yellow hand. Go to

3. Seeing compassion in Ada's eyes, Richard quietly placed some money on the fireplace. Go to

4. When the man reached our door, Richard looked closely and exclaimed that he had Ada's name in his hat. Go to

5. Mr. Jarndyce called her work noble but said my answer was the same as Ada's. Go to

6. Three steps up led to Ada’s bedroom, with a broad window, a beautiful view, and a large window seat. Go to

Original English Version

1. He looked very much astonished at it and at Ada’s kissing him, but soon fell fast asleep in my arms, sobbing at longer and longer intervals, until he was quiet. Go to

2. It was impossible to shut the door of either room, for my lock, with no knob to it, looked as if it wanted to be wound up; and though the handle of Ada’s went round and round with the greatest smoothness, it was attended with no effect whatever on the door. Go to

3. “That’ll do, my good friend!” said Richard, strongly disapproving of his having drawn one of Ada’s tresses through his yellow hand. Go to

4. Ada’s colour had entirely left her, and Richard was scarcely less pale. Go to

5. Richard, answering what he saw in Ada’s compassionate eyes, took the opportunity of laying some money, softly and unobserved, on the chimney-piece. Go to

6. The gentleman who said these words in a clear, bright, hospitable voice had one of his arms round Ada’s waist and the other round mine, and kissed us both in a fatherly way, and bore us across the hall into a ruddy little room, all in a glow with a blazing fire. Go to

admires /ədˈmaɪərz/ (22 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: admira

Simple English: Looks at something with pleasure and respect.

Example: Everyone admires the pattern on the great glass dome.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He truly admires his wife, and his faithful love for her is his only romantic quality. Go to

affectionate /əˈfekʃənət/ (30 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: afetuoso; carinhoso

Simple English: Showing warm love and care for someone.

Example: She wrote an affectionate letter to her grandmother every Sunday.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. I am very affectionate, and the pain I felt that birthday was sharp enough to remain with me forever. Go to

Original English Version

1. My disposition is very affectionate, and perhaps I might still feel such a wound if such a wound could be received more than once with the quickness of that birthday. Go to

2. When the day came round, it brought me so many tokens of affectionate remembrance that my room was beautiful with them from New Year’s Day to Christmas. Go to

afternoons /ˌæftərˈnuːnz/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: tardes

Simple English: The parts of the day between midday and evening.

Example: He spent his afternoons by the river.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Richard usually joined us in the afternoons and always in the evenings. Go to

Original English Version

1. Generally in the afternoons, and always in the evenings, Richard gave us his company. Go to

airy /ˈeri/ (16 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: arejado; leve; displicente

Simple English: With plenty of fresh air; also light and not serious.

Example: The new office is bright and airy.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Nearby, Mr. Jarndyce slept in a plain, airy room with an open window and a cold bath next door. Go to

alarmed /əˈlɑːrmd/ (22 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: alarmado; assustado; apreensivo

Simple English: Suddenly worried or frightened that something bad may happen.

Example: The teacher looked alarmed when the smoke detector went off during the exam.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. “I have been quite alarmed. Go to

2. Richard shook him by both hands with an intuitive mixture of respect and frankness, and only saying (though with an earnestness that rather alarmed me, I was so afraid of Mr. Jarndyce’s suddenly disappearing), “You are very kind, sir! Go to

3. I was rather alarmed again. Go to

4. Our friend Mr. Skimpole - don’t be alarmed! - is arrested for debt.” Go to

albans /ˈɔːlbənz/ (22 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: Albans

Simple English: Short form of St. Albans, a town in England, mentioned near Bleak House.

Example: Albans near Bleak House.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. These delays made the journey last until night, when we reached St. Albans near Bleak House. Go to

Original English Version

1. These delays so protracted the journey that the short day was spent and the long night had closed in before we came to St. Albans, near to which town Bleak House was, we knew. Go to

alone's /əˈloʊnz/ (57 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: Tom-all-Alone's

Simple English: Part of the name 'Tom-all-Alone's', a poor slum area in the story.

Example: Tom-all-Alone’s XVII.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Tom-all-Alone’s XVII. Go to

Original English Version

1. Tom-all-Alone’s XVII. Go to

amazement /əˈmeɪzmənt/ (11 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: espanto; assombro; admiração

Simple English: A feeling of great surprise and wonder.

Example: She stared in amazement at the castle.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He watched in amazement, never complained, and quickly fell asleep. Go to

2. Krook stared more widely and cried in amazement, "Think of that!" Go to

Original English Version

1. “Hi!” exclaimed the old man in a tone of thoughtful amazement and with a wider stare than before. Go to

angrily /ˈæŋɡrɪli/ (50 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: com raiva; furiosamente

Simple English: In a way that shows anger.

Example: He shouted angrily at the door.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The prisoner is hurried forward, and the man from Shropshire cries, "My lord!" Court officials angrily demand silence. Go to

2. Still, his eyes seemed kind, although he angrily spoke to himself and called Mrs. Rachael bad names. Go to

3. Angrily, Coavinses asked what he meant. Go to

4. Alfred stared angrily at us as if he could never forgive what had happened that night. Go to

5. He angrily said she only pretended to give it to him. Go to

annoyance /əˈnɔɪəns/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: irritação; aborrecimento

Simple English: A feeling of being slightly angry.

Example: He shook his head in annoyance.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. His kind, amusing annoyance made us like him even more. Go to

anxiously /ˈæŋkʃəsli/ (23 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: ansiosamente; preocupadamente

Simple English: In a worried and nervous way.

Example: She waited anxiously for the news.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. At the door, the woman who had comforted Jenny stood watching anxiously. Go to

Original English Version

1. When we came to the door, we found the woman who had brought such consolation with her standing there looking anxiously out. Go to

anything's /ˈɛniθɪŋz/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: qualquer coisa é/está; de qualquer coisa

Simple English: The possessive form of "anything," or a contraction of "anything is" or "anything has."

Example: If anything's going to hit us, we must turn now.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He missed appointments, could not conduct business, and never knew anything’s value. Go to

apologizes /əˈpɒlədʒaɪzɪz/ (30 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: pede desculpas; desculpa-se

Simple English: Expresses regret for a mistake or offense.

Example: He apologizes whenever his temper gets the better of him.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Mr. Tangle apologizes again and explains that the grandfather killed himself. Go to

2. Guppy apologizes but again asks whether it involves a picture. Go to

3. Watt apologizes and agrees with her. Go to

Original English Version

1. Her grandson apologizes with “True. Go to

appeal /əˈpiːl/ (6 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: apelo; apelar; recurso

Simple English: A request to a higher court to review a lower decision.

Example: The defendant decided to appeal the court's decision on the sentence.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. An Appeal Case XXV. Go to

arched /ɑːrtʃt/ (6 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: arqueado; em arco; abobadado

Simple English: Curved in the shape of an arch.

Example: They walked under an arched doorway.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. The house is there in all weathers, and the house, as she expresses it, “is what she looks at.” She sits in her room (in a side passage on the ground floor, with an arched window commanding a smooth quadrangle, adorned at regular intervals with smooth round trees and smooth round blocks of stone, as if the trees were going to play at bowls with the stones), and the whole house reposes on her mind. Go to

archway /ˈɑːrtʃweɪ/ (10 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: arcada; passagem em arco

Simple English: A curved opening in a wall that you can walk through.

Example: They waited under the stone archway.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. I knew he meant well in paying me this compliment, so I laughed at myself for blushing at it when he had shut the door and got upon the box; and we all three laughed and chatted about our inexperience and the strangeness of London until we turned up under an archway to our destination - a narrow street of high houses like an oblong cistern to hold the fog. Go to

2. Or you might, if you came out at another door (every room had at least two doors), go straight down to the hall again by half-a-dozen steps and a low archway, wondering how you got back there or had ever got out of it. Go to

aristocratic /əˌrɪstəˈkrætɪk/ (10 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: aristocrático

Simple English: Belonging to or typical of the highest social class.

Example: He had the fine aristocratic hands of a scholar.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Mr. Tulkinghorn looks old and dull but has become rich by handling aristocratic marriages and wills. Go to

Original English Version

1. The old gentleman is rusty to look at, but is reputed to have made good thrift out of aristocratic marriage settlements and aristocratic wills, and to be very rich. Go to

armchair /ˈɑːrmtʃer/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: poltrona

Simple English: A comfortable chair with supports for the arms.

Example: He read the paper in the same armchair every evening.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He politely placed an armchair for me by the fire, then pointed out a small mirror hanging beside the fireplace. Go to

2. The Lord Chancellor sat in an armchair at a table near the fire, dressed simply in black. Go to

artistic /ɑːrˈtɪstɪk/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: artística

Simple English: Pertaining to artists or their creative works.

Example: Her artistic talents shine through in every piece she creates for the exhibition.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. His careless manner, untidy hair, loose scarf, and artistic clothes suggested a romantic young man who had lost some of his value, not someone made older by years, worries, and experience. Go to

assures /əˈʃʊrz/ (15 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: assegura; garante

Simple English: Tells someone firmly that something is true.

Example: He assures us that the road is safe.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The housekeeper assures him the story has nothing to do with a picture. Go to

astonished /əˈstɑːnɪʃt/ (23 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: espantado; surpreso

Simple English: Very surprised, or caused to feel great surprise.

Example: The travelers were astonished by the enormous creature.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Astonished, Richard told Ada and me that Krook knew as much about the case as the paid Chancellor. Go to

2. But when she opened the door, I was astonished. Go to

Original English Version

1. He looked very much astonished at it and at Ada’s kissing him, but soon fell fast asleep in my arms, sobbing at longer and longer intervals, until he was quiet. Go to

2. To this he submitted with the best grace possible, staring at me during the whole operation as if he never had been, and never could again be, so astonished in his life - looking very miserable also, certainly, but making no complaint, and going snugly to sleep as soon as it was over. Go to

3. “He knows as much of the cause as the real salaried Chancellor!” said Richard, quite astonished, to Ada and me. Go to

attendants /əˈtendənts/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: assistentes; acompanhantes

Simple English: People whose work is to serve or to help someone.

Example: The lady came in with two attendants.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. So now, half-waking and all-winking, he may recall the house full of company, the coach-houses full of vehicles, the stables full of horses, and the out-buildings full of attendants upon horses, until he is undecided about the present and comes forth to see how it is. Go to

attentive /əˈtɛntɪv/ (23 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: atento; cuidadoso

Simple English: Listening, watching, or caring closely.

Example: He became deeply attentive as soon as she began to speak.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. I noticed Mr. Jarndyce standing near us with his hands behind his back and an attentive smile. Go to

Original English Version

1. I was not so attentive an auditor as I might have wished to be, however, for Peepy and the other children came flocking about Ada and me in a corner of the drawing-room to ask for another story; so we sat down among them and told them in whispers “Puss in Boots” and I don’t know what else until Mrs. Jellyby, accidentally remembering them, sent them to bed. Go to

2. Mr. Jarndyce, I found, was standing near us with his hands behind him and an attentive smile upon his face. Go to

3. Her grandson is so attentive to it that Rosa is shyer than ever - and prettier. Go to

4. Every part of the house was in such order, and every one was so attentive to me, that I had no trouble with my two bunches of keys, though what with trying to remember the contents of each little store-room drawer and cupboard; and what with making notes on a slate about jams, and pickles, and preserves, and bottles, and glass, and china, and a great many other things; and what with being generally a methodical, old-maidish sort of foolish little person, I was so busy that I could not believe it was breakfast-time when I heard the bell ring. Go to

awakened /əˈweɪkənd/ (12 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: despertado; acordado; reavivado

Simple English: Woken from sleep, or made conscious of a feeling or danger.

Example: The colonists were suddenly awakened by the dog's barking.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. In answer to Richard’s inquiry from whom they came, he briefly answered, “Master, sir, if you please”; and putting on his hat again (which was like a soft bowl), cracked his whip, re-awakened his music, and went melodiously away. Go to

awoke /əˈwoʊk/ (9 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: acordou; despertou

Simple English: Past tense of awake: stopped sleeping or became active.

Example: Oliver awoke from a long, troubled dream.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. Therefore I proposed to the children that they should come in and be very good at my table, and I would tell them the story of Little Red Riding Hood while I dressed; which they did, and were as quiet as mice, including Peepy, who awoke opportunely before the appearance of the wolf. Go to

backgammon /ˈbækˌɡæmən/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: gamão

Simple English: A board game in which two players move pieces according to dice.

Example: They played backgammon beside the fire.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Mr. Jarndyce taught me backgammon while Skimpole played music and talked cheerfully. Go to

Original English Version

1. I was sufficiently engaged during the remainder of the evening in taking my first lesson in backgammon from Mr. Jarndyce, who was very fond of the game and from whom I wished of course to learn it as quickly as I could in order that I might be of the very small use of being able to play when he had no better adversary. Go to

badger /ˈbædʒər/ (126 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: texugo

Simple English: A stocky burrowing mammal with a striped face.

Example: A badger emerged from its burrow at dusk.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. I wants an end of being drawed like a badger. Go to

bandage /ˈbændɪdʒ/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: atadura; curativo

Simple English: A long piece of cloth tied over a wound.

Example: The nurse changed the bandage every day.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He came in with a bandage on his forehead and showed us his dirty, injured knees. Go to

Original English Version

1. When we went downstairs we found a mug with “A Present from Tunbridge Wells” on it lighted up in the staircase window with a floating wick, and a young woman, with a swelled face bound up in a flannel bandage blowing the fire of the drawing-room (now connected by an open door with Mrs. Jellyby’s room) and choking dreadfully. Go to

2. The young woman with the flannel bandage waited, and dropped everything on the table wherever it happened to go, and never moved it again until she put it on the stairs. Go to

3. As Peepy cried for me to take him to bed, I carried him upstairs, where the young woman with the flannel bandage charged into the midst of the little family like a dragon and overturned them into cribs. Go to

bandaged /ˈbændɪdʒd/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: enfaixada; com curativo

Simple English: Covered with a long piece of cloth over a wound.

Example: His bandaged hand rested on the table.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. A young woman with a bandaged face tried to light the fire, filling the room with smoke. Go to

2. The bandaged servant dropped each dish wherever it landed, while the cook kept arguing with her at the door. Go to

barbary /ˈbɑːrbəri/ (21 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: Barbária, costa norte da África; Barbary, sobrenome

Simple English: The old name for the north coast of Africa; also used as a family name.

Example: Ships that sailed near the Barbary coast often carried extra guns.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Miss Barbary had been my aunt in fact, though not legally. Go to

2. Mrs. Rachael began, "Miss Barbary, who is now among the angels..." Go to

3. Mrs. Rachael explained that Miss Barbary wanted Esther to learn only what would be useful to her. Go to

4. Miss Barbary, my only real relative, was dead, and no one could expect Mrs. Rachael to... Go to

5. On other fingers he listed Barbary, Clare, and perhaps Dedlock. Go to

Original English Version

1. “Miss Barbary, sir,” returned Mrs. Rachael, “who is now among the Seraphim - ” Go to

2. “Miss Barbary, your sole relation (in fact that is, for I am bound to observe that in law you had none) being deceased and it naturally not being to be expected that Mrs. Rachael - ” Go to

3. “Quite so,” assented Mr. Kenge; “ - that Mrs. Rachael should charge herself with your maintenance and support (I beg you won’t distress yourself), you are in a position to receive the renewal of an offer which I was instructed to make to Miss Barbary some two years ago and which, though rejected then, was understood to be renewable under the lamentable circumstances that have since occurred. Go to

4. There was the name of Barbary, and the name of Clare, and the name of Dedlock, too, I think.” Go to

barbary's /ˈbɑːrbəriz/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: de Barbary

Simple English: the possessive form referring to Miss Barbary, a character in the story

Example: Miss Barbary's money ended with her death.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Then he told Mrs. Rachael that Miss Barbary's money ended with her death and began to speak of me, now that my aunt was dead. Go to

Original English Version

1. Mrs. Rachael, I needn’t inform you who were acquainted with the late Miss Barbary’s affairs, that her means die with her and that this young lady, now her aunt is dead - ” Go to

barked /bɑːrkt/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: latiu

Simple English: Made the short, loud sound that a dog makes.

Example: The dog barked at the stranger.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. As a bell rang, dogs barked, the door opened brightly, and our hearts beat faster, we climbed down in great confusion. Go to

barnet /ˈbɑːrnɪt/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: Barnet

Simple English: the name of a town north of London where horses were changed

Example: At Barnet, fresh horses had just eaten, so we waited.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. At Barnet, fresh horses had just eaten, so we waited and walked across open land and an old battlefield. Go to

Original English Version

1. At Barnet there were other horses waiting for us, but as they had only just been fed, we had to wait for them too, and got a long fresh walk over a common and an old battle-field before the carriage came up. Go to

baronet /ˈbærənət/ (80 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: baronete

Simple English: A man holding a hereditary British title below a baron.

Example: The baronet's eldest son entered the navy.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Sir Leicester Dedlock is only a baronet, but he considers his ancient family more important than almost anything. Go to

Original English Version

1. Sir Leicester Dedlock is only a baronet, but there is no mightier baronet than he. Go to

2. And at her house in town, upon this muddy, murky afternoon, presents himself an old-fashioned old gentleman, attorney-at-law and eke solicitor of the High Court of Chancery, who has the honour of acting as legal adviser of the Dedlocks and has as many cast-iron boxes in his office with that name outside as if the present baronet were the coin of the conjuror’s trick and were constantly being juggled through the whole set. Go to

3. But the doomed young rebel (otherwise a mild youth, and very persevering), showing no sign of grace as he got older but, on the contrary, constructing a model of a power-loom, she was fain, with many tears, to mention his backslidings to the baronet. Go to

barrier (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: barreira; obstáculo; bloqueio

Simple English: something that blocks movement or progress

Example: Language can be a barrier to communication.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. We felt a hard barrier between us and the family, and knew she could not remove it. Go to

begs /bɛɡz/ (32 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: mendiga; pede esmola

Simple English: Asks other people for food or money.

Example: He begs at the same corner every day.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. Mercury at last begs Mr. Tulkinghorn to return. Go to

2. “‘Presents her compliments to Mr. Swallow, and begs - ’” said Caddy. Go to

3. “‘And begs,’” said Mrs. Jellyby, dictating, “‘to inform him, in reference to his letter of inquiry on the African project - ’ No, Peepy! Go to

betray /bɪˈtreɪ/ (7 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: trair; denunciar

Simple English: To let a secret be known to an enemy.

Example: A small noise can betray a hidden animal.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Richard laughed but said he did not want to betray Skimpole's trust. Go to

birdcages /ˈbɜːrdkeɪdʒɪz/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: gaiolas

Simple English: Cages made for keeping birds.

Example: She cleaned the room and the birdcages by the attic window.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. She moved the curtain and showed us many birdcages by the low attic window. Go to

birthdays /ˈbɜːrθdeɪz/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: aniversários

Simple English: The days on which people were born, kept each year.

Example: May all your birthdays be happy ones.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Other girls had school holidays and celebrations on their birthdays, but I had none. Go to

Original English Version

1. There were holidays at school on other birthdays - none on mine. Go to

2. There were rejoicings at home on other birthdays, as I knew from what I heard the girls relate to one another - there were none on mine. Go to

bitterly /ˈbɪtərli/ (13 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: amargamente; intensamente

Simple English: With strong pain, anger, regret, or cold.

Example: The man spoke bitterly about the stolen mummy.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Mrs. Rachael showed no sadness when we parted, but I cried bitterly. Go to

Original English Version

1. Mrs. Rachael was too good to feel any emotion at parting, but I was not so good, and wept bitterly. Go to

blacksmith /ˈblæksmɪθ/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: ferreiro

Simple English: A craft worker who shapes and repairs iron or steel by heating and hammering it.

Example: A blacksmith needs years of training to learn the trade.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He held his head like an old soldier, had a broad chest and hands like a clean blacksmith. Go to

bleak /bliːk/ (116 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: desolado; inóspito; sombrio

Simple English: Cold, bare and without comfort or hope.

Example: The bleak moor had no trees and no shelter from the wind.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. BLEAK HOUSE Go to

2. In Bleak House, I deliberately showed the romantic side of ordinary things. Go to

3. Still turning the pages, the Lord Chancellor said, “The Jarndyce concerned is Mr. Jarndyce of Bleak House.” Go to

4. “Jarndyce of Bleak House, my lord,” Mr. Kenge confirmed. Go to

5. “And Bleak House,” said the Chancellor, “is in - ” Go to

6. Jarndyce of Bleak House is not married, is he?” asked the Chancellor. Go to

Original English Version

1. BLEAK HOUSE Go to

2. In Bleak House I have purposely dwelt upon the romantic side of familiar things. Go to

3. “The Jarndyce in question,” said the Lord Chancellor, still turning over leaves, “is Jarndyce of Bleak House.” Go to

4. “Jarndyce of Bleak House, my lord,” said Mr. Kenge. Go to

5. “And Bleak House,” said his lordship, “is in - ” Go to

6. Jarndyce of Bleak House is not married?” said his lordship. Go to

blinded /ˈblaɪndɪd/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: cegado; ofuscado

Simple English: Made unable to see, often by a very bright light.

Example: The bright sun blinded her for a moment.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. As it was still foggy and dark, and as the shop was blinded besides by the wall of Lincoln’s Inn, intercepting the light within a couple of yards, we should not have seen so much but for a lighted lantern that an old man in spectacles and a hairy cap was carrying about in the shop. Go to

blushed /blʌʃt/ (10 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: corou; enrubesceu

Simple English: Became red in the face from shame or pleasure.

Example: She blushed when everyone clapped.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Ada was startled and blushed, but laughed and said she was proud of such honest admiration. Go to

2. Skimpole gave his compliments so gently that I blushed less than expected. Go to

Original English Version

1. His compliments were so delicately administered that I blushed less than I might have done and settled with the stranger in the white coat without making any mistakes. Go to

blushing /ˈblʌʃɪŋ/ (11 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: corando; ruborizando-se

Simple English: Turning red in the face from shame or shyness.

Example: She thanked him, blushing to the ears.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. I knew he meant the compliment kindly, so after he closed the door and climbed to the driver’s seat, I laughed at myself for blushing. Go to

Original English Version

1. I knew he meant well in paying me this compliment, so I laughed at myself for blushing at it when he had shut the door and got upon the box; and we all three laughed and chatted about our inexperience and the strangeness of London until we turned up under an archway to our destination - a narrow street of high houses like an oblong cistern to hold the fog. Go to

2. The old man darted at him a sudden look which even called my attention from Ada, who, startled and blushing, was so remarkably beautiful that she seemed to fix the wandering attention of the little old lady herself. Go to

boldly /ˈboʊldli/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: corajosamente; com ousadia

Simple English: In a brave and confident way.

Example: She walked boldly up to the door and knocked.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Then she looked boldly at him and said that, whatever happened, she would thank him for giving her such a companion. Go to

Original English Version

1. The warm-hearted darling leaned across her cousin John and kissed me, and then looking up in his face, boldly said, “At all events, cousin John, I WILL thank you for the companion you have given me.” I felt as if she challenged him to run away. Go to

bonnet /ˈbɑːnɪt/ (60 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: touca; chapéu feminino amarrado sob o queixo

Simple English: A soft hat tied under the chin, once worn by women and children.

Example: The old photograph shows my great-grandmother in a white bonnet.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The man put on his glasses and asked me to come closer and remove my bonnet. Go to

2. I finally put it down, checked that my bonnet was neat, and studied the dim room, dusty tables, piles of papers, and dull books. Go to

3. She wore a crushed bonnet, carried a small bag, and bowed and smiled with great formality. Go to

Original English Version

1. Standing on a seat at the side of the hall, the better to peer into the curtained sanctuary, is a little mad old woman in a squeezed bonnet who is always in court, from its sitting to its rising, and always expecting some incomprehensible judgment to be given in her favour. Go to

2. The gentleman put up his eye-glasses to look at me and said, “Come here, my dear!” He shook hands with me and asked me to take off my bonnet, looking at me all the while. Go to

3. As it was of no use going on in that way, I put the paper down, took a peep at my bonnet in the glass to see if it was neat, and looked at the room, which was not half lighted, and at the shabby, dusty tables, and at the piles of writings, and at a bookcase full of the most inexpressive-looking books that ever had anything to say for themselves. Go to

4. We looked at one another, half laughing at our being like the children in the wood, when a curious little old woman in a squeezed bonnet and carrying a reticule came curtsying and smiling up to us with an air of great ceremony. Go to

boredom /ˈbɔːrdəm/ (11 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: tédio; enfado

Simple English: The feeling of having nothing interesting to do.

Example: The long wait was pure boredom.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. She says she only wants something to break the terrible boredom and tells him to continue. Go to

2. He was frightened because she had never fainted before, but he blames the difficult weather and her terrible boredom in Lincolnshire. Go to

borrioboola /ˌbɒrioʊˈbuːlə ɡɑː/ (19 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: Borrioboola-Gha

Simple English: Borrioboola-Gha is a fictional African place mentioned in Bleak House, the focus of a charity project.

Example: They hoped to grow coffee and educate the people of Borrioboola-Gha.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. By the next year, they hoped to have 150 to 200 healthy families growing coffee and educating the people of Borrioboola-Gha, on the left bank of the Niger River. Go to

Original English Version

1. We hope by this time next year to have from a hundred and fifty to two hundred healthy families cultivating coffee and educating the natives of Borrioboola-Gha, on the left bank of the Niger.” Go to

2. She told us a great deal that was interesting about Borrioboola-Gha and the natives, and received so many letters that Richard, who sat by her, saw four envelopes in the gravy at once. Go to

3. I was a little curious to know who a mild bald gentleman in spectacles was, who dropped into a vacant chair (there was no top or bottom in particular) after the fish was taken away and seemed passively to submit himself to Borrioboola-Gha but not to be actively interested in that settlement. Go to

4. She was greatly occupied during breakfast, for the morning’s post brought a heavy correspondence relative to Borrioboola-Gha, which would occasion her (she said) to pass a busy day. Go to

bowed /boʊd/ (25 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: vergou; curvou-se; inclinou-se

Simple English: Bent forward or downward.

Example: The long grass bowed before the wind.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. She told me to go upstairs, so I bowed and left. Go to

2. Richard bowed and stepped forward. Go to

3. She wore a crushed bonnet, carried a small bag, and bowed and smiled with great formality. Go to

4. As she bowed, I said she was out early. Go to

5. She smiled, bowed, and opened the curtain fully. Go to

Original English Version

1. May you be very happy!” - could I help it if I was quite bowed down in the coach by myself and said “Oh, I am so thankful, I am so thankful!” many times over! Go to

2. Richard bowed and stepped forward. Go to

bowing /ˈbaʊɪŋ/ (10 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: curvando-se; fazendo reverência

Simple English: Bending the head or body forward to show respect.

Example: The King spoke, bowing to the little girl.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. As we climbed, we looked back and saw her still bowing and smiling after each short phrase: “Youth. Go to

2. The old woman stood before us, bowing and smiling. Go to

boythorn /ˈbɔɪθɔːrn/ (181 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: Boythorn

Simple English: Mr. Boythorn is a loud, warm-hearted character in Bleak House.

Example: Jarndyce received a letter from Boythorn and read it with clear pleasure.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. One morning at breakfast, Mr. Jarndyce received a letter from Boythorn and read it with clear pleasure. Go to

2. Halfway through, he announced that Boythorn was coming to visit. Go to

3. We all wondered who Boythorn was and whether his visit would disturb the quiet romance around us. Go to

4. Mr. Jarndyce said he had attended school with Lawrence Boythorn more than forty-five years earlier. Go to

5. Boythorn had been the world’s most energetic, loud, warm-hearted, and strong boy. Go to

6. Richard asked whether he meant Boythorn was physically large. Go to

Original English Version

1. We were going on in this way, when one morning at breakfast Mr. Jarndyce received a letter, and looking at the superscription, said, “From Boythorn? Go to

2. Aye, aye!” and opened and read it with evident pleasure, announcing to us in a parenthesis when he was about half-way through, that Boythorn was “coming down” on a visit. Go to

3. Now who was Boythorn, we all thought. Go to

4. And I dare say we all thought too - I am sure I did, for one - would Boythorn at all interfere with what was going forward? Go to

5. “I went to school with this fellow, Lawrence Boythorn,” said Mr. Jarndyce, tapping the letter as he laid it on the table, “more than five and forty years ago. Go to

6. As Mr. Jarndyce sat enjoying the image of his friend Boythorn, we observed the favourable omen that there was not the least indication of any change in the wind. Go to

boythorn's /ˈbɔɪθɔːrnz/ (32 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: de Boythorn

Simple English: the possessive form of Boythorn, a character in Bleak House

Example: Jarndyce explained that Boythorn's warm heart and strong feelings mattered most.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Jarndyce explained that Boythorn’s warm heart, strong feelings, and lively nature mattered most. Go to

2. Soon Boythorn’s powerful laughter thundered from his bedroom again and again. Go to

Original English Version

1. I took care that the necessary preparations were made for Mr. Boythorn’s reception, and we looked forward to his arrival with some curiosity. Go to

brickmaker /ˈbrɪkmeɪkər/ (8 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: fabricante de tijolos; oleiro

Simple English: a person whose work is making bricks

Example: She planned to visit a brickmaker who lived nearby.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. She invited Ada and me to watch her visit a local brickmaker whom she called a bad man. Go to

2. When he carelessly wanted to give five pounds to the brickmaker, Richard asked why not. Go to

3. In the same way, when we persuaded him not to waste five pounds on the brickmaker because it would not help, he treated the unspent money as a profit and began spending against it. Go to

4. He would say he had saved five pounds in the brickmaker affair. Go to

Original English Version

1. If you would like to see how I go through my work, I am now about - with my young family - to visit a brickmaker in the neighbourhood (a very bad character) and shall be glad to take you with me. Go to

2. Taking one of her young family in each hand, and telling the others to follow closely, and expressing her hope that the brickmaker and all his house would be improved when she saw them next, she then proceeded to another cottage. Go to

3. “My prudent Mother Hubbard, why not?” he said to me when he wanted, without the least consideration, to bestow five pounds on the brickmaker. Go to

brickmaker's /ˈbrɪkmeɪkərz/ (11 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: do fabricante de tijolos; na casa do fabricante

Simple English: the possessive form of brickmaker, sometimes meaning the brickmaker's home

Example: They were relieved to reach the brickmaker's home.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. I was relieved to reach the brickmaker's home, though it stood among terrible huts beside a muddy brick field. Go to

2. She took two children by the hands, told the others to follow, and hoped the brickmaker’s family would improve before her next visit. Go to

3. We decided to return to the brickmaker’s house that night with useful gifts. Go to

4. We left Richard where he could still see the brickmaker’s house and continued alone. Go to

Original English Version

1. Ada told me afterwards that Mrs. Pardiggle talked in the same loud tone (that, indeed, I overheard) all the way to the brickmaker’s about an exciting contest which she had for two or three years waged against another lady relative to the bringing in of their rival candidates for a pension somewhere. Go to

2. I was glad when we came to the brickmaker’s house, though it was one of a cluster of wretched hovels in a brick-field, with pigsties close to the broken windows and miserable little gardens before the doors growing nothing but stagnant pools. Go to

3. We left our escort within sight of the brickmaker’s dwelling and proceeded by ourselves. Go to

4. “I saved five pounds out of the brickmaker’s affair, so if I have a good rattle to London and back in a post-chaise and put that down at four pounds, I shall have saved one. Go to

brighten /ˈbraɪtən/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: clarear; alegrar

Simple English: To become or to make lighter or happier.

Example: Flowers would brighten the room.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. When I love a person very tenderly indeed, it seems to brighten. Go to

brightened /ˈbraɪtənd/ (11 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: iluminaram-se; brilharam

Simple English: Became brighter or happier.

Example: Her face brightened at the good news.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. The day had brightened very much, and still brightened as we went westward. Go to

2. He walked a little to and fro after saying this to himself with a shudder, and then looked at me, and brightened, and came and sat down again with his hands in his pockets. Go to

brightly /ˈbraɪtli/ (25 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: intensamente; com brilho

Simple English: In a way that gives a lot of light.

Example: The sun shone brightly all morning.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. I tidied our room and finally made the difficult fire burn brightly. Go to

2. As a bell rang, dogs barked, the door opened brightly, and our hearts beat faster, we climbed down in great confusion. Go to

Original English Version

1. After that I occupied myself in making our room a little tidy and in coaxing a very cross fire that had been lighted to burn, which at last it did, quite brightly. Go to

2. Presently we lost the light, presently saw it, presently lost it, presently saw it, and turned into an avenue of trees and cantered up towards where it was beaming brightly. Go to

brimstone /ˈbrɪmstoʊn/ (18 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: enxofre

Simple English: The old word for sulphur, a yellow substance that burns with a strong smell.

Example: The preacher warned the crowd about fire and brimstone.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. Then, after all, it was a ridiculous position to be smoked out of your fortune with brimstone as soon as you had made it. Go to

broom /bruːm/ (20 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: vassoura

Simple English: A brush with a long handle for cleaning floors.

Example: She swept the yard with an old broom.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Only a woman in wooden overshoes had tried to push the child from below with a broom, though neither she nor I seemed to know why. Go to

Original English Version

1. Nobody had appeared belonging to the house except a person in pattens, who had been poking at the child from below with a broom; I don’t know with what object, and I don’t think she did. Go to

2. The old roan, so famous for cross-country work, turning his large eyeball to the grated window near his rack, may remember the fresh leaves that glisten there at other times and the scents that stream in, and may have a fine run with the hounds, while the human helper, clearing out the next stall, never stirs beyond his pitchfork and birch-broom. Go to

broomstick /ˈbruːmstɪk/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: cabo de vassoura

Simple English: The long handle of a broom.

Example: She seized a broomstick and drove the goat out.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. "Let a strong wind carry her away on a broomstick!" Go to

Original English Version

1. “Let her fly away in a high wind on a broomstick!” Go to

bruised /bruːzd/ (6 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: machucado; contundido; ferido

Simple English: Hurt so that dark marks appear on the skin.

Example: He felt bruised and sore after the fall.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. A bruised woman held a sick baby by the fire. Go to

Original English Version

1. They all looked up at us as we came in, and the woman seemed to turn her face towards the fire as if to hide her bruised eye; nobody gave us any welcome. Go to

bullet /ˈbʊlɪt/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: bala; marcador; tiro

Simple English: Small cylindrical metal projectile fired from a gun.

Example: The bullet missed the target and hit the wall instead.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. His strong laugh, healthy voice, full speech, and wild exaggerations felt honest and harmless, like cannons firing without bullets. Go to

busily /ˈbɪzɪli/ (6 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: atarefadamente; sem parar

Simple English: In a busy way, working hard without stopping.

Example: She worked busily at the loom all day.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. I can remember, when I was a very little girl indeed, I used to say to my doll when we were alone together, “Now, Dolly, I am not clever, you know very well, and you must be patient with me, like a dear!” And so she used to sit propped up in a great arm-chair, with her beautiful complexion and rosy lips, staring at me - or not so much at me, I think, as at nothing - while I busily stitched away and told her every one of my secrets. Go to

2. We soon laughed, however, and were busily unpacking when Miss Jellyby came back to say that she was sorry there was no hot water, but they couldn’t find the kettle, and the boiler was out of order. Go to

businesslike /ˈbɪznəslaɪk/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: prático; eficiente; profissional

Simple English: Serious, organized, and practical in the way work is handled.

Example: Morse spoke briskly in plain, businesslike tones.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. In an unfriendly, businesslike voice, Mrs. Pardiggle greeted the family. Go to

businessman's /ˈbɪznəsmænz/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: do empresário; do homem de negócios

Simple English: The possessive form of businessman, a man engaged in commercial work.

Example: Mr. Lorry examined the matter with a businessman's eye.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Mr. Skimpole thoughtfully called the businessman's way of thinking strange and curious. Go to

buttoned /ˈbʌtənd/ (14 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: abotoado

Simple English: Fastened with buttons.

Example: His coat was buttoned to the neck.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. He is of a worthy presence, with his light-grey hair and whiskers, his fine shirt-frill, his pure-white waistcoat, and his blue coat with bright buttons always buttoned. Go to

caddy /ˈkædi/ (516 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: caddie; carregador de tacos

Simple English: A person who carries a golfer's clubs and may give advice during play.

Example: The caddy handed him the correct club.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Where are you, Caddy?” Go to

2. “‘Sends her compliments to Mr. Swallow and asks - ’” said Caddy, reading back the letter. Go to

3. She told Caddy to show us our rooms, apologized for being busy, and ordered me to put Peepy down. Go to

4. She repeatedly sent Caddy away from the table to answer them. Go to

5. Mrs. Jellyby sat among waste paper, drank coffee, dictated to Caddy, and discussed human brotherhood with Mr. Quale. Go to

6. Mrs. Jellyby was still drinking coffee among her papers, while Caddy continued writing. Go to

Original English Version

1. Where are you, Caddy?” Go to

2. “‘Presents her compliments to Mr. Swallow, and begs - ’” said Caddy. Go to

3. Caddy, show Miss Clare and Miss Summerson their rooms. Go to

4. She was by that time perseveringly dictating to Caddy, and Caddy was fast relapsing into the inky condition in which we had found her. Go to

5. Mrs. Jellyby charged us with many remembrances to her good friend Mr. Jarndyce; Caddy left her desk to see us depart, kissed me in the passage, and stood biting her pen and sobbing on the steps; Peepy, I am happy to say, was asleep and spared the pain of separation (I was not without misgivings that he had gone to Newgate market in search of me); and all the other children got up behind the barouche and fell off, and we saw them, with great concern, scattered over the surface of Thavies Inn as we rolled out of its precincts. Go to

caddy's /ˈkædiz/ (52 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: de Caddy

Simple English: belonging to Caddy, a character in the story

Example: I gladly accepted Caddy's suggestion of a walk.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The house was uncomfortable, and I wanted to see London, so I gladly accepted Caddy's suggestion of a walk. Go to

cages /ˈkeɪdʒɪz/ (6 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: gaiolas; jaulas

Simple English: Boxes made of bars, used to keep animals or birds.

Example: The birds sang in their small wooden cages.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. We all moved closer to the cages and pretended to study the birds. Go to

Original English Version

1. She partly drew aside the curtain of the long, low garret window and called our attention to a number of bird-cages hanging there, some containing several birds. Go to

2. We all drew nearer to the cages, feigning to examine the birds. Go to

calmed /kɑːmd/ (6 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: acalmou; acalmado; serenou

Simple English: Made someone or something quiet and peaceful again.

Example: A cup of tea and a warm blanket calmed the frightened child.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Her friend’s familiar voice calmed her, and she became quiet again. Go to

calmer /ˈkɑːmər/ (10 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: mais calmo; mais sereno

Simple English: More quiet and peaceful than before.

Example: The sea grew calmer as soon as the wind dropped.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. I told myself firmly to stop crying and finally became calmer. Go to

calming /ˈkɑːmɪŋ/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: acalmando; calmante; tranquilizador

Simple English: Making someone feel quiet and less worried.

Example: Her calming voice on the phone made the bad news easier to hear.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. After calming him, I saw that his head was naturally large. Go to

canary /kəˈneri/ (8 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: canário

Simple English: A small yellow singing bird kept as a pet.

Example: A canary sang in a cage by the window.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. Her second son would have been provided for at Chesney Wold and would have been made steward in due season, but he took, when he was a schoolboy, to constructing steam-engines out of saucepans and setting birds to draw their own water with the least possible amount of labour, so assisting them with artful contrivance of hydraulic pressure that a thirsty canary had only, in a literal sense, to put his shoulder to the wheel and the job was done. Go to

candlestick /ˈkændəlstɪk/ (7 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: castiçal; candelabro

Simple English: A holder for one or more candles.

Example: She carried a brass candlestick into the corridor.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Confused, Mr. Jarndyce tried to put the candlestick in his pocket. Go to

Original English Version

1. I opened it softly and found Miss Jellyby shivering there with a broken candle in a broken candlestick in one hand and an egg-cup in the other. Go to

2. We found Miss Jellyby trying to warm herself at the fire in the writing-room, which Priscilla was then lighting with a smutty parlour candlestick, throwing the candle in to make it burn better. Go to

3. “Well!” cried Mr. Jarndyce, stopping again, and making several absent endeavours to put his candlestick in his pocket. Go to

candlesticks /ˈkændlstɪks/ (8 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: castiçais

Simple English: Objects that hold candles upright.

Example: Two silver candlesticks stood at each end of the long table.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. “You find me, my dears,” said Mrs. Jellyby, snuffing the two great office candles in tin candlesticks, which made the room taste strongly of hot tallow (the fire had gone out, and there was nothing in the grate but ashes, a bundle of wood, and a poker), “you find me, my dears, as usual, very busy; but that you will excuse. Go to

cannons /ˈkænənz/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: canhões

Simple English: Large, heavy guns that fire solid or explosive shots.

Example: The two cannons fired from the hilltop fort.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. His strong laugh, healthy voice, full speech, and wild exaggerations felt honest and harmless, like cannons firing without bullets. Go to

2. As Richard said, he could do nothing on a small scale, so he fired his great harmless cannons because he had no smaller weapons. Go to

Original English Version

1. We all conceived a prepossession in his favour, for there was a sterling quality in this laugh, and in his vigorous, healthy voice, and in the roundness and fullness with which he uttered every word he spoke, and in the very fury of his superlatives, which seemed to go off like blank cannons and hurt nothing. Go to

captain's /ˈkæptɪnz/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: do capitão

Simple English: Belonging to the captain, the person in charge of a ship or a team.

Example: The captain's cabin was the only warm room on the ship.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. It fills the eyes and throats of old sailors, enters a captain's cabin, and freezes the young apprentice on deck. Go to

capture /ˈkæptʃər/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: capturar; captura; captar

Simple English: To catch and keep someone or something under control.

Example: They managed to capture several rare birds for study.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Then he could capture the Chancellor and give him little food until he decided their case. Go to

carboy /ˈkɑːrbɔɪ/ (33 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: garrafão de vidro

Simple English: A large glass or plastic bottle used for liquids such as acid.

Example: The cracked carboy had leaked its contents.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. You may remember it: Kenge and Carboy, Lincoln's Inn." Go to

2. Miss Donny said she did not know him personally, only through his London lawyers, Kenge and Carboy. Go to

3. I wrote about twice a year and always received exactly the same answer from Kenge and Carboy. Go to

4. Kenge and Carboy Go to

5. He said he came from the office of Kenge and Carboy at Lincoln's Inn. Go to

6. This was the office of Kenge and Carboy. Go to

Original English Version

1. “My name is Kenge,” he said; “you may remember it, my child; Kenge and Carboy, Lincoln’s Inn.” Go to

2. Kenge and Carboy, of London. Go to

3. I always received by return of post exactly the same answer in the same round hand, with the signature of Kenge and Carboy in another writing, which I supposed to be Mr. Kenge’s. Go to

4. Kenge and Carboy Go to

5. Kenge and Carboy will have something to say about it; Master Somebody - a sort of ridiculous sexton, digging graves for the merits of causes in a back room at the end of Quality Court, Chancery Lane - will have something to say about it; counsel will have something to say about it; the Chancellor will have something to say about it; the satellites will have something to say about it; they will all have to be handsomely fee’d, all round, about it; the whole thing will be vastly ceremonious, wordy, unsatisfactory, and expensive, and I call it, in general, wiglomeration. Go to

carboy's /ˈkɑːrbɔɪz/ (20 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: de Carboy

Simple English: belonging to Carboy, part of a law firm's name

Example: It looked like a letter from Kenge and Carboy's office.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. It looked exactly like a letter written by a clerk at Kenge and Carboy's office. Go to

Original English Version

1. A young gentleman who had inked himself by accident addressed me from the pavement and said, “I am from Kenge and Carboy’s, miss, of Lincoln’s Inn.” Go to

2. This was Kenge and Carboy’s. Go to

3. There was a little tottering bench of shabby old volumes outside the door, labelled “Law Books, all at 9d.” Some of the inscriptions I have enumerated were written in law-hand, like the papers I had seen in Kenge and Carboy’s office and the letters I had so long received from the firm. Go to

4. Kenge and Carboy’s office would have made. Go to

carefree /ˈkerfriː/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: despreocupado; livre de preocupações

Simple English: Free from worry, responsibility, or serious concern.

Example: They remembered their happy, carefree life together.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. When she called him over, he talked cheerfully like a carefree boy. Go to

2. He was interested in everything, happy, hopeful, and carefree. Go to

carelessly /ˈkɛrləsli/ (17 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: descuidadamente; sem prestar atenção

Simple English: Without paying enough attention.

Example: He carelessly left the door open all night.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. “You can go into Holborn carelessly and be run over, or go there carefully and remain safe. Go to

2. Richard carelessly said that he did not know. Go to

3. When he carelessly wanted to give five pounds to the brickmaker, Richard asked why not. Go to

Original English Version

1. My Lady carelessly and scornfully abstracts her attention. Go to

2. “I don’t know, I am sure!” said Richard rather carelessly. Go to

3. There was an easy negligence in his manner and even in his dress (his hair carelessly disposed, and his neck-kerchief loose and flowing, as I have seen artists paint their own portraits) which I could not separate from the idea of a romantic youth who had undergone some unique process of depreciation. Go to

carpets /ˈkɑːrpəts/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: tapetes

Simple English: Thick covers for floors made of wool or cloth.

Example: Dusty carpets were piled in the corner.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. Soon after seven o’clock we went down to dinner, carefully, by Mrs. Jellyby’s advice, for the stair-carpets, besides being very deficient in stair-wires, were so torn as to be absolute traps. Go to

carriages /ˈkærɪdʒɪz/ (17 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: vagões; carruagens

Simple English: The separate parts of a train where people sit.

Example: The last two carriages were empty.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The large dog sleeping in the yard may remember hot sunshine and a house full of guests, carriages, horses, and servants. Go to

carstone /ˈkɑːrstoʊn/ (46 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: Carstone

Simple English: the surname of a character, Richard Carstone

Example: She told me that the young gentleman was her distant cousin, Richard Carstone.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. She told me that the young gentleman was her distant cousin, Richard Carstone. Go to

2. Looking toward Richard, the Lord Chancellor asked, “Is young Mr. Richard Carstone here?” Go to

3. I thought I heard the Chancellor quietly joke, with a smile, “For Mr. Richard Carstone?” But I am not completely sure. Go to

4. “Well, that is over!” said Richard Carstone. Go to

5. “Perhaps Mr. Carstone or Miss Clare knows.” Go to

6. Richard told him, "Richard Carstone." Go to

Original English Version

1. The young gentleman was her distant cousin, she told me, and his name Richard Carstone. Go to

2. “Young Mr. Richard Carstone is present?” said the Lord Chancellor, glancing towards him. Go to

3. “For Mr. Richard Carstone?” I thought (but I am not quite sure) I heard his lordship say in an equally low voice and with a smile. Go to

4. Presently he rose courteously and released her, and then he spoke for a minute or two with Richard Carstone, not seated, but standing, and altogether with more ease and less ceremony, as if he still knew, though he WAS Lord Chancellor, how to go straight to the candour of a boy. Go to

5. “Well!” said Richard Carstone. Go to

6. “Perhaps Mr. Carstone - or Miss Clare - ” Go to

cast /kæst/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: elenco; fundido; convertido

Simple English: All actors and actresses appearing in a movie or play.

Example: The cast of the play includes many talented performers from around town.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The old Abbey Church stood above it, and its rough tower cast a gentle shadow. Go to

cellars /ˈselərz/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: porões; adegas; caves

Simple English: Rooms under a house, often used to store wine or food.

Example: The old inn kept its cheese in cool stone cellars.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The maid explained that the large set opened the household cupboards and the small set opened the cellars. Go to

Original English Version

1. “The large bunch is the housekeeping, and the little bunch is the cellars, miss. Go to

cello /ˈtʃɛloʊ/ (6 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: violoncelo

Simple English: A large stringed instrument held upright between the player's knees.

Example: The musician drew a deep note from the cello.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Skimpole played piano and cello and also composed music. Go to

centimetres /ˈsɛntɪmiːtərz/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: centímetros

Simple English: Metric units of length equal to one hundredth of a metre.

Example: The narrow opening measured only twenty centimetres.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He was ten years older and several centimetres taller than Jarndyce. Go to

chancellor's /ˈtʃænsələrz/ (18 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: do chanceler

Simple English: Belonging to or associated with a chancellor.

Example: They waited in the chancellor's private room.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He explained that I would be the companion of the young lady in the Chancellor’s private room, so they wanted me to attend too. Go to

2. The gentleman in the wig placed bundles of papers on the Chancellor’s table. Go to

3. He went back and left us in the fog beside the Lord Chancellor’s waiting carriage and servants. Go to

4. The old woman said the vacation ended when the leaves fell and there were no flowers left for the Chancellor's court. Go to

Original English Version

1. Who happen to be in the Lord Chancellor’s court this murky afternoon besides the Lord Chancellor, the counsel in the cause, two or three counsel who are never in any cause, and the well of solicitors before mentioned? Go to

2. “As you are going to be the companion of the young lady who is now in the Chancellor’s private room, Miss Summerson,” he said, “we thought it well that you should be in attendance also. Go to

3. When we got under the colonnade, Mr. Kenge remembered that he must go back for a moment to ask a question and left us in the fog, with the Lord Chancellor’s carriage and servants waiting for him to come out. Go to

4. “When the leaves are falling from the trees and there are no more flowers in bloom to make up into nosegays for the Lord Chancellor’s court,” said the old lady, “the vacation is fulfilled and the sixth seal, mentioned in the Revelations, again prevails. Go to

chancery /ˈtʃænsəri/ (179 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: chancelaria; tribunal de equidade

Simple English: A court or office dealing with equity, official records, or administrative affairs.

Example: The estate had declined after years of chancery suits.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Preface I. In Chancery II. Go to

2. A Chancery judge once told a large, sensible audience that the Court of Chancery was almost perfect. Go to

3. The public should know that my description of the Court of Chancery is true. Go to

4. In Chancery Go to

5. Close by, in the very centre of the fog, the Lord High Chancellor sits in the Court of Chancery. Go to

6. No fog can be too thick and no mud too deep to match the confused and helpless condition of this ancient, sinful Court of Chancery. Go to

Original English Version

1. Preface I. In Chancery II. Go to

2. A Chancery judge once had the kindness to inform me, as one of a company of some hundred and fifty men and women not labouring under any suspicions of lunacy, that the Court of Chancery, though the shining subject of much popular prejudice (at which point I thought the judge’s eye had a cast in my direction), was almost immaculate. Go to

3. There had been, he admitted, a trivial blemish or so in its rate of progress, but this was exaggerated and had been entirely owing to the “parsimony of the public,” which guilty public, it appeared, had been until lately bent in the most determined manner on by no means enlarging the number of Chancery judges appointed - I believe by Richard the Second, but any other king will do as well. Go to

4. But as it is wholesome that the parsimonious public should know what has been doing, and still is doing, in this connexion, I mention here that everything set forth in these pages concerning the Court of Chancery is substantially true, and within the truth. Go to

5. There is another well-known suit in Chancery, not yet decided, which was commenced before the close of the last century and in which more than double the amount of seventy thousand pounds has been swallowed up in costs. Go to

6. In Chancery Go to

chancery's /ˈtʃænsəriz/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: da Chancelaria; do tribunal

Simple English: Belonging to or associated with the Court of Chancery.

Example: He joked about Chancery's usual behavior.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He joked that this was unlike Chancery's usual behaviour. Go to

charmed /tʃɑːrmd/ (9 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: enfeitiçou; protegeu com um encanto

Simple English: Delighted, or protected as if by magic.

Example: He seemed to lead a charmed life.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. We were all charmed. Go to

chattering /ˈtʃætərɪŋ/ (9 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: tagarelando; matraqueando

Simple English: talking rapidly or making repeated quick sounds

Example: The forest was full of dancing, chattering monkeys.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. Peepy had scaled his crib, and crept down in his bed-gown and cap, and was so cold that his teeth were chattering as if he had cut them all. Go to

cheeked /tʃiːkt/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: de bochechas; com as bochechas

Simple English: having cheeks of a specified kind, especially in a compound adjective

Example: Diana arrived bright-eyed and rosy-cheeked.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. With nothing but love to live on, Skimpole fell in love, married, and had many rosy-cheeked children. Go to

cheerfully /ˈtʃɪrfəli/ (52 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: alegremente; com bom humor

Simple English: In a happy way.

Example: He answered cheerfully and walked on.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. When she called him over, he talked cheerfully like a carefree boy. Go to

2. Cheerfully, he invited the girls to see their home. Go to

3. Skimpole cheerfully cried that he was not so sure. Go to

4. Looking at his drawing, Skimpole cheerfully told Richard and me that he was completely unable to help himself and entirely depended on us. Go to

5. Mr. Jarndyce taught me backgammon while Skimpole played music and talked cheerfully. Go to

6. He cheerfully agreed and said I was wise to keep him on the bright side. Go to

Original English Version

1. “Why, so it is,” he answered much more cheerfully; “and it is wisdom in you to keep me to the bright side of the picture.” (The idea of my wisdom!) “These are things I never talk about or even think about, excepting in the growlery here. Go to

cheerfulness /ˈtʃɪrfəlnəs/ (11 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: jovialidade; bom humor

Simple English: The quality of being happy and bright in manner.

Example: Her cheerfulness never failed, even on bad days.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. I shall come to you again in your regular order,” returned Mrs. Pardiggle with demonstrative cheerfulness. Go to

chesney /ˈtʃɛzni/ (194 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: Chesney

Simple English: part of the name of a manor house, 'Chesney Wold'

Example: Chesney Wold XXXVII.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Chesney Wold XXXVII. Go to

2. While Esther sleeps and wakes, rain continues at Chesney Wold in Lincolnshire. Go to

3. Apart from the animals, little imagination moves at Chesney Wold. Go to

4. It is hard to imagine Chesney Wold without Mrs. Rouncewell, although she has served there for only fifty years. Go to

5. Her other son loved building machines instead of following the traditional path at Chesney Wold. Go to

6. Today he stands by the fireplace in his grandmother's room at Chesney Wold. Go to

Original English Version

1. Chesney Wold XXXVII. Go to

2. Not that there is any superabundant life of imagination on the spot, for Sir Leicester is not here (and, truly, even if he were, would not do much for it in that particular), but is in Paris with my Lady; and solitude, with dusky wings, sits brooding upon Chesney Wold. Go to

3. There may be some motions of fancy among the lower animals at Chesney Wold. Go to

4. Be this as it may, there is not much fancy otherwise stirring at Chesney Wold. Go to

5. It has rained so hard and rained so long down in Lincolnshire that Mrs. Rouncewell, the old housekeeper at Chesney Wold, has several times taken off her spectacles and cleaned them to make certain that the drops were not upon the glasses. Go to

6. It is the next difficult thing to an impossibility to imagine Chesney Wold without Mrs. Rouncewell, but she has only been here fifty years. Go to

childless /ˈtʃaɪldləs/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: sem filhos

Simple English: having no children

Example: The couple were happy, though they regretted being childless.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Seeing a happy family by a warm cottage fire makes the childless Lady Dedlock angry. Go to

Original English Version

1. My Lady Dedlock (who is childless), looking out in the early twilight from her boudoir at a keeper’s lodge and seeing the light of a fire upon the latticed panes, and smoke rising from the chimney, and a child, chased by a woman, running out into the rain to meet the shining figure of a wrapped-up man coming through the gate, has been put quite out of temper. Go to

chimneys /ˈtʃɪmniz/ (15 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: chaminés

Simple English: Tall pipes that carry smoke out of a building.

Example: Smoke rose from the factory chimneys.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. It was a street of dying, empty houses with broken windows, falling shutters, rusty rails, damaged chimneys, green steps, and rotting supports. Go to

Original English Version

1. It is a street of perishing blind houses, with their eyes stoned out, without a pane of glass, without so much as a window-frame, with the bare blank shutters tumbling from their hinges and falling asunder, the iron rails peeling away in flakes of rust, the chimneys sinking in, the stone steps to every door (and every door might be death’s door) turning stagnant green, the very crutches on which the ruins are propped decaying. Go to

christ's /kraɪsts/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: de Cristo

Simple English: belonging to Jesus Christ

Example: We quietly reminded her of Christ's words about children.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. We tried to comfort the mother and quietly reminded her of Christ’s words about children. Go to

churchyard /ˈtʃɜːrtʃjɑːrd/ (11 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: adro; cemitério junto à igreja

Simple English: The ground around a church, often used as a burial place.

Example: We walked through the churchyard reading the names on the stones.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Through a window, I saw gravestones in a churchyard under covered passages. Go to

Original English Version

1. This is the Court of Chancery, which has its decaying houses and its blighted lands in every shire, which has its worn-out lunatic in every madhouse and its dead in every churchyard, which has its ruined suitor with his slipshod heels and threadbare dress borrowing and begging through the round of every man’s acquaintance, which gives to monied might the means abundantly of wearying out the right, which so exhausts finances, patience, courage, hope, so overthrows the brain and breaks the heart, that there is not an honourable man among its practitioners who would not give - who does not often give - the warning, “Suffer any wrong that can be done you rather than come here!” Go to

2. And there really was a churchyard outside under some cloisters, for I saw the gravestones from the staircase window. Go to

3. Ask her how long, this rainy day, and she shall answer “fifty year, three months, and a fortnight, by the blessing of heaven, if I live till Tuesday.” Mr. Rouncewell died some time before the decease of the pretty fashion of pig-tails, and modestly hid his own (if he took it with him) in a corner of the churchyard in the park near the mouldy porch. Go to

circulars /ˈsɜːrkjələrz/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: circulares; folhetos

Simple English: Printed notices or letters distributed to many people.

Example: The organization mailed five thousand circulars.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. This young man, besides having a great deal to say for himself about Africa and a project of his for teaching the coffee colonists to teach the natives to turn piano-forte legs and establish an export trade, delighted in drawing Mrs. Jellyby out by saying, “I believe now, Mrs. Jellyby, you have received as many as from one hundred and fifty to two hundred letters respecting Africa in a single day, have you not?” or, “If my memory does not deceive me, Mrs. Jellyby, you once mentioned that you had sent off five thousand circulars from one post-office at one time?” - always repeating Mrs. Jellyby’s answer to us like an interpreter. Go to

civil /ˈsɪvəl/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: civil; cível

Simple English: Related to ordinary people not involved in military actions.

Example: Civil rights are important and must be protected during wartime conflicts.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. During the civil war in the time of King Charles I, Sir Morbury Dedlock owned Chesney Wold. Go to

claret /ˈklærət/ (9 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: clarete; vinho tinto de Bordeaux

Simple English: A red wine from Bordeaux, or a similar dry red wine.

Example: They shared a bottle of claret after dinner.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. Give him the papers, conversation, music, mutton, coffee, landscape, fruit in the season, a few sheets of Bristol-board, and a little claret, and he asked no more. Go to

clarified /ˈklɛrɪfaɪd/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: clarificada; derretida e coada

Simple English: Made clear by heating and removing solids.

Example: She poured clarified butter on the cake.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. His tenant clarified that she meant Jarndyce and Jarndyce, the great court case. Go to

clasp /klæsp/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: fecho; broche; apertar; abraçar

Simple English: A small metal fastener, or to hold something tightly.

Example: The silver clasp on her necklace had come loose.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. I put up my trembling little hand to clasp hers or to beg her pardon with what earnestness I might, but withdrew it as she looked at me, and laid it on my fluttering heart. Go to

cleans /kliːnz/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: limpa

Simple English: Removes dirt from something or makes it clean.

Example: He cleans the tools after every day's work.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. It has rained so long that Mrs. Rouncewell, the old housekeeper, cleans her glasses to check whether the drops are on them. Go to

clerks /klɜːrks/ (29 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: escriturários; funcionários

Simple English: People who do writing and office work.

Example: The clerks left the office at five.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. A few clerks stay only because they hope he will cause some amusement. Go to

2. Judges, senior lawyers, and young clerks have all made jokes about a case that seems less likely to end than potatoes are to fall from the sky. Go to

3. It has taught lawyers and clerks to deceive, delay, avoid duty, and take money. Go to

4. Clerks carry away heavy bags of papers, the old woman leaves with her documents, and the empty court is locked. Go to

5. One of our clerks will meet you there and bring you to our office. Go to

Original English Version

1. A few lawyers’ clerks and others who know this suitor by sight linger on the chance of his furnishing some fun and enlivening the dismal weather a little. Go to

2. Articled clerks have been in the habit of fleshing their legal wit upon it. Go to

3. From the master upon whose impaling files reams of dusty warrants in Jarndyce and Jarndyce have grimly writhed into many shapes, down to the copying-clerk in the Six Clerks’ Office who has copied his tens of thousands of Chancery folio-pages under that eternal heading, no man’s nature has been made better by it. Go to

4. A battery of blue bags is loaded with heavy charges of papers and carried off by clerks; the little mad old woman marches off with her documents; the empty court is locked up. Go to

coavinses /ˈkoʊvɪnzɪz/ (56 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: Coavinses

Simple English: a nickname used generically for the bailiff or jail, referring to the same figure

Example: The stranger answered, "Jail, or Coavinses."

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The stranger calmly put his handkerchief into the hat at his feet and answered, “Jail, or Coavinses.” Go to

2. The stranger explained that Coavinses was a house used as a debtors’ prison. Go to

3. Richard asked me to complete the payment with “Coavinses,” as Skimpole jokingly called the stranger, because it would make the event more graceful. Go to

4. Coavinses said he had known since tea time the previous afternoon. Go to

5. Coavinses said it had not. Go to

6. Coavinses replied that he had not heard anyone say otherwise. Go to

Original English Version

1. “Or Coavinses.” Go to

2. “Coavinses?” said the strange man. Go to

3. Richard, begging me, for the greater grace of the transaction, as he said, to settle with Coavinses (as Mr. Skimpole now jocularly called him), I counted out the money and received the necessary acknowledgment. Go to

4. “Know’d it yes’day aft’noon at tea-time,” said Coavinses. Go to

5. “Not a bit,” said Coavinses. Go to

6. “Nobody said they warn’t, in MY hearing,” returned Coavinses. Go to

cobweb /ˈkɑːbweb/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: teia de aranha

Simple English: A net of fine threads made by a spider.

Example: A grey cobweb hung in the corner of the ceiling.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. After that, they gave me many playful names, including Old Woman, Little Old Woman, Cobweb, and Dame Durden. Go to

Original English Version

1. This was the beginning of my being called Old Woman, and Little Old Woman, and Cobweb, and Mrs. Shipton, and Mother Hubbard, and Dame Durden, and so many names of that sort that my own name soon became quite lost among them. Go to

2. “But it’s the inside of the man, the warm heart of the man, the passion of the man, the fresh blood of the man, Rick - and Ada, and little Cobweb too, for you are all interested in a visitor - that I speak of,” he pursued. Go to

cobwebs /ˈkɑːbwebz/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: teias de aranha

Simple English: Nets made by spiders, often old and dusty.

Example: Cobwebs hung in every corner.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He loved rust, dust, and cobwebs and never threw anything away, cleaned, or repaired. Go to

2. The rhyme asked where the little old woman was going, and she answered that she was going to sweep the cobwebs from the sky. Go to

Original English Version

1. And I have a liking for rust and must and cobwebs. Go to

2. “‘Little old woman, and whither so high?’ ‘To sweep the cobwebs out of the sky.’” Go to

coldly /ˈkoʊldli/ (15 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: friamente; com frieza

Simple English: In an unfriendly way, without warmth or feeling.

Example: He answered coldly and turned back to his newspaper.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. She placed me before her and coldly said that my mother had brought shame on us both. Go to

Original English Version

1. He hastened down to raise her, but she repulsed him as he bent over her, and looking at him fixedly and coldly, said, ‘I will die here where I have walked. Go to

comforted /ˈkʌmfərtɪd/ (12 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: consolou; confortou

Simple English: Made someone feel less sad or worried.

Example: The old crow comforted him.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. At the door, the woman who had comforted Jenny stood watching anxiously. Go to

Original English Version

1. I comforted her and would have raised her, but she cried no, no; she wanted to stay there! Go to

comforts /ˈkʌmfərts/ (16 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: comodidades; conforto

Simple English: Things that make life easy and pleasant.

Example: He missed the small comforts of his own kitchen.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. Ada was so full of grief all the way home, and Richard, whom we found at home, was so distressed to see her in tears (though he said to me, when she was not present, how beautiful it was too!), that we arranged to return at night with some little comforts and repeat our visit at the brick-maker’s house. Go to

command /kəˈmænd/ (6 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: comando; comandar; ordem

Simple English: A specific instruction for a computer to execute a task.

Example: You need to enter the right command to run the program successfully.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. I spoke without confidence because Mrs. Pardiggle was older, experienced, and commanding. Go to

2. He only wished he commanded a fast private ship. Go to

committee (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: comitê; comissão; conselho

Simple English: a group chosen to make decisions

Example: The committee approved the proposal.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. She served many schools, committees, visits, and campaigns. Go to

complicated /ˈkɒmplɪkeɪtɪd/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: complicado; complica

Simple English: Involving many parts, making it difficult to understand.

Example: The instructions for assembling the furniture are quite complicated and unclear.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. It has become so complicated that nobody understands it, especially the people involved. Go to

conduct /kənˈdʌkt/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: conduta; conduzir; realizar

Simple English: To direct musicians with hand movements during a performance.

Example: The conductor raised his baton, signaling the orchestra to begin playing.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He missed appointments, could not conduct business, and never knew anything’s value. Go to

confidentially /ˌkɑːnfɪˈdenʃəli/ (6 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: confidencialmente; em tom de segredo

Simple English: In a private or trusting manner meant not to be shared widely.

Example: The two women spoke confidentially behind the closed curtains.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. Mr. Jarndyce, expressing his approval in his face, began to talk to me as confidentially as if I had been in the habit of conversing with him every morning for I don’t know how long. Go to

confuses /kənˈfjuːzɪz/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: confunde

Simple English: Makes someone unable to think or understand clearly.

Example: The unfamiliar rule confuses me.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. “My love,” said I, “it quite confuses me. Go to

conspirators /kənˈspɪrətərz/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: conspiradores

Simple English: People who secretly plan something bad together.

Example: The conspirators met after dark.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. The iron country farther north is, I suppose, the congenial direction for a boy with these tendencies.” Farther north he went, and farther north he grew up; and if Sir Leicester Dedlock ever saw him when he came to Chesney Wold to visit his mother, or ever thought of him afterwards, it is certain that he only regarded him as one of a body of some odd thousand conspirators, swarthy and grim, who were in the habit of turning out by torchlight two or three nights in the week for unlawful purposes. Go to

contradictions /ˌkɒntrəˈdɪkʃənz/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: contradições

Simple English: Statements or facts that conflict with one another.

Example: The witness's many contradictions made the story less believable.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. I still could not understand the contradictions in Skimpole or Mrs. Jellyby. Go to

Original English Version

1. I wonder the very paving-stones opposite our house can have the patience to stay there and be a witness of such inconsistencies and contradictions as all that sounding nonsense, and Ma’s management!” Go to

cook's /ˈkʊks/ (48 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: do cozinheiro; da cozinheira

Simple English: The possessive form of 'cook'.

Example: The escaped nobleman disguised himself in his cook's clothes.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Our green sitting room displayed strange pictures of birds, a real preserved trout, Captain Cook’s death, and tea production in China. Go to

Original English Version

1. And the Bond of Joy, who on account of always having the whole of his little income anticipated stood in fact pledged to abstain from cakes as well as tobacco, so swelled with grief and rage when we passed a pastry-cook’s shop that he terrified me by becoming purple. Go to

coolly /ˈkuːlli/ (9 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: friamente; com calma; com indiferença

Simple English: Calmly and without excitement, sometimes in an unfriendly way.

Example: The pilot spoke coolly to the passengers while the engine was repaired.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. “Jail,” said the strange man, coolly putting his handkerchief into his hat, which was on the floor at his feet. Go to

copyist /ˈkɑːpiɪst/ (6 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: copista

Simple English: A person employed to copy documents or text.

Example: She whispered that the only other tenant was a legal copyist.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. She whispered that the only other tenant was a legal copyist. Go to

corkscrew /ˈkɔːrkskruː/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: saca-rolhas

Simple English: A tool with a twisted metal point, used to pull out corks.

Example: He opened the bottle with a corkscrew.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Potatoes were found in the coal box, and the corkscrew broke. Go to

Original English Version

1. All through dinner - which was long, in consequence of such accidents as the dish of potatoes being mislaid in the coal skuttle and the handle of the corkscrew coming off and striking the young woman in the chin - Mrs. Jellyby preserved the evenness of her disposition. Go to

correcting /kəˈrektɪŋ/ (8 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: corrigindo

Simple English: Making something right, or telling someone their mistake.

Example: She spent the evening correcting the papers.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. The last Lord Chancellor handled it neatly, when, correcting Mr. Blowers, the eminent silk gown who said that such a thing might happen when the sky rained potatoes, he observed, “or when we get through Jarndyce and Jarndyce, Mr. Blowers” - a pleasantry that particularly tickled the maces, bags, and purses. Go to

cottages /ˈkɑːtɪdʒɪz/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: chalés; casinhas de campo

Simple English: Small simple houses in the country.

Example: Four white cottages stood by the road.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. His sister laughed with young women near the cottages, but she looked ashamed and turned away when we passed. Go to

Original English Version

1. The sister was standing laughing and talking with some other young women at the corner of the row of cottages, but she seemed ashamed and turned away as we went by. Go to

coughed /kɔːft/ (6 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: tossiram

Simple English: Pushed air out of the throat with a sudden noise.

Example: He coughed because of the thick smoke.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. We coughed with the windows open while Mrs. Jellyby continued her African letters. Go to

coughing /ˈkɔːfɪŋ/ (12 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: tossindo

Simple English: Pushing air out of the throat with a sudden noise.

Example: The old man kept coughing all night.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. It smoked to that degree, in short, that we all sat coughing and crying with the windows open for half an hour, during which Mrs. Jellyby, with the same sweetness of temper, directed letters about Africa. Go to

crash /kræʃ/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: acidente; bater; queda

Simple English: Accident in which a vehicle collides with something.

Example: The crash caused a major traffic jam on the highway this morning.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Then the coach shook over stone streets, and vehicles nearly crashed into one another. Go to

crayon /ˈkreɪən/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: giz de cera

Simple English: a colored drawing stick, or a picture made with one

Example: Phillips wrote on the blackboard with a chalk crayon.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Crayon portraits were scattered through the house, so related pictures appeared in different rooms. Go to

creature /ˈkriːtʃər/ (6 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: criatura

Simple English: Any living being that can move on its own.

Example: The forest is full of strange creatures at night.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He added that their only guest was the finest creature on earth - a child. Go to

criticize /ˈkrɪtɪsaɪz/ (10 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: criticar

Simple English: To judge something based on positive or negative points.

Example: It’s important to criticize ideas while remaining respectful of the person.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. However, she criticized Mrs. Jellyby for excluding her children from her work. Go to

2. Mrs. Pardiggle criticized the residents' untidiness and led us into a damp, foul room. Go to

cruelly /ˈkruːəli/ (8 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: cruelmente; com crueldade

Simple English: In a way that causes pain or suffering on purpose.

Example: The prisoners were cruelly treated for years.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. Fog in the eyes and throats of ancient Greenwich pensioners, wheezing by the firesides of their wards; fog in the stem and bowl of the afternoon pipe of the wrathful skipper, down in his close cabin; fog cruelly pinching the toes and fingers of his shivering little ’prentice boy on deck. Go to

cupboard /ˈkʌbərd/ (8 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: armário

Simple English: A piece of furniture with shelves and doors for keeping things.

Example: The dishes were kept in a cupboard.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The orderly house and helpful servants made my new duties easy, though I stayed busy learning what every cupboard held. Go to

Original English Version

1. Upon a shelf in an open cupboard were a plate or two, a cup or two, and so forth, but all dry and empty. Go to

2. Every part of the house was in such order, and every one was so attentive to me, that I had no trouble with my two bunches of keys, though what with trying to remember the contents of each little store-room drawer and cupboard; and what with making notes on a slate about jams, and pickles, and preserves, and bottles, and glass, and china, and a great many other things; and what with being generally a methodical, old-maidish sort of foolish little person, I was so busy that I could not believe it was breakfast-time when I heard the bell ring. Go to

cupboards /ˈkʌbərdz/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: armários

Simple English: Pieces of furniture with doors and shelves for keeping things.

Example: The kitchen cupboards were almost empty.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The maid explained that the large set opened the household cupboards and the small set opened the cellars. Go to

2. The next morning, at any time I chose, she would show me the cupboards and other places for the keys. Go to

curtsy /ˈkɜːrtsi/ (24 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: mesura; reverência

Simple English: A polite movement in which a woman bends her knees and lowers her body.

Example: The Queen made a curtsy and smiled.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The Chancellor looked at me kindly and politely accepted my curtsy. Go to

Original English Version

1. Upon that, my godmother said, “You may go upstairs, Esther!” And I made him my curtsy and left him. Go to

2. His lordship gave me an indulgent look and acknowledged my curtsy very graciously. Go to

3. She stopped at the bottom of the steep, broad flight of stairs; but we looked back as we went up, and she was still there, saying, still with a curtsy and a smile between every little sentence, “Youth. Go to

4. Have I the pleasure of addressing another of the youthful parties in Jarndyce?” said the old lady, recovering herself, with her head on one side, from a very low curtsy. Go to

5. In honour of youth,” a smile and curtsy, “hope,” a smile and curtsy, “and beauty,” a smile and curtsy. Go to

darkened /ˈdɑːrkənd/ (19 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: escureceu; ficou escuro

Simple English: Made or became darker.

Example: Smoke darkened the room.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Each boy's face darkened when his donation was mentioned. Go to

Original English Version

1. Her darkened face had such power over me that it stopped me in the midst of my vehemence. Go to

2. The face of each child, as the amount of his contribution was mentioned, darkened in a peculiarly vindictive manner, but his was by far the worst. Go to

darkening /ˈdɑːrkənɪŋ/ (7 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: escurecendo; ficando sombrio

Simple English: Becoming darker, or making something darker.

Example: They walked home in the darkening street.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Sitting by the darkening window, Mrs. Rouncewell begins. Go to

Original English Version

1. She seats herself in a large chair by the fast-darkening window and tells them: “In the wicked days, my dears, of King Charles the First - I mean, of course, in the wicked days of the rebels who leagued themselves against that excellent king - Sir Morbury Dedlock was the owner of Chesney Wold. Go to

dazed /deɪzd/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: atordoados; aturdidos

Simple English: Unable to think clearly after a shock or a blow.

Example: He walked out of the wreck dazed but unhurt.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. But he still remains so absorbed by the portrait that he stands immovable before it until the young gardener has closed the shutters, when he comes out of the room in a dazed state that is an odd though a sufficient substitute for interest and follows into the succeeding rooms with a confused stare, as if he were looking everywhere for Lady Dedlock again. Go to

dazzling /ˈdæzlɪŋ/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: deslumbrante; ofuscante

Simple English: So bright or impressive that it almost hurts to look at it.

Example: The snow was dazzling under the winter sun.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The effect was dazzling. Go to

Original English Version

1. You are designing people compared with me” (he really made me consider myself in that light) “but I am gay and innocent; forget your worldly arts and play with me!” the effect was absolutely dazzling. Go to

dears /dɪrz/ (21 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: queridos; coitadinhos

Simple English: A kind word for people or animals you feel fond of.

Example: The poor dears were tired and cold.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. “You find me, my dears,” said Mrs. Jellyby, snuffing the two great office candles in tin candlesticks, which made the room taste strongly of hot tallow (the fire had gone out, and there was nothing in the grate but ashes, a bundle of wood, and a poker), “you find me, my dears, as usual, very busy; but that you will excuse. Go to

2. Good night, my dears. Go to

3. She seats herself in a large chair by the fast-darkening window and tells them: “In the wicked days, my dears, of King Charles the First - I mean, of course, in the wicked days of the rebels who leagued themselves against that excellent king - Sir Morbury Dedlock was the owner of Chesney Wold. Go to

debtors /ˈdetərz/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: devedores

Simple English: People who owe money or another obligation.

Example: He asked whether she had ever been inside a prison for debtors.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The stranger explained that Coavinses was a house used as a debtors’ prison. Go to

decaying /dɪˈkeɪɪŋ/ (7 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: apodrecendo; em decadência

Simple English: Slowly going bad or falling apart.

Example: The smell of decaying leaves filled the wood.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Krook explained that he collected many kinds of useless, decaying things, especially old papers. Go to

Original English Version

1. This is the Court of Chancery, which has its decaying houses and its blighted lands in every shire, which has its worn-out lunatic in every madhouse and its dead in every churchyard, which has its ruined suitor with his slipshod heels and threadbare dress borrowing and begging through the round of every man’s acquaintance, which gives to monied might the means abundantly of wearying out the right, which so exhausts finances, patience, courage, hope, so overthrows the brain and breaks the heart, that there is not an honourable man among its practitioners who would not give - who does not often give - the warning, “Suffer any wrong that can be done you rather than come here!” Go to

2. It is a street of perishing blind houses, with their eyes stoned out, without a pane of glass, without so much as a window-frame, with the bare blank shutters tumbling from their hinges and falling asunder, the iron rails peeling away in flakes of rust, the chimneys sinking in, the stone steps to every door (and every door might be death’s door) turning stagnant green, the very crutches on which the ruins are propped decaying. Go to

deceive /dɪˈsiːv/ (14 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: enganar; iludir

Simple English: To make someone believe something that is not true.

Example: He would never deceive a friend.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. It has taught lawyers and clerks to deceive, delay, avoid duty, and take money. Go to

Original English Version

1. I have mentioned that unless my vanity should deceive me (as I know it may, for I may be very vain without suspecting it, though indeed I don’t), my comprehension is quickened when my affection is. Go to

2. This young man, besides having a great deal to say for himself about Africa and a project of his for teaching the coffee colonists to teach the natives to turn piano-forte legs and establish an export trade, delighted in drawing Mrs. Jellyby out by saying, “I believe now, Mrs. Jellyby, you have received as many as from one hundred and fifty to two hundred letters respecting Africa in a single day, have you not?” or, “If my memory does not deceive me, Mrs. Jellyby, you once mentioned that you had sent off five thousand circulars from one post-office at one time?” - always repeating Mrs. Jellyby’s answer to us like an interpreter. Go to

3. Miss Summerson, if I don’t deceive myself?” Go to

deceived /dɪˈsiːvd/ (9 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: enganado

Simple English: Caused to believe something that was not true.

Example: He feared that his own work had deceived him.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. “When I am deceived or disappointed in - the wind, and it’s easterly, I take refuge here. Go to

Decoration /ˌdɛkəˈreɪʃən/ (7 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: decoração; enfeite

Simple English: Adding design and beauty to something for visual appeal.

Example: We chose colorful decoration for the party to make it festive.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. His robe with beautiful gold decoration lay on another chair. Go to

2. My own decorations included four angels carrying a gentleman to heaven and needlework showing fruit, a kettle, and the alphabet. Go to

dedlock /ˈdɛdlɒk/ (814 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: Dedlock

Simple English: the surname of a noble family in the story

Example: Lady Dedlock XIX.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Lady Dedlock XIX. Go to

2. Lady Dedlock has left her wet, gloomy Lincolnshire estate and returned to London before visiting Paris. Go to

3. Seeing a happy family by a warm cottage fire makes the childless Lady Dedlock angry. Go to

4. Lady Dedlock has left the Lincolnshire house to the rain and wild animals. Go to

5. Sir Leicester Dedlock is only a baronet, but he considers his ancient family more important than almost anything. Go to

6. Sir Leicester is more than twenty years older than Lady Dedlock and is now over sixty-five. Go to

Original English Version

1. Lady Dedlock XIX. Go to

2. My Lady Dedlock has returned to her house in town for a few days previous to her departure for Paris, where her ladyship intends to stay some weeks, after which her movements are uncertain. Go to

3. My Lady Dedlock has been down at what she calls, in familiar conversation, her “place” in Lincolnshire. Go to

4. My Lady Dedlock (who is childless), looking out in the early twilight from her boudoir at a keeper’s lodge and seeing the light of a fire upon the latticed panes, and smoke rising from the chimney, and a child, chased by a woman, running out into the rain to meet the shining figure of a wrapped-up man coming through the gate, has been put quite out of temper. Go to

5. My Lady Dedlock says she has been “bored to death.” Go to

6. Therefore my Lady Dedlock has come away from the place in Lincolnshire and has left it to the rain, and the crows, and the rabbits, and the deer, and the partridges and pheasants. Go to

dedlock's /ˈdɛdlɒks/ (110 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: Dedlock

Simple English: possessive form of the family surname Dedlock

Example: Sir Leicester greets the lawyer and asks whether Lady Dedlock's case has again been before the Chancellor.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Sir Leicester greets the lawyer and asks whether Lady Dedlock's case has again been before the Chancellor. Go to

2. Mr. Tulkinghorn stops, surprised by Lady Dedlock's sudden interest and unusual voice. Go to

3. The more he thinks about Lady Dedlock's portrait, the more certain he is that he knows it, though he cannot explain how. Go to

4. The housekeeper calls the child closer to Lady Dedlock's pillow. Go to

Original English Version

1. My Lady Dedlock’s place has been extremely dreary. Go to

2. The view from my Lady Dedlock’s own windows is alternately a lead-coloured view and a view in Indian ink. Go to

dedlocks /ˈdɛdlɒks/ (41 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: os Dedlock

Simple English: plural form referring to the Dedlock family as a whole

Example: On this dark, muddy afternoon, the Dedlocks' old-fashioned lawyer arrives.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. On this dark, muddy afternoon, the Dedlocks' old-fashioned lawyer arrives. Go to

2. After his relative killed her beloved brother in the war, she hated the Dedlocks. Go to

3. She promised her ghost would walk there until the family's pride was humbled and warned the Dedlocks to listen for her steps before disaster or shame. Go to

Original English Version

1. On Sundays the little church in the park is mouldy; the oaken pulpit breaks out into a cold sweat; and there is a general smell and taste as of the ancient Dedlocks in their graves. Go to

2. The pictures of the Dedlocks past and gone have seemed to vanish into the damp walls in mere lowness of spirits, as the housekeeper has passed along the old rooms shutting up the shutters. Go to

3. He has a general opinion that the world might get on without hills but would be done up without Dedlocks. Go to

4. And at her house in town, upon this muddy, murky afternoon, presents himself an old-fashioned old gentleman, attorney-at-law and eke solicitor of the High Court of Chancery, who has the honour of acting as legal adviser of the Dedlocks and has as many cast-iron boxes in his office with that name outside as if the present baronet were the coin of the conjuror’s trick and were constantly being juggled through the whole set. Go to

5. It expresses, as it were, the steward of the legal mysteries, the butler of the legal cellar, of the Dedlocks. Go to

6. The present representative of the Dedlocks is an excellent master. Go to

deliberately /dɪˈlɪbərətli/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: deliberadamente; propósito; intencionalmente

Simple English: Done consciously and intentionally, not by accident.

Example: He deliberately ignored the warning signs while driving on the icy road.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. In Bleak House, I deliberately showed the romantic side of ordinary things. Go to

2. Mr. Jarndyce asked whether the man had misdirected him deliberately. Go to

depended /dɪˈpɛndɪd/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: dependia

Simple English: Was decided by something else.

Example: The picnic depended on the weather.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Looking at his drawing, Skimpole cheerfully told Richard and me that he was completely unable to help himself and entirely depended on us. Go to

deportment /dɪˈpɔːrtmənt/ (45 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: porte; compostura

Simple English: The way a person stands, moves and behaves.

Example: Her deportment was calm and dignified.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Deportment XV. Go to

Original English Version

1. Deportment XV. Go to

2. The old housekeeper, with a gracious severity of deportment, waves her hand towards the great staircase. Go to

3. “The loss is yours, I assure you,” said Mrs. Pardiggle with her commanding deportment. Go to

Depressed /dɪˈprɛst/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: deprimido; depressão; comprimida

Simple English: Feeling very unhappy and having no hopefulness.

Example: He felt depressed after losing his job unexpectedly last month.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Tom entered the shop feeling depressed because his case had returned to court. Go to

dictated /ˈdɪkteɪtɪd/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: ditou; determinou

Simple English: Said words for someone else to write, or decided how things must be.

Example: The doctor dictated a letter to his clerk.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Mrs. Jellyby sat among waste paper, drank coffee, dictated to Caddy, and discussed human brotherhood with Mr. Quale. Go to

Original English Version

1. Mrs. Jellyby, sitting in quite a nest of waste paper, drank coffee all the evening and dictated at intervals to her eldest daughter. Go to

dictating /ˈdɪkteɪtɪŋ/ (8 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: ditando

Simple English: Speaking words for another person to write down, or strongly controlling an action.

Example: Carton composed the message while dictating it aloud.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. She was dictating it to her eldest daughter, who worked as her secretary. Go to

2. Mrs. Jellyby continued dictating: “‘And asks to inform him, concerning his letter of inquiry about the African project - ’ No, Peepy! Go to

3. Mrs. Jellyby continued dictating, so I quietly stopped poor Peepy and held him. Go to

4. Mrs. Jellyby continued dictating while Caddy became covered in ink again. Go to

Original English Version

1. “If you would like,” said Mrs. Jellyby, putting a number of papers towards us, “to look over some remarks on that head, and on the general subject, which have been extensively circulated, while I finish a letter I am now dictating to my eldest daughter, who is my amanuensis - ” Go to

2. “‘And begs,’” said Mrs. Jellyby, dictating, “‘to inform him, in reference to his letter of inquiry on the African project - ’ No, Peepy! Go to

3. She was by that time perseveringly dictating to Caddy, and Caddy was fast relapsing into the inky condition in which we had found her. Go to

dine /daɪn/ (14 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: jantar; comer a refeição principal

Simple English: To eat the main meal of the day.

Example: We usually dine at eight on Sundays.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. “And our dinner hour is nominally (for we dine at all hours) five! Go to

2. Suppose Mr. Pardiggle were to dine with Mr. Jellyby, and suppose Mr. Jellyby were to relieve his mind after dinner to Mr. Pardiggle, would Mr. Pardiggle, in return, make any confidential communication to Mr. Jellyby? Go to

dirtied /ˈdɜːrtid/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: sujou

Simple English: made someone or something dirty

Example: The dry clay had dirtied his fur.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Local people watched and laughed at the fine visitors who dirtied their shoes by interfering in others' lives. Go to

dirtiest /ˈdɜːrtiəst/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: os mais sujos; os mais baixos

Simple English: The most unclean or the most rude.

Example: He used the dirtiest words he knew.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. I reached the poor child, one of the dirtiest little boys I had ever seen. Go to

Original English Version

1. We drove slowly through the dirtiest and darkest streets that ever were seen in the world (I thought) and in such a distracting state of confusion that I wondered how the people kept their senses, until we passed into sudden quietude under an old gateway and drove on through a silent square until we came to an odd nook in a corner, where there was an entrance up a steep, broad flight of stairs, like an entrance to a church. Go to

2. I made my way to the poor child, who was one of the dirtiest little unfortunates I ever saw, and found him very hot and frightened and crying loudly, fixed by the neck between two iron railings, while a milkman and a beadle, with the kindest intentions possible, were endeavouring to drag him back by the legs, under a general impression that his skull was compressible by those means. Go to

disagreed /ˌdɪsəˈɡriːd/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: discordou; divergiu

Simple English: Had a different opinion from someone else.

Example: The two doctors disagreed about the cause.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. She hated the grand talk he shared with her mother because it completely disagreed with the terrible way her mother managed the home. Go to

disapproving /ˌdɪsəˈpruːvɪŋ/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: de reprovação

Simple English: Showing that you think something is wrong or bad.

Example: She gave him a disapproving look when he shouted.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. “That’ll do, my good friend!” said Richard, strongly disapproving of his having drawn one of Ada’s tresses through his yellow hand. Go to

disgraced /dɪsˈɡreɪst/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: desonrado; caído em desgraça

Simple English: Having lost honour and the respect of others.

Example: The disgraced officer left the town.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. She called me an unfortunate, disgraced orphan and told me to pray that other people's sins would not punish me. Go to

dishonesty /dɪsˈɒnɪsti/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: desonestidade

Simple English: Deceitful or unfair behavior; a lack of honesty.

Example: Dishonesty in one matter suggested dishonesty in others.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He called the old bully the greatest example of dishonesty, fear, and cruelty. Go to

disliked /dɪsˈlaɪkt/ (20 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: não gostava de; detestava

Simple English: Did not like someone or something.

Example: He disliked long meetings.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He disliked the idea that busy bees should be examples for him. Go to

dismisses /dɪsˈmɪsɪz/ (15 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: dispensa; manda embora

Simple English: Sends someone away or decides that a subject is not worth further attention.

Example: The old lady dismisses her visitors.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. The old lady relaxes, consents to the admission of the visitors as a favour, and dismisses Rosa. Go to

display /dɪˈspleɪ/ (12 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: exibir; exibição; visor

Simple English: To publicly show something for observation or attention.

Example: The museum will display a collection of ancient artifacts next month.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. I felt that any emotional display would make him run away. Go to

2. Our green sitting room displayed strange pictures of birds, a real preserved trout, Captain Cook’s death, and tea production in China. Go to

doll's /dɑːlz/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: da boneca

Simple English: Belonging to the doll.

Example: The doll's painted eyes never closed.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Jarndyce joked that Skimpole only needed a doll's house and toy people from whom he could borrow money. Go to

Original English Version

1. I went up to my room, and crept to bed, and laid my doll’s cheek against mine wet with tears, and holding that solitary friend upon my bosom, cried myself to sleep. Go to

2. “As to Skimpole,” said Mr. Jarndyce, “a habitable doll’s house with good board and a few tin people to get into debt with and borrow money of would set the boy up in life. Go to

domestic /dəˈmɛstɪk/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: doméstica; interno; nacional

Simple English: Operating or occurring within the borders of one country.

Example: The domestic flight to New York was delayed due to weather.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. National and Domestic XLI. Go to

donny /ˈdɒni/ (17 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: Donny

Simple English: a woman's surname, Miss Donny.

Example: A very neat lady looked up at the window and said, Miss Donny.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. When the coach stopped, a very neat lady looked up at the window and said, "Miss Donny." Go to

2. I am Miss Donny." Go to

3. A neat maid placed them outside a small green carriage, and Miss Donny, the maid, and I rode away. Go to

4. Miss Donny told me everything was ready. Go to

5. Miss Donny repeated, "Your guardian, Mr. Jarndyce." Go to

6. I was so confused that Miss Donny thought the cold had harmed me and lent me her smelling salts. Go to

Original English Version

1. When the coach stopped, a very neat lady looked up at the window and said, “Miss Donny.” Go to

2. “That is quite right,” said the lady, “Miss Donny.” Go to

3. Under the direction of a very neat maid, they were put outside a very small green carriage; and then Miss Donny, the maid, and I got inside and were driven away. Go to

4. “Everything is ready for you, Esther,” said Miss Donny, “and the scheme of your pursuits has been arranged in exact accordance with the wishes of your guardian, Mr. Jarndyce.” Go to

5. “Of your guardian, Mr. Jarndyce,” said Miss Donny. Go to

6. I was so bewildered that Miss Donny thought the cold had been too severe for me and lent me her smelling-bottle. Go to

donny's /ˈdɒniz/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: de Donny

Simple English: the possessive form of the surname Donny.

Example: We reached Greenleaf, Miss Donny's house, before I could recover.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. We reached Greenleaf, Miss Donny's house, before I could recover. Go to

Original English Version

1. I now understood that she introduced herself by that name, and begged Miss Donny’s pardon for my mistake, and pointed out my boxes at her request. Go to

2. Our speedy arrival at our destination, before I had time to recover myself, increased my confusion, and I never shall forget the uncertain and the unreal air of everything at Greenleaf (Miss Donny’s house) that afternoon! Go to

3. After the first six months or so I had taken Miss Donny’s advice in reference to the propriety of writing to Mr. Kenge to say that I was happy and grateful, and with her approval I had written such a letter. Go to

donnys /ˈdɒniz/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: as Donny

Simple English: referring to the two Miss Donnys, twin sisters.

Example: There were twelve students and two Miss Donnys, who were twins.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. There were twelve students and two Miss Donnys, who were twins. Go to

2. The two Miss Donnys were as sad as the students. Go to

Original English Version

1. We were twelve boarders, and there were two Miss Donnys, twins. Go to

2. And when the two Miss Donnys grieved as much to part with me as the least among them, and when the maids said, “Bless you, miss, wherever you go!” and when the ugly lame old gardener, who I thought had hardly noticed me in all those years, came panting after the coach to give me a little nosegay of geraniums and told me I had been the light of his eyes - indeed the old man said so! - what a heart I had then! Go to

doubted /ˈdaʊtɪd/ (19 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: duvidou

Simple English: Was not sure that something was true.

Example: Nobody doubted his honest words.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. She doubted that even the young birds would live long enough to be free. Go to

2. Yet I hardly doubted that he was free from those duties because he himself sounded so certain. Go to

Original English Version

1. That he WAS free of them, I scarcely doubted; he was so very clear about it himself. Go to

2. Mrs. Pardiggle, leading the way with a great show of moral determination and talking with much volubility about the untidy habits of the people (though I doubted if the best of us could have been tidy in such a place), conducted us into a cottage at the farthest corner, the ground-floor room of which we nearly filled. Go to

3. As to the little book to which the man on the floor had referred, we acquired a knowledge of it afterwards, and Mr. Jarndyce said he doubted if Robinson Crusoe could have read it, though he had had no other on his desolate island. Go to

drags /dræɡz/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: arrasta; prolonga-se

Simple English: Pulls something heavily, forces it along, or continues slowly and tediously.

