David Copperfield: Chapter 40

Summary

Storytime for Grownups – David Copperfield: Chapter 40
Host: Faith Moore | May 25, 2026

---

Episode Overview

In this episode, Faith Moore continues her guided reading of Charles Dickens's David Copperfield, focusing on Chapter 40. The main theme is the deepening villainy of Uriah Heep and the emotional complexity surrounding Agnes, David, and Dora, as well as Mr. Peggotty's ongoing, arduous search for his niece, Emily. Faith combines the chapter reading with insightful commentary, integrating listener reactions and literary analysis.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Podcast Announcements and Listener Questions (00:42–04:30)

• Logistics Update: No special summer session due to the length of David Copperfield; Faith will continue with two episodes a week through August, then a short break before the next book starts in September. The next book will be announced later in the summer—“insert maniacal laughter because I am not going to reveal it to you yet.” (03:34).
• Community Engagement: Tea Time community event announced for May 28, exclusive to the "Landed Gentry" membership tier.

---

Recap of Chapter 39 (05:10–07:01)

• Miss Betsy sends David to Canterbury for his own good, prompting a visit with the Wickfields.
• Mr. Micawber is distant, now under the influence of Uriah Heep.
• Agnes provides wise counsel about David’s situation with Dora.
• Uriah reveals his intentions to marry Agnes, causing distress for Mr. Wickfield.
• David tries unsuccessfully to elicit a promise from Agnes not to marry Uriah.

---

Listener Reactions to Uriah Heep (07:01–08:14)

• Elizabeth's Letter: “I want to throw up just very slightly every time Uriah enters the scene.…I kind of think that Uriah is shaping up to be the main villain. He’s so awful.” (07:05)
• Tony Sousa’s Letter: “What a slimy, repulsive sneak. How low can he get? ... This is the chapter when David should finally have realized that he is the one who should marry Agnes. And it should have ended with him proposing.” (07:33). Tony also notes the emotional involvement Dickens elicits: “I’m a 45-year-old father of six getting angry at a fictional character for choosing the wrong girl to marry.” (08:01)
• Faith’s Reflection: “Reading and talking about these books will make the world a better place. When we feel this deeply for characters... we are experiencing what it is to be truly human.” (08:14)

---

Faith’s Analysis: The Villainy of Uriah Heep (08:40–22:13)

Uriah’s Social Climbing (08:40–10:24)

• Uriah is increasingly revealed as the central antagonist, using feigned “humbleness” to manipulate and gain control.
• Notable Quote – Uriah: “I got to know what humbleness did, and I took to it. I ate humble pie with an appetite… I am very humble to the present moment, Master Copperfield, but I’ve got a little power.” (09:50)

Uriah’s Influence Over Others (10:24–18:29)

• Mr. Micawber is financially indebted to Uriah, giving him leverage.
  • Quote – David: “There was something interposed between him and me… which prevented our getting at each other as we used to do.” (10:52)
• Mr. Wickfield is manipulated via his alcoholism and is now only a figurehead.
  • Quote – Wickfield: “Before him I have step by step, abandoned name and reputation, peace and quiet, house and home.” (12:00)
• Uriah’s pursuit of Agnes is depicted as both repulsive and strategic—marrying her would cement his social advancement.

The Agnes/David Question (13:29–18:29)

• Listeners and characters alike (notably Mr. Micawber and even Uriah) suspect David is better suited to Agnes.
  • Quote – Mr. Micawber: “If you had not assured us… that D was your favorite letter, I should unquestionably have supposed that A had been so.” (16:16)
• David’s feelings for Agnes, though described as “like a sister,” are discussed as potentially deeper.
  • Quote – David: “Whenever I have not had you… I have come to peace and happiness. I come home now like a tired traveller and find such a blessed sense of rest.” (15:07)
• Uriah’s manipulation includes having his mother spy on Agnes and David to prevent any romantic development.

Uriah as the "True Villain" (18:29–23:07)

• Uriah orchestrates an oppressive environment, acting “like two great bats hanging over the whole house and darkening it with their ugly forms.” (18:51)
• He is explicit about his intent to marry Agnes, underestimating Mr. Wickfield’s protective rage, demonstrating his lack of self-awareness as a villain.
  • Quote – Faith: “He sees himself as a man deserving of everything he can grasp onto for himself, even Agnes. So he is a villain, really and truly, and I don’t know about you, but I love to hate him.” (21:23)

The Agnes/Dora Dilemma

• Agnes gives David advice aimed at reconciling with Dora, which places the listener in “a delicious little quandary” since many root for Agnes.

