David Copperfield: Chapter 30

Summary

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Storytime for Grownups: David Copperfield, Chapter 30

Host: Faith Moore
Date: April 20, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode of Storytime for Grownups continues the podcast’s immersive journey through David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, focusing on the reading and discussion of Chapter 30: “A Loss.” Host Faith Moore opens with a detailed recap of the previous chapter, analyzes listener comments and foreshadowing, and then reads Chapter 30—interweaving literary notes, context, and her characteristic warm encouragement to savor classic literature. The main themes revolve around building suspense, the depth of character relationships, and experiencing loss.

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Recap of Previous Chapter and Listener Reflections

Timestamps: 03:13–07:34

Key Discussion Points

• Recap of Chapter 29:

  • David visits Steerforth at his mother's house, where Ms. Dartle behaves anxiously and suspiciously (03:24).
  • Ms. Dartle questions David about Steerforth’s whereabouts, highlighting a sense of imminent trouble (03:39).
  • Steerforth asks David to always remember him kindly (04:05).

• Listener Comments and Thematic Analysis:

  • Deli: Comments on the heavy foreshadowing and relief at David possibly moving on from idolizing Steerforth. She questions Steerforth's intentions toward Ms. Dartle and worries for little Emily (04:24-04:59).
  • Sarah Nall: Expresses impatience and excitement about what happens next, referencing Faith’s encouragement to slow down and savor serialized literature (05:04-05:36).
  • Jennifer Schudel: Remarks on the poignancy of this being the end of David and Steerforth’s friendship and speculates on the complex relationship dynamics, especially regarding Ms. Dartle (05:45-06:28).
  • The co-host jokingly refers to Chapter 29 as "one giant foreshadow," emphasizing the anticipation for a pivotal event linked to little Emily (06:30).

Notable Quote

• Co-host: “Chapter 29 was essentially like one giant foreshadow, if foreshadow can be a noun…The whole chapter is essentially just screaming at us that something bad is about to happen and that nothing will be the same once it does, at least between David and Steerforth.” (06:30)

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Reflecting on the Serial Experience

Timestamps: 07:34–10:41

Key Insights

• Faith encourages listeners to honor the original serialized reading experience by resisting the urge to read ahead, explaining how the anticipation deepens one’s connection and comprehension.
• She draws parallels between Victorian readers’ month-long waits for new installments and today’s instant-gratification culture, arguing for the richness of slow engagement.

Notable Quote

• Faith Moore: “There’s something about sitting with a story that is really fulfilling, and you miss that if you just kind of devour it in one sitting… Sitting with that is actually kind of a gift. It means that this book has grabbed you and it won't let you go.” (09:36)

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Analyzing the Foreshadowed Crisis

Timestamps: 10:41–15:17

Key Discussion Points

• Suspense Around Steerforth:

  • Ms. Dartle’s odd behavior and suspicion about Steerforth’s “secret” activities involving his manservant Littimer lead Faith and listeners to suspect a crisis involving little Emily will soon break.
  • The tension is amplified by Steerforth’s request for David’s continued good opinion “no matter what” and adult David’s retrospective hints.

• Ms. Dartle’s Motives:

  • Faith explores why Ms. Dartle is so deeply invested in Steerforth’s actions, suggesting possible unrequited love or romantic hope, referencing social customs of the time (13:27–14:35).

Memorable Quotes

• Ms. Dartle (quoted): “Is it anger? Is it hatred? Is it pride? Is it restlessness? Is it some wild fancy? Is it love? What is it that is leading him?” (11:31)
• Faith Moore (on adult David’s narration): “The fact that the past is going to be irremediable is something David could only know after the fact.” (15:37)

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Steerforth’s Final Request and the End of an Era

Timestamps: 15:17–17:39

Key Discussion Points

• The episode highlights how the chapter establishes that the bond between David and Steerforth is about to break irreparably.
• Steerforth’s cryptic plea for David’s forgiveness and understanding reveals foreknowledge of his impending moral fall.

Notable Quotes

• Adult David (narrating): “Let me think of him so again…to touch that passive hand in love and friendship never, never more.” (16:51)
• Steerforth (quoted): “Daisy, if anything should ever separate us, you must think of me at my best, old boy… Think of me at my best if circumstances should ever part us.” (17:28)
• Faith Moore (insight): “It implies some level of guilt or regret on Steerforth's part, but not enough guilt or regret not to do the thing that he's going to do, whatever it may be.” (17:39)

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Beginning Chapter 30 - “A Loss”

Timestamps: 18:32–37:57

Setting the Scene

• David returns to Yarmouth, aware of Mr. Barkis’ impending death and chooses to stay at an inn out of respect for the Peggotty family’s needs (18:32–19:18).
• At Omer and Joram’s shop, David learns more about little Emily’s unsettled state, her postponed marriage to Ham due to Mr. Barkis’s illness, and the affectionate but melancholy familial atmosphere.

Character Interactions and Emotional Tones

• Mr. Omer’s Interview: Shares his long acquaintance with Barkis, sympathy for Emily’s anxious demeanor, and offers comic relief regarding his own “asthma-curing” pipe (19:47–22:31).
• On Emily’s State: Repeatedly described as affectionate but deeply unsettled by coming changes and her close bond with her uncle Mr. Peggotty.
  • Faith Moore’s note: “She seems to get fonder and fonder of her uncle and more loath to part from all of us...” (28:31)
• Reference to Martha: Emily’s old acquaintance, now disgraced—a thread Dickens continues to tug in the background (28:49).

Memorable Moments

• Mr. Omer (on Emily):
  “She has made a home out of that old boat, sir, that stone and marble couldn’t beat…I rather think you may [make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear] if you begin early in life.” (25:21)
• On Barkis’ decline: The motif of going out “with the tide,” a local superstition, is poignantly repeated by Mr. Peggotty (36:26).