Example: The hopeless case still drags through the court.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Almost all the Jarndyces are gone, but the hopeless case still drags through the court. Go to

Original English Version

1. Fair wards of court have faded into mothers and grandmothers; a long procession of Chancellors has come in and gone out; the legion of bills in the suit have been transformed into mere bills of mortality; there are not three Jarndyces left upon the earth perhaps since old Tom Jarndyce in despair blew his brains out at a coffee-house in Chancery Lane; but Jarndyce and Jarndyce still drags its dreary length before the court, perennially hopeless. Go to

drawers /drɔːrz/ (8 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: gavetas

Simple English: Boxes that slide in and out of a piece of furniture.

Example: He took the heart from a chest of drawers.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. White linen, rose petals, and lavender filled the drawers. Go to

dressmaker /ˈdrɛsmeɪkər/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: costureira; profissional que faz vestidos

Simple English: A person whose job is making women's dresses and other clothing.

Example: The dressmaker measured the cloth for a new coat.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. Yet every dim little star revolving about her, from her maid to the manager of the Italian Opera, knows her weaknesses, prejudices, follies, haughtinesses, and caprices and lives upon as accurate a calculation and as nice a measure of her moral nature as her dressmaker takes of her physical proportions. Go to

drooping /ˈdruːpɪŋ/ (6 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: pendente; caído; murcho

Simple English: Hanging down weakly, without strength.

Example: The drooping flowers needed water at once.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. Fog creeping into the cabooses of collier-brigs; fog lying out on the yards and hovering in the rigging of great ships; fog drooping on the gunwales of barges and small boats. Go to

2. How little I thought, when I raised my handkerchief to look upon the tiny sleeper underneath and seemed to see a halo shine around the child through Ada’s drooping hair as her pity bent her head - how little I thought in whose unquiet bosom that handkerchief would come to lie after covering the motionless and peaceful breast! Go to

durden /ˈdɜːrdən/ (43 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: Durden

Simple English: part of 'Dame Durden', a playful nickname given to a character

Example: They gave me many playful names, including Old Woman, Cobweb, and Dame Durden.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. After that, they gave me many playful names, including Old Woman, Little Old Woman, Cobweb, and Dame Durden. Go to

2. Calling me Dame Durden, she said she did not need to talk upstairs. Go to

Original English Version

1. This was the beginning of my being called Old Woman, and Little Old Woman, and Cobweb, and Mrs. Shipton, and Mother Hubbard, and Dame Durden, and so many names of that sort that my own name soon became quite lost among them. Go to

2. “You know, Dame Durden, dear,” Ada would say at night, with her head upon my shoulder and the firelight shining in her thoughtful eyes, “I don’t want to talk when we come upstairs here. Go to

dusk /dʌsk/ (9 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: anoitecer; crepúsculo

Simple English: The time when the day is ending and it becomes dark.

Example: The birds go quiet at dusk.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. At dusk, Mrs. Rouncewell decides she can trust Rosa and Watt and tells them why the terrace has its ghostly name. Go to

Original English Version

1. It is now dusk. Go to

dutiful /ˈduːtɪfl/ (9 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: cumpridor do dever

Simple English: Carefully doing what you should do.

Example: He was a dutiful son to his old father.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Dutiful Friendship L. Esther’s Narrative LI. Go to

Original English Version

1. Dutiful Friendship L. Esther’s Narrative LI. Go to

eagerly /ˈiːɡərli/ (22 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: avidamente; com entusiasmo

Simple English: In a way that shows strong interest or excitement.

Example: She looked eagerly at the strange new sights.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Guppy eagerly asks for the story and wonders whether it concerns a picture. Go to

earthly /ˈɜːrθli/ (8 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: terreno; do mundo

Simple English: Belonging to this world and not to heaven.

Example: The book had no earthly value to him.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. Young as she was when her mama died, she remembered how the tears would come into her eyes when she spoke of him and of the noble generosity of his character, which she had said was to be trusted above all earthly things; and Ada trusted it. Go to

2. I had perhaps less reason to be surprised than either of my companions, having never yet enjoyed an opportunity of thanking one who had been my benefactor and sole earthly dependence through so many years. Go to

3. “I wouldn’t be guilty of the audacious insolence of keeping a lady of the house waiting all this time for any earthly consideration. Go to

echoed /ˈɛkoʊd/ (10 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: ecoou; repetiu

Simple English: Produced a reflected sound or repeated another person's words.

Example: Their footsteps echoed through the empty street.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Soon after Krook returned, a gunshot echoed through the area, and all the neighbours cried, "Tom Jarndyce!" Go to

Original English Version

1. It was so delicious to see the clouds about his bright face clearing, and to see him so heartily pleased, and to know, as it was impossible not to know, that the source of his pleasure was the goodness which was tortured by condemning, or mistrusting, or secretly accusing any one, that I saw the tears in Ada’s eyes, while she echoed his laugh, and felt them in my own. Go to

2. Two friends of the young man, whom we had attracted to the doorway and who stood there with their hands in their pockets, echoed the laugh noisily. Go to

echoing /ˈɛkoʊɪŋ/ (11 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: ressoante; que devolve o som

Simple English: Sending sounds back so they are heard again.

Example: Their steps rang in the echoing hall.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Any unusual thought quickly turns toward ghosts and mystery in the old, echoing house. Go to

Original English Version

1. Well may the court be dim, with wasting candles here and there; well may the fog hang heavy in it, as if it would never get out; well may the stained-glass windows lose their colour and admit no light of day into the place; well may the uninitiated from the streets, who peep in through the glass panes in the door, be deterred from entrance by its owlish aspect and by the drawl, languidly echoing to the roof from the padded dais where the Lord High Chancellor looks into the lantern that has no light in it and where the attendant wigs are all stuck in a fog-bank! Go to

2. I hadn’t hardly got back here when I heard a shot go echoing and rattling right away into the inn. Go to

3. If there be a little at any odd moment, it goes, like a little noise in that old echoing place, a long way and usually leads off to ghosts and mystery. Go to

effortless /ˈefərtləs/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: fácil; sem esforço

Simple English: Requiring or appearing to require no effort.

Example: Her effortless movement made the difficult dance look simple.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. His effortless, cheerful way of speaking was charming. Go to

egbert /ˈɛɡbərt/ (8 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: Egbert

Simple English: a boy's first name

Example: Twelve-year-old Egbert had given his pocket money to an Indigenous group, and the younger boys supported other causes.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Twelve-year-old Egbert had given his pocket money to an Indigenous group, and the younger boys supported other causes. Go to

2. Egbert looked especially fierce, while little Alfred remained quietly miserable. Go to

3. Ada and I later agreed that Egbert gave a sharp cry at those words, though he quickly changed it into a yawn. Go to

4. Egbert demanded money because his mother took his allowance for charity. Go to

Original English Version

1. Egbert, my eldest (twelve), is the boy who sent out his pocket-money, to the amount of five and threepence, to the Tockahoopo Indians. Go to

2. At the mention of the Tockahoopo Indians, I could really have supposed Egbert to be one of the most baleful members of that tribe, he gave me such a savage frown. Go to

3. My boys have contributed to the African project - Egbert, one and six, being the entire allowance of nine weeks; Oswald, one and a penny halfpenny, being the same; the rest, according to their little means. Go to

4. As soon as we were out of doors, Egbert, with the manner of a little footpad, demanded a shilling of me on the ground that his pocket-money was “boned” from him. Go to

eightpence /ˈeɪtpəns/ (7 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: oito pence

Simple English: An amount equal to eight old British pennies.

Example: The driver demanded another eightpence.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. Francis, my third (nine), one and sixpence halfpenny; Felix, my fourth (seven), eightpence to the Superannuated Widows; Alfred, my youngest (five), has voluntarily enrolled himself in the Infant Bonds of Joy, and is pledged never, through life, to use tobacco in any form.” Go to

eloquent /ˈɛləkwənt/ (13 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: eloquente

Simple English: Fluent, persuasive, or powerfully expressive.

Example: Her silence was more eloquent than speech.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. He is found sometimes, speechless but quite at home, at corners of dinner-tables in great country houses and near doors of drawing-rooms, concerning which the fashionable intelligence is eloquent, where everybody knows him and where half the Peerage stops to say “How do you do, Mr. Tulkinghorn?” He receives these salutations with gravity and buries them along with the rest of his knowledge. Go to

2. Truly eloquent indeed. Go to

emotional /ɪˈmoʊʃənəl/ (11 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: emocional; emotivo; sentimental

Simple English: Showing strong feelings; easily affected by emotions.

Example: She was emotional during the farewell party and cried quite a bit.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. His words and emotional manner filled my heart so completely that I tried but could not speak. Go to

2. I felt that any emotional display would make him run away. Go to

3. He said the emotional moment was over and told me not to be foolish. Go to

4. His tenderness nearly made me emotional again, though he pretended the request was casual. Go to

enchanting /ɪnˈtʃɑːntɪŋ/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: encantador; fascinante

Simple English: Extremely attractive, delightful, or charming.

Example: The moonlit desert formed an enchanting picture.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He was enchanting. Go to

Original English Version

1. He was quite enchanting. Go to

enlightened /ɪnˈlaɪtənd/ (6 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: iluminado; esclarecido

Simple English: Having deep understanding of the truth.

Example: He was not yet an enlightened man.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Enlightened LII. Go to

Original English Version

1. Enlightened LII. Go to

enthusiastic /ɪnˌθjuːziˈæstɪk/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: entusiasmado; empolgada

Simple English: Showing great excitement and eagerness about something.

Example: He is very enthusiastic about learning new languages this year.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. But his simple, fresh, enthusiastic nature and complete inability to manage ordinary life made him like a perfect child. Go to

2. He was enthusiastic, brave, restless, and naturally gentle, so within weeks I knew him like a brother. Go to

enthusiastically /ɪnˌθuːziˈæstɪkli/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: entusiasticamente; com entusiasmo

Simple English: With great interest and excitement.

Example: The class agreed enthusiastically to the trip.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Mr. Jarndyce enthusiastically agreed. Go to

entirely /ɪnˈtaɪərli/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: inteiramente; totalmente; completamente

Simple English: Completely; to the fullest degree possible.

Example: She was entirely focused on finishing her project before the deadline.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Looking at his drawing, Skimpole cheerfully told Richard and me that he was completely unable to help himself and entirely depended on us. Go to

envelopes /ˈenvəloʊps/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: envelopes

Simple English: Paper covers used to contain letters or documents.

Example: The returned manuscripts still lay inside long envelopes.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. She told us a great deal that was interesting about Borrioboola-Gha and the natives, and received so many letters that Richard, who sat by her, saw four envelopes in the gravy at once. Go to

Glossary: New Words (2/4)

envied /ˈɛnvid/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: invejava

Simple English: Wanted what another person had.

Example: He envied his brother's new bicycle.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Speaking to us as his new friends, Skimpole said he envied only generous people because they could help others. Go to

envying /ˈenviɪŋ/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: invejando

Simple English: Wishing one had a quality, possession, or freedom belonging to another.

Example: Tarzan watched the free stars, envying them.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Skimpole admired Mrs. Jellyby’s strong will and ability to manage details without envying her. Go to

erased /ɪˈreɪst/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: apagados; riscados

Simple English: Rubbed out so that nothing is left.

Example: The names on the stone were erased by rain.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Krook looked at me and the door, erased the J, and wrote a small "a" in its place. Go to

2. He erased it, formed an "r," and asked again. Go to

3. In the same strange but quick way, he formed and erased each letter in the words Bleak House. Go to

erasing /ɪˈreɪsɪŋ/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: apagando

Simple English: Removing writing, marks, records, or memories.

Example: He was erasing each letter after writing it.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Quickly, drawing each letter backward and erasing it before the next, he formed the whole word Jarndyce. Go to

errand /ˈɛrənd/ (9 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: missão

Simple English: A short trip made to deliver, collect, or perform something.

Example: She went into town on a special errand.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. “Did you know this morning, now, that you were coming out on this errand?” said Mr. Skimpole. Go to

esther's /ˈɛstərz/ (129 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: de Esther

Simple English: belonging to Esther, a character in the story

Example: She saw no one who answered to her idea of the lady, as formed from Esther's letter.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Esther’s Narrative XIV. Go to

2. Esther’s Narrative XVIII. Go to

3. Esther’s Narrative XXIV. Go to

4. Esther’s Narrative XXXI. Go to

5. Esther’s Narrative XXXVI. Go to

6. Esther’s Narrative XLIV. Go to

Original English Version

1. Esther’s Narrative XIV. Go to

2. Esther’s Narrative XVIII. Go to

3. Esther’s Narrative XXIV. Go to

4. Esther’s Narrative XXXI. Go to

5. Esther’s Narrative XXXVI. Go to

6. Esther’s Narrative XLIV. Go to

evil /ˈiːvəl/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: mal; maligno; maldade

Simple English: Cruel and taking pleasure in causing harm to others.

Example: In the story, the evil character plotted to destroy the village.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He had thought the man looked evil while sending him right, yet had stood face to face with him without attacking him. Go to

exaggerations /ɪɡˌzædʒəˈreɪʃənz/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: exageros

Simple English: Statements or descriptions that make something seem greater or more extreme than it really is.

Example: His wild exaggerations sounded harmless rather than dishonest.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. His strong laugh, healthy voice, full speech, and wild exaggerations felt honest and harmless, like cannons firing without bullets. Go to

excite /ɪkˈsaɪt/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: entusiasmar; excitar; provocar

Simple English: To make someone feel strong interest or emotion, or to cause a reaction.

Example: Nothing seemed to excite him except old maps.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. She has perfect manners, but even going to heaven would probably not excite her. Go to

exclaimed /ɪkˈskleɪmd/ (18 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: exclamaram; gritaram

Simple English: Said something suddenly and loudly, because of surprise or strong feeling.

Example: The mice exclaimed when they saw their Queen.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. When the man reached our door, Richard looked closely and exclaimed that he had Ada's name in his hat. Go to

Original English Version

1. “Hi!” exclaimed the old man in a tone of thoughtful amazement and with a wider stare than before. Go to

executor /ɪɡˈzekjətər/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: testamenteiro

Simple English: A person appointed to carry out the instructions in a will.

Example: The letter was written by the executor of the will.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. A sallow prisoner has come up, in custody, for the half-dozenth time to make a personal application “to purge himself of his contempt,” which, being a solitary surviving executor who has fallen into a state of conglomeration about accounts of which it is not pretended that he had ever any knowledge, he is not at all likely ever to do. Go to

expose /ɪkˈspoʊz/ (6 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: expor; exponha; expõem

Simple English: To reveal something that was hidden or unknown.

Example: The documentary aimed to expose the truth about the factory's pollution.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Richard observed that the house was very exposed on such a cold night. Go to

2. Even the name Bleak House sounded exposed to the weather. Go to

expressive /ɪkˈspresɪv/ (14 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: expressivo

Simple English: Showing feelings and thoughts clearly.

Example: The young actress has a very expressive face.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He was handsome, lively, strong, and nearly sixty, with grey hair and an expressive face. Go to

Original English Version

1. He always shakes hands with her when he comes down to Chesney Wold and when he goes away; and if he were very ill, or if he were knocked down by accident, or run over, or placed in any situation expressive of a Dedlock at a disadvantage, he would say if he could speak, “Leave me, and send Mrs. Rouncewell here!” feeling his dignity, at such a pass, safer with her than with anybody else. Go to

extraordinary /ɪkˈstrɔːrdɪnəri/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: extraordinário

Simple English: Remarkable or very unusual, often in a positive way.

Example: His performance in the competition was extraordinary, earning him first place.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Its intelligence and love were extraordinary, and its father had also been one of the greatest birds ever. Go to

extremes /ɪkˈstriːmz/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: extremos

Simple English: The furthest or most opposite points, conditions, or degrees.

Example: The two towers stood between the opposite extremes.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. His language was as powerful as his voice, and he always spoke in extremes. Go to

Original English Version

1. He is always in extremes, perpetually in the superlative degree. Go to

Failure /ˈfeɪljər/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: falha; fracasso; insuficiência

Simple English: Absence of success or unsuccessful result of effort.

Example: The project was considered a failure due to poor planning and execution.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He was educated and charming, but had suffered failures in business, his interests, and his family. Go to

fainted /ˈfeɪntɪd/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: desmaiou

Simple English: Fell down and stopped being awake for a short time.

Example: He fainted in the hot, crowded room.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. With pale lips, Lady Dedlock says she has only fainted, but it feels like death. Go to

2. He was frightened because she had never fainted before, but he blames the difficult weather and her terrible boredom in Lincolnshire. Go to

Faith /feɪθ/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: fé; farias; confiança

Simple English: Strong belief in a god, religion, or spiritual principle.

Example: Her faith helped her through many difficult times in her life.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. If I did not have complete faith in him, my heart would be hard indeed. Go to

faithfully /ˈfeɪθfəli/ (15 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: fielmente

Simple English: In a way that can be trusted.

Example: The dog waited faithfully by the door.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. I must study faithfully, learn the skills needed to support myself, and live with virtue and honour. Go to

Original English Version

1. That she will faithfully apply herself to the acquisition of those accomplishments, upon the exercise of which she will be ultimately dependent. Go to

2. We all promised faithfully, Richard with a merry glance at me touching his pocket as if to remind me that there was no danger of OUR transgressing. Go to

farmyard /ˈfɑːrmjɑːrd/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: terreiro da fazenda; pátio rural

Simple English: The yard or open area beside the buildings of a farm.

Example: The morning was filled with the busy sounds of the farmyard.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. I made tea, then explored the lovely gardens and farmyard before breakfast. Go to

fatherly /ˈfɑːðəli/ (13 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: paternal; afetuoso como um pai

Simple English: Kind, protective, or caring in the manner of a good father.

Example: The judge looked at him with fatherly pity.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. The gentleman who said these words in a clear, bright, hospitable voice had one of his arms round Ada’s waist and the other round mine, and kissed us both in a fatherly way, and bore us across the hall into a ruddy little room, all in a glow with a blazing fire. Go to

fearfully /ˈfɪrfəli/ (7 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: temerosamente; com medo; terrivelmente

Simple English: In a frightened way; in older English it also means very much.

Example: The cat looked fearfully at the open door.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. After we left, she remained at the door, fearfully watching and listening for her husband while softly calling, “Jenny, Jenny.” Go to

feather /ˈfɛðər/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: pluma; pena; penas

Simple English: Any light and soft covering on a bird's body.

Example: The feather floated gently down from the sky before landing softly.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. She bit the feather of her pen and stared at us. Go to

2. Looking back, we saw Krook at his door watching us, with the cat on his shoulder and her tail rising beside his cap like a feather. Go to

fellow (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: sujeito; companheiro; colega

Simple English: a man or person in the same group

Example: He is a fellow student from my class.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Jarndyce called him a remarkable fellow. Go to

feverish /ˈfiːvərɪʃ/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: febril; agitado

Simple English: Having a fever, or acting in an excited and restless way.

Example: The child was feverish and would not eat.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. It made our heads ache to think, on the whole, what feverish lives they must lead. Go to

firelight /ˈfaɪərlaɪt/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: luz da fogueira; clarão do fogo

Simple English: The light given out by a fire.

Example: They read by firelight because the lamp had failed.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. In the firelight, I saw a very beautiful girl with rich golden hair, soft blue eyes, and a bright, innocent, trusting face. Go to

2. Her manner was so natural and charming that within minutes we sat together by the window in the firelight, talking freely and happily. Go to

Original English Version

1. “You know, Dame Durden, dear,” Ada would say at night, with her head upon my shoulder and the firelight shining in her thoughtful eyes, “I don’t want to talk when we come upstairs here. Go to

firelit /ˈfaɪərlɪt/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: iluminado pelo fogo

Simple English: Lit by the light of a fire.

Example: They could see the firelit windows from the river.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Ada sat at the piano in the firelit room while Richard stood close beside her. Go to

flakes /fleɪks/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: flocos; lascas; escamas

Simple English: Small thin pieces that break off a surface.

Example: Flakes of paint fell from the old ceiling.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. Smoke lowering down from chimney-pots, making a soft black drizzle, with flakes of soot in it as big as full-grown snowflakes - gone into mourning, one might imagine, for the death of the sun. Go to

2. It is a street of perishing blind houses, with their eyes stoned out, without a pane of glass, without so much as a window-frame, with the bare blank shutters tumbling from their hinges and falling asunder, the iron rails peeling away in flakes of rust, the chimneys sinking in, the stone steps to every door (and every door might be death’s door) turning stagnant green, the very crutches on which the ruins are propped decaying. Go to

flickered /ˈflɪkərd/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: tremeluziu; bruxuleou

Simple English: Burned or shone in an unsteady way.

Example: The candle flickered in the draught.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. For two hours I kept thinking while the fire burned and the candles flickered. Go to

foggy /ˈfɔːɡi/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: nevoento; com neblina

Simple English: Full of thick mist that is hard to see through.

Example: The road was foggy all the way to the coast.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The court is dark, foggy, and empty of truth. Go to

2. The morning was cold and foggy, and the dirty windows blocked much of the light. Go to

Original English Version

1. On such an afternoon, if ever, the Lord High Chancellor ought to be sitting here - as here he is - with a foggy glory round his head, softly fenced in with crimson cloth and curtains, addressed by a large advocate with great whiskers, a little voice, and an interminable brief, and outwardly directing his contemplation to the lantern in the roof, where he can see nothing but fog. Go to

2. As it was still foggy and dark, and as the shop was blinded besides by the wall of Lincoln’s Inn, intercepting the light within a couple of yards, we should not have seen so much but for a lighted lantern that an old man in spectacles and a hairy cap was carrying about in the shop. Go to

folding /ˈfoʊldɪŋ/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: dobrar; rebatíveis; desdobrável

Simple English: Designed to bend or fold to use less space.

Example: I bought a folding table that can be easily stored away.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Folding his arms and closing his eyes, the man swore and said she could do whatever she liked as long as she left now. Go to

folds /foʊldz/ (21 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: dobras; pregas

Simple English: Parts of cloth that lie one over another.

Example: He hid the letter in the folds of his coat.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. And your dear father.” Mrs. Rouncewell folds her hands again. Go to

footstep /ˈfʊtstep/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: passo; pegada

Simple English: The sound or the mark made by a foot when someone walks.

Example: I heard a single footstep on the stairs and stopped breathing.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Mrs. Rouncewell pauses to ask Watt if he hears a footstep on the terrace. Go to

Original English Version

1. Do you hear a sound like a footstep passing along the terrace, Watt?” Go to

forefinger /ˈfɔːrfɪŋɡər/ (27 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: dedo indicador

Simple English: The finger next to the thumb.

Example: He pointed with his forefinger.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. “Carstone,” he repeated, slowly checking off that name upon his forefinger; and each of the others he went on to mention upon a separate finger. Go to

formality /fɔːrˈmæləti/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: formalidade

Simple English: Careful attention to rules and to correct behaviour.

Example: The meeting began with the usual formality.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. She wore a crushed bonnet, carried a small bag, and bowed and smiled with great formality. Go to

Freedom /ˈfriːdəm/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: liberdade

Simple English: Right to act, speak, or think without restriction.

Example: Everyone deserves the freedom to express their own opinions.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Butterflies were free, so humanity should surely give Harold Skimpole the same freedom. Go to

freezes /friːzɪz/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: gela; congela

Simple English: Becomes very cold and turns to ice.

Example: The water freezes here every winter.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. It fills the eyes and throats of old sailors, enters a captain's cabin, and freezes the young apprentice on deck. Go to

friendliness /ˈfrendlinəs/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: simpatia; cordialidade

Simple English: Kind, welcoming, and pleasant behavior or feeling.

Example: He greeted the girls with warm human friendliness.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He dismissed us pleasantly, and we all left grateful for his friendliness and politeness. Go to

frown /fraʊn/ (13 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: carranca; cenho franzido

Simple English: A look with the eyebrows down that shows anger or worry.

Example: A frown crossed his tired face.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. I asked for any sign that she heard me, but her face never moved or lost its hard frown, even after death. Go to

2. I thought about my dead godmother, her final night and hard frown, and the strange place and people ahead. Go to

3. She continued to frown, then put down the cup and quietly looked toward sleeping Ada. Go to

Original English Version

1. The Chancellor rises; the bar rises; the prisoner is brought forward in a hurry; the man from Shropshire cries, “My lord!” Maces, bags, and purses indignantly proclaim silence and frown at the man from Shropshire. Go to

2. She was so very good herself, I thought, that the badness of other people made her frown all her life. Go to

3. For more than a week she lay there, little altered outwardly, with her old handsome resolute frown that I so well knew carved upon her face. Go to

4. To the very last, and even afterwards, her frown remained unsoftened. Go to

5. At the mention of the Tockahoopo Indians, I could really have supposed Egbert to be one of the most baleful members of that tribe, he gave me such a savage frown. Go to

frowning /ˈfraʊnɪŋ/ (7 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: franzindo o cenho

Simple English: Showing anger or worry with the eyebrows down.

Example: He read the bill, frowning at the price.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. By the fire, she used vinegar from the cup to clean ink stains from her face while frowning unhappily. Go to

2. Still frowning, Caddy said Ada was very pretty. Go to

Original English Version

1. I thought of my dead godmother, of the night when I read to her, of her frowning so fixedly and sternly in her bed, of the strange place I was going to, of the people I should find there, and what they would be like, and what they would say to me, when a voice in the coach gave me a terrible start. Go to

2. She would not sit down, but stood by the fire dipping her inky middle finger in the egg-cup, which contained vinegar, and smearing it over the ink stains on her face, frowning the whole time and looking very gloomy. Go to

3. She still stood pouting and frowning at me, but presently put down her egg-cup and turned softly towards the bed where Ada lay. Go to

FRS (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: membro da Royal Society

Simple English: Fellow of the Royal Society, an elected honour for distinguished contributions to science.

Example: The paper was signed by Charles Lee, FRS.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. “You may have observed, Miss Summerson,” said Mrs. Pardiggle, “in some of the lists to which I have referred, in the possession of our esteemed friend Mr. Jarndyce, that the names of my young family are concluded with the name of O. A. Pardiggle, F.R.S., one pound. Go to

gardener /ˈɡɑːrdənər/ (13 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: jardineiro

Simple English: A person who takes care of a garden.

Example: The gardener cut the tall grass.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The maids blessed me, and even the old gardener, who I thought had hardly noticed me, ran after the coach with flowers and said I had been the light of his eyes. Go to

2. A young gardener goes ahead to open the shutters. Go to

Original English Version

1. And when the two Miss Donnys grieved as much to part with me as the least among them, and when the maids said, “Bless you, miss, wherever you go!” and when the ugly lame old gardener, who I thought had hardly noticed me in all those years, came panting after the coach to give me a little nosegay of geraniums and told me I had been the light of his eyes - indeed the old man said so! - what a heart I had then! Go to

2. Mr. Guppy and his friend follow Rosa; Mrs. Rouncewell and her grandson follow them; a young gardener goes before to open the shutters. Go to

3. Thus they pass on from room to room, raising the pictured Dedlocks for a few brief minutes as the young gardener admits the light, and reconsigning them to their graves as he shuts it out again. Go to

4. But he still remains so absorbed by the portrait that he stands immovable before it until the young gardener has closed the shutters, when he comes out of the room in a dazed state that is an odd though a sufficient substitute for interest and follows into the succeeding rooms with a confused stare, as if he were looking everywhere for Lady Dedlock again. Go to

5. He retires with his friend, guided down another staircase by the young gardener, and presently is heard to drive away. Go to

6. I found it quite a delightful place - in front, the pretty avenue and drive by which we had approached (and where, by the by, we had cut up the gravel so terribly with our wheels that I asked the gardener to roll it); at the back, the flower-garden, with my darling at her window up there, throwing it open to smile out at me, as if she would have kissed me from that distance. Go to

gasp /ɡæsp/ (8 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: arquejo; suspiro de espanto

Simple English: A quick loud breath taken in surprise.

Example: A gasp went through the room.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. If he were to make a discovery to the contrary, he would be simply stunned - would never recover himself, most likely, except to gasp and die. Go to

gasping /ˈɡæspɪŋ/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: boquiaberto; sem fôlego

Simple English: Breathing in quickly and with difficulty.

Example: He reached the top of the hill gasping for air.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. Besides ourselves, there were in this damp, offensive room a woman with a black eye, nursing a poor little gasping baby by the fire; a man, all stained with clay and mud and looking very dissipated, lying at full length on the ground, smoking a pipe; a powerful young man fastening a collar on a dog; and a bold girl doing some kind of washing in very dirty water. Go to

gentleness /ˈdʒentəlnəs/ (19 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: gentileza; brandura; suavidade

Simple English: The quality of being kind, calm and careful with others.

Example: He handled the injured bird with great gentleness.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. This showed his unusual gentleness, unlike angry people who blame their bad moods on the weather. Go to

Original English Version

1. We thought this very characteristic of his eccentric gentleness and of the difference between him and those petulant people who make the weather and the winds (particularly that unlucky wind which he had chosen for such a different purpose) the stalking-horses of their splenetic and gloomy humours. Go to

2. Such compassion, such gentleness, as that with which she bent down weeping and put her hand upon the mother’s might have softened any mother’s heart that ever beat. Go to

3. His gentleness was natural to him and would have shown itself abundantly even without Ada’s influence; but with it, he became one of the most winning of companions, always so ready to be interested and always so happy, sanguine, and light-hearted. Go to

gentler /ˈdʒentlər/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: mais suave; mais brando; mais delicado

Simple English: Kinder, softer or less rough than before.

Example: Use a gentler soap if your skin is dry.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. Presently I took the light burden from her lap, did what I could to make the baby’s rest the prettier and gentler, laid it on a shelf, and covered it with my own handkerchief. Go to

gha /ɡɑː/ (15 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: Gha

Simple English: part of the place name 'Borrioboola-Gha', an invented African settlement in the story

Example: They hoped to educate the people of Borrioboola-Gha, on the Niger River.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. By the next year, they hoped to have 150 to 200 healthy families growing coffee and educating the people of Borrioboola-Gha, on the left bank of the Niger River. Go to

Original English Version

1. We hope by this time next year to have from a hundred and fifty to two hundred healthy families cultivating coffee and educating the natives of Borrioboola-Gha, on the left bank of the Niger.” Go to

2. She told us a great deal that was interesting about Borrioboola-Gha and the natives, and received so many letters that Richard, who sat by her, saw four envelopes in the gravy at once. Go to

3. I was a little curious to know who a mild bald gentleman in spectacles was, who dropped into a vacant chair (there was no top or bottom in particular) after the fish was taken away and seemed passively to submit himself to Borrioboola-Gha but not to be actively interested in that settlement. Go to

4. She was greatly occupied during breakfast, for the morning’s post brought a heavy correspondence relative to Borrioboola-Gha, which would occasion her (she said) to pass a busy day. Go to

ghost's /ɡoʊsts/ (37 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: do fantasma

Simple English: the possessive form of ghost, the spirit of a dead person

Example: The ghost's voice shook him deeply.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The Ghost’s Walk VIII. Go to

2. The Ghost's Walk Go to

3. It falls day and night on the stone terrace called the Ghost's Walk. Go to

4. Rosa finishes by pointing out the admired terrace below, called the Ghost's Walk because of an old family story. Go to

5. The lady died there, and the terrace became the Ghost's Walk. Go to

Original English Version

1. The Ghost’s Walk VIII. Go to

2. The vases on the stone terrace in the foreground catch the rain all day; and the heavy drops fall - drip, drip, drip - upon the broad flagged pavement, called from old time the Ghost’s Walk, all night. Go to

3. The Ghost’s Walk Go to

4. The rain is ever falling - drip, drip, drip - by day and night upon the broad flagged terrace-pavement, the Ghost’s Walk. Go to

5. It is called, from an old story in the family, the Ghost’s Walk.” Go to

6. And from those days,” says Mrs. Rouncewell, “the name has come down - the Ghost’s Walk. Go to

ghostly /ˈɡoʊstli/ (13 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: fantasmagórico; espectral

Simple English: Looking or sounding like a ghost; pale and unclear.

Example: A ghostly light moved slowly across the empty field.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. At dusk, Mrs. Rouncewell decides she can trust Rosa and Watt and tells them why the terrace has its ghostly name. Go to

Original English Version

1. Upon the wall, their shadows blended together, surrounded by strange forms, not without a ghostly motion caught from the unsteady fire, though reflecting from motionless objects. Go to

2. Mrs. Rouncewell can trust to the discretion of her two young hearers and may tell THEM how the terrace came to have that ghostly name. Go to

gloomy /ˈɡluːmi/ (29 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: sombrio; escuro; lúgubre

Simple English: Dark and depressing, or sad and without hope.

Example: The waiting room was gloomy even at midday.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Lady Dedlock has left her wet, gloomy Lincolnshire estate and returned to London before visiting Paris. Go to

2. I looked up from my sewing and read a terrible thought in her gloomy face: it would have been better if I had never been born. Go to

3. “A gloomy name,” said the Lord Chancellor. Go to

4. “But it is not a gloomy place now, my lord,” said Mr. Kenge. Go to

Original English Version

1. She would not sit down, but stood by the fire dipping her inky middle finger in the egg-cup, which contained vinegar, and smearing it over the ink stains on her face, frowning the whole time and looking very gloomy. Go to

2. We thought this very characteristic of his eccentric gentleness and of the difference between him and those petulant people who make the weather and the winds (particularly that unlucky wind which he had chosen for such a different purpose) the stalking-horses of their splenetic and gloomy humours. Go to

3. Nothing but rain - and no family here!” as he goes in again and lies down with a gloomy yawn. Go to

godmother /ˈɡɒdmʌðər/ (37 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: madrinha

Simple English: A woman who promises to support a child at baptism, or a woman who gives special guidance.

Example: Her godmother had raised her from her earliest memories.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. My godmother raised me from my earliest memories. Go to

2. I had never worn mourning clothes or seen her grave, and I prayed only for my godmother. Go to

3. One girl invited me to a party, but my godmother refused for me. Go to

4. After dinner, my godmother and I sat silently by the fire. Go to

5. I began to cry and asked my godmother whether my mother had died on my birthday. Go to

6. I begged my godmother not to leave. Go to

Original English Version

1. I was brought up, from my earliest remembrance - like some of the princesses in the fairy stories, only I was not charming - by my godmother. Go to

2. It made me very sorry to consider how good she was and how unworthy of her I was, and I used ardently to hope that I might have a better heart; and I talked it over very often with the dear old doll, but I never loved my godmother as I ought to have loved her and as I felt I must have loved her if I had been a better girl. Go to

3. Yet I had never been taught to pray for any relation but my godmother. Go to

4. But my godmother wrote a stiff letter declining for me, and I never went. Go to

5. Dinner was over, and my godmother and I were sitting at the table before the fire. Go to

6. I happened to look timidly up from my stitching, across the table at my godmother, and I saw in her face, looking gloomily at me, “It would have been far better, little Esther, that you had had no birthday, that you had never been born!” Go to

godmother's /ˈɡɒdmʌðərz/ (13 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: da madrinha

Simple English: The possessive form of godmother, meaning belonging to a female godparent.

Example: The heirlooms passed according to her godmother's will.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. I soon got used to Greenleaf's strict routine, and my old life at my godmother's began to feel like a dream. Go to

Original English Version

1. I was stopped by my godmother’s rising, putting her hand to her head, and crying out in an awful voice from quite another part of the book, “‘Watch ye, therefore, lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. Go to

2. So I told him that I thought I must have been crying because of my godmother’s death and because of Mrs. Rachael’s not being sorry to part with me. Go to

3. I was so adapted to the routine of Greenleaf before long that I seemed to have been there a great while and almost to have dreamed rather than really lived my old life at my godmother’s. Go to

4. It wandered back to my godmother’s house and came along the intervening track, raising up shadowy speculations which had sometimes trembled there in the dark as to what knowledge Mr. Jarndyce had of my earliest history - even as to the possibility of his being my father, though that idle dream was quite gone now. Go to

goldfinches /ˈɡoʊldfɪntʃɪz/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: pintassilgos

Simple English: Plural of goldfinch: small finches with bright yellow coloring.

Example: The cages held larks, linnets, and goldfinches.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. They held at least twenty larks, linnets, and goldfinches. Go to

Original English Version

1. There were larks, linnets, and goldfinches - I should think at least twenty. Go to

goodbyes /ˌɡʊdˈbaɪz/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: despedidas; adeuses

Simple English: Words or actions used when people part.

Example: Their hurried goodbyes ended at the station gate.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Between his goodbyes to each of us, he expressed his strong hope that it would bring happiness, welfare, and every advantage to everyone concerned. Go to

gout /ɡaʊt/ (17 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: jorro; baforada

Simple English: A painful illness that swells the joints, especially the toes.

Example: The old sailor limped because of his gout.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He sometimes suffers from gout and walks stiffly. Go to

Original English Version

1. He has a twist of the gout now and then and walks a little stiffly. Go to

governess /ˈɡʌvərnəs/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: governanta

Simple English: A woman employed to teach and care for children in a private home.

Example: The family hired a governess to teach the children.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Because I would later work as a governess, I studied every subject and soon helped teach the others. Go to

Original English Version

1. It was understood that I would have to depend, by and by, on my qualifications as a governess, and I was not only instructed in everything that was taught at Greenleaf, but was very soon engaged in helping to instruct others. Go to

graceful /ˈɡreɪsfəl/ (17 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: gracioso; elegante; airoso

Simple English: Moving or shaped in a smooth and attractive way.

Example: The dancer made one graceful turn and stopped.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Richard asked me to complete the payment with “Coavinses,” as Skimpole jokingly called the stranger, because it would make the event more graceful. Go to

graciously /ˈɡreɪʃəsli/ (6 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: gentilmente; com benevolência

Simple English: In a kind and polite way, especially by someone of high rank.

Example: She graciously accepted the apology.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. His lordship gave me an indulgent look and acknowledged my curtsy very graciously. Go to

2. As he stood with his hand upon the lock, the little old lady graciously observed to him before passing out, “That will do, Krook. Go to

grandmother's /ˈɡrænmʌðərz/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: da avó

Simple English: Belonging to the mother of your father or mother.

Example: He kept his grandmother's old clock.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Today he stands by the fireplace in his grandmother's room at Chesney Wold. Go to

2. Watt respectfully accepts his grandmother's lesson. Go to

grate /ɡreɪt/ (11 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: rangido; raspar áspero

Simple English: A metal frame that holds the fire in a fireplace.

Example: The coals fell through the grate.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. “You find me, my dears,” said Mrs. Jellyby, snuffing the two great office candles in tin candlesticks, which made the room taste strongly of hot tallow (the fire had gone out, and there was nothing in the grate but ashes, a bundle of wood, and a poker), “you find me, my dears, as usual, very busy; but that you will excuse. Go to

2. The fire went out, and all night long she slumbered thus before the ashy grate. Go to

3. There were neither coals nor ashes in the grate, and I saw no articles of clothing anywhere, nor any kind of food. Go to

4. She is a fine old lady, handsome, stately, wonderfully neat, and has such a back and such a stomacher that if her stays should turn out when she dies to have been a broad old-fashioned family fire-grate, nobody who knows her would have cause to be surprised. Go to

gratefully /ˈɡreɪtfəli/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: com gratidão; agradecido

Simple English: In a way that shows thanks.

Example: He answered gratefully and shook her hand.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. Her cousin Jarndyce had written to her a few months ago - “a plain, honest letter,” Ada said - proposing the arrangement we were now to enter on and telling her that “in time it might heal some of the wounds made by the miserable Chancery suit.” She had replied, gratefully accepting his proposal. Go to

gravestones /ˈɡreɪvstoʊnz/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: lápides

Simple English: Stones marking graves, usually bearing inscriptions.

Example: The gravestones looked like pale ghosts in the moonlight.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Through a window, I saw gravestones in a churchyard under covered passages. Go to

Original English Version

1. And there really was a churchyard outside under some cloisters, for I saw the gravestones from the staircase window. Go to

gravy /ˈɡreɪvi/ (6 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: molho de carne

Simple English: A sauce made from the juices released while meat cooks.

Example: The guests eagerly lapped up the gravy from the roast.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. She told us a great deal that was interesting about Borrioboola-Gha and the natives, and received so many letters that Richard, who sat by her, saw four envelopes in the gravy at once. Go to

2. Our sitting-room was green and had framed and glazed upon the walls numbers of surprising and surprised birds, staring out of pictures at a real trout in a case, as brown and shining as if it had been served with gravy; at the death of Captain Cook; and at the whole process of preparing tea in China, as depicted by Chinese artists. Go to

greedily /ˈɡriːdɪli/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: gulosamente; avidamente

Simple English: In a way that shows you want too much.

Example: The dog ate greedily from the bowl.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. “No?” says Mr. Guppy, greedily curious. Go to

greenleaf /ˈɡriːnliːf/ (12 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: Greenleaf

Simple English: the name of a school run by Miss Donny.

Example: We reached Greenleaf, Miss Donny's house, before I could recover.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. We reached Greenleaf, Miss Donny's house, before I could recover. Go to

2. Everything at Greenleaf was exact and orderly. Go to

3. I spent six quiet, happy years at Greenleaf. Go to

4. After six quiet years at Greenleaf, I had watched younger students pass through the same stages of growth. Go to

5. I will never forget the emotion this letter caused at Greenleaf. Go to

Original English Version

1. Our speedy arrival at our destination, before I had time to recover myself, increased my confusion, and I never shall forget the uncertain and the unreal air of everything at Greenleaf (Miss Donny’s house) that afternoon! Go to

2. I was so adapted to the routine of Greenleaf before long that I seemed to have been there a great while and almost to have dreamed rather than really lived my old life at my godmother’s. Go to

3. Nothing could be more precise, exact, and orderly than Greenleaf. Go to

4. It was understood that I would have to depend, by and by, on my qualifications as a governess, and I was not only instructed in everything that was taught at Greenleaf, but was very soon engaged in helping to instruct others. Go to

5. I passed at Greenleaf six happy, quiet years. Go to

6. Six quiet years (I find I am saying it for the second time) I had passed at Greenleaf, seeing in those around me, as it might be in a looking-glass, every stage of my own growth and change there, when, one November morning, I received this letter. Go to

greenleaf's /ˈɡriːnliːfs/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: de Greenleaf

Simple English: belonging to Greenleaf, referring to its strict school routine.

Example: I soon got used to Greenleaf's strict routine.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. I soon got used to Greenleaf's strict routine, and my old life at my godmother's began to feel like a dream. Go to

greets /ɡriːts/ (30 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: cumprimenta

Simple English: Says hello to someone, or welcomes them.

Example: She greets every visitor with a smile.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Sir Leicester greets the lawyer and asks whether Lady Dedlock's case has again been before the Chancellor. Go to

gridley /ˈɡrɪdli/ (103 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: Gridley

Simple English: the surname of a character known as 'the man from Shropshire' in Bleak House.

Example: The angry man asks whether we are looking for Gridley.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. The case of Gridley is in no essential altered from one of actual occurrence, made public by a disinterested person who was professionally acquainted with the whole of the monstrous wrong from beginning to end. Go to

gridley's /ˈɡrɪdliz/ (15 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: de Gridley

Simple English: belonging to Gridley, referring to his legal case.

Example: Gridley's case is based closely on a real injustice.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Gridley's case is based closely on a real injustice. Go to

grieved /ɡriːvd/ (12 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: lamentou; sofreu

Simple English: Felt or expressed deep sadness.

Example: He grieved deeply for his lost child.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Ada grieved throughout the journey home. Go to

Original English Version

1. And when the two Miss Donnys grieved as much to part with me as the least among them, and when the maids said, “Bless you, miss, wherever you go!” and when the ugly lame old gardener, who I thought had hardly noticed me in all those years, came panting after the coach to give me a little nosegay of geraniums and told me I had been the light of his eyes - indeed the old man said so! - what a heart I had then! Go to

2. “I am grieved that I should be the enemy - as I suppose I am - of a great number of relations and others, and that they should be my enemies - as I suppose they are - and that we should all be ruining one another without knowing how or why and be in constant doubt and discord all our lives. Go to

growl /ɡraʊl/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: rosnar

Simple English: To make a low, angry sound, as an animal does.

Example: The dog was too afraid to growl.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. Then, with that impatient shake of himself, he may growl in the spirit, “Rain, rain, rain! Go to

2. When I am out of humour, I come and growl here.” Go to

growled /ɡraʊld/ (6 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: rosnou

Simple English: Made a low, angry sound.

Example: He often growled at the Scarecrow.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The man on the floor growled and asked whether any more visitors were coming. Go to

Original English Version

1. “Wot do you mean?” growled Coavinses with an appearance of strong resentment. Go to

2. “There an’t,” growled the man on the floor, whose head rested on his hand as he stared at us, “any more on you to come in, is there?” Go to

3. “Then make it easy for her!” growled the man upon the floor. Go to

growlery /ˈɡraʊləri/ (24 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: refúgio para ficar de mau humor

Simple English: A private room where someone retreats when feeling irritable.

Example: Jarndyce called the room his Growlery and went there when he was in a bad mood.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Mr. Jarndyce asked me to sit and explained that this was the Growlery, where he came when he was in a bad mood. Go to

2. When the east wind disappointed him, he often hid in the Growlery. Go to

3. He reminded me that this was the Growlery and asked where he had stopped. Go to

4. He discussed such things only in the Growlery. Go to

5. He said my housekeeping would clear their sky so well that one day they would close the Growlery forever. Go to

6. Mr. Jarndyce stood and said they had finished with the Growlery for that day. Go to

Original English Version

1. “This, you must know, is the growlery. Go to

2. The growlery is the best-used room in the house. Go to

3. “I told you this was the growlery, my dear. Go to

4. “Why, so it is,” he answered much more cheerfully; “and it is wisdom in you to keep me to the bright side of the picture.” (The idea of my wisdom!) “These are things I never talk about or even think about, excepting in the growlery here. Go to

5. “You will sweep them so neatly out of OUR sky in the course of your housekeeping, Esther, that one of these days we shall have to abandon the growlery and nail up the door.” Go to

6. “I think we may have done with the growlery for one day! Go to

guineas /ˈɡɪniz/ (14 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: guinéus (antiga moeda inglesa)

Simple English: Old British gold coins worth twenty-one shillings.

Example: The horse cost thirty guineas.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He would not sell it for ten thousand guineas and had arranged an income for it if it lived longer than he did. Go to

Original English Version

1. I wouldn’t take ten thousand guineas for that bird. Go to

gunshot /ˈɡʌnʃɑːt/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: tiro de arma de fogo

Simple English: The firing of a gun, or the sound it makes.

Example: A gunshot woke the whole house.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Soon after Krook returned, a gunshot echoed through the area, and all the neighbours cried, "Tom Jarndyce!" Go to

guppy /ˈɡʌpi/ (820 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: Guppy

Simple English: the surname of Mr. Guppy, a law clerk character in Bleak House

Example: Calling him Guppy, Mr. Jarndyce welcomed the young clerk.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Calling him Guppy, Mr. Kenge asked whether Miss Summerson’s boxes and the other luggage had been sent to the house. Go to

2. Mr. Guppy said yes and added that a coach was waiting to take us whenever we were ready. Go to

3. Then he told Guppy to take us there safely. Go to

4. As we went downstairs, Richard asked, “Where exactly is ‘there,’ Mr. Guppy?” Go to

5. “It is nearby,” said Mr. Guppy. Go to

6. “It is only around the corner,” said Mr. Guppy. Go to

Original English Version

1. Addressing him by the name of Guppy, Mr. Kenge inquired whether Miss Summerson’s boxes and the rest of the baggage had been “sent round.” Mr. Guppy said yes, they had been sent round, and a coach was waiting to take us round too as soon as we pleased. Go to

2. Guppy, see the party safely there.” Go to

3. “Where IS ‘there,’ Mr. Guppy?” said Richard as we went downstairs. Go to

4. “No distance,” said Mr. Guppy; “round in Thavies Inn, you know.” Go to

5. “Only round the corner,” said Mr. Guppy. Go to

6. “Not that it affects you, though, I’m sure,” said Mr. Guppy, putting up the steps. Go to

guppy's /ˈɡʌpiz/ (46 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: de Guppy

Simple English: possessive of Guppy, a law clerk character

Example: Nobody is interested in Guppy's dreams.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Nobody is interested in Guppy's dreams, but he remains fixed before the portrait until the shutters close. Go to

Original English Version

1. Even the long drawing-room of Chesney Wold cannot revive Mr. Guppy’s spirits. Go to

2. As no one present takes any especial interest in Mr. Guppy’s dreams, the probability is not pursued. Go to

gusher /ˈɡʌʃər/ (10 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: Gusher

Simple English: the name of a minor character in Bleak House

Example: Gusher was among the guests at the gathering.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Our visitor asked whether we knew Mr. Gusher. Go to

2. Mr. Gusher was a passionate speaker who could talk for hours at a public meeting on our lawn. Go to

Original English Version

1. “You know Mr. Gusher?” said our visitor. Go to

halfpennies /ˈheɪpəniz/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: moedas de meio penny

Simple English: Coins, each worth half of an old British penny.

Example: Two halfpennies together made one old penny.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He thought someone had mentioned several pounds, some shillings, and halfpennies. Go to

hammers /ˈhæmərz/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: martelos; martela; bate

Simple English: Tools with a heavy head used to hit nails; also to hit something hard and repeatedly.

Example: He keeps two hammers and a box of nails under the sink.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. Eighteen of Mr. Tangle’s learned friends, each armed with a little summary of eighteen hundred sheets, bob up like eighteen hammers in a pianoforte, make eighteen bows, and drop into their eighteen places of obscurity. Go to

handkerchief /ˈhæŋkərtʃɪf/ (53 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: lenço

Simple English: A small square of cloth used for wiping the nose or face.

Example: He folded his handkerchief and put it back in his pocket.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The stranger wore a white coat and kept rubbing his smooth, thin hair with a handkerchief. Go to

2. The stranger calmly put his handkerchief into the hat at his feet and answered, “Jail, or Coavinses.” Go to

3. Soon I took the light body from her lap, made the baby look peaceful, placed it on a shelf, and covered it with my handkerchief. Go to

4. On my handkerchief covering the baby, the woman’s rough, scarred hands had gently placed sweet-smelling herbs. Go to

5. I lifted my handkerchief to look at the tiny peaceful child. Go to

6. I could not imagine whose troubled chest that same handkerchief would later cover. Go to

Original English Version

1. She threw open a door and I went into a chamber, where, to my unspeakable surprise, instead of finding Mr. Skimpole stretched upon the bed or prostrate on the floor, I found him standing before the fire smiling at Richard, while Richard, with a face of great embarrassment, looked at a person on the sofa, in a white great-coat, with smooth hair upon his head and not much of it, which he was wiping smoother and making less of with a pocket-handkerchief. Go to

2. “Jail,” said the strange man, coolly putting his handkerchief into his hat, which was on the floor at his feet. Go to

3. Presently I took the light burden from her lap, did what I could to make the baby’s rest the prettier and gentler, laid it on a shelf, and covered it with my own handkerchief. Go to

4. No effort had been made to clean the room - it seemed in its nature almost hopeless of being clean; but the small waxen form from which so much solemnity diffused itself had been composed afresh, and washed, and neatly dressed in some fragments of white linen; and on my handkerchief, which still covered the poor baby, a little bunch of sweet herbs had been laid by the same rough, scarred hands, so lightly, so tenderly! Go to

5. How little I thought, when I raised my handkerchief to look upon the tiny sleeper underneath and seemed to see a halo shine around the child through Ada’s drooping hair as her pity bent her head - how little I thought in whose unquiet bosom that handkerchief would come to lie after covering the motionless and peaceful breast! Go to

harmed /hɑːrmd/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: ferido; prejudicado

Simple English: Hurt or damaged.

Example: The birds saw that he was not harmed.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The case has harmed many people who were not even directly involved. Go to

2. I was so confused that Miss Donny thought the cold had harmed me and lent me her smelling salts. Go to

3. Skimpole asked whether this knowledge had harmed his appetite or made him uncomfortable. Go to

hatboxes /ˈhætbɒksɪz/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: caixas de chapéu; chapeleiras

Simple English: boxes made for storing or carrying hats

Example: The maid stacked the hatboxes beside the travel trunks.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. It was part library and part storage room for his shoes and hatboxes. Go to

hatreds /ˈheɪtrɪdz/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: ódios; rancores

Simple English: strong feelings of dislike toward different people or things

Example: Old hatreds divided the two families for generations.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Families inherited its hatreds. Go to

Original English Version

1. Scores of persons have deliriously found themselves made parties in Jarndyce and Jarndyce without knowing how or why; whole families have inherited legendary hatreds with the suit. Go to

hearth /hɑːrθ/ (19 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: lareira; lar

Simple English: The floor of a fireplace, or the home itself.

Example: The cat slept in front of the warm hearth.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. My godmother had left Mrs. Rachael all the little property she possessed; and there was to be a sale; and an old hearth-rug with roses on it, which always seemed to me the first thing in the world I had ever seen, was hanging outside in the frost and snow. Go to

2. Mrs. Jellyby,” said Mr. Kenge, standing with his back to the fire and casting his eyes over the dusty hearth-rug as if it were Mrs. Jellyby’s biography, “is a lady of very remarkable strength of character who devotes herself entirely to the public. Go to

3. Here he kissed us again, and opening his arms, made us sit down side by side on a sofa ready drawn out near the hearth. Go to

4. Mine, which we entered first, was of this kind, with an up-and-down roof that had more corners in it than I ever counted afterwards and a chimney (there was a wood fire on the hearth) paved all around with pure white tiles, in every one of which a bright miniature of the fire was blazing. Go to

heaven's /ˈhevənz/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: do céu; dos céus

Simple English: Belonging to heaven, often used in expressions of surprise or urgency.

Example: For heaven's sake, close that window before we all freeze.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. Then, for heaven’s sake, having Harold Skimpole, a confiding child, petitioning you, the world, an agglomeration of practical people of business habits, to let him live and admire the human family, do it somehow or other, like good souls, and suffer him to ride his rocking-horse!” Go to

helper /ˈhɛlpər/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: ajudante; auxiliar

Simple English: A person who helps someone else.

Example: The baker needs a helper in the morning.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. The old roan, so famous for cross-country work, turning his large eyeball to the grated window near his rack, may remember the fresh leaves that glisten there at other times and the scents that stream in, and may have a fine run with the hounds, while the human helper, clearing out the next stall, never stirs beyond his pitchfork and birch-broom. Go to

hertfordshire /ˈhɑːrtfərdʃɪr/ (7 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: Hertfordshire

Simple English: an English county

Example: "Hertfordshire, my lord."

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. “Hertfordshire, my lord.” Go to

Original English Version

1. “Hertfordshire, my lord.” Go to

hesitating /ˈhezɪteɪtɪŋ/ (6 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: hesitante; titubeante

Simple English: Pausing before acting because of doubt or fear.

Example: He gave a hesitating answer that convinced nobody.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Hesitating, I said that our first duties should be toward our own home. Go to

Original English Version

1. “We thought that, perhaps,” said I, hesitating, “it is right to begin with the obligations of home, sir; and that, perhaps, while those are overlooked and neglected, no other duties can possibly be substituted for them.” Go to

himalayas /ˌhɪməˈleɪəz/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: Himalaias

Simple English: The high mountain range in the north of India.

Example: The Himalayas were white with snow.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He would rather have gone to the highest Himalayas than arrive at such a late hour. Go to

holborn /ˈhoʊbərn/ (16 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: Holborn (bairro/restaurante de Londres)

Simple English: A real district of London, and the name of a well-known restaurant there.

Example: In my happiness, I asked him to have lunch with me at the Holborn, and we went off together in a hansom.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. “We go up Chancery Lane, continue along Holborn, and arrive in about four minutes. Go to

2. “You can go into Holborn carelessly and be run over, or go there carefully and remain safe. Go to

3. I said, “No doubt.” I was agreeing only about Holborn. Go to

Original English Version

1. As much mud in the streets as if the waters had but newly retired from the face of the earth, and it would not be wonderful to meet a Megalosaurus, forty feet long or so, waddling like an elephantine lizard up Holborn Hill. Go to

2. “We just twist up Chancery Lane, and cut along Holborn, and there we are in four minutes’ time, as near as a toucher. Go to

3. “You may go into Holborn, without precaution, and be run over. Go to

4. You may go into Holborn, with precaution, and never be run over. Go to

5. I said, “No doubt.” I meant as to Holborn. Go to

hoop /huːp/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: aro

Simple English: A circular ring used as a toy, support, or frame.

Example: The child rolled a wooden hoop along the road.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He was freed safely, but then wildly hit Mr. Guppy with a wooden hoop stick. Go to

Original English Version

1. At last he was happily got down without any accident, and then he began to beat Mr. Guppy with a hoop-stick in quite a frantic manner. Go to

host's /hoʊsts/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: do anfitrião

Simple English: Belonging to the person who receives guests.

Example: We waited in our host's study.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. With warm light in the windows, dinner preparations in the distance, our generous host’s cheerful face, and a soft wind outside, these were our first impressions of Bleak House. Go to

hostess /ˈhoʊstəs/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: anfitriã

Simple English: A woman who receives and looks after guests.

Example: Our hostess offered us tea and cake.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. “Extremely honoured, I am sure,” said our poor hostess with the greatest suavity, “by this visit from the wards in Jarndyce. Go to

hounds /haʊndz/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: cães de caça

Simple English: Dogs kept and trained for hunting.

Example: The hounds ran ahead of the riders.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. An old hunting horse may remember fresh leaves and running with the hounds, while its keeper thinks only of work. Go to

Original English Version

1. The old roan, so famous for cross-country work, turning his large eyeball to the grated window near his rack, may remember the fresh leaves that glisten there at other times and the scents that stream in, and may have a fine run with the hounds, while the human helper, clearing out the next stall, never stirs beyond his pitchfork and birch-broom. Go to

housekeeper /ˈhaʊskiːpər/ (77 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: governanta; caseira

Simple English: A person employed to manage a household.

Example: The housekeeper kept every key on one ring.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. As the housekeeper closes the dark rooms, the family portraits seem to disappear into the damp walls. Go to

2. It has rained so long that Mrs. Rouncewell, the old housekeeper, cleans her glasses to check whether the drops are on them. Go to

3. The housekeeper asks Watt to read the card. Go to

4. The housekeeper points toward the great staircase. Go to

5. The housekeeper says the story is not told to visitors and is almost forgotten. Go to

6. The housekeeper assures him the story has nothing to do with a picture. Go to

Original English Version

1. The pictures of the Dedlocks past and gone have seemed to vanish into the damp walls in mere lowness of spirits, as the housekeeper has passed along the old rooms shutting up the shutters. Go to

2. It has rained so hard and rained so long down in Lincolnshire that Mrs. Rouncewell, the old housekeeper at Chesney Wold, has several times taken off her spectacles and cleaned them to make certain that the drops were not upon the glasses. Go to

3. “It’s two young men in a gig, ma’am, who want to see the house - yes, and if you please, I told them so!” in quick reply to a gesture of dissent from the housekeeper. Go to

4. “Read it, my dear Watt,” says the housekeeper. Go to

5. The old housekeeper, with a gracious severity of deportment, waves her hand towards the great staircase. Go to

6. “It is not related to visitors; it is almost forgotten,” says the housekeeper, advancing. Go to

housekeeping /ˈhaʊskiːpɪŋ/ (26 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: lida doméstica; administração da casa

Simple English: The work of looking after a house, such as cleaning and cooking.

Example: She did the housekeeping in the morning and read all afternoon.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. I said Mrs. Jellyby's work for African people must be good, yet I could not forget neglected Peepy and the terrible housekeeping. Go to

2. She explained that they were the housekeeping keys. Go to

3. I shook my housekeeping keys, which rang like little bells leading me hopefully to bed. Go to

4. He said my housekeeping would clear their sky so well that one day they would close the Growlery forever. Go to

Original English Version

1. “All this, my dear,” said I. “It MUST be very good of Mrs. Jellyby to take such pains about a scheme for the benefit of natives - and yet - Peepy and the housekeeping!” Go to

2. “The housekeeping keys, miss.” Go to

3. “The large bunch is the housekeeping, and the little bunch is the cellars, miss. Go to

4. Duty, my dear!” and gave my little basket of housekeeping keys such a shake that they sounded like little bells and rang me hopefully to bed. Go to

5. But I gave the housekeeping keys the least shake in the world as a reminder to myself, and folding my hands in a still more determined manner on the basket, looked at him quietly. Go to

6. “You will sweep them so neatly out of OUR sky in the course of your housekeeping, Esther, that one of these days we shall have to abandon the growlery and nail up the door.” Go to

housework /ˈhaʊswɜːrk/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: trabalho doméstico; lida da casa

Simple English: The work of cleaning and caring for a house.

Example: The old woman wanted her to do the housework.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. When I returned, Mrs. Jellyby seemed to think my ordinary housework was unimportant. Go to

hugged /hʌɡd/ (6 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: abraçou

Simple English: Held someone closely in the arms to show love.

Example: He was so happy that he hugged them all.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Ada hugged me and said I was thoughtful, cheerful, and quietly helpful. Go to

humbled /ˈhʌmbəld/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: humilhado; abatido

Simple English: Made someone feel less proud or less important.

Example: The defeat humbled the whole army.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. She promised her ghost would walk there until the family's pride was humbled and warned the Dedlocks to listen for her steps before disaster or shame. Go to

Original English Version

1. I will walk here until the pride of this house is humbled. Go to

humbly /ˈhʌmbli/ (6 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: humildemente; com modéstia

Simple English: In a modest way, without pride.

Example: The Lion spoke humbly about his courage.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. There are deferential people in a dozen callings whom my Lady Dedlock suspects of nothing but prostration before her, who can tell you how to manage her as if she were a baby, who do nothing but nurse her all their lives, who, humbly affecting to follow with profound subservience, lead her and her whole troop after them; who, in hooking one, hook all and bear them off as Lemuel Gulliver bore away the stately fleet of the majestic Lilliput. Go to

humming /ˈhʌmɪŋ/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: cantarolando

Simple English: Singing a tune with the lips closed.

Example: She was humming while she washed the plates.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. In the evening, when I was preparing to make tea and Ada was touching the piano in the adjoining room and softly humming a tune to her cousin Richard, which they had happened to mention, he came and sat down on the sofa near me and so spoke of Ada that I almost loved him. Go to

Hunting /ˈhʌntɪŋ/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: caça; caçar; caçando

Simple English: Pursuing and killing wild animals for food or sport.

Example: They went hunting for deer in the forest last autumn.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. An old hunting horse may remember fresh leaves and running with the hounds, while its keeper thinks only of work. Go to

2. The hunting dogs may dream of running across the countryside. Go to

hurried /ˈhɜːrid/ (45 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: correram; foram depressa

Simple English: Moved or went quickly.

Example: The mice hurried away through the grass.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The prisoner is hurried forward, and the man from Shropshire cries, "My lord!" Court officials angrily demand silence. Go to

2. After school, I hurried home to tell her everything I had noticed. Go to

3. We hurried to return to the fire. Go to

4. As I hurried upstairs, I prepared to help if he was having a fit. Go to

5. An unattractive, badly dressed woman hurried inside. Go to

Original English Version

1. An ugly woman, very poorly clothed, hurried in while I was glancing at them, and coming straight up to the mother, said, “Jenny! Go to

hurriedly /ˈhʌrɪdli/ (16 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: apressadamente

Simple English: In a rushed or hasty manner.

Example: She hurriedly gathered her papers and left the room.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. She hurriedly took up her little bag of documents, which she had laid upon the table on coming in, and asked if we were also going into court. Go to

2. “Miss Summerson,” said Richard hurriedly, “I am glad you are come. Go to

huts /hʌts/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: cabanas; choupanas

Simple English: Small simple houses made of wood, mud or grass.

Example: Ten huts stood beside the lake.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. I was relieved to reach the brickmaker's home, though it stood among terrible huts beside a muddy brick field. Go to

imagination (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: imaginação; criatividade; fantasia

Simple English: the ability to create ideas in the mind

Example: Children use imagination when they play.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He could draw it, change it in his imagination, or turn it into music, while Jarndyce managed everything. Go to

2. Apart from the animals, little imagination moves at Chesney Wold. Go to

imperfect /ɪmˈpɜːrfɪkt/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: imperfeito; incompleto; defeituoso

Simple English: Having faults, or not complete.

Example: The plan was imperfect, but it was better than nothing.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. Imperfect as my understanding of my sorrow was, I knew that I had brought no joy at any time to anybody’s heart and that I was to no one upon earth what Dolly was to me. Go to

impossibility /ɪmˌpɑːsəˈbɪləti/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: impossibilidade

Simple English: Something that cannot happen or cannot be done.

Example: Finishing the work in one day was a plain impossibility.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. It is the next difficult thing to an impossibility to imagine Chesney Wold without Mrs. Rouncewell, but she has only been here fifty years. Go to

impressed /ɪmˈprɛst/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: impressionado; impressionou

Simple English: Admiring or respecting someone for excellent achievements or qualities.

Example: I was impressed by his ability to solve complex problems so quickly and easily.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. I was impressed, before learning that people called him Conversation Kenge. Go to

indifference /ɪnˈdɪfərəns/ (17 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: indiferença

Simple English: A lack of interest or feeling about something.

Example: He listened with complete indifference.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. I have a great respect for Mr. Jarndyce, and no one in whom he is interested can be an object of indifference to me.” Go to

2. We were glad to change the subject, and going to the window, pointed out the beauties of the prospect, on which the spectacles appeared to me to rest with curious indifference. Go to

indifferent /ɪnˈdɪfrənt/ (17 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: indiferente; apático; medíocre

Simple English: Not interested and not caring; also only average in quality.

Example: He gave an indifferent shrug and walked away.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. “The universe,” he observed, “makes rather an indifferent parent, I am afraid.” Go to

industrial /ɪnˈdʌstriəl/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: industrial

Simple English: Related to large-scale production or manufacturing activities.

Example: The industrial factory produces thousands of cars each month.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. She loves her son but sadly feels that his industrial life placed him on the opposite side from her world. Go to

inform /ɪnˈfɔːrm/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: informar; avisar; comunicar

Simple English: To give information about someone or something officially.

Example: The manager will inform the staff about the new policies tomorrow.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Because he always keeps his clients informed, and because they are going to Paris, he has brought the papers with him. Go to

2. Mrs. Jellyby continued dictating: “‘And asks to inform him, concerning his letter of inquiry about the African project - ’ No, Peepy! Go to

innocently /ˈɪnəsəntli/ (10 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: inocentemente; com candura

Simple English: In a way that shows no bad meaning.

Example: She asked the question quite innocently.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. “Now, my dear Miss Summerson, and my dear Mr. Richard,” said Mr. Skimpole gaily, innocently, and confidingly as he looked at his drawing with his head on one side, “here you see me utterly incapable of helping myself, and entirely in your hands! Go to

interlopers /ˈɪntərˌloʊpərz/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: intrusos

Simple English: People who enter or interfere where they are not wanted.

Example: The guards moved quickly toward the interlopers.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Interlopers XXXIV. Go to

Original English Version

1. Interlopers XXXIV. Go to

interrupts /ˌɪntəˈrʌpts/ (13 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: interrompe

Simple English: Stops someone or something briefly by breaking in.

Example: Jane interrupts to correct a missing detail.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Mr. Tangle interrupts to say it is a boy. Go to

2. Lady Dedlock interrupts and asks him to leave out as much formal legal language as possible. Go to

Original English Version

1. My Lady interrupts, requesting him to miss as many of the formal horrors as he can. Go to

ironmaster /ˈaɪərnˌmæstər/ (31 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: industrial do ferro; proprietário de siderúrgica

Simple English: A person who owns or manages ironworks.

Example: The ironmaster returned to his factory at dawn.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The Ironmaster XXIX. Go to

Original English Version

1. The Ironmaster XXIX. Go to

jarndyce /ˈdʒɑːrndaɪs/ (987 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: Jarndyce

Simple English: a surname, from the famous ongoing lawsuit "Jarndyce and Jarndyce" in Bleak House

Example: "Jarndyce and Jarndyce XXXVIII."

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Jarndyce and Jarndyce XXXVIII. Go to

2. I could give many more real examples to support Jarndyce and Jarndyce. Go to

3. The court is full of bored officials because Jarndyce and Jarndyce offers no entertainment. Go to

4. Jarndyce and Jarndyce continues without end. Go to

5. Jarndyce and Jarndyce has become a legal joke, although it has caused many deaths. Go to

6. He knows more about Jarndyce and Jarndyce than anyone and seems to have read nothing else since school. Go to

Original English Version

1. Jarndyce and Jarndyce XXXVIII. Go to

2. If I wanted other authorities for Jarndyce and Jarndyce, I could rain them on these pages, to the shame of - a parsimonious public. Go to

3. These are all yawning, for no crumb of amusement ever falls from Jarndyce and Jarndyce (the cause in hand), which was squeezed dry years upon years ago. Go to

4. The short-hand writers, the reporters of the court, and the reporters of the newspapers invariably decamp with the rest of the regulars when Jarndyce and Jarndyce comes on. Go to

5. Jarndyce and Jarndyce drones on. Go to

6. Scores of persons have deliriously found themselves made parties in Jarndyce and Jarndyce without knowing how or why; whole families have inherited legendary hatreds with the suit. Go to

jarndyce's /ˈdʒɑːrndaɪsɪz/ (54 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: de Jarndyce

Simple English: belonging to Jarndyce

Example: "Jarndyce's home, and why."

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. As she later told me, he asked whether she had carefully considered the plan, whether she expected to be happy in Mr. Jarndyce’s home, and why. Go to

2. Ada remembered her mother praising Jarndyce's generous and trustworthy character. Go to

3. Richard called to our driver and asked whether it was Mr. Jarndyce's wagon. Go to

4. Mr. Jarndyce’s face became sad. Go to

5. Jarndyce’s excellent house gave him pleasure without trouble, cost, or responsibility. Go to

6. Skimpole admitted that Jarndyce knew the world while he knew nothing about it, so he accepted Jarndyce’s opinion. Go to

Original English Version

1. “Is that Mr. Jarndyce’s waggon?” said Richard, calling to our post-boy. Go to

2. Richard shook him by both hands with an intuitive mixture of respect and frankness, and only saying (though with an earnestness that rather alarmed me, I was so afraid of Mr. Jarndyce’s suddenly disappearing), “You are very kind, sir! Go to

3. Here is my friend Jarndyce’s excellent house. Go to

4. Secondly, though Mr. Jarndyce’s glance as he withdrew it rested for but a moment on me, I felt as if in that moment he confided to me - and knew that he confided to me and that I received the confidence - his hope that Ada and Richard might one day enter on a dearer relationship. Go to

jarndyces /ˈdʒɑːrndaɪsɪz/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: os Jarndyce

Simple English: members of the Jarndyce family, referred to collectively

Example: "Almost all the Jarndyces are gone, but the hopeless case still drags through the court."

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Almost all the Jarndyces are gone, but the hopeless case still drags through the court. Go to

Original English Version

1. Fair wards of court have faded into mothers and grandmothers; a long procession of Chancellors has come in and gone out; the legion of bills in the suit have been transformed into mere bills of mortality; there are not three Jarndyces left upon the earth perhaps since old Tom Jarndyce in despair blew his brains out at a coffee-house in Chancery Lane; but Jarndyce and Jarndyce still drags its dreary length before the court, perennially hopeless. Go to

jellyby /ˈdʒɛlibi/ (289 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: Jellyby

Simple English: a surname, belonging to Mrs. Jellyby, a character in Bleak House

Example: "Jellyby either."

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. But they knew nothing about Mrs. Jellyby either. Go to

2. Mr. Kenge believed he thought very highly of Mrs. Jellyby. Go to

3. “And what about Mr. Jellyby, sir?” Richard asked. Go to

4. “Ah, Mr. Jellyby,” said Mr. Kenge. Go to

5. Mr. Kenge seriously said he could not claim that because he knew nothing about Mr. Jellyby and had never met him. Go to

6. Mr. Jellyby might be an excellent man, but his identity was hidden by his wife’s brighter qualities. Go to

Original English Version

1. We were to pass the night, Mr. Kenge told us when we arrived in his room, at Mrs. Jellyby’s; and then he turned to me and said he took it for granted I knew who Mrs. Jellyby was. Go to

2. But no, they knew nothing whatever about Mrs. Jellyby. Go to

3. Mrs. Jellyby,” said Mr. Kenge, standing with his back to the fire and casting his eyes over the dusty hearth-rug as if it were Mrs. Jellyby’s biography, “is a lady of very remarkable strength of character who devotes herself entirely to the public. Go to

4. Mr. Jarndyce, who is desirous to aid any work that is considered likely to be a good work and who is much sought after by philanthropists, has, I believe, a very high opinion of Mrs. Jellyby.” Go to

5. “And Mr. Jellyby, sir?” suggested Richard. Go to

6. Mr. Jellyby,” said Mr. Kenge, “is - a - I don’t know that I can describe him to you better than by saying that he is the husband of Mrs. Jellyby.” Go to

jellyby's /ˈdʒɛlibiz/ (40 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: de Jellyby

Simple English: belonging to Mrs. Jellyby

Example: "Jellyby's house."

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. When we returned to his room, Mr. Kenge told us we would spend the night at Mrs. Jellyby’s house. Go to

2. “The best way I can describe him is simply as Mrs. Jellyby’s husband.” Go to

3. A carriage would collect us from Mrs. Jellyby’s early the next morning. Go to

4. As we entered Mrs. Jellyby’s room, one poor child fell down an entire flight of stairs with a terrible noise. Go to

5. I said Mrs. Jellyby's work for African people must be good, yet I could not forget neglected Peepy and the terrible housekeeping. Go to

6. Skimpole admired Mrs. Jellyby’s strong will and ability to manage details without envying her. Go to

Original English Version

1. We were to pass the night, Mr. Kenge told us when we arrived in his room, at Mrs. Jellyby’s; and then he turned to me and said he took it for granted I knew who Mrs. Jellyby was. Go to

2. Mrs. Jellyby,” said Mr. Kenge, standing with his back to the fire and casting his eyes over the dusty hearth-rug as if it were Mrs. Jellyby’s biography, “is a lady of very remarkable strength of character who devotes herself entirely to the public. Go to

3. A carriage would be at Mrs. Jellyby’s to convey us out of town early in the forenoon of to-morrow. Go to

4. I therefore supposed that Mrs. Jellyby was not at home, and was quite surprised when the person appeared in the passage without the pattens, and going up to the back room on the first floor before Ada and me, announced us as, “Them two young ladies, Missis Jellyby!” We passed several more children on the way up, whom it was difficult to avoid treading on in the dark; and as we came into Mrs. Jellyby’s presence, one of the poor little things fell downstairs - down a whole flight (as it sounded to me), with a great noise. Go to

5. When we went downstairs we found a mug with “A Present from Tunbridge Wells” on it lighted up in the staircase window with a floating wick, and a young woman, with a swelled face bound up in a flannel bandage blowing the fire of the drawing-room (now connected by an open door with Mrs. Jellyby’s room) and choking dreadfully. Go to

6. Soon after seven o’clock we went down to dinner, carefully, by Mrs. Jellyby’s advice, for the stair-carpets, besides being very deficient in stair-wires, were so torn as to be absolute traps. Go to

jellybys /ˈdʒɛlibiz/ (9 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: os Jellyby

Simple English: members of the Jellyby family, referred to collectively

Example: "One of the young Jellybys has put his head through the railings."

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. One of the young Jellybys has put his head through the railings beside the basement!” Go to

2. The young Jellybys are always getting into trouble,” said Mr. Guppy. Go to

3. Mr. Quale, a talkative young philanthropist, called the Jellybys' marriage a union of mind and matter. Go to

4. He began to speak about the little Jellybys and his doubts about them, but suddenly blamed the east wind again. Go to

5. Mr. Jarndyce asked whether we had done anything for the little Jellybys, as if it might have rained sweets or raspberry tarts for them. Go to

Original English Version

1. “One of the young Jellybys been and got his head through the area railings!” Go to

2. The young Jellybys are always up to something,” said Mr. Guppy. Go to

3. “The little Jellybys,” said Richard, coming to my relief, “are really - I can’t help expressing myself strongly, sir - in a devil of a state.” Go to

4. “Those little Jellybys. Go to

jenny's /ˈdʒɛniz/ (18 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: de Jenny

Simple English: belonging to Jenny

Example: "Her only words were Jenny's name, but her voice expressed everything else."

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Her only words were Jenny’s name, but her voice expressed everything else. Go to

2. Then she quietly called Jenny’s name. Go to

Original English Version

1. Jenny’s asleep, quite worn out. Go to

jo's /dʒoʊz/ (39 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: de Jô

Simple English: belonging to a character named Jo, referring to her career

Example: Aunt Jamesina says I will ruin Jo's career if I marry him.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Jo’s Will XLVIII. Go to

Original English Version

1. Jo’s Will XLVIII. Go to

joked /dʒoʊkt/ (30 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: gracejou; brincou

Simple English: Said something funny to make people laugh.

Example: He joked about his own bad cooking.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Richard joked to Ada that they could never escape Chancery. Go to

2. Richard joked that the bones might belong to clients of lawyers. Go to

3. He joked that this was unlike Chancery's usual behaviour. Go to

4. I was relieved when Richard appeared and joked that I should not sell my hair because Krook already had three sacks. Go to

5. We stayed together late because Skimpole played lively music and joked that stealing hours from the night made the day longer. Go to

6. He joked that even Skimpole's birth announcement should have said he was born in difficulties. Go to

jokingly /ˈdʒoʊkɪŋli/ (14 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: gracejando; de brincadeira

Simple English: In a way that is meant to be funny.

Example: He jokingly called himself the boss.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Richard asked me to complete the payment with “Coavinses,” as Skimpole jokingly called the stranger, because it would make the event more graceful. Go to

2. Mr. Jarndyce jokingly asked whether Boythorn meant teeth. Go to

joyful /ˈdʒɔɪfəl/ (32 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: jubiloso; alegre

Simple English: Feeling or showing great happiness.

Example: It was a joyful reunion after so many years.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. After Lady Dedlock conquered her social world, she did not become joyful but cold. Go to

jug /dʒʌɡ/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: jarro; bilha

Simple English: A container with a handle for holding water.

Example: She filled the jug at the well.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Miss Jellyby asked if we wanted hot water while searching unsuccessfully for a proper jug. Go to

Original English Version

1. “You would like some hot water, wouldn’t you?” said Miss Jellyby, looking round for a jug with a handle to it, but looking in vain. Go to

keeper's /ˈkiːpərz/ (6 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: do guardião; do zelador

Simple English: Belonging to a person who guards or takes care of a place, animals, or equipment.

Example: The sudden storm drove them toward the keeper's lodge.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. My Lady Dedlock (who is childless), looking out in the early twilight from her boudoir at a keeper’s lodge and seeing the light of a fire upon the latticed panes, and smoke rising from the chimney, and a child, chased by a woman, running out into the rain to meet the shining figure of a wrapped-up man coming through the gate, has been put quite out of temper. Go to

kenge /kɛndʒ/ (247 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: Kenge

Simple English: the surname of a lawyer character in the story

Example: Kenge or Mr. Carboy.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Otherwise, I would have given it to Mr. Kenge or Mr. Vholes, since one of them might have invented it. Go to

2. He said, "My name is Kenge. Go to

3. You may remember it: Kenge and Carboy, Lincoln's Inn." Go to

4. Mr. Kenge smoothly said there was no reason to continue the secret. Go to

5. Mr. Kenge raised his glasses in surprise and asked again whether I had really never heard of Jarndyce and Jarndyce. Go to

6. Mr. Kenge explained that Jarndyce and Jarndyce was one of the greatest cases in the Court of Chancery. Go to

Original English Version

1. This seemed to me too profound a joke to be inserted in the body of this book or I should have restored it to Conversation Kenge or to Mr. Vholes, with one or other of whom I think it must have originated. Go to

2. “My name is Kenge,” he said; “you may remember it, my child; Kenge and Carboy, Lincoln’s Inn.” Go to

3. “It is really of no use carrying on a deception when no object is to be gained by it,” said Mr. Kenge smoothly, “Aunt in fact, though not in law. Go to

4. “Is it possible,” pursued Mr. Kenge, putting up his eye-glasses, “that our young friend - I BEG you won’t distress yourself! - never heard of Jarndyce and Jarndyce!” Go to

5. “Not of Jarndyce and Jarndyce?” said Mr. Kenge, looking over his glasses at me and softly turning the case about and about as if he were petting something. Go to

6. I should say that the aggregate of costs in Jarndyce and Jarndyce, Mrs. Rachael” - I was afraid he addressed himself to her because I appeared inattentive - “amounts at the present hour to from SIX-ty to SEVEN-ty THOUSAND POUNDS!” said Mr. Kenge, leaning back in his chair. Go to

kenge's /kɛndʒɪz/ (24 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: de Kenge

Simple English: belonging to Kenge, the lawyer character in the story

Example: Kenge's empty room.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The young gentleman led me through an outer office into Mr. Kenge’s empty room. Go to

Original English Version

1. I always received by return of post exactly the same answer in the same round hand, with the signature of Kenge and Carboy in another writing, which I supposed to be Mr. Kenge’s. Go to

2. The young gentleman showed me through an outer office into Mr. Kenge’s room - there was no one in it - and politely put an arm-chair for me by the fire. Go to

kindest /ˈkaɪndɪst/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: o mais bondoso; o mais gentil

Simple English: The most kind of all.

Example: He promised her the kindest heart in the Land of Oz.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. I made my way to the poor child, who was one of the dirtiest little unfortunates I ever saw, and found him very hot and frightened and crying loudly, fixed by the neck between two iron railings, while a milkman and a beadle, with the kindest intentions possible, were endeavouring to drag him back by the legs, under a general impression that his skull was compressible by those means. Go to

kneeling /ˈniːlɪŋ/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: ajoelhados

Simple English: Resting on the knees on the ground.

Example: The camels were kneeling beside the road.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Caddy remained kneeling with my dress in her hands until she fell asleep. Go to

Original English Version

1. I was in a kind of fright beyond my grief, and I caught hold of her dress and was kneeling to her. Go to

2. I could not persuade her to sit by me or to do anything but move a ragged stool to where she was kneeling, and take that, and still hold my dress in the same manner. Go to

knelt /nɛlt/ (6 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: ajoelhou-se

Simple English: Went down so that the knees were on the ground.

Example: She knelt beside the little dog and held it.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. I held her dress and knelt before her while she repeatedly told me to let go. Go to

2. A moment later, she knelt beside me, hid her face in my dress, begged my forgiveness, and cried. Go to

Original English Version

1. In a moment afterwards, she knelt on the ground at my side, hid her face in my dress, passionately begged my pardon, and wept. Go to

krook /krʊk/ (248 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: Krook

Simple English: the owner of a rag and bottle shop, a character in the story.

Example: Krook could have died by spontaneous combustion.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Some people denied that Mr. Krook could have died by spontaneous combustion. Go to

2. The old lady introduced her landlord, Krook. Go to

3. She repeatedly shook her head and touched her forehead, suggesting that Krook was a little mad. Go to

4. Walking ahead with the lantern, Krook agreed that people called him the Lord Chancellor and his shop Chancery. Go to

5. Krook began to explain, then noticed Ada's beautiful hair. Go to

6. Richard strongly objected when Krook pulled a lock of Ada's hair through his yellow hand. Go to

Original English Version

1. The possibility of what is called spontaneous combustion has been denied since the death of Mr. Krook; and my good friend Mr. Lewes (quite mistaken, as he soon found, in supposing the thing to have been abandoned by all authorities) published some ingenious letters to me at the time when that event was chronicled, arguing that spontaneous combustion could not possibly be. Go to

2. She had stopped at a shop over which was written KROOK, RAG AND BOTTLE WAREHOUSE. Go to

3. Also, in long thin letters, KROOK, DEALER IN MARINE STORES. Go to

4. Among them was one, in the same writing, having nothing to do with the business of the shop, but announcing that a respectable man aged forty-five wanted engrossing or copying to execute with neatness and dispatch: Address to Nemo, care of Mr. Krook, within. Go to

5. “My landlord, Krook,” said the little old lady, condescending to him from her lofty station as she presented him to us. Go to

6. But as Ada interposed and laughingly said she could only feel proud of such genuine admiration, Mr. Krook shrunk into his former self as suddenly as he had leaped out of it. Go to

krook's /krʊks/ (59 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: de Krook

Simple English: belonging to Krook, the shop owner.

Example: She stopped at Krook's rag and bottle shop.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. She stopped at Krook's rag and bottle shop. Go to

2. A large grey cat named Lady Jane jumped from a shelf onto Krook's shoulder and frightened us. Go to

Original English Version

1. The appearances, beyond all rational doubt, observed in that case are the appearances observed in Mr. Krook’s case. Go to

laces /ˈleɪsɪz/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: cordões; cadarços

Simple English: Cords used to tie shoes or to fasten clothes.

Example: The laces of his boots were broken.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The open space was crossed by the laces of her underclothes like the wooden frame of a summerhouse. Go to

lady's /ˈleɪdiz/ (71 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: da senhora

Simple English: Belonging to a woman of high rank or good manners.

Example: The lady's gloves were left on the seat.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. Across the hall, and up the stairs, and along the passages, and through the rooms, which are very brilliant in the season and very dismal out of it - fairy-land to visit, but a desert to live in - the old gentleman is conducted by a Mercury in powder to my Lady’s presence. Go to

2. “My Lady’s cause has been again before the Chancellor, has it, Mr. Tulkinghorn?” says Sir Leicester, giving him his hand. Go to

3. Mr. Tulkinghorn takes out his papers, asks permission to place them on a golden talisman of a table at my Lady’s elbow, puts on his spectacles, and begins to read by the light of a shaded lamp. Go to

4. Mr. Tulkinghorn stops short, surprised by my Lady’s animation and her unusual tone. Go to

5. The little old lady’s hearing was remarkably quick. Go to

6. So with the dogs in the kennel-buildings across the park, who have their restless fits and whose doleful voices when the wind has been very obstinate have even made it known in the house itself - upstairs, downstairs, and in my Lady’s chamber. Go to

landscape /ˈlændskeɪp/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: paisagem; ajardine; panorama

Simple English: The visible features of an area of land.

Example: The mountain landscape was beautiful.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Give him conversation, music, food, coffee, landscapes, fruit, drawing paper, and a little wine, and he wanted nothing more. Go to

larks /lɑːrks/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: cotovias (pássaros cantores)

Simple English: Small brown songbirds known for their cheerful singing.

Example: They held at least twenty larks, linnets, and goldfinches.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. They held at least twenty larks, linnets, and goldfinches. Go to

Original English Version

1. There were larks, linnets, and goldfinches - I should think at least twenty. Go to

lavender /ˈlævəndər/ (6 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: lavanda

Simple English: A plant with pale purple flowers and a sweet smell, and that colour.

Example: Her dress was the soft colour of lavender.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. After cooling my eyes with lavender water, I began to watch for London. Go to

2. White linen, rose petals, and lavender filled the drawers. Go to

Original English Version

1. She carries some small litter in a reticule which she calls her documents, principally consisting of paper matches and dry lavender. Go to

2. This WILL NOT do!” I cheered myself up pretty well at last, though I am afraid I was longer about it than I ought to have been; and when I had cooled my eyes with lavender water, it was time to watch for London. Go to

3. They agreed in nothing but their perfect neatness, their display of the whitest linen, and their storing-up, wheresoever the existence of a drawer, small or large, rendered it possible, of quantities of rose-leaves and sweet lavender. Go to

lawyer's /ˈlɔːjərz/ (17 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: de advogado

Simple English: Belonging to a person trained in the law.

Example: He looked like a lawyer's agent.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Tangle," says the Chancellor, growing tired of the lawyer's long speech. Go to

2. The lawyer's old-fashioned clothes and manner please him because they seem to show proper respect and loyal service to the Dedlock family. Go to

leaned /liːnd/ (18 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: apoiou; encostou

Simple English: Rested part of the body against something for support.

Example: Dorothy leaned her chin upon her hand.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Before the sentence was fully finished, Mr. Kenge leaned forward and whispered. Go to

2. Dear, warm-hearted Ada leaned across Cousin John and kissed me. Go to

3. He leaned near the door, where there was little room to pass. Go to

Original English Version

1. The warm-hearted darling leaned across her cousin John and kissed me, and then looking up in his face, boldly said, “At all events, cousin John, I WILL thank you for the companion you have given me.” I felt as if she challenged him to run away. Go to

lifeless /ˈlaɪfləs/ (10 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: sem vida; inanimado; apático

Simple English: Dead, or without energy and interest.

Example: The town looked lifeless on a Sunday afternoon.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He is taken through grand but lifeless rooms by a powdered servant and brought to Lady Dedlock. Go to

lighted /ˈlaɪtɪd/ (31 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: acesa; iluminada

Simple English: Turned on or set on fire so as to give light.

Example: A lighted candle stood alone on the windowsill.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. Most of the shops lighted two hours before their time - as the gas seems to know, for it has a haggard and unwilling look. Go to

2. As it was of no use going on in that way, I put the paper down, took a peep at my bonnet in the glass to see if it was neat, and looked at the room, which was not half lighted, and at the shabby, dusty tables, and at the piles of writings, and at a bookcase full of the most inexpressive-looking books that ever had anything to say for themselves. Go to

3. When we went downstairs we found a mug with “A Present from Tunbridge Wells” on it lighted up in the staircase window with a floating wick, and a young woman, with a swelled face bound up in a flannel bandage blowing the fire of the drawing-room (now connected by an open door with Mrs. Jellyby’s room) and choking dreadfully. Go to

4. After that I occupied myself in making our room a little tidy and in coaxing a very cross fire that had been lighted to burn, which at last it did, quite brightly. Go to

5. As it was still foggy and dark, and as the shop was blinded besides by the wall of Lincoln’s Inn, intercepting the light within a couple of yards, we should not have seen so much but for a lighted lantern that an old man in spectacles and a hairy cap was carrying about in the shop. Go to

6. The room in which they were, communicating with that in which he stood, was only lighted by the fire. Go to

lii /ˈfɪfti tuː/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: LII

Simple English: the Roman numeral for fifty-two, used here as a chapter number

Example: Chapter LII begins with the heading 'Enlightened.'

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Enlightened LII. Go to

Original English Version

1. Enlightened LII. Go to

liii /ˈfɪfti θriː/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: LIII

Simple English: the Roman numeral for fifty-three, used here as a chapter number

Example: Chapter LIII is titled 'Obstinacy.'

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Obstinacy LIII. Go to

Original English Version

1. Obstinacy LIII. Go to

likeness /ˈlaɪknəs/ (16 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: aparência; figura

Simple English: The fact of looking similar to someone.

Example: There is a strong likeness between the brothers.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. People consider it a perfect likeness and the artist's best work. Go to

Original English Version

1. It is considered a perfect likeness, and the best work of the master.” Go to

lincoln's /ˈlɪŋkənz/ (62 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: de Lincoln

Simple English: belonging to Lincoln, here part of the name of a legal building in London

Example: The Lord Chancellor sits in Lincoln's Inn Hall.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The Lord Chancellor sits in Lincoln's Inn Hall. Go to

2. You may remember it: Kenge and Carboy, Lincoln's Inn." Go to

3. Old Square, Lincoln's Inn Go to

4. He said he came from the office of Kenge and Carboy at Lincoln's Inn. Go to

5. She called the Lincoln's Inn garden her own and said she spent the long court vacation there thinking and listening to birds. Go to

6. The old lady lived in a large room at the top of the house, where she could see part of Lincoln's Inn Hall. Go to

Original English Version

1. Michaelmas term lately over, and the Lord Chancellor sitting in Lincoln’s Inn Hall. Go to

2. And hard by Temple Bar, in Lincoln’s Inn Hall, at the very heart of the fog, sits the Lord High Chancellor in his High Court of Chancery. Go to

3. “My name is Kenge,” he said; “you may remember it, my child; Kenge and Carboy, Lincoln’s Inn.” Go to

4. Old Square, Lincoln’s Inn Go to

5. A young gentleman who had inked himself by accident addressed me from the pavement and said, “I am from Kenge and Carboy’s, miss, of Lincoln’s Inn.” Go to

6. This is the garden of Lincoln’s Inn. Go to

lincolnshire /ˈlɪŋkənʃɪər/ (65 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: Lincolnshire

Simple English: a county (region) in eastern England

Example: Down in Lincolnshire, the story continues.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Down in Lincolnshire LXVII. Go to

2. Lady Dedlock has left her wet, gloomy Lincolnshire estate and returned to London before visiting Paris. Go to

3. Lady Dedlock has left the Lincolnshire house to the rain and wild animals. Go to

4. He was frightened because she had never fainted before, but he blames the difficult weather and her terrible boredom in Lincolnshire. Go to

5. While Esther sleeps and wakes, rain continues at Chesney Wold in Lincolnshire. Go to

Original English Version

1. Down in Lincolnshire LXVII. Go to

2. My Lady Dedlock has been down at what she calls, in familiar conversation, her “place” in Lincolnshire. Go to

3. The waters are out in Lincolnshire. Go to

4. Therefore my Lady Dedlock has come away from the place in Lincolnshire and has left it to the rain, and the crows, and the rabbits, and the deer, and the partridges and pheasants. Go to

5. With all her perfections on her head, my Lady Dedlock has come up from her place in Lincolnshire (hotly pursued by the fashionable intelligence) to pass a few days at her house in town previous to her departure for Paris, where her ladyship intends to stay some weeks, after which her movements are uncertain. Go to

6. “It would be useless to ask,” says my Lady with the dreariness of the place in Lincolnshire still upon her, “whether anything has been done.” Go to

linnets /ˈlɪnnɛts/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: pintassilgo

Simple English: A distinct English lexical form with its ordinary dictionary meaning in this context.