---

Chapter 40 Reading: “The Wanderer” (23:27–45:21)

Aunt Betsy’s Concern (24:02–25:42)

• Aunt Betsy's agitation shows her deep affection for David and concern over his troubles.

Mr. Peggotty’s Return and Narration (25:50–43:47)

• Mr. Peggotty’s Quest: Mr. Peggotty describes his arduous, continent-spanning quest to find Emily, filled with hardship but also the kindness of strangers (“Many a woman... had a daughter of about Em’ly’s age... for to do me similar kindnesses.”) (32:43)
• Martha’s Presence: The reappearance of Martha, a fallen woman and now a watcher in the shadows, deepens the drama.
• Emily’s Letters: Mr. Peggotty shares the emotional letters received from Emily, displaying her remorse, yearning, and requests for news of her loved ones.
  • Quote – Emily’s Letter: “Try to let your heart soften to me… only for a little, little time. Try, pray do, to relent towards a miserable girl…” (37:51)
  • “Dear, if your heart is hard towards me, justly hard, I know. But listen, if it is hard, dear, ask him I have wronged the most, him whose wife I was to have been…” (38:47)
• Ham’s Grief: Ham is described as heartbroken and quietly heroic, helping all but deeply wounded (“He ain’t no care, Master Davie… no care no how for his life.”) (42:03)
• The Money from Steerforth: Mr. Peggotty refuses to keep Steerforth’s money for Emily, burdened by the need to return it honorably: “All that troubles me is to think that any harm might come to me afore that money was give back. If I was to die and it was lost... I believe the t’other world wouldn’t hold me.” (42:50)

Farewell (43:47–45:21)

• Mr. Peggotty heads back out into the night to continue his relentless search for Emily, and Faith remarks on the nobility and tragedy of his mission.

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On reading classic literature:
  Faith: “Reading and talking about these books will make the world a better place. When we feel this deeply for characters that were invented by a human imagination, we are excited to experiencing what it is to be truly human.” (08:14)

• On Uriah’s duplicity:
  Uriah (quoted): “I ate humble pie with an appetite... I am very humble to the present moment, Master Copperfield, but I’ve got a little power.” (09:50)

• On Uriah's effect on others:
  Faith: "He has taken over the Wickfields lives and he's after the one last thing he doesn't have, which is Agnes's hand in marriage." (19:09)

• On David’s feelings for Agnes:
  David (quoted): “Whenever I have not had you… I have come to peace and happiness. I come home now like a tired traveller and find such a blessed sense of rest.” (15:07)

• On Mr. Peggotty's search:
  Mr. Peggotty: “Had go 10,000 mile, he said. Had go till I dropped dead to lay that money down a forum. If I do that and find my Emily, only I’m content…” (43:24)

---

Important Timestamps

• 00:42 – Faith’s podcast updates and summer session explanation
• 05:10 – Recap of prior chapter and key plot points
• 07:01 – Listener reactions, highlighting Uriah’s role as the main villain
• 08:40 – Analysis: Why Uriah is Dickens’s most sinister villain
• 13:29 – Discussion on whether David should marry Agnes or Dora
• 18:29 – Faith labels Uriah the “true villain” and explores his psychology
• 23:27 – Chapter 40 reading begins
• 25:42 – Mr. Peggotty returns, sharing his journey and news of Emily
• 37:51 – Faith reads Emily’s letter, revealing her despair and hope
• 42:03 – Mr. Peggotty describes Ham’s heartbreak
• 43:47 – Mr. Peggotty departs to continue his search

---

Tone and Style

Faith continues her warm, conversational, and gently humorous approach, mixing heartfelt analysis with empathy for the characters, while also engaging directly with listener feedback.

---

For Next Time

• Faith invites listeners to send questions and thoughts for discussion in future episodes.
• She urges listeners to subscribe, leave reviews, and consider joining the online community or supporting the podcast.

---

This episode blends lively listener interaction, deep literary analysis, and classic storytelling—perfect for Dickens enthusiasts and newcomers alike.

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 easier to follow along. 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.