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The Death of Mr. Barkis

Timestamps: 35:58–37:57

Key Moments

• As Barkis lies dying, the family gathers—a somber, intimate depiction of end-of-life care, Victorian grieving customs, and David’s sense of personal history.
• Barkis, even in his final moments, is described clutching his box of “old clothes” (his life savings).
• The narration lingers on emotional farewells and the symbolism of Barkis’ passing at the ebb of the tide.

Notable Quotes

• Mr. Peggotty: “He’s a going out with the tide…If he lives till it turns, he’ll hold his own till past the flood and go out with the next tide.” (36:26)
• Barkis’ final words: “Barkis is willing.” (37:52)

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Final Thoughts and Listener Engagement

Timestamps: 37:57–End

• Faith closes the episode by inviting listener questions, pondering the events and themes, and encouraging participation through her website.
• She underscores the importance of community in reading and loving classic literature.

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Notable Quotes & Highlights

• Faith Moore: “Being grabbed by a book is a beautiful, wonderful thing.” (09:41)
• Listener (Deli): “At the same time, there’s a relief in knowing that the band aid will finally be ripped off and David will soon stop idolizing Steerforth…” (04:32)
• On serialization: “It’s cool, I think, to get to experience these stories the way that the readers at the time might have experienced them.” (08:30)
• Steerforth (via narrator): “Think of me at my best if circumstances should ever part us.” (17:31)
• Barkis’ last words: “Barkis is willing.” (37:52)

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Episode Structure at a Glance

• 00:00–03:13: Opening, community announcements, and episode setup
• 03:13–07:34: Recap of Chapter 29; listener comments and theories
• 07:34–10:41: The value of serial storytelling and anticipation
• 10:41–17:39: In-depth analysis of foreshadowing and character dynamics
• 18:32–35:58: Reading and annotated discussion of Chapter 30
• 35:58–37:57: The death of Mr. Barkis—emotional peak of the chapter
• 37:57–End: Listener engagement, outro, and next steps

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Tone and Style

Faith Moore brings warmth, encouragement, and deeply thoughtful analysis in a cozy, community-oriented tone. Literary appreciation blends with accessible explanations and a spirit of curiosity, making the Dickens classic both understandable and vivid for modern listeners.

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This summary provides a rich, structured overview of the episode, capturing the key literary analysis, emotional moments, essential quotes, and the overarching themes of suspense, loss, and the changing tides of friendship and family.

Transcript

[Faith Moore]

Hello and welcome to Storytime for Grown Ups. I'm Faith Moore and this season we're reading David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. Each episode I'll read a few chapters from the book, pausing from time to time to give brief explanations so it's

[Co-host or Assistant]

easier to follow along.

[Faith Moore]

It's like an audiobook with built in notes. So brew a pot of tea, find a cozy chair and settle in. It's story time. Hello.

[Co-host or Assistant]

Welcome back. Okay. Boy, that was quite a cliffhanger, I guess last time, right? Nevermore to be friends with Steerforth ever again. I know that many of you are like, good, we don't want him to be friends with Deerforth anymore. But what is going to happen? And I got so many great letters this time of people saying what is going to happen? I can't wait. I want to read ahead and we're going to talk about all of it. But first, just a couple of reminders. The first is that Tea time, our monthly voice chat over in our online

[Faith Moore]

community, the Drawing Room is coming up on April 30th.

[Co-host or Assistant]

That's a Thursday at 8pm Eastern.

[Faith Moore]

If you'd like to join us, but you're not yet a member of the Drawing Room.

[Co-host or Assistant]

You should scroll into the show notes and click on the link that's there to learn more about the Drawing Room

[Faith Moore]

and hopefully sign up.

[Co-host or Assistant]

You have to be a member of the Landed Gentry membership tier in order

[Faith Moore]

to participate in that.

[Co-host or Assistant]

I hope that you will join us. I'll keep reminding you as we get closer, but it's April 30th at 8pm Eastern.

[Faith Moore]

Other than that, all the usual reminders.

[Co-host or Assistant]

Please subscribe to this show. Please tap the five stars in your podcast player if you are enjoying the show.

[Faith Moore]

If you have a couple of extra seconds, please leave a positive review.

[Co-host or Assistant]

All of those things participate in some sort of magical algorithm altogether that caused the show to start showing up in

[Faith Moore]

people's podcast players just randomly and magically.

[Co-host or Assistant]

And I really don't know how it works. I think maybe fairies and fairy godmothers are involved. But please do do those things if you can and you're able. And hopefully that will make more people show up magically to listen to the show. And the more the merrier, really. And speaking of the more the merrier, the other thing that you can do is just tell people. Tell your friends, tell your colleagues, tell your family members, tell random people, call a random number that you make up and just tell them about Storytime for garments. Nope, don't do that. But tell anyone that you can think of that might like this show about the show. Because I really do think that the more of us there are reading these great books, keeping them alive, talking about them together, the better the world will be.

[Mr. Omer]

Okay, enough of all of that.

[Co-host or Assistant]

Let's get into this episode. So last time we read chapter 29. Today we're going to be reading chapter 30.

[Faith Moore]

30.

[Co-host or Assistant]

How exciting. 30.

[Faith Moore]

We're not quite halfway yet.

[Co-host or Assistant]

I will let you know when we are. I think we have two more chapters or so before we're halfway, but we're getting there. So we are well into this very, very long book now. And thank you as always, for sticking

[Faith Moore]

around for this journey.

[Co-host or Assistant]

I. I'm so glad that you're here. And it's so much fun to be

[Faith Moore]

this far into the book, but to

[Co-host or Assistant]

have so much more to go. So, anyway, we read chapter 29 last time, so. So let's remind ourselves of what happened, and then we'll talk for a bit. So here is the recap.

[Faith Moore]

Okay, so where we left off, David

[Co-host or Assistant]

goes to visit Steerforth at his mother's house.

[Faith Moore]

Ms. Dardle is there as usual, but

[Co-host or Assistant]

seems to be watching both David and Steerforth very carefully. Eventually, she takes David aside and asks

[Faith Moore]

what they've been up to and why they've been away so long.