Example: They held at least twenty larks, linnets, and goldfinches.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. They held at least twenty larks, linnets, and goldfinches. Go to

Original English Version

1. There were larks, linnets, and goldfinches - I should think at least twenty. Go to

liv /ˈfɪfti fɔːr/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: LIV

Simple English: the Roman numeral for fifty-four, used here as a chapter number

Example: Chapter LIV is called 'The Track.'

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The Track LIV. Go to

Original English Version

1. The Track LIV. Go to

livers /ˈlɪvərz/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: fígados

Simple English: Large organs inside the body, also eaten as food.

Example: Chicken livers were served on a skewer.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He showed me a carefully wrapped piece of excellent plum cake with thick sugar on top and a small French pie made from fat goose livers. Go to

Original English Version

1. Livers of fat geese. Go to

lix /ˈlɪx/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: termo inglês: lix

Simple English: The Roman numeral for fifty-nine.

Example: A Wintry Day and Night LIX.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. A Wintry Day and Night LIX. Go to

Original English Version

1. A Wintry Day and Night LIX. Go to

load /loʊd/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: carga; carregar; carregamento

Simple English: To fill a space with items in an efficient way.

Example: They need to load the boxes onto the truck for delivery today.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Mrs. Rachael went inside before my boxes were loaded. Go to

loaf /loʊf/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: pão; fôrma de pão

Simple English: Bread that has been baked in one large piece.

Example: We bought a warm loaf on the way home.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. Priscilla leaves him out the loaf and some milk, when there is any, overnight. Go to

lodger /ˈlɑːdʒər/ (49 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: inquilino; hóspede

Simple English: A person who pays to live in a rented room in someone else's house.

Example: She was so flustered by these two fine young people asking for her lodger that she even forgot to invite them to sit down in the little parlor.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. A New Lodger XXI. Go to

Original English Version

1. A New Lodger XXI. Go to

2. The great suit, Krook,” returned his lodger. Go to

3. Tom Jarndyce - you’ll excuse me, being related; but he was never known about court by any other name, and was as well known there as - she is now,” nodding slightly at his lodger. Go to

4. “The only other lodger,” she now whispered in explanation, “a law-writer. Go to

5. She appeared to mistrust that the lodger might hear her even there, and repeating “Hush!” went before us on tiptoe as though even the sound of her footsteps might reveal to him what she had said. Go to

lodging /ˈlɑːdʒɪŋ/ (30 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: alojamento; pousada

Simple English: A place where you stay for a short time.

Example: We found cheap lodging near the market.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. Pray come and see my lodging. Go to

2. Slipping us out at a little side gate, the old lady stopped most unexpectedly in a narrow back street, part of some courts and lanes immediately outside the wall of the inn, and said, “This is my lodging. Go to

loudest /ˈlaʊdɪst/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: o mais alto; o mais forte

Simple English: Making more noise than all the others.

Example: His was the loudest voice in the room.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Mrs. Pardiggle was one of the loudest charitable ladies and wrote almost as often as Mrs. Jellyby. Go to

Original English Version

1. He was then the loudest boy in the world, and he is now the loudest man. Go to

lowers /ˈloʊərz/ (7 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: abaixa

Simple English: Moves something downward or makes it less high.

Example: The housekeeper lowers her voice to a whisper.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The housekeeper lowers her voice almost to a whisper. Go to

lung /lʌŋ/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: pulmão

Simple English: Organ in chest responsible for breathing and oxygen exchange.

Example: Smoking can damage your lung health and reduce breathing capacity.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. His powerful lungs made the house beams shake when he talked, laughed, or snored. Go to

lv /ˈfɪfti ˈfaɪv/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: LV (55)

Simple English: the Roman numeral for fifty-five, used here as a chapter number

Example: Chapter LV: Springing a Mine.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Springing a Mine LV. Go to

Original English Version

1. Springing a Mine LV. Go to

lvi /ˈfɪfti ˈsɪks/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: LVI (56)

Simple English: the Roman numeral for fifty-six, used here as a chapter number

Example: Chapter LVI: Flight.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Flight LVI. Go to

Original English Version

1. Flight LVI. Go to

lvii /ˈfɪfti ˈsɛvən/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: LVII (57)

Simple English: the Roman numeral for fifty-seven, used here as a chapter number

Example: Chapter LVII: Pursuit.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Pursuit LVII. Go to

Original English Version

1. Pursuit LVII. Go to

lviii /ˈfɪfti ˈeɪt/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: LVIII (58)

Simple English: the Roman numeral for fifty-eight, used here as a chapter number

Example: Chapter LVIII: Esther's Narrative.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Esther’s Narrative LVIII. Go to

Original English Version

1. Esther’s Narrative LVIII. Go to

lx /ˈsɪksti/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: LX (60)

Simple English: the Roman numeral for sixty, used here as a chapter number

Example: Chapter LX: Esther's Narrative.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Esther’s Narrative LX. Go to

Original English Version

1. Esther’s Narrative LX. Go to

lxi /ˈsɪksti ˈwʌn/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: LXI (61)

Simple English: the Roman numeral for sixty-one, used here as a chapter number

Example: Chapter LXI: Perspective.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Perspective LXI. Go to

Original English Version

1. Perspective LXI. Go to

lxii /ˈsɪksti ˈtuː/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: LXII (62)

Simple English: the Roman numeral for sixty-two, used here as a chapter number

Example: Chapter LXII: A Discovery.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. A Discovery LXII. Go to

Original English Version

1. A Discovery LXII. Go to

lxiii /ˈsɪksti ˈθriː/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: LXIII (63)

Simple English: the Roman numeral for sixty-three, used here as a chapter number

Example: Chapter LXIII: Another Discovery.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Another Discovery LXIII. Go to

Original English Version

1. Another Discovery LXIII. Go to

lxiv /ˈsɪksti ˈfɔːr/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: LXIV (64)

Simple English: the Roman numeral for sixty-four, used here as a chapter number

Example: Chapter LXIV: Steel and Iron.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Steel and Iron LXIV. Go to

Original English Version

1. Steel and Iron LXIV. Go to

lxv /ˈsɪksti ˈfaɪv/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: LXV (65)

Simple English: the Roman numeral for sixty-five, used here as a chapter number

Example: Chapter LXV: Esther's Narrative.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Esther’s Narrative LXV. Go to

Original English Version

1. Esther’s Narrative LXV. Go to

lxvi /ˈsɪksti ˈsɪks/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: LXVI (66)

Simple English: the Roman numeral for sixty-six, used here as a chapter number

Example: Chapter LXVI: Beginning the World.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Beginning the World LXVI. Go to

Original English Version

1. Beginning the World LXVI. Go to

lxvii /ˈsɪksti ˈsɛvən/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: LXVII (67)

Simple English: the Roman numeral for sixty-seven, used here as a chapter number

Example: Chapter LXVII: Down in Lincolnshire.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Down in Lincolnshire LXVII. Go to

Original English Version

1. Down in Lincolnshire LXVII. Go to

maids /meɪdz/ (7 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: donzelas; moças

Simple English: Female servants; in older writing, also young unmarried women.

Example: Two maids brought in the trays.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The maids blessed me, and even the old gardener, who I thought had hardly noticed me, ran after the coach with flowers and said I had been the light of his eyes. Go to

Original English Version

1. And when the two Miss Donnys grieved as much to part with me as the least among them, and when the maids said, “Bless you, miss, wherever you go!” and when the ugly lame old gardener, who I thought had hardly noticed me in all those years, came panting after the coach to give me a little nosegay of geraniums and told me I had been the light of his eyes - indeed the old man said so! - what a heart I had then! Go to

2. Maids are so hard to teach, now-a-days, that I have put her about me young. Go to

marches /ˈmɑːrtʃɪz/ (11 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: caminha; anda bem

Simple English: Long walks made by soldiers or by a group.

Example: The long marches tired the men.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. A battery of blue bags is loaded with heavy charges of papers and carried off by clerks; the little mad old woman marches off with her documents; the empty court is locked up. Go to

marshes /ˈmɑːrʃɪz/ (14 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: pântanos; brejos

Simple English: Areas of low, wet ground.

Example: The country was full of bogs and marshes.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Fog is everywhere: above and below the river, over the marshes and hills, inside ships and around small boats. Go to

Original English Version

1. Fog on the Essex marshes, fog on the Kentish heights. Go to

methodical /məˈθɑːdɪkəl/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: metódico

Simple English: feito de modo ordenado e cuidadoso

Example: He made a methodical search.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. Every part of the house was in such order, and every one was so attentive to me, that I had no trouble with my two bunches of keys, though what with trying to remember the contents of each little store-room drawer and cupboard; and what with making notes on a slate about jams, and pickles, and preserves, and bottles, and glass, and china, and a great many other things; and what with being generally a methodical, old-maidish sort of foolish little person, I was so busy that I could not believe it was breakfast-time when I heard the bell ring. Go to

midsummer /ˌmɪdˈsʌmər/ (6 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: pleno verão

Simple English: The middle of the summer.

Example: The pond dried up by midsummer.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. Although the morning was raw, and although the fog still seemed heavy - I say seemed, for the windows were so encrusted with dirt that they would have made midsummer sunshine dim - I was sufficiently forewarned of the discomfort within doors at that early hour and sufficiently curious about London to think it a good idea on the part of Miss Jellyby when she proposed that we should go out for a walk. Go to

milkman /ˈmɪlkmæn/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: leiteiro; homem que entrega ou vende leite

Simple English: A man whose job is to deliver or sell milk.

Example: The milkman arrived early in the morning.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. A milkman and a church officer meant to help, but they pulled his legs as if his head could become smaller. Go to

Original English Version

1. I made my way to the poor child, who was one of the dirtiest little unfortunates I ever saw, and found him very hot and frightened and crying loudly, fixed by the neck between two iron railings, while a milkman and a beadle, with the kindest intentions possible, were endeavouring to drag him back by the legs, under a general impression that his skull was compressible by those means. Go to

2. This was so favourably received by the milkman and beadle that he would immediately have been pushed into the area if I had not held his pinafore while Richard and Mr. Guppy ran down through the kitchen to catch him when he should be released. Go to

misdirected /ˌmɪsdəˈrɛktɪd/ (6 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: mal direcionado

Simple English: Directed toward the wrong goal.

Example: His misdirected anger hurt others.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Mr. Jarndyce asked whether the man had misdirected him deliberately. Go to

Original English Version

1. The dinner was put back an hour, and we were sitting round the fire with no light but the blaze when the hall-door suddenly burst open and the hall resounded with these words, uttered with the greatest vehemence and in a stentorian tone: “We have been misdirected, Jarndyce, by a most abandoned ruffian, who told us to take the turning to the right instead of to the left. Go to

misfortune /mɪsˈfɔːrtʃuːn/ (12 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: infortúnio

Simple English: An unlucky event.

Example: The accident was a misfortune.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. "It is your misfortune." Go to

Original English Version

1. “It is your misfortune!” Go to

mistrust /mɪsˈtrʌst/ (7 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: desconfiança

Simple English: The feeling that you cannot trust someone.

Example: There was mistrust between the two families.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. She appeared to mistrust that the lodger might hear her even there, and repeating “Hush!” went before us on tiptoe as though even the sound of her footsteps might reveal to him what she had said. Go to

mistrusting /mɪsˈtrʌstɪŋ/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: desconfiando

Simple English: Not trusting someone or something.

Example: She kept mistrusting every stranger who knocked on her door.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. His happiness came from his kind nature, which hated judging or mistrusting anyone. Go to

Original English Version

1. It was so delicious to see the clouds about his bright face clearing, and to see him so heartily pleased, and to know, as it was impossible not to know, that the source of his pleasure was the goodness which was tortured by condemning, or mistrusting, or secretly accusing any one, that I saw the tears in Ada’s eyes, while she echoed his laugh, and felt them in my own. Go to

misty /ˈmɪsti/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: enevoado; embaçado; nebuloso

Simple English: Covered with mist, or not clear to see or understand.

Example: The valley was misty until midday.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. Chance people on the bridges peeping over the parapets into a nether sky of fog, with fog all round them, as if they were up in a balloon and hanging in the misty clouds. Go to

mixed /mɪkst/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: misto; misturado; mixado

Simple English: Consisting of different types combined together.

Example: The salad was a mixed variety, containing both leafy greens and colorful vegetables.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Fear mixed with my grief. Go to

2. Their sorrow, my pleasure, pride, joy, and humble regret mixed together until my happy heart almost broke. Go to

3. At last my memories mixed with dreams, and I no longer knew who she or I was. Go to

modestly /ˈmɑːdɪstli/ (20 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: modestamente; com modéstia

Simple English: In a quiet way, without boasting about yourself.

Example: He modestly said the work had been easy.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. Ask her how long, this rainy day, and she shall answer “fifty year, three months, and a fortnight, by the blessing of heaven, if I live till Tuesday.” Mr. Rouncewell died some time before the decease of the pretty fashion of pig-tails, and modestly hid his own (if he took it with him) in a corner of the churchyard in the park near the mouldy porch. Go to

2. Even what she read and said seemed to us to be ill-chosen for such auditors, if it had been imparted ever so modestly and with ever so much tact. Go to

modesty /ˈmɑːdəsti/ (6 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: modéstia; recato

Simple English: The habit of not talking proudly about yourself.

Example: He accepted the prize with quiet modesty.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. She praises the girl's modesty and says it is rarer than before. Go to

monday's /ˈmʌndeɪz/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: de segunda-feira

Simple English: The possessive form of Monday; one supplied occurrence instead uses Monday as a dog's proper name.

Example: The report appeared in Monday's paper.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. We have arranged a free journey for you on next Monday's eight o'clock coach from Reading to the White Horse Cellar in London. Go to

monotonous /məˈnɒtənəs/ (9 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: monótono

Simple English: Repetitive and without change or interest.

Example: The rain made a monotonous sound.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. The whole seemingly monotonous and uncompanionable half-dozen, stabled together, may pass the long wet hours when the door is shut in livelier communication than is held in the servants’ hall or at the Dedlock Arms, or may even beguile the time by improving (perhaps corrupting) the pony in the loose-box in the corner. Go to

moods /muːdz/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: estados de espírito; humores

Simple English: The ways a person feels at different times.

Example: His moods change with the weather.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. This showed his unusual gentleness, unlike angry people who blame their bad moods on the weather. Go to

morbury /ˈmɔːrbəri/ (6 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: Morbury

Simple English: the first name of a nobleman character in the story

Example: Sir Morbury Dedlock owned Chesney Wold.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. During the civil war in the time of King Charles I, Sir Morbury Dedlock owned Chesney Wold. Go to

2. Sir Morbury supported King Charles, but his wife secretly supported the king's enemies, including her own relatives. Go to

3. Mrs. Rouncewell says Sir Morbury and his proud wife had an unhappy marriage and no children. Go to

Original English Version

1. She seats herself in a large chair by the fast-darkening window and tells them: “In the wicked days, my dears, of King Charles the First - I mean, of course, in the wicked days of the rebels who leagued themselves against that excellent king - Sir Morbury Dedlock was the owner of Chesney Wold. Go to

2. “Sir Morbury Dedlock,” says Mrs. Rouncewell, “was, I have no occasion to say, on the side of the blessed martyr. Go to

3. The housekeeper gravely nods and continues: “Partly on account of this division between them, and partly on other accounts, Sir Morbury and his Lady led a troubled life. Go to

murmured /ˈmɜːrmərd/ (8 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: murmuraram

Simple English: Said something in a soft, low voice.

Example: The crowd murmured when the lights went out.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Out of politeness, we murmured that this was amazing and pleasing, though we hardly knew what we meant. Go to

Original English Version

1. We murmured that it was very astonishing and very gratifying, or something to that effect. Go to

murmurs /ˈmɜːrmərz/ (8 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: murmúrios

Simple English: Soft low sounds of voices or of water.

Example: Murmurs ran through the crowd.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. “Faint,” my Lady murmurs with white lips, “only that; but it is like the faintness of death. Go to

mutton /ˈmʌtən/ (12 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: carne de carneiro

Simple English: The meat of a grown sheep.

Example: They ate mutton with rice and onions.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. “In this paper,” which was nicely folded, “is a piece of the best plum-cake that can be got for money - sugar on the outside an inch thick, like fat on mutton chops. Go to

2. Give him the papers, conversation, music, mutton, coffee, landscape, fruit in the season, a few sheets of Bristol-board, and a little claret, and he asked no more. Go to

mysteriously /mɪˈstɪriəsli/ (10 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: misteriosamente

Simple English: In a way that is strange and not explained.

Example: The key had mysteriously come back to the table.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. I have discovered,” whispering mysteriously, “that her natural cruelty is sharpened by a jealous fear of their regaining their liberty. Go to

namesake /ˈneɪmseɪk/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: homônimo

Simple English: A person or thing with the same name as another.

Example: The child was his grandfathers namesake.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Richard said the road reminded him of his namesake Whittington, and the wagon completed the picture. Go to

Original English Version

1. “The whole road has been reminding me of my namesake Whittington,” said Richard, “and that waggon is the finishing touch. Go to

national (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: nacional; do país; estatal

Simple English: related to a whole country

Example: The national museum is in the capital.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. National and Domestic XLI. Go to

nature's /ˈneɪtʃərz/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: da natureza

Simple English: Belonging to the natural world.

Example: Frost is one of nature's quietest workers.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Skimpole then asked whether Coavinses had thought that Harold Skimpole loved sunshine, wind, changing light and shadow, and birds singing like a choir in nature’s great cathedral. Go to

Original English Version

1. “Then you didn’t think, at all events,” proceeded Mr. Skimpole, “to this effect: ‘Harold Skimpole loves to see the sun shine, loves to hear the wind blow, loves to watch the changing lights and shadows, loves to hear the birds, those choristers in Nature’s great cathedral. Go to

Glossary: New Words (3/4)

nearer /ˈnɪrər/ (34 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: mais perto; mais próximo

Simple English: Closer in distance.

Example: The land grows beautiful as one comes nearer the city.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. In August 1853, one friendly case had already lasted almost twenty years, used up seventy thousand pounds, and was no nearer its end. Go to

2. As Richard said, they appeared unable to see anything nearer than Africa. Go to

Original English Version

1. At the present moment (August, 1853) there is a suit before the court which was commenced nearly twenty years ago, in which from thirty to forty counsel have been known to appear at one time, in which costs have been incurred to the amount of seventy thousand pounds, which is A FRIENDLY SUIT, and which is (I am assured) no nearer to its termination now than when it was begun. Go to

2. My Lady, changing her position, sees the papers on the table - looks at them nearer - looks at them nearer still - asks impulsively, “Who copied that?” Go to

3. As if - I am quoting Richard again - they could see nothing nearer than Africa! Go to

4. ‘For,’ says he, ‘Krook, I am much depressed; my cause is on again, and I think I’m nearer judgment than I ever was.’ I hadn’t a mind to leave him alone; and I persuaded him to go to the tavern over the way there, t’other side my lane (I mean Chancery Lane); and I followed and looked in at the window, and saw him, comfortable as I thought, in the arm-chair by the fire, and company with him. Go to

5. We all drew nearer to the cages, feigning to examine the birds. Go to

6. I took him to be nearer sixty than fifty, but he was upright, hearty, and robust. Go to

neatly /ˈniːtli/ (10 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: com capricho; cuidadosamente

Simple English: In a careful, tidy way.

Example: He soldered the tin neatly back in place.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. The last Lord Chancellor handled it neatly, when, correcting Mr. Blowers, the eminent silk gown who said that such a thing might happen when the sky rained potatoes, he observed, “or when we get through Jarndyce and Jarndyce, Mr. Blowers” - a pleasantry that particularly tickled the maces, bags, and purses. Go to

2. “You will sweep them so neatly out of OUR sky in the course of your housekeeping, Esther, that one of these days we shall have to abandon the growlery and nail up the door.” Go to

3. No effort had been made to clean the room - it seemed in its nature almost hopeless of being clean; but the small waxen form from which so much solemnity diffused itself had been composed afresh, and washed, and neatly dressed in some fragments of white linen; and on my handkerchief, which still covered the poor baby, a little bunch of sweet herbs had been laid by the same rough, scarred hands, so lightly, so tenderly! Go to

neckcloth /ˈnekklɒθ/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: lenço de pescoço

Simple English: a cloth worn around the neck

Example: He tied a white neckcloth under his chin.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. On the day after my poor good godmother was buried, the gentleman in black with the white neckcloth reappeared. Go to

needlework /ˈniːdəlwɜːrk/ (9 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: costura

Simple English: decorative sewing done by hand

Example: Her needlework covered the cushion.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Ada’s flower-filled bedroom had floral cloth, wallpaper, needlework, and two formal chairs beside the fire. Go to

2. My own decorations included four angels carrying a gentleman to heaven and needlework showing fruit, a kettle, and the alphabet. Go to

Original English Version

1. She can talk French, I suppose, and do geography, and globes, and needlework, and everything?” Go to

2. Ada’s sleeping-room was all flowers - in chintz and paper, in velvet, in needlework, in the brocade of two stiff courtly chairs which stood, each attended by a little page of a stool for greater state, on either side of the fire-place. Go to

3. As substitutes, I had four angels, of Queen Anne’s reign, taking a complacent gentleman to heaven, in festoons, with some difficulty; and a composition in needlework representing fruit, a kettle, and an alphabet. Go to

nemo /ˈniːmoʊ/ (28 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: Nemo

Simple English: a mysterious man's name, meaning 'nobody' in Latin, used in this story for a law-writer

Example: A notice said a man named Nemo wanted copying work.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. A notice said a man named Nemo wanted copying work. Go to

Original English Version

1. Among them was one, in the same writing, having nothing to do with the business of the shop, but announcing that a respectable man aged forty-five wanted engrossing or copying to execute with neatness and dispatch: Address to Nemo, care of Mr. Krook, within. Go to

nervously /ˈnɜːrvəsli/ (19 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: nervosamente; receosamente

Simple English: In a worried or frightened way.

Example: The mice looked at her nervously.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. She says he looks like his missing uncle George, which makes her hands move nervously. Go to

2. Ada and I received her nervously, while her unhappy sons followed like children in cold weather. Go to

nevertheless /ˌnɛvərðəˈlɛs/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: no entanto; Todavia; contudo

Simple English: Used to show contrast with what was said before.

Example: It was raining; nevertheless, we decided to go for a walk.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The young man nevertheless built a successful life there. Go to

niger /ˈnaɪdʒər/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: Níger

Simple English: a major river in West Africa

Example: They hoped to grow coffee on the left bank of the Niger River.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. By the next year, they hoped to have 150 to 200 healthy families growing coffee and educating the people of Borrioboola-Gha, on the left bank of the Niger River. Go to

Original English Version

1. We hope by this time next year to have from a hundred and fifty to two hundred healthy families cultivating coffee and educating the natives of Borrioboola-Gha, on the left bank of the Niger.” Go to

nobles /ˈnoʊbəlz/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: nobres; fidalgos

Simple English: People of high rank in an old society, such as lords.

Example: The king called the nobles to his hall.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. My room had oval pictures of the months, with country workers and nobles in old-fashioned clothes. Go to

nobly /ˈnoʊbli/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: nobremente; com dignidade

Simple English: In a brave and honourable way.

Example: He bore the loss nobly.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. “Nobly!” returned Mr. Jarndyce. Go to

nodded /ˈnɑːdɪd/ (15 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: acenou com a cabeça

Simple English: Moved the head up and down to say yes or to greet someone.

Example: The figure nodded kindly at her.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He studied me, said "Ah" and "Yes," then put away his glasses and nodded to my godmother. Go to

2. The Chancellor kept looking at his papers, listened, nodded several times, and turned more pages. Go to

3. He nodded seriously. Go to

Original English Version

1. His lordship, with his eyes upon his papers, listened, nodded twice or thrice, turned over more leaves, and did not look towards me again until we were going away. Go to

2. He nodded gravely. Go to

nodding /ˈnɑːdɪŋ/ (16 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: acenando com a cabeça

Simple English: Moving the head down and up to show yes.

Example: He kept nodding while she talked.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. Tom Jarndyce - you’ll excuse me, being related; but he was never known about court by any other name, and was as well known there as - she is now,” nodding slightly at his lodger. Go to

2. When we turned out of the town, round a corner, and Richard told us that the post-boy, who had for a long time sympathized with our heightened expectation, was looking back and nodding, we both stood up in the carriage (Richard holding Ada lest she should be jolted down) and gazed round upon the open country and the starlight night for our destination. Go to

nods /nɑːdz/ (44 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: acenos de cabeça

Simple English: Movements of the head down and up to show yes.

Example: He agreed with two short nods.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. The housekeeper gravely nods and continues: “Partly on account of this division between them, and partly on other accounts, Sir Morbury and his Lady led a troubled life. Go to

noisily /ˈnɔɪzɪli/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: ruidosamente; com estardalhaço

Simple English: In a way that makes a lot of noise.

Example: He drank his soup noisily and asked for more.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. Two friends of the young man, whom we had attracted to the doorway and who stood there with their hands in their pockets, echoed the laugh noisily. Go to

noses /ˈnoʊzɪz/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: narizes

Simple English: The parts of the face used for smelling.

Example: The cold air made their noses red.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. But all the little children had come up to the landing outside to look at the phenomenon of Peepy lying on my bed, and our attention was distracted by the constant apparition of noses and fingers in situations of danger between the hinges of the doors. Go to

obedient /oʊˈbiːdiənt/ (8 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: obediente; submisso

Simple English: Doing what you are told to do by someone in authority.

Example: The dog is obedient with everyone except the postman.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. We remain, Madam, your obedient servants, Go to

obeyed /oʊˈbeɪd/ (7 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: obedecido; cumprido

Simple English: Done as someone has ordered.

Example: Your commands shall be obeyed.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. It was clear that Mr. Jarndyce had obeyed this request and supported him. Go to

observes /əbˈzɜːvz/ (60 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: observa

Simple English: Notices, watches, or comments on something.

Example: He observes every small change.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. Not that she is so, but that “the most is made,” as the Honourable Bob Stables has frequently asserted upon oath, “of all her points.” The same authority observes that she is perfectly got up and remarks in commendation of her hair especially that she is the best-groomed woman in the whole stud. Go to

2. “You’ll excuse my asking again if it has anything to do with a picture, ma’am,” observes Mr. Guppy, “because I do assure you that the more I think of that picture the better I know it, without knowing how I know it!” Go to

obstinacy /ˈɑːbstɪnəsi/ (6 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: obstinação; teimosia

Simple English: The habit of refusing to change your mind or your behaviour.

Example: His obstinacy over such a small detail delayed the whole project.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Obstinacy LIII. Go to

Original English Version

1. Obstinacy LIII. Go to

offence (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: ofensa; infração; crime

Simple English: a crime or an act that upsets someone

Example: Parking there is an offence.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He would rather destroy himself than commit such an offence. Go to

offending /əˈfendɪŋ/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: ofensivo; que causa ofensa

Simple English: Causing anger or hurt feelings.

Example: He removed the offending word from the letter.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. I looked to Richard for help, but he was amused, curious, and unsure how to leave without offending her. Go to

2. He politely asked the stranger whether he could ask a question without offending him. Go to

officer's /ˈɒfɪsəz/ (8 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: do oficial

Simple English: Belonging to an officer.

Example: The officer's orders were clear.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Then she pulled out a religious book like a police officer's stick and took control of the whole family as if arresting them. Go to

openness /ˈəʊpənnəs/ (6 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: franqueza; abertura

Simple English: the quality of being honest and ready to share ideas

Example: Her openness made the conversation easy.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Richard shook both his hands with respect and openness. Go to

2. I thought Ada and Richard deserved Skimpole’s openness and great effort to please them on their first meeting. Go to

orderly /ˈɔːrdərli/ (9 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: ordenada; bem arrumada

Simple English: Neat and well arranged.

Example: The books stood in orderly rows.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Everything at Greenleaf was exact and orderly. Go to

2. The orderly house and helpful servants made my new duties easy, though I stayed busy learning what every cupboard held. Go to

Original English Version

1. Nothing could be more precise, exact, and orderly than Greenleaf. Go to

orphans /ˈɔːrfənz/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: órfãos

Simple English: children whose parents have died

Example: The home cared for orphans.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Both were orphans and, surprisingly, had met for the first time that day. Go to

Original English Version

1. They were both orphans and (what was very unexpected and curious to me) had never met before that day. Go to

outer /ˈaʊtər/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: exterior

Simple English: Located on the outside surface or edge of something.

Example: The outer part of the house needs a fresh coat of paint.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. After a while, he opened his enormous outer coat and reached deep into a side pocket. Go to

2. The young gentleman led me through an outer office into Mr. Kenge’s empty room. Go to

overshoes /ˌɑʊvərʃɑɛs/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: galocha

Simple English: a waterproof shoe worn over another shoe

Example: Ellen calmly took off her wraps and overshoes, then followed her sister into the warm room lit by firelight.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Only a woman in wooden overshoes had tried to push the child from below with a broom, though neither she nor I seemed to know why. Go to

2. I was surprised when the same woman appeared in the hall without her overshoes. Go to

padded /ˈpædɪd/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: acolchoado; estofado

Simple English: Filled or covered with soft material.

Example: His padded hands were awkward.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. Well may the court be dim, with wasting candles here and there; well may the fog hang heavy in it, as if it would never get out; well may the stained-glass windows lose their colour and admit no light of day into the place; well may the uninitiated from the streets, who peep in through the glass panes in the door, be deterred from entrance by its owlish aspect and by the drawl, languidly echoing to the roof from the padded dais where the Lord High Chancellor looks into the lantern that has no light in it and where the attendant wigs are all stuck in a fog-bank! Go to

painfully /ˈpeɪnfəli/ (9 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: penosamente; com esforço

Simple English: In a way that causes pain, or with great difficulty.

Example: He climbed the stairs slowly and painfully.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. At first I was painfully awake and vainly tried to lose myself, with my eyes closed, among the scenes of the day. Go to

2. We both felt painfully sensible that between us and these people there was an iron barrier which could not be removed by our new friend. Go to

pamphlets /ˈpæmfləts/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: panfletos

Simple English: small unbound booklets about a subject or cause

Example: He spoke with a quartermaster off duty, an intelligent man who quickly began pushing socialist ideas at him and put leaflets and pamphlets into his hands.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Their letters requested everything from huge numbers of pamphlets to pensions, monuments, and teapots. Go to

parchment /ˈpɑːrtʃmənt/ (7 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: pergaminho

Simple English: A thick material made from animal skin, used for writing.

Example: The old map was drawn on parchment.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. A little way within the shop-door lay heaps of old crackled parchment scrolls and discoloured and dog’s-eared law-papers. Go to

pardiggle /ˈpɑːrdɪɡəl/ (70 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: Pardiggle

Simple English: the surname of a charitable but overbearing character in the story

Example: Pardiggle was one of the loudest charitable ladies and wrote almost as often as Mrs.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Mrs. Pardiggle was one of the loudest charitable ladies and wrote almost as often as Mrs. Jellyby. Go to

2. The wind always interrupted him when he discussed Mrs. Pardiggle, so we suspected she belonged to the first group. Go to

3. Mrs. Pardiggle was an impressive woman with glasses, a large nose, and a loud voice. Go to

4. Mrs. Pardiggle introduced her five boys and proudly listed the money each had donated. Go to

5. Mrs. Pardiggle asked whether we had visited Mrs. Jellyby. Go to

6. In her loud, hard voice, Mrs. Pardiggle praised Mrs. Jellyby's work for Africa and said her sons had donated to it. Go to

Original English Version

1. Among the ladies who were most distinguished for this rapacious benevolence (if I may use the expression) was a Mrs. Pardiggle, who seemed, as I judged from the number of her letters to Mr. Jarndyce, to be almost as powerful a correspondent as Mrs. Jellyby herself. Go to

2. We observed that the wind always changed when Mrs. Pardiggle became the subject of conversation and that it invariably interrupted Mr. Jarndyce and prevented his going any farther, when he had remarked that there were two classes of charitable people; one, the people who did a little and made a great deal of noise; the other, the people who did a great deal and made no noise at all. Go to

3. We were therefore curious to see Mrs. Pardiggle, suspecting her to be a type of the former class, and were glad when she called one day with her five young sons. Go to

4. “These, young ladies,” said Mrs. Pardiggle with great volubility after the first salutations, “are my five boys. Go to

5. “You have been visiting, I understand,” said Mrs. Pardiggle, “at Mrs. Jellyby’s?” Go to

6. “They attend matins with me (very prettily done) at half-past six o’clock in the morning all the year round, including of course the depth of winter,” said Mrs. Pardiggle rapidly, “and they are with me during the revolving duties of the day. Go to

pardiggle's /ˈpɑːrdɪɡəlz/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: de Pardiggle

Simple English: belonging to a character named Pardiggle

Example: Pardiggle's cold, controlling manner made the visit worse.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Mrs. Pardiggle's cold, controlling manner made the visit worse. Go to

parted /ˈpɑːrtɪd/ (9 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: nos separamos

Simple English: Went away from each other.

Example: We parted at the gate and never met again.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Mrs. Rachael showed no sadness when we parted, but I cried bitterly. Go to

Original English Version

1. It almost makes me cry to think what a relief it used to be to me when I came home from school of a day to run upstairs to my room and say, “Oh, you dear faithful Dolly, I knew you would be expecting me!” and then to sit down on the floor, leaning on the elbow of her great chair, and tell her all I had noticed since we parted. Go to

2. Now it was Ada, now one of my old Reading friends from whom I could not believe I had so recently parted. Go to

3. I lost no time in wishing Mr. Krook good morning and joining my friends outside, where we parted with the little old lady, who gave us her blessing with great ceremony and renewed her assurance of yesterday in reference to her intention of settling estates on Ada and me. Go to

passionately /ˈpæʃənətli/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: apaixonadamente

Simple English: with very strong feeling

Example: He spoke passionately in her defense.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. In a moment afterwards, she knelt on the ground at my side, hid her face in my dress, passionately begged my pardon, and wept. Go to

patted /ˈpætɪd/ (7 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: deu tapinhas; ajeitou com as mãos

Simple English: Touched something gently and repeatedly with the flat hand.

Example: She patted him back into shape.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Smiling, Mr. Jarndyce patted Skimpole’s head as if he truly were a child. Go to

Original English Version

1. Mr. Jarndyce patted him on the head with a smile, as if he had been really a child, and passing a step or two on, and stopping a moment, glanced at the young cousins. Go to

2. He gently patted me on the head, and I sat down. Go to

paused /pɔːzd/ (7 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: fez uma pausa

Simple English: stopped briefly before continuing

Example: He paused for a moment.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He paused and asked Skimpole to confirm this. Go to

pauses /ˈpɔːzɪz/ (23 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: pausas; intervalos

Simple English: Short stops in speaking or in doing something.

Example: He spoke slowly, with long pauses.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Mrs. Rouncewell pauses to ask Watt if he hears a footstep on the terrace. Go to

peepy /ˈpiːpi/ (86 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: Peepy

Simple English: the nickname of a young child character

Example: No, Peepy!, said Mrs. Jellyby.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Mrs. Jellyby continued dictating: “‘And asks to inform him, concerning his letter of inquiry about the African project - ’ No, Peepy! Go to

2. Peepy, as he called himself, was the child who had fallen downstairs. Go to

3. Mrs. Jellyby continued dictating, so I quietly stopped poor Peepy and held him. Go to

4. She told Caddy to show us our rooms, apologized for being busy, and ordered me to put Peepy down. Go to

5. I asked to keep Peepy because he was no trouble. Go to

6. The children gathered outside to stare at Peepy, and neither bedroom door would close. Go to

Original English Version

1. “‘And begs,’” said Mrs. Jellyby, dictating, “‘to inform him, in reference to his letter of inquiry on the African project - ’ No, Peepy! Go to

2. Peepy (so self-named) was the unfortunate child who had fallen downstairs, who now interrupted the correspondence by presenting himself, with a strip of plaster on his forehead, to exhibit his wounded knees, in which Ada and I did not know which to pity most - the bruises or the dirt. Go to

3. Mrs. Jellyby merely added, with the serene composure with which she said everything, “Go along, you naughty Peepy!” and fixed her fine eyes on Africa again. Go to

4. However, as she at once proceeded with her dictation, and as I interrupted nothing by doing it, I ventured quietly to stop poor Peepy as he was going out and to take him up to nurse. Go to

5. I was so occupied with Peepy that I lost the letter in detail, though I derived such a general impression from it of the momentous importance of Africa, and the utter insignificance of all other places and things, that I felt quite ashamed to have thought so little about it. Go to

6. But all the little children had come up to the landing outside to look at the phenomenon of Peepy lying on my bed, and our attention was distracted by the constant apparition of noses and fingers in situations of danger between the hinges of the doors. Go to

pension /ˈpɛnʃən/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: pensão; Pensões; previdência

Simple English: Regular payments given to someone after retirement from their job.

Example: She plans to travel the world with her pension after she retires.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Their letters requested everything from huge numbers of pamphlets to pensions, monuments, and teapots. Go to

2. They printed materials, made promises, and collected votes for different candidates to receive a pension. Go to

perspective (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: perspectiva; ponto de vista; visão

Simple English: a way of thinking about something

Example: Try to see the issue from her perspective.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Perspective LXI. Go to

persuasion /pərˈsweɪʒən/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: persuasão

Simple English: the act of convincing someone by reasoning or urging

Example: People talk a lot these days about 'moral persuasion,' but I think a good spanking, with no nagging afterward, is much better."

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. At last, one afternoon her husband (to whom she had never, on any persuasion, opened her lips since that night), standing at the great south window, saw her drop upon the pavement. Go to

petals /ˈpɛtəlz/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: pétalas

Simple English: The soft coloured parts of a flower.

Example: White petals fell onto the table.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. White linen, rose petals, and lavender filled the drawers. Go to

philanthropist /fɪˈlænθrəpɪst/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: filantropo

Simple English: a person who gives money or effort to help others

Example: The philanthropist funded a new school.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Mr. Quale, a talkative young philanthropist, called the Jellybys' marriage a union of mind and matter. Go to

Original English Version

1. But he WAS Mr. Jellyby; and a loquacious young man called Mr. Quale, with large shining knobs for temples and his hair all brushed to the back of his head, who came in the evening, and told Ada he was a philanthropist, also informed her that he called the matrimonial alliance of Mrs. Jellyby with Mr. Jellyby the union of mind and matter. Go to

philanthropy /fɪˈlænθrəpi/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: filantropia

Simple English: the activity of helping others through charitable giving or work

Example: Her philanthropy supported poor families.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Telescopic Philanthropy V. A Morning Adventure VI. Go to

Original English Version

1. Telescopic Philanthropy V. A Morning Adventure VI. Go to

2. Telescopic Philanthropy Go to

pigsties /ˈpɪɡstaɪz/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: chiqueiros

Simple English: Small closed places where pigs are kept.

Example: He went back to the pigsties at dusk.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Pigsties were near broken windows, dirty pools filled the gardens, and old tubs collected rain. Go to

Original English Version

1. I was glad when we came to the brickmaker’s house, though it was one of a cluster of wretched hovels in a brick-field, with pigsties close to the broken windows and miserable little gardens before the doors growing nothing but stagnant pools. Go to

pinched /pɪntʃt/ (14 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: beliscou; apertou; encovado

Simple English: Squeezed between finger and thumb; also thin and drawn from hunger or cold.

Example: He pinched the candle out between two fingers.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He and two brothers pinched my arms, Felix stepped on my toes, and little Alfred became purple with anger when we passed a cake shop. Go to

Original English Version

1. There was a more affecting meaning in her pinched appearance, I thought as I looked round, than I had understood before. Go to

2. As to the house itself, with its three peaks in the roof; its various-shaped windows, some so large, some so small, and all so pretty; its trellis-work, against the south-front for roses and honey-suckle, and its homely, comfortable, welcoming look - it was, as Ada said when she came out to meet me with her arm through that of its master, worthy of her cousin John, a bold thing to say, though he only pinched her dear cheek for it. Go to

3. On my pointing out the great impropriety of the word, especially in connexion with his parent (for he added sulkily “By her!”), he pinched me and said, “Oh, then! Go to

4. Why do you call it my allowance, and never let me spend it?” These exasperating questions so inflamed his mind and the minds of Oswald and Francis that they all pinched me at once, and in a dreadfully expert way - screwing up such little pieces of my arms that I could hardly forbear crying out. Go to

pitied /ˈpɪtid/ (11 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: teve pena de; compadeceu-se; lastimou

Simple English: Felt sorry for someone because of their suffering.

Example: Everyone pitied the family after the fire.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. Her bosom was heaving in a distressful manner that I greatly pitied, but I thought it better not to speak. Go to

plainly /ˈpleɪnli/ (25 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: claramente

Simple English: in a clear and easy-to-understand way

Example: She spoke plainly about the danger.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. Upon that, we all went into the next room, Mr. Kenge first, with my darling - it is so natural to me now that I can’t help writing it; and there, plainly dressed in black and sitting in an arm-chair at a table near the fire, was his lordship, whose robe, trimmed with beautiful gold lace, was thrown upon another chair. Go to

playfully /ˈpleɪfəli/ (14 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: brincalhonamente; de brincadeira

Simple English: In a way that shows you are joking.

Example: He playfully pulled his sister's hair.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Ada playfully said I could ask five hundred questions. Go to

2. Playfully, he said I was clever enough to be the good little old woman in their lives, like the woman in a children's rhyme. Go to

Original English Version

1. “You are clever enough to be the good little woman of our lives here, my dear,” he returned playfully; “the little old woman of the child’s (I don’t mean Skimpole’s) rhyme: Go to

pleasantly /ˈplɛzəntli/ (31 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: amavelmente; de modo agradável

Simple English: In a way that is enjoyable or friendly.

Example: The room was pleasantly cool after the street.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He dismissed us pleasantly, and we all left grateful for his friendliness and politeness. Go to

2. The furniture was as pleasantly irregular as the house. Go to

3. Pleasantly shaking his head, Skimpole said he did not know. Go to

Original English Version

1. He dismissed us pleasantly, and we all went out, very much obliged to him for being so affable and polite, by which he had certainly lost no dignity but seemed to us to have gained some. Go to

2. I smiled in return, and we made the rest of the way back very pleasantly. Go to

3. The furniture, old-fashioned rather than old, like the house, was as pleasantly irregular. Go to

4. I knew, to be sure, that it was the dear girl’s kindness, but I liked to be so pleasantly cheated. Go to

5. “My dear Miss Summerson,” said he, shaking his head pleasantly, “I don’t know. Go to

6. “You are very pleasantly situated here!” said Mrs. Pardiggle. Go to

politely /pəˈlaɪtli/ (65 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: educadamente; com cortesia

Simple English: In a way that shows good manners.

Example: I am quite well, thank you, she replied politely.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. "I certainly hope so," Mr. Kenge said politely. Go to

2. "Yes, sir," I answered politely. Go to

3. He politely placed an armchair for me by the fire, then pointed out a small mirror hanging beside the fireplace. Go to

4. But I am sure it is not necessary,” the young gentleman said politely. Go to

5. The Chancellor looked at me kindly and politely accepted my curtsy. Go to

6. Then he politely let her go and spoke to Richard for a minute or two while standing. Go to

Original English Version

1. “I hope so, I am sure,” said Mr. Kenge politely. Go to

2. The young gentleman showed me through an outer office into Mr. Kenge’s room - there was no one in it - and politely put an arm-chair for me by the fire. Go to

politeness /pʌlaɪtnʌs/ (22 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: cortesia

Simple English: good manners and respectful behaviour

Example: His calm politeness was not false.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He dismissed us pleasantly, and we all left grateful for his friendliness and politeness. Go to

2. Out of politeness, we murmured that this was amazing and pleasing, though we hardly knew what we meant. Go to

Original English Version

1. I don’t think we knew what it was either, but this is what our politeness expressed. Go to

postpones /poʊstˈpoʊn/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: adia

Simple English: moves an event to a later time

Example: She postpones the meeting.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The Chancellor postpones the hearing for two weeks. Go to

powdered /ˈpaʊdərd/ (7 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: empoadado

Simple English: covered with or made into a fine dry powder

Example: The judge wore powdered hair.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He is taken through grand but lifeless rooms by a powdered servant and brought to Lady Dedlock. Go to

practised /ˈpræktɪst/ (9 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: praticavam; exerciam

Simple English: Did something again and again in order to do it better.

Example: She practised the song until she knew every word.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. My dear Ada and I read, worked, and practised together. Go to

Original English Version

1. My darling and I read together, and worked, and practised, and found so much employment for our time that the winter days flew by us like bright-winged birds. Go to

preface /ˈprefəs/ (6 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: prefácio

Simple English: A short piece at the start of a book explaining it.

Example: The preface was written by a friend.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Preface I. In Chancery II. Go to

2. PREFACE Go to

Original English Version

1. Preface I. In Chancery II. Go to

2. PREFACE Go to

prejudiced /ˈpredʒədɪst/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: preconceituoso

Simple English: Judging people unfairly, before knowing them.

Example: The town was prejudiced against strangers.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He is honourable, proud, stubborn, energetic, deeply prejudiced, and completely unreasonable. Go to

Original English Version

1. He is an honourable, obstinate, truthful, high-spirited, intensely prejudiced, perfectly unreasonable man. Go to

2. We are not so prejudiced as to suppose that in private life you are otherwise than a very estimable man, with a great deal of poetry in your nature, of which you may not be conscious.” Go to

preserve /prɪˈzɜːrv/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: preservar; conservar; conserva

Simple English: To keep something in its original or good condition.

Example: We must preserve natural habitats to protect endangered species.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Our green sitting room displayed strange pictures of birds, a real preserved trout, Captain Cook’s death, and tea production in China. Go to

2. He seemed more like a young man damaged by life than an older man preserved well. Go to

prettier /ˈprɪtiər/ (7 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: mais bonitas

Simple English: More pleasant to look at.

Example: The second garden was prettier than the first.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. In each room, Mrs. Rouncewell proudly listens to Rosa's explanation, while Watt watches Rosa so closely that she grows shyer and prettier. Go to

Original English Version

1. Her grandson is so attentive to it that Rosa is shyer than ever - and prettier. Go to

2. Presently I took the light burden from her lap, did what I could to make the baby’s rest the prettier and gentler, laid it on a shelf, and covered it with my own handkerchief. Go to

print /prɪnt/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: imprimir; impressão; cópia

Simple English: Image or design transferred from engraved or prepared surface.

Example: The print on the wall was created using traditional screen printing techniques.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He asks whether copies of the picture were printed. Go to

2. They printed materials, made promises, and collected votes for different candidates to receive a pension. Go to

priscilla /prɪˈsɪlə/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: Priscila

Simple English: a girl's first name, belonging to a character in the Anne books

Example: Phillips was thinking about a rhyme for verses 'To Priscilla.'

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. She said her father was miserable and the servant Priscilla was often drunk, even while serving dinner. Go to

Original English Version

1. Priscilla drinks - she’s always drinking. Go to

2. Priscilla leaves him out the loaf and some milk, when there is any, overnight. Go to

3. We found Miss Jellyby trying to warm herself at the fire in the writing-room, which Priscilla was then lighting with a smutty parlour candlestick, throwing the candle in to make it burn better. Go to

procedure /prəˈsiːdʒər/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: procedimento; interno

Simple English: A medical operation performed to diagnose or treat conditions.

Example: The doctor explained the procedure to me before the operation started.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. It included every kind of legal difficulty and procedure again and again. Go to

2. Endless documents, questions, arguments, and procedures led nowhere except toward death and more costs. Go to

process /ˈprəʊsɛs/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: processo; processar

Simple English: An occurrence of a program actively running on a computer.

Example: To create a video, the system will process your selected files overnight.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The process would be formal, wordy, expensive, and unsatisfying. Go to

project /ˈprɒdʒɛkt/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: projeto; projetar

Simple English: A planned piece of work.

Example: We finished the project.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The African project took all her time and required letters to organizations and people across the country who cared about humanity. Go to

2. Mrs. Jellyby continued dictating: “‘And asks to inform him, concerning his letter of inquiry about the African project - ’ No, Peepy! Go to

protection /prəˈtɛkʃən/ (8 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: proteção; defesa

Simple English: The act of keeping people or things safe from harm.

Example: Wearing a helmet is essential for your protection while cycling.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He had simply heard of a good orphan without protection and chosen to protect her. Go to

proudest /ˈpraʊdɪst/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: o mais orgulhoso

Simple English: Feeling the most pride of all.

Example: She gave the proudest cackle you ever heard.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. And could I help it if with all this, and the coming to the little school, and the unexpected sight of the poor children outside waving their hats and bonnets to me, and of a grey-haired gentleman and lady whose daughter I had helped to teach and at whose house I had visited (who were said to be the proudest people in all that country), caring for nothing but calling out, “Good-bye, Esther. Go to

purposely /ˈpɜːrpəsli/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: de propósito; deliberadamente

Simple English: On purpose, and not by accident.

Example: He purposely arrived late to avoid the speeches.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. In Bleak House I have purposely dwelt upon the romantic side of familiar things. Go to

quale /kweɪl/ (28 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: Quale (nome próprio)

Simple English: A character's surname in the novel Bleak House.

Example: Quale called the Jellybys' marriage a union of mind and matter.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Mr. Quale, a talkative young philanthropist, called the Jellybys' marriage a union of mind and matter. Go to

2. Mr. Quale talked proudly about plans for Africa and encouraged Mrs. Jellyby to describe the hundreds of letters and thousands of notices she handled. Go to

3. Mrs. Jellyby sat among waste paper, drank coffee, dictated to Caddy, and discussed human brotherhood with Mr. Quale. Go to

4. Caddy said she did not care, but asked me to witness that she would never speak to Mr. Quale, even if he visited forever. Go to

5. Caddy repeated that she would never speak to Mr. Quale. Go to

6. I understood that she meant Mr. Quale. Go to

Original English Version

1. But he WAS Mr. Jellyby; and a loquacious young man called Mr. Quale, with large shining knobs for temples and his hair all brushed to the back of his head, who came in the evening, and told Ada he was a philanthropist, also informed her that he called the matrimonial alliance of Mrs. Jellyby with Mr. Jellyby the union of mind and matter. Go to

2. She also held a discussion with Mr. Quale, of which the subject seemed to be - if I understood it - the brotherhood of humanity, and gave utterance to some beautiful sentiments. Go to

3. I could not but understand her to refer to Mr. Quale, the young gentleman who had appeared after dinner yesterday. Go to

quieter /ˈkwaɪətər/ (11 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: mais silencioso; mais calado

Simple English: Making less noise, or calmer than before.

Example: Find a quieter room if you want to study.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The quieter fire seemed to wink at us like a sleepy old Chancery lion, as Richard said. Go to

rachael /ˈreɪtʃəl/ (43 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: Rachael (nome próprio)

Simple English: A character's first name in Bleak House and Hard Times.

Example: Rachael simply said good night and left me alone.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. When I asked our strict servant Mrs. Rachael about my parents, she simply said good night and left me alone. Go to

2. I also kept away from my school friends, Mrs. Rachael, and her daughter. Go to

3. Mrs. Rachael called me, and I found him in the same room, as if he had never left. Go to

4. Then he told Mrs. Rachael that Miss Barbary's money ended with her death and began to speak of me, now that my aunt was dead. Go to

5. "Never," said Mrs. Rachael. Go to

6. Mrs. Rachael began, "Miss Barbary, who is now among the angels..." Go to

Original English Version

1. I had more than once approached this subject of my thoughts with Mrs. Rachael, our only servant, who took my light away when I was in bed (another very good woman, but austere to me), and she had only said, “Esther, good night!” and gone away and left me. Go to

2. I felt in the same way towards my school companions; I felt in the same way towards Mrs. Rachael, who was a widow; and oh, towards her daughter, of whom she was proud, who came to see her once a fortnight! Go to

3. I was sent for by Mrs. Rachael, and found him in the same place, as if he had never gone away. Go to

4. Mrs. Rachael, I needn’t inform you who were acquainted with the late Miss Barbary’s affairs, that her means die with her and that this young lady, now her aunt is dead - ” Go to

5. Mrs. Rachael, our young friend has no doubt heard of - the - a - Jarndyce and Jarndyce.” Go to

6. “Never,” said Mrs. Rachael. Go to

ragged /ˈræɡɪd/ (14 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: esfarrapada; maltrapilha

Simple English: Old and torn in many places.

Example: The child wore a ragged coat.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. I could not persuade her to sit by me or to do anything but move a ragged stool to where she was kneeling, and take that, and still hold my dress in the same manner. Go to

rags /ræɡz/ (18 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: trapos; farrapos

Simple English: Old torn pieces of cloth, or very worn clothes.

Example: He wiped his hands on a bundle of oily rags.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Dirty bottles, old law books, legal papers, bags, rags, keys, and bones filled the dark shop. Go to

2. The cat jumped down and tore at a bundle of rags with claws like a tiger's. Go to

Original English Version

1. Thus interrupted, Miss Jellyby became silent and walked moodily on at my side while I admired the long successions and varieties of streets, the quantity of people already going to and fro, the number of vehicles passing and repassing, the busy preparations in the setting forth of shop windows and the sweeping out of shops, and the extraordinary creatures in rags secretly groping among the swept-out rubbish for pins and other refuse. Go to

2. In one part of the window was a picture of a red paper mill at which a cart was unloading a quantity of sacks of old rags. Go to

3. The litter of rags tumbled partly into and partly out of a one-legged wooden scale, hanging without any counterpoise from a beam, might have been counsellors’ bands and gowns torn up. Go to

4. The cat leaped down and ripped at a bundle of rags with her tigerish claws, with a sound that it set my teeth on edge to hear. Go to

5. They wanted wearing apparel, they wanted linen rags, they wanted money, they wanted coals, they wanted soup, they wanted interest, they wanted autographs, they wanted flannel, they wanted whatever Mr. Jarndyce had - or had not. Go to

railings /ˈreɪlɪŋz/ (6 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: grades; balaustrada

Simple English: A fence of metal or wooden bars.

Example: Children hung on the iron railings.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. One of the young Jellybys has put his head through the railings beside the basement!” Go to

Original English Version

1. “One of the young Jellybys been and got his head through the area railings!” Go to

2. I made my way to the poor child, who was one of the dirtiest little unfortunates I ever saw, and found him very hot and frightened and crying loudly, fixed by the neck between two iron railings, while a milkman and a beadle, with the kindest intentions possible, were endeavouring to drag him back by the legs, under a general impression that his skull was compressible by those means. Go to

3. Some pewter pots and a milk-can hung on the area railings; the door stood open; and we met the cook round the corner coming out of a public-house, wiping her mouth. Go to

raindrops /ˈreɪndrɑːps/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: gotas de chuva

Simple English: Single drops of falling rain.

Example: The first raindrops struck the dusty road.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. They may hunt the whole country-side, while the raindrops are pattering round their inactivity. Go to

rained /reɪnd/ (8 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: choveu; choveram em profusão

Simple English: Water fell from the clouds; also, things fell thickly like rain.

Example: It rained without stopping for three days.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Mr. Jarndyce asked whether we had done anything for the little Jellybys, as if it might have rained sweets or raspberry tarts for them. Go to

2. “It rained Esther.” Go to

3. It has rained so long that Mrs. Rouncewell, the old housekeeper, cleans her glasses to check whether the drops are on them. Go to

Original English Version

1. The last Lord Chancellor handled it neatly, when, correcting Mr. Blowers, the eminent silk gown who said that such a thing might happen when the sky rained potatoes, he observed, “or when we get through Jarndyce and Jarndyce, Mr. Blowers” - a pleasantry that particularly tickled the maces, bags, and purses. Go to

2. Couldn’t you - didn’t you - now, if it had rained sugar-plums, or three-cornered raspberry tarts, or anything of that sort!” said Mr. Jarndyce. Go to

3. It rained Esther.” Go to

4. It has rained so hard and rained so long down in Lincolnshire that Mrs. Rouncewell, the old housekeeper at Chesney Wold, has several times taken off her spectacles and cleaned them to make certain that the drops were not upon the glasses. Go to

rarer /rɛr/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: raro

Simple English: not common or not often found

Example: His late afternoon calls on Ruth were rarer now, for June was approaching, when she would take her degree and finish with the university.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. She praises the girl's modesty and says it is rarer than before. Go to

rattled /ˈrætəld/ (10 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: sacudiu; fez chocalhar

Simple English: Made a series of short hard sounds; also made someone nervous.

Example: The windows rattled every time a lorry went by.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. By that time we were so anxious and nervous that even Richard confessed, as we rattled over the stones of the old street, to feeling an irrational desire to drive back again. Go to

2. It was late before we separated, for when Ada was going at eleven o’clock, Mr. Skimpole went to the piano and rattled hilariously that the best of all ways to lengthen our days was to steal a few hours from night, my dear! Go to

reassured ˌri˙əˈʃʊrd (7 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: tranquilizado

Simple English: made to feel less worried or afraid

Example: He was disconcerted and walked to the window; I almost believed with an intention of jumping out, until he turned and I was reassured by seeing in his eyes what he had gone there to hide.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. He was disconcerted and walked to the window; I almost believed with an intention of jumping out, until he turned and I was reassured by seeing in his eyes what he had gone there to hide. Go to

recovers rɪˈkʌvərz (11 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: se recupera

Simple English: Returns to health, strength, or normal condition after illness or injury.

Example: He will enlist once his mother recovers from surgery.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. He recovers in a moment. Go to

regard /rɪˈɡɑːrd/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: respeito; consideração; relação

Simple English: To think about someone or something in a specified way.

Example: She regard her colleague as the most knowledgeable person on the team.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He sends his regards and asks whether you would like some food or wine and the newspaper.” He gave me the paper, stirred the fire, and left. Go to

2. Sir Leicester sent him north to work in industry and regarded such workers as dangerous rebels. Go to

relaxes rɪˈlæksɪz (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: relaxa

Simple English: Becomes less tense or strict.

Example: The old lady relaxes, consents to the admission of the visitors as a favour, and dismisses Rosa.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. The old lady relaxes, consents to the admission of the visitors as a favour, and dismisses Rosa. Go to

relief /rɪˈliːf/ (6 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: alívio; relevo; socorro

Simple English: Comfort after something upsetting or worrying finishes or improves.

Example: The relief I felt when the exam was over was incredible.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. What a relief! Go to

remorse /rɪˈmɔːrs/ (6 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: remorso; arrependimento

Simple English: Deep guilt and sorrow for something wrong that one has done.

Example: He felt remorse after betraying his companion.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. I would have had that fellow shot without the least remorse!” Go to

resident /ˈrɛzɪdənt/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: residente; morador; habitante

Simple English: A person who lives in a place, usually long-term.

Example: She is a long-term resident of this town and knows everyone.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Mrs. Pardiggle criticized the residents' untidiness and led us into a damp, foul room. Go to

respectfully rɪˈspɛktfəl (26 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: respeitoso

Simple English: Showing politeness and regard.

Example: And as for going as cook, - though I confess there is considerable glory in that, a cook being a sort of officer on ship-board - yet, somehow, I never fancied broiling fowls; - though once broiled, judiciously buttered, and judgmatically salted and peppered, there is no one who will speak more respectfully, not to say reverentially, of a broiled fowl than I will.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Watt respectfully accepts his grandmother's lesson. Go to

restlessly /ˈrestləsli/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: inquietamente; sem sossego

Simple English: In a way that shows you cannot stay still or calm.

Example: He paced restlessly outside the office door.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. During the case, Tom restlessly warned shopkeepers to avoid Chancery because it slowly destroyed people. Go to

rheumatism /ˈruːmətɪzəm/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: reumatismo

Simple English: An illness that makes the joints stiff and painful.

Example: Her rheumatism was worse in the damp.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. “Is it rheumatism, sir?” Richard asked. Go to

Original English Version

1. “Rheumatism, sir?” said Richard. Go to

rhythm /ˈrɪðəm/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: ritmo

Simple English: A pattern of sounds creating timing in music.

Example: The dancer moved to the rhythm of the upbeat music perfectly.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. She is not sure it is dark enough, but asks whether the child can hear a sound on the terrace through the music and beating rhythm. Go to

richard's /ˈrɪtʃərdz/ (120 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: de Richard

Simple English: a man's first name, used here in possessive form

Example: Richard's stories about washing in a pie dish made us laugh.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Richard's stories about washing in a pie dish and finding the kettle in his room made us laugh. Go to

2. Still distracted, Krook agreed and began to guess Richard's name. Go to

3. Richard’s comfortable room served as library, sitting room, and bedroom. Go to

Original English Version

1. It seemed that he had several times opened his mouth when alone with Richard after dinner, as if he had something on his mind, but had always shut it again, to Richard’s extreme confusion, without saying anything. Go to

2. Come in through the shop if t’other door’s out of order!” we all went in, stimulated by Richard’s laughing encouragement and relying on his protection. Go to

3. He looked so disagreeable and his cat looked so wickedly at me, as if I were a blood-relation of the birds upstairs, that I was quite relieved by Richard’s appearing at the door and saying, “Miss Summerson, I hope you are not bargaining for the sale of your hair. Go to

4. In answer to Richard’s inquiry from whom they came, he briefly answered, “Master, sir, if you please”; and putting on his hat again (which was like a soft bowl), cracked his whip, re-awakened his music, and went melodiously away. Go to

5. From these you came on Richard’s room, which was part library, part sitting-room, part bedroom, and seemed indeed a comfortable compound of many rooms. Go to

6. Mr. Jarndyce had written to a relation of the family, a great Sir Leicester Dedlock, for his interest in Richard’s favour, generally; and Sir Leicester had replied in a gracious manner that he would be happy to advance the prospects of the young gentleman if it should ever prove to be within his power, which was not at all probable, and that my Lady sent her compliments to the young gentleman (to whom she perfectly remembered that she was allied by remote consanguinity) and trusted that he would ever do his duty in any honourable profession to which he might devote himself. Go to

root /ruːt/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: raiz; radicular; torcer

Simple English: The part of a plant that grows underground to get nutrients.

Example: The root of the plant spreads deep into the soil for stability.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. White hair, thick veins, and wrinkled skin made his head look like an old root covered in snow. Go to

rosa's /ˈroʊzəz/ (14 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: de Rosa

Simple English: a woman's first name, used here in possessive form

Example: Rouncewell proudly listens to Rosa's explanation.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. In each room, Mrs. Rouncewell proudly listens to Rosa's explanation, while Watt watches Rosa so closely that she grows shyer and prettier. Go to

Original English Version

1. In each successive chamber that they enter, Mrs. Rouncewell, who is as upright as the house itself, rests apart in a window-seat or other such nook and listens with stately approval to Rosa’s exposition. Go to

rosy /ˈroʊzi/ (15 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: rosado; corado; risonho

Simple English: Pink like a rose; also hopeful and promising.

Example: The children came in from the cold with rosy cheeks.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. With nothing but love to live on, Skimpole fell in love, married, and had many rosy-cheeked children. Go to

Original English Version

1. I can remember, when I was a very little girl indeed, I used to say to my doll when we were alone together, “Now, Dolly, I am not clever, you know very well, and you must be patient with me, like a dear!” And so she used to sit propped up in a great arm-chair, with her beautiful complexion and rosy lips, staring at me - or not so much at me, I think, as at nothing - while I busily stitched away and told her every one of my secrets. Go to

2. He had told Ada, when they were leaning on the screen before the fire where I found them, that he recollected him as “a bluff, rosy fellow.” This was the utmost description Ada could give me. Go to

3. The prince, at last, objecting to this, “in which,” said Mr. Skimpole, in the frankest manner, “he was perfectly right,” the engagement terminated, and Mr. Skimpole having (as he added with delightful gaiety) “nothing to live upon but love, fell in love, and married, and surrounded himself with rosy cheeks.” His good friend Jarndyce and some other of his good friends then helped him, in quicker or slower succession, to several openings in life, but to no purpose, for he must confess to two of the oldest infirmities in the world: one was that he had no idea of time, the other that he had no idea of money. Go to

4. “Come in!” A dark-eyed, dark-haired, shy, village beauty comes in - so fresh in her rosy and yet delicate bloom that the drops of rain which have beaten on her hair look like the dew upon a flower fresh gathered. Go to

rotting /ˈrɑːtɪŋ/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: apodrecendo; em decomposição

Simple English: Slowly breaking down and going bad.

Example: Rotting leaves blocked the gutter.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. It was a street of dying, empty houses with broken windows, falling shutters, rusty rails, damaged chimneys, green steps, and rotting supports. Go to

Original English Version

1. In the meantime, the place became dilapidated, the wind whistled through the cracked walls, the rain fell through the broken roof, the weeds choked the passage to the rotting door. Go to

rouncewell /ˈraʊnsəwɛl/ (273 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: Rouncewell

Simple English: Surname of the old housekeeper in "Bleak House."

Example: Rouncewell, the old housekeeper, cleans her glasses.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. It has rained so long that Mrs. Rouncewell, the old housekeeper, cleans her glasses to check whether the drops are on them. Go to

2. It is hard to imagine Chesney Wold without Mrs. Rouncewell, although she has served there for only fifty years. Go to

3. He greatly respects Mrs. Rouncewell and always shakes her hand. Go to

4. Mrs. Rouncewell had two sons. Go to

5. Mrs. Rouncewell repeatedly welcomes Watt and calls him a fine young man. Go to

6. Mrs. Rouncewell is thankful. Go to

Original English Version

1. It has rained so hard and rained so long down in Lincolnshire that Mrs. Rouncewell, the old housekeeper at Chesney Wold, has several times taken off her spectacles and cleaned them to make certain that the drops were not upon the glasses. Go to

2. Mrs. Rouncewell might have been sufficiently assured by hearing the rain, but that she is rather deaf, which nothing will induce her to believe. Go to

3. Weather affects Mrs. Rouncewell little. Go to

4. It is the next difficult thing to an impossibility to imagine Chesney Wold without Mrs. Rouncewell, but she has only been here fifty years. Go to

5. Ask her how long, this rainy day, and she shall answer “fifty year, three months, and a fortnight, by the blessing of heaven, if I live till Tuesday.” Mr. Rouncewell died some time before the decease of the pretty fashion of pig-tails, and modestly hid his own (if he took it with him) in a corner of the churchyard in the park near the mouldy porch. Go to

6. He has a great liking for Mrs. Rouncewell; he says she is a most respectable, creditable woman. Go to

rouncewell's /ˈraʊnsəwɛlz/ (45 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: de Rouncewell

Simple English: Possessive referring to the housekeeper Rouncewell's son.

Example: Rouncewell's son grew up and married.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Mrs. Rouncewell's son grew up, became successful, married, and had a son. Go to

Original English Version

1. She can open it on occasion and be busy and fluttered, but it is shut up now and lies on the breadth of Mrs. Rouncewell’s iron-bound bosom in a majestic sleep. Go to

2. Even to this hour, Mrs. Rouncewell’s calm hands lose their composure when she speaks of him, and unfolding themselves from her stomacher, hover about her in an agitated manner as she says what a likely lad, what a fine lad, what a gay, good-humoured, clever lad he was! Go to

3. Nevertheless, Mrs. Rouncewell’s son has, in the course of nature and art, grown up, and established himself, and married, and called unto him Mrs. Rouncewell’s grandson, who, being out of his apprenticeship, and home from a journey in far countries, whither he was sent to enlarge his knowledge and complete his preparations for the venture of this life, stands leaning against the chimney-piece this very day in Mrs. Rouncewell’s room at Chesney Wold. Go to

4. Ah!” Mrs. Rouncewell’s hands unquiet, as usual, on this reference. Go to

5. Now, Mr. Tulkinghorn is, in a manner, part and parcel of the place, and besides, is supposed to have made Mrs. Rouncewell’s will. Go to

routine /ruːˈtiːn/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: rotina; rotineira; coreografia

Simple English: Occurring regularly as part of a usual process.

Example: She follows her morning routine to feel organized and prepared for the day.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. I soon got used to Greenleaf's strict routine, and my old life at my godmother's began to feel like a dream. Go to

saddened /ˈsædənd/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: entristecido; entristeceu

Simple English: Made someone feel sad.

Example: The news of the loss saddened the whole village.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. It saddened me that such a beautiful young woman had this dry official place instead of a home. Go to

saddest /ˈsædəst/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: o mais triste

Simple English: The most unhappy of all.

Example: It was the saddest day of the year.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. My birthday was the saddest day of the year in our house. Go to

salts sɔlts (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: sais

Simple English: chemical salts or grains of salt

Example: Bring smelling-salts, cold water, and vinegar quickly, or I will be angry."

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. I was so confused that Miss Donny thought the cold had harmed me and lent me her smelling salts. Go to

sarcastically /sɑːrˈkæstɪkli/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: sarcásticamente

Simple English: with sharp mockery or scorn

Example: She smiled sarcastically at the empty excuse.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Looking around, the man sarcastically asked whether she thought there were not enough visitors already. Go to

satin /ˈsætən/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: cetim

Simple English: Smooth, shiny cloth.

Example: The dresses were made of silk, satin, and velvet.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. From her messy hair to her pretty feet in worn, broken satin shoes, not one part of her clothing was in good condition or in the right place. Go to

Original English Version

1. And from her tumbled hair to her pretty feet, which were disfigured with frayed and broken satin slippers trodden down at heel, she really seemed to have no article of dress upon her, from a pin upwards, that was in its proper condition or its right place. Go to

satisfied /ˈsætɪsfaɪd/ (6 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: satisfeito; satisfez; atendidas

Simple English: Content or pleased with a result, outcome, or situation.

Example: After finishing the project, I felt satisfied with my hard work.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. From that moment, I felt completely comfortable, open, satisfied, and happy with him. Go to

Satisfy /ˈsætɪsfaɪ/ (9 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: satisfazer; atender; saciar

Simple English: To make someone happy by meeting their desires.

Example: You need to satisfy your customers to keep them coming back.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Ada said nothing and looked at me, so I said it must be very satisfying. Go to

2. “It is satisfying,” said Mrs. Jellyby. Go to

saving /ˈseɪvɪŋ/ (6 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: salvar; poupança; economia

Simple English: Money set aside and not spent.

Example: I started saving money for a vacation to the beach next year.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. I told Richard about these savings and said I did not need them now. Go to

2. He insisted that saving one pound was excellent because money saved was money gained. Go to

Scale /skeɪl/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: escala; balança; escalar

Simple English: A measurement of size or degree compared with another item.

Example: The scale of this project is much larger than I expected it to be.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. As Richard said, he could do nothing on a small scale, so he fired his great harmless cannons because he had no smaller weapons. Go to

scarred /skɑːrd/ (7 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: marcado por cicatrizes

Simple English: Marked with scars left by wounds.

Example: His hands were scarred from the work.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. On my handkerchief covering the baby, the woman’s rough, scarred hands had gently placed sweet-smelling herbs. Go to

Original English Version

1. No effort had been made to clean the room - it seemed in its nature almost hopeless of being clean; but the small waxen form from which so much solemnity diffused itself had been composed afresh, and washed, and neatly dressed in some fragments of white linen; and on my handkerchief, which still covered the poor baby, a little bunch of sweet herbs had been laid by the same rough, scarred hands, so lightly, so tenderly! Go to

schoolboy /ˈskuːlbɔɪ/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: escolar; menino de escola

Simple English: A boy who goes to school.

Example: He still writes with a schoolboy hand.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He warned us not to be surprised when Boythorn protected him, because Boythorn still remembered Jarndyce as a smaller schoolboy. Go to

Original English Version

1. Her second son would have been provided for at Chesney Wold and would have been made steward in due season, but he took, when he was a schoolboy, to constructing steam-engines out of saucepans and setting birds to draw their own water with the least possible amount of labour, so assisting them with artful contrivance of hydraulic pressure that a thirsty canary had only, in a literal sense, to put his shoulder to the wheel and the job was done. Go to

scratched /skrætʃt/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: arranharam; riscaram

Simple English: Rubbed or cut a surface with something sharp.

Example: When they scratched the tin, he felt a cold shiver.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Krook ordered Lady Jane to show us how she scratched and tore things. Go to

sealing /ˈsiːlɪŋ/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: de lacre

Simple English: Used for closing letters with hot wax.

Example: He melted a stick of sealing wax.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. We are always appearing, and disappearing, and swearing, and interrogating, and filing, and cross-filing, and arguing, and sealing, and motioning, and referring, and reporting, and revolving about the Lord Chancellor and all his satellites, and equitably waltzing ourselves off to dusty death, about costs. Go to

seeming /ˈsiːmɪŋ/ (14 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: aparente; que parece ser

Simple English: Appearing to be true, though perhaps it is not.

Example: His seeming calm hid a great deal of worry.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. She was a pretty, very diminutive, plump woman of from forty to fifty, with handsome eyes, though they had a curious habit of seeming to look a long way off. Go to

2. Any seeming inconsistencies in Mr. Skimpole or in Mrs. Jellyby I could not expect to be able to reconcile, having so little experience or practical knowledge. Go to

senior /ˈsiːniər/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: sênior; altos; veterano

Simple English: Higher in age, rank, or position.

Example: She is a senior manager.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Judges, senior lawyers, and young clerks have all made jokes about a case that seems less likely to end than potatoes are to fall from the sky. Go to

sensed /senst/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: pressentiu; percebeu; notou

Simple English: Felt or understood something without being told.

Example: She sensed at once that something was wrong.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. We told Mr. Jarndyce as little as possible, but he immediately sensed trouble, like a change in the wind. Go to

sentence /ˈsɛntəns/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: sentença; frase; sentencio

Simple English: A group of words expressing an idea.

Example: Write a complete sentence.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He listened to himself with pleasure and moved his head or hand with his sentences. Go to

2. Before the sentence was fully finished, Mr. Kenge leaned forward and whispered. Go to

3. While speaking in broken sentences, he walked up and down uncertainly. Go to

sewed /soʊd/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: costurou

Simple English: Joined pieces of cloth with a needle and thread.

Example: She sewed the strips together neatly.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. She sat in a large chair while I sewed and shared all my secrets with her. Go to

shaded /ˈʃeɪdɪd/ (7 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: sombreado; à sombra

Simple English: Covered so that the sun does not reach it.

Example: We ate lunch in a shaded corner.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Mr. Tulkinghorn takes out the papers, places them on a small golden table beside Lady Dedlock, puts on his glasses, and begins reading by a shaded lamp. Go to

Original English Version

1. Mr. Tulkinghorn takes out his papers, asks permission to place them on a golden talisman of a table at my Lady’s elbow, puts on his spectacles, and begins to read by the light of a shaded lamp. Go to

2. A day or two before, I had wrapped the dear old doll in her own shawl and quietly laid her - I am half ashamed to tell it - in the garden-earth under the tree that shaded my old window. Go to

shadowed /ˈʃædoʊd/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: sombreado; seguido de perto

Simple English: Covered in shadow, or followed closely and secretly.

Example: The path was shadowed by tall pines.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Before I left, frozen with shock, she added that obedience, self-denial, and hard work must prepare me for my shadowed life. Go to

shadowy /ˈʃædoʊi/ (8 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: sombrio; envolto em sombra

Simple English: Full of shadows, or hard to see and hard to know about.

Example: A shadowy figure stood at the end of the corridor.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. To be sure, he has not a vital interest in the suit in question, her part in which was the only property my Lady brought him; and he has a shadowy impression that for his name - the name of Dedlock - to be in a cause, and not in the title of that cause, is a most ridiculous accident. Go to

2. It wandered back to my godmother’s house and came along the intervening track, raising up shadowy speculations which had sometimes trembled there in the dark as to what knowledge Mr. Jarndyce had of my earliest history - even as to the possibility of his being my father, though that idle dream was quite gone now. Go to

sharpened /ˈʃɑːrpənd/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: afiou; amolou

Simple English: Made the edge of a tool sharp.

Example: The Woodman sharpened his axe on a grindstone.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. I have discovered,” whispering mysteriously, “that her natural cruelty is sharpened by a jealous fear of their regaining their liberty. Go to

sharper /ˈʃɑːrpər/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: mais cortante; mais mordaz

Simple English: More able to cut, or more severe.

Example: His second answer was sharper than the first.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. I have felt something sharper than cold. Go to

sharpshooters /ˈʃɑːrpˌʃuːtərz/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: atiradores de elite

Simple English: people skilled at accurate shooting

Example: Sharpshooters XXVII.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Sharpshooters XXVII. Go to

Original English Version

1. Sharpshooters XXVII. Go to

shawl /ʃɔːl/ (18 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: xale

Simple English: A large piece of cloth worn over the shoulders or head.

Example: She wrapped a warm shawl around herself.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Her loose shawl fell onto her chair as she greeted us. Go to

Original English Version

1. A day or two before, I had wrapped the dear old doll in her own shawl and quietly laid her - I am half ashamed to tell it - in the garden-earth under the tree that shaded my old window. Go to

2. The shawl in which she had been loosely muffled dropped onto her chair when she advanced to us; and as she turned to resume her seat, we could not help noticing that her dress didn’t nearly meet up the back and that the open space was railed across with a lattice-work of stay-lace - like a summer-house. Go to

shawls ʃˈɔlz (7 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: xales

Simple English: large pieces of cloth worn over the shoulders

Example: "Can you imagine them traveling the world, especially in those shawls and caps?"

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. I rested her head on my lap and covered us with shawls. Go to

Original English Version

1. By degrees the poor tired girl fell asleep, and then I contrived to raise her head so that it should rest on my lap, and to cover us both with shawls. Go to

shilling /ˈʃɪlɪŋ/ (7 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: xelim

Simple English: An old British coin worth one twentieth of a pound.

Example: A shilling bought a good meal in those days.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. It appeared to us that some of them must pass their whole lives in dealing out subscription-cards to the whole post-office directory - shilling cards, half-crown cards, half-sovereign cards, penny cards. Go to

2. As soon as we were out of doors, Egbert, with the manner of a little footpad, demanded a shilling of me on the ground that his pocket-money was “boned” from him. Go to

shillings /ˈʃɪlɪŋz/ (23 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: xelins

Simple English: Old British coins worth one twentieth of a pound.

Example: The book cost three shillings when it first appeared.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He thought someone had mentioned several pounds, some shillings, and halfpennies. Go to

2. The stranger stated that the exact debt was twenty-four pounds, sixteen shillings, and seven and a half pence. Go to

Original English Version

1. Some pounds, odd shillings, and halfpence, I think, were mentioned.” Go to

2. I possessed fifteen pounds, odd shillings, which I had saved from my quarterly allowance during several years. Go to

shivering /ˈʃɪvərɪŋ/ (10 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: tremendo de frio; tiritando

Simple English: Shaking slightly because of cold or fear.

Example: We stood shivering on the platform waiting for the late train.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. I quietly opened the door and found Caddy shivering, holding a broken candle and a cup. Go to

2. Mr. Jarndyce walked back and forth, shivering at the memory. Go to

Original English Version

1. Fog in the eyes and throats of ancient Greenwich pensioners, wheezing by the firesides of their wards; fog in the stem and bowl of the afternoon pipe of the wrathful skipper, down in his close cabin; fog cruelly pinching the toes and fingers of his shivering little ’prentice boy on deck. Go to

2. I opened it softly and found Miss Jellyby shivering there with a broken candle in a broken candlestick in one hand and an egg-cup in the other. Go to

shone /ʃoʊn/ (21 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: brilhavam; reluziam

Simple English: Gave out or reflected light.

Example: The little stars shone in the sun like diamonds.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The sun shone, the wind blew, light and shadow moved across the fields, and birds sang. Go to

2. At night, Ada rested her head on my shoulder while the fire shone in her thoughtful eyes. Go to

Original English Version

1. Imperceptibly my candles became the only incongruous part of the morning, the dark places in my room all melted away, and the day shone bright upon a cheerful landscape, prominent in which the old Abbey Church, with its massive tower, threw a softer train of shadow on the view than seemed compatible with its rugged character. Go to

shopkeeper ʃɑpkipɜr (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: lojista

Simple English: a person who owns or runs a shop

Example: Her way of shopping was to throw one noun at a shopkeeper, with no other words at all.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. It concerned a German shopkeeper who drank far too much. Go to

shopkeepers /ˈʃɑːpkiːpərz/ (6 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: lojistas; comerciantes

Simple English: People who own or run small shops.

Example: The shopkeepers closed early that day.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. In fact, everyone around her knows her weaknesses and habits, from her maid to fashionable shopkeepers. Go to

2. During the case, Tom restlessly warned shopkeepers to avoid Chancery because it slowly destroyed people. Go to

Original English Version

1. He got into a restless habit of strolling about when the cause was on, or expected, talking to the little shopkeepers and telling ’em to keep out of Chancery, whatever they did. Go to

shropshire /ˈʃrɒpʃər/ (17 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: Shropshire

Simple English: a county in England

Example: The prisoner is hurried forward, and the man from Shropshire cries, 'My lord!'

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The prisoner is hurried forward, and the man from Shropshire cries, "My lord!" Court officials angrily demand silence. Go to

2. The man from Shropshire tries once more to speak, but the Chancellor and everyone else disappear. Go to

Original English Version

1. Another ruined suitor, who periodically appears from Shropshire and breaks out into efforts to address the Chancellor at the close of the day’s business and who can by no means be made to understand that the Chancellor is legally ignorant of his existence after making it desolate for a quarter of a century, plants himself in a good place and keeps an eye on the judge, ready to call out “My Lord!” in a voice of sonorous complaint on the instant of his rising. Go to

2. The Chancellor rises; the bar rises; the prisoner is brought forward in a hurry; the man from Shropshire cries, “My lord!” Maces, bags, and purses indignantly proclaim silence and frown at the man from Shropshire. Go to

3. The man from Shropshire ventures another remonstrative “My lord!” but the Chancellor, being aware of him, has dexterously vanished. Go to

shuts ʃʌts (21 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: fecha

Simple English: closes

Example: Thus they pass on from room to room, raising the pictured Dedlocks for a few brief minutes as the young gardener admits the light, and reconsigning them to their graves as he shuts it out again.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. Thus they pass on from room to room, raising the pictured Dedlocks for a few brief minutes as the young gardener admits the light, and reconsigning them to their graves as he shuts it out again. Go to

shutters /ˈʃʌtərz/ (19 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: venezianas; postigos

Simple English: Wooden covers that close over a window.

Example: They closed the shutters against the storm.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. A young gardener goes ahead to open the shutters. Go to

2. Nobody is interested in Guppy's dreams, but he remains fixed before the portrait until the shutters close. Go to

3. It was a street of dying, empty houses with broken windows, falling shutters, rusty rails, damaged chimneys, green steps, and rotting supports. Go to

Original English Version

1. The pictures of the Dedlocks past and gone have seemed to vanish into the damp walls in mere lowness of spirits, as the housekeeper has passed along the old rooms shutting up the shutters. Go to

2. Mr. Guppy and his friend follow Rosa; Mrs. Rouncewell and her grandson follow them; a young gardener goes before to open the shutters. Go to

3. But he still remains so absorbed by the portrait that he stands immovable before it until the young gardener has closed the shutters, when he comes out of the room in a dazed state that is an odd though a sufficient substitute for interest and follows into the succeeding rooms with a confused stare, as if he were looking everywhere for Lady Dedlock again. Go to

4. It is a street of perishing blind houses, with their eyes stoned out, without a pane of glass, without so much as a window-frame, with the bare blank shutters tumbling from their hinges and falling asunder, the iron rails peeling away in flakes of rust, the chimneys sinking in, the stone steps to every door (and every door might be death’s door) turning stagnant green, the very crutches on which the ruins are propped decaying. Go to

shyer /ʃaɪ/ (7 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: mais tímido

Simple English: more nervous or less willing to speak

Example: The younger boy was shyer than his sister.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. They drop it and almost hit their heads while picking it up, making her even shyer. Go to

2. In each room, Mrs. Rouncewell proudly listens to Rosa's explanation, while Watt watches Rosa so closely that she grows shyer and prettier. Go to

3. Rosa becomes even shyer and says she does not know it. Go to

Original English Version

1. Rosa is shyer than before. Go to

2. He says he is not in Mr. Tulkinghorn’s office, but he is sure he may make use of Mr. Tulkinghorn’s name if necessary.” Finding, now she leaves off, that she has been making quite a long speech, Rosa is shyer than ever. Go to

3. Her grandson is so attentive to it that Rosa is shyer than ever - and prettier. Go to

4. “I don’t know it, sir.” Rosa is shyer than ever. Go to

shyly /ˈʃaɪli/ (6 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: timidamente; acanhadamente

Simple English: In a nervous way, without confidence.

Example: The soldier came into the room shyly.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Rosa shyly gives Watt the card. Go to

2. Neither spoke of it, and each shyly believed it was a secret perhaps even from the other. Go to

Original English Version

1. I am sure that I, sitting with them, and walking with them, and talking with them, and noticing from day to day how they went on, falling deeper and deeper in love, and saying nothing about it, and each shyly thinking that this love was the greatest of secrets, perhaps not yet suspected even by the other - I am sure that I was scarcely less enchanted than they were and scarcely less pleased with the pretty dream. Go to

sighed /saɪd/ (8 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: suspirou

Simple English: Let out a long, slow breath to show sadness or relief.

Example: The Scarecrow sighed and said nothing.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Richard sighed that it had been quite an adventure for one London morning. Go to

sinful /ˈsɪnfəl/ (7 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: pecaminoso; pecador

Simple English: Morally wrong according to religious law.

Example: In the old sermons, idleness was treated as sinful.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. No fog can be too thick and no mud too deep to match the confused and helpless condition of this ancient, sinful Court of Chancery. Go to

2. I read the story in Saint John about Jesus and the sinful woman. Go to

Original English Version

1. I had come down at nine o’clock as I always did to read the Bible to her, and was reading from St. John how our Saviour stooped down, writing with his finger in the dust, when they brought the sinful woman to him. Go to

sinned /sɪnd/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: pecou

Simple English: Did something that religion or morality forbids.

Example: He believed he had sinned and went to confession.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Jesus stood and said, "Let the person among you who has never sinned throw the first stone at her." Go to

sixpence /ˈsɪkspəns/ (11 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: moeda antiga de seis pence

Simple English: An old British coin worth six pence.

Example: She paid a sixpence for the ribbon.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. Francis, my third (nine), one and sixpence halfpenny; Felix, my fourth (seven), eightpence to the Superannuated Widows; Alfred, my youngest (five), has voluntarily enrolled himself in the Infant Bonds of Joy, and is pledged never, through life, to use tobacco in any form.” Go to

sixpences /ˈsɪkspənsɪz/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: moeda de seis pence

Simple English: An old British coin worth six pennies.

Example: Not even sixpences were left.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. Not even sixpences.” Go to

skated /ˈskeɪt/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: patinar

Simple English: Move on ice or wheels using skates.

Example: The red sun gave little warmth, and dark ice showed where people had skated.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The red sun gave little warmth, and dark ice showed where people had skated. Go to

skimpole /ˈskɪmpoʊl/ (467 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: Skimpole

Simple English: the surname of a carefree, irresponsible character in the story

Example: Skimpole stood by the fire telling Richard how much he had enjoyed football at school.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Downstairs, we met Mr. Skimpole, who stood by the fire telling Richard how much he had enjoyed football at school. Go to

2. From the conversation, I learned that Mr. Skimpole had trained as a doctor and once worked for a German prince. Go to

3. With nothing but love to live on, Skimpole fell in love, married, and had many rosy-cheeked children. Go to

4. Skimpole admitted that he understood neither time nor money. Go to

5. Like a child, he asked the busy world to follow its goals but allow Harold Skimpole to live peacefully. Go to

6. He spoke about himself as if Skimpole were another person whose unusual habits and needs were society’s responsibility. Go to

Original English Version

1. When we went downstairs, we were presented to Mr. Skimpole, who was standing before the fire telling Richard how fond he used to be, in his school-time, of football. Go to

2. I gathered from the conversation that Mr. Skimpole had been educated for the medical profession and had once lived, in his professional capacity, in the household of a German prince. Go to

3. The prince, at last, objecting to this, “in which,” said Mr. Skimpole, in the frankest manner, “he was perfectly right,” the engagement terminated, and Mr. Skimpole having (as he added with delightful gaiety) “nothing to live upon but love, fell in love, and married, and surrounded himself with rosy cheeks.” His good friend Jarndyce and some other of his good friends then helped him, in quicker or slower succession, to several openings in life, but to no purpose, for he must confess to two of the oldest infirmities in the world: one was that he had no idea of time, the other that he had no idea of money. Go to

4. Wear red coats, blue coats, lawn sleeves; put pens behind your ears, wear aprons; go after glory, holiness, commerce, trade, any object you prefer; only - let Harold Skimpole live!” Go to

5. All this and a great deal more he told us, not only with the utmost brilliancy and enjoyment, but with a certain vivacious candour - speaking of himself as if he were not at all his own affair, as if Skimpole were a third person, as if he knew that Skimpole had his singularities but still had his claims too, which were the general business of the community and must not be slighted. Go to

6. “I covet nothing,” said Mr. Skimpole in the same light way. Go to

skimpole's /ˈskɪmpoʊlz/ (40 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: Skimpole

Simple English: belonging to Skimpole, a character in the story

Example: Harold Skimpole's children had somehow done the same.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Harold Skimpole’s children had somehow done the same. Go to

2. Mr. Skimpole’s place in the house already proved it, even before his next words. Go to

3. Of all Skimpole’s playful but sincere speeches, Mr. Jarndyce seemed to like this one best. Go to

4. I thought Ada and Richard deserved Skimpole’s openness and great effort to please them on their first meeting. Go to

5. Smiling, Mr. Jarndyce patted Skimpole’s head as if he truly were a child. Go to

6. First, I noticed the difference between Jarndyce’s meaningful silent look and Skimpole’s earlier flood of words. Go to

Original English Version

1. Harold Skimpole’s children have tumbled up somehow or other. Go to

2. Mr. Skimpole’s general position there would have rendered it so without the addition of what he presently said. Go to

3. When I was shut out with her in the hall, she said, holding up her hands, “Oh, if you please, miss, Mr. Carstone says would you come upstairs to Mr. Skimpole’s room. Go to

4. It was a most singular thing that the arrest was our embarrassment and not Mr. Skimpole’s. Go to

5. “You are clever enough to be the good little woman of our lives here, my dear,” he returned playfully; “the little old woman of the child’s (I don’t mean Skimpole’s) rhyme: Go to

sleepless /ˈsliːpləs/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: em claro; sem dormir

Simple English: Spent without sleeping.

Example: The four travelers passed a sleepless night.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. She spent her days there and her long, sleepless nights thinking. Go to

slight /slaɪt/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: ligeira; leve; pequena

Simple English: Small in amount, degree, or extent; not significant.

Example: There was a slight chance of rain during our picnic last weekend.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. With a laugh and a slight blush, he called me their dear, excellent old woman and said he could not manage without me. Go to

smallweed /ˈsmɔːlwiːd/ (534 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: Smallweed

Simple English: the surname of a family in the story

Example: The Smallweed Family.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The Smallweed Family XXII. Go to

Original English Version

1. The Smallweed Family XXII. Go to

snagsby /ˈsnæɡzbi/ (660 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: Snagsby

Simple English: the surname of a law-stationer character in the story

Example: Snagsby Sees It All.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Mrs. Snagsby Sees It All XXVI. Go to

Original English Version

1. Mrs. Snagsby Sees It All XXVI. Go to

snored /snɔːrd/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: roncava

Simple English: Made loud noises while sleeping.

Example: He snored all through the night.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. His powerful lungs made the house beams shake when he talked, laughed, or snored. Go to

snoring /ˈsnɔːrɪŋ/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: que ronca; ressonante

Simple English: Making loud noises while sleeping.

Example: A snoring man lay across two seats.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. Talking, laughing, or snoring, they make the beams of the house shake.” Go to

snort /snɔːrt/ (6 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: bufo; resfolego

Simple English: A loud noise made by pushing air through the nose.

Example: He answered with a snort of anger.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The stranger said nothing and made another powerful snort that seemed to lift him from his seat. Go to

2. The stranger answered only with another violent snort. Go to

Original English Version

1. The person on the sofa, who appeared to have a cold in his head, gave such a very loud snort that he startled me. Go to

2. The strange man said nothing but made another snort. Go to

3. The stranger only answered with another violent snort, whether in acceptance of the poetry-tribute or in disdainful rejection of it, he did not express to me. Go to

snorting /ˈsnɔːrtɪŋ/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: bufando

Simple English: Pushing air noisily out through the nose.

Example: The horse came snorting up the slope.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He made such a loud snorting sound that he frightened me. Go to

snowy /ˈsnoʊi/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: nevados; cobertos de neve

Simple English: Covered with snow.

Example: We could see the snowy peaks from the window.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. After the house disappeared, I watched the snowy fields and shining frozen trees through the coach window. Go to

sob /sɑb/ (11 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: soluçar

Simple English: cry with short, sudden breaths

Example: "Yes, yes," he shouted with a terrible sob, like a wounded moose.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. Therefore, of course, I made myself sob less and persuaded myself to be quiet by saying very often, “Esther, now you really must! Go to

sobbing /ˈsɑːbɪŋ/ (10 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: soluçando; aos soluços

Simple English: Crying loudly while taking short sharp breaths.

Example: The child came in sobbing about a lost toy.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. I broke out crying and sobbing, and I said, “Oh, dear godmother, tell me, pray do tell me, did Mama die on my birthday?” Go to

2. He looked very much astonished at it and at Ada’s kissing him, but soon fell fast asleep in my arms, sobbing at longer and longer intervals, until he was quiet. Go to

3. Mrs. Jellyby charged us with many remembrances to her good friend Mr. Jarndyce; Caddy left her desk to see us depart, kissed me in the passage, and stood biting her pen and sobbing on the steps; Peepy, I am happy to say, was asleep and spared the pain of separation (I was not without misgivings that he had gone to Newgate market in search of me); and all the other children got up behind the barouche and fell off, and we saw them, with great concern, scattered over the surface of Thavies Inn as we rolled out of its precincts. Go to

softened /ˈsɔːfənd/ (22 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: suavizaram-se; enterneceram-se

Simple English: Became or made less hard, less strong or less severe.