Hi there. Welcome back. Oh my gosh, that was quite a chapter. I love it when we have chapters like this because I get so many letters from you guys. This was another one. Uriah Heep. Oh my God. Gosh, what a slime ball. We're going to talk about him today and what's going on there. But before we do that, I have been starting to get some questions which I completely understand. I've been starting to get some questions about what book are we going to do next, what's going to happen over the summer? Just some logistical questions which I understand because this is the time in the year when normally we would be finishing up a book and that's when I normally get these questions. And so I wanted to just kind of keep you updated. And I know that some of you, this is your first book with Storytime for Grown Ups, which is fantastic. And so, you know, you're asking, how do we find out what the next book is going to be? And all of that. So I just wanted to give a quick update, which is that to remind you that because David Copperfield is so long, there won't be a summer session this summer. Summer session is what we normally do in between the book that begins in January and the book that begins in September. And we do it because I'm a stay at home mom. My kids are home from school with me during the summer and normally I am not able to put out two episodes of a book every week the way that we do during the school year. And so we do summer session, which is a kind of, I always say it's kind of like a college class, only fun. But the show goes to once a week and we pick a topic and we explore that for the summer. Last summer it was fairy tales. We had a fairy tale summer that was really fun. The summer before that, we took a really deep dive into Jane Eyre, which was the book that we had started this whole show with and the only book we'd done at that point. And this summer though, we're not doing that because we will still be reading David Copperfield. So this book is going to take us through the middle or even the end of August so we won't have summer session. I have rearranged the other work things that I do so that I can be home with my kids and not have to work instead of being with them, but also be able to keep doing the two episodes. So I've worked it out this time and so there won't be a summer session this summer. Summer. We will come back to summer session the following summer when we read a book that's less long than David Copperfield. So no summer session. It will just finish in mid to late August. There will be a week or two off and then we will begin in September with the next book. And for those of you who don't know, I don't reveal the next book until a couple of weeks, maybe a month or so before we begin it. And I like to drop a trailer. I like to build up the suspense and then it's kind of a surprise and we get the trailer and I drop that into your podcast feed and

[Mr. Peggotty]

I will reveal it.

[Faith Moore]

So I'm not going to tell you yet what the next book is, but thank you for your questions because I know it's exciting to think what the next book is going to be and I actually do know what it is. And believe it or not, I have started to prep for it already. It takes that long. So I have started to prep for September's book already and I do know. But insert maniacal laughter because I am not going to reveal it to you yet. But I will and I promise to let you know when the trailer is going to drop when we get closer to when that will be. So that's where we are. That's where things stand. And let's get into this episode because we have to talk, I think about Uriah Heep.

So just all the usual things.

Please make sure you're subscribed. Please make sure you tap the five stars. Please leave a positive review if you can. Please tell all your friends about the show so that we can have more and more people join us because the more the merrier. And don't forget that Tea Time is coming up this week. It's on Thursday, so May 28th at

8pm Eastern over in our online community, the Drawing Room. If you don't know anything about the Drawing room, there's a link in the

Show Notes where you can click on that and learn more. You have to be a member of

the Landed Gentry membership tier to participate in Tea Time. So if you'd like to join us

for a really fun hour of just chatting about the book, about life, about questions that you have for me, whatever it might be. Please do check that out and sign up to be a part of the drawing room room at the Landed Gentry level. If you'd like to join, and I hope you will, I love chatting with all my old friends, but I am really also excited to get to meet some new ones.

So join us for tea time May

28th this Thursday at 8pm Eastern okay,

last time we read chapter 39.

Today is going to be chapter 40. So let's just review what we read last time and then talk for a bit and then we will read. So here is the recap. Okay, so where we left off Miss

Betsy suggests that David go down to Canterbury and look in on the tenants

of her cottage, mostly to give him a change of scene because he's so upset about Dora.

So he goes and after making sure

that everything's going well at the cottage, he goes to the Wickfields house.

He finds Mr. Macabre in the office, and while he's very glad to see David, there seems

to be a divide between them because Mr. Macabre refuses to speak about Uriah Heep

or the business of the law office in general. David goes inside and finds Agnes, whom

he's very glad to see because she always makes him calmer and he always

feels guided by her advice. He tells her everything about what happened with Dora, and Agnes suggests that he

write a let Dora's two aunts asking to be allowed to write to her and visit her.

He sees this as good advice and

he decides to write the letter.

But first he looks in on Uriah,

who has essentially taken over the law firm, and Mr. Wickfield, who is a shadow of his former self.

David then tries to spend the rest

of the day with Agnes, but Mrs.

Heap won't leave them alone together. Finally, David goes out for a walk,

but Uriah catches up with him and essentially says that he sees David as a rival in his plan to marry Agnes. So David explains that he's engaged to somebody else and he sees Agnes as a sister, but he also says that Agnes do much better than to marry Uriah.

Later, after dinner, Uriah gets Mr. Wickfield

drunk and then reveals that he hopes to marry agnes. This makes Mr. Wickfield insane with rage

and he calls Uriah his torturer.