[Co-host or Assistant]

But David says he hasn't been with

[Faith Moore]

Steerforth all this time, which surprises Ms. Dardle.

[Co-host or Assistant]

Ms. Dardle, clearly still suspect, expects Steerforth

[Faith Moore]

is up to something.

[Co-host or Assistant]

And our narrator, the older version of David, seems to be implying that Steerforth

[Faith Moore]

is about to do something that he shouldn't. But they all spend the evening together,

[Co-host or Assistant]

and Ms. Dardle makes more references to

[Faith Moore]

Steerforth about doing something bad.

[Co-host or Assistant]

And then she gets angry with him and rushes off.

[Faith Moore]

Steerforth and David say goodnight, and they

[Co-host or Assistant]

also say goodbye, because David is going

[Faith Moore]

to be leaving in the morning to visit Peggy at Yarmouth. Steerforth asks David to always remember him the best possible way that he can.

[Co-host or Assistant]

And David doesn't see how he could

[Faith Moore]

see him in any other way.

[Co-host or Assistant]

But our narrator, David, adult David, seems to be telling us that from now

[Faith Moore]

on, he won't be able to see him positively at all.

[Co-host or Assistant]

All right, I'm going to read 3 comments today.

[Faith Moore]

The first one comes from Deli.

[Co-host or Assistant]

She says.

[Faith Moore]

What an ominous way to end the chapter.

[Co-host or Assistant]

At the same time, there's a relief

[Faith Moore]

in knowing that the band aid will finally be ripped off and David will soon stop idolizing Steerforth. I wonder whether the change comes from

[Co-host or Assistant]

what Steerforth has already been doing in

[Faith Moore]

Yarmouth, or something he is going to do. I'm afraid for little Emily's sake. I'm curious about Steerforth's behavior toward Ms. Dardall, too. I'm not sure if he's trying to tame her purely for the sport of it, if he's trying to control her

[Co-host or Assistant]

so she doesn't tattle to his mother,

[Faith Moore]

or if he has a romantic interest in her.

[Co-host or Assistant]

He seems capable of anything. This next one comes from Sarah Nall.

[Faith Moore]

She says, how exciting and thrilling. These chapters have absolutely flown by.

[Co-host or Assistant]

And this one even more so.

[Faith Moore]

From ominous foreshadowing to explicit statements of how things will change.

[Co-host or Assistant]

It's too much. I want to know what will happen next. However, I remember and am grateful for

[Faith Moore]

your admonition to be patient in this

[Co-host or Assistant]

fast paced microwave society, to wait for

[Faith Moore]

the next episode and savor the moment all the more. It was good to remember because this

[Co-host or Assistant]

chapter, of all the other chapters, has made me want to read ahead and find out what will happen.

[Faith Moore]

I have lots of guesses about what

[Co-host or Assistant]

this terrible event will be, but I will hold those in my heart until next time. And the last one comes from Jennifer Schudel.

[Faith Moore]

She says, so we're finally here.

[Co-host or Assistant]

This was the last scene with Steerforth as a friend.

[Faith Moore]

From here on out, it will never

[Co-host or Assistant]

be the same between them.

[Faith Moore]

I think that Steerforth's final request for Davy to think well of him no

[Co-host or Assistant]

matter what, and his desire to delay

[Faith Moore]

Davy's travel for one last day of

[Co-host or Assistant]

camaraderie are because he knows Davy will

[Faith Moore]

find out something bad about him in Yarmouth. Steerforth knows that Davy is a moral good man and will not approve. I'm eager to find out what happens next. Ms. Dardle's behavior was very odd. It kind of reminded me of a jilted lover, but maybe a secret one.

[Co-host or Assistant]

Like if Steerforth had been flirting with

[Faith Moore]

her secretly, quote, unquote, making love in the Victorian sense, but only in private.

[Co-host or Assistant]

That would kind of explain her demand

[Faith Moore]

to know where he's been.

[Co-host or Assistant]

Okay, so yes, chapter 29 was essentially like one giant foreshadow, if foreshadow can be a noun, which it can't.

[Mr. Omer]

But whatever.

[Co-host or Assistant]

I just made it one. The whole chapter is essentially just screaming at us that something bad is about to happen and that nothing will be the same once it does, at least between David and Steerforth. And I do think that narratively that is the entire point of the chapter. But of course, being a chapter by Charles Dickens, it's also incredibly entertaining and well drawn. But really, the whole purpose of chapter 29, I think, is to build suspense and make us wonder what this awful thing is going to be that has been hinted at for absolutely ages now, right? I mean, especially if, as many of you think, I've gotten tons of letters about this. If it has something to do with little Emily, then it's been hinted at since nearly the very beginning of the

[Faith Moore]

book when we were told that something

[Co-host or Assistant]

awful was going to happen to Emily that might be worse than death. So if that thing is the same thing that is going to cause David to not be friends with Steerforth anymore, then we've been waiting for this event for like, 20 chapters now or something.

[Faith Moore]

And I do want to touch just

[Co-host or Assistant]

very briefly on what Sarah is talking about, about resisting reading ahead. This is something that we talked a lot. We were reading the Woman in White because that book is so exciting and so suspenseful. And at the time, tons of you were writing in to say that you couldn't bear the weight, and you were really, really tempted to just pick up a copy of the book and read it all afternoon or something so that you could know what was going to happen. And I totally, totally get that impulse. And I do not at all blame

[Mr. Omer]

those of you who wrote to confess

[Co-host or Assistant]

that you did that. But at the time, and I stand by this, I talked a lot about the beauty of waiting. I mean, first of all, these books, both the Woman in White and David Copperfield and some of the other books that we have read on the show, they were written serially. So people did have to wait to find out what was going to happen next. Not two or three days, but a month. A whole month. So it's cool, I think, to get to experience these stories the way that

[Faith Moore]

the readers at the time might have experienced them. But also, as Sarah says, we live