Example: His voice softened when he saw the child was crying.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Ada continued that Esther had softened poor Caddy, the eldest child, and had also been thoughtful and kind to her. Go to

2. Ada bent down crying and placed her hand on the mother’s with such kindness that she could have softened any mother’s heart. Go to

Original English Version

1. I had only gone out with Peepy after he was found and given him a little, tiny horse! - “and, cousin John, she softened poor Caroline, the eldest one, so much and was so thoughtful for me and so amiable! Go to

2. Such, with its illuminated windows, softened here and there by shadows of curtains, shining out upon the starlight night; with its light, and warmth, and comfort; with its hospitable jingle, at a distance, of preparations for dinner; with the face of its generous master brightening everything we saw; and just wind enough without to sound a low accompaniment to everything we heard, were our first impressions of Bleak House. Go to

3. Such compassion, such gentleness, as that with which she bent down weeping and put her hand upon the mother’s might have softened any mother’s heart that ever beat. Go to

4. I thought it very touching to see these two women, coarse and shabby and beaten, so united; to see what they could be to one another; to see how they felt for one another, how the heart of each to each was softened by the hard trials of their lives. Go to

softness /ˈsɔːftnəs/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: maciez; suavidade; brandura

Simple English: The quality of being soft to touch, to hear or in manner.

Example: The softness of the old blanket made it everyone's favourite.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He praised its colour and softness. Go to

solemn /ˈsɑləm/ (17 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: solene

Simple English: serious and formal in manner or feeling

Example: When this ended, he began to read the hymn in long, solemn tones, like a bell ringing again and again on a ship sinking in the fog.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. The subject was a woman, whose husband was ignorantly convicted of having murdered her; but on solemn appeal to a higher court, he was acquitted because it was shown upon the evidence that she had died the death of which this name of spontaneous combustion is given. Go to

soot /sʊt/ (10 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: fuligem; fuligem de chaminé

Simple English: The black powder left by smoke on walls and chimneys.

Example: His hands were black with soot after cleaning the stove.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Black smoke and soot fall like dirty snow. Go to

Original English Version

1. Smoke lowering down from chimney-pots, making a soft black drizzle, with flakes of soot in it as big as full-grown snowflakes - gone into mourning, one might imagine, for the death of the sun. Go to

sorrowful /ˈsɒroʊfəl/ (16 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: triste

Simple English: full of sadness

Example: But were the coming narrative to reveal in any instance, the complete abasement of poor Starbuck's fortitude, scarce might I have the heart to write it; for it is a thing most sorrowful, nay shocking, to expose the fall of valour in the soul.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. The coach was at the little lawn-gate - we had not come out until we heard the wheels - and thus I left her, with a sorrowful heart. Go to

sparkle /ˈspɑːrkəl/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: brilho; cintilação

Simple English: A bright, lively shine.

Example: The years had taken the sparkle from her eyes.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. “If you want to address our people, sir,” say Blaze and Sparkle, the jewellers - meaning by our people Lady Dedlock and the rest - “you must remember that you are not dealing with the general public; you must hit our people in their weakest place, and their weakest place is such a place.” “To make this article go down, gentlemen,” say Sheen and Gloss, the mercers, to their friends the manufacturers, “you must come to us, because we know where to have the fashionable people, and we can make it fashionable.” “If you want to get this print upon the tables of my high connexion, sir,” says Mr. Sladdery, the librarian, “or if you want to get this dwarf or giant into the houses of my high connexion, sir, or if you want to secure to this entertainment the patronage of my high connexion, sir, you must leave it, if you please, to me, for I have been accustomed to study the leaders of my high connexion, sir, and I may tell you without vanity that I can turn them round my finger” - in which Mr. Sladdery, who is an honest man, does not exaggerate at all. Go to

speechless /ˈspiːtʃləs/ (6 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: sem palavras; mudo de espanto

Simple English: Unable to speak because of surprise or strong feeling.

Example: The news left us all speechless.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. He is found sometimes, speechless but quite at home, at corners of dinner-tables in great country houses and near doors of drawing-rooms, concerning which the fashionable intelligence is eloquent, where everybody knows him and where half the Peerage stops to say “How do you do, Mr. Tulkinghorn?” He receives these salutations with gravity and buries them along with the rest of his knowledge. Go to

spits /spɪts/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: cospe

Simple English: Pushes liquid out of the mouth.

Example: He spits out the seeds as he eats.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. Both the world of fashion and the Court of Chancery are things of precedent and usage: oversleeping Rip Van Winkles who have played at strange games through a deal of thundery weather; sleeping beauties whom the knight will wake one day, when all the stopped spits in the kitchen shall begin to turn prodigiously! Go to

springing /ˈsprɪŋɪŋ/ (6 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: saltando; brotando; surgindo

Simple English: Jumping suddenly, or appearing quickly.

Example: Springing to his feet, he ran to open the gate.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Springing a Mine LV. Go to

Original English Version

1. Springing a Mine LV. Go to

stables /ˈsteɪbəlz/ (19 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: estábulos; cavalariças

Simple English: Buildings where horses are kept.

Example: The boy slept above the stables.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Other passages led to back stairs and the stables. Go to

2. Perhaps the horses in the long stables imagine fine weather. Go to

Original English Version

1. Not that she is so, but that “the most is made,” as the Honourable Bob Stables has frequently asserted upon oath, “of all her points.” The same authority observes that she is perfectly got up and remarks in commendation of her hair especially that she is the best-groomed woman in the whole stud. Go to

2. The horses in the stables - the long stables in a barren, red-brick court-yard, where there is a great bell in a turret, and a clock with a large face, which the pigeons who live near it and who love to perch upon its shoulders seem to be always consulting - THEY may contemplate some mental pictures of fine weather on occasions, and may be better artists at them than the grooms. Go to

3. So now, half-waking and all-winking, he may recall the house full of company, the coach-houses full of vehicles, the stables full of horses, and the out-buildings full of attendants upon horses, until he is undecided about the present and comes forth to see how it is. Go to

4. When the Dedlocks were about to ride out from Chesney Wold in the king’s cause, she is supposed to have more than once stolen down into the stables in the dead of night and lamed their horses; and the story is that once at such an hour, her husband saw her gliding down the stairs and followed her into the stall where his own favourite horse stood. Go to

stains /steɪnz/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: manchas; mancha; tinge

Simple English: Marks that are hard to remove; also to make such marks.

Example: Coffee stains are easier to remove when they are fresh.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. A young man with ink stains spoke to me from the street. Go to

2. By the fire, she used vinegar from the cup to clean ink stains from her face while frowning unhappily. Go to

Original English Version

1. She would not sit down, but stood by the fire dipping her inky middle finger in the egg-cup, which contained vinegar, and smearing it over the ink stains on her face, frowning the whole time and looking very gloomy. Go to

stair /ster/ (10 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: degrau; escada

Simple English: One step in a set of steps inside a building.

Example: The bottom stair creaks whenever anyone comes home late.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Mrs. Jellyby remained completely calm while the child’s head hit every stair. Go to

2. We carefully went to dinner because the torn stair carpet was dangerous. Go to

Original English Version

1. Mrs. Jellyby, whose face reflected none of the uneasiness which we could not help showing in our own faces as the dear child’s head recorded its passage with a bump on every stair - Richard afterwards said he counted seven, besides one for the landing - received us with perfect equanimity. Go to

2. Soon after seven o’clock we went down to dinner, carefully, by Mrs. Jellyby’s advice, for the stair-carpets, besides being very deficient in stair-wires, were so torn as to be absolute traps. Go to

stares /stɛərz/ (28 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: olha fixamente

Simple English: looks steadily for a long time with the eyes wide or fixed

Example: He stares at the object with deep interest.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He stares at it with deep interest, completely fascinated. Go to

Original English Version

1. He stares at it with uncommon interest; he seems to be fixed and fascinated by it. Go to

startled /ˈstɑːrtəld/ (14 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: assustada; sobressaltada

Simple English: Suddenly surprised or frightened.

Example: Aunt Em was startled by the child's laughter.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Ada was startled and blushed, but laughed and said she was proud of such honest admiration. Go to

2. The name Jarndyce startled Krook. Go to

Original English Version

1. “Going before the Chancellor?” I said, startled for a moment. Go to

2. The old man darted at him a sudden look which even called my attention from Ada, who, startled and blushing, was so remarkably beautiful that she seemed to fix the wandering attention of the little old lady herself. Go to

3. A large grey cat leaped from some neighbouring shelf on his shoulder and startled us all. Go to

4. The person on the sofa, who appeared to have a cold in his head, gave such a very loud snort that he startled me. Go to

steaming /ˈstiːmɪŋ/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: fumegante; quente que solta vapor

Simple English: Very hot and giving off steam.

Example: She brought in a steaming bowl of soup.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. A bell was rung as we drew up, and amidst the sound of its deep voice in the still air, and the distant barking of some dogs, and a gush of light from the opened door, and the smoking and steaming of the heated horses, and the quickened beating of our own hearts, we alighted in no inconsiderable confusion. Go to

steep /stiːp/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: íngreme; acentuada; escarpadas

Simple English: (Of an angle) measuring less than ninety degrees.

Example: The mountain climb was steep, making it very challenging for hikers.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. In a corner, broad steep stairs led to an entrance like a church door. Go to

2. She stopped at the bottom of the broad, steep stairs. Go to

sternly /ˈstɜːrnli/ (13 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: severamente; com firmeza

Simple English: In a serious and strict way.

Example: The guard spoke sternly to the boys.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. In a low voice, my godmother told the man, "This is the child." Then she said sternly, "This is Esther, sir." Go to

Original English Version

1. I thought of my dead godmother, of the night when I read to her, of her frowning so fixedly and sternly in her bed, of the strange place I was going to, of the people I should find there, and what they would be like, and what they would say to me, when a voice in the coach gave me a terrible start. Go to

steward /ˈstuːərd/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: mordomo; administrador; comissário de bordo

Simple English: A person who manages a household or an estate, or who serves meals on a ship or plane.

Example: The steward brought us blankets and hot tea.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. It expresses, as it were, the steward of the legal mysteries, the butler of the legal cellar, of the Dedlocks. Go to

2. Her second son would have been provided for at Chesney Wold and would have been made steward in due season, but he took, when he was a schoolboy, to constructing steam-engines out of saucepans and setting birds to draw their own water with the least possible amount of labour, so assisting them with artful contrivance of hydraulic pressure that a thirsty canary had only, in a literal sense, to put his shoulder to the wheel and the job was done. Go to

stiffly /ˈstɪfli/ (10 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: rigidamente; com dificuldade

Simple English: In a way that shows the body does not bend easily.

Example: Her hair was white and she walked stiffly.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He sometimes suffers from gout and walks stiffly. Go to

Original English Version

1. He has a twist of the gout now and then and walks a little stiffly. Go to

stirred /stɜːrd/ (7 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: sacudiu; despertou

Simple English: Moved someone or something a little.

Example: A soft wind stirred the long grass.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He sends his regards and asks whether you would like some food or wine and the newspaper.” He gave me the paper, stirred the fire, and left. Go to

Original English Version

1. He then stirred the fire and left me. Go to

stirs /stɜrz/ (9 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: desperta; provoca; mexe

Simple English: Causes a feeling or movement, or moves something around.

Example: The music stirs human hearts and awakens an old childlike joy.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. The old roan, so famous for cross-country work, turning his large eyeball to the grated window near his rack, may remember the fresh leaves that glisten there at other times and the scents that stream in, and may have a fine run with the hounds, while the human helper, clearing out the next stall, never stirs beyond his pitchfork and birch-broom. Go to

stockings /ˈstɑːkɪŋz/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: meias longas; meias de malha

Simple English: Close-fitting coverings for the feet and legs.

Example: She darned her stockings by the window.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. He is of what is called the old school - a phrase generally meaning any school that seems never to have been young - and wears knee-breeches tied with ribbons, and gaiters or stockings. Go to

2. One peculiarity of his black clothes and of his black stockings, be they silk or worsted, is that they never shine. Go to

strangeness /ˈstreɪndʒnəs/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: estranheza; singularidade

Simple English: The quality of being unusual and unfamiliar.

Example: The strangeness of the place wore off after a week.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The three of us laughed and talked about our lack of experience and the strangeness of London. Go to

Original English Version

1. I knew he meant well in paying me this compliment, so I laughed at myself for blushing at it when he had shut the door and got upon the box; and we all three laughed and chatted about our inexperience and the strangeness of London until we turned up under an archway to our destination - a narrow street of high houses like an oblong cistern to hold the fog. Go to

stranger's /ˈstreɪndʒərz/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: do estranho; do desconhecido

Simple English: Belonging to a person you do not know.

Example: A stranger's umbrella was left in the hallway.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. As Skimpole drew the stranger’s head inside a book, he gently told the man to remain calm and not let his job upset him. Go to

stressing /ˈstrɛsɪŋ/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: enfatizando

Simple English: Giving special importance or emphasis to something.

Example: Betty upset people by stressing the pronouns in her remarks.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Coavinses slowly and strongly said that he certainly had not, stressing every word and moving his head sharply. Go to

strict /strɪkt/ (6 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: estrita; rigoroso; rígidas

Simple English: Absolute rules that must always be obeyed.

Example: The school has strict rules about student behavior during classes.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. She was religious, beautiful, serious, and strict, but never smiled. Go to

2. When I asked our strict servant Mrs. Rachael about my parents, she simply said good night and left me alone. Go to

3. I soon got used to Greenleaf's strict routine, and my old life at my godmother's began to feel like a dream. Go to

succeeds /səkˈsiːdz/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: consegue

Simple English: Does something well and reaches the goal wanted.

Example: He rarely succeeds without help.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. “It takes all my energy, but that does not matter if it succeeds. Go to

Original English Version

1. “It involves the devotion of all my energies, such as they are; but that is nothing, so that it succeeds; and I am more confident of success every day. Go to

sulked /sʌlkt/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: ficou emburrado

Simple English: Stayed silent and cross because of being upset.

Example: He sulked in a corner all evening.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The children sulked, the family ignored us, and the young man made the dog bark during her strongest statements. Go to

Original English Version

1. The children sulked and stared; the family took no notice of us whatever, except when the young man made the dog bark, which he usually did when Mrs. Pardiggle was most emphatic. Go to

summerhouse /ˈsʌmərhaʊs/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: casa de verão

Simple English: a small building in a garden for sitting in warm weather

Example: They drank tea in the garden summerhouse.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The open space was crossed by the laces of her underclothes like the wooden frame of a summerhouse. Go to

summerson /ˈsʌmərsən/ (219 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: Summerson

Simple English: The surname of the narrator character Esther.

Example: Esther Summerson.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Esther Summerson." Go to

2. Miss Esther Summerson Go to

3. “Miss Ada,” said Mr. Kenge, “this is Miss Summerson.” Go to

4. This is the young woman, Miss Summerson.” Go to

5. “Miss Summerson is not related to anyone involved in the case, is she?” Go to

6. “Where do we go next, Miss Summerson?” Go to

Original English Version

1. Although there were seven girls at the neighbouring school where I was a day boarder, and although they called me little Esther Summerson, I knew none of them at home. Go to

2. “No, ma’am, Esther Summerson.” Go to

3. Miss Esther Summerson Go to

4. “As you are going to be the companion of the young lady who is now in the Chancellor’s private room, Miss Summerson,” he said, “we thought it well that you should be in attendance also. Go to

5. “Miss Ada,” said Mr. Kenge, “this is Miss Summerson.” Go to

6. Miss Summerson.” Go to

summerson's /ˈsʌmərsənz/ (22 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: de Summerson

Simple English: Belonging to the character Esther Summerson.

Example: Had Miss Summerson's boxes been sent to the house?

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Calling him Guppy, Mr. Kenge asked whether Miss Summerson’s boxes and the other luggage had been sent to the house. Go to

Original English Version

1. Addressing him by the name of Guppy, Mr. Kenge inquired whether Miss Summerson’s boxes and the rest of the baggage had been “sent round.” Mr. Guppy said yes, they had been sent round, and a coach was waiting to take us round too as soon as we pleased. Go to

supposes /səˈpoʊzɪz/ (13 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: supõe

Simple English: thinks something is likely or assumes it is true

Example: She supposes that the visitor will arrive late.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. She supposes herself to be an inscrutable Being, quite out of the reach and ken of ordinary mortals - seeing herself in her glass, where indeed she looks so. Go to

2. He supposes all his dependents to be utterly bereft of individual characters, intentions, or opinions, and is persuaded that he was born to supersede the necessity of their having any. Go to

3. “She supposes we have family affairs to speak about, I dare say. Go to

suspecting /səˈspektɪŋ/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: suspeitando

Simple English: Believing that something is probably true, without proof.

Example: She went on working, suspecting nothing.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. I have mentioned that unless my vanity should deceive me (as I know it may, for I may be very vain without suspecting it, though indeed I don’t), my comprehension is quickened when my affection is. Go to

2. We were therefore curious to see Mrs. Pardiggle, suspecting her to be a type of the former class, and were glad when she called one day with her five young sons. Go to

sweated /ˈswɛtɪd/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: suou

Simple English: Lost water through the skin because of heat or work.

Example: He sweated as he carried the sacks.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He worked hard and sweated. Go to

sweep /swiːp/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: varrer; varredura; varra

Simple English: To clean an area by removing dirt with a broom.

Example: I sweep the patio every morning to keep it clean.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The rhyme asked where the little old woman was going, and she answered that she was going to sweep the cobwebs from the sky. Go to

sweetness /ˈswiːtnəs/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: doçura; suavidade

Simple English: The quality of tasting like sugar, or of being gentle and kind.

Example: There was a sweetness in her voice that calmed the child.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. It smoked to that degree, in short, that we all sat coughing and crying with the windows open for half an hour, during which Mrs. Jellyby, with the same sweetness of temper, directed letters about Africa. Go to

2. He was not only a very handsome old gentleman - upright and stalwart as he had been described to us - with a massive grey head, a fine composure of face when silent, a figure that might have become corpulent but for his being so continually in earnest that he gave it no rest, and a chin that might have subsided into a double chin but for the vehement emphasis in which it was constantly required to assist; but he was such a true gentleman in his manner, so chivalrously polite, his face was lighted by a smile of so much sweetness and tenderness, and it seemed so plain that he had nothing to hide, but showed himself exactly as he was - incapable, as Richard said, of anything on a limited scale, and firing away with those blank great guns because he carried no small arms whatever - that really I could not help looking at him with equal pleasure as he sat at dinner, whether he smilingly conversed with Ada and me, or was led by Mr. Jarndyce into some great volley of superlatives, or threw up his head like a bloodhound and gave out that tremendous “Ha, ha, ha!” Go to

tact /tækt/ (6 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: tato; diplomacia

Simple English: The skill of saying things without hurting people.

Example: She handled the visit with great tact.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. You know, just accustom yourself to talk it over, with your tact and in your quiet way, with him and Ada, and see what you all make of it. Go to

2. Even what she read and said seemed to us to be ill-chosen for such auditors, if it had been imparted ever so modestly and with ever so much tact. Go to

Tale /teɪl/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: conto; fadas; história

Simple English: True or imaginary story full of events, often exciting.

Example: She told a fascinating tale about her travels around the world.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. It is only an old family tale. Go to

talkative /ˈtɔːkətɪv/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: tagarelas; faladores

Simple English: Liking to talk a lot.

Example: Our new neighbour is very talkative.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Mr. Quale, a talkative young philanthropist, called the Jellybys' marriage a union of mind and matter. Go to

tangle /ˈtæŋɡəl/ (13 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: emaranhado; nó; enredar-se

Simple English: A twisted untidy mass, or to become twisted in that way.

Example: There was a tangle of wires behind the desk.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Tangle," says the Chancellor, growing tired of the lawyer's long speech. Go to

2. "My lord," says Mr. Tangle. Go to

3. Mr. Tangle replies that he is not, because he feels it is his duty to discuss many points. Go to

4. Mr. Tangle interrupts to say it is a boy. Go to

5. Mr. Tangle rises again and says, "Pardon me, my lord - he is dead." Go to

6. Mr. Tangle apologizes again and explains that the grandfather killed himself. Go to

Original English Version

1. Tangle,” says the Lord High Chancellor, latterly something restless under the eloquence of that learned gentleman. Go to

2. “Mlud,” says Mr. Tangle. Go to

3. Mr. Tangle knows more of Jarndyce and Jarndyce than anybody. Go to

4. “Mlud, no - variety of points - feel it my duty tsubmit - ludship,” is the reply that slides out of Mr. Tangle. Go to

5. “Begludship’s pardon - boy,” says Mr. Tangle prematurely. Go to

6. “In reference,” proceeds the Chancellor with extra distinctness, “to the young girl and boy, the two young people” - Mr. Tangle crushed - “whom I directed to be in attendance to-day and who are now in my private room, I will see them and satisfy myself as to the expediency of making the order for their residing with their uncle.” Go to

tank /tæŋk/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: tanque; reservatório; depósito

Simple English: Container holding fuel for a vehicle or machine.

Example: The gas tank was nearly empty, so we stopped to refuel.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. At last we passed under an arch into a narrow street of tall houses that seemed like a long tank holding the fog. Go to

tarts /tɑːrts/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: tortinhas

Simple English: More than one open pastry filled with fruit or jam.

Example: The tarts were still warm from the oven.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Mr. Jarndyce asked whether we had done anything for the little Jellybys, as if it might have rained sweets or raspberry tarts for them. Go to

Original English Version

1. Couldn’t you - didn’t you - now, if it had rained sugar-plums, or three-cornered raspberry tarts, or anything of that sort!” said Mr. Jarndyce. Go to

teapots /ˈtiːˌpɑːts/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: bules

Simple English: pots used for making and serving tea

Example: Their letters requested everything from huge numbers of pamphlets to pensions, monuments, and teapots.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Their letters requested everything from huge numbers of pamphlets to pensions, monuments, and teapots. Go to

tearful /ˈtɪrfəl/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: lacrimoso; em lágrimas

Simple English: Crying, or close to crying.

Example: She gave a tearful goodbye.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. I went to my room, held my doll against my tearful face, and cried myself to sleep. Go to

telescopic /ˌtɛləˈskɔpɪk/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: telescópico

Simple English: relating to a telescope or sliding parts that fit together

Example: Telescopic Philanthropy V.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Telescopic Philanthropy V. A Morning Adventure VI. Go to

Original English Version

1. Telescopic Philanthropy V. A Morning Adventure VI. Go to

2. Telescopic Philanthropy Go to

tenderly /ˈtɛndərli/ (16 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: ternamente; com carinho

Simple English: with gentleness, affection, or loving care

Example: He kissed her good night tenderly at the door.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. When I love a person very tenderly indeed, it seems to brighten. Go to

2. No effort had been made to clean the room - it seemed in its nature almost hopeless of being clean; but the small waxen form from which so much solemnity diffused itself had been composed afresh, and washed, and neatly dressed in some fragments of white linen; and on my handkerchief, which still covered the poor baby, a little bunch of sweet herbs had been laid by the same rough, scarred hands, so lightly, so tenderly! Go to

tenderness /ˈtendərnəs/ (20 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: ternura; carinho; sensibilidade

Simple English: Gentle and loving feeling; also soreness when a part of the body is touched.

Example: He spoke of his old teacher with real tenderness.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He also had deep feelings and such a sensitive love of beauty and tenderness that this alone could win a heart. Go to

2. His tenderness nearly made me emotional again, though he pretended the request was casual. Go to

Original English Version

1. I felt that I was choking again - I taxed myself with it, “Esther, now, you know you are!” - when he feigned to say this slightly, as if it were a whim instead of a thoughtful tenderness. Go to

2. He was not only a very handsome old gentleman - upright and stalwart as he had been described to us - with a massive grey head, a fine composure of face when silent, a figure that might have become corpulent but for his being so continually in earnest that he gave it no rest, and a chin that might have subsided into a double chin but for the vehement emphasis in which it was constantly required to assist; but he was such a true gentleman in his manner, so chivalrously polite, his face was lighted by a smile of so much sweetness and tenderness, and it seemed so plain that he had nothing to hide, but showed himself exactly as he was - incapable, as Richard said, of anything on a limited scale, and firing away with those blank great guns because he carried no small arms whatever - that really I could not help looking at him with equal pleasure as he sat at dinner, whether he smilingly conversed with Ada and me, or was led by Mr. Jarndyce into some great volley of superlatives, or threw up his head like a bloodhound and gave out that tremendous “Ha, ha, ha!” Go to

Glossary: New Words (4/4)

thavies /ˈθeɪviz/ (12 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: Thavies Inn

Simple English: the name of a historic legal Inn in London

Example: "It is just around the corner in Thavies Inn."

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. “It is just around the corner in Thavies Inn.” Go to

Original English Version

1. “No distance,” said Mr. Guppy; “round in Thavies Inn, you know.” Go to

2. But before we met the cook, we met Richard, who was dancing up and down Thavies Inn to warm his feet. Go to

3. Mrs. Jellyby charged us with many remembrances to her good friend Mr. Jarndyce; Caddy left her desk to see us depart, kissed me in the passage, and stood biting her pen and sobbing on the steps; Peepy, I am happy to say, was asleep and spared the pain of separation (I was not without misgivings that he had gone to Newgate market in search of me); and all the other children got up behind the barouche and fell off, and we saw them, with great concern, scattered over the surface of Thavies Inn as we rolled out of its precincts. Go to

thoughtfully /ˈθɔːtfəli/ (30 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: pensativamente; com ar pensativo

Simple English: In a quiet way, while thinking carefully.

Example: She gazed thoughtfully at the Scarecrow.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Then he moved away, stopped, and looked thoughtfully but kindly at the young cousins. Go to

2. Mr. Skimpole thoughtfully called the businessman's way of thinking strange and curious. Go to

Original English Version

1. “Very odd and very curious, the mental process is, in you men of business!” said Mr. Skimpole thoughtfully. Go to

throats /θroʊts/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: gargantas

Simple English: The front parts of the neck.

Example: The cold wind hurt their throats.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. It fills the eyes and throats of old sailors, enters a captain's cabin, and freezes the young apprentice on deck. Go to

Original English Version

1. Fog in the eyes and throats of ancient Greenwich pensioners, wheezing by the firesides of their wards; fog in the stem and bowl of the afternoon pipe of the wrathful skipper, down in his close cabin; fog cruelly pinching the toes and fingers of his shivering little ’prentice boy on deck. Go to

thundered /ˈθʌndərd/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: trovejou; bradou

Simple English: Said something in a very loud deep voice.

Example: The captain thundered his orders.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Soon Boythorn’s powerful laughter thundered from his bedroom again and again. Go to

tidied /ˈtaɪdid/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: arrumou

Simple English: Made a place neat and orderly.

Example: Priscilla came back down without her apron or flour, Stella tidied her corner, and Phil saved the situation with easy small talk.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. I tidied our room and finally made the difficult fire burn brightly. Go to

tiger's /ˈtaɪɡərz/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: do tigre

Simple English: Belonging to the tiger.

Example: The tiger's stripes made it hard to see in the tall grass.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The cat jumped down and tore at a bundle of rags with claws like a tiger's. Go to

timidly /ˈtɪmɪdli/ (15 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: timidamente; com receio

Simple English: In a shy, frightened way.

Example: What was that? she asked timidly.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. I happened to look timidly up from my stitching, across the table at my godmother, and I saw in her face, looking gloomily at me, “It would have been far better, little Esther, that you had had no birthday, that you had never been born!” Go to

2. As only Ada and I were at home, we received her timidly, for she seemed to come in like cold weather and to make the little Pardiggles blue as they followed. Go to

tiptoe /ˈtɪptoʊ/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: na ponta dos pés; andar na ponta dos pés

Simple English: To walk quietly on the front part of the feet.

Example: She had to tiptoe past the baby's room.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. She repeated her warning and walked ahead on tiptoe so even her steps would not reveal her words. Go to

Original English Version

1. She appeared to mistrust that the lodger might hear her even there, and repeating “Hush!” went before us on tiptoe as though even the sound of her footsteps might reveal to him what she had said. Go to

tiresome /ˈtaɪərsəm/ (12 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: cansativo; irritante

Simple English: Making someone bored, tired, or annoyed.

Example: The long delay was tiresome.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. You mean well, but are tiresome. Go to

2. I mean all the time to write about other people, and I try to think about myself as little as possible, and I am sure, when I find myself coming into the story again, I am really vexed and say, “Dear, dear, you tiresome little creature, I wish you wouldn’t!” but it is all of no use. Go to

tiring /ˈtaɪərɪŋ/ (6 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: cansativo

Simple English: Making you feel that you need to rest.

Example: Waiting for the Wizard grew tiring.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Mr. Kenge then explained that the journey to Bleak House would be long, dark, and tiring that evening. Go to

2. Then he sadly said that Chancery was a tiring word. Go to

3. At last the tiring tour ends. Go to

tom's /tɒmz/ (8 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: Tom

Simple English: used here as the contraction 'Tom has'

Example: "Tom's quit."

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Krook described Tom's final day. Go to

2. They pretended not to know about Tom's death or acted as if it had nothing to do with them. Go to

3. When Mr. Jarndyce arrived, the house truly was bleak and showed Tom's misery everywhere. Go to

4. After Tom's death, it seemed the house had also lost its mind. Go to

track /træk/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: faixa; pista; trilha

Simple English: Path or course used by vehicles or trains.

Example: The train travels on the track through the mountains.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The Track LIV. Go to

transfer /trænsˈfɜːr/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: transferência; transferir; traslado

Simple English: To move a person or object from one place to another.

Example: She was able to transfer to a different department for her job.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Since they were involved in a Chancery case said to concern valuable property, perhaps they could transfer or promise something as security. Go to

tremble /ˈtrɛmbəl/ (13 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: tremer

Simple English: To shake slightly because of fear or cold.

Example: The Lion began to tremble.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. Don’t tremble! Go to

trembled /ˈtrɛmbəld/ (7 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: tremeu

Simple English: Shook slightly because of fear, weakness, cold, or emotion.

Example: His voice trembled as he continued speaking.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. As to Ada and me, whom he had wrapped up with great care, the night being sharp and frosty, we trembled from head to foot. Go to

2. It wandered back to my godmother’s house and came along the intervening track, raising up shadowy speculations which had sometimes trembled there in the dark as to what knowledge Mr. Jarndyce had of my earliest history - even as to the possibility of his being my father, though that idle dream was quite gone now. Go to

trembling /ˈtrɛmblɪŋ/ (30 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: tremendo; tremor

Simple English: Shaking slightly or the act of shaking, often from fear or excitement.

Example: Lucy stood trembling in the hallway after the argument.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Then he noticed that I was trembling. Go to

Original English Version

1. I put up my trembling little hand to clasp hers or to beg her pardon with what earnestness I might, but withdrew it as she looked at me, and laid it on my fluttering heart. Go to

2. My dear, how you are trembling!” Go to

trimmed /trɪmd/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: guarnecidos; debruados

Simple English: Decorated along the edges.

Example: Their uniforms were trimmed with gold braid.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Mrs. Jellyby trimmed two large office candles in metal holders, filling the room with the smell of hot candle fat. Go to

Original English Version

1. Upon that, we all went into the next room, Mr. Kenge first, with my darling - it is so natural to me now that I can’t help writing it; and there, plainly dressed in black and sitting in an arm-chair at a table near the fire, was his lordship, whose robe, trimmed with beautiful gold lace, was thrown upon another chair. Go to

tropical /ˈtrɒpɪkl/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: tropical

Simple English: Very warm and humid weather often with lots of rain.

Example: The tropical climate in the region makes it perfect for growing bananas.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Lying on the grass, he could imagine travelling on an African river, loving the people and drawing the tropical plants. Go to

troublesome /ˈtrʌbəlsəm/ (18 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: incômodo; problemático; enfadonho

Simple English: Causing difficulty or annoyance.

Example: The lock has been troublesome since the winter.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. “As a few fresh affidavits have been put upon the file,” says Mr. Tulkinghorn, “and as they are short, and as I proceed upon the troublesome principle of begging leave to possess my clients with any new proceedings in a cause” - cautious man Mr. Tulkinghorn, taking no more responsibility than necessary - “and further, as I see you are going to Paris, I have brought them in my pocket.” Go to

2. Now don’t be troublesome, that’s a good soul!” said Mr. Kenge, leading the way back. Go to

3. “Anything but troublesome. Go to

4. I shall confer estates on both - which is not being troublesome, I trust? Go to

5. I begged permission to retain him, truly saying that he was not at all troublesome, and carried him upstairs and laid him on my bed. Go to

6. “If it is not being troublesome,” said we. Go to

tubs /tʌbz/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: banheiras; tinas

Simple English: Tubs are large open containers used for bathing, washing, or holding things.

Example: The old tubs stood outside collecting rainwater.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Pigsties were near broken windows, dirty pools filled the gardens, and old tubs collected rain. Go to

tulkinghorn /ˈtʌlkɪŋhɔːrn/ (666 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: Tulkinghorn

Simple English: the surname of a rich, powerful lawyer in the story

Example: Tulkinghorn looks old and dull but has become rich handling wills.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Mr. Tulkinghorn looks old and dull but has become rich by handling aristocratic marriages and wills. Go to

2. Sir Leicester is pleased to see Mr. Tulkinghorn. Go to

3. So Mr. Tulkinghorn may or may not know what Lady Dedlock is thinking, but he probably does. Go to

4. Mr. Tulkinghorn says the case was heard again that day and quietly bows to Lady Dedlock, who sits by the fire with a screen before her face. Go to

5. Mr. Tulkinghorn replies that nothing she would consider important was done that day. Go to

6. Mr. Tulkinghorn says a few short new statements have been added to the case. Go to

Original English Version

1. There are noble mausoleums rooted for centuries in retired glades of parks among the growing timber and the fern, which perhaps hold fewer noble secrets than walk abroad among men, shut up in the breast of Mr. Tulkinghorn. Go to

2. He is found sometimes, speechless but quite at home, at corners of dinner-tables in great country houses and near doors of drawing-rooms, concerning which the fashionable intelligence is eloquent, where everybody knows him and where half the Peerage stops to say “How do you do, Mr. Tulkinghorn?” He receives these salutations with gravity and buries them along with the rest of his knowledge. Go to

3. Sir Leicester Dedlock is with my Lady and is happy to see Mr. Tulkinghorn. Go to

4. Has Mr. Tulkinghorn any idea of this himself? Go to

5. Therefore, while Mr. Tulkinghorn may not know what is passing in the Dedlock mind at present, it is very possible that he may. Go to

6. “My Lady’s cause has been again before the Chancellor, has it, Mr. Tulkinghorn?” says Sir Leicester, giving him his hand. Go to

tulkinghorn's /ˈtʌlkɪŋhɔːrnz/ (74 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: de Tulkinghorn

Simple English: belonging to the lawyer Tulkinghorn

Example: Tulkinghorn's Room was numbered forty-two.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. In Mr. Tulkinghorn’s Room XLII. Go to

2. In Mr. Tulkinghorn’s Chambers XLIII. Go to

3. Guppy said he was not from Mr. Tulkinghorn's office but could use Tulkinghorn's name if needed. Go to

Original English Version

1. In Mr. Tulkinghorn’s Room XLII. Go to

2. In Mr. Tulkinghorn’s Chambers XLIII. Go to

3. He likes Mr. Tulkinghorn’s dress; there is a kind of tribute in that too. Go to

4. He says he is not in Mr. Tulkinghorn’s office, but he is sure he may make use of Mr. Tulkinghorn’s name if necessary.” Finding, now she leaves off, that she has been making quite a long speech, Rosa is shyer than ever. Go to

umbrellas /ʌmˈbrɛləz/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: guarda-sóis; guarda-chuvas

Simple English: Round covers on a stick that keep off rain or sun.

Example: Gold umbrellas shone above the palace.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Dogs and horses are covered in mud, while angry people bump umbrellas and slip on street corners. Go to

Original English Version

1. Foot passengers, jostling one another’s umbrellas in a general infection of ill temper, and losing their foot-hold at street-corners, where tens of thousands of other foot passengers have been slipping and sliding since the day broke (if this day ever broke), adding new deposits to the crust upon crust of mud, sticking at those points tenaciously to the pavement, and accumulating at compound interest. Go to

unattractive /ˌʌnəˈtræktɪv/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: pouco atraente

Simple English: Not pleasant to look at.

Example: The grey rock looked bare and unattractive.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. An unattractive, badly dressed woman hurried inside. Go to

uncertainly /ʌnˈsɜːrtənli/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: com hesitação; sem certeza

Simple English: In a doubtful way, without being sure.

Example: Dorothy said uncertainly that there must be a mistake.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. While speaking in broken sentences, he walked up and down uncertainly. Go to

undecided /ˌʌndɪˈsaɪdɪd/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: indeciso; em suspenso

Simple English: Not having made a choice yet, or not yet settled.

Example: The date of the meeting is still undecided.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. He had taken two or three undecided turns up and down while uttering these broken sentences, retaining the poker in one hand and rubbing his hair with the other, with a good-natured vexation at once so whimsical and so lovable that I am sure we were more delighted with him than we could possibly have expressed in any words. Go to

2. So now, half-waking and all-winking, he may recall the house full of company, the coach-houses full of vehicles, the stables full of horses, and the out-buildings full of attendants upon horses, until he is undecided about the present and comes forth to see how it is. Go to

underclothes /ʌndərclɑθɛs/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: roupas íntimas

Simple English: to do the action meant by underclothes

Example: Joe watched, with bulging eyes, a few shirts and several changes of underclothes come out of the box, followed by books, and more books.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The open space was crossed by the laces of her underclothes like the wooden frame of a summerhouse. Go to

uneasy /ʌnˈiːzi/ (17 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: inquieto; pouco à vontade

Simple English: Feeling worried or not comfortable.

Example: The Scarecrow felt a little uneasy.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. Didn’t make you at all uneasy?” Go to

unfriendly /ʌnˈfrɛndli/ (7 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: hostil; pouco amigável

Simple English: Not kind or pleasant to others.

Example: He growled at the Scarecrow in an unfriendly way.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. In an unfriendly, businesslike voice, Mrs. Pardiggle greeted the family. Go to

unhappily /ʌnˈhæpɪli/ (8 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: infelizmente; de modo desastrado

Simple English: In a sad or unfortunate way.

Example: Unhappily, they had run out of food.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. By the fire, she used vinegar from the cup to clean ink stains from her face while frowning unhappily. Go to

2. The man on the floor turned his head and asked unhappily whether she had finished. Go to

unimportant /ˌʌnɪmˈpɔːrtənt/ (7 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: sem importância

Simple English: Not mattering very much.

Example: He forgot the date because it seemed unimportant.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. I missed the details of the letter, but it made Africa seem extremely important and everything else unimportant. Go to

2. When I returned, Mrs. Jellyby seemed to think my ordinary housework was unimportant. Go to

universe /ˈjuːnɪvɜːrs/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: universo

Simple English: All that exists physically, including planets, galaxies, and stars.

Example: Scientists study the universe to understand how it began and how it works.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. She was a child of the whole universe. Go to

2. Mr. Jarndyce remarked that the universe was not a very caring parent. Go to

unnaturally /ʌnˈnætʃərəli/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: de modo antinatural; forçadamente

Simple English: In a way that is not normal or not comfortable.

Example: The child sat unnaturally still during the whole visit.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. I never underwent so much, both in body and mind, in the course of a walk with young people as from these unnaturally constrained children when they paid me the compliment of being natural. Go to

unpacking /ʌnˈpækɪŋ/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: desembalando

Simple English: Taking things out of a bag or box.

Example: They spent an hour unpacking their supplies.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Soon we laughed and began unpacking. Go to

Original English Version

1. We soon laughed, however, and were busily unpacking when Miss Jellyby came back to say that she was sorry there was no hot water, but they couldn’t find the kettle, and the boiler was out of order. Go to

unsatisfying /ʌnˈsætɪsfaɪɪŋ/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: insatisfatório

Simple English: Not giving the feeling of being enough.

Example: The thin soup was unsatisfying after the long walk.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The process would be formal, wordy, expensive, and unsatisfying. Go to

unselfish /ʌnˈselfɪʃ/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: altruísta; desprendido

Simple English: Thinking of other people before yourself.

Example: It was an unselfish decision that cost him a lot.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. My fancy, made a little wild by the wind perhaps, would not consent to be all unselfish, either, though I would have persuaded it to be so if I could. Go to

unsettled /ʌnˈsetəld/ (11 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: instável; indefinido; inquieto

Simple English: Not fixed or not decided; also worried and restless.

Example: The weather has been unsettled all week.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. “Indeed,” she pursued, “I positively doubt sometimes, I do assure you, whether while matters are still unsettled, and the sixth or Great Seal still prevails, I may not one day be found lying stark and senseless here, as I have found so many birds!” Go to

unspent /ʌnˈspɛnt/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: não gasto; poupado

Simple English: still not used up, especially money

Example: Much of the four hundred and twenty dollars was still unspent.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. In the same way, when we persuaded him not to waste five pounds on the brickmaker because it would not help, he treated the unspent money as a profit and began spending against it. Go to

unsteady /ʌnˈstɛdi/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: trêmulo; vacilante

Simple English: Not firm, or not regular in movement.

Example: The ladder felt unsteady, so I asked him to hold it.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Their shadows joined on the wall among strange moving shapes made by the unsteady flames. Go to

Original English Version

1. Upon the wall, their shadows blended together, surrounded by strange forms, not without a ghostly motion caught from the unsteady fire, though reflecting from motionless objects. Go to

unsuccessfully /ˌʌnsəkˈsɛsfəli/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: sem sucesso; em vão

Simple English: in a way that does not achieve what was wanted

Example: Anne laughed and tried unsuccessfully to withdraw her hand.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Miss Jellyby asked if we wanted hot water while searching unsuccessfully for a proper jug. Go to

unsuitable /ʌnˈsuːtəbəl/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: inadequado; impróprio

Simple English: not right or proper for a person, purpose or occasion

Example: He is so unsuitable in every way, you know.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Even her reading was unsuitable and lacked kindness or understanding. Go to

untidiness /ʌnˈtaɪdinəs/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: desordem; desarrumação; bagunça

Simple English: the state of being messy and badly kept

Example: You must excuse this untidiness, Miss Hale.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Mrs. Pardiggle criticized the residents' untidiness and led us into a damp, foul room. Go to

untidy /ʌnˈtaɪdi/ (20 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: desarrumado; desordenado

Simple English: Not clean and not in good order.

Example: His untidy room made his mother angry.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The room was not only very untidy but also very dirty. Go to

2. Ada and I had two connected rooms, both empty and untidy. Go to

3. Downstairs, everything remained dirty and untidy from the night before. Go to

4. His careless manner, untidy hair, loose scarf, and artistic clothes suggested a romantic young man who had lost some of his value, not someone made older by years, worries, and experience. Go to

Original English Version

1. The room, which was strewn with papers and nearly filled by a great writing-table covered with similar litter, was, I must say, not only very untidy but very dirty. Go to

2. Mrs. Pardiggle, leading the way with a great show of moral determination and talking with much volubility about the untidy habits of the people (though I doubted if the best of us could have been tidy in such a place), conducted us into a cottage at the farthest corner, the ground-floor room of which we nearly filled. Go to

untried /ʌnˈtraɪd/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: não experimentado; inexperiente

Simple English: not tested or used before; without experience

Example: After trying several careers, only the church remained untried.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. Nor could I wonder, judging even from my emotions, and I was no party in the suit, that to hearts so untried and fresh it was a shock to come into the inheritance of a protracted misery, attended in the minds of many people with such dreadful recollections. Go to

unworthy /ʌnˈwɜːrði/ (6 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: indignas; sem valor

Simple English: Not deserving respect or a good thing.

Example: He felt unworthy of such kindness.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. It made me very sorry to consider how good she was and how unworthy of her I was, and I used ardently to hope that I might have a better heart; and I talked it over very often with the dear old doll, but I never loved my godmother as I ought to have loved her and as I felt I must have loved her if I had been a better girl. Go to

uphill /ˌʌpˈhɪl/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: morro acima

Simple English: Up a slope, toward a higher place.

Example: They pushed the cart uphill together.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The horses raced uphill toward an old house with three roof points. Go to

Original English Version

1. There was a light sparkling on the top of a hill before us, and the driver, pointing to it with his whip and crying, “That’s Bleak House!” put his horses into a canter and took us forward at such a rate, uphill though it was, that the wheels sent the road drift flying about our heads like spray from a water-mill. Go to

vaguely /ˈveɪɡli/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: vagamente; sem precisão

Simple English: In a way that is not clear or exact.

Example: He vaguely remembered the name.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. Chizzle, Mizzle, and otherwise have lapsed into a habit of vaguely promising themselves that they will look into that outstanding little matter and see what can be done for Drizzle - who was not well used - when Jarndyce and Jarndyce shall be got out of the office. Go to

vholes /voʊlz/ (302 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: Vholes

Simple English: the surname of a lawyer character in the story

Example: Vholes, since one of them might have invented it.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Otherwise, I would have given it to Mr. Kenge or Mr. Vholes, since one of them might have invented it. Go to

Original English Version

1. This seemed to me too profound a joke to be inserted in the body of this book or I should have restored it to Conversation Kenge or to Mr. Vholes, with one or other of whom I think it must have originated. Go to

victory /ˈvɪktəri/ (5 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: vitória; triunfo

Simple English: Success achieved in war, competition, or other contest.

Example: The victory in the final race brought joy to the entire team.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Her victory left her calmly tired and interested in nothing. Go to

violence /ˈvaɪələns/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: violência

Simple English: Intentional harm or intimidation against others.

Example: Violence in movies can desensitize viewers to real-life harm and suffering.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Whenever she looked at it, she covered her injured eye, as if she wanted to keep all thoughts of noise, violence, and abuse away from the poor child. Go to

waistcoat /ˈwɛskət/ (12 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: colete

Simple English: A short jacket without sleeves worn over a shirt.

Example: He wore a blue waistcoat to the wedding.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. He is of a worthy presence, with his light-grey hair and whiskers, his fine shirt-frill, his pure-white waistcoat, and his blue coat with bright buttons always buttoned. Go to

wandered /ˈwɑːndərd/ (9 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: vagou; perambulou

Simple English: Walked around slowly with no clear plan.

Example: We wandered through the market all morning.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. I don’t know where my thoughts had wandered when they were recalled by a tap at the door. Go to

2. It wandered back to my godmother’s house and came along the intervening track, raising up shadowy speculations which had sometimes trembled there in the dark as to what knowledge Mr. Jarndyce had of my earliest history - even as to the possibility of his being my father, though that idle dream was quite gone now. Go to

3. As the prospect gradually revealed itself and disclosed the scene over which the wind had wandered in the dark, like my memory over my life, I had a pleasure in discovering the unknown objects that had been around me in my sleep. Go to

warmly /ˈwɔːrmli/ (72 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: calorosamente; com cordialidade

Simple English: In a friendly, kind way.

Example: Come along, said the Scarecrow warmly.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. I thanked him warmly but hoped he would not be offended because the food was too rich for me. Go to

2. Ada warmly told her cousin Richard that of course he could. Go to

3. A welcoming voice greeted Ada, Esther, and Rick warmly and said he was very happy to see them. Go to

4. He spoke so warmly about Ada that I almost loved him. Go to

5. Smiling warmly, he said he knew me very well and that I was clever enough for him. Go to

6. My guardian only laughed warmly. Go to

wasteful /ˈweɪstfəl/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: perdulário; que desperdiça

Simple English: Using more than is needed.

Example: Leaving the tap open is wasteful.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Richard agreed that this wasteful legal game was strange. Go to

Original English Version

1. All this wasteful, wanton chess-playing IS very strange. Go to

watt's /wɒts/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: de Watt

Simple English: the surname of a character's father

Example: Then she asks whether Watt's father is well.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Then she asks whether Watt's father is well. Go to

weakly /ˈwiːkli/ (12 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: debilmente; sem convicção

Simple English: In a way that shows very little strength.

Example: The sick man smiled weakly at his friend.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Gas lamps appear weakly through the fog, like a pale sun over wet fields. Go to

2. I weakly said, "I did not know I was crying, sir." Go to

whiskers /ˈwɪskərz/ (24 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: bigodes; suíças

Simple English: The hair growing on a man's face, or the long hairs on an animal's face.

Example: The soldier with the green whiskers came in.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The Chancellor sits among red curtains while a lawyer with huge whiskers reads an endless document. Go to

Original English Version

1. On such an afternoon, if ever, the Lord High Chancellor ought to be sitting here - as here he is - with a foggy glory round his head, softly fenced in with crimson cloth and curtains, addressed by a large advocate with great whiskers, a little voice, and an interminable brief, and outwardly directing his contemplation to the lantern in the roof, where he can see nothing but fog. Go to

2. He is of a worthy presence, with his light-grey hair and whiskers, his fine shirt-frill, his pure-white waistcoat, and his blue coat with bright buttons always buttoned. Go to

whispered /ˈwɪspərd/ (37 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: sussurraram; cochicharam

Simple English: Spoke very quietly, so that few people could hear.

Example: They stopped and whispered among themselves.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He married her for love, although people whispered that she came from no important family. Go to

2. Before the sentence was fully finished, Mr. Kenge leaned forward and whispered. Go to

3. “Mad,” Richard whispered, thinking she could not hear him. Go to

4. Caddy held my arm tighter and whispered to ask who the woman was. Go to

5. As we went down, she whispered that the whole house was full of strange objects Krook had bought separately and refused to sell because he was a little mad. Go to

6. She whispered that the only other tenant was a legal copyist. Go to

Original English Version

1. Mr. Kenge leant over before it was quite said and whispered. Go to

2. “Mad!” whispered Richard, not thinking she could hear him. Go to

3. “Who’s this, Miss Summerson?” whispered Miss Jellyby, drawing my arm tighter through her own. Go to

4. One had only to fancy, as Richard whispered to Ada and me while we all stood looking in, that yonder bones in a corner, piled together and picked very clean, were the bones of clients, to make the picture complete. Go to

5. “The only other lodger,” she now whispered in explanation, “a law-writer. Go to

6. We tried to comfort the mother, and we whispered to her what Our Saviour said of children. Go to

whispering /ˈwɪspərɪŋ/ (12 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: sussurrando

Simple English: Speaking very softly so that few can hear.

Example: The two girls were whispering at the back.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Whispering, she recognized us and said she was watching for her husband. Go to

Original English Version

1. I have discovered,” whispering mysteriously, “that her natural cruelty is sharpened by a jealous fear of their regaining their liberty. Go to

whittington /ˈwɪtɪŋtən/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: Whittington

Simple English: Dick Whittington, a legendary Lord Mayor of London

Example: Richard said the road reminded him of his namesake Whittington, and the wagon completed the picture.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Richard said the road reminded him of his namesake Whittington, and the wagon completed the picture. Go to

Original English Version

1. “The whole road has been reminding me of my namesake Whittington,” said Richard, “and that waggon is the finishing touch. Go to

wicks /wɪks/ (1 occurrence in the simplified text)

Português: pavios

Simple English: the strings in candles or lamps that burn

Example: I was putting new wicks in the lamp.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. At last, the young gentleman brought a very dirty tool to trim the candle wicks. Go to

widely /ˈwaɪdli/ (4 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: amplamente; extensamente; largamente

Simple English: To a great extent; covering or affecting many areas or people.

Example: This technology is widely used across various industries around the world.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. She suggested that we read the widely shared comments about Africa while she finished a letter. Go to

2. Krook stared more widely and cried in amazement, "Think of that!" Go to

widow's /ˈwɪdoʊz/ (3 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: da viúva

Simple English: belonging to a woman whose husband has died

Example: Rosa is a village widow's daughter.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Mrs. Rouncewell says Rosa is a village widow's daughter. Go to

wiglomeration /ˌwɪɡləməˈreɪʃən/ (6 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: burocracia jurídica; papelada inútil

Simple English: useless legal fuss and paperwork that settles nothing

Example: There will be a world more wiglomeration about it.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He called all this "wiglomeration" and did not know why humanity suffered from it. Go to

Original English Version

1. There will be a world more wiglomeration about it, I suppose, but it must be done.” Go to

2. “More wiglomeration,” said he. Go to

3. Kenge and Carboy will have something to say about it; Master Somebody - a sort of ridiculous sexton, digging graves for the merits of causes in a back room at the end of Quality Court, Chancery Lane - will have something to say about it; counsel will have something to say about it; the Chancellor will have something to say about it; the satellites will have something to say about it; they will all have to be handsomely fee’d, all round, about it; the whole thing will be vastly ceremonious, wordy, unsatisfactory, and expensive, and I call it, in general, wiglomeration. Go to

4. How mankind ever came to be afflicted with Wiglomeration, or for whose sins these young people ever fell into a pit of it, I don’t know; so it is.” Go to

wigs /wɪɡz/ (13 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: perucas

Simple English: false hair worn on the head

Example: Lorry sat at a table among the gentlemen in wigs.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. Well may the court be dim, with wasting candles here and there; well may the fog hang heavy in it, as if it would never get out; well may the stained-glass windows lose their colour and admit no light of day into the place; well may the uninitiated from the streets, who peep in through the glass panes in the door, be deterred from entrance by its owlish aspect and by the drawl, languidly echoing to the roof from the padded dais where the Lord High Chancellor looks into the lantern that has no light in it and where the attendant wigs are all stuck in a fog-bank! Go to

windmills /ˈwɪndˌmɪlz/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: moinhos de vento

Simple English: tall machines with long arms that the wind turns

Example: We reached country roads with windmills, farms, and fields.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. We finally left London, crossed its large suburbs, and reached country roads with windmills, farms, hay, trees, and fields. Go to

Original English Version

1. By and by we began to leave the wonderful city and to proceed through suburbs which, of themselves, would have made a pretty large town in my eyes; and at last we got into a real country road again, with windmills, rick-yards, milestones, farmers’ waggons, scents of old hay, swinging signs, and horse troughs: trees, fields, and hedge-rows. Go to

wintry /ˈwɪntri/ (14 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: invernal; gélido

Simple English: Cold and grey, like winter.

Example: A wintry wind blew across the field.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. A Wintry Day and Night LIX. Go to

Original English Version

1. A Wintry Day and Night LIX. Go to

wiping /ˈwaɪpɪŋ/ (18 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: enxugando; limpando

Simple English: Rubbing something to make it clean or dry.

Example: The Lion spoke, wiping a tear from his eye.

Use in this Book:

Original English Version

1. Some pewter pots and a milk-can hung on the area railings; the door stood open; and we met the cook round the corner coming out of a public-house, wiping her mouth. Go to

2. She threw open a door and I went into a chamber, where, to my unspeakable surprise, instead of finding Mr. Skimpole stretched upon the bed or prostrate on the floor, I found him standing before the fire smiling at Richard, while Richard, with a face of great embarrassment, looked at a person on the sofa, in a white great-coat, with smooth hair upon his head and not much of it, which he was wiping smoother and making less of with a pocket-handkerchief. Go to

wiser /ˈwaɪzər/ (12 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: mais sábio

Simple English: Having more good sense than someone else.

Example: My grandmother is wiser than all of us.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. He thought this was wiser, as long as the drone stayed friendly with the bee. Go to

2. Still, I promised to do my best and again warned that he thought me wiser than I was. Go to

Original English Version

1. He must say he thought a drone the embodiment of a pleasanter and wiser idea. Go to

wold /woʊld/ (193 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: charneca; planalto descampado

Simple English: an area of open, rolling country with few trees

Example: The sky turns red over the wold in the evening.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Chesney Wold XXXVII. Go to

2. While Esther sleeps and wakes, rain continues at Chesney Wold in Lincolnshire. Go to

3. Apart from the animals, little imagination moves at Chesney Wold. Go to

4. It is hard to imagine Chesney Wold without Mrs. Rouncewell, although she has served there for only fifty years. Go to

5. Her other son loved building machines instead of following the traditional path at Chesney Wold. Go to

6. Today he stands by the fireplace in his grandmother's room at Chesney Wold. Go to

Original English Version

1. Chesney Wold XXXVII. Go to

2. Not that there is any superabundant life of imagination on the spot, for Sir Leicester is not here (and, truly, even if he were, would not do much for it in that particular), but is in Paris with my Lady; and solitude, with dusky wings, sits brooding upon Chesney Wold. Go to

3. There may be some motions of fancy among the lower animals at Chesney Wold. Go to

4. Be this as it may, there is not much fancy otherwise stirring at Chesney Wold. Go to

5. It has rained so hard and rained so long down in Lincolnshire that Mrs. Rouncewell, the old housekeeper at Chesney Wold, has several times taken off her spectacles and cleaned them to make certain that the drops were not upon the glasses. Go to

6. It is the next difficult thing to an impossibility to imagine Chesney Wold without Mrs. Rouncewell, but she has only been here fifty years. Go to

wordy /ˈwɜːrdi/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: prolixo; palavroso

Simple English: using too many words to say something

Example: The remainder was composed of wordy workingmen.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The process would be formal, wordy, expensive, and unsatisfying. Go to

Original English Version

1. Kenge and Carboy will have something to say about it; Master Somebody - a sort of ridiculous sexton, digging graves for the merits of causes in a back room at the end of Quality Court, Chancery Lane - will have something to say about it; counsel will have something to say about it; the Chancellor will have something to say about it; the satellites will have something to say about it; they will all have to be handsomely fee’d, all round, about it; the whole thing will be vastly ceremonious, wordy, unsatisfactory, and expensive, and I call it, in general, wiglomeration. Go to

worker's /ˈwɜːrkərz/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: do trabalhador

Simple English: Belonging to a worker, a person who does a job.

Example: The worker's hands were rough with labour.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. My work has changed my nature, just as dye colours a worker's hand. Go to

worldly /ˈwɜːrldli/ (16 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: mundanos; do século

Simple English: Belonging to ordinary life and not to religion.

Example: He left his worldly goods behind.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. His lively manner, honesty, and easy way of laughing at his weaknesses seemed to say that he was an innocent child while we were clever adults, and that we should forget worldly rules and play with him. Go to

Original English Version

1. He is grown up - he is at least as old as I am - but in simplicity, and freshness, and enthusiasm, and a fine guileless inaptitude for all worldly affairs, he is a perfect child.” Go to

2. Our luggage having arrived and being all at hand, I was dressed in a few minutes and engaged in putting my worldly goods away when a maid (not the one in attendance upon Ada, but another, whom I had not seen) brought a basket into my room with two bunches of keys in it, all labelled. Go to

3. Why should I regret my incapacity for details and worldly affairs when it leads to such pleasant consequences? Go to

4. You are designing people compared with me” (he really made me consider myself in that light) “but I am gay and innocent; forget your worldly arts and play with me!” the effect was absolutely dazzling. Go to

5. He is in a child’s sleep by this time, I suppose; it’s time I should take my craftier head to my more worldly pillow. Go to

wrinkled /ˈrɪŋkəld/ (6 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: enrugado

Simple English: Covered with small lines and folds.

Example: Behind the screen stood a little man with a wrinkled face.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. White hair, thick veins, and wrinkled skin made his head look like an old root covered in snow. Go to

wrongs /rɔːŋz/ (12 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: injustiças; ofensas

Simple English: Bad or unfair things done to people.

Example: He wanted to repair the wrongs of the past.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Even distant observers have learned to ignore wrongs and accept that the world was never meant to be right. Go to

xii /twɛlv/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: doze

Simple English: the Roman numeral meaning the number twelve, used here as a chapter heading

Example: Our Dear Brother XII.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Our Dear Brother XII. Go to

Original English Version

1. Our Dear Brother XII. Go to

xiii /ˌθɜːrˈtiːn/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: treze

Simple English: the Roman numeral meaning the number thirteen, used here as a chapter heading

Example: On the Watch XIII.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. On the Watch XIII. Go to

Original English Version

1. On the Watch XIII. Go to

xiv /ˌfɔːrˈtiːn/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: quatorze

Simple English: the Roman numeral meaning the number fourteen, used here as a chapter heading

Example: Esther’s Narrative XIV.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Esther’s Narrative XIV. Go to

Original English Version

1. Esther’s Narrative XIV. Go to

xix /ˌnaɪnˈtiːn/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: dezenove

Simple English: the Roman numeral meaning the number nineteen, used here as a chapter heading

Example: Lady Dedlock XIX.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Lady Dedlock XIX. Go to

Original English Version

1. Lady Dedlock XIX. Go to

xli /ˌfɔːrti ˈwʌn/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: quarenta e um

Simple English: the Roman numeral meaning the number forty one, used here as a chapter heading

Example: National and Domestic XLI.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. National and Domestic XLI. Go to

Original English Version

1. National and Domestic XLI. Go to

xlii /ˌfɔːrti ˈtuː/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: quarenta e dois

Simple English: the Roman numeral meaning the number forty two, used here as a chapter heading

Example: Tulkinghorn’s Room XLII.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. In Mr. Tulkinghorn’s Room XLII. Go to

Original English Version

1. In Mr. Tulkinghorn’s Room XLII. Go to

xliii /ˌfɔːrti ˈθriː/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: quarenta e três

Simple English: the Roman numeral meaning the number forty three, used here as a chapter heading

Example: Tulkinghorn’s Chambers XLIII.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. In Mr. Tulkinghorn’s Chambers XLIII. Go to

Original English Version

1. In Mr. Tulkinghorn’s Chambers XLIII. Go to

xliv /ˌfɔːrti ˈfɔːr/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: quarenta e quatro

Simple English: the Roman numeral meaning the number forty four, used here as a chapter heading

Example: Esther’s Narrative XLIV.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Esther’s Narrative XLIV. Go to

Original English Version

1. Esther’s Narrative XLIV. Go to

xlix /ˌfɔːrti ˈnaɪn/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: quarenta e nove

Simple English: the Roman numeral meaning the number forty nine, used here as a chapter heading

Example: Closing In XLIX.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Closing In XLIX. Go to

Original English Version

1. Closing In XLIX. Go to

xlv /ˌfɔːrti ˈfaɪv/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: quarenta e cinco

Simple English: the Roman numeral meaning the number forty five, used here as a chapter heading

Example: The Letter and the Answer XLV.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The Letter and the Answer XLV. Go to

Original English Version

1. The Letter and the Answer XLV. Go to

xlvi /ˌfɔːrti ˈsɪks/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: quarenta e seis

Simple English: the Roman numeral meaning the number forty six, used here as a chapter heading

Example: In Trust XLVI.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. In Trust XLVI. Go to

Original English Version

1. In Trust XLVI. Go to

xlvii /ˌfɔːrti ˈsɛvən/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: quarenta e sete

Simple English: the Roman numeral meaning the number forty seven, used here as a chapter heading

Example: XLVII.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. XLVII. Go to

Original English Version

1. XLVII. Go to

xlviii /ˌfɔːrti ˈeɪt/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: quarenta e oito

Simple English: the Roman numeral meaning the number forty eight, used here as a chapter heading

Example: Jo’s Will XLVIII.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Jo’s Will XLVIII. Go to

Original English Version

1. Jo’s Will XLVIII. Go to

xv /ˌfɪfˈtiːn/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: quinze

Simple English: the Roman numeral meaning the number fifteen, used here as a chapter heading

Example: Deportment XV.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Deportment XV. Go to

Original English Version

1. Deportment XV. Go to

xvi /ˌsɪksˈtiːn/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: dezesseis

Simple English: the Roman numeral meaning the number sixteen, used here as a chapter heading

Example: Bell Yard XVI.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Bell Yard XVI. Go to

Original English Version

1. Bell Yard XVI. Go to

xvii /ˌsɛvənˈtiːn/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: dezessete

Simple English: the Roman numeral meaning the number seventeen, used here as a chapter heading

Example: Tom-all-Alone’s XVII.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Tom-all-Alone’s XVII. Go to

Original English Version

1. Tom-all-Alone’s XVII. Go to

xviii /ˌeɪˈtiːn/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: dezoito

Simple English: the Roman numeral meaning the number eighteen, used here as a chapter heading

Example: Esther’s Narrative XVIII.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Esther’s Narrative XVIII. Go to

Original English Version

1. Esther’s Narrative XVIII. Go to

xxi /ˌtwɛnti ˈwʌn/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: vinte e um

Simple English: the Roman numeral meaning the number twenty one, used here as a chapter heading

Example: A New Lodger XXI.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. A New Lodger XXI. Go to

Original English Version

1. A New Lodger XXI. Go to

xxii /ˌtwɛnti ˈtuː/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: vinte e dois

Simple English: the Roman numeral meaning the number twenty two, used here as a chapter heading

Example: The Smallweed Family XXII.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The Smallweed Family XXII. Go to

Original English Version

1. The Smallweed Family XXII. Go to

xxiii /ˌtwɛnti ˈθriː/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: vinte e três

Simple English: the Roman numeral meaning the number twenty three, used here as a chapter heading

Example: Bucket XXIII.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Mr. Bucket XXIII. Go to

Original English Version

1. Mr. Bucket XXIII. Go to

xxiv /ˌtwɛnti ˈfɔːr/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: vinte e quatro

Simple English: the Roman numeral meaning the number twenty four, used here as a chapter heading

Example: Esther’s Narrative XXIV.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Esther’s Narrative XXIV. Go to

Original English Version

1. Esther’s Narrative XXIV. Go to

xxix /ˌtwɛnti ˈnaɪn/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: vinte e nove

Simple English: the Roman numeral meaning the number twenty nine, used here as a chapter heading

Example: The Ironmaster XXIX.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The Ironmaster XXIX. Go to

Original English Version

1. The Ironmaster XXIX. Go to

xxv /ˌtwɛnti ˈfaɪv/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: vinte e cinco

Simple English: the Roman numeral meaning the number twenty five, used here as a chapter heading

Example: An Appeal Case XXV.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. An Appeal Case XXV. Go to

Original English Version

1. An Appeal Case XXV. Go to

xxvi /ˌtwɛnti ˈsɪks/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: vinte e seis

Simple English: the Roman numeral meaning the number twenty six, used here as a chapter heading

Example: Snagsby Sees It All XXVI.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Mrs. Snagsby Sees It All XXVI. Go to

Original English Version

1. Mrs. Snagsby Sees It All XXVI. Go to

xxvii /ˌtwɛnti ˈsɛvən/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: vinte e sete

Simple English: the Roman numeral meaning the number twenty seven, used here as a chapter heading

Example: Sharpshooters XXVII.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Sharpshooters XXVII. Go to

Original English Version

1. Sharpshooters XXVII. Go to

xxviii /ˌtwɛnti ˈeɪt/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: vinte e oito

Simple English: the Roman numeral meaning the number twenty eight, used here as a chapter heading

Example: More Old Soldiers Than One XXVIII.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. More Old Soldiers Than One XXVIII. Go to

Original English Version

1. More Old Soldiers Than One XXVIII. Go to

xxxi /ˌθɜːrti ˈwʌn/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: trinta e um

Simple English: the Roman numeral meaning the number thirty one, used here as a chapter heading

Example: Esther’s Narrative XXXI.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Esther’s Narrative XXXI. Go to

Original English Version

1. Esther’s Narrative XXXI. Go to

xxxii /ˌθɜːrti ˈtuː/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: trinta e dois

Simple English: the Roman numeral meaning the number thirty two, used here as a chapter heading

Example: CHAPTER XXXII.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Nurse and Patient XXXII. Go to

Original English Version

1. Nurse and Patient XXXII. Go to

xxxiii /ˌθɜːrti ˈθriː/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: trinta e três

Simple English: the Roman numeral meaning the number thirty three, used here as a chapter heading

Example: The Appointed Time XXXIII.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. The Appointed Time XXXIII. Go to

Original English Version

1. The Appointed Time XXXIII. Go to

xxxiv /ˌθɜːrti ˈfɔːr/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: trinta e quatro

Simple English: the Roman numeral meaning the number thirty four, used here as a chapter heading

Example: Interlopers XXXIV.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Interlopers XXXIV. Go to

Original English Version

1. Interlopers XXXIV. Go to

xxxix /ˌθɜːrti ˈnaɪn/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: trinta e nove

Simple English: the Roman numeral meaning the number thirty nine, used here as a chapter heading

Example: A Struggle XXXIX.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. A Struggle XXXIX. Go to

Original English Version

1. A Struggle XXXIX. Go to

xxxv /ˌθɜːrti ˈfaɪv/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: trinta e cinco

Simple English: the Roman numeral meaning the number thirty five, used here as a chapter heading

Example: A Turn of the Screw XXXV.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. A Turn of the Screw XXXV. Go to

Original English Version

1. A Turn of the Screw XXXV. Go to

xxxvi /ˌθɜːrti ˈsɪks/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: trinta e seis

Simple English: the Roman numeral meaning the number thirty six, used here as a chapter heading

Example: Esther’s Narrative XXXVI.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Esther’s Narrative XXXVI. Go to

Original English Version

1. Esther’s Narrative XXXVI. Go to

xxxvii /ˌθɜːrti ˈsɛvən/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: trinta e sete

Simple English: the Roman numeral meaning the number thirty seven, used here as a chapter heading

Example: Chesney Wold XXXVII.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Chesney Wold XXXVII. Go to

Original English Version

1. Chesney Wold XXXVII. Go to

xxxviii /ˌθɜːrti ˈeɪt/ (2 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: trinta e oito

Simple English: the Roman numeral meaning the number thirty eight, used here as a chapter heading

Example: Jarndyce and Jarndyce XXXVIII.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Jarndyce and Jarndyce XXXVIII. Go to

Original English Version

1. Jarndyce and Jarndyce XXXVIII. Go to

yawn /jɔːn/ (9 occurrences in the simplified text)

Português: bocejo; bocejar

Simple English: To open the mouth wide when tired or bored.

Example: He tried to hide a yawn behind his hand.

Use in this Book:

Simplified (B1) English Version

1. Then he returns to his shelter with a sad yawn. Go to

2. Ada and I later agreed that Egbert gave a sharp cry at those words, though he quickly changed it into a yawn. Go to

Original English Version

1. Nothing but rain - and no family here!” as he goes in again and lies down with a gloomy yawn. Go to

2. He turned it off into a yawn, but it began as a yell. Go to

Original Text: Rare Words (1/8)

Compact help for additional rare words found only in the original text. Each entry gives the spelling, pronunciation, common Portuguese meanings and one exact return to the source paragraph.

abashed /əˈbæʃt/ — envergonhado; constrangido. Mad, young gentleman,” she returned so quickly that he was quite abashed. Return to Original English Version

abear /əˈbɛər/ — aguentar; suportar. And I can’t abear to part with anything I once lay hold of (or so my neighbours think, but what do THEY know?) or to alter anything, or to have any sweeping, nor scouring, nor cleaning, nor repairing going on about me. Return to Original English Version

abounded /əˈbaʊndɪd/ — abundava; havia em profusão. Half-length portraits in crayons abounded all through the house, but were so dispersed that I found the brother of a youthful officer of mine in the china-closet and the grey old age of my pretty young bride, with a flower in her bodice, in the breakfast-room. Return to Original English Version

abstain /əbˈsteɪn/ — abster-se. And the Bond of Joy, who on account of always having the whole of his little income anticipated stood in fact pledged to abstain from cakes as well as tobacco, so swelled with grief and rage when we passed a pastry-cook’s shop that he terrified me by becoming purple. Return to Original English Version

abstractedly /æbˈstræktɪdli/ — distraidamente; absorto. “Yes,” said the old man abstractedly. Return to Original English Version

abstraction /æbˈstrækʃən/ — abstração; distração; alheamento. “Aye!” said the old man, coming slowly out of his abstraction. Return to Original English Version

abstracts /æbˈstrækts/ — retira; subtrai. My Lady carelessly and scornfully abstracts her attention. Return to Original English Version

abt /əˈbaʊt/ — prestes a. Our clt Mr. Jarndyce being abt to rece into his house, under an Order of the Ct of Chy, a Ward of the Ct in this cause, for whom he wishes to secure an elgble compn, directs us to inform you that he will be glad of your serces in the afsd capacity. Return to Original English Version

abundantly /əˈbʌndəntli/ — abundantemente; plenamente. This is the Court of Chancery, which has its decaying houses and its blighted lands in every shire, which has its worn-out lunatic in every madhouse and its dead in every churchyard, which has its ruined suitor with his slipshod heels and threadbare dress borrowing and begging through the round of every man’s acquaintance, which gives to monied might the means abundantly of wearying out the right, which so exhausts finances, patience, courage, hope, so overthrows the brain and breaks the heart, that there is not an honourable man among its practitioners who would not give - who does not often give - the warning, “Suffer any wrong that can be done you rather than come here!” Return to Original English Version

accompaniment /əˈkʌmpənimənt/ — acompanhamento. Such, with its illuminated windows, softened here and there by shadows of curtains, shining out upon the starlight night; with its light, and warmth, and comfort; with its hospitable jingle, at a distance, of preparations for dinner; with the face of its generous master brightening everything we saw; and just wind enough without to sound a low accompaniment to everything we heard, were our first impressions of Bleak House. Return to Original English Version

accountabilities /əˌkaʊntəˈbɪlətiz/ — responsabilidades; obrigações de prestar contas. If I felt at all confused at that early time in endeavouring to reconcile anything he said with anything I had thought about the duties and accountabilities of life (which I am far from sure of), I was confused by not exactly understanding why he was free of them. Return to Original English Version

accumulating /əˈkjuːmjəleɪtɪŋ/ — acumulando; amontoando-se. Foot passengers, jostling one another’s umbrellas in a general infection of ill temper, and losing their foot-hold at street-corners, where tens of thousands of other foot passengers have been slipping and sliding since the day broke (if this day ever broke), adding new deposits to the crust upon crust of mud, sticking at those points tenaciously to the pavement, and accumulating at compound interest. Return to Original English Version

accustom /əˈkʌstəm/ — acostumar. You know, just accustom yourself to talk it over, with your tact and in your quiet way, with him and Ada, and see what you all make of it. Return to Original English Version

ached /eɪkt/ — doía; doeu. My head ached with wondering how it happened, if men were neither fools nor rascals; and my heart ached to think they could possibly be either. Return to Original English Version

acknowledgment /əkˈnɑːlɪdʒmənt/ — reconhecimento; agradecimento. Richard, begging me, for the greater grace of the transaction, as he said, to settle with Coavinses (as Mr. Skimpole now jocularly called him), I counted out the money and received the necessary acknowledgment. Return to Original English Version

acknowledgments /əkˈnɑːlɪdʒmənts/ — agradecimentos; reconhecimentos. We expressed our acknowledgments and sat down behind the door, where there was a lame invalid of a sofa. Return to Original English Version

acquitted /əˈkwɪtɪd/ — absolvido; inocentado. The subject was a woman, whose husband was ignorantly convicted of having murdered her; but on solemn appeal to a higher court, he was acquitted because it was shown upon the evidence that she had died the death of which this name of spontaneous combustion is given. Return to Original English Version

adas /ˈeɪdəz/ — Adas. Out of this you went up three steps into Ada’s bedroom, which had a fine broad window commanding a beautiful view (we saw a great expanse of darkness lying underneath the stars), to which there was a hollow window-seat, in which, with a spring-lock, three dear Adas might have been lost at once. Return to Original English Version

adjuration /ˌædʒəˈreɪʃən/ — conjuração; súplica solene. It was plain enough that Mr. Jarndyce had not been neglectful of the adjuration. Return to Original English Version

admirably /ˈædmərəbli/ — admiravelmente; de modo exemplar. “If I find a person unwilling to hear what I have to say, I tell that person directly, ‘I am incapable of fatigue, my good friend, I am never tired, and I mean to go on until I have done.’ It answers admirably! Return to Original English Version

adorned /əˈdɔːrnd/ — adornado; enfeitado. The house is there in all weathers, and the house, as she expresses it, “is what she looks at.” She sits in her room (in a side passage on the ground floor, with an arched window commanding a smooth quadrangle, adorned at regular intervals with smooth round trees and smooth round blocks of stone, as if the trees were going to play at bowls with the stones), and the whole house reposes on her mind. Return to Original English Version

adversary /ˈædvərseri/ — adversário; oponente. I was sufficiently engaged during the remainder of the evening in taking my first lesson in backgammon from Mr. Jarndyce, who was very fond of the game and from whom I wished of course to learn it as quickly as I could in order that I might be of the very small use of being able to play when he had no better adversary. Return to Original English Version

affable /ˈæfəbəl/ — afável; cordial. He dismissed us pleasantly, and we all went out, very much obliged to him for being so affable and polite, by which he had certainly lost no dignity but seemed to us to have gained some. Return to Original English Version

affidavits /ˌæfɪˈdeɪvɪts/ — declarações juramentadas. On such an afternoon the various solicitors in the cause, some two or three of whom have inherited it from their fathers, who made a fortune by it, ought to be - as are they not? - ranged in a line, in a long matted well (but you might look in vain for truth at the bottom of it) between the registrar’s red table and the silk gowns, with bills, cross-bills, answers, rejoinders, injunctions, affidavits, issues, references to masters, masters’ reports, mountains of costly nonsense, piled before them. Return to Original English Version

afflicted /əˈflɪktɪd/ — afligido; acometido. It appears to the afflicted Mr. Guppy and his inconsolable friend that there is no end to the Dedlocks, whose family greatness seems to consist in their never having done anything to distinguish themselves for seven hundred years. Return to Original English Version

afforded /əˈfɔːrdɪd/ — proporcionou; permitiu-se; teve meios para. The mystery of the future and the little clue afforded to it by the voice of the present seemed expressed in the whole picture. Return to Original English Version

afresh /əˈfreʃ/ — de novo; novamente. No effort had been made to clean the room - it seemed in its nature almost hopeless of being clean; but the small waxen form from which so much solemnity diffused itself had been composed afresh, and washed, and neatly dressed in some fragments of white linen; and on my handkerchief, which still covered the poor baby, a little bunch of sweet herbs had been laid by the same rough, scarred hands, so lightly, so tenderly! Return to Original English Version

afsd /əˈfɔːrsɛd/ — supracitado. Our clt Mr. Jarndyce being abt to rece into his house, under an Order of the Ct of Chy, a Ward of the Ct in this cause, for whom he wishes to secure an elgble compn, directs us to inform you that he will be glad of your serces in the afsd capacity. Return to Original English Version

aft'noon /ˈæftnuːn/ — tarde. “Know’d it yes’day aft’noon at tea-time,” said Coavinses. Return to Original English Version

agglomeration /əˌɡlɑːməˈreɪʃən/ — aglomeração. Then, for heaven’s sake, having Harold Skimpole, a confiding child, petitioning you, the world, an agglomeration of practical people of business habits, to let him live and admire the human family, do it somehow or other, like good souls, and suffer him to ride his rocking-horse!” Return to Original English Version

agitated /ˈædʒɪteɪtɪd/ — agitado; perturbado. Even to this hour, Mrs. Rouncewell’s calm hands lose their composure when she speaks of him, and unfolding themselves from her stomacher, hover about her in an agitated manner as she says what a likely lad, what a fine lad, what a gay, good-humoured, clever lad he was! Return to Original English Version

agreeable /əˈɡriːəbəl/ — agradável; aceitável. There is an air of prescription about him which is always agreeable to Sir Leicester; he receives it as a kind of tribute. Return to Original English Version

agreeably /əˈɡriːəbli/ — agradavelmente; de modo grato. He was agreeably surprised to see us stirring so soon and said he would gladly share our walk. Return to Original English Version

aits /eɪts/ — ilhotas fluviais. Fog up the river, where it flows among green aits and meadows; fog down the river, where it rolls defiled among the tiers of shipping and the waterside pollutions of a great (and dirty) city. Return to Original English Version

alighted /əˈlaɪtɪd/ — apeou; desceu; pousou. The roads were very heavy for the horses, but the pathway was generally good, so we alighted and walked up all the hills, and liked it so well that we prolonged our walk on the level ground when we got to the top. Return to Original English Version

all's /ɔːlz/ — tudo é, contração de all is. And all’s fish that comes to my net. Return to Original English Version

allusion /əˈluːʒən/ — alusão; referência. “My dear!” I remonstrated, in allusion to the epithet and the vigorous emphasis Miss Jellyby set upon it. Return to Original English Version

alternately /ˈɔːltərnətli/ — alternadamente; ora um, ora outro. The view from my Lady Dedlock’s own windows is alternately a lead-coloured view and a view in Indian ink. Return to Original English Version

amanuensis /əˌmænjuˈɛnsɪs/ — amanuense; secretário-escriba. “If you would like,” said Mrs. Jellyby, putting a number of papers towards us, “to look over some remarks on that head, and on the general subject, which have been extensively circulated, while I finish a letter I am now dictating to my eldest daughter, who is my amanuensis - ” Return to Original English Version

amiable /ˈeɪmiəbəl/ — amável; afável. I had only gone out with Peepy after he was found and given him a little, tiny horse! - “and, cousin John, she softened poor Caroline, the eldest one, so much and was so thoughtful for me and so amiable! Return to Original English Version

amply /ˈæmpli/ — amplamente; fartamente. On that day week, amply provided with all necessaries, I left it, inside the stagecoach, for Reading. Return to Original English Version

an't /ænt/ — não sou; não é; não são. “There an’t,” growled the man on the floor, whose head rested on his hand as he stared at us, “any more on you to come in, is there?” Return to Original English Version

anecdote /ˈænɪkdoʊt/ — anedota; caso contado. “It has never been more than a family anecdote.” Return to Original English Version

anew /əˈnuː/ — de novo; novamente. “I will speak with both the young people,” says the Chancellor anew, “and satisfy myself on the subject of their residing with their cousin. Return to Original English Version

anguish /ˈæŋɡwɪʃ/ — angústia; sofrimento intenso. She felt it with a mother’s anguish to be a move in the Wat Tyler direction, well knowing that Sir Leicester had that general impression of an aptitude for any art to which smoke and a tall chimney might be considered essential. Return to Original English Version

anne's /ænz/ — de Anne. As substitutes, I had four angels, of Queen Anne’s reign, taking a complacent gentleman to heaven, in festoons, with some difficulty; and a composition in needlework representing fruit, a kettle, and an alphabet. Return to Original English Version

anniversaries /ˌænɪˈvɜːrsəriz/ — aniversários; datas comemorativas. For yourself, unfortunate girl, orphaned and degraded from the first of these evil anniversaries, pray daily that the sins of others be not visited upon your head, according to what is written. Return to Original English Version

annuity /əˈnuːəti/ — renda vitalícia; anuidade. They were going to raise new buildings, they were going to pay off debts on old buildings, they were going to establish in a picturesque building (engraving of proposed west elevation attached) the Sisterhood of Mediaeval Marys, they were going to give a testimonial to Mrs. Jellyby, they were going to have their secretary’s portrait painted and presented to his mother-in-law, whose deep devotion to him was well known, they were going to get up everything, I really believe, from five hundred thousand tracts to an annuity and from a marble monument to a silver tea-pot. Return to Original English Version

another's /əˈnʌðərz/ — de outro; um do outro. Foot passengers, jostling one another’s umbrellas in a general infection of ill temper, and losing their foot-hold at street-corners, where tens of thousands of other foot passengers have been slipping and sliding since the day broke (if this day ever broke), adding new deposits to the crust upon crust of mud, sticking at those points tenaciously to the pavement, and accumulating at compound interest. Return to Original English Version

antagonism /ænˈtæɡənɪzəm/ — antagonismo. Mrs. Pardiggle, who had been regarding him through her spectacles with a forcible composure, calculated, I could not help thinking, to increase his antagonism, pulled out a good book as if it were a constable’s staff and took the whole family into custody. Return to Original English Version

antiquity /ænˈtɪkwəti/ — Antiguidade; tempos antigos. Mrs. Rouncewell holds this opinion because she considers that a family of such antiquity and importance has a right to a ghost. Return to Original English Version

anybody's /ˈenibɑːdiz/ — de qualquer um. Imperfect as my understanding of my sorrow was, I knew that I had brought no joy at any time to anybody’s heart and that I was to no one upon earth what Dolly was to me. Return to Original English Version

anywhere's /ˈɛniweəz/ — qualquer lugar é; em qualquer lugar há. “Anywhere’s nowhere,” said Miss Jellyby, stopping perversely. Return to Original English Version

apiece /əˈpiːs/ — cada um; por pessoa. How much apiece was it? Return to Original English Version

apparition /ˌæpəˈrɪʃən/ — aparição; espectro. But all the little children had come up to the landing outside to look at the phenomenon of Peepy lying on my bed, and our attention was distracted by the constant apparition of noses and fingers in situations of danger between the hinges of the doors. Return to Original English Version

apprehend /ˌæprɪˈhɛnd/ — compreender; supor. The weather is so very bad down in Lincolnshire that the liveliest imagination can scarcely apprehend its ever being fine again. Return to Original English Version

apprehensive /ˌæprɪˈhensɪv/ — apreensivo; receoso. I was apprehensive that his illness might be of a dangerous kind, but of course I begged her to be quiet and not disturb any one and collected myself, as I followed her quickly upstairs, sufficiently to consider what were the best remedies to be applied if it should prove to be a fit. Return to Original English Version

apprenticeship /əˈprentɪsʃɪp/ — aprendizado profissional; contrato de aprendiz. Nevertheless, Mrs. Rouncewell’s son has, in the course of nature and art, grown up, and established himself, and married, and called unto him Mrs. Rouncewell’s grandson, who, being out of his apprenticeship, and home from a journey in far countries, whither he was sent to enlarge his knowledge and complete his preparations for the venture of this life, stands leaning against the chimney-piece this very day in Mrs. Rouncewell’s room at Chesney Wold. Return to Original English Version

aprons /ˈeɪprənz/ — aventais. Wear red coats, blue coats, lawn sleeves; put pens behind your ears, wear aprons; go after glory, holiness, commerce, trade, any object you prefer; only - let Harold Skimpole live!” Return to Original English Version

aptitude /ˈæptɪtuːd/ — aptidão; talento. She felt it with a mother’s anguish to be a move in the Wat Tyler direction, well knowing that Sir Leicester had that general impression of an aptitude for any art to which smoke and a tall chimney might be considered essential. Return to Original English Version

ardent /ˈɑːrdənt/ — ardente; apaixonado; intenso. He was ardent and brave, and in the midst of all his wild restlessness, was so gentle that I knew him like a brother in a few weeks. Return to Original English Version

ardently /ˈɑːrdəntli/ — ardentemente. It made me very sorry to consider how good she was and how unworthy of her I was, and I used ardently to hope that I might have a better heart; and I talked it over very often with the dear old doll, but I never loved my godmother as I ought to have loved her and as I felt I must have loved her if I had been a better girl. Return to Original English Version

ardour /ˈɑːrdər/ — ardor; fervor. There is a bright-eyed woman, of a strong will and immense power of business detail, who throws herself into objects with surprising ardour! Return to Original English Version

arrngd /əˈreɪndʒd/ — organizamos, providenciamos. We have arrngd for your being forded, carriage free, pr eight o’clock coach from Reading, on Monday morning next, to White Horse Cellar, Piccadilly, London, where one of our clks will be in waiting to convey you to our offe as above. Return to Original English Version

artful /ˈɑːrtfəl/ — astuto; ardiloso. Her second son would have been provided for at Chesney Wold and would have been made steward in due season, but he took, when he was a schoolboy, to constructing steam-engines out of saucepans and setting birds to draw their own water with the least possible amount of labour, so assisting them with artful contrivance of hydraulic pressure that a thirsty canary had only, in a literal sense, to put his shoulder to the wheel and the job was done. Return to Original English Version

articled /ˈɑːrtɪkəld/ — contratado como aprendiz; em estágio profissional. Articled clerks have been in the habit of fleshing their legal wit upon it. Return to Original English Version

ascend /əˈsɛnd/ — subir; ascender. If she could be translated to heaven to-morrow, she might be expected to ascend without any rapture. Return to Original English Version

ascertained /ˌæsərˈteɪnd/ — apurado; verificado. Mr. Jarndyce had ascertained the amount, either from Mr. Skimpole himself or from Coavinses, and had placed the money in my hands with instructions to me to retain my own part of it and hand the rest to Richard. Return to Original English Version

ashy /ˈæʃi/ — acinzentado; pálido como cinza. The fire went out, and all night long she slumbered thus before the ashy grate. Return to Original English Version

assented /əˈsɛntɪd/ — concordou; assentiu. “Quite so,” assented Mr. Kenge; “ - that Mrs. Rachael should charge herself with your maintenance and support (I beg you won’t distress yourself), you are in a position to receive the renewal of an offer which I was instructed to make to Miss Barbary some two years ago and which, though rejected then, was understood to be renewable under the lamentable circumstances that have since occurred. Return to Original English Version

assort /əˈsɔːrt/ — combinar; harmonizar; classificar. Never can there come fog too thick, never can there come mud and mire too deep, to assort with the groping and floundering condition which this High Court of Chancery, most pestilent of hoary sinners, holds this day in the sight of heaven and earth. Return to Original English Version

astir /əˈstɜːr/ — de pé; em movimento; alvoroçado. Ada said she would go too, and was soon astir. Return to Original English Version

astonishes /əˈstɑːnɪʃɪz/ — assombra; espanta. “The quantity of exertion (which is no exertion to me), the amount of business (which I regard as nothing), that I go through sometimes astonishes myself. Return to Original English Version

astonishment /əˈstɑːnɪʃmənt/ — espanto; assombro. I began to be really afraid of him now and looked at him with the greatest astonishment. Return to Original English Version

asunder /əˈsʌndər/ — em pedaços; ao meio. It is a street of perishing blind houses, with their eyes stoned out, without a pane of glass, without so much as a window-frame, with the bare blank shutters tumbling from their hinges and falling asunder, the iron rails peeling away in flakes of rust, the chimneys sinking in, the stone steps to every door (and every door might be death’s door) turning stagnant green, the very crutches on which the ruins are propped decaying. Return to Original English Version

atone /əˈtoʊn/ — expiar; reparar. Richard, anxious to atone for his thoughtlessness of yesterday, good-naturedly explained that Miss Jellyby was not connected with the suit. Return to Original English Version

attaining /əˈteɪnɪŋ/ — alcançando; atingindo. I really was frightened at the thought of the importance I was attaining and the number of things that were being confided to me. Return to Original English Version

attainments /əˈteɪnmənts/ — conhecimentos adquiridos. He is a man of attainments and of captivating manners. Return to Original English Version

attentively /əˈtentɪvli/ — atentamente; com atenção. He looked so attentively at me that I looked attentively at him and felt sure I understood him. Return to Original English Version

audacious /ɔːˈdeɪʃəs/ — audacioso; atrevido. “I wouldn’t be guilty of the audacious insolence of keeping a lady of the house waiting all this time for any earthly consideration. Return to Original English Version

audible /ˈɔːdəbəl/ — audível. Ada touched the notes so softly and sang so low that the wind, sighing away to the distant hills, was as audible as the music. Return to Original English Version

auditor /ˈɔːdɪtər/ — ouvinte; auditor. I was not so attentive an auditor as I might have wished to be, however, for Peepy and the other children came flocking about Ada and me in a corner of the drawing-room to ask for another story; so we sat down among them and told them in whispers “Puss in Boots” and I don’t know what else until Mrs. Jellyby, accidentally remembering them, sent them to bed. Return to Original English Version

auditors /ˈɔːdɪtərz/ — auditores. Even what she read and said seemed to us to be ill-chosen for such auditors, if it had been imparted ever so modestly and with ever so much tact. Return to Original English Version

austere /ɔːˈstɪr/ — austero; severo; despojado. I had more than once approached this subject of my thoughts with Mrs. Rachael, our only servant, who took my light away when I was in bed (another very good woman, but austere to me), and she had only said, “Esther, good night!” and gone away and left me. Return to Original English Version

autographs /ˈɔːtəɡrɑːfs/ — autógrafos. They wanted wearing apparel, they wanted linen rags, they wanted money, they wanted coals, they wanted soup, they wanted interest, they wanted autographs, they wanted flannel, they wanted whatever Mr. Jarndyce had - or had not. Return to Original English Version

avow /əˈvaʊ/ — confessar abertamente; declarar. Now, if I avow that I represent, in Jarndyce and Jarndyce and otherwise, a highly humane, but at the same time singular, man, shall I compromise myself by any stretch of my professional caution?” said Mr. Kenge, leaning back in his chair again and looking calmly at us both. Return to Original English Version

babby /ˈbæbi/ — bebê. It’s a book fit for a babby, and I’m not a babby. Return to Original English Version

backslidings /ˈbækˌslaɪdɪŋz/ — recaídas; desvios. But the doomed young rebel (otherwise a mild youth, and very persevering), showing no sign of grace as he got older but, on the contrary, constructing a model of a power-loom, she was fain, with many tears, to mention his backslidings to the baronet. Return to Original English Version

badness /ˈbædnəs/ — maldade; ruindade. She was so very good herself, I thought, that the badness of other people made her frown all her life. Return to Original English Version

baleful /ˈbeɪlfəl/ — sinistro; funesto; malévolo. At the mention of the Tockahoopo Indians, I could really have supposed Egbert to be one of the most baleful members of that tribe, he gave me such a savage frown. Return to Original English Version

balustrade /ˌbæləˈstreɪd/ — balaustrada. She never complained of the change; she never spoke to any one of being crippled or of being in pain, but day by day she tried to walk upon the terrace, and with the help of the stone balustrade, went up and down, up and down, up and down, in sun and shadow, with greater difficulty every day. Return to Original English Version

banked /bæŋkt/ — tinha conta bancária; inclinou-se numa curva. Here and there an old tub was put to catch the droppings of rain-water from a roof, or they were banked up with mud into a little pond like a large dirt-pie. Return to Original English Version