Uriah sees that he's spoken too soon and he backs off.

Agnes comes to say goodbye to David

that night and David tries to get

her to promise not to marry Uriah, but she won't do it. As David is leaving the next morning, Uriah comes and tells him that he's

made it up with Mr. Wakefield and

that he will bide his time.

And he hopes to marry Agnes eventually.

Okay, I'm gonna read two comments today.

The first one comes from Elizabeth.

She says, I want to throw up

just very slightly every time Uriah enters the scene. I know we've had a lot of villains in this book so far, the Murdstones, Mr. Creakle, cereforth. But I kind of think that Uriah

is shaping up to be the main villain. He's so awful. And he now seems to have a lot of the main characters under his thumb.

Mr. Wickfield, potentially Agnes, now Mr. Macawberry.

None of this bodes well at all.

And the second one comes from Tony Sousa.

He says, what a slimy, repulsive sneak. How low can he get? He purposefully got Mr. Wickfield drunk, purposefully brought up marriage for no other purpose

than to demonstrate his power over Wickfield. And he did it in front of

David to demonstrate his power over him. This is the chapter when David should

finally have realized that he is the one who should marry Agnes.

And it should have ended with him proposing.

Seriously, Dickens is so good.

I'm a 45 year old father of

six getting angry at a fictional character for choosing the wrong girl to marry. What is the world coming to? Okay, well, I think the world is coming to be a much better place if that's what's going on in it.

Right.

This is what I mean when I keep saying that reading and talking about these books will make the world a better place. When we feel this deeply for characters that were invented by a human imagination, we are excited to experiencing what it is to be truly human. And that's important now more than ever, I think. So I'm thrilled that you're feeling that way about David and I completely agree that things are looking pretty bad on the Uriah front at the moment. So let's talk about it now.

Okay, so remember when we first met

Uriah, we weren't sure, and David wasn't sure if he was just kind of really weird and socially awkward and he deserved our sympathy or if there was something more sinister going on. And I think every time Uriah has shown up in the story since then, the scales have tipped just a little bit more toward sinister. And every time that David has encountered him, Uriah has kind of implied more

and more strongly that he's actually after

something he's not just sort of going along, doing his work and being rewarded by various advancements. He is actively social climbing. He's actively trying to take over Mr. Wakefield's law firm and marry his daughter and in this way rise above his station and become a much, much higher person socially than he really has any right to be. And this whole humble thing we've come to see, it's really just a means to an end. It's the way that he gets what

he wants because it allows people to

think he's nobody and not pay attention

to what he's doing until it's too late.

And Uriah essentially admits this in this chapter. Here's what he says.

I got to know what humbleness did, and I took to it. I ate humble p with an appetite. I stopped at the umvil point of my learning and says, I hold hard. When you offered to teach me Latin, I knew better. People like to be above you, says, father, keep yourself down. I am very humble to the present moment, Master Copperfield, but I've got a little power. Okay, so he's saying that his humbleness is a strategy. If he never looks like he's trying to rise above his station, he can

rise above his station without anyone noticing until he's already at the top.

So there's a way in which Uriah is turning out to be potentially the

main villain of this whole story because,

as Elizabeth says, Uriah is currently a threat to a lot of the people

that David cares about. Not all, at least not at the moment, but lots. Mr. Macawer seems to be very much

under Uriah's sway at the moment.

David feels that Mr. Macawber is more

reserved than usual and that his allegiance

to Uriah is probably the reason for that. Here's what he says.

I clearly perceived there was something interposed between him and me since he had come into his new functions which prevented our getting at each other as we used to do and quite altered the character of our intercourse. Okay, and Mr. Macawber implies that Uriah

has been giving him money when he needs it as a kind of advance

on his salary so that Mr. Micawber

is staying out of debt, except for the debts that he now owes to

Uriah, which doesn't bode well because if

Mr. Micawber is in debt to Uriah, then Uriah can control or manipulate him or otherwise harm him. Right? He can hold those debts over him.

So David's friend, Mr. Macawber, could potentially

become Uriah's victim in some way. Uriah is clearly A bad influence on Mr. Wickfield.

He's obviously using Mr. Wakefield's alcoholism to keep him drunk and confused and stuff

so that he can take over the business himself. Mr. Macawer says that Mr. Wakefield is obsolete.

Right?

That's the word he uses. So Uriah has obviously taken over the whole firm and Mr. Wickfield has been kind of pushed into the background.

And Mr. Wickfield calls Uriah his torturer.