[Co-host or Assistant]

in this world of immediate gratification. If you want to watch a movie, you just caught it up on your screen, right? Groceries are delivered the same day. All sorts of entertainment is at your fingertips. You can binge TV shows in a couple of sittings. Whatever you want to eat, it's available to you that very day. And of course, there's lots of wonderful things to be said for this. I live in this world, too. But I think we've also lost something. And I think that when you have

[Faith Moore]

to sit with something, when you can't

[Co-host or Assistant]

go on to the next chapter right away or the next episode of your favorite show or whatever, when you can't do that, you have more time to think about it. And I don't mean, like sitting down

[Mr. Omer]

on purpose to think about the chapter,

[Co-host or Assistant]

although Please feel free to do that if you want. But I mean that as you move on to other things in your life, these characters and these events and settings and things will be sort of percolating in the back of your mind. And you may find that without the next chapter to distract you, you will find that you develop a deeper understanding of the book, a deeper connection. You might notice new things, whatever it is.

[Faith Moore]

There's something about sitting with a story that is really fulfilling, and you miss

[Co-host or Assistant]

that if you just kind of devour it in one sitting. So obviously, I'm not there with you. I'm not going to, like, jump out of your wardrobe or whatever. If you reach for the book to read ahead. I'm not going to, like, smack it out of your hand or something. That would be creepy. But I do urge you to wait. I do urge you to experience this slower pace and these breaks and even the experience of dying to know what's going to happen next. I mean, that's actually a beautiful thing, I think. And sitting with that is actually kind of a gift. It means that this book has grabbed you and it won't let you go. And in this world of people sort of proudly stating that they don't read and that they let AI summarize all their reading assignments or whatever, being grabbed by a book is a beautiful, wonderful thing. So I do urge you not to read ahead. But anyway, moving on from that, here we are in chapter 29, not knowing what exactly is going to happen, but

[Faith Moore]

we do know a few things about

[Co-host or Assistant]

the event that is going to occur and how it's going to affect David.

[Faith Moore]

So let's just go through those now,

[Co-host or Assistant]

and then we will get to chapter 30 and see if anything is revealed, because waiting is good, but we do get to keep reading eventually. Okay, so the first thing that happens that sort of alerts us and maybe alerts David a little bit, although he's more confused than we are because he hasn't had any foreshadowing. He's just living it. But the first kind of red flag is that Ms. Dardle is acting really weird. She seems to think that Steerforth and

[Faith Moore]

David are in league with each other about something.

[Co-host or Assistant]

But since we know that David hasn't even seen Steerforth in a while and isn't in league with him about anything, we wonder what Steerforth has been up to. That is making Ms. Dartle think this, right? And then Ms. Dartle reveals that whatever this thing that she's worried about is, it also involves Littimer Steerforth's Manservant. Here's what she says in what is

[Faith Moore]

that man assisting him who never looks at me without an inscrutable falsehood in his eyes? If you are honorable and faithful, I don't ask you to betray your friend. I ask you only to tell me.

[Co-host or Assistant]

Is it anger? Is it hatred? Is it pride? Is it restlessness?

[Faith Moore]

Is it some wild fancy?

[Co-host or Assistant]

Is it love? What is it that is leading him? Okay, so the fact that whatever is going on with Steerforth also involves Littomer makes us think, as Deli points out, about little Emily. Because we know that Littomer was left behind in Yarmouth for some unspecified reason. We know that Steerforth just went and came back to Yarmouth also for some unspecified reason.

[Faith Moore]

And we know that something bad is eventually going to happen to little Emily.

[Co-host or Assistant]

So all of this raises our suspense suspicions that whatever is going to happen that will cause David's friendship with Steerforth to end is going to happen with little Emily, or at the very least, is going to happen in Yarmouth. This is further backed up by the fact that David is now going to Yarmouth. So plot wise, if he's about to find out something that will change his relationship with Steerforth, it seems likely that it's going to happen in the place where he's going next, which is Yarmouth. We also learn, or at least it's very strongly implied, that whatever is going

[Faith Moore]

to happen will also bring Steerforth into

[Co-host or Assistant]

some sort of conflict with.

[Faith Moore]

With his mother.

[Co-host or Assistant]

First, we get this foreshadowing from David where he says, I thought more than

[Faith Moore]

once that it was, well, no serious

[Co-host or Assistant]

cause of division had ever come between

[Faith Moore]

them or two such natures. I ought rather to express it. Two such shades of the same nature might have been harder to reconcile than the two extremist opposites in creation.

[Co-host or Assistant]

I mean, why mention that if something

[Faith Moore]

isn't going to come between them? But we also get it from Ms. Dardle, too. She says, supposing then, for instance, any

[Co-host or Assistant]

unlikely thing will do for a supposition

[Faith Moore]

that you and your mother would have a serious woman quarrel.

[Co-host or Assistant]

So again, not definitive proof or anything, but why is everyone bringing this up otherwise? So, as far as we can tell, whatever this bad thing is isn't going

[Faith Moore]

to just affect David. It's also going to bring Steerforth into

[Co-host or Assistant]

variance with his mother in some way.

[Faith Moore]

But another mystery that's being raised in this chapter is why does Ms. Dardle

[Co-host or Assistant]

care about any of this? Remember, Ms. Dardall is like a distant cousin of the family. She was orphaned as a girl and she lives with Mrs. Steerforth as her companion.

[Faith Moore]

Companion.

[Co-host or Assistant]

So Jennifer's thought that perhaps Ms. Dartle

[Faith Moore]

is in love with Steerforth. It's not completely out of the question.

[Co-host or Assistant]

And it would explain why she cares so much what he's been up to.

[Faith Moore]

Remember, one of the things that she

[Co-host or Assistant]

asks David about is whether Steerforth has been away visiting a lover. So it's possible that Ms. Dardle is

[Faith Moore]

in love with Steerforth.

[Co-host or Assistant]

And that Steerforth has given her some indication, maybe just by flirting with her,

[Faith Moore]

that he might eventually marry her or something.