barges /ˈbɑːrdʒɪz/ — barcaças. Fog creeping into the cabooses of collier-brigs; fog lying out on the yards and hovering in the rigging of great ships; fog drooping on the gunwales of barges and small boats. Return to Original English Version

barley /ˈbɑːrli/ — cevada. The turkey in the poultry-yard, always troubled with a class-grievance (probably Christmas), may be reminiscent of that summer morning wrongfully taken from him when he got into the lane among the felled trees, where there was a barn and barley. Return to Original English Version

barouche /bəˈruːʃ/ — carruagem aberta de quatro rodas. Mrs. Jellyby charged us with many remembrances to her good friend Mr. Jarndyce; Caddy left her desk to see us depart, kissed me in the passage, and stood biting her pen and sobbing on the steps; Peepy, I am happy to say, was asleep and spared the pain of separation (I was not without misgivings that he had gone to Newgate market in search of me); and all the other children got up behind the barouche and fell off, and we saw them, with great concern, scattered over the surface of Thavies Inn as we rolled out of its precincts. Return to Original English Version

barren /ˈbærən/ — estéreis; improdutivos. The horses in the stables - the long stables in a barren, red-brick court-yard, where there is a great bell in a turret, and a clock with a large face, which the pigeons who live near it and who love to perch upon its shoulders seem to be always consulting - THEY may contemplate some mental pictures of fine weather on occasions, and may be better artists at them than the grooms. Return to Original English Version

barristers /ˈbærɪstərz/ — advogados de tribunal. I noticed the scantiest necessaries in the way of furniture; a few old prints from books, of Chancellors and barristers, wafered against the wall; and some half-dozen reticles and work-bags, “containing documents,” as she informed us. Return to Original English Version

bashful /ˈbæʃfəl/ — tímido; acanhado. The girl at the table left off biting her pen and made a return to our recognition, which was half bashful and half sulky. Return to Original English Version

baudi /ˈbaʊdi/ — Baudi. There are about thirty cases on record, of which the most famous, that of the Countess Cornelia de Baudi Cesenate, was minutely investigated and described by Giuseppe Bianchini, a prebendary of Verona, otherwise distinguished in letters, who published an account of it at Verona in 1731, which he afterwards republished at Rome. Return to Original English Version

beacons /ˈbiːkənz/ — faróis; balizas; sinais. It was interesting when I dressed before daylight to peep out of window, where my candles were reflected in the black panes like two beacons, and finding all beyond still enshrouded in the indistinctness of last night, to watch how it turned out when the day came on. Return to Original English Version

beadle /ˈbiːdəl/ — bedel; oficial paroquial. I made my way to the poor child, who was one of the dirtiest little unfortunates I ever saw, and found him very hot and frightened and crying loudly, fixed by the neck between two iron railings, while a milkman and a beadle, with the kindest intentions possible, were endeavouring to drag him back by the legs, under a general impression that his skull was compressible by those means. Return to Original English Version

beadle's /ˈbiːdəlz/ — do bedel; do oficial paroquial. I shouldn’t be expected there, if I did; the beadle’s too gen-teel for me. Return to Original English Version

beaming /ˈbiːmɪŋ/ — radiante. Presently we lost the light, presently saw it, presently lost it, presently saw it, and turned into an avenue of trees and cantered up towards where it was beaming brightly. Return to Original English Version

beauties /ˈbjuːtiz/ — belezas. Both the world of fashion and the Court of Chancery are things of precedent and usage: oversleeping Rip Van Winkles who have played at strange games through a deal of thundery weather; sleeping beauties whom the knight will wake one day, when all the stopped spits in the kitchen shall begin to turn prodigiously! Return to Original English Version

beckoned /ˈbɛkənd/ — acenou; chamou com um gesto. She had taken my hand, and leading me and Miss Jellyby away, beckoned Richard and Ada to come too. Return to Original English Version

bedevilment /bɪˈdevəlmənt/ — confusão; complicação infernal. “The lawyers have twisted it into such a state of bedevilment that the original merits of the case have long disappeared from the face of the earth. Return to Original English Version

bedside /ˈbedsaɪd/ — cabeceira; beira do leito. When every minute added to the proofs of love and kindness that were given me in those five days, and when at last the morning came and when they took me through all the rooms that I might see them for the last time, and when some cried, “Esther, dear, say good-bye to me here at my bedside, where you first spoke so kindly to me!” and when others asked me only to write their names, “With Esther’s love,” and when they all surrounded me with their parting presents and clung to me weeping and cried, “What shall we do when dear, dear Esther’s gone!” and when I tried to tell them how forbearing and how good they had all been to me and how I blessed and thanked them every one, what a heart I had! Return to Original English Version

bedstead /ˈbɛdstɛd/ — armação de cama; catre. But if instead of going out at Ada’s door you came back into my room, and went out at the door by which you had entered it, and turned up a few crooked steps that branched off in an unexpected manner from the stairs, you lost yourself in passages, with mangles in them, and three-cornered tables, and a native Hindu chair, which was also a sofa, a box, and a bedstead, and looked in every form something between a bamboo skeleton and a great bird-cage, and had been brought from India nobody knew by whom or when. Return to Original English Version

begludship's /bɪˈɡlʌdʃɪps/ — com todo o respeito, senhora. “Begludship’s pardon - boy,” says Mr. Tangle prematurely. Return to Original English Version

beguile /bɪˈɡaɪl/ — enganar; distrair agradavelmente. The whole seemingly monotonous and uncompanionable half-dozen, stabled together, may pass the long wet hours when the door is shut in livelier communication than is held in the servants’ hall or at the Dedlock Arms, or may even beguile the time by improving (perhaps corrupting) the pony in the loose-box in the corner. Return to Original English Version

beheld /bɪˈhɛld/ — viu; contemplou. “By my soul, I thought him the worst-looking dog I had ever beheld when he was telling me to take the turning to the right. Return to Original English Version

benchers /ˈbɛntʃərz/ — membros dirigentes de uma Inn of Court; juristas veteranos. Good things have been said about it by blue-nosed, bulbous-shoed old benchers in select port-wine committee after dinner in hall. Return to Original English Version

benefactor /ˈbɛnəˌfæktər/ — benfeitor. I had perhaps less reason to be surprised than either of my companions, having never yet enjoyed an opportunity of thanking one who had been my benefactor and sole earthly dependence through so many years. Return to Original English Version

benevolence /bəˈnevələns/ — benevolência; bondade. Among the ladies who were most distinguished for this rapacious benevolence (if I may use the expression) was a Mrs. Pardiggle, who seemed, as I judged from the number of her letters to Mr. Jarndyce, to be almost as powerful a correspondent as Mrs. Jellyby herself. Return to Original English Version

benevolent /bɪˈnɛvələnt/ — benevolente; bondoso. I could not help it; I tried very hard, but being alone with that benevolent presence, and meeting his kind eyes, and feeling so happy and so honoured there, and my heart so full - I kissed his hand. Return to Original English Version

benignant /bɪˈnɪɡnənt/ — benigno; bondoso. His look was thoughtful, but had a benignant expression in it which I often (how often!) saw again, which has long been engraven on my heart. Return to Original English Version

bereft /bɪˈreft/ — privado de; desamparado. He supposes all his dependents to be utterly bereft of individual characters, intentions, or opinions, and is persuaded that he was born to supersede the necessity of their having any. Return to Original English Version

bestow /bɪˈstoʊ/ — conceder; outorgar; dar. “My prudent Mother Hubbard, why not?” he said to me when he wanted, without the least consideration, to bestow five pounds on the brickmaker. Return to Original English Version

betraying /bɪˈtreɪɪŋ/ — delatora; que revela. So the rabbits with their self-betraying tails, frisking in and out of holes at roots of trees, may be lively with ideas of the breezy days when their ears are blown about or of those seasons of interest when there are sweet young plants to gnaw. Return to Original English Version

betwixt /bɪˈtwɪkst/ — entre, arcaico. There’s no great odds betwixt us. Return to Original English Version

bewildered /bɪˈwɪldərd/ — desconcertado; confuso. I was so bewildered that Miss Donny thought the cold had been too severe for me and lent me her smelling-bottle. Return to Original English Version

bianchini /ˌbjæŋˈkiːni/ — Bianchini. There are about thirty cases on record, of which the most famous, that of the Countess Cornelia de Baudi Cesenate, was minutely investigated and described by Giuseppe Bianchini, a prebendary of Verona, otherwise distinguished in letters, who published an account of it at Verona in 1731, which he afterwards republished at Rome. Return to Original English Version

birthright /ˈbɜːrθraɪt/ — direito de nascença. And does it seem to me that I am about to deprive Harold Skimpole of his share in such possessions, which are his only birthright!’ You thought nothing to that effect?” Return to Original English Version

blackest /ˈblækɪst/ — o mais negro; o mais tenebroso. By my soul, the countenance of that fellow when he was a boy was the blackest image of perfidy, cowardice, and cruelty ever set up as a scarecrow in a field of scoundrels. Return to Original English Version

blacking /ˈblækɪŋ/ — graxa preta. In all parts of the window were quantities of dirty bottles - blacking bottles, medicine bottles, ginger-beer and soda-water bottles, pickle bottles, wine bottles, ink bottles; I am reminded by mentioning the latter that the shop had in several little particulars the air of being in a legal neighbourhood and of being, as it were, a dirty hanger-on and disowned relation of the law. Return to Original English Version

blacksmith's /ˈblæksmɪθs/ — do ferreiro. “Pretty well, Rick, in that respect,” said Mr. Jarndyce; “being some ten years older than I and a couple of inches taller, with his head thrown back like an old soldier, his stalwart chest squared, his hands like a clean blacksmith’s, and his lungs! Return to Original English Version

blazing /ˈbleɪzɪŋ/ — flamejante; ardente; em chamas. The gentleman who said these words in a clear, bright, hospitable voice had one of his arms round Ada’s waist and the other round mine, and kissed us both in a fatherly way, and bore us across the hall into a ruddy little room, all in a glow with a blazing fire. Return to Original English Version

blemish /ˈblemɪʃ/ — mácula; defeito; mancha. There had been, he admitted, a trivial blemish or so in its rate of progress, but this was exaggerated and had been entirely owing to the “parsimony of the public,” which guilty public, it appeared, had been until lately bent in the most determined manner on by no means enlarging the number of Chancery judges appointed - I believe by Richard the Second, but any other king will do as well. Return to Original English Version

blest /blɛst/ — abençoado; feliz. “Blest,” says Mr. Guppy, staring in a kind of dismay at his friend, “if I can ever have seen her. Return to Original English Version

blighted /ˈblaɪtɪd/ — arruinado; marcado pela desgraça. This is the Court of Chancery, which has its decaying houses and its blighted lands in every shire, which has its worn-out lunatic in every madhouse and its dead in every churchyard, which has its ruined suitor with his slipshod heels and threadbare dress borrowing and begging through the round of every man’s acquaintance, which gives to monied might the means abundantly of wearying out the right, which so exhausts finances, patience, courage, hope, so overthrows the brain and breaks the heart, that there is not an honourable man among its practitioners who would not give - who does not often give - the warning, “Suffer any wrong that can be done you rather than come here!” Return to Original English Version

blinkers /ˈblɪŋkərz/ — antolhos. Horses, scarcely better; splashed to their very blinkers. Return to Original English Version

bloodhound /ˈblʌdhaʊnd/ — sabujo; cão farejador. He was not only a very handsome old gentleman - upright and stalwart as he had been described to us - with a massive grey head, a fine composure of face when silent, a figure that might have become corpulent but for his being so continually in earnest that he gave it no rest, and a chin that might have subsided into a double chin but for the vehement emphasis in which it was constantly required to assist; but he was such a true gentleman in his manner, so chivalrously polite, his face was lighted by a smile of so much sweetness and tenderness, and it seemed so plain that he had nothing to hide, but showed himself exactly as he was - incapable, as Richard said, of anything on a limited scale, and firing away with those blank great guns because he carried no small arms whatever - that really I could not help looking at him with equal pleasure as he sat at dinner, whether he smilingly conversed with Ada and me, or was led by Mr. Jarndyce into some great volley of superlatives, or threw up his head like a bloodhound and gave out that tremendous “Ha, ha, ha!” Return to Original English Version

blowers /ˈbloʊərz/ — Blowers. The last Lord Chancellor handled it neatly, when, correcting Mr. Blowers, the eminent silk gown who said that such a thing might happen when the sky rained potatoes, he observed, “or when we get through Jarndyce and Jarndyce, Mr. Blowers” - a pleasantry that particularly tickled the maces, bags, and purses. Return to Original English Version

boarder /ˈbɔːrdər/ — pensionista. Although there were seven girls at the neighbouring school where I was a day boarder, and although they called me little Esther Summerson, I knew none of them at home. Return to Original English Version

boarders /ˈbɔːrdərz/ — pensionistas; hóspedes. We were twelve boarders, and there were two Miss Donnys, twins. Return to Original English Version

bodice /ˈbɑːdɪs/ — corpete; parte superior do vestido. Half-length portraits in crayons abounded all through the house, but were so dispersed that I found the brother of a youthful officer of mine in the china-closet and the grey old age of my pretty young bride, with a flower in her bodice, in the breakfast-room. Return to Original English Version

boned /boʊnd/ — de ossatura; com ossos. As soon as we were out of doors, Egbert, with the manner of a little footpad, demanded a shilling of me on the ground that his pocket-money was “boned” from him. Return to Original English Version

bonnets /ˈbɑːnɪts/ — toucas; chapéus; cocares. And could I help it if with all this, and the coming to the little school, and the unexpected sight of the poor children outside waving their hats and bonnets to me, and of a grey-haired gentleman and lady whose daughter I had helped to teach and at whose house I had visited (who were said to be the proudest people in all that country), caring for nothing but calling out, “Good-bye, Esther. Return to Original English Version

bookcase /ˈbʊkkeɪs/ — estante de livros. As it was of no use going on in that way, I put the paper down, took a peep at my bonnet in the glass to see if it was neat, and looked at the room, which was not half lighted, and at the shabby, dusty tables, and at the piles of writings, and at a bookcase full of the most inexpressive-looking books that ever had anything to say for themselves. Return to Original English Version

bosom /ˈbʊzəm/ — peito; seio. I went up to my room, and crept to bed, and laid my doll’s cheek against mine wet with tears, and holding that solitary friend upon my bosom, cried myself to sleep. Return to Original English Version

botheration /ˌbɒðəˈreɪʃən/ — aborrecimento; que droga!. In trickery, evasion, procrastination, spoliation, botheration, under false pretences of all sorts, there are influences that can never come to good. Return to Original English Version

boudoir /ˈbuːdwɑːr/ — toucador. My Lady Dedlock (who is childless), looking out in the early twilight from her boudoir at a keeper’s lodge and seeing the light of a fire upon the latticed panes, and smoke rising from the chimney, and a child, chased by a woman, running out into the rain to meet the shining figure of a wrapped-up man coming through the gate, has been put quite out of temper. Return to Original English Version

bountiful /ˈbaʊntɪfəl/ — generoso; abundante. It was one of those delightfully irregular houses where you go up and down steps out of one room into another, and where you come upon more rooms when you think you have seen all there are, and where there is a bountiful provision of little halls and passages, and where you find still older cottage-rooms in unexpected places with lattice windows and green growth pressing through them. Return to Original English Version

bower /ˈbaʊər/ — caramanchão; abrigo entre folhagens. It is quite a bower in the summer-time. Return to Original English Version

bowers /ˈbaʊərz/ — caramanchões; abrigos entre folhagens. It should be strewn with roses; it should lie through bowers, where there was no spring, autumn, nor winter, but perpetual summer. Return to Original English Version

brambles /ˈbræmbəlz/ — sarças; silvados. But if I had mine,” glancing at the cousins, “there should be no brambles of sordid realities in such a path as that. Return to Original English Version

branched /bræntʃt/ — ramificou-se; dividido em ramos. But if instead of going out at Ada’s door you came back into my room, and went out at the door by which you had entered it, and turned up a few crooked steps that branched off in an unexpected manner from the stairs, you lost yourself in passages, with mangles in them, and three-cornered tables, and a native Hindu chair, which was also a sofa, a box, and a bedstead, and looked in every form something between a bamboo skeleton and a great bird-cage, and had been brought from India nobody knew by whom or when. Return to Original English Version

breadth /brɛdθ/ — largura; amplitude. The adjacent low-lying ground for half a mile in breadth is a stagnant river with melancholy trees for islands in it and a surface punctured all over, all day long, with falling rain. Return to Original English Version

breakfast's /ˈbrɛkfəsts/ — o café da manhã é; o café da manhã está. “Ma won’t be down for ever so long,” she said, “and then it’s a chance if breakfast’s ready for an hour afterwards, they dawdle so. Return to Original English Version

breathed /briːðd/ — respirou; aspirou. The base word money should never be breathed near it!” Return to Original English Version

breeches /ˈbrɪtʃɪz/ — calções; bombachas. He is of what is called the old school - a phrase generally meaning any school that seems never to have been young - and wears knee-breeches tied with ribbons, and gaiters or stockings. Return to Original English Version

breezy /ˈbriːzi/ — arejado; com brisa; animado. So the rabbits with their self-betraying tails, frisking in and out of holes at roots of trees, may be lively with ideas of the breezy days when their ears are blown about or of those seasons of interest when there are sweet young plants to gnaw. Return to Original English Version

brightening /ˈbraɪtənɪŋ/ — clareando; animando-se. Such, with its illuminated windows, softened here and there by shadows of curtains, shining out upon the starlight night; with its light, and warmth, and comfort; with its hospitable jingle, at a distance, of preparations for dinner; with the face of its generous master brightening everything we saw; and just wind enough without to sound a low accompaniment to everything we heard, were our first impressions of Bleak House. Return to Original English Version

brigs /brɪɡz/ — brigues. Fog creeping into the cabooses of collier-brigs; fog lying out on the yards and hovering in the rigging of great ships; fog drooping on the gunwales of barges and small boats. Return to Original English Version

brilliancy /ˈbrɪljənsi/ — brilho; esplendor; fulgor. We went our way through the sunshine and the fresh air, wondering more and more at the extent of the streets, the brilliancy of the shops, the great traffic, and the crowds of people whom the pleasanter weather seemed to have brought out like many-coloured flowers. Return to Original English Version

brocade /broʊˈkeɪd/ — brocado. Ada’s sleeping-room was all flowers - in chintz and paper, in velvet, in needlework, in the brocade of two stiff courtly chairs which stood, each attended by a little page of a stool for greater state, on either side of the fire-place. Return to Original English Version

brooding /ˈbruːdɪŋ/ — remoendo; sombrio. Not that there is any superabundant life of imagination on the spot, for Sir Leicester is not here (and, truly, even if he were, would not do much for it in that particular), but is in Paris with my Lady; and solitude, with dusky wings, sits brooding upon Chesney Wold. Return to Original English Version

browner /ˈbraʊnər/ — mais marrom; mais moreno. Being of a more slender figure than Mr. Jarndyce and having a richer complexion, with browner hair, he looked younger. Return to Original English Version

bruises /ˈbruːzɪz/ — hematomas; contusões; roxos. Peepy (so self-named) was the unfortunate child who had fallen downstairs, who now interrupted the correspondence by presenting himself, with a strip of plaster on his forehead, to exhibit his wounded knees, in which Ada and I did not know which to pity most - the bruises or the dirt. Return to Original English Version

bulbous /ˈbʌlbəs/ — bulboso; arredondado. Good things have been said about it by blue-nosed, bulbous-shoed old benchers in select port-wine committee after dinner in hall. Return to Original English Version

bulwarks /ˈbʊlwərks/ — amuradas do navio; baluartes; defesas. Sir Leicester in a great chair looks at the file and appears to have a stately liking for the legal repetitions and prolixities as ranging among the national bulwarks. Return to Original English Version

bunches /ˈbʌntʃɪz/ — cachos; molhos; ramos. Our luggage having arrived and being all at hand, I was dressed in a few minutes and engaged in putting my worldly goods away when a maid (not the one in attendance upon Ada, but another, whom I had not seen) brought a basket into my room with two bunches of keys in it, all labelled. Return to Original English Version

buoyancy /ˈbɔɪənsi/ — flutuabilidade; sustentação. With a buoyancy and hopefulness and a gaiety that hardly ever flagged, Richard had a carelessness in his character that quite perplexed me, principally because he mistook it, in such a very odd way, for prudence. Return to Original English Version

buoyantly /ˈbɔɪəntli/ — flutuando levemente; com alegria. I don’t know!” cried Mr. Skimpole buoyantly. Return to Original English Version

buries /ˈberiz/ — enterra; mergulha; sepulta. He is found sometimes, speechless but quite at home, at corners of dinner-tables in great country houses and near doors of drawing-rooms, concerning which the fashionable intelligence is eloquent, where everybody knows him and where half the Peerage stops to say “How do you do, Mr. Tulkinghorn?” He receives these salutations with gravity and buries them along with the rest of his knowledge. Return to Original English Version

bustle /ˈbʌsəl/ — agitação; azáfama; apressar-se. He told Mr. Kenge that the Chancellor would be up in five minutes; and presently we heard a bustle and a tread of feet, and Mr. Kenge said that the Court had risen and his lordship was in the next room. Return to Original English Version

bygones /ˈbaɪɡɔːnz/ — coisas passadas. It was not for me to muse over bygones, but to act with a cheerful spirit and a grateful heart. Return to Original English Version

cabooses /kəˈbuːsɪz/ — cozinhas de navio; vagões de cauda. Fog creeping into the cabooses of collier-brigs; fog lying out on the yards and hovering in the rigging of great ships; fog drooping on the gunwales of barges and small boats. Return to Original English Version

cadaverous /kəˈdævərəs/ — cadavérico. He was short, cadaverous, and withered, with his head sunk sideways between his shoulders and the breath issuing in visible smoke from his mouth as if he were on fire within. Return to Original English Version

calamity /kəˈlæməti/ — calamidade; desgraça. And when calamity or when disgrace is coming to it, let the Dedlocks listen for my step!’” Return to Original English Version

calendars /ˈkælɪndərz/ — calendários. The children tumbled about, and notched memoranda of their accidents in their legs, which were perfect little calendars of distress; and Peepy was lost for an hour and a half, and brought home from Newgate market by a policeman. Return to Original English Version

callings /ˈkɔːlɪŋz/ — ofícios; vocações. There are deferential people in a dozen callings whom my Lady Dedlock suspects of nothing but prostration before her, who can tell you how to manage her as if she were a baby, who do nothing but nurse her all their lives, who, humbly affecting to follow with profound subservience, lead her and her whole troop after them; who, in hooking one, hook all and bear them off as Lemuel Gulliver bore away the stately fleet of the majestic Lilliput. Return to Original English Version

candour /ˈkændər/ — franqueza; candura. Presently he rose courteously and released her, and then he spoke for a minute or two with Richard Carstone, not seated, but standing, and altogether with more ease and less ceremony, as if he still knew, though he WAS Lord Chancellor, how to go straight to the candour of a boy. Return to Original English Version

canter /ˈkæntər/ — meio-galope; galope leve. There was a light sparkling on the top of a hill before us, and the driver, pointing to it with his whip and crying, “That’s Bleak House!” put his horses into a canter and took us forward at such a rate, uphill though it was, that the wheels sent the road drift flying about our heads like spray from a water-mill. Return to Original English Version

cantered /ˈkæntərd/ — partiu a meio-galope. Presently we lost the light, presently saw it, presently lost it, presently saw it, and turned into an avenue of trees and cantered up towards where it was beaming brightly. Return to Original English Version

canvassing /ˈkænvəsɪŋ/ — angariando votos; sondando opiniões. They appeared to be always excited about canvassing and electing. Return to Original English Version

caprice /kəˈpriːs/ — capricho; veneta. Ada and I agreed, as we talked together for a little while upstairs, that this caprice about the wind was a fiction and that he used the pretence to account for any disappointment he could not conceal, rather than he would blame the real cause of it or disparage or depreciate any one. Return to Original English Version

caprices /kəˈpriːsɪz/ — caprichos; veleidades. Yet every dim little star revolving about her, from her maid to the manager of the Italian Opera, knows her weaknesses, prejudices, follies, haughtinesses, and caprices and lives upon as accurate a calculation and as nice a measure of her moral nature as her dressmaker takes of her physical proportions. Return to Original English Version

captivating /ˈkæptɪveɪtɪŋ/ — cativante. In short, she had such a natural, captivating, winning manner that in a few minutes we were sitting in the window-seat, with the light of the fire upon us, talking together as free and happy as could be. Return to Original English Version

carelessness /ˈkɛrləsnəs/ — descuido; desatenção. With a buoyancy and hopefulness and a gaiety that hardly ever flagged, Richard had a carelessness in his character that quite perplexed me, principally because he mistook it, in such a very odd way, for prudence. Return to Original English Version

cartloads /ˈkɑːrtloʊdz/ — cargas de carroça. All through the deplorable cause, everything that everybody in it, except one man, knows already is referred to that only one man who don’t know, it to find out - all through the deplorable cause, everybody must have copies, over and over again, of everything that has accumulated about it in the way of cartloads of papers (or must pay for them without having them, which is the usual course, for nobody wants them) and must go down the middle and up again through such an infernal country-dance of costs and fees and nonsense and corruption as was never dreamed of in the wildest visions of a witch’s Sabbath. Return to Original English Version

ceremonious /ˌserɪˈmoʊniəs/ — cerimonioso; formal. He is ceremonious, stately, most polite on every occasion to my Lady, and holds her personal attractions in the highest estimation. Return to Original English Version

cesenate /ˌtʃɛzəˈnɑːteɪ/ — Cesenate. There are about thirty cases on record, of which the most famous, that of the Countess Cornelia de Baudi Cesenate, was minutely investigated and described by Giuseppe Bianchini, a prebendary of Verona, otherwise distinguished in letters, who published an account of it at Verona in 1731, which he afterwards republished at Rome. Return to Original English Version

chaise /ʃeɪz/ — carruagem leve; charrete. “I saved five pounds out of the brickmaker’s affair, so if I have a good rattle to London and back in a post-chaise and put that down at four pounds, I shall have saved one. Return to Original English Version

chalked /tʃɔːkt/ — marcou com giz; escreveu com giz. Richard and Ada, and Miss Jellyby, and the little old lady had gone by him, and I was going when he touched me on the arm to stay me, and chalked the letter J upon the wall - in a very curious manner, beginning with the end of the letter and shaping it backward. Return to Original English Version

chancellors /ˈtʃænsələrz/ — chanceleres. Fair wards of court have faded into mothers and grandmothers; a long procession of Chancellors has come in and gone out; the legion of bills in the suit have been transformed into mere bills of mortality; there are not three Jarndyces left upon the earth perhaps since old Tom Jarndyce in despair blew his brains out at a coffee-house in Chancery Lane; but Jarndyce and Jarndyce still drags its dreary length before the court, perennially hopeless. Return to Original English Version

charles's /ˈtʃɑːrlzɪz/ — de Charles. It is said that she had relations among King Charles’s enemies, that she was in correspondence with them, and that she gave them information. Return to Original English Version

chatted /tʃætɪd/ — conversaram; bateram papo. I knew he meant well in paying me this compliment, so I laughed at myself for blushing at it when he had shut the door and got upon the box; and we all three laughed and chatted about our inexperience and the strangeness of London until we turned up under an archway to our destination - a narrow street of high houses like an oblong cistern to hold the fog. Return to Original English Version

cheered /tʃɪrd/ — aplaudiu; animou-se. This WILL NOT do!” I cheered myself up pretty well at last, though I am afraid I was longer about it than I ought to have been; and when I had cooled my eyes with lavender water, it was time to watch for London. Return to Original English Version

chests /tʃests/ — peitos; arcas; baús. I could have fancied that all the rusty keys, of which there must have been hundreds huddled together as old iron, had once belonged to doors of rooms or strong chests in lawyers’ offices. Return to Original English Version

childishness /ˈtʃaɪldɪʃnəs/ — infantilidade; puerilidade. “When you come to think of it, it’s the height of childishness in you - I mean me - ” said Mr. Jarndyce, “to regard him for a moment as a man. Return to Original English Version

chintz /tʃɪnts/ — chita; tecido estampado. Ada’s sleeping-room was all flowers - in chintz and paper, in velvet, in needlework, in the brocade of two stiff courtly chairs which stood, each attended by a little page of a stool for greater state, on either side of the fire-place. Return to Original English Version

chirp /tʃɜːrp/ — pio; voz aguda. The birds began to stir and chirp. Return to Original English Version

chivalrously /ˈʃɪvəlrəsli/ — cavalheirescamente; com nobre cortesia. He was not only a very handsome old gentleman - upright and stalwart as he had been described to us - with a massive grey head, a fine composure of face when silent, a figure that might have become corpulent but for his being so continually in earnest that he gave it no rest, and a chin that might have subsided into a double chin but for the vehement emphasis in which it was constantly required to assist; but he was such a true gentleman in his manner, so chivalrously polite, his face was lighted by a smile of so much sweetness and tenderness, and it seemed so plain that he had nothing to hide, but showed himself exactly as he was - incapable, as Richard said, of anything on a limited scale, and firing away with those blank great guns because he carried no small arms whatever - that really I could not help looking at him with equal pleasure as he sat at dinner, whether he smilingly conversed with Ada and me, or was led by Mr. Jarndyce into some great volley of superlatives, or threw up his head like a bloodhound and gave out that tremendous “Ha, ha, ha!” Return to Original English Version

chizzle /ˈtʃɪzəl/ — Chizzle. The very solicitors’ boys who have kept the wretched suitors at bay, by protesting time out of mind that Mr. Chizzle, Mizzle, or otherwise was particularly engaged and had appointments until dinner, may have got an extra moral twist and shuffle into themselves out of Jarndyce and Jarndyce. Return to Original English Version

chops /tʃɑːps/ — costeletas; corta em pedaços. “In this paper,” which was nicely folded, “is a piece of the best plum-cake that can be got for money - sugar on the outside an inch thick, like fat on mutton chops. Return to Original English Version

choristers /ˈkɔːrɪstərz/ — coristas; cantores de coro. “Then you didn’t think, at all events,” proceeded Mr. Skimpole, “to this effect: ‘Harold Skimpole loves to see the sun shine, loves to hear the wind blow, loves to watch the changing lights and shadows, loves to hear the birds, those choristers in Nature’s great cathedral. Return to Original English Version

christening /ˈkrɪsənɪŋ/ — batizado; cerimônia de nomeação. “You see, I have so many things here,” he resumed, holding up the lantern, “of so many kinds, and all as the neighbours think (but THEY know nothing), wasting away and going to rack and ruin, that that’s why they have given me and my place a christening. Return to Original English Version

chronicled /ˈkrɑːnɪkəld/ — registrou em crônica; narrado. The possibility of what is called spontaneous combustion has been denied since the death of Mr. Krook; and my good friend Mr. Lewes (quite mistaken, as he soon found, in supposing the thing to have been abandoned by all authorities) published some ingenious letters to me at the time when that event was chronicled, arguing that spontaneous combustion could not possibly be. Return to Original English Version

chy /ˈtʃænsəri/ — Chancery. Our clt Mr. Jarndyce being abt to rece into his house, under an Order of the Ct of Chy, a Ward of the Ct in this cause, for whom he wishes to secure an elgble compn, directs us to inform you that he will be glad of your serces in the afsd capacity. Return to Original English Version

Original Text: Rare Words (2/8)

cistern /ˈsɪstərn/ — cisterna; reservatório de água. I knew he meant well in paying me this compliment, so I laughed at myself for blushing at it when he had shut the door and got upon the box; and we all three laughed and chatted about our inexperience and the strangeness of London until we turned up under an archway to our destination - a narrow street of high houses like an oblong cistern to hold the fog. Return to Original English Version

civilly /ˈsɪvəli/ — civilmente; com urbanidade. Not that it’s requisite, I am sure,” said the young gentleman civilly. Return to Original English Version

clare's /klɛərz/ — de Clare. Miss Summerson, I hope I shall have your assistance in my visiting rounds immediately, and Miss Clare’s very soon.” Return to Original English Version

clasping /ˈklæspɪŋ/ — apertando; segurando; entrelaçando. “Why, cousin John,” said Ada, clasping her hands upon his arm and shaking her head at me across him - for I wanted her to be quiet - “Esther was their friend directly. Return to Original English Version

classicality /ˌklæsɪˈkælɪti/ — caráter clássico; beleza clássica. She has a fine face - originally of a character that would be rather called very pretty than handsome, but improved into classicality by the acquired expression of her fashionable state. Return to Original English Version

clipping /ˈklɪpɪŋ/ — picotagem; corte. I only wish I had the command of a clipping privateer to begin with and could carry off the Chancellor and keep him on short allowance until he gave judgment in our cause. Return to Original English Version

clks /klɑːks/ — escriturários. We have arrngd for your being forded, carriage free, pr eight o’clock coach from Reading, on Monday morning next, to White Horse Cellar, Piccadilly, London, where one of our clks will be in waiting to convey you to our offe as above. Return to Original English Version

cloisters /ˈklɔɪstərz/ — claustros; galerias. And there really was a churchyard outside under some cloisters, for I saw the gravestones from the staircase window. Return to Original English Version

clothed /kloʊðd/ — vestido; coberto. An ugly woman, very poorly clothed, hurried in while I was glancing at them, and coming straight up to the mother, said, “Jenny! Return to Original English Version

clt /ˈklaɪənt/ — cliente. Our clt Mr. Jarndyce being abt to rece into his house, under an Order of the Ct of Chy, a Ward of the Ct in this cause, for whom he wishes to secure an elgble compn, directs us to inform you that he will be glad of your serces in the afsd capacity. Return to Original English Version

clung /klʌŋ/ — agarrava-se; apegava-se. When she gave me one cold parting kiss upon my forehead, like a thaw-drop from the stone porch - it was a very frosty day - I felt so miserable and self-reproachful that I clung to her and told her it was my fault, I knew, that she could say good-bye so easily! Return to Original English Version

coals /koʊlz/ — brasas; carvões. There were neither coals nor ashes in the grate, and I saw no articles of clothing anywhere, nor any kind of food. Return to Original English Version

coarse /kɔːrs/ — áspero; grosseiro. I thought it very touching to see these two women, coarse and shabby and beaten, so united; to see what they could be to one another; to see how they felt for one another, how the heart of each to each was softened by the hard trials of their lives. Return to Original English Version

coaxed /koʊkst/ — persuadiu com jeito. Esther nursed them, coaxed them to sleep, washed and dressed them, told them stories, kept them quiet, bought them keepsakes” - My dear girl! Return to Original English Version

coaxing /ˈkoʊksɪŋ/ — persuadindo com jeito; convencendo aos poucos. After that I occupied myself in making our room a little tidy and in coaxing a very cross fire that had been lighted to burn, which at last it did, quite brightly. Return to Original English Version

cocked /kɑːkt/ — empinou; ergueu de lado. In my room there were oval engravings of the months - ladies haymaking in short waists and large hats tied under the chin, for June; smooth-legged noblemen pointing with cocked-hats to village steeples, for October. Return to Original English Version

cod's /kɑːdz/ — do bacalhau. “Why, what a cod’s head and shoulders I am,” said Mr. Jarndyce, “to require reminding of it! Return to Original English Version

collier /ˈkɒliər/ — navio carvoeiro; mineiro de carvão. Fog creeping into the cabooses of collier-brigs; fog lying out on the yards and hovering in the rigging of great ships; fog drooping on the gunwales of barges and small boats. Return to Original English Version

colonists /ˈkɒlənɪsts/ — colonos. This young man, besides having a great deal to say for himself about Africa and a project of his for teaching the coffee colonists to teach the natives to turn piano-forte legs and establish an export trade, delighted in drawing Mrs. Jellyby out by saying, “I believe now, Mrs. Jellyby, you have received as many as from one hundred and fifty to two hundred letters respecting Africa in a single day, have you not?” or, “If my memory does not deceive me, Mrs. Jellyby, you once mentioned that you had sent off five thousand circulars from one post-office at one time?” - always repeating Mrs. Jellyby’s answer to us like an interpreter. Return to Original English Version

colonnade /ˌkɑːləˈneɪd/ — colunata. So Mr. Kenge gave me his arm and we went round the corner, under a colonnade, and in at a side door. Return to Original English Version

comers /ˈkʌmərz/ — pessoas que chegam; recém-chegados. At last, whenever a new pupil came who was a little downcast and unhappy, she was so sure - indeed I don’t know why - to make a friend of me that all new-comers were confided to my care. Return to Original English Version

commendation /ˌkɑːmenˈdeɪʃən/ — elogio; recomendação. Not that she is so, but that “the most is made,” as the Honourable Bob Stables has frequently asserted upon oath, “of all her points.” The same authority observes that she is perfectly got up and remarks in commendation of her hair especially that she is the best-groomed woman in the whole stud. Return to Original English Version

complacent /kəmˈpleɪsənt/ — satisfeito consigo; acomodado. As substitutes, I had four angels, of Queen Anne’s reign, taking a complacent gentleman to heaven, in festoons, with some difficulty; and a composition in needlework representing fruit, a kettle, and an alphabet. Return to Original English Version

complexion /kəmˈplekʃən/ — tez; compleição; aspecto. I can remember, when I was a very little girl indeed, I used to say to my doll when we were alone together, “Now, Dolly, I am not clever, you know very well, and you must be patient with me, like a dear!” And so she used to sit propped up in a great arm-chair, with her beautiful complexion and rosy lips, staring at me - or not so much at me, I think, as at nothing - while I busily stitched away and told her every one of my secrets. Return to Original English Version

complied /kəmˈplaɪd/ — obedeceu; acatou; cumpriu. When I had complied, he said, “Ah!” and afterwards “Yes!” And then, taking off his eye-glasses and folding them in a red case, and leaning back in his arm-chair, turning the case about in his two hands, he gave my godmother a nod. Return to Original English Version

compn /kəmˈpænjən/ — dama de companhia. Our clt Mr. Jarndyce being abt to rece into his house, under an Order of the Ct of Chy, a Ward of the Ct in this cause, for whom he wishes to secure an elgble compn, directs us to inform you that he will be glad of your serces in the afsd capacity. Return to Original English Version

composure /kəmˈpoʊʒər/ — compostura; calma. An exhausted composure, a worn-out placidity, an equanimity of fatigue not to be ruffled by interest or satisfaction, are the trophies of her victory. Return to Original English Version

compressible /kəmˈpresəbəl/ — compressível. I made my way to the poor child, who was one of the dirtiest little unfortunates I ever saw, and found him very hot and frightened and crying loudly, fixed by the neck between two iron railings, while a milkman and a beadle, with the kindest intentions possible, were endeavouring to drag him back by the legs, under a general impression that his skull was compressible by those means. Return to Original English Version

concedes /kənˈsiːdz/ — concede; admite. Mankind will surely not deny to Harold Skimpole what it concedes to the butterflies!” Return to Original English Version

conceited /kənˈsiːtɪd/ — convencido; vaidoso. I find myself in a world in which there is so much to see and so short a time to see it in that I must take the liberty of looking about me and begging to be provided for by somebody who doesn’t want to look about him.” This appeared to Mr. Skimpole to be the drone philosophy, and he thought it a very good philosophy, always supposing the drone to be willing to be on good terms with the bee, which, so far as he knew, the easy fellow always was, if the consequential creature would only let him, and not be so conceited about his honey! Return to Original English Version

conciliatory /kənˈsɪliətɔːri/ — conciliador; apaziguador. I hope it is not unkind in me to say that she certainly did make, in this as in everything else, a show that was not conciliatory of doing charity by wholesale and of dealing in it to a large extent. Return to Original English Version

concurrence /kənˈkɜːrəns/ — anuência; concordância; concurso. Jarndyce,” he went on, “makes no condition beyond expressing his expectation that our young friend will not at any time remove herself from the establishment in question without his knowledge and concurrence. Return to Original English Version

condemning /kənˈdemɪŋ/ — condenando. It was so delicious to see the clouds about his bright face clearing, and to see him so heartily pleased, and to know, as it was impossible not to know, that the source of his pleasure was the goodness which was tortured by condemning, or mistrusting, or secretly accusing any one, that I saw the tears in Ada’s eyes, while she echoed his laugh, and felt them in my own. Return to Original English Version

condescending /ˌkɑːndɪˈsɛndɪŋ/ — dignando-se; tendo a bondade de. “My landlord, Krook,” said the little old lady, condescending to him from her lofty station as she presented him to us. Return to Original English Version

condescension /ˌkɑːndɪˈsɛnʃən/ — condescendência; benevolência. As he was half amused and half curious and all in doubt how to get rid of the old lady without offence, she continued to lead us away, and he and Ada continued to follow, our strange conductress informing us all the time, with much smiling condescension, that she lived close by. Return to Original English Version

condoled /kənˈdoʊld/ — prestou condolências. She had no kind of grace about her, but the grace of sympathy; but when she condoled with the woman, and her own tears fell, she wanted no beauty. Return to Original English Version

conduce /kənˈduːs/ — contribuir. “Then it only remains,” said Mr. Kenge, shaking hands with us, “for me to express my lively satisfaction in (good day, Miss Clare!) the arrangement this day concluded and my (GOOD-bye to you, Miss Summerson!) lively hope that it will conduce to the happiness, the (glad to have had the honour of making your acquaintance, Mr. Carstone!) welfare, the advantage in all points of view, of all concerned! Return to Original English Version

conductress /kənˈdʌktrəs/ — condutora; guia. As he was half amused and half curious and all in doubt how to get rid of the old lady without offence, she continued to lead us away, and he and Ada continued to follow, our strange conductress informing us all the time, with much smiling condescension, that she lived close by. Return to Original English Version

confectioner /kənˈfekʃənər/ — confeiteiro. If every confectioner went buzzing about the world banging against everything that came in his way and egotistically calling upon everybody to take notice that he was going to his work and must not be interrupted, the world would be quite an unsupportable place. Return to Original English Version

confer /kənˈfɜːr/ — conferir; outorgar; deliberar. I shall confer estates on both - which is not being troublesome, I trust? Return to Original English Version

confessedly /kənˈfesɪdli/ — reconhecidamente; como se admite. Dear, dear, to think how much time we passed alone together afterwards, and how often I repeated to the doll the story of my birthday and confided to her that I would try as hard as ever I could to repair the fault I had been born with (of which I confessedly felt guilty and yet innocent) and would strive as I grew up to be industrious, contented, and kind-hearted and to do some good to some one, and win some love to myself if I could. Return to Original English Version

confessing /kənˈfesɪŋ/ — confessando. At present, I don’t mind confessing to the wards in Jarndyce (in strict confidence) that I sometimes find it difficult to keep up a genteel appearance. Return to Original English Version

confide /kənˈfaɪd/ — confiar; contar em segredo. It was so delightful to know that she could confide in me and like me! Return to Original English Version

confided /kənˈfaɪdɪd/ — confiou; contou em segredo. Dear, dear, to think how much time we passed alone together afterwards, and how often I repeated to the doll the story of my birthday and confided to her that I would try as hard as ever I could to repair the fault I had been born with (of which I confessedly felt guilty and yet innocent) and would strive as I grew up to be industrious, contented, and kind-hearted and to do some good to some one, and win some love to myself if I could. Return to Original English Version

confidences /ˈkɑːnfɪdənsɪz/ — confidências; segredos. He is surrounded by a mysterious halo of family confidences, of which he is known to be the silent depository. Return to Original English Version

confiding /kənˈfaɪdɪŋ/ — confiando. Then, for heaven’s sake, having Harold Skimpole, a confiding child, petitioning you, the world, an agglomeration of practical people of business habits, to let him live and admire the human family, do it somehow or other, like good souls, and suffer him to ride his rocking-horse!” Return to Original English Version

confidingly /kənˈfaɪdɪŋli/ — com confiança. “Now, my dear Miss Summerson, and my dear Mr. Richard,” said Mr. Skimpole gaily, innocently, and confidingly as he looked at his drawing with his head on one side, “here you see me utterly incapable of helping myself, and entirely in your hands! Return to Original English Version

confound /kənˈfaʊnd/ — maldito seja; que te levem. “Confound Mrs. Rachael!” said the gentleman. Return to Original English Version

congenial /kənˈdʒiːniəl/ — aprazível; afim; propício. The iron country farther north is, I suppose, the congenial direction for a boy with these tendencies.” Farther north he went, and farther north he grew up; and if Sir Leicester Dedlock ever saw him when he came to Chesney Wold to visit his mother, or ever thought of him afterwards, it is certain that he only regarded him as one of a body of some odd thousand conspirators, swarthy and grim, who were in the habit of turning out by torchlight two or three nights in the week for unlawful purposes. Return to Original English Version

conglomeration /kənˌɡlɑːməˈreɪʃən/ — aglomeração; amontoado. A sallow prisoner has come up, in custody, for the half-dozenth time to make a personal application “to purge himself of his contempt,” which, being a solitary surviving executor who has fallen into a state of conglomeration about accounts of which it is not pretended that he had ever any knowledge, he is not at all likely ever to do. Return to Original English Version

conjuror's /ˈkʌndʒərərz/ — do mágico; do ilusionista. And at her house in town, upon this muddy, murky afternoon, presents himself an old-fashioned old gentleman, attorney-at-law and eke solicitor of the High Court of Chancery, who has the honour of acting as legal adviser of the Dedlocks and has as many cast-iron boxes in his office with that name outside as if the present baronet were the coin of the conjuror’s trick and were constantly being juggled through the whole set. Return to Original English Version

connexion /kəˈnekʃən/ — conexão, grafia antiga; relação. But as it is wholesome that the parsimonious public should know what has been doing, and still is doing, in this connexion, I mention here that everything set forth in these pages concerning the Court of Chancery is substantially true, and within the truth. Return to Original English Version

consanguinity /ˌkɑːnsæŋˈɡwɪnəti/ — consanguinidade; parentesco de sangue. Mr. Jarndyce had written to a relation of the family, a great Sir Leicester Dedlock, for his interest in Richard’s favour, generally; and Sir Leicester had replied in a gracious manner that he would be happy to advance the prospects of the young gentleman if it should ever prove to be within his power, which was not at all probable, and that my Lady sent her compliments to the young gentleman (to whom she perfectly remembered that she was allied by remote consanguinity) and trusted that he would ever do his duty in any honourable profession to which he might devote himself. Return to Original English Version

consents /kənˈsents/ — consente; concorda. The old lady relaxes, consents to the admission of the visitors as a favour, and dismisses Rosa. Return to Original English Version

consequential /ˌkɑːnsəˈkwenʃəl/ — consequente; importante; presunçoso. I find myself in a world in which there is so much to see and so short a time to see it in that I must take the liberty of looking about me and begging to be provided for by somebody who doesn’t want to look about him.” This appeared to Mr. Skimpole to be the drone philosophy, and he thought it a very good philosophy, always supposing the drone to be willing to be on good terms with the bee, which, so far as he knew, the easy fellow always was, if the consequential creature would only let him, and not be so conceited about his honey! Return to Original English Version

constable's /ˈkɑːnstəbəlz/ — do policial; do guarda. Mrs. Pardiggle, who had been regarding him through her spectacles with a forcible composure, calculated, I could not help thinking, to increase his antagonism, pulled out a good book as if it were a constable’s staff and took the whole family into custody. Return to Original English Version

constrained /kənˈstreɪnd/ — constrangido; obrigado por regra. I never underwent so much, both in body and mind, in the course of a walk with young people as from these unnaturally constrained children when they paid me the compliment of being natural. Return to Original English Version

constraint /kənˈstreɪnt/ — constrangimento; coação; limitação. I look forward, my dear, to our meeting easily and without constraint on either side. Return to Original English Version

consummate /ˈkɑːnsəmeɪt/ — consumar; consumado. His father must have been a most consummate villain, ever to have such a son. Return to Original English Version

contagion /kənˈteɪdʒən/ — contágio; propagação. Talking thus, they went upstairs, and presently we heard him in his bedroom thundering “Ha, ha, ha!” and again “Ha, ha, ha!” until the flattest echo in the neighbourhood seemed to catch the contagion and to laugh as enjoyingly as he did or as we did when we heard him laugh. Return to Original English Version

contemplate /ˈkɑːntəmpleɪt/ — contemplar; considerar. The horses in the stables - the long stables in a barren, red-brick court-yard, where there is a great bell in a turret, and a clock with a large face, which the pigeons who live near it and who love to perch upon its shoulders seem to be always consulting - THEY may contemplate some mental pictures of fine weather on occasions, and may be better artists at them than the grooms. Return to Original English Version

contemplated /ˈkɑːntəmpleɪtɪd/ — contemplou; cogitou. Shirking and sharking in all their many varieties have been sown broadcast by the ill-fated cause; and even those who have contemplated its history from the outermost circle of such evil have been insensibly tempted into a loose way of letting bad things alone to take their own bad course, and a loose belief that if the world go wrong it was in some off-hand manner never meant to go right. Return to Original English Version

contemplation /ˌkɑːntəmˈpleɪʃən/ — contemplação; meditação. On such an afternoon, if ever, the Lord High Chancellor ought to be sitting here - as here he is - with a foggy glory round his head, softly fenced in with crimson cloth and curtains, addressed by a large advocate with great whiskers, a little voice, and an interminable brief, and outwardly directing his contemplation to the lantern in the roof, where he can see nothing but fog. Return to Original English Version

contented /kənˈtɛntɪd/ — satisfeito; contentou-se. Dear, dear, to think how much time we passed alone together afterwards, and how often I repeated to the doll the story of my birthday and confided to her that I would try as hard as ever I could to repair the fault I had been born with (of which I confessedly felt guilty and yet innocent) and would strive as I grew up to be industrious, contented, and kind-hearted and to do some good to some one, and win some love to myself if I could. Return to Original English Version

contenting /kənˈtentɪŋ/ — contentando-se; satisfazendo. I do not think it necessary to add to these notable facts, and that general reference to the authorities which will be found at page 30, vol. ii.,* the recorded opinions and experiences of distinguished medical professors, French, English, and Scotch, in more modern days, contenting myself with observing that I shall not abandon the facts until there shall have been a considerable spontaneous combustion of the testimony on which human occurrences are usually received.** Return to Original English Version

contingency /kənˈtɪndʒənsi/ — eventualidade; imprevisto. In which (I would say) every difficulty, every contingency, every masterly fiction, every form of procedure known in that court, is represented over and over again? Return to Original English Version

contradicted /ˌkɒntrəˈdɪktɪd/ — contradisse; contradito. No, no, I won’t be contradicted, Esther dear! Return to Original English Version

contradiction /ˌkɒntrəˈdɪkʃən/ — contradição. He observed us with a genial interest, but there seemed, if I may venture on such a contradiction, nothing selfish in it. Return to Original English Version

contrivance /kənˈtraɪvəns/ — artimanha; engenhoca. Her second son would have been provided for at Chesney Wold and would have been made steward in due season, but he took, when he was a schoolboy, to constructing steam-engines out of saucepans and setting birds to draw their own water with the least possible amount of labour, so assisting them with artful contrivance of hydraulic pressure that a thirsty canary had only, in a literal sense, to put his shoulder to the wheel and the job was done. Return to Original English Version

contrived /kənˈtraɪvd/ — deu um jeito de; forjado; artificioso. By degrees the poor tired girl fell asleep, and then I contrived to raise her head so that it should rest on my lap, and to cover us both with shawls. Return to Original English Version

conversed /kənˈvɜːrst/ — conversou; palestrou. We conversed in a low tone because a full-dressed gentleman in a bag wig frequently came in and out, and when he did so, we could hear a drawling sound in the distance, which he said was one of the counsel in our case addressing the Lord Chancellor. Return to Original English Version

converses /kənˈvɜːrsɪz/ — conversa; dialoga. He never converses when not professionally consulted. Return to Original English Version

conversing /kənˈvɜːrsɪŋ/ — conversando. Mr. Jarndyce, expressing his approval in his face, began to talk to me as confidentially as if I had been in the habit of conversing with him every morning for I don’t know how long. Return to Original English Version

conveyance /kənˈveɪəns/ — veículo; transporte; escritura de transmissão. However, when we began to jolt upon a stone pavement, and particularly when every other conveyance seemed to be running into us, and we seemed to be running into every other conveyance, I began to believe that we really were approaching the end of our journey. Return to Original English Version

coppice /ˈkɑːpɪs/ — bosque manejado; mata jovem. The shot of a rifle loses its sharpness in the moist air, and its smoke moves in a tardy little cloud towards the green rise, coppice-topped, that makes a background for the falling rain. Return to Original English Version

cornelia /kɔːrˈniːljə/ — Cornélia. There are about thirty cases on record, of which the most famous, that of the Countess Cornelia de Baudi Cesenate, was minutely investigated and described by Giuseppe Bianchini, a prebendary of Verona, otherwise distinguished in letters, who published an account of it at Verona in 1731, which he afterwards republished at Rome. Return to Original English Version

cornered /ˈkɔːrnərd/ — encurralado; acuado. Couldn’t you - didn’t you - now, if it had rained sugar-plums, or three-cornered raspberry tarts, or anything of that sort!” said Mr. Jarndyce. Return to Original English Version

corpulent /ˈkɔːrpjələnt/ — corpulento; obeso. He was not only a very handsome old gentleman - upright and stalwart as he had been described to us - with a massive grey head, a fine composure of face when silent, a figure that might have become corpulent but for his being so continually in earnest that he gave it no rest, and a chin that might have subsided into a double chin but for the vehement emphasis in which it was constantly required to assist; but he was such a true gentleman in his manner, so chivalrously polite, his face was lighted by a smile of so much sweetness and tenderness, and it seemed so plain that he had nothing to hide, but showed himself exactly as he was - incapable, as Richard said, of anything on a limited scale, and firing away with those blank great guns because he carried no small arms whatever - that really I could not help looking at him with equal pleasure as he sat at dinner, whether he smilingly conversed with Ada and me, or was led by Mr. Jarndyce into some great volley of superlatives, or threw up his head like a bloodhound and gave out that tremendous “Ha, ha, ha!” Return to Original English Version

correspondents /ˌkɔːrəˈspɑːndənts/ — correspondentes. It amazed us when we began to sort his letters and to answer some of them for him in the growlery of a morning to find how the great object of the lives of nearly all his correspondents appeared to be to form themselves into committees for getting in and laying out money. Return to Original English Version

corrupting /kəˈrʌptɪŋ/ — corrompendo; corruptor. The whole seemingly monotonous and uncompanionable half-dozen, stabled together, may pass the long wet hours when the door is shut in livelier communication than is held in the servants’ hall or at the Dedlock Arms, or may even beguile the time by improving (perhaps corrupting) the pony in the loose-box in the corner. Return to Original English Version

counsellors /ˈkaʊnsələrz/ — conselheiros. The litter of rags tumbled partly into and partly out of a one-legged wooden scale, hanging without any counterpoise from a beam, might have been counsellors’ bands and gowns torn up. Return to Original English Version

countenance /ˈkaʊntənəns/ — semblante; rosto; compostura. And he is upon the whole of a fixed opinion that to give the sanction of his countenance to any complaints respecting it would be to encourage some person in the lower classes to rise up somewhere - like Wat Tyler. Return to Original English Version

counterpoise /ˈkaʊntərpɔɪz/ — contrapeso; equilíbrio. The litter of rags tumbled partly into and partly out of a one-legged wooden scale, hanging without any counterpoise from a beam, might have been counsellors’ bands and gowns torn up. Return to Original English Version

courted /ˈkɔːrtɪd/ — cortejou; buscou o favor de. His gallantry to my Lady, which has never changed since he courted her, is the one little touch of romantic fancy in him. Return to Original English Version

courteously /ˈkɜːrtiəsli/ — cortesmente; com cortesia. Presently he rose courteously and released her, and then he spoke for a minute or two with Richard Carstone, not seated, but standing, and altogether with more ease and less ceremony, as if he still knew, though he WAS Lord Chancellor, how to go straight to the candour of a boy. Return to Original English Version

courtly /ˈkɔːrtli/ — cortês; de corte. He gave us a searching look as we entered, but his manner was both courtly and kind. Return to Original English Version

covet /ˈkʌvət/ — cobiçar. “I covet nothing,” said Mr. Skimpole in the same light way. Return to Original English Version

cowardice /ˈkaʊərdɪs/ — covardia. By my soul, the countenance of that fellow when he was a boy was the blackest image of perfidy, cowardice, and cruelty ever set up as a scarecrow in a field of scoundrels. Return to Original English Version

crackle /ˈkrækəl/ — crepitar; estalido. The weather for many a day and night has been so wet that the trees seem wet through, and the soft loppings and prunings of the woodman’s axe can make no crash or crackle as they fall. Return to Original English Version

crackled /ˈkrækəld/ — crepitou; estalou. A little way within the shop-door lay heaps of old crackled parchment scrolls and discoloured and dog’s-eared law-papers. Return to Original English Version

craftier /ˈkræftiər/ — mais astuto. He is in a child’s sleep by this time, I suppose; it’s time I should take my craftier head to my more worldly pillow. Return to Original English Version

cravat /krəˈvæt/ — gravata antiga; lenço de pescoço. A portly, important-looking gentleman, dressed all in black, with a white cravat, large gold watch seals, a pair of gold eye-glasses, and a large seal-ring upon his little finger. Return to Original English Version

crayons /ˈkreɪənz/ — gizes de cera. Half-length portraits in crayons abounded all through the house, but were so dispersed that I found the brother of a youthful officer of mine in the china-closet and the grey old age of my pretty young bride, with a flower in her bodice, in the breakfast-room. Return to Original English Version

creditable /ˈkredɪtəbəl/ — digno de crédito; honroso. He has a great liking for Mrs. Rouncewell; he says she is a most respectable, creditable woman. Return to Original English Version

crept /krɛpt/ — esgueirou-se; foi de mansinho. I went up to my room, and crept to bed, and laid my doll’s cheek against mine wet with tears, and holding that solitary friend upon my bosom, cried myself to sleep. Return to Original English Version

crib /krɪb/ — berço. Peepy had scaled his crib, and crept down in his bed-gown and cap, and was so cold that his teeth were chattering as if he had cut them all. Return to Original English Version

cribs /krɪbz/ — berços. As Peepy cried for me to take him to bed, I carried him upstairs, where the young woman with the flannel bandage charged into the midst of the little family like a dragon and overturned them into cribs. Return to Original English Version

crouches /ˈkraʊtʃɪz/ — agacha-se; espreita agachado. She crouches on the parapet outside for hours and hours. Return to Original English Version

crows /kroʊz/ — corvos. Therefore my Lady Dedlock has come away from the place in Lincolnshire and has left it to the rain, and the crows, and the rabbits, and the deer, and the partridges and pheasants. Return to Original English Version

crumb /krʌm/ — migalha. These are all yawning, for no crumb of amusement ever falls from Jarndyce and Jarndyce (the cause in hand), which was squeezed dry years upon years ago. Return to Original English Version

crumbs /krʌmz/ — migalhas. Crumbs, dust, and waste-paper were all over the house. Return to Original English Version

crusoe /ˈkruːzoʊ/ — Robinson Crusoe. As to the little book to which the man on the floor had referred, we acquired a knowledge of it afterwards, and Mr. Jarndyce said he doubted if Robinson Crusoe could have read it, though he had had no other on his desolate island. Return to Original English Version

crutches /ˈkrʌtʃɪz/ — muletas; escoras. It is a street of perishing blind houses, with their eyes stoned out, without a pane of glass, without so much as a window-frame, with the bare blank shutters tumbling from their hinges and falling asunder, the iron rails peeling away in flakes of rust, the chimneys sinking in, the stone steps to every door (and every door might be death’s door) turning stagnant green, the very crutches on which the ruins are propped decaying. Return to Original English Version

cuffs /kʌfs/ — punhos de manga; algemas; tapas. “Look here!” He came quite opposite to me from the other corner of the coach, brushed one of his large furry cuffs across my eyes (but without hurting me), and showed me that it was wet. Return to Original English Version

cultivating /ˈkʌltɪveɪtɪŋ/ — cultivando. We hope by this time next year to have from a hundred and fifty to two hundred healthy families cultivating coffee and educating the natives of Borrioboola-Gha, on the left bank of the Niger.” Return to Original English Version

curiously /ˈkjʊəriəsli/ — curiosamente; com curiosidade. He seemed so rapt all in a moment and looked so curiously at us that Richard said, “Why, you appear to trouble yourself a good deal about the causes before your noble and learned brother, the other Chancellor!” Return to Original English Version

curtained /ˈkɜːrtənd/ — com cortinas; separado por cortina. Standing on a seat at the side of the hall, the better to peer into the curtained sanctuary, is a little mad old woman in a squeezed bonnet who is always in court, from its sitting to its rising, and always expecting some incomprehensible judgment to be given in her favour. Return to Original English Version

curtsied /ˈkɜːrtsid/ — fez uma reverência. “You are out early, ma’am,” said I as she curtsied to me. Return to Original English Version

curtsying /ˈkɜːrtsiɪŋ/ — fazendo uma reverência. We looked at one another, half laughing at our being like the children in the wood, when a curious little old woman in a squeezed bonnet and carrying a reticule came curtsying and smiling up to us with an air of great ceremony. Return to Original English Version

cutlets /ˈkʌtləts/ — costeletas; filés pequenos. We had a fine cod-fish, a piece of roast beef, a dish of cutlets, and a pudding; an excellent dinner, if it had had any cooking to speak of, but it was almost raw. Return to Original English Version

dais /ˈdeɪɪs/ — estrado. Well may the court be dim, with wasting candles here and there; well may the fog hang heavy in it, as if it would never get out; well may the stained-glass windows lose their colour and admit no light of day into the place; well may the uninitiated from the streets, who peep in through the glass panes in the door, be deterred from entrance by its owlish aspect and by the drawl, languidly echoing to the roof from the padded dais where the Lord High Chancellor looks into the lantern that has no light in it and where the attendant wigs are all stuck in a fog-bank! Return to Original English Version

darted /ˈdɑːrtɪd/ — disparou; arremessou-se; lançou um olhar. The old man darted at him a sudden look which even called my attention from Ada, who, startled and blushing, was so remarkably beautiful that she seemed to fix the wandering attention of the little old lady herself. Return to Original English Version

dashed /dæʃt/ — correu; lançou-se; chocou-se. I’m dashed,” adds Mr. Guppy, looking round, “if I don’t think I must have had a dream of that picture, you know!” Return to Original English Version

dawdle /ˈdɔːdəl/ — demorar; enrolar. “Ma won’t be down for ever so long,” she said, “and then it’s a chance if breakfast’s ready for an hour afterwards, they dawdle so. Return to Original English Version

daybreak /ˈdeɪbreɪk/ — amanhecer; alvorada; romper do dia. It was past twelve before he took his candle and his radiant face out of the room, and I think he might have kept us there, if he had seen fit, until daybreak. Return to Original English Version

deadened /ˈdedənd/ — amorteceu; abafou. It is a deadened world, and its growth is sometimes unhealthy for want of air. Return to Original English Version

dearer /ˈdɪrər/ — mais querido; mais caro. Secondly, though Mr. Jarndyce’s glance as he withdrew it rested for but a moment on me, I felt as if in that moment he confided to me - and knew that he confided to me and that I received the confidence - his hope that Ada and Richard might one day enter on a dearer relationship. Return to Original English Version

death's /deθs/ — da morte. It is a street of perishing blind houses, with their eyes stoned out, without a pane of glass, without so much as a window-frame, with the bare blank shutters tumbling from their hinges and falling asunder, the iron rails peeling away in flakes of rust, the chimneys sinking in, the stone steps to every door (and every door might be death’s door) turning stagnant green, the very crutches on which the ruins are propped decaying. Return to Original English Version

decamp /dɪˈkæmp/ — ir embora. The short-hand writers, the reporters of the court, and the reporters of the newspapers invariably decamp with the rest of the regulars when Jarndyce and Jarndyce comes on. Return to Original English Version

decanter /dɪˈkæntər/ — decantador. He left his compliments, and would you partake of some refreshment” - there were biscuits and a decanter of wine on a small table - “and look over the paper,” which the young gentleman gave me as he spoke. Return to Original English Version

decease /dɪˈsiːs/ — falecimento. Ask her how long, this rainy day, and she shall answer “fifty year, three months, and a fortnight, by the blessing of heaven, if I live till Tuesday.” Mr. Rouncewell died some time before the decease of the pretty fashion of pig-tails, and modestly hid his own (if he took it with him) in a corner of the churchyard in the park near the mouldy porch. Return to Original English Version

deceitful /dɪˈsiːtfəl/ — enganoso; falso. On the contrary, I was so demure and used to seem so unconscious that sometimes I considered within myself while I was sitting at work whether I was not growing quite deceitful. Return to Original English Version

deepening /ˈdiːpənɪŋ/ — cada vez mais profundo. Rosa in the deepening gloom looks down upon the ground, half frightened and half shy. Return to Original English Version

deferential /ˌdɛfəˈrɛnʃəl/ — deferente; respeitoso. There are deferential people in a dozen callings whom my Lady Dedlock suspects of nothing but prostration before her, who can tell you how to manage her as if she were a baby, who do nothing but nurse her all their lives, who, humbly affecting to follow with profound subservience, lead her and her whole troop after them; who, in hooking one, hook all and bear them off as Lemuel Gulliver bore away the stately fleet of the majestic Lilliput. Return to Original English Version

defiance /dɪˈfaɪəns/ — desafio; desacato. He still smoked his pipe with an air of defiance, but he was silent. Return to Original English Version

deficient /dɪˈfɪʃənt/ — deficiente; insuficiente. Soon after seven o’clock we went down to dinner, carefully, by Mrs. Jellyby’s advice, for the stair-carpets, besides being very deficient in stair-wires, were so torn as to be absolute traps. Return to Original English Version

defiled /dɪˈfaɪld/ — profanou; conspurcou. Fog up the river, where it flows among green aits and meadows; fog down the river, where it rolls defiled among the tiers of shipping and the waterside pollutions of a great (and dirty) city. Return to Original English Version

degraded /dɪˈɡreɪdɪd/ — degradado. For yourself, unfortunate girl, orphaned and degraded from the first of these evil anniversaries, pray daily that the sins of others be not visited upon your head, according to what is written. Return to Original English Version

delicacy /ˈdelɪkəsi/ — delicadeza. Skimpole,” said Richard to me, “has a delicacy in applying to my cousin Jarndyce because he has lately - I think, sir, I understood you that you had lately - ” Return to Original English Version

delicately /ˈdelɪkətli/ — delicadamente. I told Richard of my having this little store and having no present need of it, and I asked him delicately to inform Mr. Skimpole, while I should be gone to fetch it, that we would have the pleasure of paying his debt. Return to Original English Version

delightfully /dɪˈlaɪtfəli/ — encantadoramente. It was one of those delightfully irregular houses where you go up and down steps out of one room into another, and where you come upon more rooms when you think you have seen all there are, and where there is a bountiful provision of little halls and passages, and where you find still older cottage-rooms in unexpected places with lattice windows and green growth pressing through them. Return to Original English Version

deliriously /dɪˈlɪriəsli/ — deliriosamente; em desvario. Scores of persons have deliriously found themselves made parties in Jarndyce and Jarndyce without knowing how or why; whole families have inherited legendary hatreds with the suit. Return to Original English Version

demonstrative /dɪˈmɑːnstrətɪv/ — expansivo; que mostra os sentimentos. I felt that if we had been at all demonstrative, he would have run away in a moment. Return to Original English Version

demure /dɪˈmjʊr/ — recatado; modesto e comedido. On the contrary, I was so demure and used to seem so unconscious that sometimes I considered within myself while I was sitting at work whether I was not growing quite deceitful. Return to Original English Version

denominations /dɪˌnɑːmɪˈneɪʃənz/ — valores (de notas). They were the Women of England, the Daughters of Britain, the Sisters of all the cardinal virtues separately, the Females of America, the Ladies of a hundred denominations. Return to Original English Version

densest /ˈdensɪst/ — o mais denso. The raw afternoon is rawest, and the dense fog is densest, and the muddy streets are muddiest near that leaden-headed old obstruction, appropriate ornament for the threshold of a leaden-headed old corporation, Temple Bar. Return to Original English Version

dependents /dɪˈpendənts/ — dependentes. He supposes all his dependents to be utterly bereft of individual characters, intentions, or opinions, and is persuaded that he was born to supersede the necessity of their having any. Return to Original English Version

deplorable /dɪˈplɔːrəbəl/ — deplorável; lamentável. All through the deplorable cause, everything that everybody in it, except one man, knows already is referred to that only one man who don’t know, it to find out - all through the deplorable cause, everybody must have copies, over and over again, of everything that has accumulated about it in the way of cartloads of papers (or must pay for them without having them, which is the usual course, for nobody wants them) and must go down the middle and up again through such an infernal country-dance of costs and fees and nonsense and corruption as was never dreamed of in the wildest visions of a witch’s Sabbath. Return to Original English Version

depository /dɪˈpɑːzətɔːri/ — depósito; repositório. He is surrounded by a mysterious halo of family confidences, of which he is known to be the silent depository. Return to Original English Version

depreciate /dɪˈpriːʃieɪt/ — desvalorizar; depreciar. Ada and I agreed, as we talked together for a little while upstairs, that this caprice about the wind was a fiction and that he used the pretence to account for any disappointment he could not conceal, rather than he would blame the real cause of it or disparage or depreciate any one. Return to Original English Version

depreciation /dɪˌpriːʃiˈeɪʃən/ — depreciação; desvalorização. There was an easy negligence in his manner and even in his dress (his hair carelessly disposed, and his neck-kerchief loose and flowing, as I have seen artists paint their own portraits) which I could not separate from the idea of a romantic youth who had undergone some unique process of depreciation. Return to Original English Version

deprive /dɪˈpraɪv/ — privar; tirar de. And does it seem to me that I am about to deprive Harold Skimpole of his share in such possessions, which are his only birthright!’ You thought nothing to that effect?” Return to Original English Version

desirous /dɪˈzaɪərəs/ — desejoso; ansioso por. Mr. Jarndyce, who is desirous to aid any work that is considered likely to be a good work and who is much sought after by philanthropists, has, I believe, a very high opinion of Mrs. Jellyby.” Return to Original English Version

desolate /ˈdɛsələt/ — desolado; ermo. Another ruined suitor, who periodically appears from Shropshire and breaks out into efforts to address the Chancellor at the close of the day’s business and who can by no means be made to understand that the Chancellor is legally ignorant of his existence after making it desolate for a quarter of a century, plants himself in a good place and keeps an eye on the judge, ready to call out “My Lord!” in a voice of sonorous complaint on the instant of his rising. Return to Original English Version

despot /ˈdɛspət/ — déspota. If I were to meet that most unparalleled despot in the streets to-morrow, I would fell him like a rotten tree!” Return to Original English Version

destitute /ˈdestɪtuːt/ — indigente; desprovido de. What the destitute subject of such an offer tried to say, I need not repeat. Return to Original English Version

detain /dɪˈteɪn/ — deter; reter; prender. On our answering no, and that we would on no account detain her, she opened the door to attend us downstairs. Return to Original English Version

deterred /dɪˈtɜːrd/ — dissuadido; detido pelo receio. Well may the court be dim, with wasting candles here and there; well may the fog hang heavy in it, as if it would never get out; well may the stained-glass windows lose their colour and admit no light of day into the place; well may the uninitiated from the streets, who peep in through the glass panes in the door, be deterred from entrance by its owlish aspect and by the drawl, languidly echoing to the roof from the padded dais where the Lord High Chancellor looks into the lantern that has no light in it and where the attendant wigs are all stuck in a fog-bank! Return to Original English Version

detest /dɪˈtest/ — detestar; abominar. I hate it and detest it. Return to Original English Version

detestable /dɪˈtestəbəl/ — detestável. “Anything to vary this detestable monotony. Return to Original English Version

devotes /dɪˈvoʊts/ — dedica. Mrs. Jellyby,” said Mr. Kenge, standing with his back to the fire and casting his eyes over the dusty hearth-rug as if it were Mrs. Jellyby’s biography, “is a lady of very remarkable strength of character who devotes herself entirely to the public. Return to Original English Version

dexterously /ˈdekstərəsli/ — destramente; com habilidade. The man from Shropshire ventures another remonstrative “My lord!” but the Chancellor, being aware of him, has dexterously vanished. Return to Original English Version

dictation /dɪkˈteɪʃn/ — ditado. However, as she at once proceeded with her dictation, and as I interrupted nothing by doing it, I ventured quietly to stop poor Peepy as he was going out and to take him up to nurse. Return to Original English Version

diffused /dɪˈfjuːzd/ — difundido; espalhado. No effort had been made to clean the room - it seemed in its nature almost hopeless of being clean; but the small waxen form from which so much solemnity diffused itself had been composed afresh, and washed, and neatly dressed in some fragments of white linen; and on my handkerchief, which still covered the poor baby, a little bunch of sweet herbs had been laid by the same rough, scarred hands, so lightly, so tenderly! Return to Original English Version

dilapidated /dɪˈlæpɪdeɪtɪd/ — dilapidado; em ruínas. In the meantime, the place became dilapidated, the wind whistled through the cracked walls, the rain fell through the broken roof, the weeds choked the passage to the rotting door. Return to Original English Version

diligent /ˈdɪlɪdʒənt/ — diligente; aplicado. She checked me, however, as I was about to depart from her - so frozen as I was! - and added this, “Submission, self-denial, diligent work, are the preparations for a life begun with such a shadow on it. Return to Original English Version

diminutive /dɪˈmɪnjətɪv/ — diminuto. She was a pretty, very diminutive, plump woman of from forty to fifty, with handsome eyes, though they had a curious habit of seeming to look a long way off. Return to Original English Version

dimly /ˈdɪmli/ — debilmente; com pouca luz. Ada dimly remembered to have heard her mother tell, when she was a very little child, that he had once done her an act of uncommon generosity and that on her going to his house to thank him, he happened to see her through a window coming to the door, and immediately escaped by the back gate, and was not heard of for three months. Return to Original English Version

dipping /ˈdɪpɪŋ/ — enfiando; mergulhando. She would not sit down, but stood by the fire dipping her inky middle finger in the egg-cup, which contained vinegar, and smearing it over the ink stains on her face, frowning the whole time and looking very gloomy. Return to Original English Version

disagreeable /ˌdɪsəˈɡriːəbəl/ — desagradável; incômodo. I was saved the disagreeable necessity of pursuing the subject by Richard and Ada coming up at a round pace, laughing and asking us if we meant to run a race. Return to Original English Version

discernible /dɪˈsɜːrnəbəl/ — discernível; perceptível. At first they were faintly discernible in the mist, and above them the later stars still glimmered. Return to Original English Version

discoloured /dɪsˈkʌlərd/ — descolorido; manchado. A little way within the shop-door lay heaps of old crackled parchment scrolls and discoloured and dog’s-eared law-papers. Return to Original English Version

discomposed /ˌdɪskəmˈpoʊzd/ — perturbado; desconcertado. You will not be discomposed by the Lord Chancellor, I dare say?” Return to Original English Version

disconcerted /ˌdɪskənˈsɜːrtɪd/ — desconcertado; sem jeito. He was disconcerted and walked to the window; I almost believed with an intention of jumping out, until he turned and I was reassured by seeing in his eyes what he had gone there to hide. Return to Original English Version

discontent /ˌdɪskənˈtent/ — descontentamento. It was not merely that they were weazened and shrivelled - though they were certainly that too - but they looked absolutely ferocious with discontent. Return to Original English Version

discontented /ˌdɪskənˈtentɪd/ — descontente. She was still standing by the bed, and now stooped down (but still with the same discontented face) and kissed Ada. Return to Original English Version

discord /ˈdɪskɔːrd/ — discórdia; dissonância. “I am grieved that I should be the enemy - as I suppose I am - of a great number of relations and others, and that they should be my enemies - as I suppose they are - and that we should all be ruining one another without knowing how or why and be in constant doubt and discord all our lives. Return to Original English Version

discoverable /dɪˈskʌvərəbəl/ — detectável; que pode ser descoberto. I am aware that it is so prominent as to be discoverable immediately. Return to Original English Version

disdainful /dɪsˈdeɪnfəl/ — desdenhoso. He is a gentleman of strict conscience, disdainful of all littleness and meanness and ready on the shortest notice to die any death you may please to mention rather than give occasion for the least impeachment of his integrity. Return to Original English Version

disentangle /ˌdɪsɪnˈtæŋɡəl/ — desembaraçar; desvendar. He gave it its present name and lived here shut up, day and night poring over the wicked heaps of papers in the suit and hoping against hope to disentangle it from its mystification and bring it to a close. Return to Original English Version

disfigured /dɪsˈfɪɡjərd/ — desfigurado. And from her tumbled hair to her pretty feet, which were disfigured with frayed and broken satin slippers trodden down at heel, she really seemed to have no article of dress upon her, from a pin upwards, that was in its proper condition or its right place. Return to Original English Version

disgraceful /dɪsˈɡreɪsfəl/ — vergonhoso. “It’s disgraceful,” she said. Return to Original English Version

disinterested /dɪsˈɪntrəstɪd/ — desinteressado; imparcial. The case of Gridley is in no essential altered from one of actual occurrence, made public by a disinterested person who was professionally acquainted with the whole of the monstrous wrong from beginning to end. Return to Original English Version

dislocated /ˈdɪsloʊkeɪtɪd/ — deslocado; desconjuntado. “I - certainly - did - NOT,” said Coavinses, whose doggedness in utterly renouncing the idea was of that intense kind that he could only give adequate expression to it by putting a long interval between each word, and accompanying the last with a jerk that might have dislocated his neck. Return to Original English Version

dismal /ˈdɪzməl/ — sombrio; desolador. A few lawyers’ clerks and others who know this suitor by sight linger on the chance of his furnishing some fun and enlivening the dismal weather a little. Return to Original English Version

dismay /dɪsˈmeɪ/ — consternação; espanto. “Blest,” says Mr. Guppy, staring in a kind of dismay at his friend, “if I can ever have seen her. Return to Original English Version

disorderly /dɪsˈɔːrdərli/ — desordenado; caótico. They were excessively bare and disorderly, and the curtain to my window was fastened up with a fork. Return to Original English Version

disowned /ˌdɪsˈoʊnd/ — renegado; não reconhecido. In all parts of the window were quantities of dirty bottles - blacking bottles, medicine bottles, ginger-beer and soda-water bottles, pickle bottles, wine bottles, ink bottles; I am reminded by mentioning the latter that the shop had in several little particulars the air of being in a legal neighbourhood and of being, as it were, a dirty hanger-on and disowned relation of the law. Return to Original English Version

disparage /dɪˈspærɪdʒ/ — menosprezar; depreciar. Ada and I agreed, as we talked together for a little while upstairs, that this caprice about the wind was a fiction and that he used the pretence to account for any disappointment he could not conceal, rather than he would blame the real cause of it or disparage or depreciate any one. Return to Original English Version

dispatching /dɪˈspætʃɪŋ/ — despachando; enviando. What with the bustle of dispatching Peepy and the bustle of getting myself ready and helping Ada, I was soon quite in a glow. Return to Original English Version

dispense /dɪˈspens/ — dispensar; distribuir; prescindir de. A whisper still goes about that she had not even family; howbeit, Sir Leicester had so much family that perhaps he had enough and could dispense with any more. Return to Original English Version

disposition /ˌdɪspəˈzɪʃən/ — temperamento; índole. My disposition is very affectionate, and perhaps I might still feel such a wound if such a wound could be received more than once with the quickness of that birthday. Return to Original English Version

dissatisfied /dɪsˈsætɪsfaɪd/ — insatisfeito. We had never seen such dissatisfied children. Return to Original English Version

dissipated /ˈdɪsəpeɪtɪd/ — dissipado; desfeito. Besides ourselves, there were in this damp, offensive room a woman with a black eye, nursing a poor little gasping baby by the fire; a man, all stained with clay and mud and looking very dissipated, lying at full length on the ground, smoking a pipe; a powerful young man fastening a collar on a dog; and a bold girl doing some kind of washing in very dirty water. Return to Original English Version

distinctness /dɪˈstɪŋktnəs/ — nitidez; clareza. “In reference,” proceeds the Chancellor with extra distinctness, “to the young girl and boy, the two young people” - Mr. Tangle crushed - “whom I directed to be in attendance to-day and who are now in my private room, I will see them and satisfy myself as to the expediency of making the order for their residing with their uncle.” Return to Original English Version

distracting /dɪˈstræktɪŋ/ — distraindo; desviando a atenção. We drove slowly through the dirtiest and darkest streets that ever were seen in the world (I thought) and in such a distracting state of confusion that I wondered how the people kept their senses, until we passed into sudden quietude under an old gateway and drove on through a silent square until we came to an odd nook in a corner, where there was an entrance up a steep, broad flight of stairs, like an entrance to a church. Return to Original English Version

distressful /dɪˈstresfəl/ — angustiante; aflitivo. Her bosom was heaving in a distressful manner that I greatly pitied, but I thought it better not to speak. Return to Original English Version

distrust /dɪsˈtrʌst/ — desconfiança; desconfiar de. The receiver in the cause has acquired a goodly sum of money by it but has acquired too a distrust of his own mother and a contempt for his own kind. Return to Original English Version

diverge /daɪˈvɜːrdʒ/ — divergir; separar-se. If we did by any chance diverge into another subject, we soon returned to this, and wondered what the house would be like, and when we should get there, and whether we should see Mr. Jarndyce as soon as we arrived or after a delay, and what he would say to us, and what we should say to him. Return to Original English Version

divesting /daɪˈvɛstɪŋ/ — despindo; retirando. “Much obliged to you, ma’am!” says Mr. Guppy, divesting himself of his wet dreadnought in the hall. Return to Original English Version

doggedness /ˈdɒɡɪdnəs/ — obstinação. “I - certainly - did - NOT,” said Coavinses, whose doggedness in utterly renouncing the idea was of that intense kind that he could only give adequate expression to it by putting a long interval between each word, and accompanying the last with a jerk that might have dislocated his neck. Return to Original English Version

doleful /ˈdoʊlfəl/ — lúgubre; lamentoso. So with the dogs in the kennel-buildings across the park, who have their restless fits and whose doleful voices when the wind has been very obstinate have even made it known in the house itself - upstairs, downstairs, and in my Lady’s chamber. Return to Original English Version

door's /dɔːz/ — a porta está; da porta. Come in through the shop if t’other door’s out of order!” we all went in, stimulated by Richard’s laughing encouragement and relying on his protection. Return to Original English Version

downcast /ˈdaʊnkɑːst/ — abatido; de olhos baixos. At last, whenever a new pupil came who was a little downcast and unhappy, she was so sure - indeed I don’t know why - to make a friend of me that all new-comers were confided to my care. Return to Original English Version

dozenth /ˈdʌzənθ/ — sexta (na expressão 'meia dúzia'). A sallow prisoner has come up, in custody, for the half-dozenth time to make a personal application “to purge himself of his contempt,” which, being a solitary surviving executor who has fallen into a state of conglomeration about accounts of which it is not pretended that he had ever any knowledge, he is not at all likely ever to do. Return to Original English Version

dozes /ˈdoʊzɪz/ — cochila; cochilos. Sir Leicester dozes, starts up suddenly, and cries, “Eh? Return to Original English Version

dozing /ˈdoʊzɪŋ/ — cochilando; dormitando. So the mastiff, dozing in his kennel in the court-yard with his large head on his paws, may think of the hot sunshine when the shadows of the stable-buildings tire his patience out by changing and leave him at one time of the day no broader refuge than the shadow of his own house, where he sits on end, panting and growling short, and very much wanting something to worry besides himself and his chain. Return to Original English Version

drawed /drɔːd/ — desenhou. I wants an end of being drawed like a badger. Return to Original English Version

drawl /drɔːl/ — fala arrastada; sotaque arrastado. Well may the court be dim, with wasting candles here and there; well may the fog hang heavy in it, as if it would never get out; well may the stained-glass windows lose their colour and admit no light of day into the place; well may the uninitiated from the streets, who peep in through the glass panes in the door, be deterred from entrance by its owlish aspect and by the drawl, languidly echoing to the roof from the padded dais where the Lord High Chancellor looks into the lantern that has no light in it and where the attendant wigs are all stuck in a fog-bank! Return to Original English Version

drawling /ˈdrɔːlɪŋ/ — fala arrastada; trocadilho com desenho. We conversed in a low tone because a full-dressed gentleman in a bag wig frequently came in and out, and when he did so, we could hear a drawling sound in the distance, which he said was one of the counsel in our case addressing the Lord Chancellor. Return to Original English Version

Original Text: Rare Words (3/8)

dreadfully /ˈdrɛdfəli/ — terrivelmente; extremamente. When we went downstairs we found a mug with “A Present from Tunbridge Wells” on it lighted up in the staircase window with a floating wick, and a young woman, with a swelled face bound up in a flannel bandage blowing the fire of the drawing-room (now connected by an open door with Mrs. Jellyby’s room) and choking dreadfully. Return to Original English Version

dreadnought /ˈdrɛdnɔːt/ — casacão grosso de lã. “Much obliged to you, ma’am!” says Mr. Guppy, divesting himself of his wet dreadnought in the hall. Return to Original English Version

dreariness /ˈdrɪrinəs/ — tristeza monótona; desolação. “It would be useless to ask,” says my Lady with the dreariness of the place in Lincolnshire still upon her, “whether anything has been done.” Return to Original English Version

dreary /ˈdrɪəri/ — sombrio; monótono; deprimente. Fair wards of court have faded into mothers and grandmothers; a long procession of Chancellors has come in and gone out; the legion of bills in the suit have been transformed into mere bills of mortality; there are not three Jarndyces left upon the earth perhaps since old Tom Jarndyce in despair blew his brains out at a coffee-house in Chancery Lane; but Jarndyce and Jarndyce still drags its dreary length before the court, perennially hopeless. Return to Original English Version

drizzle /ˈdrɪzəl/ — garoa; chuvisco. Smoke lowering down from chimney-pots, making a soft black drizzle, with flakes of soot in it as big as full-grown snowflakes - gone into mourning, one might imagine, for the death of the sun. Return to Original English Version

droll /droʊl/ — cômico; esquisito e engraçado. “A nonentity, sir?” said Richard with a droll look. Return to Original English Version

droops /druːps/ — se curva; murcha. He is so low that he droops on the threshold and has hardly strength of mind to enter. Return to Original English Version

droppings /ˈdrɑːpɪŋz/ — excrementos; pingos. Here and there an old tub was put to catch the droppings of rain-water from a roof, or they were banked up with mud into a little pond like a large dirt-pie. Return to Original English Version

drowsy /ˈdraʊzi/ — sonolento; entorpecido. Our all three coming together for the first time in such an unusual place was a thing to talk about, and we talked about it; and the fire, which had left off roaring, winked its red eyes at us - as Richard said - like a drowsy old Chancery lion. Return to Original English Version

drunkard /ˈdrʌŋkərd/ — bêbado; beberrão. The subject was a German who kept a liquor-shop and was an inveterate drunkard. Return to Original English Version

duly /ˈduːli/ — devidamente; no tempo certo. I had received a formal answer acknowledging its receipt and saying, “We note the contents thereof, which shall be duly communicated to our client.” After that I sometimes heard Miss Donny and her sister mention how regular my accounts were paid, and about twice a year I ventured to write a similar letter. Return to Original English Version

dusky /ˈdʌski/ — escuro; sombrio. Not that there is any superabundant life of imagination on the spot, for Sir Leicester is not here (and, truly, even if he were, would not do much for it in that particular), but is in Paris with my Lady; and solitude, with dusky wings, sits brooding upon Chesney Wold. Return to Original English Version

dwelt /dwɛlt/ — moravam; habitavam. In Bleak House I have purposely dwelt upon the romantic side of familiar things. Return to Original English Version

dyer's /ˈdaɪərz/ — do tintureiro. “My nature is subdued To what it works in, like the dyer’s hand: Pity me, then, and wish I were renewed!” Return to Original English Version

eared /ɪrd/ — de orelhas. A little way within the shop-door lay heaps of old crackled parchment scrolls and discoloured and dog’s-eared law-papers. Return to Original English Version

earnestness /ˈɜːnɪstnəs/ — seriedade; sinceridade. I put up my trembling little hand to clasp hers or to beg her pardon with what earnestness I might, but withdrew it as she looked at me, and laid it on my fluttering heart. Return to Original English Version

easterly /ˈiːstərli/ — oriental; em direção ao leste. And so the little Jell - I had my doubts about ’em - are in a - oh, Lord, yes, it’s easterly!” said Mr. Jarndyce. Return to Original English Version

egotistically /ˌiːɡəˈtɪstɪkli/ — de modo egocêntrico. If every confectioner went buzzing about the world banging against everything that came in his way and egotistically calling upon everybody to take notice that he was going to his work and must not be interrupted, the world would be quite an unsupportable place. Return to Original English Version

eke /iːk/ — também, arcaico; em eke out, fazer render. And at her house in town, upon this muddy, murky afternoon, presents himself an old-fashioned old gentleman, attorney-at-law and eke solicitor of the High Court of Chancery, who has the honour of acting as legal adviser of the Dedlocks and has as many cast-iron boxes in his office with that name outside as if the present baronet were the coin of the conjuror’s trick and were constantly being juggled through the whole set. Return to Original English Version

electing /ɪˈlɛktɪŋ/ — elegendo. They appeared to be always excited about canvassing and electing. Return to Original English Version

elephantine /ˌeləˈfæntiːn/ — elefantino; pesadão. As much mud in the streets as if the waters had but newly retired from the face of the earth, and it would not be wonderful to meet a Megalosaurus, forty feet long or so, waddling like an elephantine lizard up Holborn Hill. Return to Original English Version

elgble /ˈɛlɪdʒəbəl/ — elegível. Our clt Mr. Jarndyce being abt to rece into his house, under an Order of the Ct of Chy, a Ward of the Ct in this cause, for whom he wishes to secure an elgble compn, directs us to inform you that he will be glad of your serces in the afsd capacity. Return to Original English Version

eloquence /ˈeləkwəns/ — eloquência. Tangle,” says the Lord High Chancellor, latterly something restless under the eloquence of that learned gentleman. Return to Original English Version

embodiment /ɪmˈbɑːdimənt/ — personificação; encarnação. He must say he thought a drone the embodiment of a pleasanter and wiser idea. Return to Original English Version

eminently /ˈemɪnəntli/ — eminentemente; notavelmente. It is eminently respectable, and likewise, in a general way, retainer-like. Return to Original English Version

emphatic /ɪmˈfætɪk/ — enfático; categórico. The children sulked and stared; the family took no notice of us whatever, except when the young man made the dog bark, which he usually did when Mrs. Pardiggle was most emphatic. Return to Original English Version

enchanted /ɪnˈtʃæntɪd/ — enfeitiçou; encantado. We were all enchanted. Return to Original English Version

encrusted /ɪnˈkrʌstɪd/ — incrustaram; revestiram. Although the morning was raw, and although the fog still seemed heavy - I say seemed, for the windows were so encrusted with dirt that they would have made midsummer sunshine dim - I was sufficiently forewarned of the discomfort within doors at that early hour and sufficiently curious about London to think it a good idea on the part of Miss Jellyby when she proposed that we should go out for a walk. Return to Original English Version

endeavouring /ɪnˈdevərɪŋ/ — esforçando-se; procurando. I made my way to the poor child, who was one of the dirtiest little unfortunates I ever saw, and found him very hot and frightened and crying loudly, fixed by the neck between two iron railings, while a milkman and a beadle, with the kindest intentions possible, were endeavouring to drag him back by the legs, under a general impression that his skull was compressible by those means. Return to Original English Version

endeavours /ɪnˈdevərz/ — esforços; tentativas. “Well!” cried Mr. Jarndyce, stopping again, and making several absent endeavours to put his candlestick in his pocket. Return to Original English Version

engraven /ɪnˈɡreɪvən/ — gravado, forma arcaica de engraved. His look was thoughtful, but had a benignant expression in it which I often (how often!) saw again, which has long been engraven on my heart. Return to Original English Version

engraving /ɪnˈɡreɪvɪŋ/ — gravura. They were going to raise new buildings, they were going to pay off debts on old buildings, they were going to establish in a picturesque building (engraving of proposed west elevation attached) the Sisterhood of Mediaeval Marys, they were going to give a testimonial to Mrs. Jellyby, they were going to have their secretary’s portrait painted and presented to his mother-in-law, whose deep devotion to him was well known, they were going to get up everything, I really believe, from five hundred thousand tracts to an annuity and from a marble monument to a silver tea-pot. Return to Original English Version

engravings /ɪnˈɡreɪvɪŋz/ — gravuras. In my room there were oval engravings of the months - ladies haymaking in short waists and large hats tied under the chin, for June; smooth-legged noblemen pointing with cocked-hats to village steeples, for October. Return to Original English Version

engrossing /ɪnˈɡroʊsɪŋ/ — absorvente; que toma toda a atenção. Among them was one, in the same writing, having nothing to do with the business of the shop, but announcing that a respectable man aged forty-five wanted engrossing or copying to execute with neatness and dispatch: Address to Nemo, care of Mr. Krook, within. Return to Original English Version

enjoyingly /ɪnˈdʒɔɪɪŋli/ — com prazer; de modo satisfeito. Talking thus, they went upstairs, and presently we heard him in his bedroom thundering “Ha, ha, ha!” and again “Ha, ha, ha!” until the flattest echo in the neighbourhood seemed to catch the contagion and to laugh as enjoyingly as he did or as we did when we heard him laugh. Return to Original English Version

enlarge /ɪnˈlɑːrdʒ/ — ampliar; aumentar; alargar. Nevertheless, Mrs. Rouncewell’s son has, in the course of nature and art, grown up, and established himself, and married, and called unto him Mrs. Rouncewell’s grandson, who, being out of his apprenticeship, and home from a journey in far countries, whither he was sent to enlarge his knowledge and complete his preparations for the venture of this life, stands leaning against the chimney-piece this very day in Mrs. Rouncewell’s room at Chesney Wold. Return to Original English Version

enlarging /ɪnˈlɑːrdʒɪŋ/ — ampliando. There had been, he admitted, a trivial blemish or so in its rate of progress, but this was exaggerated and had been entirely owing to the “parsimony of the public,” which guilty public, it appeared, had been until lately bent in the most determined manner on by no means enlarging the number of Chancery judges appointed - I believe by Richard the Second, but any other king will do as well. Return to Original English Version

enlivening /ɪnˈlaɪvənɪŋ/ — animador; revigorante. A few lawyers’ clerks and others who know this suitor by sight linger on the chance of his furnishing some fun and enlivening the dismal weather a little. Return to Original English Version

enrol /ɪnˈroʊl/ — inscrever; registrar. I put down my mite first; then my young family enrol their contributions, according to their ages and their little means; and then Mr. Pardiggle brings up the rear. Return to Original English Version

enshrouded /ɪnˈʃraʊdɪd/ — envolto; encoberto. It was interesting when I dressed before daylight to peep out of window, where my candles were reflected in the black panes like two beacons, and finding all beyond still enshrouded in the indistinctness of last night, to watch how it turned out when the day came on. Return to Original English Version

ensues /ɪnˈsuːz/ — segue-se; acontece em seguida. Mr. Tulkinghorn retires into another chamber; bells ring, feet shuffle and patter, silence ensues. Return to Original English Version

enthralled /ɪnˈθrɔːld/ — fascinado; enlevado. After tea we had quite a little concert, in which Richard - who was enthralled by Ada’s singing and told me that she seemed to know all the songs that ever were written - and Mr. Jarndyce, and I were the audience. Return to Original English Version

entreated /ɪnˈtriːtɪd/ — suplicou; implorou. Many and many a time, in the day and in the night, with my head upon the pillow by her that my whispers might be plainer to her, I kissed her, thanked her, prayed for her, asked her for her blessing and forgiveness, entreated her to give me the least sign that she knew or heard me. Return to Original English Version

entreaties /ɪnˈtriːtiz/ — súplicas; rogos. She became so fantastically and pressingly earnest in her entreaties that we would walk up and see her apartment for an instant, and was so bent, in her harmless way, on leading me in, as part of the good omen she desired, that I (whatever the others might do) saw nothing for it but to comply. Return to Original English Version

enumerated /ɪˈnuːməreɪtɪd/ — enumerou. There was a little tottering bench of shabby old volumes outside the door, labelled “Law Books, all at 9d.” Some of the inscriptions I have enumerated were written in law-hand, like the papers I had seen in Kenge and Carboy’s office and the letters I had so long received from the firm. Return to Original English Version

epicure /ˈepɪkjʊər/ — epicurista; apreciador de boa comida. Jarndyce would readily do it again, but I have the epicure-like feeling that I would prefer a novelty in help, that I would rather,” and he looked at Richard and me, “develop generosity in a new soil and in a new form of flower.” Return to Original English Version

epithet /ˈepɪθet/ — epíteto; qualificativo. “My dear!” I remonstrated, in allusion to the epithet and the vigorous emphasis Miss Jellyby set upon it. Return to Original English Version

equable /ˈɛkwəbəl/ — equilibrado. The equable manner in which Mrs. Jellyby sustained both his absence and his restoration to the family circle surprised us all. Return to Original English Version

equanimity /ˌekwəˈnɪməti/ — equanimidade; serenidade. An exhausted composure, a worn-out placidity, an equanimity of fatigue not to be ruffled by interest or satisfaction, are the trophies of her victory. Return to Original English Version

equitably /ˈekwɪtəbli/ — equitativamente; com justiça. We are always appearing, and disappearing, and swearing, and interrogating, and filing, and cross-filing, and arguing, and sealing, and motioning, and referring, and reporting, and revolving about the Lord Chancellor and all his satellites, and equitably waltzing ourselves off to dusty death, about costs. Return to Original English Version

especial /ɪˈspeʃəl/ — especial; particular. As no one present takes any especial interest in Mr. Guppy’s dreams, the probability is not pursued. Return to Original English Version

esteemed /ɪˈstiːmd/ — apreciou; teve em boa conta. You may have seen their names in a printed subscription list (perhaps more than one) in the possession of our esteemed friend Mr. Jarndyce. Return to Original English Version

estimable /ˈestɪməbəl/ — estimável; digno de apreço. We are not so prejudiced as to suppose that in private life you are otherwise than a very estimable man, with a great deal of poetry in your nature, of which you may not be conscious.” Return to Original English Version

estimation /ˌestɪˈmeɪʃən/ — estima; avaliação; conceito. He is ceremonious, stately, most polite on every occasion to my Lady, and holds her personal attractions in the highest estimation. Return to Original English Version

evasion /ɪˈveɪʒən/ — evasão; fuga. In trickery, evasion, procrastination, spoliation, botheration, under false pretences of all sorts, there are influences that can never come to good. Return to Original English Version

evasions /ɪˈveɪʒənz/ — evasivas. The notes revived in Richard and Ada a general impression that they both had, without quite knowing how they came by it, that their cousin Jarndyce could never bear acknowledgments for any kindness he performed and that sooner than receive any he would resort to the most singular expedients and evasions or would even run away. Return to Original English Version

evenness /ˈiːvənnəs/ — uniformidade; equilíbrio. All through dinner - which was long, in consequence of such accidents as the dish of potatoes being mislaid in the coal skuttle and the handle of the corkscrew coming off and striking the young woman in the chin - Mrs. Jellyby preserved the evenness of her disposition. Return to Original English Version

exaggerate /ɪɡˈzædʒəreɪt/ — exagerar. “If you want to address our people, sir,” say Blaze and Sparkle, the jewellers - meaning by our people Lady Dedlock and the rest - “you must remember that you are not dealing with the general public; you must hit our people in their weakest place, and their weakest place is such a place.” “To make this article go down, gentlemen,” say Sheen and Gloss, the mercers, to their friends the manufacturers, “you must come to us, because we know where to have the fashionable people, and we can make it fashionable.” “If you want to get this print upon the tables of my high connexion, sir,” says Mr. Sladdery, the librarian, “or if you want to get this dwarf or giant into the houses of my high connexion, sir, or if you want to secure to this entertainment the patronage of my high connexion, sir, you must leave it, if you please, to me, for I have been accustomed to study the leaders of my high connexion, sir, and I may tell you without vanity that I can turn them round my finger” - in which Mr. Sladdery, who is an honest man, does not exaggerate at all. Return to Original English Version

exasperating /ɪɡˈzɑːspəreɪtɪŋ/ — exasperante; irritante. Why do you call it my allowance, and never let me spend it?” These exasperating questions so inflamed his mind and the minds of Oswald and Francis that they all pinched me at once, and in a dreadfully expert way - screwing up such little pieces of my arms that I could hardly forbear crying out. Return to Original English Version

exceedingly /ɪkˈsiːdɪŋli/ — extremamente; sobremaneira. You find the long vacation exceedingly long, don’t you?” Return to Original English Version

excepting /ɪkˈsɛptɪŋ/ — exceto; com exceção de. “Why, so it is,” he answered much more cheerfully; “and it is wisdom in you to keep me to the bright side of the picture.” (The idea of my wisdom!) “These are things I never talk about or even think about, excepting in the growlery here. Return to Original English Version

excessively /ɪkˈsesɪvli/ — excessivamente; em demasia. They were excessively bare and disorderly, and the curtain to my window was fastened up with a fork. Return to Original English Version

exertion /ɪɡˈzɜːrʃən/ — esforço; empenho físico. “The quantity of exertion (which is no exertion to me), the amount of business (which I regard as nothing), that I go through sometimes astonishes myself. Return to Original English Version

exerts /ɪɡˈzɜːrts/ — exerce; empenha-se. “She exerts herself very much for Africa, sir,” I said. Return to Original English Version

exhausts /ɪɡˈzɔːsts/ — esgota; exaure. This is the Court of Chancery, which has its decaying houses and its blighted lands in every shire, which has its worn-out lunatic in every madhouse and its dead in every churchyard, which has its ruined suitor with his slipshod heels and threadbare dress borrowing and begging through the round of every man’s acquaintance, which gives to monied might the means abundantly of wearying out the right, which so exhausts finances, patience, courage, hope, so overthrows the brain and breaks the heart, that there is not an honourable man among its practitioners who would not give - who does not often give - the warning, “Suffer any wrong that can be done you rather than come here!” Return to Original English Version

expanse /ɪkˈspæns/ — extensão; vastidão. Out of this you went up three steps into Ada’s bedroom, which had a fine broad window commanding a beautiful view (we saw a great expanse of darkness lying underneath the stars), to which there was a hollow window-seat, in which, with a spring-lock, three dear Adas might have been lost at once. Return to Original English Version

expediency /ɪkˈspiːdiənsi/ — conveniência; oportunismo. “In reference,” proceeds the Chancellor with extra distinctness, “to the young girl and boy, the two young people” - Mr. Tangle crushed - “whom I directed to be in attendance to-day and who are now in my private room, I will see them and satisfy myself as to the expediency of making the order for their residing with their uncle.” Return to Original English Version

expedients /ɪkˈspiːdiənts/ — expedientes; recursos improvisados. The notes revived in Richard and Ada a general impression that they both had, without quite knowing how they came by it, that their cousin Jarndyce could never bear acknowledgments for any kindness he performed and that sooner than receive any he would resort to the most singular expedients and evasions or would even run away. Return to Original English Version

expend /ɪkˈspɛnd/ — gastar-se; esgotar-se. My young family are not frivolous; they expend the entire amount of their allowance in subscriptions, under my direction; and they have attended as many public meetings and listened to as many lectures, orations, and discussions as generally fall to the lot of few grown people. Return to Original English Version

expressly /ɪkˈspresli/ — expressamente; explicitamente. For anything I can tell, I may have come into the world expressly for the purpose of increasing your stock of happiness. Return to Original English Version

exquisitely /ɪkˈskwɪzɪtli/ — primorosamente; requintadamente. I felt it a merited tribute to the engaging qualities of Ada and Richard that Mr. Skimpole, seeing them for the first time, should be so unreserved and should lay himself out to be so exquisitely agreeable. Return to Original English Version

extorted /ɪkˈstɔːrtɪd/ — extorquiu; arrancado à força. I was afterwards convinced (and so was Ada) that from the ill-conditioned eldest child, these words extorted a sharp yell. Return to Original English Version

extrication /ˌekstrɪˈkeɪʃən/ — libertação; retirada de uma situação difícil. As I found (after pacifying him) that he was a little boy with a naturally large head, I thought that perhaps where his head could go, his body could follow, and mentioned that the best mode of extrication might be to push him forward. Return to Original English Version

eyeball /ˈaɪbɔːl/ — globo ocular. The old roan, so famous for cross-country work, turning his large eyeball to the grated window near his rack, may remember the fresh leaves that glisten there at other times and the scents that stream in, and may have a fine run with the hounds, while the human helper, clearing out the next stall, never stirs beyond his pitchfork and birch-broom. Return to Original English Version

eyesore /ˈaɪsɔːr/ — coisa desagradável aos olhos. There is, in that city of London there, some property of ours which is much at this day what Bleak House was then; I say property of ours, meaning of the suit’s, but I ought to call it the property of costs, for costs is the only power on earth that will ever get anything out of it now or will ever know it for anything but an eyesore and a heartsore. Return to Original English Version

fain /feɪn/ — de bom grado. But the doomed young rebel (otherwise a mild youth, and very persevering), showing no sign of grace as he got older but, on the contrary, constructing a model of a power-loom, she was fain, with many tears, to mention his backslidings to the baronet. Return to Original English Version

faintly /ˈfeɪntli/ — vagamente; de leve. At first they were faintly discernible in the mist, and above them the later stars still glimmered. Return to Original English Version

faintness /ˈfeɪntnəs/ — sensação de desmaio. “Faint,” my Lady murmurs with white lips, “only that; but it is like the faintness of death. Return to Original English Version

faltered /ˈfɔːltərd/ — hesitou. “I didn’t know I was crying, sir,” I faltered. Return to Original English Version

fancied /ˈfænsid/ — imaginou. I could have fancied that all the rusty keys, of which there must have been hundreds huddled together as old iron, had once belonged to doors of rooms or strong chests in lawyers’ offices. Return to Original English Version

fantastically /fænˈtæstɪkli/ — de modo fantasioso; com traços bizarros. She became so fantastically and pressingly earnest in her entreaties that we would walk up and see her apartment for an instant, and was so bent, in her harmless way, on leading me in, as part of the good omen she desired, that I (whatever the others might do) saw nothing for it but to comply. Return to Original English Version

farthest /ˈfɑːrðəst/ — o mais distante. Mrs. Pardiggle, leading the way with a great show of moral determination and talking with much volubility about the untidy habits of the people (though I doubted if the best of us could have been tidy in such a place), conducted us into a cottage at the farthest corner, the ground-floor room of which we nearly filled. Return to Original English Version

fastened /ˈfæsənd/ — prenderam; fixaram. I thought he was very strange, or at least that what I could see of him was very strange, for he was wrapped up to the chin, and his face was almost hidden in a fur cap with broad fur straps at the side of his head fastened under his chin; but I was composed again, and not afraid of him. Return to Original English Version

fastening /ˈfɑːsənɪŋ/ — fecho; fixação. Besides ourselves, there were in this damp, offensive room a woman with a black eye, nursing a poor little gasping baby by the fire; a man, all stained with clay and mud and looking very dissipated, lying at full length on the ground, smoking a pipe; a powerful young man fastening a collar on a dog; and a bold girl doing some kind of washing in very dirty water. Return to Original English Version

fated /ˈfeɪtɪd/ — destinado; fadado. Shirking and sharking in all their many varieties have been sown broadcast by the ill-fated cause; and even those who have contemplated its history from the outermost circle of such evil have been insensibly tempted into a loose way of letting bad things alone to take their own bad course, and a loose belief that if the world go wrong it was in some off-hand manner never meant to go right. Return to Original English Version

fatigued /fəˈtiːɡd/ — fatigado; exausto. But I am never fatigued. Return to Original English Version

favourably /ˈfeɪvərəbli/ — favoravelmente; com aprovação. This was so favourably received by the milkman and beadle that he would immediately have been pushed into the area if I had not held his pinafore while Richard and Mr. Guppy ran down through the kitchen to catch him when he should be released. Return to Original English Version

fee'd /fiːd/ — remunerados; pagos. Kenge and Carboy will have something to say about it; Master Somebody - a sort of ridiculous sexton, digging graves for the merits of causes in a back room at the end of Quality Court, Chancery Lane - will have something to say about it; counsel will have something to say about it; the Chancellor will have something to say about it; the satellites will have something to say about it; they will all have to be handsomely fee’d, all round, about it; the whole thing will be vastly ceremonious, wordy, unsatisfactory, and expensive, and I call it, in general, wiglomeration. Return to Original English Version

feebly /ˈfiːbli/ — debilmente; fracamente. The purblind day was feebly struggling with the fog when I opened my eyes to encounter those of a dirty-faced little spectre fixed upon me. Return to Original English Version

feigned /feɪnd/ — finge; fez de conta. I felt that I was choking again - I taxed myself with it, “Esther, now, you know you are!” - when he feigned to say this slightly, as if it were a whim instead of a thoughtful tenderness. Return to Original English Version

feigning /ˈfeɪnɪŋ/ — fingindo; simulando. We all drew nearer to the cages, feigning to examine the birds. Return to Original English Version

felled /feld/ — derrubou; abatido. The turkey in the poultry-yard, always troubled with a class-grievance (probably Christmas), may be reminiscent of that summer morning wrongfully taken from him when he got into the lane among the felled trees, where there was a barn and barley. Return to Original English Version

fenced /fenst/ — cercado; vedado; murado. On such an afternoon, if ever, the Lord High Chancellor ought to be sitting here - as here he is - with a foggy glory round his head, softly fenced in with crimson cloth and curtains, addressed by a large advocate with great whiskers, a little voice, and an interminable brief, and outwardly directing his contemplation to the lantern in the roof, where he can see nothing but fog. Return to Original English Version

fern /fɜːrn/ — samambaia; feto. There are noble mausoleums rooted for centuries in retired glades of parks among the growing timber and the fern, which perhaps hold fewer noble secrets than walk abroad among men, shut up in the breast of Mr. Tulkinghorn. Return to Original English Version

ferocious /fəˈroʊʃəs/ — feroz; brutal. It was not merely that they were weazened and shrivelled - though they were certainly that too - but they looked absolutely ferocious with discontent. Return to Original English Version

ferocity /fəˈrɑːsəti/ — ferocidade. In his condemnation he is all ferocity. Return to Original English Version

fervently /ˈfɜːrvəntli/ — fervorosamente; com ardor. I felt the distance between my godmother and myself so much more after the birthday, and felt so sensible of filling a place in her house which ought to have been empty, that I found her more difficult of approach, though I was fervently grateful to her in my heart, than ever. Return to Original English Version

fervid /ˈfɜːrvɪd/ — fervoroso; ardente. Alfred (five), who, as I mentioned, has of his own election joined the Infant Bonds of Joy, was one of the very few children who manifested consciousness on that occasion after a fervid address of two hours from the chairman of the evening.” Return to Original English Version

festoons /feˈstuːnz/ — festões; grinaldas pendentes. As substitutes, I had four angels, of Queen Anne’s reign, taking a complacent gentleman to heaven, in festoons, with some difficulty; and a composition in needlework representing fruit, a kettle, and an alphabet. Return to Original English Version

fiend /fiːnd/ — demônio. And when they will next come forth again, the fashionable intelligence - which, like the fiend, is omniscient of the past and present, but not the future - cannot yet undertake to say. Return to Original English Version

fireside /ˈfaɪərsaɪd/ — canto da lareira. It must have been two years afterwards, and I was almost fourteen, when one dreadful night my godmother and I sat at the fireside. Return to Original English Version

firesides /ˈfaɪərsaɪdz/ — lareiras. Fog in the eyes and throats of ancient Greenwich pensioners, wheezing by the firesides of their wards; fog in the stem and bowl of the afternoon pipe of the wrathful skipper, down in his close cabin; fog cruelly pinching the toes and fingers of his shivering little ’prentice boy on deck. Return to Original English Version

fixedly /ˈfɪksɪdli/ — fixamente; sem desviar os olhos. I thought of my dead godmother, of the night when I read to her, of her frowning so fixedly and sternly in her bed, of the strange place I was going to, of the people I should find there, and what they would be like, and what they would say to me, when a voice in the coach gave me a terrible start. Return to Original English Version

flagged /flæɡd/ — sinalizou. The vases on the stone terrace in the foreground catch the rain all day; and the heavy drops fall - drip, drip, drip - upon the broad flagged pavement, called from old time the Ghost’s Walk, all night. Return to Original English Version

flannel /ˈflænəl/ — flanela. When we went downstairs we found a mug with “A Present from Tunbridge Wells” on it lighted up in the staircase window with a floating wick, and a young woman, with a swelled face bound up in a flannel bandage blowing the fire of the drawing-room (now connected by an open door with Mrs. Jellyby’s room) and choking dreadfully. Return to Original English Version

flattest /ˈflætɪst/ — mais apagado. Talking thus, they went upstairs, and presently we heard him in his bedroom thundering “Ha, ha, ha!” and again “Ha, ha, ha!” until the flattest echo in the neighbourhood seemed to catch the contagion and to laugh as enjoyingly as he did or as we did when we heard him laugh. Return to Original English Version

fleshing /ˈflɛʃɪŋ/ — exercitando. Articled clerks have been in the habit of fleshing their legal wit upon it. Return to Original English Version

flickering /ˈflɪkərɪŋ/ — tremeluzente; bruxuleante. Then I went on, thinking, thinking, thinking; and the fire went on, burning, burning, burning; and the candles went on flickering and guttering, and there were no snuffers - until the young gentleman by and by brought a very dirty pair - for two hours. Return to Original English Version

floated /ˈfloʊtɪd/ — flutuou; boiou. Wealth and station, added to these, soon floated her upward, and for years now my Lady Dedlock has been at the centre of the fashionable intelligence and at the top of the fashionable tree. Return to Original English Version

flocking /ˈflɑːkɪŋ/ — afluindo; reunindo-se em grande número. I was not so attentive an auditor as I might have wished to be, however, for Peepy and the other children came flocking about Ada and me in a corner of the drawing-room to ask for another story; so we sat down among them and told them in whispers “Puss in Boots” and I don’t know what else until Mrs. Jellyby, accidentally remembering them, sent them to bed. Return to Original English Version

floored /flɔːrd/ — derrubou; deixou atônito. “Floored again!” said the gentleman, which I didn’t at all understand, and threw them both out of window. Return to Original English Version

floundering /ˈflaʊndərɪŋ/ — debatendo-se; atrapalhando-se. Never can there come fog too thick, never can there come mud and mire too deep, to assort with the groping and floundering condition which this High Court of Chancery, most pestilent of hoary sinners, holds this day in the sight of heaven and earth. Return to Original English Version

fluttered /ˈflʌtərd/ — esvoaçavam; adejavam. She can open it on occasion and be busy and fluttered, but it is shut up now and lies on the breadth of Mrs. Rouncewell’s iron-bound bosom in a majestic sleep. Return to Original English Version

fluttering /ˈflʌtərɪŋ/ — esvoaçante; que tremula. I put up my trembling little hand to clasp hers or to beg her pardon with what earnestness I might, but withdrew it as she looked at me, and laid it on my fluttering heart. Return to Original English Version

folio /ˈfoʊlioʊ/ — fólio; volume de grande formato. From the master upon whose impaling files reams of dusty warrants in Jarndyce and Jarndyce have grimly writhed into many shapes, down to the copying-clerk in the Six Clerks’ Office who has copied his tens of thousands of Chancery folio-pages under that eternal heading, no man’s nature has been made better by it. Return to Original English Version

follies /ˈfɑːliz/ — tolices; loucuras. Yet every dim little star revolving about her, from her maid to the manager of the Italian Opera, knows her weaknesses, prejudices, follies, haughtinesses, and caprices and lives upon as accurate a calculation and as nice a measure of her moral nature as her dressmaker takes of her physical proportions. Return to Original English Version

footpad /ˈfʊtpæd/ — assaltante a pé. As soon as we were out of doors, Egbert, with the manner of a little footpad, demanded a shilling of me on the ground that his pocket-money was “boned” from him. Return to Original English Version

forbear /fɔːrˈbɛr/ — abster-se; conter-se. Why do you call it my allowance, and never let me spend it?” These exasperating questions so inflamed his mind and the minds of Oswald and Francis that they all pinched me at once, and in a dreadfully expert way - screwing up such little pieces of my arms that I could hardly forbear crying out. Return to Original English Version

forbearing /fɔːrˈberɪŋ/ — tolerante; que se contém. When every minute added to the proofs of love and kindness that were given me in those five days, and when at last the morning came and when they took me through all the rooms that I might see them for the last time, and when some cried, “Esther, dear, say good-bye to me here at my bedside, where you first spoke so kindly to me!” and when others asked me only to write their names, “With Esther’s love,” and when they all surrounded me with their parting presents and clung to me weeping and cried, “What shall we do when dear, dear Esther’s gone!” and when I tried to tell them how forbearing and how good they had all been to me and how I blessed and thanked them every one, what a heart I had! Return to Original English Version

forcible /ˈfɔːrsəbəl/ — enérgico; forçado; contundente. Mrs. Pardiggle, who had been regarding him through her spectacles with a forcible composure, calculated, I could not help thinking, to increase his antagonism, pulled out a good book as if it were a constable’s staff and took the whole family into custody. Return to Original English Version

forded /ˈfɔːrdɪd/ — atravessou a vau. We have arrngd for your being forded, carriage free, pr eight o’clock coach from Reading, on Monday morning next, to White Horse Cellar, Piccadilly, London, where one of our clks will be in waiting to convey you to our offe as above. Return to Original English Version

foreground /ˈfɔːrɡraʊnd/ — primeiro plano. The vases on the stone terrace in the foreground catch the rain all day; and the heavy drops fall - drip, drip, drip - upon the broad flagged pavement, called from old time the Ghost’s Walk, all night. Return to Original English Version

foreheads /ˈfɔːrhedz/ — testas; frontes. Rosa is so shy as she gives it to him that they drop it between them and almost knock their foreheads together as they pick it up. Return to Original English Version

forenoon /ˈfɔːrnuːn/ — manhã; antes do meio-dia. A carriage would be at Mrs. Jellyby’s to convey us out of town early in the forenoon of to-morrow. Return to Original English Version

forewarned /fɔːrˈwɔːrnd/ — avisado de antemão. Although the morning was raw, and although the fog still seemed heavy - I say seemed, for the windows were so encrusted with dirt that they would have made midsummer sunshine dim - I was sufficiently forewarned of the discomfort within doors at that early hour and sufficiently curious about London to think it a good idea on the part of Miss Jellyby when she proposed that we should go out for a walk. Return to Original English Version

forte /fɔːrt/ — forte; ponto forte de alguém. This young man, besides having a great deal to say for himself about Africa and a project of his for teaching the coffee colonists to teach the natives to turn piano-forte legs and establish an export trade, delighted in drawing Mrs. Jellyby out by saying, “I believe now, Mrs. Jellyby, you have received as many as from one hundred and fifty to two hundred letters respecting Africa in a single day, have you not?” or, “If my memory does not deceive me, Mrs. Jellyby, you once mentioned that you had sent off five thousand circulars from one post-office at one time?” - always repeating Mrs. Jellyby’s answer to us like an interpreter. Return to Original English Version

fortnight /ˈfɔːrtnaɪt/ — quinzena; duas semanas. “We will proceed with the hearing on Wednesday fortnight,” says the Chancellor. Return to Original English Version

frankest /ˈfræŋkɪst/ — mais franco; mais sincero. The prince, at last, objecting to this, “in which,” said Mr. Skimpole, in the frankest manner, “he was perfectly right,” the engagement terminated, and Mr. Skimpole having (as he added with delightful gaiety) “nothing to live upon but love, fell in love, and married, and surrounded himself with rosy cheeks.” His good friend Jarndyce and some other of his good friends then helped him, in quicker or slower succession, to several openings in life, but to no purpose, for he must confess to two of the oldest infirmities in the world: one was that he had no idea of time, the other that he had no idea of money. Return to Original English Version

frankness /ˈfræŋknəs/ — franqueza; sinceridade. Richard shook him by both hands with an intuitive mixture of respect and frankness, and only saying (though with an earnestness that rather alarmed me, I was so afraid of Mr. Jarndyce’s suddenly disappearing), “You are very kind, sir! Return to Original English Version

frantic /ˈfræntɪk/ — desesperados; fora de si. At last he was happily got down without any accident, and then he began to beat Mr. Guppy with a hoop-stick in quite a frantic manner. Return to Original English Version

frayed /freɪd/ — desfiado; gasto. And from her tumbled hair to her pretty feet, which were disfigured with frayed and broken satin slippers trodden down at heel, she really seemed to have no article of dress upon her, from a pin upwards, that was in its proper condition or its right place. Return to Original English Version

freshness /ˈfrɛʃnəs/ — frescor; viço. He is grown up - he is at least as old as I am - but in simplicity, and freshness, and enthusiasm, and a fine guileless inaptitude for all worldly affairs, he is a perfect child.” Return to Original English Version

fridays /ˈfraɪdeɪz/ — sextas-feiras. She went to church three times every Sunday, and to morning prayers on Wednesdays and Fridays, and to lectures whenever there were lectures; and never missed. Return to Original English Version

fright /fraɪt/ — susto; medo. I was in a kind of fright beyond my grief, and I caught hold of her dress and was kneeling to her. Return to Original English Version

frill /frɪl/ — babado; folho. He is of a worthy presence, with his light-grey hair and whiskers, his fine shirt-frill, his pure-white waistcoat, and his blue coat with bright buttons always buttoned. Return to Original English Version

frisking /ˈfrɪskɪŋ/ — saltitando alegremente. So the rabbits with their self-betraying tails, frisking in and out of holes at roots of trees, may be lively with ideas of the breezy days when their ears are blown about or of those seasons of interest when there are sweet young plants to gnaw. Return to Original English Version

frivolous /ˈfrɪvələs/ — frívolo; fútil. On my return downstairs, I felt that Mrs. Jellyby looked down upon me rather for being so frivolous, and I was sorry for it, though at the same time I knew that I had no higher pretensions. Return to Original English Version

fro /froʊ/ — para trás; de um lado para outro. Thus interrupted, Miss Jellyby became silent and walked moodily on at my side while I admired the long successions and varieties of streets, the quantity of people already going to and fro, the number of vehicles passing and repassing, the busy preparations in the setting forth of shop windows and the sweeping out of shops, and the extraordinary creatures in rags secretly groping among the swept-out rubbish for pins and other refuse. Return to Original English Version

frock /frɑːk/ — vestido; túnica. I had never worn a black frock, that I could recollect. Return to Original English Version

frosted /ˈfrɔːstɪd/ — coberto de glacê. His throat, chin, and eyebrows were so frosted with white hairs and so gnarled with veins and puckered skin that he looked from his breast upward like some old root in a fall of snow. Return to Original English Version

frosty /ˈfrɔːsti/ — gelado; com geada. When she gave me one cold parting kiss upon my forehead, like a thaw-drop from the stone porch - it was a very frosty day - I felt so miserable and self-reproachful that I clung to her and told her it was my fault, I knew, that she could say good-bye so easily! Return to Original English Version

fullness /ˈfʊlnəs/ — plenitude. We all conceived a prepossession in his favour, for there was a sterling quality in this laugh, and in his vigorous, healthy voice, and in the roundness and fullness with which he uttered every word he spoke, and in the very fury of his superlatives, which seemed to go off like blank cannons and hurt nothing. Return to Original English Version

furnishing /ˈfɜːrnɪʃɪŋ/ — fornecendo; mobiliando. A few lawyers’ clerks and others who know this suitor by sight linger on the chance of his furnishing some fun and enlivening the dismal weather a little. Return to Original English Version

gabble /ˈɡæbəl/ — tagarelice atropelada. The discontented goose, who stoops to pass under the old gateway, twenty feet high, may gabble out, if we only knew it, a waddling preference for weather when the gateway casts its shadow on the ground. Return to Original English Version

gaiety /ˈɡeɪəti/ — alegria; jovialidade. All he said was so free from effort and spontaneous and was said with such a captivating gaiety that it was fascinating to hear him talk. Return to Original English Version

gaily /ˈɡeɪli/ — alegremente; com bom humor. He was a handsome youth with an ingenuous face and a most engaging laugh; and after she had called him up to where we sat, he stood by us, in the light of the fire, talking gaily, like a light-hearted boy. Return to Original English Version

gaiters /ˈɡeɪtərz/ — polainas. He is of what is called the old school - a phrase generally meaning any school that seems never to have been young - and wears knee-breeches tied with ribbons, and gaiters or stockings. Return to Original English Version

gallantry /ˈɡæləntri/ — galanteria; bravura; cortesia. His gallantry to my Lady, which has never changed since he courted her, is the one little touch of romantic fancy in him. Return to Original English Version

galloping /ˈɡæləpɪŋ/ — galopando. Before I begin my harum-scarum day - grinding away at those books and instruments and then galloping up hill and down dale, all the country round, like a highwayman - it does me so much good to come and have a steady walk with our comfortable friend, that here I am again!” Return to Original English Version

gape /ɡeɪp/ — ficar boquiaberto; abrir-se; fenda. They straggle about in wrong places, look at wrong things, don’t care for the right things, gape when more rooms are opened, exhibit profound depression of spirits, and are clearly knocked up. Return to Original English Version

gaping /ˈɡeɪpɪŋ/ — olhando de boca aberta. Out of that you went straight, with a little interval of passage, to the plain room where Mr. Jarndyce slept, all the year round, with his window open, his bedstead without any furniture standing in the middle of the floor for more air, and his cold bath gaping for him in a smaller room adjoining. Return to Original English Version

garret /ˈɡærət/ — sótão; quarto no sótão. She partly drew aside the curtain of the long, low garret window and called our attention to a number of bird-cages hanging there, some containing several birds. Return to Original English Version

gazed /ɡeɪzd/ — contemplou; olhou fixamente. When we turned out of the town, round a corner, and Richard told us that the post-boy, who had for a long time sympathized with our heightened expectation, was looking back and nodding, we both stood up in the carriage (Richard holding Ada lest she should be jolted down) and gazed round upon the open country and the starlight night for our destination. Return to Original English Version

gazing /ˈɡeɪzɪŋ/ — contemplando; olhando fixamente. There was a gentleman in the coach who sat on the opposite seat and looked very large in a quantity of wrappings, but he sat gazing out of the other window and took no notice of me. Return to Original English Version

geese /ɡiːs/ — gansos. Livers of fat geese. Return to Original English Version

genial /ˈdʒiːniəl/ — afável; jovial; ameno. And what with his fine hilarious manner and his engaging candour and his genial way of lightly tossing his own weaknesses about, as if he had said, “I am a child, you know! Return to Original English Version

genteel /dʒenˈtiːl/ — fino; de boa sociedade; afetadamente educado. At present, I don’t mind confessing to the wards in Jarndyce (in strict confidence) that I sometimes find it difficult to keep up a genteel appearance. Return to Original English Version

gentlefolks /ˈdʒɛntəlfoʊks/ — gente de boa família; fidalgos. At the doors and windows some men and women lounged or prowled about, and took little notice of us except to laugh to one another or to say something as we passed about gentlefolks minding their own business and not troubling their heads and muddying their shoes with coming to look after other people’s. Return to Original English Version

gentlemen's /ˈdʒɛntəlmənz/ — dos cavalheiros. In another, LADIES’ AND GENTLEMEN’S WARDROBES BOUGHT. Return to Original English Version

geraniums /dʒəˈreɪniəmz/ — gerânios. And when the two Miss Donnys grieved as much to part with me as the least among them, and when the maids said, “Bless you, miss, wherever you go!” and when the ugly lame old gardener, who I thought had hardly noticed me in all those years, came panting after the coach to give me a little nosegay of geraniums and told me I had been the light of his eyes - indeed the old man said so! - what a heart I had then! Return to Original English Version

giuseppe /dʒuˈzɛppe/ — Giuseppe. There are about thirty cases on record, of which the most famous, that of the Countess Cornelia de Baudi Cesenate, was minutely investigated and described by Giuseppe Bianchini, a prebendary of Verona, otherwise distinguished in letters, who published an account of it at Verona in 1731, which he afterwards republished at Rome. Return to Original English Version

glades /ɡleɪdz/ — clareiras. There are noble mausoleums rooted for centuries in retired glades of parks among the growing timber and the fern, which perhaps hold fewer noble secrets than walk abroad among men, shut up in the breast of Mr. Tulkinghorn. Return to Original English Version

glanced /ɡlænst/ — lançou um olhar; deu uma olhada. We naturally drew back and glanced at our conductress, who had been trying to open the house-door with a key she had taken from her pocket, and to whom Richard now said that as we had had the pleasure of seeing where she lived, we would leave her, being pressed for time. Return to Original English Version

glances /ˈɡlænsɪz/ — olhares rápidos. Mr. Tulkinghorn glances over his spectacles and begins again lower down. Return to Original English Version

glancing /ˈɡlænsɪŋ/ — olhando rapidamente. Mute, close, irresponsive to any glancing light, his dress is like himself. Return to Original English Version

glazed /ɡleɪzd/ — esmaltado; vitrificado. Our sitting-room was green and had framed and glazed upon the walls numbers of surprising and surprised birds, staring out of pictures at a real trout in a case, as brown and shining as if it had been served with gravy; at the death of Captain Cook; and at the whole process of preparing tea in China, as depicted by Chinese artists. Return to Original English Version

gliding /ˈɡlaɪdɪŋ/ — deslizando; planando. One sunny afternoon when I had come home from school with my books and portfolio, watching my long shadow at my side, and as I was gliding upstairs to my room as usual, my godmother looked out of the parlour-door and called me back. Return to Original English Version

glimmered /ˈɡlɪmərd/ — bruxuleou; brilhou fracamente. At first they were faintly discernible in the mist, and above them the later stars still glimmered. Return to Original English Version

glisten /ˈɡlɪsən/ — reluzir. The old roan, so famous for cross-country work, turning his large eyeball to the grated window near his rack, may remember the fresh leaves that glisten there at other times and the scents that stream in, and may have a fine run with the hounds, while the human helper, clearing out the next stall, never stirs beyond his pitchfork and birch-broom. Return to Original English Version

globes /ɡloʊbz/ — globos; esferas. She can talk French, I suppose, and do geography, and globes, and needlework, and everything?” Return to Original English Version

gloom /ɡluːm/ — escuridão; tristeza. Rosa in the deepening gloom looks down upon the ground, half frightened and half shy. Return to Original English Version

gloomily /ˈɡluːmɪli/ — sombriamente; tristemente; melancolicamente. I happened to look timidly up from my stitching, across the table at my godmother, and I saw in her face, looking gloomily at me, “It would have been far better, little Esther, that you had had no birthday, that you had never been born!” Return to Original English Version

gloss /ɡlɔːs/ — lustro; brilho; glosa explicativa. “If you want to address our people, sir,” say Blaze and Sparkle, the jewellers - meaning by our people Lady Dedlock and the rest - “you must remember that you are not dealing with the general public; you must hit our people in their weakest place, and their weakest place is such a place.” “To make this article go down, gentlemen,” say Sheen and Gloss, the mercers, to their friends the manufacturers, “you must come to us, because we know where to have the fashionable people, and we can make it fashionable.” “If you want to get this print upon the tables of my high connexion, sir,” says Mr. Sladdery, the librarian, “or if you want to get this dwarf or giant into the houses of my high connexion, sir, or if you want to secure to this entertainment the patronage of my high connexion, sir, you must leave it, if you please, to me, for I have been accustomed to study the leaders of my high connexion, sir, and I may tell you without vanity that I can turn them round my finger” - in which Mr. Sladdery, who is an honest man, does not exaggerate at all. Return to Original English Version

glowered /ˈɡlaʊərd/ — encarou com raiva. Alfred glowered at us as if he never could, or would, forgive the injury of that night. Return to Original English Version

gnarled /nɑːrld/ — nodoso; retorcido. His throat, chin, and eyebrows were so frosted with white hairs and so gnarled with veins and puckered skin that he looked from his breast upward like some old root in a fall of snow. Return to Original English Version

gnaw /nɔː/ — roer. So the rabbits with their self-betraying tails, frisking in and out of holes at roots of trees, may be lively with ideas of the breezy days when their ears are blown about or of those seasons of interest when there are sweet young plants to gnaw. Return to Original English Version

goodly /ˈɡʊdli/ — considerável; vistoso; de bom tamanho. The receiver in the cause has acquired a goodly sum of money by it but has acquired too a distrust of his own mother and a contempt for his own kind. Return to Original English Version

gowns /ɡaʊnz/ — vestidos longos. On such an afternoon the various solicitors in the cause, some two or three of whom have inherited it from their fathers, who made a fortune by it, ought to be - as are they not? - ranged in a line, in a long matted well (but you might look in vain for truth at the bottom of it) between the registrar’s red table and the silk gowns, with bills, cross-bills, answers, rejoinders, injunctions, affidavits, issues, references to masters, masters’ reports, mountains of costly nonsense, piled before them. Return to Original English Version

grandmothers /ˈɡrænmʌðərz/ — avós. Fair wards of court have faded into mothers and grandmothers; a long procession of Chancellors has come in and gone out; the legion of bills in the suit have been transformed into mere bills of mortality; there are not three Jarndyces left upon the earth perhaps since old Tom Jarndyce in despair blew his brains out at a coffee-house in Chancery Lane; but Jarndyce and Jarndyce still drags its dreary length before the court, perennially hopeless. Return to Original English Version

grated /ˈɡreɪtɪd/ — gradeado; protegido por grades. The old roan, so famous for cross-country work, turning his large eyeball to the grated window near his rack, may remember the fresh leaves that glisten there at other times and the scents that stream in, and may have a fine run with the hounds, while the human helper, clearing out the next stall, never stirs beyond his pitchfork and birch-broom. Return to Original English Version

gratifying /ˈɡrætɪfaɪɪŋ/ — gratificante. As Ada said nothing, but looked at me, I said it must be very gratifying. Return to Original English Version

gravely /ˈɡreɪvli/ — gravemente; seriamente. “I don’t say that,” returned Mr. Kenge gravely. Return to Original English Version

grievance /ˈɡriːvəns/ — queixa; motivo de ressentimento. The turkey in the poultry-yard, always troubled with a class-grievance (probably Christmas), may be reminiscent of that summer morning wrongfully taken from him when he got into the lane among the felled trees, where there was a barn and barley. Return to Original English Version

grimly /ˈɡrɪmli/ — sombriamente; com ar severo. From the master upon whose impaling files reams of dusty warrants in Jarndyce and Jarndyce have grimly writhed into many shapes, down to the copying-clerk in the Six Clerks’ Office who has copied his tens of thousands of Chancery folio-pages under that eternal heading, no man’s nature has been made better by it. Return to Original English Version

groomed /ɡruːmd/ — escovado; almofaçado. Not that she is so, but that “the most is made,” as the Honourable Bob Stables has frequently asserted upon oath, “of all her points.” The same authority observes that she is perfectly got up and remarks in commendation of her hair especially that she is the best-groomed woman in the whole stud. Return to Original English Version

grooms /ɡruːmz/ — cavalariços; tratadores. The horses in the stables - the long stables in a barren, red-brick court-yard, where there is a great bell in a turret, and a clock with a large face, which the pigeons who live near it and who love to perch upon its shoulders seem to be always consulting - THEY may contemplate some mental pictures of fine weather on occasions, and may be better artists at them than the grooms. Return to Original English Version

groping /ˈɡroʊpɪŋ/ — tateando; procurando às cegas. Never can there come fog too thick, never can there come mud and mire too deep, to assort with the groping and floundering condition which this High Court of Chancery, most pestilent of hoary sinners, holds this day in the sight of heaven and earth. Return to Original English Version

growling /ˈɡraʊlɪŋ/ — rosnando; que rosna. So the mastiff, dozing in his kennel in the court-yard with his large head on his paws, may think of the hot sunshine when the shadows of the stable-buildings tire his patience out by changing and leave him at one time of the day no broader refuge than the shadow of his own house, where he sits on end, panting and growling short, and very much wanting something to worry besides himself and his chain. Return to Original English Version

grub /ɡrʌb/ — comida (informal); bóia. We both grub on in a muddle. Return to Original English Version

grubbed /ɡrʌbd/ — cavou; remexeu a terra. How my noble and learned brother, and all the rest of ’em, grubbed and muddled away as usual and tried to look as if they hadn’t heard a word of the last fact in the case or as if they had - Oh, dear me! - nothing at all to do with it if they had heard of it by any chance!” Return to Original English Version

gruffly /ˈɡrʌfli/ — asperamente; com voz rude. “Odd or even,” said the stranger gruffly, “I tell you, not a bit on it!” Return to Original English Version

guileless /ˈɡaɪlləs/ — inocente; sem malícia. He is grown up - he is at least as old as I am - but in simplicity, and freshness, and enthusiasm, and a fine guileless inaptitude for all worldly affairs, he is a perfect child.” Return to Original English Version

gulliver /ˈɡʌlɪvər/ — Gulliver. There are deferential people in a dozen callings whom my Lady Dedlock suspects of nothing but prostration before her, who can tell you how to manage her as if she were a baby, who do nothing but nurse her all their lives, who, humbly affecting to follow with profound subservience, lead her and her whole troop after them; who, in hooking one, hook all and bear them off as Lemuel Gulliver bore away the stately fleet of the majestic Lilliput. Return to Original English Version

gunwales /ˈɡʌnweɪlz/ — amuradas; bordas superiores do barco. Fog creeping into the cabooses of collier-brigs; fog lying out on the yards and hovering in the rigging of great ships; fog drooping on the gunwales of barges and small boats. Return to Original English Version

gush /ɡʌʃ/ — jorrar; falar com entusiasmo exagerado. A bell was rung as we drew up, and amidst the sound of its deep voice in the still air, and the distant barking of some dogs, and a gush of light from the opened door, and the smoking and steaming of the heated horses, and the quickened beating of our own hearts, we alighted in no inconsiderable confusion. Return to Original English Version

gusher's /ˈɡʌʃərz/ — de Gusher. We were obliged to say that we had not the pleasure of Mr. Gusher’s acquaintance. Return to Original English Version

guttering /ˈɡʌtərɪŋ/ — tremulando e escorrendo cera. Then I went on, thinking, thinking, thinking; and the fire went on, burning, burning, burning; and the candles went on flickering and guttering, and there were no snuffers - until the young gentleman by and by brought a very dirty pair - for two hours. Return to Original English Version

ha'penny /ˈheɪpəni/ — meio penny. “It’s twenty-four pound, sixteen, and sevenpence ha’penny,” observed the stranger. Return to Original English Version

habitable /ˈhæbɪtəbəl/ — habitável. “As to Skimpole,” said Mr. Jarndyce, “a habitable doll’s house with good board and a few tin people to get into debt with and borrow money of would set the boy up in life. Return to Original English Version

haggard /ˈhæɡərd/ — abatido; exausto. Most of the shops lighted two hours before their time - as the gas seems to know, for it has a haggard and unwilling look. Return to Original English Version

Original Text: Rare Words (4/8)

halfpence /ˈheɪpəns/ — meios pence; moedas de meio penny. Some pounds, odd shillings, and halfpence, I think, were mentioned.” Return to Original English Version

halfpenny /ˈheɪpəni/ — meio penny; moeda de meio penny. Francis, my third (nine), one and sixpence halfpenny; Felix, my fourth (seven), eightpence to the Superannuated Widows; Alfred, my youngest (five), has voluntarily enrolled himself in the Infant Bonds of Joy, and is pledged never, through life, to use tobacco in any form.” Return to Original English Version

halloa /həˈloʊ/ — olá!; ei!. Halloa! Return to Original English Version

halter /ˈhɔːltər/ — cabresto; corda da forca. The grey, whose place is opposite the door and who with an impatient rattle of his halter pricks his ears and turns his head so wistfully when it is opened, and to whom the opener says, “Woa grey, then, steady! Return to Original English Version

halting /ˈhɔːltɪŋ/ — hesitante; entrecortado. “I hear the rain-drip on the stones,” replies the young man, “and I hear a curious echo - I suppose an echo - which is very like a halting step.” Return to Original English Version

handsomely /ˈhænsəmli/ — generosamente; muito bem. Kenge and Carboy will have something to say about it; Master Somebody - a sort of ridiculous sexton, digging graves for the merits of causes in a back room at the end of Quality Court, Chancery Lane - will have something to say about it; counsel will have something to say about it; the Chancellor will have something to say about it; the satellites will have something to say about it; they will all have to be handsomely fee’d, all round, about it; the whole thing will be vastly ceremonious, wordy, unsatisfactory, and expensive, and I call it, in general, wiglomeration. Return to Original English Version

hanger /ˈhæŋər/ — suporte; gancho; sabre curto. In all parts of the window were quantities of dirty bottles - blacking bottles, medicine bottles, ginger-beer and soda-water bottles, pickle bottles, wine bottles, ink bottles; I am reminded by mentioning the latter that the shop had in several little particulars the air of being in a legal neighbourhood and of being, as it were, a dirty hanger-on and disowned relation of the law. Return to Original English Version

hangings /ˈhæŋɪŋz/ — tapeçarias; reposteiros. All the movables, from the wardrobes to the chairs and tables, hangings, glasses, even to the pincushions and scent-bottles on the dressing-tables, displayed the same quaint variety. Return to Original English Version

harum /ˈherəm/ — parte de harum-scarum (estabanado). Before I begin my harum-scarum day - grinding away at those books and instruments and then galloping up hill and down dale, all the country round, like a highwayman - it does me so much good to come and have a steady walk with our comfortable friend, that here I am again!” Return to Original English Version

haste /heɪst/ — pressa; urgência. We begged her not to mention it and made all the haste we could to get down to the fire again. Return to Original English Version

hastened /ˈheɪsənd/ — apressou-se; acelerou. He hastened down to raise her, but she repulsed him as he bent over her, and looking at him fixedly and coldly, said, ‘I will die here where I have walked. Return to Original English Version

hastily /ˈheɪstɪli/ — às pressas; apressadamente. “I say I am afraid,” says Mr. Tulkinghorn, who had risen hastily, “that Lady Dedlock is ill.” Return to Original English Version

haughtinesses /ˈhɔːtinəsɪz/ — arrogâncias; atitudes altivas. Yet every dim little star revolving about her, from her maid to the manager of the Italian Opera, knows her weaknesses, prejudices, follies, haughtinesses, and caprices and lives upon as accurate a calculation and as nice a measure of her moral nature as her dressmaker takes of her physical proportions. Return to Original English Version

haughty /ˈhɔːti/ — altivo; arrogante; soberbo. She was a lady of a haughty temper. Return to Original English Version

haymaking /ˈheɪmeɪkɪŋ/ — produção do feno; colheita do feno. In my room there were oval engravings of the months - ladies haymaking in short waists and large hats tied under the chin, for June; smooth-legged noblemen pointing with cocked-hats to village steeples, for October. Return to Original English Version

heaps /hiːps/ — montes; montinhos. A little way within the shop-door lay heaps of old crackled parchment scrolls and discoloured and dog’s-eared law-papers. Return to Original English Version

hearers /ˈhɪrərz/ — ouvintes. “We were right, I needn’t tell the present hearers. Return to Original English Version

heart's /hɑːrts/ — do coração. My heart’s in my mouth. Return to Original English Version

heartache /ˈhɑːrteɪk/ — dor no coração; sofrimento emocional. To see that composed court yesterday jogging on so serenely and to think of the wretchedness of the pieces on the board gave me the headache and the heartache both together. Return to Original English Version

heartiest /ˈhɑːrtiɪst/ — o mais caloroso. He was then the heartiest and sturdiest boy in the world, and he is now the heartiest and sturdiest man. Return to Original English Version

heartily /ˈhɑːrtɪli/ — cordialmente; vigorosamente; de coração. I am heartily glad to see you. Return to Original English Version

heartsore /ˈhɑːrtsɔːr/ — ferida emocional; motivo de profunda tristeza. There is, in that city of London there, some property of ours which is much at this day what Bleak House was then; I say property of ours, meaning of the suit’s, but I ought to call it the property of costs, for costs is the only power on earth that will ever get anything out of it now or will ever know it for anything but an eyesore and a heartsore. Return to Original English Version

hearty /ˈhɑːrti/ — caloroso; vigoroso; saudável. I took him to be nearer sixty than fifty, but he was upright, hearty, and robust. Return to Original English Version

heaving /ˈhiːvɪŋ/ — arfante; ondulante; erguendo com esforço. Her bosom was heaving in a distressful manner that I greatly pitied, but I thought it better not to speak. Return to Original English Version

heightened /ˈhaɪtənd/ — intensificado; realçado. When we turned out of the town, round a corner, and Richard told us that the post-boy, who had for a long time sympathized with our heightened expectation, was looking back and nodding, we both stood up in the carriage (Richard holding Ada lest she should be jolted down) and gazed round upon the open country and the starlight night for our destination. Return to Original English Version

henceforth /ˌhɛnsˈfɔːrθ/ — daqui em diante; doravante. Out of this room, you went down two steps into a charming little sitting-room looking down upon a flower-garden, which room was henceforth to belong to Ada and me. Return to Original English Version

heyday /ˈheɪdeɪ/ — auge; período de maior sucesso. She has beauty still, and if it be not in its heyday, it is not yet in its autumn. Return to Original English Version

highness /ˈhaɪnəs/ — Alteza. Relatively even to this world of ours, which has its limits too (as your Highness shall find when you have made the tour of it and are come to the brink of the void beyond), it is a very little speck. Return to Original English Version

highwayman /ˈhaɪweɪmən/ — salteador de estrada. Before I begin my harum-scarum day - grinding away at those books and instruments and then galloping up hill and down dale, all the country round, like a highwayman - it does me so much good to come and have a steady walk with our comfortable friend, that here I am again!” Return to Original English Version

hilariously /hɪˈleriəsli/ — hilariantemente; com folguedo. It was late before we separated, for when Ada was going at eleven o’clock, Mr. Skimpole went to the piano and rattled hilariously that the best of all ways to lengthen our days was to steal a few hours from night, my dear! Return to Original English Version

himalaya /ˌhɪməˈleɪə/ — Himalaia. “By my soul, Jarndyce,” returned his guest, who seemed to refer to his watch, “if you had been married, I would have turned back at the garden-gate and gone away to the remotest summits of the Himalaya Mountains sooner than I would have presented myself at this unseasonable hour.” Return to Original English Version

hinges /ˈhɪndʒɪz/ — dobradiças. But all the little children had come up to the landing outside to look at the phenomenon of Peepy lying on my bed, and our attention was distracted by the constant apparition of noses and fingers in situations of danger between the hinges of the doors. Return to Original English Version

hinted /ˈhɪntɪd/ — insinuou; deu a entender. I hinted that the climate - Return to Original English Version

hinting /ˈhɪntɪŋ/ — insinuando; sugerindo; dando a entender. I ventured to take this opportunity of hinting that Mr. Skimpole, being in all such matters quite a child - Return to Original English Version

hither /ˈhɪðər/ — para cá; até aqui. “Now, come hither,” says the housekeeper. Return to Original English Version

hoary /ˈhɔːri/ — grisalho; encanecido; vetusto. Never can there come fog too thick, never can there come mud and mire too deep, to assort with the groping and floundering condition which this High Court of Chancery, most pestilent of hoary sinners, holds this day in the sight of heaven and earth. Return to Original English Version

holiness /ˈhoʊlinəs/ — santidade. Wear red coats, blue coats, lawn sleeves; put pens behind your ears, wear aprons; go after glory, holiness, commerce, trade, any object you prefer; only - let Harold Skimpole live!” Return to Original English Version

homely /ˈhoʊmli/ — acolhedor; simples; caseiro. As to the house itself, with its three peaks in the roof; its various-shaped windows, some so large, some so small, and all so pretty; its trellis-work, against the south-front for roses and honey-suckle, and its homely, comfortable, welcoming look - it was, as Ada said when she came out to meet me with her arm through that of its master, worthy of her cousin John, a bold thing to say, though he only pinched her dear cheek for it. Return to Original English Version

hooking /ˈhʊkɪŋ/ — enganchando; fisgando. There are deferential people in a dozen callings whom my Lady Dedlock suspects of nothing but prostration before her, who can tell you how to manage her as if she were a baby, who do nothing but nurse her all their lives, who, humbly affecting to follow with profound subservience, lead her and her whole troop after them; who, in hooking one, hook all and bear them off as Lemuel Gulliver bore away the stately fleet of the majestic Lilliput. Return to Original English Version

hopefulness /ˈhoʊpfəlnəs/ — esperança; otimismo. With a buoyancy and hopefulness and a gaiety that hardly ever flagged, Richard had a carelessness in his character that quite perplexed me, principally because he mistook it, in such a very odd way, for prudence. Return to Original English Version

horsehair /ˈhɔːrsheər/ — crina de cavalo; tecido de crina. On such an afternoon some score of members of the High Court of Chancery bar ought to be - as here they are - mistily engaged in one of the ten thousand stages of an endless cause, tripping one another up on slippery precedents, groping knee-deep in technicalities, running their goat-hair and horsehair warded heads against walls of words and making a pretence of equity with serious faces, as players might. Return to Original English Version

hospitable /hɒˈspɪtəbəl/ — hospitaleiro; acolhedor. The gentleman who said these words in a clear, bright, hospitable voice had one of his arms round Ada’s waist and the other round mine, and kissed us both in a fatherly way, and bore us across the hall into a ruddy little room, all in a glow with a blazing fire. Return to Original English Version

hotly /ˈhɒtli/ — acaloradamente; com raiva. With all her perfections on her head, my Lady Dedlock has come up from her place in Lincolnshire (hotly pursued by the fashionable intelligence) to pass a few days at her house in town previous to her departure for Paris, where her ladyship intends to stay some weeks, after which her movements are uncertain. Return to Original English Version

hovels /ˈhʌvəlz/ — casebres. I was glad when we came to the brickmaker’s house, though it was one of a cluster of wretched hovels in a brick-field, with pigsties close to the broken windows and miserable little gardens before the doors growing nothing but stagnant pools. Return to Original English Version

hover /ˈhʌvər/ — pairar; rondar; ficar suspenso. Even to this hour, Mrs. Rouncewell’s calm hands lose their composure when she speaks of him, and unfolding themselves from her stomacher, hover about her in an agitated manner as she says what a likely lad, what a fine lad, what a gay, good-humoured, clever lad he was! Return to Original English Version

hovering /ˈhʌvərɪŋ/ — pairando; rondando. Fog creeping into the cabooses of collier-brigs; fog lying out on the yards and hovering in the rigging of great ships; fog drooping on the gunwales of barges and small boats. Return to Original English Version

howbeit /haʊˈbiːɪt/ — contudo; seja como for, arcaico. A whisper still goes about that she had not even family; howbeit, Sir Leicester had so much family that perhaps he had enough and could dispense with any more. Return to Original English Version

hubbard /ˈmʌðər ˈhʌbərd/ — Mãe Hubbard. This was the beginning of my being called Old Woman, and Little Old Woman, and Cobweb, and Mrs. Shipton, and Mother Hubbard, and Dame Durden, and so many names of that sort that my own name soon became quite lost among them. Return to Original English Version

huddled /ˈhʌdəld/ — amontoadas; apertadas umas nas outras. I could have fancied that all the rusty keys, of which there must have been hundreds huddled together as old iron, had once belonged to doors of rooms or strong chests in lawyers’ offices. Return to Original English Version

humanly /ˈhjuːmənli/ — humanamente; dentro das possibilidades humanas. But he regards the Court of Chancery, even if it should involve an occasional delay of justice and a trifling amount of confusion, as a something devised in conjunction with a variety of other somethings by the perfection of human wisdom for the eternal settlement (humanly speaking) of everything. Return to Original English Version

humoured /ˈhjuːmərd/ — de humor, em compostos; fez a vontade a. “Oh, dear me, what’s this, what’s this!” he said, rubbing his head and walking about with his good-humoured vexation. Return to Original English Version

humouring /ˈhjuːmərɪŋ/ — fazendo-lhe a vontade; dando corda. She lived so close by that we had not time to have done humouring her for a few moments before she was at home. Return to Original English Version

humours /ˈhjuːmərz/ — humores; fluidos do corpo. We thought this very characteristic of his eccentric gentleness and of the difference between him and those petulant people who make the weather and the winds (particularly that unlucky wind which he had chosen for such a different purpose) the stalking-horses of their splenetic and gloomy humours. Return to Original English Version

husbandman /ˈhʌzbəndmən/ — lavrador; agricultor. Gas looming through the fog in divers places in the streets, much as the sun may, from the spongey fields, be seen to loom by husbandman and ploughboy. Return to Original English Version

hush /hʌʃ/ — silêncio; quieto. Hush!” Return to Original English Version

i'da /ˈaɪdə/ — eu teria. Why, I’ve been drunk for three days; and I’da been drunk four if I’da had the money. Return to Original English Version

ignorantly /ˈɪɡnərəntli/ — por ignorância; de modo ignorante. The subject was a woman, whose husband was ignorantly convicted of having murdered her; but on solemn appeal to a higher court, he was acquitted because it was shown upon the evidence that she had died the death of which this name of spontaneous combustion is given. Return to Original English Version

immaculate /ɪˈmækjələt/ — imaculado; impecável. A Chancery judge once had the kindness to inform me, as one of a company of some hundred and fifty men and women not labouring under any suspicions of lunacy, that the Court of Chancery, though the shining subject of much popular prejudice (at which point I thought the judge’s eye had a cast in my direction), was almost immaculate. Return to Original English Version

immovable /ɪˈmuːvəbəl/ — imóvel; inabalável. Her face was immovable. Return to Original English Version

impaling /ɪmˈpeɪlɪŋ/ — empalando; transpassando. From the master upon whose impaling files reams of dusty warrants in Jarndyce and Jarndyce have grimly writhed into many shapes, down to the copying-clerk in the Six Clerks’ Office who has copied his tens of thousands of Chancery folio-pages under that eternal heading, no man’s nature has been made better by it. Return to Original English Version

imparted /ɪmˈpɑːrtɪd/ — transmitiu; comunicou; conferiu. There had been a quantity of printing, and promising, and proxying, and polling, and it appeared to have imparted great liveliness to all concerned, except the pensioners - who were not elected yet. Return to Original English Version

impassioned /ɪmˈpæʃənd/ — apaixonado; veemente. They threw themselves into committees in the most impassioned manner and collected subscriptions with a vehemence quite extraordinary. Return to Original English Version

imperceptibly /ˌɪmpərˈsɛptəbli/ — imperceptivelmente; quase sem se notar. Imperceptibly my candles became the only incongruous part of the morning, the dark places in my room all melted away, and the day shone bright upon a cheerful landscape, prominent in which the old Abbey Church, with its massive tower, threw a softer train of shadow on the view than seemed compatible with its rugged character. Return to Original English Version

impersonal /ɪmˈpɜːrsənəl/ — impessoal; sem destinatário. “It’s only you, the generous creatures, whom I envy,” said Mr. Skimpole, addressing us, his new friends, in an impersonal manner. Return to Original English Version

impetuous /ɪmˈpetʃuəs/ — impetuoso; arrebatado. He was then the most impetuous boy in the world, and he is now the most impetuous man. Return to Original English Version

implacable /ɪmˈplækəbəl/ — implacável. Implacable November weather. Return to Original English Version

impropriety /ˌɪmprəˈpraɪəti/ — impropriedade; inconveniência. On my pointing out the great impropriety of the word, especially in connexion with his parent (for he added sulkily “By her!”), he pinched me and said, “Oh, then! Return to Original English Version

impulsively /ɪmˈpʌlsɪvli/ — impulsivamente. My Lady, changing her position, sees the papers on the table - looks at them nearer - looks at them nearer still - asks impulsively, “Who copied that?” Return to Original English Version

inactivity /ˌɪnækˈtɪvəti/ — inatividade; ociosidade. They may hunt the whole country-side, while the raindrops are pattering round their inactivity. Return to Original English Version

inaptitude /ɪˈnæptɪtjuːd/ — inaptidão. He is grown up - he is at least as old as I am - but in simplicity, and freshness, and enthusiasm, and a fine guileless inaptitude for all worldly affairs, he is a perfect child.” Return to Original English Version

inattentive /ˌɪnəˈtɛntɪv/ — desatentos; distraídos. I should say that the aggregate of costs in Jarndyce and Jarndyce, Mrs. Rachael” - I was afraid he addressed himself to her because I appeared inattentive - “amounts at the present hour to from SIX-ty to SEVEN-ty THOUSAND POUNDS!” said Mr. Kenge, leaning back in his chair. Return to Original English Version

incapacity /ˌɪnkəˈpæsəti/ — incapacidade; inaptidão. Why should I regret my incapacity for details and worldly affairs when it leads to such pleasant consequences? Return to Original English Version

inclination /ˌɪnklɪˈneɪʃən/ — inclinação; vontade. We had talked it over very often now, and there was some talk of gratifying the inclination of his childhood for the sea. Return to Original English Version

inclines /ɪnˈklaɪnz/ — declives; ladeiras. The young man inclines his head in acknowledgment of the precepts of experience. Return to Original English Version

incomprehensible /ɪnˌkɑːmprɪˈhensəbəl/ — incompreensível. Standing on a seat at the side of the hall, the better to peer into the curtained sanctuary, is a little mad old woman in a squeezed bonnet who is always in court, from its sitting to its rising, and always expecting some incomprehensible judgment to be given in her favour. Return to Original English Version

incongruous /ɪnˈkɑːŋɡruəs/ — incongruente; deslocado. Imperceptibly my candles became the only incongruous part of the morning, the dark places in my room all melted away, and the day shone bright upon a cheerful landscape, prominent in which the old Abbey Church, with its massive tower, threw a softer train of shadow on the view than seemed compatible with its rugged character. Return to Original English Version

inconsiderable /ˌɪnkənˈsɪdərəbəl/ — insignificante; de pouca monta. A bell was rung as we drew up, and amidst the sound of its deep voice in the still air, and the distant barking of some dogs, and a gush of light from the opened door, and the smoking and steaming of the heated horses, and the quickened beating of our own hearts, we alighted in no inconsiderable confusion. Return to Original English Version

inconsistencies /ˌɪnkənˈsɪstənsiz/ — incoerências; contradições. I wonder the very paving-stones opposite our house can have the patience to stay there and be a witness of such inconsistencies and contradictions as all that sounding nonsense, and Ma’s management!” Return to Original English Version

inconsolable /ˌɪnkənˈsoʊləbəl/ — inconsolável. It appears to the afflicted Mr. Guppy and his inconsolable friend that there is no end to the Dedlocks, whose family greatness seems to consist in their never having done anything to distinguish themselves for seven hundred years. Return to Original English Version

indebted /ɪnˈdetɪd/ — em dívida; grato. And very much indebted for the omen. Return to Original English Version

indignantly /ɪnˈdɪɡnəntli/ — indignadamente. The Chancellor rises; the bar rises; the prisoner is brought forward in a hurry; the man from Shropshire cries, “My lord!” Maces, bags, and purses indignantly proclaim silence and frown at the man from Shropshire. Return to Original English Version

indistinct /ˌɪndɪˈstɪŋkt/ — indistinto. At length, by slow degrees, they became indistinct and mingled. Return to Original English Version

indistinctness /ˌɪndɪˈstɪŋktnəs/ — falta de nitidez; imprecisão. It was interesting when I dressed before daylight to peep out of window, where my candles were reflected in the black panes like two beacons, and finding all beyond still enshrouded in the indistinctness of last night, to watch how it turned out when the day came on. Return to Original English Version

inducement /ɪnˈduːsmənt/ — incentivo; aliciamento. This seemed to have been her principal inducement, originally, for taking up her residence there. Return to Original English Version

indulgent /ɪnˈdʌldʒənt/ — indulgente; tolerante. I hope it is not self-indulgent to shed these tears as I think of it. Return to Original English Version

industrious /ɪnˈdʌstriəs/ — trabalhador; diligente. Dear, dear, to think how much time we passed alone together afterwards, and how often I repeated to the doll the story of my birthday and confided to her that I would try as hard as ever I could to repair the fault I had been born with (of which I confessedly felt guilty and yet innocent) and would strive as I grew up to be industrious, contented, and kind-hearted and to do some good to some one, and win some love to myself if I could. Return to Original English Version

ineffectual /ˌɪnɪˈfektʃuəl/ — ineficaz; inútil. But as this was an ineffectual protest, I then said, more particularly, that I was not sure of my qualifications. Return to Original English Version

inexorable /ɪnˈeksərəbəl/ — inexorável; implacável. I mean into religious custody, of course; but she really did it as if she were an inexorable moral policeman carrying them all off to a station-house. Return to Original English Version

inexperience /ˌɪnɪkˈspɪriəns/ — inexperiência. I knew he meant well in paying me this compliment, so I laughed at myself for blushing at it when he had shut the door and got upon the box; and we all three laughed and chatted about our inexperience and the strangeness of London until we turned up under an archway to our destination - a narrow street of high houses like an oblong cistern to hold the fog. Return to Original English Version

inexpressive /ˌɪnɪkˈsprɛsɪv/ — inexpressivo; sem expressão. As it was of no use going on in that way, I put the paper down, took a peep at my bonnet in the glass to see if it was neat, and looked at the room, which was not half lighted, and at the shabby, dusty tables, and at the piles of writings, and at a bookcase full of the most inexpressive-looking books that ever had anything to say for themselves. Return to Original English Version

infernal /ɪnˈfɜːrnəl/ — infernal; maldito. All through the deplorable cause, everything that everybody in it, except one man, knows already is referred to that only one man who don’t know, it to find out - all through the deplorable cause, everybody must have copies, over and over again, of everything that has accumulated about it in the way of cartloads of papers (or must pay for them without having them, which is the usual course, for nobody wants them) and must go down the middle and up again through such an infernal country-dance of costs and fees and nonsense and corruption as was never dreamed of in the wildest visions of a witch’s Sabbath. Return to Original English Version

infirmities /ɪnˈfɜːrmətiz/ — enfermidades; achaques. I had another uneasiness, in the application of the painful story to the poor half-witted creature who had brought us there; but, to my surprise, she seemed perfectly unconscious of that and only led the way upstairs again, informing us with the toleration of a superior creature for the infirmities of a common mortal that her landlord was “a little - M - , you know!” Return to Original English Version

inflamed /ɪnˈfleɪmd/ — inflamado. Why do you call it my allowance, and never let me spend it?” These exasperating questions so inflamed his mind and the minds of Oswald and Francis that they all pinched me at once, and in a dreadfully expert way - screwing up such little pieces of my arms that I could hardly forbear crying out. Return to Original English Version

ingenious /ɪnˈdʒiːniəs/ — engenhoso; inventivo. The possibility of what is called spontaneous combustion has been denied since the death of Mr. Krook; and my good friend Mr. Lewes (quite mistaken, as he soon found, in supposing the thing to have been abandoned by all authorities) published some ingenious letters to me at the time when that event was chronicled, arguing that spontaneous combustion could not possibly be. Return to Original English Version

ingenuous /ɪnˈdʒɛnjuəs/ — ingênuo; franco. He was a handsome youth with an ingenuous face and a most engaging laugh; and after she had called him up to where we sat, he stood by us, in the light of the fire, talking gaily, like a light-hearted boy. Return to Original English Version

ingratitude /ɪnˈɡrætɪtuːd/ — ingratidão. Ada found me thus and had such a delightful confidence in me when I showed her the keys and told her about them that it would have been insensibility and ingratitude not to feel encouraged. Return to Original English Version

injunctions /ɪnˈdʒʌŋkʃənz/ — ordens; determinações; liminares. On such an afternoon the various solicitors in the cause, some two or three of whom have inherited it from their fathers, who made a fortune by it, ought to be - as are they not? - ranged in a line, in a long matted well (but you might look in vain for truth at the bottom of it) between the registrar’s red table and the silk gowns, with bills, cross-bills, answers, rejoinders, injunctions, affidavits, issues, references to masters, masters’ reports, mountains of costly nonsense, piled before them. Return to Original English Version

inked /ɪŋkt/ — manchou de tinta; cobriu de tinta. A young gentleman who had inked himself by accident addressed me from the pavement and said, “I am from Kenge and Carboy’s, miss, of Lincoln’s Inn.” Return to Original English Version

inky /ˈɪŋki/ — negro como tinta. She would not sit down, but stood by the fire dipping her inky middle finger in the egg-cup, which contained vinegar, and smearing it over the ink stains on her face, frowning the whole time and looking very gloomy. Return to Original English Version

innumerable /ɪˈnuːmərəbəl/ — inumerável; incontável. Innumerable children have been born into the cause; innumerable young people have married into it; innumerable old people have died out of it. Return to Original English Version

inquire /ɪnˈkwaɪər/ — perguntar; indagar. I ventured to inquire, generally, before replying, what would happen if the money were not produced. Return to Original English Version

inquired /ɪnˈkwaɪərd/ — perguntou; indagou. Addressing him by the name of Guppy, Mr. Kenge inquired whether Miss Summerson’s boxes and the rest of the baggage had been “sent round.” Mr. Guppy said yes, they had been sent round, and a coach was waiting to take us round too as soon as we pleased. Return to Original English Version

inscriptions /ɪnˈskrɪpʃənz/ — inscrições. There was a little tottering bench of shabby old volumes outside the door, labelled “Law Books, all at 9d.” Some of the inscriptions I have enumerated were written in law-hand, like the papers I had seen in Kenge and Carboy’s office and the letters I had so long received from the firm. Return to Original English Version

inscrutable /ɪnˈskruːtəbəl/ — inescrutável; impenetrável. She supposes herself to be an inscrutable Being, quite out of the reach and ken of ordinary mortals - seeing herself in her glass, where indeed she looks so. Return to Original English Version

insensibility /ɪnˌsensəˈbɪləti/ — insensibilidade; inconsciência. Ada found me thus and had such a delightful confidence in me when I showed her the keys and told her about them that it would have been insensibility and ingratitude not to feel encouraged. Return to Original English Version

insensibly /ɪnˈsɛnsəbli/ — insensivelmente; sem se dar conta. Shirking and sharking in all their many varieties have been sown broadcast by the ill-fated cause; and even those who have contemplated its history from the outermost circle of such evil have been insensibly tempted into a loose way of letting bad things alone to take their own bad course, and a loose belief that if the world go wrong it was in some off-hand manner never meant to go right. Return to Original English Version

insignificance /ˌɪnsɪɡˈnɪfɪkəns/ — insignificância. I was so occupied with Peepy that I lost the letter in detail, though I derived such a general impression from it of the momentous importance of Africa, and the utter insignificance of all other places and things, that I felt quite ashamed to have thought so little about it. Return to Original English Version

insolence /ˈɪnsələns/ — insolência; atrevimento. “I wouldn’t be guilty of the audacious insolence of keeping a lady of the house waiting all this time for any earthly consideration. Return to Original English Version

insolent /ˈɪnsələnt/ — insolente. But she had beauty, pride, ambition, insolent resolve, and sense enough to portion out a legion of fine ladies. Return to Original English Version

instruct /ɪnˈstrʌkt/ — instruir; ordenar. It was understood that I would have to depend, by and by, on my qualifications as a governess, and I was not only instructed in everything that was taught at Greenleaf, but was very soon engaged in helping to instruct others. Return to Original English Version

instructing /ɪnˈstrʌktɪŋ/ — instruindo. Equity sends questions to law, law sends questions back to equity; law finds it can’t do this, equity finds it can’t do that; neither can so much as say it can’t do anything, without this solicitor instructing and this counsel appearing for A, and that solicitor instructing and that counsel appearing for B; and so on through the whole alphabet, like the history of the apple pie. Return to Original English Version

intercepting /ˌɪntərˈseptɪŋ/ — interceptando; obstruindo. As it was still foggy and dark, and as the shop was blinded besides by the wall of Lincoln’s Inn, intercepting the light within a couple of yards, we should not have seen so much but for a lighted lantern that an old man in spectacles and a hairy cap was carrying about in the shop. Return to Original English Version

interchanged /ˌɪntərˈtʃeɪndʒd/ — trocaram entre si. Ada and I interchanged looks, and as we were going out in any case, accepted the offer. Return to Original English Version

interminable /ɪnˈtɜːrmɪnəbəl/ — interminável; sem fim. On such an afternoon, if ever, the Lord High Chancellor ought to be sitting here - as here he is - with a foggy glory round his head, softly fenced in with crimson cloth and curtains, addressed by a large advocate with great whiskers, a little voice, and an interminable brief, and outwardly directing his contemplation to the lantern in the roof, where he can see nothing but fog. Return to Original English Version

interposed /ˌɪntərˈpoʊzd/ — interveio; interrompeu. A screen was interposed between them and it, and they were leaning on the screen, talking. Return to Original English Version

interrogating /ɪnˈtɛrəɡeɪtɪŋ/ — interrogando. We are always appearing, and disappearing, and swearing, and interrogating, and filing, and cross-filing, and arguing, and sealing, and motioning, and referring, and reporting, and revolving about the Lord Chancellor and all his satellites, and equitably waltzing ourselves off to dusty death, about costs. Return to Original English Version

intervening /ˌɪntərˈviːnɪŋ/ — intermediário; que se interpõe. It wandered back to my godmother’s house and came along the intervening track, raising up shadowy speculations which had sometimes trembled there in the dark as to what knowledge Mr. Jarndyce had of my earliest history - even as to the possibility of his being my father, though that idle dream was quite gone now. Return to Original English Version

intolerable /ɪnˈtɑlərəbəl/ — intolerável. He is the most intolerable scoundrel on the face of the earth. Return to Original English Version

intrusive /ɪnˈtruːsɪv/ — invasivo; intrometido. We both felt intrusive and out of place, and we both thought that Mrs. Pardiggle would have got on infinitely better if she had not had such a mechanical way of taking possession of people. Return to Original English Version

inured /ɪˈnʊrd/ — habituado ao rigor; calejado. I am so accustomed and inured to hard work that I don’t know what fatigue is.” Return to Original English Version

invariably /ɪnˈveriəbli/ — invariavelmente; sempre. The short-hand writers, the reporters of the court, and the reporters of the newspapers invariably decamp with the rest of the regulars when Jarndyce and Jarndyce comes on. Return to Original English Version

inveterate /ɪnˈvetərət/ — inveterado; arraigado. The subject was a German who kept a liquor-shop and was an inveterate drunkard. Return to Original English Version

irresponsive /ˌɪrɪˈspɑːnsɪv/ — não responsivo; no contexto, hostil e não identificado. Mute, close, irresponsive to any glancing light, his dress is like himself. Return to Original English Version

jaded /ˈdʒeɪdɪd/ — embotado; saturado. But what principally struck us was a jaded and unhealthy-looking though by no means plain girl at the writing-table, who sat biting the feather of her pen and staring at us. Return to Original English Version

jams /dʒæmz/ — nervosismo intenso; delírio causado pela abstinência alcoólica, em expressão coloquial. Every part of the house was in such order, and every one was so attentive to me, that I had no trouble with my two bunches of keys, though what with trying to remember the contents of each little store-room drawer and cupboard; and what with making notes on a slate about jams, and pickles, and preserves, and bottles, and glass, and china, and a great many other things; and what with being generally a methodical, old-maidish sort of foolish little person, I was so busy that I could not believe it was breakfast-time when I heard the bell ring. Return to Original English Version

jell /dʒɛl/ — gelificar; firmar. And so the little Jell - I had my doubts about ’em - are in a - oh, Lord, yes, it’s easterly!” said Mr. Jarndyce. Return to Original English Version

jeweller's /ˈdʒuːələrz/ — do joalheiro; da joalheria. But the evil of it is that it is a world wrapped up in too much jeweller’s cotton and fine wool, and cannot hear the rushing of the larger worlds, and cannot see them as they circle round the sun. Return to Original English Version

jewellers /ˈdʒuːələrz/ — joalheiros. “If you want to address our people, sir,” say Blaze and Sparkle, the jewellers - meaning by our people Lady Dedlock and the rest - “you must remember that you are not dealing with the general public; you must hit our people in their weakest place, and their weakest place is such a place.” “To make this article go down, gentlemen,” say Sheen and Gloss, the mercers, to their friends the manufacturers, “you must come to us, because we know where to have the fashionable people, and we can make it fashionable.” “If you want to get this print upon the tables of my high connexion, sir,” says Mr. Sladdery, the librarian, “or if you want to get this dwarf or giant into the houses of my high connexion, sir, or if you want to secure to this entertainment the patronage of my high connexion, sir, you must leave it, if you please, to me, for I have been accustomed to study the leaders of my high connexion, sir, and I may tell you without vanity that I can turn them round my finger” - in which Mr. Sladdery, who is an honest man, does not exaggerate at all. Return to Original English Version

jingle /ˈdʒɪŋɡəl/ — tinido; retinir. Such, with its illuminated windows, softened here and there by shadows of curtains, shining out upon the starlight night; with its light, and warmth, and comfort; with its hospitable jingle, at a distance, of preparations for dinner; with the face of its generous master brightening everything we saw; and just wind enough without to sound a low accompaniment to everything we heard, were our first impressions of Bleak House. Return to Original English Version

jocularly /ˈdʒɑːkjələrli/ — jocosamente; em tom de brincadeira. Richard, begging me, for the greater grace of the transaction, as he said, to settle with Coavinses (as Mr. Skimpole now jocularly called him), I counted out the money and received the necessary acknowledgment. Return to Original English Version

jogging /ˈdʒɑɡɪŋ/ — trotando; avançando devagar. To see that composed court yesterday jogging on so serenely and to think of the wretchedness of the pieces on the board gave me the headache and the heartache both together. Return to Original English Version

jolt /dʒoʊlt/ — solavanco; sobressalto. However, when we began to jolt upon a stone pavement, and particularly when every other conveyance seemed to be running into us, and we seemed to be running into every other conveyance, I began to believe that we really were approaching the end of our journey. Return to Original English Version

jolted /ˈdʒoʊltɪd/ — sacolejou. When we turned out of the town, round a corner, and Richard told us that the post-boy, who had for a long time sympathized with our heightened expectation, was looking back and nodding, we both stood up in the carriage (Richard holding Ada lest she should be jolted down) and gazed round upon the open country and the starlight night for our destination. Return to Original English Version

jostling /ˈdʒɑsəlɪŋ/ — que se acotovelam; empurrando-se. Foot passengers, jostling one another’s umbrellas in a general infection of ill temper, and losing their foot-hold at street-corners, where tens of thousands of other foot passengers have been slipping and sliding since the day broke (if this day ever broke), adding new deposits to the crust upon crust of mud, sticking at those points tenaciously to the pavement, and accumulating at compound interest. Return to Original English Version

judge's /ˈdʒʌdʒɪz/ — do juiz; da juíza. A Chancery judge once had the kindness to inform me, as one of a company of some hundred and fifty men and women not labouring under any suspicions of lunacy, that the Court of Chancery, though the shining subject of much popular prejudice (at which point I thought the judge’s eye had a cast in my direction), was almost immaculate. Return to Original English Version

juggled /ˈdʒʌɡəld/ — fez malabarismo; manipulou. And at her house in town, upon this muddy, murky afternoon, presents himself an old-fashioned old gentleman, attorney-at-law and eke solicitor of the High Court of Chancery, who has the honour of acting as legal adviser of the Dedlocks and has as many cast-iron boxes in his office with that name outside as if the present baronet were the coin of the conjuror’s trick and were constantly being juggled through the whole set. Return to Original English Version

justifies /ˈdʒʌstɪfaɪz/ — justifica; confirma. She grows up, and more than justifies my good opinion, and I remain her guardian and her friend. Return to Original English Version

keepsakes /ˈkiːpseɪks/ — lembrancinhas. Esther nursed them, coaxed them to sleep, washed and dressed them, told them stories, kept them quiet, bought them keepsakes” - My dear girl! Return to Original English Version

kennel /ˈkenəl/ — canil; casinha de cão. So the mastiff, dozing in his kennel in the court-yard with his large head on his paws, may think of the hot sunshine when the shadows of the stable-buildings tire his patience out by changing and leave him at one time of the day no broader refuge than the shadow of his own house, where he sits on end, panting and growling short, and very much wanting something to worry besides himself and his chain. Return to Original English Version

kentish /ˈkɛntɪʃ/ — de Kent; kentiano. Fog on the Essex marshes, fog on the Kentish heights. Return to Original English Version

kerchief /ˈkɜːrtʃɪf/ — lenço; lenço de cabeça. There was an easy negligence in his manner and even in his dress (his hair carelessly disposed, and his neck-kerchief loose and flowing, as I have seen artists paint their own portraits) which I could not separate from the idea of a romantic youth who had undergone some unique process of depreciation. Return to Original English Version

kinsman /ˈkɪnzmən/ — parente (do sexo masculino). We have happily been brought together, thanks to our good kinsman, and it can’t divide us now!” Return to Original English Version

knitted /ˈnɪtɪd/ — franziu; cerrou as sobrancelhas. She raised me, sat in her chair, and standing me before her, said slowly in a cold, low voice - I see her knitted brow and pointed finger - “Your mother, Esther, is your disgrace, and you were hers. Return to Original English Version

knob /nɑːb/ — maçaneta; puxador. It was impossible to shut the door of either room, for my lock, with no knob to it, looked as if it wanted to be wound up; and though the handle of Ada’s went round and round with the greatest smoothness, it was attended with no effect whatever on the door. Return to Original English Version

knobs /nɑːbz/ — puxadores; botões; saliências redondas. But he WAS Mr. Jellyby; and a loquacious young man called Mr. Quale, with large shining knobs for temples and his hair all brushed to the back of his head, who came in the evening, and told Ada he was a philanthropist, also informed her that he called the matrimonial alliance of Mrs. Jellyby with Mr. Jellyby the union of mind and matter. Return to Original English Version

know'd /noʊd/ — sabia, forma popular de knew. “Know’d it yes’day aft’noon at tea-time,” said Coavinses. Return to Original English Version

labouring /ˈleɪbərɪŋ/ — esforçando-se; batalhando. A Chancery judge once had the kindness to inform me, as one of a company of some hundred and fifty men and women not labouring under any suspicions of lunacy, that the Court of Chancery, though the shining subject of much popular prejudice (at which point I thought the judge’s eye had a cast in my direction), was almost immaculate. Return to Original English Version

ladyship /ˈleɪdiʃɪp/ — senhoria (título de tratamento para uma dama). My Lady Dedlock has returned to her house in town for a few days previous to her departure for Paris, where her ladyship intends to stay some weeks, after which her movements are uncertain. Return to Original English Version

lamed /leɪmd/ — aleijou; deixou coxo. When the Dedlocks were about to ride out from Chesney Wold in the king’s cause, she is supposed to have more than once stolen down into the stables in the dead of night and lamed their horses; and the story is that once at such an hour, her husband saw her gliding down the stairs and followed her into the stall where his own favourite horse stood. Return to Original English Version

lamentable /ˈlæməntəbəl/ — lamentável; penoso. “Quite so,” assented Mr. Kenge; “ - that Mrs. Rachael should charge herself with your maintenance and support (I beg you won’t distress yourself), you are in a position to receive the renewal of an offer which I was instructed to make to Miss Barbary some two years ago and which, though rejected then, was understood to be renewable under the lamentable circumstances that have since occurred. Return to Original English Version

languidly /ˈlæŋɡwɪdli/ — languidamente; sem energia. Well may the court be dim, with wasting candles here and there; well may the fog hang heavy in it, as if it would never get out; well may the stained-glass windows lose their colour and admit no light of day into the place; well may the uninitiated from the streets, who peep in through the glass panes in the door, be deterred from entrance by its owlish aspect and by the drawl, languidly echoing to the roof from the padded dais where the Lord High Chancellor looks into the lantern that has no light in it and where the attendant wigs are all stuck in a fog-bank! Return to Original English Version

languishing /ˈlæŋɡwɪʃɪŋ/ — lânguido; definhando. When we hastily returned from putting on our bonnets, we found the young family languishing in a corner and Mrs. Pardiggle sweeping about the room, knocking down nearly all the light objects it contained. Return to Original English Version

lapsed /læpst/ — decorreu; caducado; recaiu. Chizzle, Mizzle, and otherwise have lapsed into a habit of vaguely promising themselves that they will look into that outstanding little matter and see what can be done for Drizzle - who was not well used - when Jarndyce and Jarndyce shall be got out of the office. Return to Original English Version

lark /lɑːrk/ — cotovia (pássaro cantor); brincadeira. I have seen my young family, and Mr. Pardiggle, quite worn out with witnessing it, when I may truly say I have been as fresh as a lark!” Return to Original English Version

lashing /ˈlæʃɪŋ/ — chicoteando; açoitando. There he seized her by the wrist, and in a struggle or in a fall or through the horse being frightened and lashing out, she was lamed in the hip and from that hour began to pine away.” Return to Original English Version

latterly /ˈlætərli/ — ultimamente. Tangle,” says the Lord High Chancellor, latterly something restless under the eloquence of that learned gentleman. Return to Original English Version

lattice /ˈlætɪs/ — treliça; grade. The shawl in which she had been loosely muffled dropped onto her chair when she advanced to us; and as she turned to resume her seat, we could not help noticing that her dress didn’t nearly meet up the back and that the open space was railed across with a lattice-work of stay-lace - like a summer-house. Return to Original English Version

latticed /ˈlætɪst/ — treliçado; gradeado. My Lady Dedlock (who is childless), looking out in the early twilight from her boudoir at a keeper’s lodge and seeing the light of a fire upon the latticed panes, and smoke rising from the chimney, and a child, chased by a woman, running out into the rain to meet the shining figure of a wrapped-up man coming through the gate, has been put quite out of temper. Return to Original English Version

laughingly /ˈlæfɪŋli/ — rindo; em tom de riso. But as Ada interposed and laughingly said she could only feel proud of such genuine admiration, Mr. Krook shrunk into his former self as suddenly as he had leaped out of it. Return to Original English Version

leaden /ˈledən/ — plúmbeo; pesado e cinzento. The raw afternoon is rawest, and the dense fog is densest, and the muddy streets are muddiest near that leaden-headed old obstruction, appropriate ornament for the threshold of a leaden-headed old corporation, Temple Bar. Return to Original English Version

leagued /liːɡd/ — aliado; em conluio. She seats herself in a large chair by the fast-darkening window and tells them: “In the wicked days, my dears, of King Charles the First - I mean, of course, in the wicked days of the rebels who leagued themselves against that excellent king - Sir Morbury Dedlock was the owner of Chesney Wold. Return to Original English Version

leant /lent/ — apoiou-se; inclinou-se. Mr. Kenge leant over before it was quite said and whispered. Return to Original English Version

leaped /liːpt/ — saltou. But as Ada interposed and laughingly said she could only feel proud of such genuine admiration, Mr. Krook shrunk into his former self as suddenly as he had leaped out of it. Return to Original English Version

legatees /ˌleɡəˈtiːz/ — legatários; herdeiros de legado. In the question how the trusts under that will are to be administered, the fortune left by the will is squandered away; the legatees under the will are reduced to such a miserable condition that they would be sufficiently punished if they had committed an enormous crime in having money left them, and the will itself is made a dead letter. Return to Original English Version

lemuel /ˈlɛmjuəl/ — Lemuel. There are deferential people in a dozen callings whom my Lady Dedlock suspects of nothing but prostration before her, who can tell you how to manage her as if she were a baby, who do nothing but nurse her all their lives, who, humbly affecting to follow with profound subservience, lead her and her whole troop after them; who, in hooking one, hook all and bear them off as Lemuel Gulliver bore away the stately fleet of the majestic Lilliput. Return to Original English Version

lengthen /ˈleŋθən/ — alongar; prolongar. It was late before we separated, for when Ada was going at eleven o’clock, Mr. Skimpole went to the piano and rattled hilariously that the best of all ways to lengthen our days was to steal a few hours from night, my dear! Return to Original English Version

lewes /luːɪs/ — Lewes. The possibility of what is called spontaneous combustion has been denied since the death of Mr. Krook; and my good friend Mr. Lewes (quite mistaken, as he soon found, in supposing the thing to have been abandoned by all authorities) published some ingenious letters to me at the time when that event was chronicled, arguing that spontaneous combustion could not possibly be. Return to Original English Version

lightest /ˈlaɪtɪst/ — mais leve; mais claro. He pursued this fancy with the lightest foot over a variety of ground and made us all merry, though again he seemed to have as serious a meaning in what he said as he was capable of having. Return to Original English Version

lilliput /ˈlɪlɪpʌt/ — Lilliput. There are deferential people in a dozen callings whom my Lady Dedlock suspects of nothing but prostration before her, who can tell you how to manage her as if she were a baby, who do nothing but nurse her all their lives, who, humbly affecting to follow with profound subservience, lead her and her whole troop after them; who, in hooking one, hook all and bear them off as Lemuel Gulliver bore away the stately fleet of the majestic Lilliput. Return to Original English Version

linger /ˈlɪŋɡər/ — demorar-se; persistir. A few lawyers’ clerks and others who know this suitor by sight linger on the chance of his furnishing some fun and enlivening the dismal weather a little. Return to Original English Version

lingering /ˈlɪŋərɪŋ/ — demorar-se; permanecer. Ada and Richard were lingering for a few moments by the fire, wondering whether Mrs. Jellyby had yet finished her dictation for the day, when Mr. Jarndyce, who had been out of the room, returned. Return to Original English Version

littleness /ˈlɪttlɛnɛss/ — termo inglês: littlenes. He is a gentleman of strict conscience, disdainful of all littleness and meanness and ready on the shortest notice to die any death you may please to mention rather than give occasion for the least impeachment of his integrity. Return to Original English Version

livelier /ˈlɪvɛlɪr/ — termo inglês: livelier. The whole seemingly monotonous and uncompanionable half-dozen, stabled together, may pass the long wet hours when the door is shut in livelier communication than is held in the servants’ hall or at the Dedlock Arms, or may even beguile the time by improving (perhaps corrupting) the pony in the loose-box in the corner. Return to Original English Version

liveliest /ˈlɪvɛlɪst/ — termo inglês: liveliest. The weather is so very bad down in Lincolnshire that the liveliest imagination can scarcely apprehend its ever being fine again. Return to Original English Version

liveliness /ˈlɪvɛlɪnɛss/ — termo inglês: livelines. There had been a quantity of printing, and promising, and proxying, and polling, and it appeared to have imparted great liveliness to all concerned, except the pensioners - who were not elected yet. Return to Original English Version

lofty /ˈlɔːfti/ — elevado; altivo; grandioso. “My landlord, Krook,” said the little old lady, condescending to him from her lofty station as she presented him to us. Return to Original English Version

loom /luːm/ — tear. Gas looming through the fog in divers places in the streets, much as the sun may, from the spongey fields, be seen to loom by husbandman and ploughboy. Return to Original English Version

looming /ˈluːmɪŋ/ — avultando; erguendo-se ameaçador. Gas looming through the fog in divers places in the streets, much as the sun may, from the spongey fields, be seen to loom by husbandman and ploughboy. Return to Original English Version

loppings /ˈlɑːpɪŋz/ — galhos cortados; aparas de poda. The weather for many a day and night has been so wet that the trees seem wet through, and the soft loppings and prunings of the woodman’s axe can make no crash or crackle as they fall. Return to Original English Version

loquacious /loʊˈkweɪʃəs/ — loquaz; muito falante. But he WAS Mr. Jellyby; and a loquacious young man called Mr. Quale, with large shining knobs for temples and his hair all brushed to the back of his head, who came in the evening, and told Ada he was a philanthropist, also informed her that he called the matrimonial alliance of Mrs. Jellyby with Mr. Jellyby the union of mind and matter. Return to Original English Version

lordship /ˈlɔːrdʃɪp/ — senhorio; posição de senhor; domínio. Suddenly a very little counsel with a terrific bass voice arises, fully inflated, in the back settlements of the fog, and says, “Will your lordship allow me? Return to Original English Version

lordship's /ˈlɔːrdʃɪps/ — de sua senhoria (título de tratamento). The gentleman in the bag wig laid bundles of papers on his lordship’s table, and his lordship silently selected one and turned over the leaves. Return to Original English Version

lounged /laÊŠndÊ’d/ — ficou descansando; ficou largado. At the doors and windows some men and women lounged or prowled about, and took little notice of us except to laugh to one another or to say something as we passed about gentlefolks minding their own business and not troubling their heads and muddying their shoes with coming to look after other people’s. Return to Original English Version

lovable /ˈlʌvəbəl/ — adorável; cativante. He had taken two or three undecided turns up and down while uttering these broken sentences, retaining the poker in one hand and rubbing his hair with the other, with a good-natured vexation at once so whimsical and so lovable that I am sure we were more delighted with him than we could possibly have expressed in any words. Return to Original English Version

lowness /ˈloʊnəs/ — abatimento; baixeza. The pictures of the Dedlocks past and gone have seemed to vanish into the damp walls in mere lowness of spirits, as the housekeeper has passed along the old rooms shutting up the shutters. Return to Original English Version

ludship /ˈlʌdʃɪp/ — senhoria. “Mlud, no - variety of points - feel it my duty tsubmit - ludship,” is the reply that slides out of Mr. Tangle. Return to Original English Version

lumpy /ˈlʌmpi/ — cheio de calombos. “Now, you are my witness, Miss Summerson, I say I don’t care - but if he was to come to our house with his great, shining, lumpy forehead night after night till he was as old as Methuselah, I wouldn’t have anything to say to him. Return to Original English Version

lunacy /ˈluːnəsi/ — loucura. A Chancery judge once had the kindness to inform me, as one of a company of some hundred and fifty men and women not labouring under any suspicions of lunacy, that the Court of Chancery, though the shining subject of much popular prejudice (at which point I thought the judge’s eye had a cast in my direction), was almost immaculate. Return to Original English Version

lunatic /ˈluːnətɪk/ — lunático; louco; insensato. This is the Court of Chancery, which has its decaying houses and its blighted lands in every shire, which has its worn-out lunatic in every madhouse and its dead in every churchyard, which has its ruined suitor with his slipshod heels and threadbare dress borrowing and begging through the round of every man’s acquaintance, which gives to monied might the means abundantly of wearying out the right, which so exhausts finances, patience, courage, hope, so overthrows the brain and breaks the heart, that there is not an honourable man among its practitioners who would not give - who does not often give - the warning, “Suffer any wrong that can be done you rather than come here!” Return to Original English Version

ma's /mɑːz/ — da mãe. Don’t talk of duty as a child, Miss Summerson; where’s Ma’s duty as a parent? Return to Original English Version

maces /ˈmeɪsɪz/ — maças cerimoniais; macis. There is the registrar below the judge, in wig and gown; and there are two or three maces, or petty-bags, or privy purses, or whatever they may be, in legal court suits. Return to Original English Version

madhouse /ˈmædhaʊs/ — manicômio; lugar caótico. This is the Court of Chancery, which has its decaying houses and its blighted lands in every shire, which has its worn-out lunatic in every madhouse and its dead in every churchyard, which has its ruined suitor with his slipshod heels and threadbare dress borrowing and begging through the round of every man’s acquaintance, which gives to monied might the means abundantly of wearying out the right, which so exhausts finances, patience, courage, hope, so overthrows the brain and breaks the heart, that there is not an honourable man among its practitioners who would not give - who does not often give - the warning, “Suffer any wrong that can be done you rather than come here!” Return to Original English Version

magnates /ˈmæɡneɪts/ — magnatas. Mr. Guppy has no eyes for either of these magnates. Return to Original English Version

maidish /ˈmeɪdɪʃ/ — com jeito de solteirona. Every part of the house was in such order, and every one was so attentive to me, that I had no trouble with my two bunches of keys, though what with trying to remember the contents of each little store-room drawer and cupboard; and what with making notes on a slate about jams, and pickles, and preserves, and bottles, and glass, and china, and a great many other things; and what with being generally a methodical, old-maidish sort of foolish little person, I was so busy that I could not believe it was breakfast-time when I heard the bell ring. Return to Original English Version

majesty's /ˈmædʒəstiz/ — de Sua Majestade. When any of the country gentlemen who followed his Majesty’s cause met here, it is said that my Lady was always nearer to the door of their council-room than they supposed. Return to Original English Version

maker's /ˈmeɪkərz/ — do fabricante; do criador. Ada was so full of grief all the way home, and Richard, whom we found at home, was so distressed to see her in tears (though he said to me, when she was not present, how beautiful it was too!), that we arranged to return at night with some little comforts and repeat our visit at the brick-maker’s house. Return to Original English Version

malice /ˈmælɪs/ — maldade. She is sly and full of malice. Return to Original English Version

mama's /məˈmɑː/ — mamãe. I had never been shown my mama’s grave. Return to Original English Version

mangles /ˈmæŋɡəlz/ — mutila. But if instead of going out at Ada’s door you came back into my room, and went out at the door by which you had entered it, and turned up a few crooked steps that branched off in an unexpected manner from the stairs, you lost yourself in passages, with mangles in them, and three-cornered tables, and a native Hindu chair, which was also a sofa, a box, and a bedstead, and looked in every form something between a bamboo skeleton and a great bird-cage, and had been brought from India nobody knew by whom or when. Return to Original English Version

manifested /ˈmænɪfestɪd/ — manifestou; demonstrado. Alfred (five), who, as I mentioned, has of his own election joined the Infant Bonds of Joy, was one of the very few children who manifested consciousness on that occasion after a fervid address of two hours from the chairman of the evening.” Return to Original English Version