[Co-host or Assistant]

I mean, we do get this scene of Steerforth kind of buttering Ms. Dardle up, asking her to play the harp and putting his arm around her and everything. And we know that he's incredibly charming and that people are always falling in love with him.

[Faith Moore]

So if they've been living together since children, it's possible that she thought that they would one day marry, which was

[Co-host or Assistant]

a common practice at the time. Remember if you were with us when we read Frankenstein, or if you've read it yourself.

[Faith Moore]

Victor was betrothed to Elizabeth since childhood

[Co-host or Assistant]

when his parents took her in as an orphan.

[Faith Moore]

So that's possible.

[Co-host or Assistant]

And it's possible that now Ms. Dardle is worried he's going after someone else. Remember, when he puts his arm around her, she kind of shoves him off and runs away. Which is sort of the behavior, perhaps, of a jilted lover. We don't know. But she's certainly acting strangely. And she certainly suspects Dearforth of being

[Faith Moore]

up to no good.

[Co-host or Assistant]

And of course, we suspect him of that, too. And that's largely because adult David, our narrator, adult David, is really kind of

[Faith Moore]

all over this chapter.

[Co-host or Assistant]

I mean, the David who is living

[Faith Moore]

through the events of this chapter isn't

[Co-host or Assistant]

really thinking that this is the last time he's ever going to regard Steerforth as a friend or whatever. He's weirded out by Ms. Dardle's behavior. But other than that, he doesn't really suspect anything.

[Faith Moore]

But adult David wants to be very

[Co-host or Assistant]

clear with us that something is going to happen. One example of this is when he says, here's a quote.

[Faith Moore]

One other little Circumstance connected with Ms. Dardle I must not omit, for I had reason to remember it thereafter when all the irremediable past was rendered plain.

[Co-host or Assistant]

So the fact that the past is going to be irremediable is something David

[Faith Moore]

could only know after the fact.

[Co-host or Assistant]

So that's one thing. Adult David shows up again when Steerforth is trying to sort of butter up Ms. Dardle like we were just talking about. David says that she should struggle against

[Faith Moore]

the fascinating influence of his delightful art. Delightful nature, I thought. It then did not surprise me either, for I knew that she was sometimes jaundiced and perversed.

[Co-host or Assistant]

Okay, so art here implies that it's put on, that it's an act or a show.

[Faith Moore]

So he's saying that at the time,

[Co-host or Assistant]

he just thought that this charm and this way of his making everyone warm

[Faith Moore]

to him was just Steerforth's nature.

[Co-host or Assistant]

He's just a charming and good natured guy. But adult David is saying, no, it was his art or his artifice. It was a calculated way of being meant to make everyone love him and forgive him for whatever bad things he did. Adult David shows up again when younger David is looking in at Steerforth as he's sleeping.

[Faith Moore]

He says, the time came in its season, and that was very soon, when I almost wondered that nothing troubled his repose as I looked at him.

[Co-host or Assistant]

Meaning Steerforth ought to have a guilty conscience about something, something that's going to

[Faith Moore]

be revealed very soon. Only adult David could know that.

[Co-host or Assistant]

And then, of course, the last and most kind of ominous dramatic one is at the very end of the chapter, and it says, but he slept.

[Faith Moore]

Let me think of him so again, as I had often seen him sleep at school. And thus in this silent hour, I left him nevermore. Oh, God forgive you, Steerforth, to touch that passive hand in love and friendship never, never more.

[Co-host or Assistant]

And I mean, that's pretty definitive, right? He's telling us that this friendship, the way he's idolized Steerforth and held him as his best and closest friend, it's over. The next time that they're together, something will have happened to separate them forever. And as Jennifer says, it's the.

[Faith Moore]

Seems like Steerforth knows this, too. He doesn't seem to want David to leave him. And the last thing he says to

[Co-host or Assistant]

David is, daisy, if anything should ever

[Faith Moore]

separate us, you must think of me at my best, old boy. Come, let us make that bargain. Think of me at my best if circumstances should ever part us.

[Co-host or Assistant]

Which implies that he knows he's going to do something bad and that it's going to change his relationship with David forever. Because he understands that David has good morals and he's the sort of person who wouldn't be able to forgive whatever Steerforth is about to do. I mean, interestingly, it implies, implies some level of guilt or regret on Steerforth's part, but not enough guilt or regret not to do the thing that he's going to do, whatever it may be. So, yeah, a big change is Coming. So will Dickens tell us what it is in the next chapter? Or is he going to keep us waiting a little while longer? There is only one way to find out and that is to keep reading. But of course, please don't forget to write to me. It's faith k.moore.com Click on contact or scroll into the show notes and click the link that's there and get in touch.

[Faith Moore]

Tell me all of your questions, all of your thoughts.

[Co-host or Assistant]

Whatever the chapter brings up for you, I would like to know about it. So please do write in.

[Faith Moore]

All right, let's get started with chapter 30 of David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. It's story time. Chapter 30 a loss I got down to Yarmouth in the evening and went to the inn. I knew that Peggy's spare room, my room, was likely to have occupation enough in a little while if that great visitor before whose presence all the living must give place, were not already in the house. So I betook myself to the inn and dined there and engaged my bed. So he's saying that when Mr. Barkis dies, if he hasn't died already, they will lay out his body in the

[Co-host or Assistant]

spare room, which is the room that Peggy always keeps for Davey. So he's taking a room at the

[Faith Moore]

inn so as not to mess with those arrangements. It was 10 o' clock when I went out. Many of the shops were shut and the town was dull. When I came to Omer and Joram's, I found the shutters up but the shop door standing open. As I could obtain a prospective view of Mr. Omer inside smoking his pipe by the parlour door, I entered and asked him how he was.

[Mr. Omer]

Why, bless my life and soul, said Mr. Omer. How do you find yourself?

[Faith Moore]

Take a seat.

[Mr. Omer]

Smoke not disagreeable, I hope?

[Faith Moore]

By no means, said I. I like

[Co-host or Assistant]

it in somebody else's pipe.