Original Text: Rare Words (5/8)

marshy /ˈmɑːrʃi/ — pantanoso; alagadiço. The evening was so very cold and the rooms had such a marshy smell that I must confess it was a little miserable, and Ada was half crying. Return to Original English Version

martyr /ˈmɑːrtər/ — mártir. “Sir Morbury Dedlock,” says Mrs. Rouncewell, “was, I have no occasion to say, on the side of the blessed martyr. Return to Original English Version

marys /ˈmɛriz/ — Marias. They were going to raise new buildings, they were going to pay off debts on old buildings, they were going to establish in a picturesque building (engraving of proposed west elevation attached) the Sisterhood of Mediaeval Marys, they were going to give a testimonial to Mrs. Jellyby, they were going to have their secretary’s portrait painted and presented to his mother-in-law, whose deep devotion to him was well known, they were going to get up everything, I really believe, from five hundred thousand tracts to an annuity and from a marble monument to a silver tea-pot. Return to Original English Version

masterly /ˈmæstərli/ — magistral; de mestre. In which (I would say) every difficulty, every contingency, every masterly fiction, every form of procedure known in that court, is represented over and over again? Return to Original English Version

mastiff /ˈmæstɪf/ — mastim. So the mastiff, dozing in his kennel in the court-yard with his large head on his paws, may think of the hot sunshine when the shadows of the stable-buildings tire his patience out by changing and leave him at one time of the day no broader refuge than the shadow of his own house, where he sits on end, panting and growling short, and very much wanting something to worry besides himself and his chain. Return to Original English Version

matins /ˈmætɪnz/ — matinas; ofício religioso matutino. “They attend matins with me (very prettily done) at half-past six o’clock in the morning all the year round, including of course the depth of winter,” said Mrs. Pardiggle rapidly, “and they are with me during the revolving duties of the day. Return to Original English Version

matrimonial /ˌmætrɪˈmoʊniəl/ — matrimonial; conjugal. But he WAS Mr. Jellyby; and a loquacious young man called Mr. Quale, with large shining knobs for temples and his hair all brushed to the back of his head, who came in the evening, and told Ada he was a philanthropist, also informed her that he called the matrimonial alliance of Mrs. Jellyby with Mr. Jellyby the union of mind and matter. Return to Original English Version

matted /ˈmætɪd/ — emaranhado; embaraçado; empastado. On such an afternoon the various solicitors in the cause, some two or three of whom have inherited it from their fathers, who made a fortune by it, ought to be - as are they not? - ranged in a line, in a long matted well (but you might look in vain for truth at the bottom of it) between the registrar’s red table and the silk gowns, with bills, cross-bills, answers, rejoinders, injunctions, affidavits, issues, references to masters, masters’ reports, mountains of costly nonsense, piled before them. Return to Original English Version

mausoleums /ˌmɔːsəˈliːəmz/ — mausoléus. There are noble mausoleums rooted for centuries in retired glades of parks among the growing timber and the fern, which perhaps hold fewer noble secrets than walk abroad among men, shut up in the breast of Mr. Tulkinghorn. Return to Original English Version

meanness /ˈmiːnnəs/ — mesquinhez; baixeza. He is a gentleman of strict conscience, disdainful of all littleness and meanness and ready on the shortest notice to die any death you may please to mention rather than give occasion for the least impeachment of his integrity. Return to Original English Version

mediaeval /ˌmediˈiːvəl/ — medieval. They were going to raise new buildings, they were going to pay off debts on old buildings, they were going to establish in a picturesque building (engraving of proposed west elevation attached) the Sisterhood of Mediaeval Marys, they were going to give a testimonial to Mrs. Jellyby, they were going to have their secretary’s portrait painted and presented to his mother-in-law, whose deep devotion to him was well known, they were going to get up everything, I really believe, from five hundred thousand tracts to an annuity and from a marble monument to a silver tea-pot. Return to Original English Version

megalosaurus /ˌmɛɡələˈsɔːrəs/ — megalossauro. As much mud in the streets as if the waters had but newly retired from the face of the earth, and it would not be wonderful to meet a Megalosaurus, forty feet long or so, waddling like an elephantine lizard up Holborn Hill. Return to Original English Version

melancholy /ˈmɛlənkəli/ — melancolia; tristeza pensativa. The adjacent low-lying ground for half a mile in breadth is a stagnant river with melancholy trees for islands in it and a surface punctured all over, all day long, with falling rain. Return to Original English Version

mellow /ˈmɛloʊ/ — suave; amadurecido. I couldn’t wonder at that, for it was mellow and full and gave great importance to every word he uttered. Return to Original English Version

melodiously /məˈloʊdiəsli/ — melodiosamente. Where the birds sing melodiously. Return to Original English Version

memoranda /ˌmeməˈrændə/ — memorandos; anotações. The children tumbled about, and notched memoranda of their accidents in their legs, which were perfect little calendars of distress; and Peepy was lost for an hour and a half, and brought home from Newgate market by a policeman. Return to Original English Version

mercers /ˈmɜrsərz/ — comerciantes de tecidos. “If you want to address our people, sir,” say Blaze and Sparkle, the jewellers - meaning by our people Lady Dedlock and the rest - “you must remember that you are not dealing with the general public; you must hit our people in their weakest place, and their weakest place is such a place.” “To make this article go down, gentlemen,” say Sheen and Gloss, the mercers, to their friends the manufacturers, “you must come to us, because we know where to have the fashionable people, and we can make it fashionable.” “If you want to get this print upon the tables of my high connexion, sir,” says Mr. Sladdery, the librarian, “or if you want to get this dwarf or giant into the houses of my high connexion, sir, or if you want to secure to this entertainment the patronage of my high connexion, sir, you must leave it, if you please, to me, for I have been accustomed to study the leaders of my high connexion, sir, and I may tell you without vanity that I can turn them round my finger” - in which Mr. Sladdery, who is an honest man, does not exaggerate at all. Return to Original English Version

merited /ˈmerɪtɪd/ — merecido; mereceu. I felt it a merited tribute to the engaging qualities of Ada and Richard that Mr. Skimpole, seeing them for the first time, should be so unreserved and should lay himself out to be so exquisitely agreeable. Return to Original English Version

messrs /ˈmɛsərz/ — Srs.. “Not personally, Esther,” said Miss Donny; “merely through his solicitors, Messrs. Return to Original English Version

methuselah /məˈθuːzələ/ — Matusalém. “Now, you are my witness, Miss Summerson, I say I don’t care - but if he was to come to our house with his great, shining, lumpy forehead night after night till he was as old as Methuselah, I wouldn’t have anything to say to him. Return to Original English Version

michael's /ˈmaɪkəlz/ — de São Miguel. But really - to get hold of you and Esther - and to squeeze you like a couple of tender young Saint Michael’s oranges! Return to Original English Version

michaelmas /ˈmaɪkəlməs/ — Dia de São Miguel; 29 de setembro. Michaelmas term lately over, and the Lord Chancellor sitting in Lincoln’s Inn Hall. Return to Original English Version

mightier /ˈmaɪtiər/ — mais poderoso. Sir Leicester Dedlock is only a baronet, but there is no mightier baronet than he. Return to Original English Version

mildly /ˈmaɪldli/ — levemente; brandamente. I could see that the poor girl was near crying, and I resumed my chair without speaking and looked at her (I hope) as mildly as I felt towards her. Return to Original English Version

milestones /ˈmaɪlstoʊnz/ — marcos miliários; marcos de percurso. By and by we began to leave the wonderful city and to proceed through suburbs which, of themselves, would have made a pretty large town in my eyes; and at last we got into a real country road again, with windmills, rick-yards, milestones, farmers’ waggons, scents of old hay, swinging signs, and horse troughs: trees, fields, and hedge-rows. Return to Original English Version

mincingly /ˈmɪnsɪŋli/ — de maneira afetada ou excessivamente delicada. “Ye-es!” she said mincingly. Return to Original English Version

minding /ˈmaɪndɪŋ/ — tomando conta de; guardando. At the doors and windows some men and women lounged or prowled about, and took little notice of us except to laugh to one another or to say something as we passed about gentlefolks minding their own business and not troubling their heads and muddying their shoes with coming to look after other people’s. Return to Original English Version

mingled /ˈmɪŋɡəld/ — misturou-se; misturava-se. At length, by slow degrees, they became indistinct and mingled. Return to Original English Version

minutely /maɪˈnuːtli/ — minuciosamente; em detalhe. There are about thirty cases on record, of which the most famous, that of the Countess Cornelia de Baudi Cesenate, was minutely investigated and described by Giuseppe Bianchini, a prebendary of Verona, otherwise distinguished in letters, who published an account of it at Verona in 1731, which he afterwards republished at Rome. Return to Original English Version

mire /maɪər/ — lamaçal. Dogs, undistinguishable in mire. Return to Original English Version

miry /ˈmaɪri/ — lamacento. It is but a glimpse of the world of fashion that we want on this same miry afternoon. Return to Original English Version

misdirecting /ˌmɪsdəˈrɛktɪŋ/ — dando uma direção errada. “I have not the slightest doubt that the scoundrel has passed his whole existence in misdirecting travellers!” returned the other. Return to Original English Version

misgivings /mɪsˈɡɪvɪŋz/ — receios; dúvidas apreensivas. Mrs. Jellyby charged us with many remembrances to her good friend Mr. Jarndyce; Caddy left her desk to see us depart, kissed me in the passage, and stood biting her pen and sobbing on the steps; Peepy, I am happy to say, was asleep and spared the pain of separation (I was not without misgivings that he had gone to Newgate market in search of me); and all the other children got up behind the barouche and fell off, and we saw them, with great concern, scattered over the surface of Thavies Inn as we rolled out of its precincts. Return to Original English Version

mislaid /mɪsˈleɪd/ — extraviado; posto fora do lugar. All through dinner - which was long, in consequence of such accidents as the dish of potatoes being mislaid in the coal skuttle and the handle of the corkscrew coming off and striking the young woman in the chin - Mrs. Jellyby preserved the evenness of her disposition. Return to Original English Version

mislead /ˌmɪsˈliːd/ — enganar; induzir em erro. I have no need to observe that I do not wilfully or negligently mislead my readers and that before I wrote that description I took pains to investigate the subject. Return to Original English Version

missis /ˈmɪsɪz/ — senhora; patroa; esposa. I therefore supposed that Mrs. Jellyby was not at home, and was quite surprised when the person appeared in the passage without the pattens, and going up to the back room on the first floor before Ada and me, announced us as, “Them two young ladies, Missis Jellyby!” We passed several more children on the way up, whom it was difficult to avoid treading on in the dark; and as we came into Mrs. Jellyby’s presence, one of the poor little things fell downstairs - down a whole flight (as it sounded to me), with a great noise. Return to Original English Version

mistily /ˈmɪstɪli/ — com névoa. On such an afternoon some score of members of the High Court of Chancery bar ought to be - as here they are - mistily engaged in one of the ten thousand stages of an endless cause, tripping one another up on slippery precedents, groping knee-deep in technicalities, running their goat-hair and horsehair warded heads against walls of words and making a pretence of equity with serious faces, as players might. Return to Original English Version

mistook /mɪˈstʊk/ — confundiu. With a buoyancy and hopefulness and a gaiety that hardly ever flagged, Richard had a carelessness in his character that quite perplexed me, principally because he mistook it, in such a very odd way, for prudence. Return to Original English Version

mite /maɪt/ — óbolo; ninharia; ácaro. I put down my mite first; then my young family enrol their contributions, according to their ages and their little means; and then Mr. Pardiggle brings up the rear. Return to Original English Version

mizzle /ˈmɪzəl/ — Mizzle. The very solicitors’ boys who have kept the wretched suitors at bay, by protesting time out of mind that Mr. Chizzle, Mizzle, or otherwise was particularly engaged and had appointments until dinner, may have got an extra moral twist and shuffle into themselves out of Jarndyce and Jarndyce. Return to Original English Version

mlud /məˈlʌd/ — meu senhor; meritíssimo. “Mlud,” says Mr. Tangle. Return to Original English Version

moaned /moʊnd/ — gemeu; lamentou-se. The mother had moaned in her sleep and moved. Return to Original English Version

momentous /moʊˈmentəs/ — transcendental; de grande importância. I was so occupied with Peepy that I lost the letter in detail, though I derived such a general impression from it of the momentous importance of Africa, and the utter insignificance of all other places and things, that I felt quite ashamed to have thought so little about it. Return to Original English Version

monied /ˈmʌnid/ — abastado; de dinheiro. This is the Court of Chancery, which has its decaying houses and its blighted lands in every shire, which has its worn-out lunatic in every madhouse and its dead in every churchyard, which has its ruined suitor with his slipshod heels and threadbare dress borrowing and begging through the round of every man’s acquaintance, which gives to monied might the means abundantly of wearying out the right, which so exhausts finances, patience, courage, hope, so overthrows the brain and breaks the heart, that there is not an honourable man among its practitioners who would not give - who does not often give - the warning, “Suffer any wrong that can be done you rather than come here!” Return to Original English Version

monotony /məˈnɑːtəni/ — monotonia. “Anything to vary this detestable monotony. Return to Original English Version

monstrous /ˈmɒnstrəs/ — monstruoso. The case of Gridley is in no essential altered from one of actual occurrence, made public by a disinterested person who was professionally acquainted with the whole of the monstrous wrong from beginning to end. Return to Original English Version

moodily /ˈmuːdɪli/ — taciturnamente; com ar sombrio. Thus interrupted, Miss Jellyby became silent and walked moodily on at my side while I admired the long successions and varieties of streets, the quantity of people already going to and fro, the number of vehicles passing and repassing, the busy preparations in the setting forth of shop windows and the sweeping out of shops, and the extraordinary creatures in rags secretly groping among the swept-out rubbish for pins and other refuse. Return to Original English Version

moonshine /ˈmuːnʃaɪn/ — luar; conversa fiada. She could look at it, she said, in the night, especially in the moonshine. Return to Original English Version

morbury's /ˈmɔːrbəriz/ — de Morbury. After her favourite brother, a young gentleman, was killed in the civil wars (by Sir Morbury’s near kinsman), her feeling was so violent that she hated the race into which she had married. Return to Original English Version

morning's /ˈmɔːrnɪŋz/ — da manhã. She was greatly occupied during breakfast, for the morning’s post brought a heavy correspondence relative to Borrioboola-Gha, which would occasion her (she said) to pass a busy day. Return to Original English Version

morosely /məˈrəʊsli/ — de modo mal-humorado. The man on the floor, then turning his head round again, said morosely, “Well! Return to Original English Version

morrow /ˈmɒrəʊ/ — amanhã. I will mention the matter to-morrow morning when I take my seat.” Return to Original English Version

mortals /ˈmɔːrtəlz/ — mortais; seres humanos comuns. She supposes herself to be an inscrutable Being, quite out of the reach and ken of ordinary mortals - seeing herself in her glass, where indeed she looks so. Return to Original English Version

mortifying /ˈmɔːrtɪfaɪɪŋ/ — mortificante; humilhante. Ve-ry mortifying, is it not?” Return to Original English Version

motioning /ˈmoʊʃənɪŋ/ — fazendo sinal. “Better now,” quoth Sir Leicester, motioning the lawyer to sit down and read to him alone. Return to Original English Version

motionless /ˈmoʊʃənləs/ — imóvel; sem se mexer. Upon the wall, their shadows blended together, surrounded by strange forms, not without a ghostly motion caught from the unsteady fire, though reflecting from motionless objects. Return to Original English Version

mouldy /ˈmoʊldi/ — mofado. On Sundays the little church in the park is mouldy; the oaken pulpit breaks out into a cold sweat; and there is a general smell and taste as of the ancient Dedlocks in their graves. Return to Original English Version

movables /ˈmuːvəbəlz/ — bens móveis. All the movables, from the wardrobes to the chairs and tables, hangings, glasses, even to the pincushions and scent-bottles on the dressing-tables, displayed the same quaint variety. Return to Original English Version

muddiest /ˈmʌdiɪst/ — mais lamacento. The raw afternoon is rawest, and the dense fog is densest, and the muddy streets are muddiest near that leaden-headed old obstruction, appropriate ornament for the threshold of a leaden-headed old corporation, Temple Bar. Return to Original English Version

muddle /ˈmʌdl/ — confusão. We both grub on in a muddle. Return to Original English Version

muddled /ˈmʌdəld/ — confuso. How my noble and learned brother, and all the rest of ’em, grubbed and muddled away as usual and tried to look as if they hadn’t heard a word of the last fact in the case or as if they had - Oh, dear me! - nothing at all to do with it if they had heard of it by any chance!” Return to Original English Version

muddying /ˈmʌdiɪŋ/ — enlameando. At the doors and windows some men and women lounged or prowled about, and took little notice of us except to laugh to one another or to say something as we passed about gentlefolks minding their own business and not troubling their heads and muddying their shoes with coming to look after other people’s. Return to Original English Version

muffled /ˈmʌfəld/ — abafada; surda. The shawl in which she had been loosely muffled dropped onto her chair when she advanced to us; and as she turned to resume her seat, we could not help noticing that her dress didn’t nearly meet up the back and that the open space was railed across with a lattice-work of stay-lace - like a summer-house. Return to Original English Version

murky /ˈmɜːrki/ — turvo; sombrio. Who happen to be in the Lord Chancellor’s court this murky afternoon besides the Lord Chancellor, the counsel in the cause, two or three counsel who are never in any cause, and the well of solicitors before mentioned? Return to Original English Version

muttering /ˈmʌtərɪŋ/ — resmungando. But I thought that he had pleasant eyes, although he kept on muttering to himself in an angry manner and calling Mrs. Rachael names. Return to Original English Version

mystification /ˌmɪstɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/ — perplexidade; mistificação. He gave it its present name and lived here shut up, day and night poring over the wicked heaps of papers in the suit and hoping against hope to disentangle it from its mystification and bring it to a close. Return to Original English Version

nat'rally /ˈnætʃərəli/ — naturalmente. Yes, it is dirty - it’s nat’rally dirty, and it’s nat’rally onwholesome; and we’ve had five dirty and onwholesome children, as is all dead infants, and so much the better for them, and for us besides. Return to Original English Version

natured /ˈneɪtʃərd/ — de índole; de temperamento. He had taken two or three undecided turns up and down while uttering these broken sentences, retaining the poker in one hand and rubbing his hair with the other, with a good-natured vexation at once so whimsical and so lovable that I am sure we were more delighted with him than we could possibly have expressed in any words. Return to Original English Version

naturedly /ˈneɪtʃərdli/ — em compostos: good-naturedly, bonachonamente. Richard, anxious to atone for his thoughtlessness of yesterday, good-naturedly explained that Miss Jellyby was not connected with the suit. Return to Original English Version

natures /ˈneɪtʃərz/ — naturezas. It was so tender in them to care so much for me, it was so gracious in that father who had not forgotten me to have made my orphan way so smooth and easy and to have inclined so many youthful natures towards me, that I could hardly bear it. Return to Original English Version

neatness /ˈniːtnəs/ — capricho; organizaï¿½ï¿½o. Among them was one, in the same writing, having nothing to do with the business of the shop, but announcing that a respectable man aged forty-five wanted engrossing or copying to execute with neatness and dispatch: Address to Nemo, care of Mr. Krook, within. Return to Original English Version

necessaries /ˈnesəseriz/ — artigos indispensáveis; apetrechos. On that day week, amply provided with all necessaries, I left it, inside the stagecoach, for Reading. Return to Original English Version

needn't /ˈniːdənt/ — não preciso; não é preciso. Mrs. Rachael, I needn’t inform you who were acquainted with the late Miss Barbary’s affairs, that her means die with her and that this young lady, now her aunt is dead - ” Return to Original English Version

neglectful /nɪˈɡlektfəl/ — negligente. It was plain enough that Mr. Jarndyce had not been neglectful of the adjuration. Return to Original English Version

negligently /ˈneɡlɪdʒəntli/ — negligentemente; com desleixo. I have no need to observe that I do not wilfully or negligently mislead my readers and that before I wrote that description I took pains to investigate the subject. Return to Original English Version

nether /ˈneðər/ — inferior; de baixo. Chance people on the bridges peeping over the parapets into a nether sky of fog, with fog all round them, as if they were up in a balloon and hanging in the misty clouds. Return to Original English Version

newgate /ˈnuːɡeɪt/ — Newgate. The children tumbled about, and notched memoranda of their accidents in their legs, which were perfect little calendars of distress; and Peepy was lost for an hour and a half, and brought home from Newgate market by a policeman. Return to Original English Version

noabody /ˈnoʊəbɒdi/ — ninguém. Noabody wants you to-day!” may know it quite as well as the man. Return to Original English Version

noblemen /ˈnoʊbəlmen/ — nobres; fidalgos. In my room there were oval engravings of the months - ladies haymaking in short waists and large hats tied under the chin, for June; smooth-legged noblemen pointing with cocked-hats to village steeples, for October. Return to Original English Version

nominally /ˈnɑːmɪnəli/ — nominalmente; só no nome. “And our dinner hour is nominally (for we dine at all hours) five! Return to Original English Version

nonentity /ˌnɒnˈɛntəti/ — pessoa sem importância. “A nonentity, sir?” said Richard with a droll look. Return to Original English Version

nook /nʊk/ — canto. We drove slowly through the dirtiest and darkest streets that ever were seen in the world (I thought) and in such a distracting state of confusion that I wondered how the people kept their senses, until we passed into sudden quietude under an old gateway and drove on through a silent square until we came to an odd nook in a corner, where there was an entrance up a steep, broad flight of stairs, like an entrance to a church. Return to Original English Version

nosed /noʊzd/ — farejou; bisbilhotou. Good things have been said about it by blue-nosed, bulbous-shoed old benchers in select port-wine committee after dinner in hall. Return to Original English Version

nosegay /ˈnoʊzɡeɪ/ — buquê pequeno. And when the two Miss Donnys grieved as much to part with me as the least among them, and when the maids said, “Bless you, miss, wherever you go!” and when the ugly lame old gardener, who I thought had hardly noticed me in all those years, came panting after the coach to give me a little nosegay of geraniums and told me I had been the light of his eyes - indeed the old man said so! - what a heart I had then! Return to Original English Version

nosegays /ˈnoʊzɡeɪz/ — raminhos de flores; buquês pequenos. “When the leaves are falling from the trees and there are no more flowers in bloom to make up into nosegays for the Lord Chancellor’s court,” said the old lady, “the vacation is fulfilled and the sixth seal, mentioned in the Revelations, again prevails. Return to Original English Version

notched /nɒtʃt/ — entalhado; com corte. The children tumbled about, and notched memoranda of their accidents in their legs, which were perfect little calendars of distress; and Peepy was lost for an hour and a half, and brought home from Newgate market by a policeman. Return to Original English Version

nursed /nɜːrst/ — cuidou; amamentou. Esther nursed them, coaxed them to sleep, washed and dressed them, told them stories, kept them quiet, bought them keepsakes” - My dear girl! Return to Original English Version

nuss /nʌs/ — cuidar de/embalar. If you was to leave me a doll, I shouldn’t nuss it. Return to Original English Version

oaken /ˈoʊkən/ — de carvalho. On Sundays the little church in the park is mouldy; the oaken pulpit breaks out into a cold sweat; and there is a general smell and taste as of the ancient Dedlocks in their graves. Return to Original English Version

obedt /əˈbiːdiənt/ — obediente. We are, Madam, Your obedt Servts, Return to Original English Version

objecting /əbˈdʒɛktɪŋ/ — protestando. The prince, at last, objecting to this, “in which,” said Mr. Skimpole, in the frankest manner, “he was perfectly right,” the engagement terminated, and Mr. Skimpole having (as he added with delightful gaiety) “nothing to live upon but love, fell in love, and married, and surrounded himself with rosy cheeks.” His good friend Jarndyce and some other of his good friends then helped him, in quicker or slower succession, to several openings in life, but to no purpose, for he must confess to two of the oldest infirmities in the world: one was that he had no idea of time, the other that he had no idea of money. Return to Original English Version

obliging /əˈblaɪdʒɪŋ/ — prestativo; solícito. He was very obliging, and as he handed me into a fly after superintending the removal of my boxes, I asked him whether there was a great fire anywhere? Return to Original English Version

oblong /ˈɒblɒŋ/ — oblongo. I knew he meant well in paying me this compliment, so I laughed at myself for blushing at it when he had shut the door and got upon the box; and we all three laughed and chatted about our inexperience and the strangeness of London until we turned up under an archway to our destination - a narrow street of high houses like an oblong cistern to hold the fog. Return to Original English Version

obscurity /əbˈskjʊərɪti/ — obscuridade. Eighteen of Mr. Tangle’s learned friends, each armed with a little summary of eighteen hundred sheets, bob up like eighteen hammers in a pianoforte, make eighteen bows, and drop into their eighteen places of obscurity. Return to Original English Version

obstinate /ˈɒbstɪnət/ — teimoso. He is an honourable, obstinate, truthful, high-spirited, intensely prejudiced, perfectly unreasonable man. Return to Original English Version

occupations /ˌɑːkjəˈpeɪʃənz/ — ocupações; afazeres. At first I tried to excuse myself for the present on the general ground of having occupations to attend to which I must not neglect. Return to Original English Version

occurrences /əˈkɜːrənsɪz/ — acontecimentos; ocorrências. I do not think it necessary to add to these notable facts, and that general reference to the authorities which will be found at page 30, vol. ii.,* the recorded opinions and experiences of distinguished medical professors, French, English, and Scotch, in more modern days, contenting myself with observing that I shall not abandon the facts until there shall have been a considerable spontaneous combustion of the testimony on which human occurrences are usually received.** Return to Original English Version

offe /ˈɒfɪs/ — escritório. We have arrngd for your being forded, carriage free, pr eight o’clock coach from Reading, on Monday morning next, to White Horse Cellar, Piccadilly, London, where one of our clks will be in waiting to convey you to our offe as above. Return to Original English Version

ogre /ˈoʊɡər/ — ogro; papão. You might suppose him to be an ogre from what he says, and I believe he has the reputation of one with some people. Return to Original English Version

omen /ˈoʊmən/ — presságio. It is a good omen for youth, and hope, and beauty when they find themselves in this place, and don’t know what’s to come of it.” Return to Original English Version

omit /oʊˈmɪt/ — omitir. I omit the date. Return to Original English Version

omniscient /ɑːmˈnɪʃənt/ — onisciente. And when they will next come forth again, the fashionable intelligence - which, like the fiend, is omniscient of the past and present, but not the future - cannot yet undertake to say. Return to Original English Version

onwholesome /ɒnˈhoʊlsəm/ — insalubre. Yes, it is dirty - it’s nat’rally dirty, and it’s nat’rally onwholesome; and we’ve had five dirty and onwholesome children, as is all dead infants, and so much the better for them, and for us besides. Return to Original English Version

opportunely /ˌɑːpərˈtuːnli/ — oportunamente. Therefore I proposed to the children that they should come in and be very good at my table, and I would tell them the story of Little Red Riding Hood while I dressed; which they did, and were as quiet as mice, including Peepy, who awoke opportunely before the appearance of the wolf. Return to Original English Version

orations /ɔːˈreɪʃənz/ — discursos formais. My young family are not frivolous; they expend the entire amount of their allowance in subscriptions, under my direction; and they have attended as many public meetings and listened to as many lectures, orations, and discussions as generally fall to the lot of few grown people. Return to Original English Version

ornament /ˈɔːrnəmənt/ — ornamento; enfeite. The raw afternoon is rawest, and the dense fog is densest, and the muddy streets are muddiest near that leaden-headed old obstruction, appropriate ornament for the threshold of a leaden-headed old corporation, Temple Bar. Return to Original English Version

orphaned /ˈɔːrfənd/ — órfão. For yourself, unfortunate girl, orphaned and degraded from the first of these evil anniversaries, pray daily that the sins of others be not visited upon your head, according to what is written. Return to Original English Version

oswald /ˈɒzwəld/ — Oswald. Oswald, my second (ten and a half), is the child who contributed two and nine-pence to the Great National Smithers Testimonial. Return to Original English Version

ouse /aʊs/ — casa (fala popular de house). “A ’ouse.” Return to Original English Version

outermost /ˈaʊtərmoʊst/ — mais externo. Shirking and sharking in all their many varieties have been sown broadcast by the ill-fated cause; and even those who have contemplated its history from the outermost circle of such evil have been insensibly tempted into a loose way of letting bad things alone to take their own bad course, and a loose belief that if the world go wrong it was in some off-hand manner never meant to go right. Return to Original English Version

outlive /ˌaʊtˈlɪv/ — sobreviver a. I have left an annuity for his sole support in case he should outlive me. Return to Original English Version

outsides /ˈaʊtsaɪdz/ — lado de fora. But so from rough outsides (I hope I have learnt), serene and gentle influences often proceed. Return to Original English Version

outwardly /ˈaʊtwərdli/ — exteriormente; na aparência. On such an afternoon, if ever, the Lord High Chancellor ought to be sitting here - as here he is - with a foggy glory round his head, softly fenced in with crimson cloth and curtains, addressed by a large advocate with great whiskers, a little voice, and an interminable brief, and outwardly directing his contemplation to the lantern in the roof, where he can see nothing but fog. Return to Original English Version

overhanging /ˌɑʊvərhæŋɪŋ/ — fazer hang em excesso. I can lie down on the grass - in fine weather - and float along an African river, embracing all the natives I meet, as sensible of the deep silence and sketching the dense overhanging tropical growth as accurately as if I were there. Return to Original English Version

overheard /ˌɑʊvərhɪrd/ — fazer hear em excesso. The old man overheard, and laughed. Return to Original English Version

oversleeping /ˌɑʊvərslɪpɪŋ/ — fazer sleep em excesso. Both the world of fashion and the Court of Chancery are things of precedent and usage: oversleeping Rip Van Winkles who have played at strange games through a deal of thundery weather; sleeping beauties whom the knight will wake one day, when all the stopped spits in the kitchen shall begin to turn prodigiously! Return to Original English Version

overthrows /ˌɑʊvərθræʊs/ — fazer throw em excesso. This is the Court of Chancery, which has its decaying houses and its blighted lands in every shire, which has its worn-out lunatic in every madhouse and its dead in every churchyard, which has its ruined suitor with his slipshod heels and threadbare dress borrowing and begging through the round of every man’s acquaintance, which gives to monied might the means abundantly of wearying out the right, which so exhausts finances, patience, courage, hope, so overthrows the brain and breaks the heart, that there is not an honourable man among its practitioners who would not give - who does not often give - the warning, “Suffer any wrong that can be done you rather than come here!” Return to Original English Version

overturned /ˌoʊvərˈtɜːrnd/ — virou; tombou. As Peepy cried for me to take him to bed, I carried him upstairs, where the young woman with the flannel bandage charged into the midst of the little family like a dragon and overturned them into cribs. Return to Original English Version

overturning /ˌoʊvərˈtɜːrnɪŋ/ — virando; emborcando. By this time, young ladies,” said Mrs. Pardiggle, moving back to her chair and overturning, as if by invisible agency, a little round table at a considerable distance with my work-basket on it, “by this time you have found me out, I dare say?” Return to Original English Version

overweening /ˌoʊvərˈwiːnɪŋ/ — excessivamente presunçoso. He had no objection to honey, he said (and I should think he had not, for he seemed to like it), but he protested against the overweening assumptions of bees. Return to Original English Version

owlish /ˈaʊlɪʃ/ — com jeito de coruja. Well may the court be dim, with wasting candles here and there; well may the fog hang heavy in it, as if it would never get out; well may the stained-glass windows lose their colour and admit no light of day into the place; well may the uninitiated from the streets, who peep in through the glass panes in the door, be deterred from entrance by its owlish aspect and by the drawl, languidly echoing to the roof from the padded dais where the Lord High Chancellor looks into the lantern that has no light in it and where the attendant wigs are all stuck in a fog-bank! Return to Original English Version

pa's /pɑːz/ — do papai. Pa’s miserable, and no wonder! Return to Original English Version

pacifying /ˈpæsɪfaɪɪŋ/ — acalmando. As I found (after pacifying him) that he was a little boy with a naturally large head, I thought that perhaps where his head could go, his body could follow, and mentioned that the best mode of extrication might be to push him forward. Return to Original English Version

paddock /ˈpædək/ — piquete. Beyond the flower-garden was a kitchen-garden, and then a paddock, and then a snug little rick-yard, and then a dear little farm-yard. Return to Original English Version

pane /peɪn/ — vidraça; painel de vidro. It is a street of perishing blind houses, with their eyes stoned out, without a pane of glass, without so much as a window-frame, with the bare blank shutters tumbling from their hinges and falling asunder, the iron rails peeling away in flakes of rust, the chimneys sinking in, the stone steps to every door (and every door might be death’s door) turning stagnant green, the very crutches on which the ruins are propped decaying. Return to Original English Version

panelling /ˈpænəlɪŋ/ — revestimento de painéis. He seemed to be working hard, with the perspiration standing on his forehead, and had a piece of chalk by him, with which, as he put each separate package or bundle down, he made a crooked mark on the panelling of the wall. Return to Original English Version

panes /peɪnz/ — vidraças; painéis de vidro. Well may the court be dim, with wasting candles here and there; well may the fog hang heavy in it, as if it would never get out; well may the stained-glass windows lose their colour and admit no light of day into the place; well may the uninitiated from the streets, who peep in through the glass panes in the door, be deterred from entrance by its owlish aspect and by the drawl, languidly echoing to the roof from the padded dais where the Lord High Chancellor looks into the lantern that has no light in it and where the attendant wigs are all stuck in a fog-bank! Return to Original English Version

panting /ˈpæntɪŋ/ — ofegante; arquejante. And when the two Miss Donnys grieved as much to part with me as the least among them, and when the maids said, “Bless you, miss, wherever you go!” and when the ugly lame old gardener, who I thought had hardly noticed me in all those years, came panting after the coach to give me a little nosegay of geraniums and told me I had been the light of his eyes - indeed the old man said so! - what a heart I had then! Return to Original English Version

parapet /ˈpærəpət/ — parapeito. She crouches on the parapet outside for hours and hours. Return to Original English Version

parapets /ˈpærəpɪts/ — parapeitos. Chance people on the bridges peeping over the parapets into a nether sky of fog, with fog all round them, as if they were up in a balloon and hanging in the misty clouds. Return to Original English Version

parchmentses /ˈpɑːrtʃməntsɪz/ — pergaminhos. And I have so many old parchmentses and papers in my stock. Return to Original English Version

pardiggles /ˈpɑːrdɪɡəlz/ — os Pardiggle. As only Ada and I were at home, we received her timidly, for she seemed to come in like cold weather and to make the little Pardiggles blue as they followed. Return to Original English Version

parenthesis /pəˈrɛnθəsɪs/ — parêntese. Aye, aye!” and opened and read it with evident pleasure, announcing to us in a parenthesis when he was about half-way through, that Boythorn was “coming down” on a visit. Return to Original English Version

parisians /pəˈrɪziənz/ — parisienses; habitantes de Paris. The fashionable intelligence says so for the comfort of the Parisians, and it knows all fashionable things. Return to Original English Version

parlour /ˈpɑːrlər/ — sala de visitas (grafia britânica). One sunny afternoon when I had come home from school with my books and portfolio, watching my long shadow at my side, and as I was gliding upstairs to my room as usual, my godmother looked out of the parlour-door and called me back. Return to Original English Version

parsimonious /ˌpɑːrsəˈmoʊniəs/ — mesquinho. But as it is wholesome that the parsimonious public should know what has been doing, and still is doing, in this connexion, I mention here that everything set forth in these pages concerning the Court of Chancery is substantially true, and within the truth. Return to Original English Version

parsimony /ˈpɑːrsɪmoʊni/ — mesquinharia. There had been, he admitted, a trivial blemish or so in its rate of progress, but this was exaggerated and had been entirely owing to the “parsimony of the public,” which guilty public, it appeared, had been until lately bent in the most determined manner on by no means enlarging the number of Chancery judges appointed - I believe by Richard the Second, but any other king will do as well. Return to Original English Version

partake /pɑːrˈteɪk/ — partilhar; participar de; comer. He left his compliments, and would you partake of some refreshment” - there were biscuits and a decanter of wine on a small table - “and look over the paper,” which the young gentleman gave me as he spoke. Return to Original English Version

particulars /pərˈtɪkjələrz/ — detalhes. In all parts of the window were quantities of dirty bottles - blacking bottles, medicine bottles, ginger-beer and soda-water bottles, pickle bottles, wine bottles, ink bottles; I am reminded by mentioning the latter that the shop had in several little particulars the air of being in a legal neighbourhood and of being, as it were, a dirty hanger-on and disowned relation of the law. Return to Original English Version

parting /ˈpɑːrtɪŋ/ — despedida. Mrs. Rachael was too good to feel any emotion at parting, but I was not so good, and wept bitterly. Return to Original English Version

partridges /ˈpɑːrtrɪdʒɪz/ — perdizes. Therefore my Lady Dedlock has come away from the place in Lincolnshire and has left it to the rain, and the crows, and the rabbits, and the deer, and the partridges and pheasants. Return to Original English Version

passively /ˈpæsɪvli/ — passivamente; sem reagir. I was a little curious to know who a mild bald gentleman in spectacles was, who dropped into a vacant chair (there was no top or bottom in particular) after the fish was taken away and seemed passively to submit himself to Borrioboola-Gha but not to be actively interested in that settlement. Return to Original English Version

patronage /ˈpeɪtrənɪdʒ/ — condescendência. “If you want to address our people, sir,” say Blaze and Sparkle, the jewellers - meaning by our people Lady Dedlock and the rest - “you must remember that you are not dealing with the general public; you must hit our people in their weakest place, and their weakest place is such a place.” “To make this article go down, gentlemen,” say Sheen and Gloss, the mercers, to their friends the manufacturers, “you must come to us, because we know where to have the fashionable people, and we can make it fashionable.” “If you want to get this print upon the tables of my high connexion, sir,” says Mr. Sladdery, the librarian, “or if you want to get this dwarf or giant into the houses of my high connexion, sir, or if you want to secure to this entertainment the patronage of my high connexion, sir, you must leave it, if you please, to me, for I have been accustomed to study the leaders of my high connexion, sir, and I may tell you without vanity that I can turn them round my finger” - in which Mr. Sladdery, who is an honest man, does not exaggerate at all. Return to Original English Version

pattens /ˈpætənz/ — tamancos. Nobody had appeared belonging to the house except a person in pattens, who had been poking at the child from below with a broom; I don’t know with what object, and I don’t think she did. Return to Original English Version

patter /ˈpætər/ — tamborilar. Mr. Tulkinghorn retires into another chamber; bells ring, feet shuffle and patter, silence ensues. Return to Original English Version

pattering /ˈpætərɪŋ/ — tamborilar. They may hunt the whole country-side, while the raindrops are pattering round their inactivity. Return to Original English Version

paving /ˈpeɪvɪŋ/ — pavimentação. I wonder the very paving-stones opposite our house can have the patience to stay there and be a witness of such inconsistencies and contradictions as all that sounding nonsense, and Ma’s management!” Return to Original English Version

paws /pɔːz/ — patas; manzorras. So the mastiff, dozing in his kennel in the court-yard with his large head on his paws, may think of the hot sunshine when the shadows of the stable-buildings tire his patience out by changing and leave him at one time of the day no broader refuge than the shadow of his own house, where he sits on end, panting and growling short, and very much wanting something to worry besides himself and his chain. Return to Original English Version

peculiarity /pɪˌkjuːliˈærəti/ — particularidade. One peculiarity of his black clothes and of his black stockings, be they silk or worsted, is that they never shine. Return to Original English Version

peculiarly /pɪˈkjuːljərli/ — particularmente; de modo especial. The face of each child, as the amount of his contribution was mentioned, darkened in a peculiarly vindictive manner, but his was by far the worst. Return to Original English Version

peeling /ˈpiːlɪŋ/ — descascando. It is a street of perishing blind houses, with their eyes stoned out, without a pane of glass, without so much as a window-frame, with the bare blank shutters tumbling from their hinges and falling asunder, the iron rails peeling away in flakes of rust, the chimneys sinking in, the stone steps to every door (and every door might be death’s door) turning stagnant green, the very crutches on which the ruins are propped decaying. Return to Original English Version

peep /piːp/ — espiada; espiar; dar uma olhada rápida. Well may the court be dim, with wasting candles here and there; well may the fog hang heavy in it, as if it would never get out; well may the stained-glass windows lose their colour and admit no light of day into the place; well may the uninitiated from the streets, who peep in through the glass panes in the door, be deterred from entrance by its owlish aspect and by the drawl, languidly echoing to the roof from the padded dais where the Lord High Chancellor looks into the lantern that has no light in it and where the attendant wigs are all stuck in a fog-bank! Return to Original English Version

peeped /piːpt/ — espiou. He peeped in again, with a smiling face, before we had lighted our candles, and said, “Oh! Return to Original English Version

peeping /ˈpiːpɪŋ/ — espreitando; espiando; assomando. Chance people on the bridges peeping over the parapets into a nether sky of fog, with fog all round them, as if they were up in a balloon and hanging in the misty clouds. Return to Original English Version

peerage /ˈpɪrɪdʒ/ — nobreza britânica; pariato. He is found sometimes, speechless but quite at home, at corners of dinner-tables in great country houses and near doors of drawing-rooms, concerning which the fashionable intelligence is eloquent, where everybody knows him and where half the Peerage stops to say “How do you do, Mr. Tulkinghorn?” He receives these salutations with gravity and buries them along with the rest of his knowledge. Return to Original English Version

penniless /ˈpeniləs/ — sem um tostão; na miséria. I had always thought that some accident might happen which would throw me suddenly, without any relation or any property, on the world and had always tried to keep some little money by me that I might not be quite penniless. Return to Original English Version

pensioners /ˈpɛnʃənərz/ — pensionistas. Fog in the eyes and throats of ancient Greenwich pensioners, wheezing by the firesides of their wards; fog in the stem and bowl of the afternoon pipe of the wrathful skipper, down in his close cabin; fog cruelly pinching the toes and fingers of his shivering little ’prentice boy on deck. Return to Original English Version

perch /pɜːrtʃ/ — poleiro; empoleirar-se; lugar alto. The horses in the stables - the long stables in a barren, red-brick court-yard, where there is a great bell in a turret, and a clock with a large face, which the pigeons who live near it and who love to perch upon its shoulders seem to be always consulting - THEY may contemplate some mental pictures of fine weather on occasions, and may be better artists at them than the grooms. Return to Original English Version

perennially /pəˈrɛniəli/ — perenemente; sempre. Fair wards of court have faded into mothers and grandmothers; a long procession of Chancellors has come in and gone out; the legion of bills in the suit have been transformed into mere bills of mortality; there are not three Jarndyces left upon the earth perhaps since old Tom Jarndyce in despair blew his brains out at a coffee-house in Chancery Lane; but Jarndyce and Jarndyce still drags its dreary length before the court, perennially hopeless. Return to Original English Version

perfections /pərˈfekʃənz/ — perfeições; qualidades. With all her perfections on her head, my Lady Dedlock has come up from her place in Lincolnshire (hotly pursued by the fashionable intelligence) to pass a few days at her house in town previous to her departure for Paris, where her ladyship intends to stay some weeks, after which her movements are uncertain. Return to Original English Version

perfidy /ˈpɜːrfədi/ — perfídia; traição. By my soul, the countenance of that fellow when he was a boy was the blackest image of perfidy, cowardice, and cruelty ever set up as a scarecrow in a field of scoundrels. Return to Original English Version

perishing /ˈperɪʃɪŋ/ — perecendo; que perece. It is a street of perishing blind houses, with their eyes stoned out, without a pane of glass, without so much as a window-frame, with the bare blank shutters tumbling from their hinges and falling asunder, the iron rails peeling away in flakes of rust, the chimneys sinking in, the stone steps to every door (and every door might be death’s door) turning stagnant green, the very crutches on which the ruins are propped decaying. Return to Original English Version

perpetually /pərˈpetʃuəli/ — perpetuamente; incessantemente. He is always in extremes, perpetually in the superlative degree. Return to Original English Version

perplexed /pərˈplɛkst/ — perplexo; desconcertado. With a buoyancy and hopefulness and a gaiety that hardly ever flagged, Richard had a carelessness in his character that quite perplexed me, principally because he mistook it, in such a very odd way, for prudence. Return to Original English Version

perplexing /pərˈpleksɪŋ/ — desconcertante; intrigante. Not on his own account (I was again aware of that perplexing and extraordinary contradiction), but on ours, as if personal considerations were impossible with him and the contemplation of our happiness alone affected him. Return to Original English Version

perplexities /pərˈpleksətiz/ — perplexidades. I may have been born to be a benefactor to you by sometimes giving you an opportunity of assisting me in my little perplexities. Return to Original English Version

persevering /ˌpɜːrsəˈvɪrɪŋ/ — persistente. But the doomed young rebel (otherwise a mild youth, and very persevering), showing no sign of grace as he got older but, on the contrary, constructing a model of a power-loom, she was fain, with many tears, to mention his backslidings to the baronet. Return to Original English Version

perseveringly /ˌpɜːrsəˈvɪrɪŋli/ — persistentemente. She was by that time perseveringly dictating to Caddy, and Caddy was fast relapsing into the inky condition in which we had found her. Return to Original English Version

perspiration /ˌpɜːrspəˈreɪʃən/ — transpiração; suor. He seemed to be working hard, with the perspiration standing on his forehead, and had a piece of chalk by him, with which, as he put each separate package or bundle down, he made a crooked mark on the panelling of the wall. Return to Original English Version

persuasions /pərˈsweɪʒənz/ — convicções; crenças; persuasões. I suppose we were all more or less curious; at any rate, when the old man added his persuasions to hers and said, “Aye, aye! Return to Original English Version

perversely /pərˈvɜːrsli/ — perversamente; por pura contrariedade. “Anywhere’s nowhere,” said Miss Jellyby, stopping perversely. Return to Original English Version

pestilent /ˈpestɪlənt/ — pestilento; nocivo; importuno. Never can there come fog too thick, never can there come mud and mire too deep, to assort with the groping and floundering condition which this High Court of Chancery, most pestilent of hoary sinners, holds this day in the sight of heaven and earth. Return to Original English Version

petitioning /pəˈtɪʃənɪŋ/ — solicitando formalmente. Then, for heaven’s sake, having Harold Skimpole, a confiding child, petitioning you, the world, an agglomeration of practical people of business habits, to let him live and admire the human family, do it somehow or other, like good souls, and suffer him to ride his rocking-horse!” Return to Original English Version

petting /ˈpɛtɪŋ/ — acariciando. “Not of Jarndyce and Jarndyce?” said Mr. Kenge, looking over his glasses at me and softly turning the case about and about as if he were petting something. Return to Original English Version

petulant /ˈpetʃələnt/ — petulante; rabugento. We thought this very characteristic of his eccentric gentleness and of the difference between him and those petulant people who make the weather and the winds (particularly that unlucky wind which he had chosen for such a different purpose) the stalking-horses of their splenetic and gloomy humours. Return to Original English Version

pewter /ˈpjuːtər/ — estanho; peltre. Some pewter pots and a milk-can hung on the area railings; the door stood open; and we met the cook round the corner coming out of a public-house, wiping her mouth. Return to Original English Version

pheasants /ˈfɛzənts/ — faisões. Therefore my Lady Dedlock has come away from the place in Lincolnshire and has left it to the rain, and the crows, and the rabbits, and the deer, and the partridges and pheasants. Return to Original English Version

philanthropists /fɪˈlænθrəpɪsts/ — filantropos. Mr. Jarndyce, who is desirous to aid any work that is considered likely to be a good work and who is much sought after by philanthropists, has, I believe, a very high opinion of Mrs. Jellyby.” Return to Original English Version

physic /ˈfɪzɪk/ — medicina; arte de curar (arcaico). And he told us, with great humour, that when he was wanted to bleed the prince or physic any of his people, he was generally found lying on his back in bed, reading the newspapers or making fancy-sketches in pencil, and couldn’t come. Return to Original English Version

pianoforte /piˌænoʊˈfɔːrteɪ/ — pianoforte. Eighteen of Mr. Tangle’s learned friends, each armed with a little summary of eighteen hundred sheets, bob up like eighteen hammers in a pianoforte, make eighteen bows, and drop into their eighteen places of obscurity. Return to Original English Version

piccadilly /ˌpɪkəˈdɪli/ — Piccadilly. We have arrngd for your being forded, carriage free, pr eight o’clock coach from Reading, on Monday morning next, to White Horse Cellar, Piccadilly, London, where one of our clks will be in waiting to convey you to our offe as above. Return to Original English Version

pickle /ˈpɪkl/ — conserva em vinagre. In all parts of the window were quantities of dirty bottles - blacking bottles, medicine bottles, ginger-beer and soda-water bottles, pickle bottles, wine bottles, ink bottles; I am reminded by mentioning the latter that the shop had in several little particulars the air of being in a legal neighbourhood and of being, as it were, a dirty hanger-on and disowned relation of the law. Return to Original English Version

pickles /ˈpɪklz/ — picles. Every part of the house was in such order, and every one was so attentive to me, that I had no trouble with my two bunches of keys, though what with trying to remember the contents of each little store-room drawer and cupboard; and what with making notes on a slate about jams, and pickles, and preserves, and bottles, and glass, and china, and a great many other things; and what with being generally a methodical, old-maidish sort of foolish little person, I was so busy that I could not believe it was breakfast-time when I heard the bell ring. Return to Original English Version

piecemeal /ˈpiːsmiːl/ — aos poucos; pedaço por pedaço. She stopped to tell us in a whisper as we were going down that the whole house was filled with strange lumber which her landlord had bought piecemeal and had no wish to sell, in consequence of being a little M. This was on the first floor. Return to Original English Version

pigeons /ˈpɪdʒənz/ — pombos. The horses in the stables - the long stables in a barren, red-brick court-yard, where there is a great bell in a turret, and a clock with a large face, which the pigeons who live near it and who love to perch upon its shoulders seem to be always consulting - THEY may contemplate some mental pictures of fine weather on occasions, and may be better artists at them than the grooms. Return to Original English Version

piled /paɪld/ — amontoamos; empilhamos. On such an afternoon the various solicitors in the cause, some two or three of whom have inherited it from their fathers, who made a fortune by it, ought to be - as are they not? - ranged in a line, in a long matted well (but you might look in vain for truth at the bottom of it) between the registrar’s red table and the silk gowns, with bills, cross-bills, answers, rejoinders, injunctions, affidavits, issues, references to masters, masters’ reports, mountains of costly nonsense, piled before them. Return to Original English Version

pinafore /ˈpɪnæfɔrɛ/ — avental infantil. This was so favourably received by the milkman and beadle that he would immediately have been pushed into the area if I had not held his pinafore while Richard and Mr. Guppy ran down through the kitchen to catch him when he should be released. Return to Original English Version

pinching /ˈpɪnʧɪŋ/ — beliscar. Fog in the eyes and throats of ancient Greenwich pensioners, wheezing by the firesides of their wards; fog in the stem and bowl of the afternoon pipe of the wrathful skipper, down in his close cabin; fog cruelly pinching the toes and fingers of his shivering little ’prentice boy on deck. Return to Original English Version

pincushions /ˈpɪnkʌʃɪɒns/ — almofadinhas de alfinetes. All the movables, from the wardrobes to the chairs and tables, hangings, glasses, even to the pincushions and scent-bottles on the dressing-tables, displayed the same quaint variety. Return to Original English Version

pitchfork /ˈpɪtʃfɔːrk/ — forcado. The old roan, so famous for cross-country work, turning his large eyeball to the grated window near his rack, may remember the fresh leaves that glisten there at other times and the scents that stream in, and may have a fine run with the hounds, while the human helper, clearing out the next stall, never stirs beyond his pitchfork and birch-broom. Return to Original English Version

pitiful /ˈpɪtɪfəl/ — lastimável; deplorável; que dá pena. I never saw a sight so pitiful as this before! Return to Original English Version

placidity /pləˈsɪdəti/ — placidez; serenidade. An exhausted composure, a worn-out placidity, an equanimity of fatigue not to be ruffled by interest or satisfaction, are the trophies of her victory. Return to Original English Version

plainer /pleɪn/ — mais simples. Many and many a time, in the day and in the night, with my head upon the pillow by her that my whispers might be plainer to her, I kissed her, thanked her, prayed for her, asked her for her blessing and forgiveness, entreated her to give me the least sign that she knew or heard me. Return to Original English Version

plaintive /ˈpleɪntɪv/ — lamentoso. “I am thankful!” Mrs. Rouncewell is fond of her son but has a plaintive feeling towards him, much as if he were a very honourable soldier who had gone over to the enemy. Return to Original English Version

pleasanter /ˈplɛzəntər/ — mais agradável. We went our way through the sunshine and the fresh air, wondering more and more at the extent of the streets, the brilliancy of the shops, the great traffic, and the crowds of people whom the pleasanter weather seemed to have brought out like many-coloured flowers. Return to Original English Version

pleasantest /ˈplɛzəntɪst/ — mais agradável. At which my guardian only laughed the pleasantest laugh I ever heard. Return to Original English Version

pleasantry /ˈplezəntri/ — gracejo; amabilidade. The last Lord Chancellor handled it neatly, when, correcting Mr. Blowers, the eminent silk gown who said that such a thing might happen when the sky rained potatoes, he observed, “or when we get through Jarndyce and Jarndyce, Mr. Blowers” - a pleasantry that particularly tickled the maces, bags, and purses. Return to Original English Version

ploughboy /ˈplaʊbɔɪ/ — jovem lavrador. Gas looming through the fog in divers places in the streets, much as the sun may, from the spongey fields, be seen to loom by husbandman and ploughboy. Return to Original English Version

plump /plʌmp/ — rechonchudo; roliço. She was a pretty, very diminutive, plump woman of from forty to fifty, with handsome eyes, though they had a curious habit of seeming to look a long way off. Return to Original English Version

plums /plʌmz/ — ameixas. Couldn’t you - didn’t you - now, if it had rained sugar-plums, or three-cornered raspberry tarts, or anything of that sort!” said Mr. Jarndyce. Return to Original English Version

Original Text: Rare Words (6/8)

poking /ˈpoʊkɪŋ/ — cutucando; enfiando; bisbilhotando. Nobody had appeared belonging to the house except a person in pattens, who had been poking at the child from below with a broom; I don’t know with what object, and I don’t think she did. Return to Original English Version

pollutions /pəˈluːʃənz/ — poluições. Fog up the river, where it flows among green aits and meadows; fog down the river, where it rolls defiled among the tiers of shipping and the waterside pollutions of a great (and dirty) city. Return to Original English Version

pooh /puː/ — ora essa; bah. Pooh! Return to Original English Version

poring /ˈpɔːrɪŋ/ — debruçado sobre; estudando com afinco. He gave it its present name and lived here shut up, day and night poring over the wicked heaps of papers in the suit and hoping against hope to disentangle it from its mystification and bring it to a close. Return to Original English Version

portly /ˈpɔːrtli/ — corpulento e digno; entroncado. A portly, important-looking gentleman, dressed all in black, with a white cravat, large gold watch seals, a pair of gold eye-glasses, and a large seal-ring upon his little finger. Return to Original English Version

postilion /pɑːˈstɪliən/ — postilhão. “Our postilion is looking after the waggoner,” said Richard, “and the waggoner is coming back after us. Return to Original English Version

pouting /ˈpaʊtɪŋ/ — fazendo bico. She still stood pouting and frowning at me, but presently put down her egg-cup and turned softly towards the bed where Ada lay. Return to Original English Version

prebendary /ˈprɛbənˌdɛri/ — prebendário. There are about thirty cases on record, of which the most famous, that of the Countess Cornelia de Baudi Cesenate, was minutely investigated and described by Giuseppe Bianchini, a prebendary of Verona, otherwise distinguished in letters, who published an account of it at Verona in 1731, which he afterwards republished at Rome. Return to Original English Version

precaution /prɪˈkɔʃən/ — precaução. With precaution,” said Mrs. Jellyby. Return to Original English Version

precedents /ˈpresɪdənts/ — precedentes. On such an afternoon some score of members of the High Court of Chancery bar ought to be - as here they are - mistily engaged in one of the ten thousand stages of an endless cause, tripping one another up on slippery precedents, groping knee-deep in technicalities, running their goat-hair and horsehair warded heads against walls of words and making a pretence of equity with serious faces, as players might. Return to Original English Version

precepts /ˈpriːsepts/ — preceitos. The young man inclines his head in acknowledgment of the precepts of experience. Return to Original English Version

precincts /ˈpriːsɪŋkts/ — recintos; imediações; circunscrições. Mrs. Jellyby charged us with many remembrances to her good friend Mr. Jarndyce; Caddy left her desk to see us depart, kissed me in the passage, and stood biting her pen and sobbing on the steps; Peepy, I am happy to say, was asleep and spared the pain of separation (I was not without misgivings that he had gone to Newgate market in search of me); and all the other children got up behind the barouche and fell off, and we saw them, with great concern, scattered over the surface of Thavies Inn as we rolled out of its precincts. Return to Original English Version

prejudices /ˈpredʒədɪsɪz/ — preconceitos; ideias preconcebidas. Yet every dim little star revolving about her, from her maid to the manager of the Italian Opera, knows her weaknesses, prejudices, follies, haughtinesses, and caprices and lives upon as accurate a calculation and as nice a measure of her moral nature as her dressmaker takes of her physical proportions. Return to Original English Version

prematurely /ˌpriːməˈtʊrli/ — prematuramente; antes da hora. “Begludship’s pardon - boy,” says Mr. Tangle prematurely. Return to Original English Version

prentice /ˈprentɪs/ — aprendiz (forma popular). Fog in the eyes and throats of ancient Greenwich pensioners, wheezing by the firesides of their wards; fog in the stem and bowl of the afternoon pipe of the wrathful skipper, down in his close cabin; fog cruelly pinching the toes and fingers of his shivering little ’prentice boy on deck. Return to Original English Version

prepossession /ˌpriːpəˈzɛʃən/ — predisposição favorável. We all conceived a prepossession in his favour, for there was a sterling quality in this laugh, and in his vigorous, healthy voice, and in the roundness and fullness with which he uttered every word he spoke, and in the very fury of his superlatives, which seemed to go off like blank cannons and hurt nothing. Return to Original English Version

prescribe /prɪˈskraɪb/ — prescrever. He told us, however, that as he had always been a mere child in point of weights and measures and had never known anything about them (except that they disgusted him), he had never been able to prescribe with the requisite accuracy of detail. Return to Original English Version

presentiment /prɪˈzɛntɪmənt/ — pressentimento. I have a presentiment that he WILL mention it the first thing this morning.” Return to Original English Version

preserves /prɪˈzɜːrvz/ — preserva; conserva. Every part of the house was in such order, and every one was so attentive to me, that I had no trouble with my two bunches of keys, though what with trying to remember the contents of each little store-room drawer and cupboard; and what with making notes on a slate about jams, and pickles, and preserves, and bottles, and glass, and china, and a great many other things; and what with being generally a methodical, old-maidish sort of foolish little person, I was so busy that I could not believe it was breakfast-time when I heard the bell ring. Return to Original English Version

pressingly /ˈprɛsɪŋli/ — insistentemente. She became so fantastically and pressingly earnest in her entreaties that we would walk up and see her apartment for an instant, and was so bent, in her harmless way, on leading me in, as part of the good omen she desired, that I (whatever the others might do) saw nothing for it but to comply. Return to Original English Version

pretence /prɪˈtɛns/ — pretexto. On such an afternoon some score of members of the High Court of Chancery bar ought to be - as here they are - mistily engaged in one of the ten thousand stages of an endless cause, tripping one another up on slippery precedents, groping knee-deep in technicalities, running their goat-hair and horsehair warded heads against walls of words and making a pretence of equity with serious faces, as players might. Return to Original English Version

pretences /prɪˈtɛnsɪz/ — pretextos. In trickery, evasion, procrastination, spoliation, botheration, under false pretences of all sorts, there are influences that can never come to good. Return to Original English Version

pretensions /prɪˈtenʃənz/ — pretensões; presunções. On my return downstairs, I felt that Mrs. Jellyby looked down upon me rather for being so frivolous, and I was sorry for it, though at the same time I knew that I had no higher pretensions. Return to Original English Version

prettily /ˈprɪtɪli/ — de modo bonito. “They attend matins with me (very prettily done) at half-past six o’clock in the morning all the year round, including of course the depth of winter,” said Mrs. Pardiggle rapidly, “and they are with me during the revolving duties of the day. Return to Original English Version

prevails /prɪˈveɪlz/ — prevalece. “When the leaves are falling from the trees and there are no more flowers in bloom to make up into nosegays for the Lord Chancellor’s court,” said the old lady, “the vacation is fulfilled and the sixth seal, mentioned in the Revelations, again prevails. Return to Original English Version

pricks /prɪks/ — picadas; pontinhos de alfinete. The grey, whose place is opposite the door and who with an impatient rattle of his halter pricks his ears and turns his head so wistfully when it is opened, and to whom the opener says, “Woa grey, then, steady! Return to Original English Version

princesses /ˈprɪnsɛsɪz/ — princesas. I was brought up, from my earliest remembrance - like some of the princesses in the fairy stories, only I was not charming - by my godmother. Return to Original English Version

principally /ˈprɪnsəpli/ — principalmente. She carries some small litter in a reticule which she calls her documents, principally consisting of paper matches and dry lavender. Return to Original English Version

prisoner's /ˈprɪzənərz/ — do prisioneiro. Nothing can possibly come of the prisoner’s conglomeration but his being sent back to prison, which is soon done. Return to Original English Version

privateer /ˌpraɪvəˈtɪr/ — corsário. I only wish I had the command of a clipping privateer to begin with and could carry off the Chancellor and keep him on short allowance until he gave judgment in our cause. Return to Original English Version

privy /ˈprɪvi/ — secreto. There is the registrar below the judge, in wig and gown; and there are two or three maces, or petty-bags, or privy purses, or whatever they may be, in legal court suits. Return to Original English Version

proclaim /prəˈkleɪm/ — proclamar. The Chancellor rises; the bar rises; the prisoner is brought forward in a hurry; the man from Shropshire cries, “My lord!” Maces, bags, and purses indignantly proclaim silence and frown at the man from Shropshire. Return to Original English Version

procrastination /proʊˌkræstɪˈneɪʃən/ — procrastinação. In trickery, evasion, procrastination, spoliation, botheration, under false pretences of all sorts, there are influences that can never come to good. Return to Original English Version

prodigiously /prəˈdɪdʒəsli/ — prodigiosamente; sem parar. Both the world of fashion and the Court of Chancery are things of precedent and usage: oversleeping Rip Van Winkles who have played at strange games through a deal of thundery weather; sleeping beauties whom the knight will wake one day, when all the stopped spits in the kitchen shall begin to turn prodigiously! Return to Original English Version

prolixities /proʊˈlɪksɪtiz/ — prolixidades. Sir Leicester in a great chair looks at the file and appears to have a stately liking for the legal repetitions and prolixities as ranging among the national bulwarks. Return to Original English Version

proofs /pruːfs/ — provas; demonstrações. When every minute added to the proofs of love and kindness that were given me in those five days, and when at last the morning came and when they took me through all the rooms that I might see them for the last time, and when some cried, “Esther, dear, say good-bye to me here at my bedside, where you first spoke so kindly to me!” and when others asked me only to write their names, “With Esther’s love,” and when they all surrounded me with their parting presents and clung to me weeping and cried, “What shall we do when dear, dear Esther’s gone!” and when I tried to tell them how forbearing and how good they had all been to me and how I blessed and thanked them every one, what a heart I had! Return to Original English Version

propensity /prəˈpensəti/ — propensão; tendência. This propensity gave Mrs. Rouncewell great uneasiness. Return to Original English Version

propped /prɑːpt/ — escorado; apoiado. I can remember, when I was a very little girl indeed, I used to say to my doll when we were alone together, “Now, Dolly, I am not clever, you know very well, and you must be patient with me, like a dear!” And so she used to sit propped up in a great arm-chair, with her beautiful complexion and rosy lips, staring at me - or not so much at me, I think, as at nothing - while I busily stitched away and told her every one of my secrets. Return to Original English Version

propriety /prʌpraɪʌti/ — decoro. After the first six months or so I had taken Miss Donny’s advice in reference to the propriety of writing to Mr. Kenge to say that I was happy and grateful, and with her approval I had written such a letter. Return to Original English Version

prostrate /ˈprɑːstreɪt/ — prostrado; por terra; prostrar-se. She threw open a door and I went into a chamber, where, to my unspeakable surprise, instead of finding Mr. Skimpole stretched upon the bed or prostrate on the floor, I found him standing before the fire smiling at Richard, while Richard, with a face of great embarrassment, looked at a person on the sofa, in a white great-coat, with smooth hair upon his head and not much of it, which he was wiping smoother and making less of with a pocket-handkerchief. Return to Original English Version

prostration /prɑːˈstreɪʃən/ — prostração. There are deferential people in a dozen callings whom my Lady Dedlock suspects of nothing but prostration before her, who can tell you how to manage her as if she were a baby, who do nothing but nurse her all their lives, who, humbly affecting to follow with profound subservience, lead her and her whole troop after them; who, in hooking one, hook all and bear them off as Lemuel Gulliver bore away the stately fleet of the majestic Lilliput. Return to Original English Version

protracted /proʊˈtræktɪd/ — prolongado; arrastado. Nor could I wonder, judging even from my emotions, and I was no party in the suit, that to hearts so untried and fresh it was a shock to come into the inheritance of a protracted misery, attended in the minds of many people with such dreadful recollections. Return to Original English Version

prowled /praʊld/ — rondou; espreitou. At the doors and windows some men and women lounged or prowled about, and took little notice of us except to laugh to one another or to say something as we passed about gentlefolks minding their own business and not troubling their heads and muddying their shoes with coming to look after other people’s. Return to Original English Version

proxying /ˈprɑːksiɪŋ/ — votação por procuração. There had been a quantity of printing, and promising, and proxying, and polling, and it appeared to have imparted great liveliness to all concerned, except the pensioners - who were not elected yet. Return to Original English Version

prudence /ˈpruːdəns/ — prudência. With a buoyancy and hopefulness and a gaiety that hardly ever flagged, Richard had a carelessness in his character that quite perplexed me, principally because he mistook it, in such a very odd way, for prudence. Return to Original English Version

prudent /prudʌnt/ — prudente. “My prudent Mother Hubbard, why not?” he said to me when he wanted, without the least consideration, to bestow five pounds on the brickmaker. Return to Original English Version

prunings /ˈpruːnɪŋz/ — galhos podados. The weather for many a day and night has been so wet that the trees seem wet through, and the soft loppings and prunings of the woodman’s axe can make no crash or crackle as they fall. Return to Original English Version

pry /praɪ/ — bisbilhotar; forçar com alavanca. Now you’re a-going to poll-pry and question according to custom - I know what you’re a-going to be up to. Return to Original English Version

puckered /ˈpʌkərd/ — franzir. His throat, chin, and eyebrows were so frosted with white hairs and so gnarled with veins and puckered skin that he looked from his breast upward like some old root in a fall of snow. Return to Original English Version

pulpit /ˈpʊlpɪt/ — púlpito. On Sundays the little church in the park is mouldy; the oaken pulpit breaks out into a cold sweat; and there is a general smell and taste as of the ancient Dedlocks in their graves. Return to Original English Version

punctured /ˈpʌŋktʃərd/ — furado. The adjacent low-lying ground for half a mile in breadth is a stagnant river with melancholy trees for islands in it and a surface punctured all over, all day long, with falling rain. Return to Original English Version

purblind /ˈpɜːrblaɪnd/ — quase cego; de visão fraca. The purblind day was feebly struggling with the fog when I opened my eyes to encounter those of a dirty-faced little spectre fixed upon me. Return to Original English Version

purses /ˈpɜːrsɪz/ — bolsas. There is the registrar below the judge, in wig and gown; and there are two or three maces, or petty-bags, or privy purses, or whatever they may be, in legal court suits. Return to Original English Version

pursuits /pərˈsuːts/ — ocupações; buscas. “Everything is ready for you, Esther,” said Miss Donny, “and the scheme of your pursuits has been arranged in exact accordance with the wishes of your guardian, Mr. Jarndyce.” Return to Original English Version

puss /pʊs/ — gato; bichano. I was not so attentive an auditor as I might have wished to be, however, for Peepy and the other children came flocking about Ada and me in a corner of the drawing-room to ask for another story; so we sat down among them and told them in whispers “Puss in Boots” and I don’t know what else until Mrs. Jellyby, accidentally remembering them, sent them to bed. Return to Original English Version

pyre /ˈpaɪər/ — pira funerária. If all the injustice it has committed and all the misery it has caused could only be locked up with it, and the whole burnt away in a great funeral pyre - why so much the better for other parties than the parties in Jarndyce and Jarndyce! Return to Original English Version

quadrangle /ˈkwɒdræŋɡəl/ — quadrilátero. The house is there in all weathers, and the house, as she expresses it, “is what she looks at.” She sits in her room (in a side passage on the ground floor, with an arched window commanding a smooth quadrangle, adorned at regular intervals with smooth round trees and smooth round blocks of stone, as if the trees were going to play at bowls with the stones), and the whole house reposes on her mind. Return to Original English Version

quagmires /ˈkwæɡmaɪərz/ — atoleiros. The deer, looking soaked, leave quagmires where they pass. Return to Original English Version

quaint /kweɪnt/ — pitoresco. All the movables, from the wardrobes to the chairs and tables, hangings, glasses, even to the pincushions and scent-bottles on the dressing-tables, displayed the same quaint variety. Return to Original English Version

quickened /ˈkwɪkənd/ — acelerou; apressou-se. I have mentioned that unless my vanity should deceive me (as I know it may, for I may be very vain without suspecting it, though indeed I don’t), my comprehension is quickened when my affection is. Return to Original English Version

quickness /ˈkwɪknəs/ — rapidez. My disposition is very affectionate, and perhaps I might still feel such a wound if such a wound could be received more than once with the quickness of that birthday. Return to Original English Version

quietude /ˈkwaɪətuːd/ — quietude. We drove slowly through the dirtiest and darkest streets that ever were seen in the world (I thought) and in such a distracting state of confusion that I wondered how the people kept their senses, until we passed into sudden quietude under an old gateway and drove on through a silent square until we came to an odd nook in a corner, where there was an entrance up a steep, broad flight of stairs, like an entrance to a church. Return to Original English Version

quoth /kwoʊθ/ — disse (forma arcaica de said). “Better now,” quoth Sir Leicester, motioning the lawyer to sit down and read to him alone. Return to Original English Version

rachael's /ˈreɪtʃəlz/ — de Rachael. So I told him that I thought I must have been crying because of my godmother’s death and because of Mrs. Rachael’s not being sorry to part with me. Return to Original English Version

radiant /ˈreɪdiənt/ — radiante; resplandecente. It was past twelve before he took his candle and his radiant face out of the room, and I think he might have kept us there, if he had seen fit, until daybreak. Return to Original English Version

rafters /ˈræftərz/ — vigas do telhado; caibros. Leaving this address (delivered like a sepulchral message) ringing in the rafters of the roof, the very little counsel drops, and the fog knows him no more. Return to Original English Version

railed /reɪld/ — vociferou contra. The shawl in which she had been loosely muffled dropped onto her chair when she advanced to us; and as she turned to resume her seat, we could not help noticing that her dress didn’t nearly meet up the back and that the open space was railed across with a lattice-work of stay-lace - like a summer-house. Return to Original English Version

rambled /ˈræmbəld/ — saiu vagando; foi-se embora sem rumo. Although she sometimes asked a question, she never seemed to expect a reply, but rambled on as if she were in the habit of doing so when no one but herself was present. Return to Original English Version

rapacious /rəˈpeɪʃəs/ — rapace; voraz; ávido. Among the ladies who were most distinguished for this rapacious benevolence (if I may use the expression) was a Mrs. Pardiggle, who seemed, as I judged from the number of her letters to Mr. Jarndyce, to be almost as powerful a correspondent as Mrs. Jellyby herself. Return to Original English Version

rapidity /rəˈpɪdəti/ — rapidez; celeridade. In the same odd way, yet with the same rapidity, he then produced singly, and rubbed out singly, the letters forming the words Bleak House. Return to Original English Version

rapt /ræpt/ — absorto; arrebatado. He seemed so rapt all in a moment and looked so curiously at us that Richard said, “Why, you appear to trouble yourself a good deal about the causes before your noble and learned brother, the other Chancellor!” Return to Original English Version

rapture /ˈræptʃər/ — arrebatamento; deleite. If she could be translated to heaven to-morrow, she might be expected to ascend without any rapture. Return to Original English Version

rascals /ˈræskəlz/ — malandros; velhacos. My head ached with wondering how it happened, if men were neither fools nor rascals; and my heart ached to think they could possibly be either. Return to Original English Version

rattle /ˈrætəl/ — chocalhar; matraquear; estrépito. The grey, whose place is opposite the door and who with an impatient rattle of his halter pricks his ears and turns his head so wistfully when it is opened, and to whom the opener says, “Woa grey, then, steady! Return to Original English Version

rattling /ˈrætlɪŋ/ — chacoalhante. I hadn’t hardly got back here when I heard a shot go echoing and rattling right away into the inn. Return to Original English Version

rawest /rɔ/ — mais cru. The raw afternoon is rawest, and the dense fog is densest, and the muddy streets are muddiest near that leaden-headed old obstruction, appropriate ornament for the threshold of a leaden-headed old corporation, Temple Bar. Return to Original English Version

reams riːmz — grandes quantidades de papel. From the master upon whose impaling files reams of dusty warrants in Jarndyce and Jarndyce have grimly writhed into many shapes, down to the copying-clerk in the Six Clerks’ Office who has copied his tens of thousands of Chancery folio-pages under that eternal heading, no man’s nature has been made better by it. Return to Original English Version

reappeared ˌri˙əˈpɪrd — reapareceu. On the day after my poor good godmother was buried, the gentleman in black with the white neckcloth reappeared. Return to Original English Version

reasoned /ˈriːzənd/ — raciocinou; concluiu; ponderado. “Keep your temper, my good fellow, keep your temper!” Mr. Skimpole gently reasoned with him as he made a little drawing of his head on the fly-leaf of a book. Return to Original English Version

rece /rɪˈsiːv/ — receber. Our clt Mr. Jarndyce being abt to rece into his house, under an Order of the Ct of Chy, a Ward of the Ct in this cause, for whom he wishes to secure an elgble compn, directs us to inform you that he will be glad of your serces in the afsd capacity. Return to Original English Version

recollect /ˌrekəˈlekt/ — recordar; recompor-se. I had never worn a black frock, that I could recollect. Return to Original English Version

recollected /ˌrekəˈlektɪd/ — recordou-se; recompôs-se. He had told Ada, when they were leaning on the screen before the fire where I found them, that he recollected him as “a bluff, rosy fellow.” This was the utmost description Ada could give me. Return to Original English Version

recollections ˌrɛkəˈlɛkʃənz — lembranças. Nor could I wonder, judging even from my emotions, and I was no party in the suit, that to hearts so untried and fresh it was a shock to come into the inheritance of a protracted misery, attended in the minds of many people with such dreadful recollections. Return to Original English Version

reconsigning ˌriːkənˈsaɪnɪŋ — devolvendo novamente. Thus they pass on from room to room, raising the pictured Dedlocks for a few brief minutes as the young gardener admits the light, and reconsigning them to their graves as he shuts it out again. Return to Original English Version

refreshment /rɪˈfreʃmənt/ — refresco; comida e bebida; alívio. He left his compliments, and would you partake of some refreshment” - there were biscuits and a decanter of wine on a small table - “and look over the paper,” which the young gentleman gave me as he spoke. Return to Original English Version

regaining /rɪˈɡeɪnɪŋ/ — recuperando; readquirindo. I have discovered,” whispering mysteriously, “that her natural cruelty is sharpened by a jealous fear of their regaining their liberty. Return to Original English Version

registrar /ˌrɛdʒɪˈstrɑːr/ — oficial de registro; escrivão. There is the registrar below the judge, in wig and gown; and there are two or three maces, or petty-bags, or privy purses, or whatever they may be, in legal court suits. Return to Original English Version

registrar's /ˌrɛdʒɪˈstrɑːrz/ — do oficial de registro; do escrivão. On such an afternoon the various solicitors in the cause, some two or three of whom have inherited it from their fathers, who made a fortune by it, ought to be - as are they not? - ranged in a line, in a long matted well (but you might look in vain for truth at the bottom of it) between the registrar’s red table and the silk gowns, with bills, cross-bills, answers, rejoinders, injunctions, affidavits, issues, references to masters, masters’ reports, mountains of costly nonsense, piled before them. Return to Original English Version

regulars ˈrɛɡjələrz — frequentadores habituais. The short-hand writers, the reporters of the court, and the reporters of the newspapers invariably decamp with the rest of the regulars when Jarndyce and Jarndyce comes on. Return to Original English Version

rejoice rɪˈdʒɔɪs — alegrar-se. I rejoice to see you! Return to Original English Version

rejoicings /rɪˈdʒɔɪsɪŋz/ — festejos; regozijos. There were rejoicings at home on other birthdays, as I knew from what I heard the girls relate to one another - there were none on mine. Return to Original English Version

rejoinders rɪˈdʒɔɪndərz — réplicas. On such an afternoon the various solicitors in the cause, some two or three of whom have inherited it from their fathers, who made a fortune by it, ought to be - as are they not? - ranged in a line, in a long matted well (but you might look in vain for truth at the bottom of it) between the registrar’s red table and the silk gowns, with bills, cross-bills, answers, rejoinders, injunctions, affidavits, issues, references to masters, masters’ reports, mountains of costly nonsense, piled before them. Return to Original English Version

relapsed /rɪˈlæpst/ — recaiu. I may mention that Miss Jellyby had relapsed into her sulky manner and that I really should not have thought she liked me much unless she had told me so. Return to Original English Version

relapsing /rɪˈlæpsɪŋ/ — recaindo. She was by that time perseveringly dictating to Caddy, and Caddy was fast relapsing into the inky condition in which we had found her. Return to Original English Version

relent rɪˈlɛnt — ceder. I have forgiven her” - but her face did not relent - “the wrong she did to me, and I say no more of it, though it was greater than you will ever know - than any one will ever know but I, the sufferer. Return to Original English Version

remarking /rɪˈmɑːrkɪŋ/ — observando; comentando. Jellyby,” pursued the lady, always speaking in the same demonstrative, loud, hard tone, so that her voice impressed my fancy as if it had a sort of spectacles on too - and I may take the opportunity of remarking that her spectacles were made the less engaging by her eyes being what Ada called “choking eyes,” meaning very prominent - “Mrs. Return to Original English Version

remembrances /rɪˈmembrənsɪz/ — lembranças; recordações. Mrs. Jellyby charged us with many remembrances to her good friend Mr. Jarndyce; Caddy left her desk to see us depart, kissed me in the passage, and stood biting her pen and sobbing on the steps; Peepy, I am happy to say, was asleep and spared the pain of separation (I was not without misgivings that he had gone to Newgate market in search of me); and all the other children got up behind the barouche and fell off, and we saw them, with great concern, scattered over the surface of Thavies Inn as we rolled out of its precincts. Return to Original English Version

remonstrate /rɪˈmɑːnstreɪt/ — protestar; objetar. I was going to remonstrate. Return to Original English Version

remonstrated /rɪˈmɑːnstreɪtɪd/ — protestou; objetou. “My dear!” I remonstrated, in allusion to the epithet and the vigorous emphasis Miss Jellyby set upon it. Return to Original English Version

remonstrative rɪˈmɒnstrətɪv — de protesto. The man from Shropshire ventures another remonstrative “My lord!” but the Chancellor, being aware of him, has dexterously vanished. Return to Original English Version

remotest /rɪˈmoʊtəst/ — a mais remota; a mais distante. “By my soul, Jarndyce,” returned his guest, who seemed to refer to his watch, “if you had been married, I would have turned back at the garden-gate and gone away to the remotest summits of the Himalaya Mountains sooner than I would have presented myself at this unseasonable hour.” Return to Original English Version

renouncing rɪˈnaʊnsɪŋ — renunciando. “I - certainly - did - NOT,” said Coavinses, whose doggedness in utterly renouncing the idea was of that intense kind that he could only give adequate expression to it by putting a long interval between each word, and accompanying the last with a jerk that might have dislocated his neck. Return to Original English Version

repassing ˌriːˈpæsɪŋ — passando novamente. Thus interrupted, Miss Jellyby became silent and walked moodily on at my side while I admired the long successions and varieties of streets, the quantity of people already going to and fro, the number of vehicles passing and repassing, the busy preparations in the setting forth of shop windows and the sweeping out of shops, and the extraordinary creatures in rags secretly groping among the swept-out rubbish for pins and other refuse. Return to Original English Version

repetitions ˌrɛpɪˈtɪʃən — repetição. Sir Leicester in a great chair looks at the file and appears to have a stately liking for the legal repetitions and prolixities as ranging among the national bulwarks. Return to Original English Version

reposes rɪˈpoʊz — repouso. The house is there in all weathers, and the house, as she expresses it, “is what she looks at.” She sits in her room (in a side passage on the ground floor, with an arched window commanding a smooth quadrangle, adorned at regular intervals with smooth round trees and smooth round blocks of stone, as if the trees were going to play at bowls with the stones), and the whole house reposes on her mind. Return to Original English Version

reproachful /rɪˈproʊtʃfəl/ — de censura; de reprovação. When she gave me one cold parting kiss upon my forehead, like a thaw-drop from the stone porch - it was a very frosty day - I felt so miserable and self-reproachful that I clung to her and told her it was my fault, I knew, that she could say good-bye so easily! Return to Original English Version

republished ˌriːˈpʌblɪʃ — republicar. There are about thirty cases on record, of which the most famous, that of the Countess Cornelia de Baudi Cesenate, was minutely investigated and described by Giuseppe Bianchini, a prebendary of Verona, otherwise distinguished in letters, who published an account of it at Verona in 1731, which he afterwards republished at Rome. Return to Original English Version

repulsed /rɪˈpʌlst/ — repelido; rechaçado. He hastened down to raise her, but she repulsed him as he bent over her, and looking at him fixedly and coldly, said, ‘I will die here where I have walked. Return to Original English Version

reputed /rɪˈpjuːtɪd/ — tido como; reputado. The old gentleman is rusty to look at, but is reputed to have made good thrift out of aristocratic marriage settlements and aristocratic wills, and to be very rich. Return to Original English Version

requisite /ˈrekwəzɪt/ — requisito; necessário; indispensável. Not that it’s requisite, I am sure,” said the young gentleman civilly. Return to Original English Version

resolute ˈrɛzəluːt — resoluto. For more than a week she lay there, little altered outwardly, with her old handsome resolute frown that I so well knew carved upon her face. Return to Original English Version

resounded /rɪˈzaʊndɪd/ — ressoou; retumbou. The dinner was put back an hour, and we were sitting round the fire with no light but the blaze when the hall-door suddenly burst open and the hall resounded with these words, uttered with the greatest vehemence and in a stentorian tone: “We have been misdirected, Jarndyce, by a most abandoned ruffian, who told us to take the turning to the right instead of to the left. Return to Original English Version

restlessness /ˈrestləsnəs/ — inquietação; desassossego. He was ardent and brave, and in the midst of all his wild restlessness, was so gentle that I knew him like a brother in a few weeks. Return to Original English Version

retainer /rɪˈteɪnər/ — servidor fiel; seguidor. It is eminently respectable, and likewise, in a general way, retainer-like. Return to Original English Version

reticles ˈretɪkəlz — bolsas pequenas. I noticed the scantiest necessaries in the way of furniture; a few old prints from books, of Chancellors and barristers, wafered against the wall; and some half-dozen reticles and work-bags, “containing documents,” as she informed us. Return to Original English Version

reticule ˈretɪkjuːl — bolsa pequena. She carries some small litter in a reticule which she calls her documents, principally consisting of paper matches and dry lavender. Return to Original English Version

retires rɪtaɪrz — retirar-se. Mr. Tulkinghorn retires into another chamber; bells ring, feet shuffle and patter, silence ensues. Return to Original English Version

revel /ˈrevəl/ — festança; folia. It is what I should revel in myself. Return to Original English Version

reverting /rɪˈvɜːrtɪŋ/ — voltando a; retomando. It entered into all his calculations about money in a singular manner which I don’t think I can better explain than by reverting for a moment to our loan to Mr. Skimpole. Return to Original English Version

revolving rivɑlvɪŋ — girando. Yet every dim little star revolving about her, from her maid to the manager of the Italian Opera, knows her weaknesses, prejudices, follies, haughtinesses, and caprices and lives upon as accurate a calculation and as nice a measure of her moral nature as her dressmaker takes of her physical proportions. Return to Original English Version

rheims /riːmz/ — Reims. The next most famous instance happened at Rheims six years earlier, and the historian in that case is Le Cat, one of the most renowned surgeons produced by France. Return to Original English Version

ribbons /ˈrɪbənz/ — fitas. He is of what is called the old school - a phrase generally meaning any school that seems never to have been young - and wears knee-breeches tied with ribbons, and gaiters or stockings. Return to Original English Version

rigging /ˈrɪɡɪŋ/ — cordame; enxárcia. Fog creeping into the cabooses of collier-brigs; fog lying out on the yards and hovering in the rigging of great ships; fog drooping on the gunwales of barges and small boats. Return to Original English Version

roan roʊn — ruao. The old roan, so famous for cross-country work, turning his large eyeball to the grated window near his rack, may remember the fresh leaves that glisten there at other times and the scents that stream in, and may have a fine run with the hounds, while the human helper, clearing out the next stall, never stirs beyond his pitchfork and birch-broom. Return to Original English Version

roundness /ˈraʊndnəs/ — redondeza. We all conceived a prepossession in his favour, for there was a sterling quality in this laugh, and in his vigorous, healthy voice, and in the roundness and fullness with which he uttered every word he spoke, and in the very fury of his superlatives, which seemed to go off like blank cannons and hurt nothing. Return to Original English Version

ruddy /ˈrʌdi/ — avermelhado; rubro. The gentleman who said these words in a clear, bright, hospitable voice had one of his arms round Ada’s waist and the other round mine, and kissed us both in a fatherly way, and bore us across the hall into a ruddy little room, all in a glow with a blazing fire. Return to Original English Version

ruffian /ˈrʌfiən/ — rufião; brutamontes. The dinner was put back an hour, and we were sitting round the fire with no light but the blaze when the hall-door suddenly burst open and the hall resounded with these words, uttered with the greatest vehemence and in a stentorian tone: “We have been misdirected, Jarndyce, by a most abandoned ruffian, who told us to take the turning to the right instead of to the left. Return to Original English Version

ruffled /ˈrʌfəld/ — com babados; franzido. An exhausted composure, a worn-out placidity, an equanimity of fatigue not to be ruffled by interest or satisfaction, are the trophies of her victory. Return to Original English Version

rung /rʌŋ/ — degrau; travessa de escada. A bell was rung as we drew up, and amidst the sound of its deep voice in the still air, and the distant barking of some dogs, and a gush of light from the opened door, and the smoking and steaming of the heated horses, and the quickened beating of our own hearts, we alighted in no inconsiderable confusion. Return to Original English Version

ry /ri/ — ri (segunda parte da palavra very). Ve-ry happy, I am sure, to have the honour! Return to Original English Version

sagacious /səˈɡeɪʃəs/ — sagaz; perspicaz. But of course I said nothing in reply except that I would do my best, though I feared (I really felt it necessary to repeat this) that he thought me much more sagacious than I was. Return to Original English Version

salaried ˈsælərid — assalariado. “He knows as much of the cause as the real salaried Chancellor!” said Richard, quite astonished, to Ada and me. Return to Original English Version