[Mr. Omer]

What, not your own, eh? Mr. Omer returned, laughing. All the better, sir. Bad habit for a young man.

[Faith Moore]

Take a seat.

[Mr. Omer]

I smoke myself for the asthma.

[Faith Moore]

Okay. So people back then thought that smoking helps with lung ailments. Mr. Omer had made room for me and placed a chair. He now sat down again, very much out of breath, gasping at his pipe, as if it contained a supply of that necessary without which he must perish. I am sorry to have heard bad news of Mr. Barkis, said I. Mr. Omer looked at me with a steady countenance and shook his head. Do you know how he is to night?

[Mr. Omer]

I asked the very question I should have put to you, sir, returned Mr. Omer. But on Account of delicacy. It's one of the drawbacks of our line of business. When a party's ill we can't ask how the party is.

[Co-host or Assistant]

So since he's the undertaker, it would seem like he's looking for business if he asked how a dying person is doing.

[Faith Moore]

The difficulty had not occurred to me, though I had had my apprehensions too when I went in of hearing the old tune on its being mentioned. I recognized it, however, and said as much.

[Mr. Omer]

Yes, yes, you understand, said Mr. Omer, nodding his head. We dursn't do it. Bless you. It would be a shock that the generality of parties mightn't recover to say Omer and Joram's compliments. And how do you find yourself this morning, or this afternoon as it may be?

[Faith Moore]

Mr. Omer and I nodded at each other and Mr. Omer recruited his wind by the aid of his pipe.

[Mr. Omer]

It's one of the things that cut the trade off from attentions they could often wish to show, said Mr. Omer. Take myself, if I have known Barkis a year, to move to as he went by. I have known him 40 years, but I can't go and say, how is he?

[Faith Moore]

I felt it was rather hard on Mr. Omer, and I told him so.

[Mr. Omer]

I'm not more self interested, I hope, than another man, said Mr. Omer. Look at me. My wind may fail me at any moment and it ain't likely that to my own knowledge I'd be self interested under such circumstances. I say it ain't likely in a man who knows his wind will go when it does go as if a pair of bellows was cut open. And that man a grandfather, said Mr. Omer. I said, not at all. It ain't that I complain of my line of business, said Mr. Omer. It ain't that some good and some bad goes no doubt to all callings. What I wish is that parties was brought up stronger minded.

[Faith Moore]

Mr. Omer, with a very complacent and amiable face, took several puffs in silence and then said, resuming his first point

[Mr. Omer]

accordingly, we're obliged in ascertaining how Barkis

[Co-host or Assistant]

goes on to limit ourselves to Emily.

[Mr. Omer]

She knows what our real objects are, and she don't have any more alarms or suspicions about us than if we was so many lambs. Minnie and Joram have just stopped down to the house. In fact she's there after hours helping

[Faith Moore]

her aunt a bit to ask her

[Mr. Omer]

how he is tonight and if he was to please to wait till they come back. They'd give you full particulars. Will you take something? A glass of shrub and water? Now I smoke on shrub and water

[Faith Moore]

myself, said Mr. Omer, taking up his

[Mr. Omer]

glass, because it's considered softening to the passages by which this troublesome breath of mine gets into action. But Lord bless you, said Mr. Omer huskily, it ain't the passages that's out of order give me breath enough, said I to my daughter Minnie, and I'll find passages. My dear.

[Faith Moore]

He really had no breath to spare, and it was very alarming to see him laugh. When he was again in a condition to be talked to. I thanked him for the proffered refreshment, which I declined, as I had just had dinner, and observing that I would wait, since he was so good as to invite me until his daughter and son in law came back, I inquired how little Emily was.

[Mr. Omer]

Well, sir, said Mr. Omer, removing his

[Faith Moore]

pipe, that he might rub his chin,

[Mr. Omer]

I tell you truly, I shall be glad when her marriage has taken place.

[Faith Moore]

Why so?

[Co-host or Assistant]

I inquired.

[Mr. Omer]

Well, she's unsettled at present, said Mr. Omer. It ain't that she's not as pretty as ever, for she's prettier. I do assure you she's prettier. It ain't that she don't work as well as ever, for she does. She was worth any six and she is worth any six, but somehow she wants heart, if you understand, said Mr.

[Faith Moore]

Omer after rubbing his chin again and smoking a little.

[Mr. Omer]

What I mean in a general way, by the expression, a long pull and a strong pull and a pull together, me hearty's hurrah. I should say to you that that was in a general way what I miss in em'.

[Faith Moore]

Ly. Mr. Omer's face and manner went for so much that I could conscientiously nod my head as divining his meaning. My quickness of apprehension seemed to please him, and he went on.

[Mr. Omer]

Now I consider this is principally on account of her being in an unsettled state. You see, we have talked it over a good deal, her uncle and myself and her sweetheart and myself after business. And I consider it is principally on account of her being unsettled. You must always recollect of Emily, said

[Faith Moore]

Mr. Omer, shaking his head gently, that

[Mr. Omer]

she's a most extraordinary, affectionate little thing. The proverb says you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. Well, I don't know about that. I rather think you may if you begin early in life. She has made a home out of that old boat, sir, that stone and marble couldn't beat.

[Faith Moore]

I am sure she has, said I,

[Mr. Omer]

to see the clinging of that pretty little thing to her uncle, said Mr. Omer, to see the way she holds on to him tighter and tighter and closer and closer every day is to see a sight. Now you know there's a struggle going on. When that's the case, why should it be made a longer one that is needful.

[Faith Moore]

I listened attentively to the good old fellow and acquiesced with all my heart in what he said.

[Mr. Omer]

Therefore I mentioned to him, said Mr.

[Faith Moore]

Omer in a comfortable, easy going tone.

[Mr. Omer]

This, I said, now don't consider Emily nailed down in point of time at all. Make it your own time. Her services have been more valuable than was supposed. Her learning has been quicker than was supposed. Omer and Joram can run their pen through what remains, and she's free when you wish. If she likes to make any little arrangement afterwards in the way of doing any little thing for us at home, very well. If she don't, very well. Still, we're no losers anyhow. For don't you see, said Mr. Omer,

[Faith Moore]

touching me with his pipe, it ain't

[Mr. Omer]

likely that a man so short of breath as myself, and a grandfather too, would go and strain points with a little bit of a blue eyed blossom like her.

[Faith Moore]

Not at all, I am certain, said I.

[Mr. Omer]

Not at all, you're right, said Mr. Omer. Well, sir, her cousin, you know, it's a cousin she's going to be married to.

[Faith Moore]

Oh, yes, I replied.

[Mr. Omer]

I know him well.

[Faith Moore]

Of course you do, said Mr. Omer.

[Mr. Omer]

Well, sir, her cousin, being as it appears in good work and well to do, thanked me in a very manly sort of manner for this, conducting himself altogether, I must say, in a way that gives me a high opinion of

[Faith Moore]

him, and went and took as comfortable a little house as you or I could wish to clap eyes on. That little house is now furnished right

[Mr. Omer]

through, as neat and complete as a doll's parlor. And but for Barkis's illness, having taken this bad turn, poor fellow, they would

[Faith Moore]

have been man and wife, I dare

[Mr. Omer]

say by this time. As it is, there's a postponement.

[Faith Moore]

And Emily, Mr. Omer, I inquired, has she become more settled?

[Mr. Omer]

Why, that you know, he returned, rubbing

[Faith Moore]

his double chin again.

[Mr. Omer]

Can't naturally be expected. The prospect of the change and separation and all that is, as one may say, close to her and far away from her, both at once. Barkis's death needn't put it off much but his lingering might. Anyway, it's an uncertain state of matters, you see. I see, said I consequently pursued Mr. Omer. Emily's still a little down and a little fluttered, perhaps. Upon the whole, she's more so than she was every day. She seems to get fonder and fonder

[Faith Moore]

of her uncle and more loath to

[Mr. Omer]

part from all of us. A kind word from me brings the tears into her eyes. And if you was to see her with my daughter Minnie's little girl, you'd never forget it. Bless my heart, alive, said Mr. Omer, pondering how she loves that child.

[Faith Moore]

Having so favourable an opportunity, it occurred to me to ask Mr. Omer, before our conversation should be interrupted by the return of his daughter and her husband, whether he knew anything of Martha. Remember, Martha is the girl who used to live in town but disgraced herself somehow, and Emily gave her some money to help her go to London. Ah, he rejoined, shaking his head and looking very much dejected.

[Mr. Omer]

No good. A sad story, sir. However you come to know it, I never thought there was harm in the girl. I wouldn't wish to mention it before my daughter Minnie, for she'd take me up directly. But I never did. None of us ever did.

[Faith Moore]

Mr. Omer, hearing his daughter's footstep before I heard it, touched me with his pipe and shut up one eye as a caution. She and her husband came in immediately afterwards. The report was that Mr. Barkis was as bad as could be, that he was quite unconscious, and that Mr. Chillip had mournfully said in the kitchen on going away just now that the College of Physicians, the College of Surgeons, and the Apothecary's hall, if they were all called in together, couldn't help him. He was past both colleges, Mr. Chillip said, and the hall could only poison him. Hearing this and learning that Mr. Peggotty was there, I determined to go to the house at once. I bade Good night to Mr. Omer and to Mr. And Mrs. Joram, and directed my steps thither with a solemn feeling which made Mr. Barkis quite a new and different creature. My low tap at the door was answered by Mr. Peggotty. He was not so much surprised to see me as I had expected. I remarked this in Peggotty too, when she came down, and I have seen it since. And I think in the expectation of that dread surprise, all other changes and surprises dwindle into nothing. I shook hands with Mr. Peggotty and passed into the kitchen while he softly closed the door. Little Emily was sitting by the Fire with her hands before her face. Ham was standing near her. We spoke in whispers, listening between whiles for any sound in the room above. I had not thought of it on the occasion of my last visit, but how strange it was to me now to miss Mr. Barkis out of the kitchen.

[Mr. Omer]

This is very kind of you, master

[Faith Moore]

Davy, said Mr. Peggotty. It's uncommon kind, said Ham.

[Mr. Omer]

Em', ly, my dear.

[Faith Moore]

Cried Mr. Peggotty.

[Mr. Omer]

See here.

[Faith Moore]

Here's Master Davy.

[Mr. Omer]

Come.

[Faith Moore]

What? Cheer up, pretty. Not a word to Master Davy. There was a trembling upon her that I can see now. The coldness of her hand when I touched it I can feel. Yet its only sign of animation was to shrink from mine. And then she glided from the chair and creeping to the other side of her uncle, bowed herself silently and trembling still upon his breast.

[Mr. Omer]

It's such a lovin art, said Mr.

[Faith Moore]

Peggotty, smoothing her rich hair with his great hard hand, that it can't abear

[Mr. Omer]

the sorrer of this meaning, the sorrow of this. It's natural in young folk, Master Davy, when they're new to these here trials

[Faith Moore]

and timid like my bird here.

[Mr. Omer]

It's natural.

[Faith Moore]

She clung the closer to him, but neither lifted up her face nor spoke a word. It's getting late, my dear, said Mr. Peggy.

[Mr. Omer]

And here's Ham comfort to take you home.

[Faith Moore]

There.

[Mr. Omer]

Go along with other loving art. What, Emily?

[Co-host or Assistant]

Eh, my pretty?

[Faith Moore]

The sound of her voice had not reached me, but he bent his head as if he listened to her and

[Mr. Omer]

then said, let you stay with your uncle. Why, you don't mean to ask me that. Stay with your uncle Moppet, when your

[Faith Moore]

husband that'll be so soon is here for to take you home. Now.

[Mr. Omer]

A person wouldn't think it for to see this little thing alongside a rough

[Faith Moore]

weather chap like me, said Mr. Peggotty, looking round at both of us with infinite pride.