sallow /ˈsæloʊ/ — amarelado; macilento. A sallow prisoner has come up, in custody, for the half-dozenth time to make a personal application “to purge himself of his contempt,” which, being a solitary surviving executor who has fallen into a state of conglomeration about accounts of which it is not pretended that he had ever any knowledge, he is not at all likely ever to do. Return to Original English Version

salutations /ˌsæljəˈteɪʃənz/ — saudações; cumprimentos. He is found sometimes, speechless but quite at home, at corners of dinner-tables in great country houses and near doors of drawing-rooms, concerning which the fashionable intelligence is eloquent, where everybody knows him and where half the Peerage stops to say “How do you do, Mr. Tulkinghorn?” He receives these salutations with gravity and buries them along with the rest of his knowledge. Return to Original English Version

sanction /ˈsæŋkʃən/ — sanção; aprovação. And he is upon the whole of a fixed opinion that to give the sanction of his countenance to any complaints respecting it would be to encourage some person in the lower classes to rise up somewhere - like Wat Tyler. Return to Original English Version

sanguine /ˈsæŋɡwɪn/ — otimista; confiante. His gentleness was natural to him and would have shown itself abundantly even without Ada’s influence; but with it, he became one of the most winning of companions, always so ready to be interested and always so happy, sanguine, and light-hearted. Return to Original English Version

sapped /sæpt/ — esgotado. An arch of the bridge in the park has been sapped and sopped away. Return to Original English Version

saucepans /ˈsɔːspænz/ — panelas. Her second son would have been provided for at Chesney Wold and would have been made steward in due season, but he took, when he was a schoolboy, to constructing steam-engines out of saucepans and setting birds to draw their own water with the least possible amount of labour, so assisting them with artful contrivance of hydraulic pressure that a thirsty canary had only, in a literal sense, to put his shoulder to the wheel and the job was done. Return to Original English Version

saviour /ˈseɪviər/ — Salvador. I had come down at nine o’clock as I always did to read the Bible to her, and was reading from St. John how our Saviour stooped down, writing with his finger in the dust, when they brought the sinful woman to him. Return to Original English Version

scantiest /ˈskæntiɪst/ — o mais escasso. I noticed the scantiest necessaries in the way of furniture; a few old prints from books, of Chancellors and barristers, wafered against the wall; and some half-dozen reticles and work-bags, “containing documents,” as she informed us. Return to Original English Version

scarcely /\u02c8sk\u025brsli/ — mal. Horses, scarcely better; splashed to their very blinkers. Return to Original English Version

scarcer /\u02c8sk\u025brs\u0259r/ — mais raro. And scarcer,” says Mrs. Rouncewell, expanding her stomacher to its utmost limits, “than it formerly was!” Return to Original English Version

scarecrow /ˈskɛrkroʊ/ — espantalho. This scarecrow of a suit has, in course of time, become so complicated that no man alive knows what it means. Return to Original English Version

scarum /ˈskerəm/ — parte de harum-scarum (estouvado). Before I begin my harum-scarum day - grinding away at those books and instruments and then galloping up hill and down dale, all the country round, like a highwayman - it does me so much good to come and have a steady walk with our comfortable friend, that here I am again!” Return to Original English Version

scents /sɛnts/ — cheiros; aromas. By and by we began to leave the wonderful city and to proceed through suburbs which, of themselves, would have made a pretty large town in my eyes; and at last we got into a real country road again, with windmills, rick-yards, milestones, farmers’ waggons, scents of old hay, swinging signs, and horse troughs: trees, fields, and hedge-rows. Return to Original English Version

scornfully /ˈskɔːrnfəli/ — desdenhosamente; com desprezo. My Lady carelessly and scornfully abstracts her attention. Return to Original English Version

scoundrel /ˈskaʊndrəl/ — patife; canalha. He is the most intolerable scoundrel on the face of the earth. Return to Original English Version

scoundrels /ˈskaʊndrəlz/ — canalhas; patifes. By my soul, the countenance of that fellow when he was a boy was the blackest image of perfidy, cowardice, and cruelty ever set up as a scarecrow in a field of scoundrels. Return to Original English Version

scouring /ˈskaʊrɪŋ/ — esfregando; vasculhando. And I can’t abear to part with anything I once lay hold of (or so my neighbours think, but what do THEY know?) or to alter anything, or to have any sweeping, nor scouring, nor cleaning, nor repairing going on about me. Return to Original English Version

scrape /skreɪp/ — raspar; arranhar; apuro. And he’ll be in the same scrape again next week!” said Mr. Jarndyce, walking again at a great pace, with a candle in his hand that had gone out. Return to Original English Version

screwing /skru/ — apertando com parafuso. Why do you call it my allowance, and never let me spend it?” These exasperating questions so inflamed his mind and the minds of Oswald and Francis that they all pinched me at once, and in a dreadfully expert way - screwing up such little pieces of my arms that I could hardly forbear crying out. Return to Original English Version

scrolls /skroʊlz/ — pergaminhos. A little way within the shop-door lay heaps of old crackled parchment scrolls and discoloured and dog’s-eared law-papers. Return to Original English Version

seal's /siːl/ — da foca; do selo. These are the Great Seal’s impressions, my dear, all over England - the children know them!” Return to Original English Version

secretary's /ˈsekrəteri/ — do secretário; da secretária. They were going to raise new buildings, they were going to pay off debts on old buildings, they were going to establish in a picturesque building (engraving of proposed west elevation attached) the Sisterhood of Mediaeval Marys, they were going to give a testimonial to Mrs. Jellyby, they were going to have their secretary’s portrait painted and presented to his mother-in-law, whose deep devotion to him was well known, they were going to get up everything, I really believe, from five hundred thousand tracts to an annuity and from a marble monument to a silver tea-pot. Return to Original English Version

senseless /ˈsɛnsləs/ — sem sentidos; desacordado. “Indeed,” she pursued, “I positively doubt sometimes, I do assure you, whether while matters are still unsettled, and the sixth or Great Seal still prevails, I may not one day be found lying stark and senseless here, as I have found so many birds!” Return to Original English Version

sepulchral /səˈpʌlkrəl/ — sepulcral. Leaving this address (delivered like a sepulchral message) ringing in the rafters of the roof, the very little counsel drops, and the fog knows him no more. Return to Original English Version

seraphim /ˈsɛrəfɪm/ — serafins. “Miss Barbary, sir,” returned Mrs. Rachael, “who is now among the Seraphim - ” Return to Original English Version

serces /ˈsɜːrvɪsɪz/ — serviços. Our clt Mr. Jarndyce being abt to rece into his house, under an Order of the Ct of Chy, a Ward of the Ct in this cause, for whom he wishes to secure an elgble compn, directs us to inform you that he will be glad of your serces in the afsd capacity. Return to Original English Version

serene səˈriːn — sereno. Mrs. Jellyby merely added, with the serene composure with which she said everything, “Go along, you naughty Peepy!” and fixed her fine eyes on Africa again. Return to Original English Version

serenely /səˈriːnli/ — serenamente; sem se abalar. To see that composed court yesterday jogging on so serenely and to think of the wretchedness of the pieces on the board gave me the headache and the heartache both together. Return to Original English Version

serviceable /ˈsɜːrvɪsəbəl/ — utilizável; funcional; prestável. “ - Wished Esther only to know what would be serviceable to her. Return to Original English Version

servts /ˈsɜːrvənts/ — criados/servos. We are, Madam, Your obedt Servts, Return to Original English Version

sevenpence ˈsɛvənpəns — sete pence. “It’s twenty-four pound, sixteen, and sevenpence ha’penny,” observed the stranger. Return to Original English Version

sexton ˈsɛkstən — sacristão. Kenge and Carboy will have something to say about it; Master Somebody - a sort of ridiculous sexton, digging graves for the merits of causes in a back room at the end of Quality Court, Chancery Lane - will have something to say about it; counsel will have something to say about it; the Chancellor will have something to say about it; the satellites will have something to say about it; they will all have to be handsomely fee’d, all round, about it; the whole thing will be vastly ceremonious, wordy, unsatisfactory, and expensive, and I call it, in general, wiglomeration. Return to Original English Version

shabby /ˈʃæbi/ — surrado; maltrapilho; mesquinho. As it was of no use going on in that way, I put the paper down, took a peep at my bonnet in the glass to see if it was neat, and looked at the room, which was not half lighted, and at the shabby, dusty tables, and at the piles of writings, and at a bookcase full of the most inexpressive-looking books that ever had anything to say for themselves. Return to Original English Version

shading /ˈʃeɪdɪŋ/ — sombreando; protegendo do sol. It has been on again to-day,” Mr. Tulkinghorn replies, making one of his quiet bows to my Lady, who is on a sofa near the fire, shading her face with a hand-screen. Return to Original English Version

shakespeare's /ˈʃeɪkspɪrz/ — de Shakespeare. In such mouths I might have coupled it with an apt quotation from one of Shakespeare’s sonnets: Return to Original English Version

sham /ʃæm/ — fingimento; falso. What does she make a sham for, and pretend to give me money, and take it away again? Return to Original English Version

shan't ??nt — n?o vou. “You shan’t say you don’t. Return to Original English Version

sharking /ˈʃɑːrkɪŋ/ — explora??o. Shirking and sharking in all their many varieties have been sown broadcast by the ill-fated cause; and even those who have contemplated its history from the outermost circle of such evil have been insensibly tempted into a loose way of letting bad things alone to take their own bad course, and a loose belief that if the world go wrong it was in some off-hand manner never meant to go right. Return to Original English Version

sharpness /ˈʃɑːrpnəs/ — agudeza; aspereza. The shot of a rifle loses its sharpness in the moist air, and its smoke moves in a tardy little cloud towards the green rise, coppice-topped, that makes a background for the falling rain. Return to Original English Version

sheen ʃˈin — brilho. “If you want to address our people, sir,” say Blaze and Sparkle, the jewellers - meaning by our people Lady Dedlock and the rest - “you must remember that you are not dealing with the general public; you must hit our people in their weakest place, and their weakest place is such a place.” “To make this article go down, gentlemen,” say Sheen and Gloss, the mercers, to their friends the manufacturers, “you must come to us, because we know where to have the fashionable people, and we can make it fashionable.” “If you want to get this print upon the tables of my high connexion, sir,” says Mr. Sladdery, the librarian, “or if you want to get this dwarf or giant into the houses of my high connexion, sir, or if you want to secure to this entertainment the patronage of my high connexion, sir, you must leave it, if you please, to me, for I have been accustomed to study the leaders of my high connexion, sir, and I may tell you without vanity that I can turn them round my finger” - in which Mr. Sladdery, who is an honest man, does not exaggerate at all. Return to Original English Version

shipton /ˈʃɪptən/ — Shipton. This was the beginning of my being called Old Woman, and Little Old Woman, and Cobweb, and Mrs. Shipton, and Mother Hubbard, and Dame Durden, and so many names of that sort that my own name soon became quite lost among them. Return to Original English Version

shire ʃˈaɪr — condado. This is the Court of Chancery, which has its decaying houses and its blighted lands in every shire, which has its worn-out lunatic in every madhouse and its dead in every churchyard, which has its ruined suitor with his slipshod heels and threadbare dress borrowing and begging through the round of every man’s acquaintance, which gives to monied might the means abundantly of wearying out the right, which so exhausts finances, patience, courage, hope, so overthrows the brain and breaks the heart, that there is not an honourable man among its practitioners who would not give - who does not often give - the warning, “Suffer any wrong that can be done you rather than come here!” Return to Original English Version

shirking ʃˈɜrkɪŋ — fugindo ao dever. Shirking and sharking in all their many varieties have been sown broadcast by the ill-fated cause; and even those who have contemplated its history from the outermost circle of such evil have been insensibly tempted into a loose way of letting bad things alone to take their own bad course, and a loose belief that if the world go wrong it was in some off-hand manner never meant to go right. Return to Original English Version

shoed /ʃuː/ — calçou. Good things have been said about it by blue-nosed, bulbous-shoed old benchers in select port-wine committee after dinner in hall. Return to Original English Version

shrivelled /ʃrɪvʌl/ — murchou. It was not merely that they were weazened and shrivelled - though they were certainly that too - but they looked absolutely ferocious with discontent. Return to Original English Version

shrunk /ʃrʌŋk/ — encolhido; encolheu; recuou. But as Ada interposed and laughingly said she could only feel proud of such genuine admiration, Mr. Krook shrunk into his former self as suddenly as he had leaped out of it. Return to Original English Version

shudder /ˈʃʌdər/ — estremecimento; arrepio. He walked a little to and fro after saying this to himself with a shudder, and then looked at me, and brightened, and came and sat down again with his hands in his pockets. Return to Original English Version

shuffle /ˈʃʌfəl/ — arrastar de pés; passo arrastado. The very solicitors’ boys who have kept the wretched suitors at bay, by protesting time out of mind that Mr. Chizzle, Mizzle, or otherwise was particularly engaged and had appointments until dinner, may have got an extra moral twist and shuffle into themselves out of Jarndyce and Jarndyce. Return to Original English Version

sighing /ˈsaɪɪŋ/ — suspirando; lamentando. Ada touched the notes so softly and sang so low that the wind, sighing away to the distant hills, was as audible as the music. Return to Original English Version

silvered /ˈsɪlvərd/ — prateado. It was a handsome, lively, quick face, full of change and motion; and his hair was a silvered iron-grey. Return to Original English Version

simile /ˈsɪməli/ — símile; comparação. There’s no simile for his lungs. Return to Original English Version

sinfulness ˈsɪnfəlnəs — pecaminosidade. You are different from other children, Esther, because you were not born, like them, in common sinfulness and wrath. Return to Original English Version

singling /ˈsɪŋɡəlɪŋ/ — escolhendo um só. Nobody but a child would have thought of singling YOU two out for parties in the affair! Return to Original English Version

singly /ˈsɪŋɡli/ — um a um; isoladamente. In the same odd way, yet with the same rapidity, he then produced singly, and rubbed out singly, the letters forming the words Bleak House. Return to Original English Version

singularities sɪŋgjʌlɛrʌti — peculiaridades. All this and a great deal more he told us, not only with the utmost brilliancy and enjoyment, but with a certain vivacious candour - speaking of himself as if he were not at all his own affair, as if Skimpole were a third person, as if he knew that Skimpole had his singularities but still had his claims too, which were the general business of the community and must not be slighted. Return to Original English Version

sinners /ˈsɪnərz/ — pecadores. Never can there come fog too thick, never can there come mud and mire too deep, to assort with the groping and floundering condition which this High Court of Chancery, most pestilent of hoary sinners, holds this day in the sight of heaven and earth. Return to Original English Version

sisterhood /ˈsɪstɜrhʊd/ — irmandade. They were going to raise new buildings, they were going to pay off debts on old buildings, they were going to establish in a picturesque building (engraving of proposed west elevation attached) the Sisterhood of Mediaeval Marys, they were going to give a testimonial to Mrs. Jellyby, they were going to have their secretary’s portrait painted and presented to his mother-in-law, whose deep devotion to him was well known, they were going to get up everything, I really believe, from five hundred thousand tracts to an annuity and from a marble monument to a silver tea-pot. Return to Original English Version

skaters /ˈskeɪtɜr/ — patinador. When the house was out of sight, I sat, with my bird-cage in the straw at my feet, forward on the low seat to look out of the high window, watching the frosty trees, that were like beautiful pieces of spar, and the fields all smooth and white with last night’s snow, and the sun, so red but yielding so little heat, and the ice, dark like metal where the skaters and sliders had brushed the snow away. Return to Original English Version

sketching /skɛtʃ/ — esboçar. I can lie down on the grass - in fine weather - and float along an African river, embracing all the natives I meet, as sensible of the deep silence and sketching the dense overhanging tropical growth as accurately as if I were there. Return to Original English Version

skirmished /ˈskɜrmɪʃt/ — travou escaramuça. The person I had seen in pattens, who I suppose to have been the cook, frequently came and skirmished with her at the door, and there appeared to be ill will between them. Return to Original English Version

skuttle /ˈskʌtəl/ — correr depressa. All through dinner - which was long, in consequence of such accidents as the dish of potatoes being mislaid in the coal skuttle and the handle of the corkscrew coming off and striking the young woman in the chin - Mrs. Jellyby preserved the evenness of her disposition. Return to Original English Version

sladdery /ˈslædəri/ — lamacento. “If you want to address our people, sir,” say Blaze and Sparkle, the jewellers - meaning by our people Lady Dedlock and the rest - “you must remember that you are not dealing with the general public; you must hit our people in their weakest place, and their weakest place is such a place.” “To make this article go down, gentlemen,” say Sheen and Gloss, the mercers, to their friends the manufacturers, “you must come to us, because we know where to have the fashionable people, and we can make it fashionable.” “If you want to get this print upon the tables of my high connexion, sir,” says Mr. Sladdery, the librarian, “or if you want to get this dwarf or giant into the houses of my high connexion, sir, or if you want to secure to this entertainment the patronage of my high connexion, sir, you must leave it, if you please, to me, for I have been accustomed to study the leaders of my high connexion, sir, and I may tell you without vanity that I can turn them round my finger” - in which Mr. Sladdery, who is an honest man, does not exaggerate at all. Return to Original English Version

sleeper /ˈsliːpər/ — quem dorme; o adormecido. I began to lose the identity of the sleeper resting on me. Return to Original English Version

sliders /slˈɪdərz/ — deslizadores. When the house was out of sight, I sat, with my bird-cage in the straw at my feet, forward on the low seat to look out of the high window, watching the frosty trees, that were like beautiful pieces of spar, and the fields all smooth and white with last night’s snow, and the sun, so red but yielding so little heat, and the ice, dark like metal where the skaters and sliders had brushed the snow away. Return to Original English Version

slighted /ˈslaɪtɪd/ — desdenhado; menosprezado. All this and a great deal more he told us, not only with the utmost brilliancy and enjoyment, but with a certain vivacious candour - speaking of himself as if he were not at all his own affair, as if Skimpole were a third person, as if he knew that Skimpole had his singularities but still had his claims too, which were the general business of the community and must not be slighted. Return to Original English Version

slippers /ˈslɪpərz/ — chinelos; pantufas. And from her tumbled hair to her pretty feet, which were disfigured with frayed and broken satin slippers trodden down at heel, she really seemed to have no article of dress upon her, from a pin upwards, that was in its proper condition or its right place. Return to Original English Version

slipshod /ˈslɪpʃɑːd/ — desleixado; malfeito. This is the Court of Chancery, which has its decaying houses and its blighted lands in every shire, which has its worn-out lunatic in every madhouse and its dead in every churchyard, which has its ruined suitor with his slipshod heels and threadbare dress borrowing and begging through the round of every man’s acquaintance, which gives to monied might the means abundantly of wearying out the right, which so exhausts finances, patience, courage, hope, so overthrows the brain and breaks the heart, that there is not an honourable man among its practitioners who would not give - who does not often give - the warning, “Suffer any wrong that can be done you rather than come here!” Return to Original English Version

slumbered /ˈslʌmbərd/ — dormitou. The fire went out, and all night long she slumbered thus before the ashy grate. Return to Original English Version

Original Text: Rare Words (7/8)

sly /slaɪ/ — matreiro; malicioso. She is sly and full of malice. Return to Original English Version

smearing /smˈɪrɪŋ/ — mancha. She would not sit down, but stood by the fire dipping her inky middle finger in the egg-cup, which contained vinegar, and smearing it over the ink stains on her face, frowning the whole time and looking very gloomy. Return to Original English Version

smilingly /ˈsmaɪlɪŋli/ — sorridente; com um sorriso. He was not only a very handsome old gentleman - upright and stalwart as he had been described to us - with a massive grey head, a fine composure of face when silent, a figure that might have become corpulent but for his being so continually in earnest that he gave it no rest, and a chin that might have subsided into a double chin but for the vehement emphasis in which it was constantly required to assist; but he was such a true gentleman in his manner, so chivalrously polite, his face was lighted by a smile of so much sweetness and tenderness, and it seemed so plain that he had nothing to hide, but showed himself exactly as he was - incapable, as Richard said, of anything on a limited scale, and firing away with those blank great guns because he carried no small arms whatever - that really I could not help looking at him with equal pleasure as he sat at dinner, whether he smilingly conversed with Ada and me, or was led by Mr. Jarndyce into some great volley of superlatives, or threw up his head like a bloodhound and gave out that tremendous “Ha, ha, ha!” Return to Original English Version

smithers /ˈsmɪðərz/ — Smithers. Oswald, my second (ten and a half), is the child who contributed two and nine-pence to the Great National Smithers Testimonial. Return to Original English Version

smitten /ˈsmɪtən/ — fulminados; abatidos. The grandson, however, being smitten by a sudden wish to see the house himself, proposes to join the party. Return to Original English Version

smoother /smˈuðɝ/ — liso. She threw open a door and I went into a chamber, where, to my unspeakable surprise, instead of finding Mr. Skimpole stretched upon the bed or prostrate on the floor, I found him standing before the fire smiling at Richard, while Richard, with a face of great embarrassment, looked at a person on the sofa, in a white great-coat, with smooth hair upon his head and not much of it, which he was wiping smoother and making less of with a pocket-handkerchief. Return to Original English Version

smoothness /ˈsmuːðnəs/ — suavidade; lisura. It was impossible to shut the door of either room, for my lock, with no knob to it, looked as if it wanted to be wound up; and though the handle of Ada’s went round and round with the greatest smoothness, it was attended with no effect whatever on the door. Return to Original English Version

smutty /smˈʌtˌi/ — fuligem. We found Miss Jellyby trying to warm herself at the fire in the writing-room, which Priscilla was then lighting with a smutty parlour candlestick, throwing the candle in to make it burn better. Return to Original English Version

snowflakes /ˈsnoʊˌfleɪks/ — flocos de neve. Smoke lowering down from chimney-pots, making a soft black drizzle, with flakes of soot in it as big as full-grown snowflakes - gone into mourning, one might imagine, for the death of the sun. Return to Original English Version

snuffers /ˈsnʌfərz/ — apagadores de vela; espevitadeiras. Then I went on, thinking, thinking, thinking; and the fire went on, burning, burning, burning; and the candles went on flickering and guttering, and there were no snuffers - until the young gentleman by and by brought a very dirty pair - for two hours. Return to Original English Version

snuffing /ˈsnʌfɪŋ/ — tomando rapé. “You find me, my dears,” said Mrs. Jellyby, snuffing the two great office candles in tin candlesticks, which made the room taste strongly of hot tallow (the fire had gone out, and there was nothing in the grate but ashes, a bundle of wood, and a poker), “you find me, my dears, as usual, very busy; but that you will excuse. Return to Original English Version

snug /snəg/ — aconchegante. Beyond the flower-garden was a kitchen-garden, and then a paddock, and then a snug little rick-yard, and then a dear little farm-yard. Return to Original English Version

snugly /ˈsnʌɡli/ — bem encaixado; aconchegadamente. To this he submitted with the best grace possible, staring at me during the whole operation as if he never had been, and never could again be, so astonished in his life - looking very miserable also, certainly, but making no complaint, and going snugly to sleep as soon as it was over. Return to Original English Version

solemnity /səˈlɛmnəti/ — solenidade. No effort had been made to clean the room - it seemed in its nature almost hopeless of being clean; but the small waxen form from which so much solemnity diffused itself had been composed afresh, and washed, and neatly dressed in some fragments of white linen; and on my handkerchief, which still covered the poor baby, a little bunch of sweet herbs had been laid by the same rough, scarred hands, so lightly, so tenderly! Return to Original English Version

solicitors /səˈlɪsətərz/ — advogados. On such an afternoon the various solicitors in the cause, some two or three of whom have inherited it from their fathers, who made a fortune by it, ought to be - as are they not? - ranged in a line, in a long matted well (but you might look in vain for truth at the bottom of it) between the registrar’s red table and the silk gowns, with bills, cross-bills, answers, rejoinders, injunctions, affidavits, issues, references to masters, masters’ reports, mountains of costly nonsense, piled before them. Return to Original English Version

solitude /ˈsɑləˌtud/ — solidão. Not that there is any superabundant life of imagination on the spot, for Sir Leicester is not here (and, truly, even if he were, would not do much for it in that particular), but is in Paris with my Lady; and solitude, with dusky wings, sits brooding upon Chesney Wold. Return to Original English Version

somethings /ˈsʌmθɪŋz/ — coisas; certas coisas. But he regards the Court of Chancery, even if it should involve an occasional delay of justice and a trifling amount of confusion, as a something devised in conjunction with a variety of other somethings by the perfection of human wisdom for the eternal settlement (humanly speaking) of everything. Return to Original English Version

sonnets /ˈsɒnɪts/ — sonetos. In such mouths I might have coupled it with an apt quotation from one of Shakespeare’s sonnets: Return to Original English Version

sonorous /səˈnɔːrəs/ — sonoro; grave e cheio. Another ruined suitor, who periodically appears from Shropshire and breaks out into efforts to address the Chancellor at the close of the day’s business and who can by no means be made to understand that the Chancellor is legally ignorant of his existence after making it desolate for a quarter of a century, plants himself in a good place and keeps an eye on the judge, ready to call out “My Lord!” in a voice of sonorous complaint on the instant of his rising. Return to Original English Version

soothing /ˈsuːðɪŋ/ — calmante. I only thought that perhaps the Angel of the child might not be all unconscious of the woman who replaced it with so compassionate a hand; not all unconscious of her presently, when we had taken leave, and left her at the door, by turns looking, and listening in terror for herself, and saying in her old soothing manner, “Jenny, Jenny!” Return to Original English Version

sopped /sɒpt/ — encharcou. An arch of the bridge in the park has been sapped and sopped away. Return to Original English Version

sordid /ˈsɔːrdɪd/ — sórdido; imundo. But if I had mine,” glancing at the cousins, “there should be no brambles of sordid realities in such a path as that. Return to Original English Version

sown /soʊn/ — semeado; espalhado. Shirking and sharking in all their many varieties have been sown broadcast by the ill-fated cause; and even those who have contemplated its history from the outermost circle of such evil have been insensibly tempted into a loose way of letting bad things alone to take their own bad course, and a loose belief that if the world go wrong it was in some off-hand manner never meant to go right. Return to Original English Version

spar /spɑːr/ — verga; mastro ou peça longa de madeira do navio. When the house was out of sight, I sat, with my bird-cage in the straw at my feet, forward on the low seat to look out of the high window, watching the frosty trees, that were like beautiful pieces of spar, and the fields all smooth and white with last night’s snow, and the sun, so red but yielding so little heat, and the ice, dark like metal where the skaters and sliders had brushed the snow away. Return to Original English Version

speck /spek/ — partícula; pontinho; mancha minúscula. Relatively even to this world of ours, which has its limits too (as your Highness shall find when you have made the tour of it and are come to the brink of the void beyond), it is a very little speck. Return to Original English Version

spectacles /ˈspɛktəkəlz/ — óculos. Mr. Tulkinghorn takes out his papers, asks permission to place them on a golden talisman of a table at my Lady’s elbow, puts on his spectacles, and begins to read by the light of a shaded lamp. Return to Original English Version

spectre /ˈspektər/ — espectro; fantasma; assombração. The purblind day was feebly struggling with the fog when I opened my eyes to encounter those of a dirty-faced little spectre fixed upon me. Return to Original English Version

speculations /ˌspekjuˈleɪʃənz/ — especulações. It wandered back to my godmother’s house and came along the intervening track, raising up shadowy speculations which had sometimes trembled there in the dark as to what knowledge Mr. Jarndyce had of my earliest history - even as to the possibility of his being my father, though that idle dream was quite gone now. Return to Original English Version

splashed /splæʃt/ — esparramou; atirou água. Horses, scarcely better; splashed to their very blinkers. Return to Original English Version

splenetic /spləˈnɛtɪk/ — mal-humorado. We thought this very characteristic of his eccentric gentleness and of the difference between him and those petulant people who make the weather and the winds (particularly that unlucky wind which he had chosen for such a different purpose) the stalking-horses of their splenetic and gloomy humours. Return to Original English Version

spoliation /ˌspoʊliˈeɪʃən/ — pilhagem. In trickery, evasion, procrastination, spoliation, botheration, under false pretences of all sorts, there are influences that can never come to good. Return to Original English Version

spongey /ˈspʌndʒi/ — esponjoso. Gas looming through the fog in divers places in the streets, much as the sun may, from the spongey fields, be seen to loom by husbandman and ploughboy. Return to Original English Version

sprinkled /ˈsprɪŋkəld/ — salpicadas; espalhadas. Its music changed as the horses came to a stand, and subsided to a gentle tinkling, except when a horse tossed his head or shook himself and sprinkled off a little shower of bell-ringing. Return to Original English Version

squandered /ˈskwɑːndərd/ — esbanjou; desperdiçou. In the question how the trusts under that will are to be administered, the fortune left by the will is squandered away; the legatees under the will are reduced to such a miserable condition that they would be sufficiently punished if they had committed an enormous crime in having money left them, and the will itself is made a dead letter. Return to Original English Version

squared /skwɛərd/ — endireitou. “Pretty well, Rick, in that respect,” said Mr. Jarndyce; “being some ten years older than I and a couple of inches taller, with his head thrown back like an old soldier, his stalwart chest squared, his hands like a clean blacksmith’s, and his lungs! Return to Original English Version

stabled /ˈsteɪbəld/ — abrigou no estábulo. The whole seemingly monotonous and uncompanionable half-dozen, stabled together, may pass the long wet hours when the door is shut in livelier communication than is held in the servants’ hall or at the Dedlock Arms, or may even beguile the time by improving (perhaps corrupting) the pony in the loose-box in the corner. Return to Original English Version

stagecoach /ˈsteɪdʒˌkoʊtʃ/ — diligência. On that day week, amply provided with all necessaries, I left it, inside the stagecoach, for Reading. Return to Original English Version

stagnant /ˈstæɡnənt/ — estagnado; parado. The adjacent low-lying ground for half a mile in breadth is a stagnant river with melancholy trees for islands in it and a surface punctured all over, all day long, with falling rain. Return to Original English Version

stalwart /ˈstɔːlwərt/ — robusto; leal e firme; partidário fiel. “Pretty well, Rick, in that respect,” said Mr. Jarndyce; “being some ten years older than I and a couple of inches taller, with his head thrown back like an old soldier, his stalwart chest squared, his hands like a clean blacksmith’s, and his lungs! Return to Original English Version

starlight /ˈstɑːrlaɪt/ — luz das estrelas. When we turned out of the town, round a corner, and Richard told us that the post-boy, who had for a long time sympathized with our heightened expectation, was looking back and nodding, we both stood up in the carriage (Richard holding Ada lest she should be jolted down) and gazed round upon the open country and the starlight night for our destination. Return to Original English Version

stateliness /ˈsteɪtlinəs/ — majestade; imponência. She shook her head a great many times and tapped her forehead with her finger to express to us that we must have the goodness to excuse him, “For he is a little - you know - M!” said the old lady with great stateliness. Return to Original English Version

stately /ˈsteɪtli/ — imponente; majestoso. He is ceremonious, stately, most polite on every occasion to my Lady, and holds her personal attractions in the highest estimation. Return to Original English Version

stature /ˈstætʃər/ — estatura; envergadura moral. “In stature, sir?” asked Richard. Return to Original English Version

steeples /ˈstiːpəlz/ — torres de igreja. In my room there were oval engravings of the months - ladies haymaking in short waists and large hats tied under the chin, for June; smooth-legged noblemen pointing with cocked-hats to village steeples, for October. Return to Original English Version

stentorian /stenˈtɔːriən/ — estentóreo; de voz potente. The dinner was put back an hour, and we were sitting round the fire with no light but the blaze when the hall-door suddenly burst open and the hall resounded with these words, uttered with the greatest vehemence and in a stentorian tone: “We have been misdirected, Jarndyce, by a most abandoned ruffian, who told us to take the turning to the right instead of to the left. Return to Original English Version

steward's /ˈstuːərdz/ — do comissário de bordo; do administrador. My steward’s name, in short, is Jarndyce, and he can’t cheat me. Return to Original English Version

stifle /ˈstaɪfəl/ — sufocar; abafar; reprimir. We were obliged to take notice of that with our sense of sight, even while, with our sense of hearing, we followed the poor child who had tumbled downstairs: I think into the back kitchen, where somebody seemed to stifle him. Return to Original English Version

stimulated /ˈstɪmjuleɪtɪd/ — estimulou; estimulado. Come in through the shop if t’other door’s out of order!” we all went in, stimulated by Richard’s laughing encouragement and relying on his protection. Return to Original English Version

stitched /stɪtʃt/ — costurado. I can remember, when I was a very little girl indeed, I used to say to my doll when we were alone together, “Now, Dolly, I am not clever, you know very well, and you must be patient with me, like a dear!” And so she used to sit propped up in a great arm-chair, with her beautiful complexion and rosy lips, staring at me - or not so much at me, I think, as at nothing - while I busily stitched away and told her every one of my secrets. Return to Original English Version

stitching /ˈstɪtʃɪŋ/ — costura. I happened to look timidly up from my stitching, across the table at my godmother, and I saw in her face, looking gloomily at me, “It would have been far better, little Esther, that you had had no birthday, that you had never been born!” Return to Original English Version

stolidly /ˈstɑːlɪdli/ — impassivelmente. I must except, however, the little recruit into the Infant Bonds of Joy, who was stolidly and evenly miserable. Return to Original English Version

stomacher /ˈstʌməkər/ — corpete frontal ornamentado. She is a fine old lady, handsome, stately, wonderfully neat, and has such a back and such a stomacher that if her stays should turn out when she dies to have been a broad old-fashioned family fire-grate, nobody who knows her would have cause to be surprised. Return to Original English Version

stoned /stoʊnd/ — apedrejado; fechado com pedras. It is a street of perishing blind houses, with their eyes stoned out, without a pane of glass, without so much as a window-frame, with the bare blank shutters tumbling from their hinges and falling asunder, the iron rails peeling away in flakes of rust, the chimneys sinking in, the stone steps to every door (and every door might be death’s door) turning stagnant green, the very crutches on which the ruins are propped decaying. Return to Original English Version

stooped /stuːpt/ — curvou-se. I had come down at nine o’clock as I always did to read the Bible to her, and was reading from St. John how our Saviour stooped down, writing with his finger in the dust, when they brought the sinful woman to him. Return to Original English Version

stoops /stuːps/ — curva-se. The discontented goose, who stoops to pass under the old gateway, twenty feet high, may gabble out, if we only knew it, a waddling preference for weather when the gateway casts its shadow on the ground. Return to Original English Version

stoppage /ˈstɑpɪdʒ/ — parada; interrupção. But she had made a previous stoppage on the second floor and had silently pointed at a dark door there. Return to Original English Version

straggle /ˈstræɡəl/ — dispersar-se; ficar para trás. They straggle about in wrong places, look at wrong things, don’t care for the right things, gape when more rooms are opened, exhibit profound depression of spirits, and are clearly knocked up. Return to Original English Version

straggled /ˈstræɡəld/ — ficou disperso; andou desgarrado. In half an hour after our arrival, Mrs. Jellyby appeared; and in the course of an hour the various things necessary for breakfast straggled one by one into the dining-room. Return to Original English Version

straps /stræps/ — correias; tiras; alças. I thought he was very strange, or at least that what I could see of him was very strange, for he was wrapped up to the chin, and his face was almost hidden in a fur cap with broad fur straps at the side of his head fastened under his chin; but I was composed again, and not afraid of him. Return to Original English Version

strewn /struːn/ — juncado; coberto de. The room, which was strewn with papers and nearly filled by a great writing-table covered with similar litter, was, I must say, not only very untidy but very dirty. Return to Original English Version

strolling /ˈstroʊlɪŋ/ — passeando. He got into a restless habit of strolling about when the cause was on, or expected, talking to the little shopkeepers and telling ’em to keep out of Chancery, whatever they did. Return to Original English Version

studious /ˈstuːdiəs/ — estudioso; aplicado; cuidadoso. He did not speak to me any more until he got out of the coach a little way short of Reading, when he advised me to be a good girl and to be studious, and shook hands with me. Return to Original English Version

stung /stʌŋ/ — picou; ardeu. ‘For,’ says he, ‘it’s being ground to bits in a slow mill; it’s being roasted at a slow fire; it’s being stung to death by single bees; it’s being drowned by drops; it’s going mad by grains.’ He was as near making away with himself, just where the young lady stands, as near could be.” Return to Original English Version

sturdiest /ˈstɜːrdiəst/ — o mais robusto. He was then the heartiest and sturdiest boy in the world, and he is now the heartiest and sturdiest man. Return to Original English Version

suavity /ˈswɑːvəti/ — suavidade; brandura calculada. “Extremely honoured, I am sure,” said our poor hostess with the greatest suavity, “by this visit from the wards in Jarndyce. Return to Original English Version

subdued /səbˈduːd/ — contido; dominado. “My nature is subdued To what it works in, like the dyer’s hand: Pity me, then, and wish I were renewed!” Return to Original English Version

subscriptions /səbˈskrɪpʃənz/ — assinaturas. They threw themselves into committees in the most impassioned manner and collected subscriptions with a vehemence quite extraordinary. Return to Original English Version

subservience /səbˈsɜːrviəns/ — subserviência. There are deferential people in a dozen callings whom my Lady Dedlock suspects of nothing but prostration before her, who can tell you how to manage her as if she were a baby, who do nothing but nurse her all their lives, who, humbly affecting to follow with profound subservience, lead her and her whole troop after them; who, in hooking one, hook all and bear them off as Lemuel Gulliver bore away the stately fleet of the majestic Lilliput. Return to Original English Version

subsided /səbˈsaɪdɪd/ — acalmou-se; cessou. Its music changed as the horses came to a stand, and subsided to a gentle tinkling, except when a horse tossed his head or shook himself and sprinkled off a little shower of bell-ringing. Return to Original English Version

substituted /ˈsʌbstɪtuːtɪd/ — substituiu; posto no lugar de. “We thought that, perhaps,” said I, hesitating, “it is right to begin with the obligations of home, sir; and that, perhaps, while those are overlooked and neglected, no other duties can possibly be substituted for them.” Return to Original English Version

substitutes /ˈsʌbstɪtuːts/ — substitutos. As substitutes, I had four angels, of Queen Anne’s reign, taking a complacent gentleman to heaven, in festoons, with some difficulty; and a composition in needlework representing fruit, a kettle, and an alphabet. Return to Original English Version

successions /səkˈseʃənz/ — sucessões. Thus interrupted, Miss Jellyby became silent and walked moodily on at my side while I admired the long successions and varieties of streets, the quantity of people already going to and fro, the number of vehicles passing and repassing, the busy preparations in the setting forth of shop windows and the sweeping out of shops, and the extraordinary creatures in rags secretly groping among the swept-out rubbish for pins and other refuse. Return to Original English Version

suckle /ˈsʌkəl/ — madressilva. As to the house itself, with its three peaks in the roof; its various-shaped windows, some so large, some so small, and all so pretty; its trellis-work, against the south-front for roses and honey-suckle, and its homely, comfortable, welcoming look - it was, as Ada said when she came out to meet me with her arm through that of its master, worthy of her cousin John, a bold thing to say, though he only pinched her dear cheek for it. Return to Original English Version

sufferer /ˈsʌfərər/ — pessoa que sofre; doente crônico. I have forgiven her” - but her face did not relent - “the wrong she did to me, and I say no more of it, though it was greater than you will ever know - than any one will ever know but I, the sufferer. Return to Original English Version

suit's /suːts/ — do processo. There is, in that city of London there, some property of ours which is much at this day what Bleak House was then; I say property of ours, meaning of the suit’s, but I ought to call it the property of costs, for costs is the only power on earth that will ever get anything out of it now or will ever know it for anything but an eyesore and a heartsore. Return to Original English Version

suitor /ˈsuːtər/ — pretendente. This is the Court of Chancery, which has its decaying houses and its blighted lands in every shire, which has its worn-out lunatic in every madhouse and its dead in every churchyard, which has its ruined suitor with his slipshod heels and threadbare dress borrowing and begging through the round of every man’s acquaintance, which gives to monied might the means abundantly of wearying out the right, which so exhausts finances, patience, courage, hope, so overthrows the brain and breaks the heart, that there is not an honourable man among its practitioners who would not give - who does not often give - the warning, “Suffer any wrong that can be done you rather than come here!” Return to Original English Version

suitors /ˈsuːtərz/ — pretendentes. The very solicitors’ boys who have kept the wretched suitors at bay, by protesting time out of mind that Mr. Chizzle, Mizzle, or otherwise was particularly engaged and had appointments until dinner, may have got an extra moral twist and shuffle into themselves out of Jarndyce and Jarndyce. Return to Original English Version

sulkily /ˈsʌlkɪli/ — emburradamente. “Good night!” she said very sulkily. Return to Original English Version

sulky /ˈsʌlki/ — emburrado; amuado. The girl at the table left off biting her pen and made a return to our recognition, which was half bashful and half sulky. Return to Original English Version

summits /ˈsʌmɪts/ — cumes; cimos. “By my soul, Jarndyce,” returned his guest, who seemed to refer to his watch, “if you had been married, I would have turned back at the garden-gate and gone away to the remotest summits of the Himalaya Mountains sooner than I would have presented myself at this unseasonable hour.” Return to Original English Version

superabundant /ˌsuːpərəˈbʌndənt/ — superabundante. She has devoted herself to an extensive variety of public subjects at various times and is at present (until something else attracts her) devoted to the subject of Africa, with a view to the general cultivation of the coffee berry - AND the natives - and the happy settlement, on the banks of the African rivers, of our superabundant home population. Return to Original English Version

superannuated /ˌsuːpərˈænjueɪtɪd/ — caduco; aposentado por idade. Francis, my third (nine), one and sixpence halfpenny; Felix, my fourth (seven), eightpence to the Superannuated Widows; Alfred, my youngest (five), has voluntarily enrolled himself in the Infant Bonds of Joy, and is pledged never, through life, to use tobacco in any form.” Return to Original English Version

superintending /ˌsuːpərɪnˈtendɪŋ/ — supervisionando. He was very obliging, and as he handed me into a fly after superintending the removal of my boxes, I asked him whether there was a great fire anywhere? Return to Original English Version

superlative /suːˈpɜrlətɪv/ — superlativo; excepcional. He is always in extremes, perpetually in the superlative degree. Return to Original English Version

superlatives /suːˈpɜrlətɪvz/ — superlativos; exageros. We all conceived a prepossession in his favour, for there was a sterling quality in this laugh, and in his vigorous, healthy voice, and in the roundness and fullness with which he uttered every word he spoke, and in the very fury of his superlatives, which seemed to go off like blank cannons and hurt nothing. Return to Original English Version

superscription /ˌsuːpərˈskrɪpʃən/ — sobrescrito; endereço na carta. We were going on in this way, when one morning at breakfast Mr. Jarndyce received a letter, and looking at the superscription, said, “From Boythorn? Return to Original English Version

supersede /ˌsuːpərˈsiːd/ — substituir. He supposes all his dependents to be utterly bereft of individual characters, intentions, or opinions, and is persuaded that he was born to supersede the necessity of their having any. Return to Original English Version

supposing /səˈpoʊzɪŋ/ — supondo. The possibility of what is called spontaneous combustion has been denied since the death of Mr. Krook; and my good friend Mr. Lewes (quite mistaken, as he soon found, in supposing the thing to have been abandoned by all authorities) published some ingenious letters to me at the time when that event was chronicled, arguing that spontaneous combustion could not possibly be. Return to Original English Version

suspicions /səˈspɪʃənz/ — suspeitas; desconfianças. A Chancery judge once had the kindness to inform me, as one of a company of some hundred and fifty men and women not labouring under any suspicions of lunacy, that the Court of Chancery, though the shining subject of much popular prejudice (at which point I thought the judge’s eye had a cast in my direction), was almost immaculate. Return to Original English Version

swarthy /ˈswɔːrði/ — moreno; de pele escura. The iron country farther north is, I suppose, the congenial direction for a boy with these tendencies.” Farther north he went, and farther north he grew up; and if Sir Leicester Dedlock ever saw him when he came to Chesney Wold to visit his mother, or ever thought of him afterwards, it is certain that he only regarded him as one of a body of some odd thousand conspirators, swarthy and grim, who were in the habit of turning out by torchlight two or three nights in the week for unlawful purposes. Return to Original English Version

swelled /swɛld/ — inchou; encheu-se. When we went downstairs we found a mug with “A Present from Tunbridge Wells” on it lighted up in the staircase window with a floating wick, and a young woman, with a swelled face bound up in a flannel bandage blowing the fire of the drawing-room (now connected by an open door with Mrs. Jellyby’s room) and choking dreadfully. Return to Original English Version

swoon /swuːn/ — desmaio; desfalecimento. I never knew my Lady swoon before. Return to Original English Version

sympathize /ˈsɪmpəθaɪz/ — solidarizar-se; compadecer-se. I can sympathize with the objects. Return to Original English Version

sympathized /ˈsɪmpəθaɪzd/ — demonstrou solidariedade; compreendeu. When we turned out of the town, round a corner, and Richard told us that the post-boy, who had for a long time sympathized with our heightened expectation, was looking back and nodding, we both stood up in the carriage (Richard holding Ada lest she should be jolted down) and gazed round upon the open country and the starlight night for our destination. Return to Original English Version

talisman /ˈtælɪsmən/ — talismã; amuleto. Mr. Tulkinghorn takes out his papers, asks permission to place them on a golden talisman of a table at my Lady’s elbow, puts on his spectacles, and begins to read by the light of a shaded lamp. Return to Original English Version

tallow /ˈtæloʊ/ — sebo. “You find me, my dears,” said Mrs. Jellyby, snuffing the two great office candles in tin candlesticks, which made the room taste strongly of hot tallow (the fire had gone out, and there was nothing in the grate but ashes, a bundle of wood, and a poker), “you find me, my dears, as usual, very busy; but that you will excuse. Return to Original English Version

tangle's /ˈtæŋɡəlz/ — de Tangle. Eighteen of Mr. Tangle’s learned friends, each armed with a little summary of eighteen hundred sheets, bob up like eighteen hammers in a pianoforte, make eighteen bows, and drop into their eighteen places of obscurity. Return to Original English Version

tardy /ˈtɑːrdi/ — tardio; atrasado. The shot of a rifle loses its sharpness in the moist air, and its smoke moves in a tardy little cloud towards the green rise, coppice-topped, that makes a background for the falling rain. Return to Original English Version

tarnished /ˈtɑːrnɪʃt/ — embaçados; sem brilho. There was a confused little crowd of people, principally children, gathered about the house at which we stopped, which had a tarnished brass plate on the door with the inscription JELLYBY. Return to Original English Version

technicalities /ˌtɛknɪˈkælətiz/ — detalhes técnicos. On such an afternoon some score of members of the High Court of Chancery bar ought to be - as here they are - mistily engaged in one of the ten thousand stages of an endless cause, tripping one another up on slippery precedents, groping knee-deep in technicalities, running their goat-hair and horsehair warded heads against walls of words and making a pretence of equity with serious faces, as players might. Return to Original English Version

teel /tiːl/ — elegante, refinado. I shouldn’t be expected there, if I did; the beadle’s too gen-teel for me. Return to Original English Version

temptations /tɛmpˈteɪʃənz/ — tentações. I had often new temptations, afterwards, to wonder whether it was really singular, or only singular to me, that he, who was probably the most grateful of mankind upon the least occasion, should so desire to escape the gratitude of others. Return to Original English Version

tenaciously /təˈneɪʃəsli/ — tenazmente. Foot passengers, jostling one another’s umbrellas in a general infection of ill temper, and losing their foot-hold at street-corners, where tens of thousands of other foot passengers have been slipping and sliding since the day broke (if this day ever broke), adding new deposits to the crust upon crust of mud, sticking at those points tenaciously to the pavement, and accumulating at compound interest. Return to Original English Version

testimonial /ˌtɛstəˈmoʊniəl/ — atestado; carta de recomendação. They were going to raise new buildings, they were going to pay off debts on old buildings, they were going to establish in a picturesque building (engraving of proposed west elevation attached) the Sisterhood of Mediaeval Marys, they were going to give a testimonial to Mrs. Jellyby, they were going to have their secretary’s portrait painted and presented to his mother-in-law, whose deep devotion to him was well known, they were going to get up everything, I really believe, from five hundred thousand tracts to an annuity and from a marble monument to a silver tea-pot. Return to Original English Version

thaw /θɔː/ — degelo. When she gave me one cold parting kiss upon my forehead, like a thaw-drop from the stone porch - it was a very frosty day - I felt so miserable and self-reproachful that I clung to her and told her it was my fault, I knew, that she could say good-bye so easily! Return to Original English Version

thoughtless /ˈθɔːtləs/ — irrefletido; desatencioso. The number of little acts of thoughtless expenditure which Richard justified by the recovery of his ten pounds, and the number of times he talked to me as if he had saved or realized that amount, would form a sum in simple addition. Return to Original English Version

thoughtlessness /ˈθɔːtləsnəs/ — falta de consideração; irreflexão. Richard, anxious to atone for his thoughtlessness of yesterday, good-naturedly explained that Miss Jellyby was not connected with the suit. Return to Original English Version

threadbare /ˈθrɛdbɛr/ — puído; gasto pelo uso. This is the Court of Chancery, which has its decaying houses and its blighted lands in every shire, which has its worn-out lunatic in every madhouse and its dead in every churchyard, which has its ruined suitor with his slipshod heels and threadbare dress borrowing and begging through the round of every man’s acquaintance, which gives to monied might the means abundantly of wearying out the right, which so exhausts finances, patience, courage, hope, so overthrows the brain and breaks the heart, that there is not an honourable man among its practitioners who would not give - who does not often give - the warning, “Suffer any wrong that can be done you rather than come here!” Return to Original English Version

threepence /ˈθrepəns/ — três pence (moeda antiga). Egbert, my eldest (twelve), is the boy who sent out his pocket-money, to the amount of five and threepence, to the Tockahoopo Indians. Return to Original English Version

thrice /θraɪs/ — três vezes. His lordship, with his eyes upon his papers, listened, nodded twice or thrice, turned over more leaves, and did not look towards me again until we were going away. Return to Original English Version

thrift /θrɪft/ — economia; parcimônia. The old gentleman is rusty to look at, but is reputed to have made good thrift out of aristocratic marriage settlements and aristocratic wills, and to be very rich. Return to Original English Version

thundering /ˈθʌndərɪŋ/ — estrondoso; retumbante; trovejante. Talking thus, they went upstairs, and presently we heard him in his bedroom thundering “Ha, ha, ha!” and again “Ha, ha, ha!” until the flattest echo in the neighbourhood seemed to catch the contagion and to laugh as enjoyingly as he did or as we did when we heard him laugh. Return to Original English Version

thundery /ˈθʌndəri/ — tempestuoso. Both the world of fashion and the Court of Chancery are things of precedent and usage: oversleeping Rip Van Winkles who have played at strange games through a deal of thundery weather; sleeping beauties whom the knight will wake one day, when all the stopped spits in the kitchen shall begin to turn prodigiously! Return to Original English Version

ticked /tɪkt/ — tiquetaqueava. The clock ticked, the fire clicked; not another sound had been heard in the room or in the house for I don’t know how long. Return to Original English Version

tickled /ˈtɪkəld/ — provocavam cócegas. The last Lord Chancellor handled it neatly, when, correcting Mr. Blowers, the eminent silk gown who said that such a thing might happen when the sky rained potatoes, he observed, “or when we get through Jarndyce and Jarndyce, Mr. Blowers” - a pleasantry that particularly tickled the maces, bags, and purses. Return to Original English Version

tiers /tɪrz/ — fileiras sobrepostas; níveis. Fog up the river, where it flows among green aits and meadows; fog down the river, where it rolls defiled among the tiers of shipping and the waterside pollutions of a great (and dirty) city. Return to Original English Version

tigerish /ˈtaɪɡərɪʃ/ — feroz como tigre. The cat leaped down and ripped at a bundle of rags with her tigerish claws, with a sound that it set my teeth on edge to hear. Return to Original English Version

timid /ˈtɪmɪd/ — tímido; receoso. This made me, I dare say, more timid and retiring than I naturally was and cast me upon Dolly as the only friend with whom I felt at ease. Return to Original English Version

tinge /tɪndʒ/ — tom leve; laivo; tingir de leve. “Our dear little old woman is such a capital old woman,” Richard would say, coming up to meet me in the garden early, with his pleasant laugh and perhaps the least tinge of a blush, “that I can’t get on without her. Return to Original English Version

tinkling /ˈtɪŋklɪŋ/ — tilintando. Its music changed as the horses came to a stand, and subsided to a gentle tinkling, except when a horse tossed his head or shook himself and sprinkled off a little shower of bell-ringing. Return to Original English Version

tockahoopo /ˌtɒkəˈhuːpoʊ/ — Tockahoopo. Egbert, my eldest (twelve), is the boy who sent out his pocket-money, to the amount of five and threepence, to the Tockahoopo Indians. Return to Original English Version

toleration /ˌtɑːləˈreɪʃən/ — tolerância. I had another uneasiness, in the application of the painful story to the poor half-witted creature who had brought us there; but, to my surprise, she seemed perfectly unconscious of that and only led the way upstairs again, informing us with the toleration of a superior creature for the infirmities of a common mortal that her landlord was “a little - M - , you know!” Return to Original English Version

torchlight /ˈtɔːrtʃlaɪt/ — luz das tochas. The iron country farther north is, I suppose, the congenial direction for a boy with these tendencies.” Farther north he went, and farther north he grew up; and if Sir Leicester Dedlock ever saw him when he came to Chesney Wold to visit his mother, or ever thought of him afterwards, it is certain that he only regarded him as one of a body of some odd thousand conspirators, swarthy and grim, who were in the habit of turning out by torchlight two or three nights in the week for unlawful purposes. Return to Original English Version

tossing /ˈtɔːsɪŋ/ — atirando; lançando. And what with his fine hilarious manner and his engaging candour and his genial way of lightly tossing his own weaknesses about, as if he had said, “I am a child, you know! Return to Original English Version

tottering /ˈtɑːtərɪŋ/ — cambaleante; vacilante. There was a little tottering bench of shabby old volumes outside the door, labelled “Law Books, all at 9d.” Some of the inscriptions I have enumerated were written in law-hand, like the papers I had seen in Kenge and Carboy’s office and the letters I had so long received from the firm. Return to Original English Version

toucher /ˈtʌtʃər/ — um triz; quase exato. “We just twist up Chancery Lane, and cut along Holborn, and there we are in four minutes’ time, as near as a toucher. Return to Original English Version

toying /ˈtɔɪɪŋ/ — brincando com; manuseando distraidamente. “Is it what you people call law-hand?” she asks, looking full at him in her careless way again and toying with her screen. Return to Original English Version

tracts /trækts/ — folhetos; extensões. They were going to raise new buildings, they were going to pay off debts on old buildings, they were going to establish in a picturesque building (engraving of proposed west elevation attached) the Sisterhood of Mediaeval Marys, they were going to give a testimonial to Mrs. Jellyby, they were going to have their secretary’s portrait painted and presented to his mother-in-law, whose deep devotion to him was well known, they were going to get up everything, I really believe, from five hundred thousand tracts to an annuity and from a marble monument to a silver tea-pot. Return to Original English Version

transact /trænˈzækt/ — tratar; negociar. In consequence of which he never kept an appointment, never could transact any business, and never knew the value of anything! Return to Original English Version

transgressing /trænzˈɡrɛsɪŋ/ — transgredindo. We all promised faithfully, Richard with a merry glance at me touching his pocket as if to remind me that there was no danger of OUR transgressing. Return to Original English Version

trappings /ˈtræpɪŋz/ — ornamentos; acessórios. It was delightful to see the green landscape before us and the immense metropolis behind; and when a waggon with a train of beautiful horses, furnished with red trappings and clear-sounding bells, came by us with its music, I believe we could all three have sung to the bells, so cheerful were the influences around. Return to Original English Version

treading /ˈtredɪŋ/ — pisando; caminhando sobre. I therefore supposed that Mrs. Jellyby was not at home, and was quite surprised when the person appeared in the passage without the pattens, and going up to the back room on the first floor before Ada and me, announced us as, “Them two young ladies, Missis Jellyby!” We passed several more children on the way up, whom it was difficult to avoid treading on in the dark; and as we came into Mrs. Jellyby’s presence, one of the poor little things fell downstairs - down a whole flight (as it sounded to me), with a great noise. Return to Original English Version

trellis /ˈtrɛlɪs/ — treliça; caramanchão. As to the house itself, with its three peaks in the roof; its various-shaped windows, some so large, some so small, and all so pretty; its trellis-work, against the south-front for roses and honey-suckle, and its homely, comfortable, welcoming look - it was, as Ada said when she came out to meet me with her arm through that of its master, worthy of her cousin John, a bold thing to say, though he only pinched her dear cheek for it. Return to Original English Version

tresses /ˈtresɪz/ — cabeleira; madeixas. “That’ll do, my good friend!” said Richard, strongly disapproving of his having drawn one of Ada’s tresses through his yellow hand. Return to Original English Version

trickery /ˈtrɪkəri/ — astúcia; embuste. In trickery, evasion, procrastination, spoliation, botheration, under false pretences of all sorts, there are influences that can never come to good. Return to Original English Version

trifling /ˈtraɪflɪŋ/ — insignificante; fútil; ninharia. But he regards the Court of Chancery, even if it should involve an occasional delay of justice and a trifling amount of confusion, as a something devised in conjunction with a variety of other somethings by the perfection of human wisdom for the eternal settlement (humanly speaking) of everything. Return to Original English Version

trodden /ˈtrɒdən/ — pisado; esmagado pelos pés. And from her tumbled hair to her pretty feet, which were disfigured with frayed and broken satin slippers trodden down at heel, she really seemed to have no article of dress upon her, from a pin upwards, that was in its proper condition or its right place. Return to Original English Version

trotted /ˈtrɑːtɪd/ — foi trotando; seguiu a passo miúdo. The little plaintiff or defendant who was promised a new rocking-horse when Jarndyce and Jarndyce should be settled has grown up, possessed himself of a real horse, and trotted away into the other world. Return to Original English Version

troughs /trɔːfs/ — cochos; calhas. By and by we began to leave the wonderful city and to proceed through suburbs which, of themselves, would have made a pretty large town in my eyes; and at last we got into a real country road again, with windmills, rick-yards, milestones, farmers’ waggons, scents of old hay, swinging signs, and horse troughs: trees, fields, and hedge-rows. Return to Original English Version

trusty /ˈtrʌsti/ — fiel; de confiança. Now, we have cleared off old scores, and I have before me thy pleasant, trusting, trusty face again.” Return to Original English Version

truthful /ˈtruːθfəl/ — veraz; sincero. He is an honourable, obstinate, truthful, high-spirited, intensely prejudiced, perfectly unreasonable man. Return to Original English Version

tsubmit /təˈsʌbmɪt/ — submeter. “Mlud, no - variety of points - feel it my duty tsubmit - ludship,” is the reply that slides out of Mr. Tangle. Return to Original English Version

tumbled /ˈtʌmbəld/ — despencou; entrou aos trambolhões. We were obliged to take notice of that with our sense of sight, even while, with our sense of hearing, we followed the poor child who had tumbled downstairs: I think into the back kitchen, where somebody seemed to stifle him. Return to Original English Version

tumbling /ˈtʌmblɪŋ/ — caindo; rolando. It is a street of perishing blind houses, with their eyes stoned out, without a pane of glass, without so much as a window-frame, with the bare blank shutters tumbling from their hinges and falling asunder, the iron rails peeling away in flakes of rust, the chimneys sinking in, the stone steps to every door (and every door might be death’s door) turning stagnant green, the very crutches on which the ruins are propped decaying. Return to Original English Version

tunbridge /ˈtʌnbrɪdʒ/ — Tunbridge Wells. When we went downstairs we found a mug with “A Present from Tunbridge Wells” on it lighted up in the staircase window with a floating wick, and a young woman, with a swelled face bound up in a flannel bandage blowing the fire of the drawing-room (now connected by an open door with Mrs. Jellyby’s room) and choking dreadfully. Return to Original English Version

turret /ˈtɜːrɪt/ — torre pequena; torreão. The horses in the stables - the long stables in a barren, red-brick court-yard, where there is a great bell in a turret, and a clock with a large face, which the pigeons who live near it and who love to perch upon its shoulders seem to be always consulting - THEY may contemplate some mental pictures of fine weather on occasions, and may be better artists at them than the grooms. Return to Original English Version

tyrant's /ˈtaɪrənts/ — do tirano. You must not be surprised to see him take me under his protection, for he has never forgotten that I was a low boy at school and that our friendship began in his knocking two of my head tyrant’s teeth out (he says six) before breakfast. Return to Original English Version

unaccountable /ˌʌnəˈkaʊntəbəl/ — inexplicável. “It’s unaccountable to me,” he says, still staring at the portrait, “how well I know that picture! Return to Original English Version

unacquainted /ˌʌnəˈkweɪntɪd/ — que não conhece; não familiarizado. I was so entirely unacquainted with the subject that I understood nothing about it even then. Return to Original English Version

unaffectedly /ˌʌnəˈfɛktɪdli/ — com naturalidade; sinceramente. The drone said unaffectedly, “You will excuse me; I really cannot attend to the shop! Return to Original English Version

unavoidable /ˌʌnəˈvɔɪdəbəl/ — inevitável. That is, of course, unavoidable, being in Chancery. Return to Original English Version

uncivil /ʌnˈsɪvəl/ — indelicado; grosseiro. “She is very pretty!” she said with the same knitted brow and in the same uncivil manner. Return to Original English Version

uncommonly /ʌnˈkɑːmənli/ — excepcionalmente; raramente. “Sounds uncommonly natural. Return to Original English Version

uncompanionable /ˌʌnkəmˈpænjənəbəl/ — pouco sociável. The whole seemingly monotonous and uncompanionable half-dozen, stabled together, may pass the long wet hours when the door is shut in livelier communication than is held in the servants’ hall or at the Dedlock Arms, or may even beguile the time by improving (perhaps corrupting) the pony in the loose-box in the corner. Return to Original English Version

undertone /ˈʌndərtoʊn/ — voz baixa; meia-voz. “This,” said my godmother in an undertone, “is the child.” Then she said in her naturally stern way of speaking, “This is Esther, sir.” Return to Original English Version

undistinguishable /ʌndɪstɪŋʌɪʃæblɛ/ — não distinguishable. Dogs, undistinguishable in mire. Return to Original English Version

uneasiness /ʌnɪæsɪnɛss/ — inquietação. Mrs. Jellyby, whose face reflected none of the uneasiness which we could not help showing in our own faces as the dear child’s head recorded its passage with a bump on every stair - Richard afterwards said he counted seven, besides one for the landing - received us with perfect equanimity. Return to Original English Version

unfashionable /ʌnfæʃɪɑnæblɛ/ — não fashionable. To know things otherwise were to be unfashionable. Return to Original English Version

unfolding /ʌnˈfoʊldɪŋ/ — desdobrando; abrindo. Even to this hour, Mrs. Rouncewell’s calm hands lose their composure when she speaks of him, and unfolding themselves from her stomacher, hover about her in an agitated manner as she says what a likely lad, what a fine lad, what a gay, good-humoured, clever lad he was! Return to Original English Version

unfortunates /ʌnˈfɔːrtʃənəts/ — desafortunados. I made my way to the poor child, who was one of the dirtiest little unfortunates I ever saw, and found him very hot and frightened and crying loudly, fixed by the neck between two iron railings, while a milkman and a beadle, with the kindest intentions possible, were endeavouring to drag him back by the legs, under a general impression that his skull was compressible by those means. Return to Original English Version

unheard /ʌnˈhɜːrd/ — não ouvido; inaudito. If the tread is an echo, it is an echo that is only heard after dark, and is often unheard for a long while together. Return to Original English Version

uninitiated /ˌʌnɪˈnɪʃieɪtɪd/ — não iniciado; leigo. Well may the court be dim, with wasting candles here and there; well may the fog hang heavy in it, as if it would never get out; well may the stained-glass windows lose their colour and admit no light of day into the place; well may the uninitiated from the streets, who peep in through the glass panes in the door, be deterred from entrance by its owlish aspect and by the drawl, languidly echoing to the roof from the padded dais where the Lord High Chancellor looks into the lantern that has no light in it and where the attendant wigs are all stuck in a fog-bank! Return to Original English Version

uninterrupted /ˌʌnɪntəˈrʌptɪd/ — ininterrupto. We felt it better to withdraw and leave them uninterrupted. Return to Original English Version

unkind /ʌnˈkaɪnd/ — cruel; maldoso; sem bondade. I hope it is not unkind in me to say that she certainly did make, in this as in everything else, a show that was not conciliatory of doing charity by wholesale and of dealing in it to a large extent. Return to Original English Version

unloading /ʌnˈloʊdɪŋ/ — descarregando. In one part of the window was a picture of a red paper mill at which a cart was unloading a quantity of sacks of old rags. Return to Original English Version

unmindful /ʌnˈmaɪndfəl/ — alheio a; descuidado de. “We rather thought,” said I, glancing at Richard and Ada, who entreated me with their eyes to speak, “that perhaps she was a little unmindful of her home.” Return to Original English Version

unobserved /ˌʌnəbˈzɜːrvd/ — despercebido; sem ser notado. Richard, answering what he saw in Ada’s compassionate eyes, took the opportunity of laying some money, softly and unobserved, on the chimney-piece. Return to Original English Version

unparalleled /ʌnˈpærəleld/ — sem paralelo. If I were to meet that most unparalleled despot in the streets to-morrow, I would fell him like a rotten tree!” Return to Original English Version

unpretendingly /ˌʌnprɪˈtɛndɪŋli/ — modestamente; sem ostentação. And you do so much, so unpretendingly! Return to Original English Version

unquiet /ʌnˈkwaɪət/ — inquieto. Ah!” Mrs. Rouncewell’s hands unquiet, as usual, on this reference. Return to Original English Version

unreserved /ˌʌnrɪˈzɜːrvd/ — irrestrito; sem reservas. I felt it a merited tribute to the engaging qualities of Ada and Richard that Mr. Skimpole, seeing them for the first time, should be so unreserved and should lay himself out to be so exquisitely agreeable. Return to Original English Version

unrestrained /ˌʌnrɪˈstreɪnd/ — desenfreado; sem freios. I felt so different from her, even making every allowance for the differences between a child and a woman; I felt so poor, so trifling, and so far off that I never could be unrestrained with her - no, could never even love her as I wished. Return to Original English Version

unsatisfactory /ˌʌnsætɪsˈfæktəri/ — insatisfatório. Kenge and Carboy will have something to say about it; Master Somebody - a sort of ridiculous sexton, digging graves for the merits of causes in a back room at the end of Quality Court, Chancery Lane - will have something to say about it; counsel will have something to say about it; the Chancellor will have something to say about it; the satellites will have something to say about it; they will all have to be handsomely fee’d, all round, about it; the whole thing will be vastly ceremonious, wordy, unsatisfactory, and expensive, and I call it, in general, wiglomeration. Return to Original English Version

unseasonable /ʌnˈsiːzənəbəl/ — fora de época; intempestivo. “By my soul, Jarndyce,” returned his guest, who seemed to refer to his watch, “if you had been married, I would have turned back at the garden-gate and gone away to the remotest summits of the Himalaya Mountains sooner than I would have presented myself at this unseasonable hour.” Return to Original English Version

unsoftened /ʌnˈsɔːfənd/ — não abrandado; inalterado. To the very last, and even afterwards, her frown remained unsoftened. Return to Original English Version

unspeakable /ʌnˈspiːkəbəl/ — indizível; que não se pode dizer. She threw open a door and I went into a chamber, where, to my unspeakable surprise, instead of finding Mr. Skimpole stretched upon the bed or prostrate on the floor, I found him standing before the fire smiling at Richard, while Richard, with a face of great embarrassment, looked at a person on the sofa, in a white great-coat, with smooth hair upon his head and not much of it, which he was wiping smoother and making less of with a pocket-handkerchief. Return to Original English Version

unsupportable /ˌʌnsəˈpɔːrtəbəl/ — insuportável; intolerável. If every confectioner went buzzing about the world banging against everything that came in his way and egotistically calling upon everybody to take notice that he was going to his work and must not be interrupted, the world would be quite an unsupportable place. Return to Original English Version

unwholesome /ʌnˈhoʊlsəm/ — nocivo; insalubre. How many people out of the suit Jarndyce and Jarndyce has stretched forth its unwholesome hand to spoil and corrupt would be a very wide question. Return to Original English Version

usefulness /ˈjuːsflnəs/ — utilidade. “And really, my dear Miss Summerson,” said Mr. Skimpole with his agreeable candour, “I never was in a situation in which that excellent sense and quiet habit of method and usefulness, which anybody must observe in you who has the happiness of being a quarter of an hour in your society, was more needed.” Return to Original English Version

utterance /ˈʌtərəns/ — enunciado; fala; modo de falar. She also held a discussion with Mr. Quale, of which the subject seemed to be - if I understood it - the brotherhood of humanity, and gave utterance to some beautiful sentiments. Return to Original English Version

uttered /ˈʌtərd/ — pronunciou; proferiu. I couldn’t wonder at that, for it was mellow and full and gave great importance to every word he uttered. Return to Original English Version

uttering /ˈʌtərɪŋ/ — proferindo; emitindo. He had taken two or three undecided turns up and down while uttering these broken sentences, retaining the poker in one hand and rubbing his hair with the other, with a good-natured vexation at once so whimsical and so lovable that I am sure we were more delighted with him than we could possibly have expressed in any words. Return to Original English Version

vagabond /ˈvæɡəbɑːnd/ — vagabundo; vadio. And that was another most consummate vagabond! Return to Original English Version

vainly /ˈveɪnli/ — em vão; com vaidade. At first I was painfully awake and vainly tried to lose myself, with my eyes closed, among the scenes of the day. Return to Original English Version

vanish /ˈvænɪʃ/ — desaparecer; sumir; esvanecer-se. The pictures of the Dedlocks past and gone have seemed to vanish into the damp walls in mere lowness of spirits, as the housekeeper has passed along the old rooms shutting up the shutters. Return to Original English Version

vanishes /ˈvænɪʃɪz/ — desaparece; some. Everybody else quickly vanishes too. Return to Original English Version

vases /ˈveɪsɪz/ — vasos. The vases on the stone terrace in the foreground catch the rain all day; and the heavy drops fall - drip, drip, drip - upon the broad flagged pavement, called from old time the Ghost’s Walk, all night. Return to Original English Version

vehemence /ˈviːəməns/ — veemência. Her darkened face had such power over me that it stopped me in the midst of my vehemence. Return to Original English Version

vehement /ˈviːəmənt/ — veemente. He was not only a very handsome old gentleman - upright and stalwart as he had been described to us - with a massive grey head, a fine composure of face when silent, a figure that might have become corpulent but for his being so continually in earnest that he gave it no rest, and a chin that might have subsided into a double chin but for the vehement emphasis in which it was constantly required to assist; but he was such a true gentleman in his manner, so chivalrously polite, his face was lighted by a smile of so much sweetness and tenderness, and it seemed so plain that he had nothing to hide, but showed himself exactly as he was - incapable, as Richard said, of anything on a limited scale, and firing away with those blank great guns because he carried no small arms whatever - that really I could not help looking at him with equal pleasure as he sat at dinner, whether he smilingly conversed with Ada and me, or was led by Mr. Jarndyce into some great volley of superlatives, or threw up his head like a bloodhound and gave out that tremendous “Ha, ha, ha!” Return to Original English Version

vehemently /ˈviːəməntli/ — veementemente; profundamente. He was now alternately putting his hands into his pockets as if he were going to keep them there a long time, and taking them out again and vehemently rubbing them all over his head. Return to Original English Version

ventured /ˈventʃərd/ — arriscou; atreveu-se a; aventurou-se. I had received a formal answer acknowledging its receipt and saying, “We note the contents thereof, which shall be duly communicated to our client.” After that I sometimes heard Miss Donny and her sister mention how regular my accounts were paid, and about twice a year I ventured to write a similar letter. Return to Original English Version

venturing /ˈventʃərɪŋ/ — aventurando-se. “Guardian,” said I, venturing to put my hand, which was suddenly colder than I could have wished, in his, “nothing! Return to Original English Version

verily /ˈverəli/ — em verdade (arcaico). I verily believe that the announcement in the newspapers when his mother was confined was ‘On Tuesday last, at her residence in Botheration Buildings, Mrs. Skimpole of a son in difficulties.’” Return to Original English Version

verona /vəˈroʊ.nə/ — Verona. There are about thirty cases on record, of which the most famous, that of the Countess Cornelia de Baudi Cesenate, was minutely investigated and described by Giuseppe Bianchini, a prebendary of Verona, otherwise distinguished in letters, who published an account of it at Verona in 1731, which he afterwards republished at Rome. Return to Original English Version

vexation /vɛkˈseɪʃən/ — aborrecimento; irritação. He had taken two or three undecided turns up and down while uttering these broken sentences, retaining the poker in one hand and rubbing his hair with the other, with a good-natured vexation at once so whimsical and so lovable that I am sure we were more delighted with him than we could possibly have expressed in any words. Return to Original English Version

vexed /vɛkst/ — irritados; contrariados. I mean all the time to write about other people, and I try to think about myself as little as possible, and I am sure, when I find myself coming into the story again, I am really vexed and say, “Dear, dear, you tiresome little creature, I wish you wouldn’t!” but it is all of no use. Return to Original English Version

vibrate /ˈvaɪbreɪt/ — vibrar; tremer rapidamente. “Ha, ha, ha!” laughed Mr. Lawrence Boythorn, really making the whole house vibrate. Return to Original English Version

vigorous /ˈvɪɡərəs/ — vigoroso; enérgico; forte. “My dear!” I remonstrated, in allusion to the epithet and the vigorous emphasis Miss Jellyby set upon it. Return to Original English Version

vil /vɪl/ — diabo. It said, “What the de-vil are you crying for?” Return to Original English Version

vindictive /vɪnˈdɪktɪv/ — vingativo; rancoroso. The face of each child, as the amount of his contribution was mentioned, darkened in a peculiarly vindictive manner, but his was by far the worst. Return to Original English Version

Original Text: Rare Words (8/8)

violoncello /ˌvaɪələnˈtʃɛloʊ/ — violoncelo. Mr. Skimpole could play on the piano and the violoncello, and he was a composer - had composed half an opera once, but got tired of it - and played what he composed with taste. Return to Original English Version

virtues /ˈvɜrtʃuz/ — virtudes; boas qualidades. They were the Women of England, the Daughters of Britain, the Sisters of all the cardinal virtues separately, the Females of America, the Ladies of a hundred denominations. Return to Original English Version

visaged /ˈvɪzɪdʒd/ — de rosto (de certo tipo); com semblante. If that dark-visaged eldest boy could look more malicious than he had already looked, this was the time when he did it. Return to Original English Version

vivacious /vɪˈveɪʃəs/ — vivaz; animado. All this and a great deal more he told us, not only with the utmost brilliancy and enjoyment, but with a certain vivacious candour - speaking of himself as if he were not at all his own affair, as if Skimpole were a third person, as if he knew that Skimpole had his singularities but still had his claims too, which were the general business of the community and must not be slighted. Return to Original English Version

volley /ˈvɑli/ — salva; rajada; sequência. He was not only a very handsome old gentleman - upright and stalwart as he had been described to us - with a massive grey head, a fine composure of face when silent, a figure that might have become corpulent but for his being so continually in earnest that he gave it no rest, and a chin that might have subsided into a double chin but for the vehement emphasis in which it was constantly required to assist; but he was such a true gentleman in his manner, so chivalrously polite, his face was lighted by a smile of so much sweetness and tenderness, and it seemed so plain that he had nothing to hide, but showed himself exactly as he was - incapable, as Richard said, of anything on a limited scale, and firing away with those blank great guns because he carried no small arms whatever - that really I could not help looking at him with equal pleasure as he sat at dinner, whether he smilingly conversed with Ada and me, or was led by Mr. Jarndyce into some great volley of superlatives, or threw up his head like a bloodhound and gave out that tremendous “Ha, ha, ha!” Return to Original English Version

volubility /ˌvɑːljəˈbɪləti/ — loquacidade; grande fluência verbal. “These, young ladies,” said Mrs. Pardiggle with great volubility after the first salutations, “are my five boys. Return to Original English Version

vortex /ˈvɔrtɛks/ — redemoinho; vórtice. Mrs. Pardiggle accordingly rose and made a little vortex in the confined room from which the pipe itself very narrowly escaped. Return to Original English Version

waddling /ˈwɑːdəlɪŋ/ — bamboleando-se. As much mud in the streets as if the waters had but newly retired from the face of the earth, and it would not be wonderful to meet a Megalosaurus, forty feet long or so, waddling like an elephantine lizard up Holborn Hill. Return to Original English Version

wafered /ˈweɪfərd/ — colado com selo de lacre. I noticed the scantiest necessaries in the way of furniture; a few old prints from books, of Chancellors and barristers, wafered against the wall; and some half-dozen reticles and work-bags, “containing documents,” as she informed us. Return to Original English Version

waged /weɪdʒd/ — travou (guerra); moveu. Ada told me afterwards that Mrs. Pardiggle talked in the same loud tone (that, indeed, I overheard) all the way to the brickmaker’s about an exciting contest which she had for two or three years waged against another lady relative to the bringing in of their rival candidates for a pension somewhere. Return to Original English Version

waggon /ˈwæɡən/ — carroça; vagão. It was delightful to see the green landscape before us and the immense metropolis behind; and when a waggon with a train of beautiful horses, furnished with red trappings and clear-sounding bells, came by us with its music, I believe we could all three have sung to the bells, so cheerful were the influences around. Return to Original English Version

waggoner /ˈwæɡənər/ — carroceiro; condutor de carroça. “Our postilion is looking after the waggoner,” said Richard, “and the waggoner is coming back after us. Return to Original English Version

waggons /ˈwæɡənz/ — carroças; vagões. By and by we began to leave the wonderful city and to proceed through suburbs which, of themselves, would have made a pretty large town in my eyes; and at last we got into a real country road again, with windmills, rick-yards, milestones, farmers’ waggons, scents of old hay, swinging signs, and horse troughs: trees, fields, and hedge-rows. Return to Original English Version

waists /weɪsts/ — cinturas. In my room there were oval engravings of the months - ladies haymaking in short waists and large hats tied under the chin, for June; smooth-legged noblemen pointing with cocked-hats to village steeples, for October. Return to Original English Version

waltzing /ˈwɔltsɪŋ/ — valsando; dançando valsa. We are always appearing, and disappearing, and swearing, and interrogating, and filing, and cross-filing, and arguing, and sealing, and motioning, and referring, and reporting, and revolving about the Lord Chancellor and all his satellites, and equitably waltzing ourselves off to dusty death, about costs. Return to Original English Version

wanton /ˈwɑntən/ — mulher devassa; libertina. All this wasteful, wanton chess-playing IS very strange. Return to Original English Version

warded /ˈwɔːrdɪd/ — aparou; afastou (um golpe). On such an afternoon some score of members of the High Court of Chancery bar ought to be - as here they are - mistily engaged in one of the ten thousand stages of an endless cause, tripping one another up on slippery precedents, groping knee-deep in technicalities, running their goat-hair and horsehair warded heads against walls of words and making a pretence of equity with serious faces, as players might. Return to Original English Version

wardrobes /ˈwɔrdroʊbz/ — guarda-roupas; armários de roupa. In another, LADIES’ AND GENTLEMEN’S WARDROBES BOUGHT. Return to Original English Version

warn't /wɔːrnt/ — não estava. THAT warn’t like Chancery practice though, says you!” Return to Original English Version

washin /ˈwɒʃɪn/ — roupa para lavar. Is my daughter a-washin? Return to Original English Version

wat /wɑːt/ — Wat, forma abreviada de Walter; wat, grafia dialetal de what. And he is upon the whole of a fixed opinion that to give the sanction of his countenance to any complaints respecting it would be to encourage some person in the lower classes to rise up somewhere - like Wat Tyler. Return to Original English Version

waterside /ˈwɔːtərsaɪd/ — zona portuária; área à beira d'água. Fog up the river, where it flows among green aits and meadows; fog down the river, where it rolls defiled among the tiers of shipping and the waterside pollutions of a great (and dirty) city. Return to Original English Version

waxen /ˈwæksən/ — de cera; cerúleo; pálido como cera. No effort had been made to clean the room - it seemed in its nature almost hopeless of being clean; but the small waxen form from which so much solemnity diffused itself had been composed afresh, and washed, and neatly dressed in some fragments of white linen; and on my handkerchief, which still covered the poor baby, a little bunch of sweet herbs had been laid by the same rough, scarred hands, so lightly, so tenderly! Return to Original English Version

wearying /ˈwɪriɪŋ/ — cansando-se; enfadando-se; ansiando por. This is the Court of Chancery, which has its decaying houses and its blighted lands in every shire, which has its worn-out lunatic in every madhouse and its dead in every churchyard, which has its ruined suitor with his slipshod heels and threadbare dress borrowing and begging through the round of every man’s acquaintance, which gives to monied might the means abundantly of wearying out the right, which so exhausts finances, patience, courage, hope, so overthrows the brain and breaks the heart, that there is not an honourable man among its practitioners who would not give - who does not often give - the warning, “Suffer any wrong that can be done you rather than come here!” Return to Original English Version

weathers /ˈwɛðərz/ — condições do tempo; climas. The house is there in all weathers, and the house, as she expresses it, “is what she looks at.” She sits in her room (in a side passage on the ground floor, with an arched window commanding a smooth quadrangle, adorned at regular intervals with smooth round trees and smooth round blocks of stone, as if the trees were going to play at bowls with the stones), and the whole house reposes on her mind. Return to Original English Version

weazened /ˈwizənd/ — encarquilhado; mirrado. It was not merely that they were weazened and shrivelled - though they were certainly that too - but they looked absolutely ferocious with discontent. Return to Original English Version

wednesdays /ˈwɛnzdeɪz/ — quartas-feiras. She went to church three times every Sunday, and to morning prayers on Wednesdays and Fridays, and to lectures whenever there were lectures; and never missed. Return to Original English Version

weep /wiːp/ — chorar. Don’t weep! Return to Original English Version

weeping /ˈwiːpɪŋ/ — chorando. When every minute added to the proofs of love and kindness that were given me in those five days, and when at last the morning came and when they took me through all the rooms that I might see them for the last time, and when some cried, “Esther, dear, say good-bye to me here at my bedside, where you first spoke so kindly to me!” and when others asked me only to write their names, “With Esther’s love,” and when they all surrounded me with their parting presents and clung to me weeping and cried, “What shall we do when dear, dear Esther’s gone!” and when I tried to tell them how forbearing and how good they had all been to me and how I blessed and thanked them every one, what a heart I had! Return to Original English Version

wept /wɛpt/ — chorou; derramou lágrimas. How Alexander wept when he had no more worlds to conquer, everybody knows - or has some reason to know by this time, the matter having been rather frequently mentioned. Return to Original English Version

westward /ˈwɛstwərd/ — para o oeste; rumo ao oeste. The day had brightened very much, and still brightened as we went westward. Return to Original English Version

wheezing /ˈwiːzɪŋ/ — chiando; ofegante. Fog in the eyes and throats of ancient Greenwich pensioners, wheezing by the firesides of their wards; fog in the stem and bowl of the afternoon pipe of the wrathful skipper, down in his close cabin; fog cruelly pinching the toes and fingers of his shivering little ’prentice boy on deck. Return to Original English Version

wheresoever /ˌwersoʊˈevər/ — onde quer que. They agreed in nothing but their perfect neatness, their display of the whitest linen, and their storing-up, wheresoever the existence of a drawer, small or large, rendered it possible, of quantities of rose-leaves and sweet lavender. Return to Original English Version

whim /wɪm/ — capricho; impulso repentino. I felt that I was choking again - I taxed myself with it, “Esther, now, you know you are!” - when he feigned to say this slightly, as if it were a whim instead of a thoughtful tenderness. Return to Original English Version

whimsical /ˈwɪmzɪkəl/ — extravagante; caprichoso. He had taken two or three undecided turns up and down while uttering these broken sentences, retaining the poker in one hand and rubbing his hair with the other, with a good-natured vexation at once so whimsical and so lovable that I am sure we were more delighted with him than we could possibly have expressed in any words. Return to Original English Version

whistled /ˈwɪsəld/ — assobiou. In the meantime, the place became dilapidated, the wind whistled through the cracked walls, the rain fell through the broken roof, the weeds choked the passage to the rotting door. Return to Original English Version

whitest /ˈwaɪtəst/ — o mais branco; branquíssimo. They agreed in nothing but their perfect neatness, their display of the whitest linen, and their storing-up, wheresoever the existence of a drawer, small or large, rendered it possible, of quantities of rose-leaves and sweet lavender. Return to Original English Version

whither /ˈwɪðər/ — para onde; aonde. Nevertheless, Mrs. Rouncewell’s son has, in the course of nature and art, grown up, and established himself, and married, and called unto him Mrs. Rouncewell’s grandson, who, being out of his apprenticeship, and home from a journey in far countries, whither he was sent to enlarge his knowledge and complete his preparations for the venture of this life, stands leaning against the chimney-piece this very day in Mrs. Rouncewell’s room at Chesney Wold. Return to Original English Version

wick /wɪk/ — pavio. When we went downstairs we found a mug with “A Present from Tunbridge Wells” on it lighted up in the staircase window with a floating wick, and a young woman, with a swelled face bound up in a flannel bandage blowing the fire of the drawing-room (now connected by an open door with Mrs. Jellyby’s room) and choking dreadfully. Return to Original English Version

wickedly /ˈwɪkɪdli/ — maliciosamente; com malícia. He looked so disagreeable and his cat looked so wickedly at me, as if I were a blood-relation of the birds upstairs, that I was quite relieved by Richard’s appearing at the door and saying, “Miss Summerson, I hope you are not bargaining for the sale of your hair. Return to Original English Version

widows /ˈwɪdoʊz/ — viúvas. Francis, my third (nine), one and sixpence halfpenny; Felix, my fourth (seven), eightpence to the Superannuated Widows; Alfred, my youngest (five), has voluntarily enrolled himself in the Infant Bonds of Joy, and is pledged never, through life, to use tobacco in any form.” Return to Original English Version

wildest /ˈwaɪldɪst/ — o mais desvairado; o mais extravagante. All through the deplorable cause, everything that everybody in it, except one man, knows already is referred to that only one man who don’t know, it to find out - all through the deplorable cause, everybody must have copies, over and over again, of everything that has accumulated about it in the way of cartloads of papers (or must pay for them without having them, which is the usual course, for nobody wants them) and must go down the middle and up again through such an infernal country-dance of costs and fees and nonsense and corruption as was never dreamed of in the wildest visions of a witch’s Sabbath. Return to Original English Version

wilfully /ˈwɪlfəli/ — deliberadamente; teimosamente. I have no need to observe that I do not wilfully or negligently mislead my readers and that before I wrote that description I took pains to investigate the subject. Return to Original English Version

wind's /wɪndz/ — do vento. “The wind’s in the east.” Return to Original English Version

winged /wɪŋd/ — Alados (nos Macacos Alados, nome próprio). My darling and I read together, and worked, and practised, and found so much employment for our time that the winter days flew by us like bright-winged birds. Return to Original English Version

winked /wɪŋkt/ — piscou. Our all three coming together for the first time in such an unusual place was a thing to talk about, and we talked about it; and the fire, which had left off roaring, winked its red eyes at us - as Richard said - like a drowsy old Chancery lion. Return to Original English Version

winking /ˈwɪŋkɪŋ/ — cintilantes; que piscam. So now, half-waking and all-winking, he may recall the house full of company, the coach-houses full of vehicles, the stables full of horses, and the out-buildings full of attendants upon horses, until he is undecided about the present and comes forth to see how it is. Return to Original English Version

winkles /ˈwɪŋkəlz/ — Winkle. Both the world of fashion and the Court of Chancery are things of precedent and usage: oversleeping Rip Van Winkles who have played at strange games through a deal of thundery weather; sleeping beauties whom the knight will wake one day, when all the stopped spits in the kitchen shall begin to turn prodigiously! Return to Original English Version

wistfully /ˈwɪstfəli/ — com nostalgia; melancolicamente; com saudade. The grey, whose place is opposite the door and who with an impatient rattle of his halter pricks his ears and turns his head so wistfully when it is opened, and to whom the opener says, “Woa grey, then, steady! Return to Original English Version

witch's /ˈwɪtʃɪz/ — da Bruxa. All through the deplorable cause, everything that everybody in it, except one man, knows already is referred to that only one man who don’t know, it to find out - all through the deplorable cause, everybody must have copies, over and over again, of everything that has accumulated about it in the way of cartloads of papers (or must pay for them without having them, which is the usual course, for nobody wants them) and must go down the middle and up again through such an infernal country-dance of costs and fees and nonsense and corruption as was never dreamed of in the wildest visions of a witch’s Sabbath. Return to Original English Version

wither /ˈwɪðər/ — murchar; secar; definhar. Age or change should never wither it. Return to Original English Version

withered /ˈwɪðərd/ — murchou; secou. He was short, cadaverous, and withered, with his head sunk sideways between his shoulders and the breath issuing in visible smoke from his mouth as if he were on fire within. Return to Original English Version

wits /wɪts/ — juízo; inteligência; esperteza. They seemed to our poor wits, and according to their own accounts, to be constantly polling people by tens of thousands, yet never bringing their candidates in for anything. Return to Original English Version

witted /ˈwɪtɪd/ — em compostos: quick-witted, perspicaz; half-witted, simplório. I had another uneasiness, in the application of the painful story to the poor half-witted creature who had brought us there; but, to my surprise, she seemed perfectly unconscious of that and only led the way upstairs again, informing us with the toleration of a superior creature for the infirmities of a common mortal that her landlord was “a little - M - , you know!” Return to Original English Version

woa /woʊ/ — opa; calma; para. The grey, whose place is opposite the door and who with an impatient rattle of his halter pricks his ears and turns his head so wistfully when it is opened, and to whom the opener says, “Woa grey, then, steady! Return to Original English Version

woodman's /ˈwʊdmənz/ — do Homem de Lata. The weather for many a day and night has been so wet that the trees seem wet through, and the soft loppings and prunings of the woodman’s axe can make no crash or crackle as they fall. Return to Original English Version

worsted /ˈwʊstɪd/ — lã penteada; fio de lã. One peculiarity of his black clothes and of his black stockings, be they silk or worsted, is that they never shine. Return to Original English Version

wos /wɒz/ — era/estava. “I know’d if you wos missed to-day, you wouldn’t be missed to-morrow. Return to Original English Version

wot /wɑːt/ — saber (arcaico); que (fala popular). “That’s wot it is.” Return to Original English Version

wrapper /ˈræpər/ — embalagem; invólucro; roupão. After a little while he opened his outer wrapper, which appeared to me large enough to wrap up the whole coach, and put his arm down into a deep pocket in the side. Return to Original English Version

wrappings /ˈræpɪŋz/ — envoltórios; panos que envolvem. There was a gentleman in the coach who sat on the opposite seat and looked very large in a quantity of wrappings, but he sat gazing out of the other window and took no notice of me. Return to Original English Version

wrathful /ˈræθfəl/ — irado; colérico. Fog in the eyes and throats of ancient Greenwich pensioners, wheezing by the firesides of their wards; fog in the stem and bowl of the afternoon pipe of the wrathful skipper, down in his close cabin; fog cruelly pinching the toes and fingers of his shivering little ’prentice boy on deck. Return to Original English Version

wretched /ˈretʃɪd/ — miserável; desgraçado; péssimo. The very solicitors’ boys who have kept the wretched suitors at bay, by protesting time out of mind that Mr. Chizzle, Mizzle, or otherwise was particularly engaged and had appointments until dinner, may have got an extra moral twist and shuffle into themselves out of Jarndyce and Jarndyce. Return to Original English Version

wretchedness /ˈretʃɪdnəs/ — desgraça; miséria. To see that composed court yesterday jogging on so serenely and to think of the wretchedness of the pieces on the board gave me the headache and the heartache both together. Return to Original English Version

writhed /raɪðd/ — se contorceu de dor. From the master upon whose impaling files reams of dusty warrants in Jarndyce and Jarndyce have grimly writhed into many shapes, down to the copying-clerk in the Six Clerks’ Office who has copied his tens of thousands of Chancery folio-pages under that eternal heading, no man’s nature has been made better by it. Return to Original English Version

wrongfully /ˈrɔːŋfəli/ — injustamente. The turkey in the poultry-yard, always troubled with a class-grievance (probably Christmas), may be reminiscent of that summer morning wrongfully taken from him when he got into the lane among the felled trees, where there was a barn and barley. Return to Original English Version

yawning /ˈjɔːnɪŋ/ — bocejando. These are all yawning, for no crumb of amusement ever falls from Jarndyce and Jarndyce (the cause in hand), which was squeezed dry years upon years ago. Return to Original English Version

yes'day /ˈjɛsdeɪ/ — ontem. “Know’d it yes’day aft’noon at tea-time,” said Coavinses. Return to Original English Version

yielding /ˈjiːldɪŋ/ — cedendo; complacente; que produz. When the house was out of sight, I sat, with my bird-cage in the straw at my feet, forward on the low seat to look out of the high window, watching the frosty trees, that were like beautiful pieces of spar, and the fields all smooth and white with last night’s snow, and the sun, so red but yielding so little heat, and the ice, dark like metal where the skaters and sliders had brushed the snow away. Return to Original English Version

yonder /ˈjɑndər/ — além; ali adiante; acolá. One had only to fancy, as Richard whispered to Ada and me while we all stood looking in, that yonder bones in a corner, piled together and picked very clean, were the bones of clients, to make the picture complete. Return to Original English Version