[Mr. Omer]

But the sea ain't more salt in it than she has fondness in for her uncle. A foolish little Em'.

[Faith Moore]

Ly.

[Mr. Omer]

Em' Ly's in the right in that, Master Davie, said Ham. Lookee here. As Em' ly wishes of it, and as she's worried and frightened like. Besides, I'll leave her till morning.

[Faith Moore]

Let me stay too.

[Mr. Omer]

No, no, said Mr. Peggotty. You don't ought a married man like you or what's his good to take and haul away a day's work, and you don't ought to watch and work both. That won't do. You go home and turn in you Ain't afeard, O Emily, not being took good care on.

[Faith Moore]

I know so he's saying that Ham should go home and get some rest and he and Emily will stay here. Ham yielded to this persuasion and took his hat to go even when he kissed her. And I never saw him approach her. But I felt that nature had given him the soul of a gentleman. She seemed to cling closer to her uncle even to the avoidance of her chosen husband. I shut the door after him that it might cause no disturbance of the quiet that prevailed. And when I turned back I found Mr. Peggotty still talking to her.

[Mr. Omer]

Now I'm a going upstairs to tell

[Faith Moore]

your aunt as Master Davy's here her

[Mr. Omer]

and that'll cheer her up a bit.

[Faith Moore]

He said, sit you down by the

[Mr. Omer]

fire the while, my dear, and warm

[Faith Moore]

those mortal cold hands.

[Mr. Omer]

You don't need to be so fearsome

[Faith Moore]

and take on so much.

[Mr. Omer]

What? You'll go along with me? Well, come along with me. Come. If her uncle was turned out of house and home and forced to lay down in a dyke, master Davy, said

[Faith Moore]

Mr. Peggotty with no less pride than

[Mr. Omer]

before, it's my belief she'd go along with him now. But there'll be someone else soon. Some one else soon, Emily.

[Faith Moore]

Afterwards, when I went upstairs, as I passed the door of my little chamber which was dark I had an indistinct impression of her being within it cast down upon the floor. But whether it was really she or whether it was a confusion of the shadows in the room, I don't know. Now I had leisure to think before the kitchen fire of pretty little Emily's dread of death which added to what Mr. Omer had told me I took to be the cause of her being so unlike herself. And I had leisure before Peggotty came down even to think more leniently of the weakness of it. As I sat counting the ticking of the clock and deepening my sense of the solemn hush around me Peggotty took me in her arms and blessed and thanked me over and over again for being such a comfort to her. That was what she said in her distress. She then entreated me to come upstairs sobbing that Mr. Barkis had always liked me and admired me that he had often talked of me before he fell into a stupor and that she believed, in case of his coming to himself again he would brighten up at sight of me. If he could brighten up at any earthly thing. The probability of his ever doing so appeared to me when I saw him to be very small he was lying with his head and shoulders out of bed in an uncomfortable attitude, half resting on the box which had cost him so much pain and troublesome remember, the box is where he keeps all his money, but he pretends there's there's only old clothes in there. I learned that when he was past creeping out of bed to open it and past assuring himself of its safety by means of the divining rod I had seen him use, he had required to have it placed on the chair at the bedside, where he had ever since embraced it. Night and day his arm lay on it. Now time and the world were slipping from beneath him, but the box was there, and the last words he had uttered were in an explanatory tone.

[Mr. Omer]

Old clothes.

[Faith Moore]

Barkis, my dear, said Peggotty, almost cheerfully, bending over him while her brother and I stood at the bed's foot. Here's my dear boy, my dear boy, Master Davy, who brought us together, Barkis, that you sent messages by, you know. Won't you speak to Master Davie? He was as mute and senseless as the box from which his form derived the only expression it had.

[Mr. Omer]

He's a going out with the tide,

[Faith Moore]

said Mr. Peggotty to me. Behind his hand my eyes were dim and so were Mr. Peggotty's, but I repeated in a whisper, with the tide, people can't die along the coast, said Mr. Peggotty, except when the tide's pretty nigh out. They can't be borne unless it's pretty

[Mr. Omer]

high in not properly born till flood. He's a going out with the tide. It's ebb at Alf after 3 slack water Alf an hour. If he lives till it turns, he'll hold his own till past the flood and go out with the next tide.

[Faith Moore]

We remained there watching him a long time. Hours. What mysterious influence my presence had upon him in that state of his senses I shall not pretend to say. But when he at last began to wander feebly, it is certain he was muttering about driving me to school. He's coming to himself, said Peggotty. Mr. Peggotty touched me and whispered with much awe and reverence, they are both a going out fast. Barkis, my dear, said Peggotty.

[Mr. Omer]

See peep Barkis.

[Faith Moore]

He cried faintly.

[Mr. Omer]

No better woman anywhere.

[Faith Moore]

Look, here's Master Davy, said Peggy, for he now opened his eyes. I was on the point of asking him if he knew me when he tried to stretch out his arm and said to me distinctly with a pleasant

[Mr. Omer]

smile, barkis is willing.

[Faith Moore]

And it being low water, he went out with the tide. Thank you so much for listening. I'd love to know what you thought of the chapters. Is there anything you'd like me to clarify? Did something particularly interest you? Please go to my website, faithkmoore.com, click on Contact and send me your questions and thoughts. Or you can click on the link in the Show Notes to contact me. I'll feature one or two of your entries at the start of the next episode. Speaking of links, don't forget to take a look at the other links in the Show Notes. You can learn more about me, check out our Merch store, or become a member of the Storytime for Grown Ups online community. Before I go, I'd like to ask a quick favor. This is an independent podcast. It's produced, recorded and marketed by me, so I need your help. Spread the word about the show by posting about it on social media or texting a link to your friends. Subscribe, tap those five stars and leave a positive review wherever you're listening. If you are able to support the show financially, there's a link in the Show Notes to make a donation. I would really, really appreciate it. Alright everyone, story time is over to be continue.