And he says, here's a quote before him.

I have step by step, abandoned name and reputation, peace and quiet, house and home, okay? So he's saying that Uriah has sort of systematically insinuated himself into every facet of Mr. Wakefield's life such that he now runs the law firm and lives in the house.

So he's taken over Mr. Wakefield's whole life essentially.

And far from being happy about it,

as you might be, I mean, there's a version of this in which, you know, you've taken on a promising new partner and he's taking the reins of

things that could be good. But Mr. Wakefield is not that.

He feels that he's being tortured.

And then of course there's Agnes.

Agnes is the final piece of Uriah's puzzle. I think she's kind of like the biggest prize because marrying her is the thing that would truly elevate Uriah out of his lower class station and into her middle class one.

And that's not to say that he doesn't love her.

He may love her or he might

think he loves her.

I mean, she's wonderful, so who wouldn't love her? But I also think, and we talked about this before a while ago. But I also think that marrying Agnes is the final step because in doing that he will completely take over the family.

He becomes the family. Essentially.

He'd be the head of the family when Mr. Wickfield is gone and his

children will be firmly middle class when he himself was firmly lower class. So this feat of social climbing that he has attempted would be truly accomplished

if he were able to marry Agnes.

But, but as Tony points out, this is a horrifying thought.

I mean, first and foremost it's horrifying because Uriah is such an awful, icky, slimy, sort of eel like person.

It's awful to think of her having

to spend her life with him, having to sleep with him, making his meals, bringing him his slippers, whatever it is that they would do as a married

couple is awful to think about, just period. But also, as Tony says, it's awful

because I think many of us are hoping that at some point David will screw his head on right. And realize that he should marry Agnes. Now, I want to point out that David has absolutely no intention at this point of doing that.

He is engaged to Dora. According to him, he is madly in love with Dora.

According to him, he thinks of Agnes as his wonderful sister.

But I know that many of you

are thinking that Agnes would be a much better match for him.

And also that perhaps all his going

on and on about how Agnes is his good angel and his best friend and his home and all of this, that is actually his way of saying, without knowing that he's saying that he's actually in love with her. I mean, the way that he talks about her does kind of sound like romantic love.

He says, this is a quote.

I don't know how it is, Agnes.

I seem to want some faculty of mind that I ought to have. You were so much in the habit

of thinking for me in the happy old days here. And I came so naturally to you

for counsel and things support that I really think I have missed acquiring it.

I mean, saying that you feel like the person you love is a part of you, or your other half or your missing piece or something. It's a pretty standard idea in terms of romantic love.

Here's something else that David says. He says, whenever I have not had you, Agnes, to advise and approve, in the beginning I have seemed to go wild and to get into all sorts of difficulty. When I have come to you at last, as I have always done, I have come to peace and happiness. I come home now like a tired traveler and find such a blessed sense of rest.

So saying that someone is your home is another pretty standard thing to say about the person that you love romantically.

But I think for David, love or romantic love for him it's this sort

of frenzied, all consuming, like infatuation and physical attraction.

But if I'm reading all your many

letters correctly, it seems like a lot

of you feel that actually that's just puppy love.

And the deeper things that he feels for Agnes are real love.

And you are all.

Or a lot of you anyway. You are just waiting for him to figure that out and hoping that it's not too late when he does.

And interestingly, there are a couple of

characters in the book at the moment

who agree with you.

One is Mr. Macawer, right?

Mr. Macawer says, if you had not

assured us, my dear Copperfield, on the

occasion of that agreeable afternoon, we had the happiness of.

Of passing with you that D was your favorite letter.

I should unquestionably have supposed that A had been so.

Meaning if he didn't already know that

David was in love with Dora, he might have thought that Agnes would have been the girl for him.

Now, Mr. Macawber doesn't actually know Dora, so he can't say that Agnes is

better, but he is saying that Agnes

would make a good wife for David. So that's one person who seems to think that perhaps they should get together. And interestingly, David has this weird reaction to hearing Mr. Macawer say that he gets deja vu. A Essentially, here's what he says.

We have all some experience of a feeling that comes over us occasionally of what we are saying and doing, having been said and done before in a remote time, of our having been surrounded dim ages ago by the same faces, objects and circumstances, of our knowing perfectly what will be said next as if we suddenly remembered it.

I never had this mysterious impression more

strongly in my life than before he uttered those words.

Words.

So it's almost like Mr. Macawer saying

that David should marry Agnes is something that David already knew but didn't know he knew, or something.

But he doesn't take it that way

at the time at all. He just thinks a weird thing is happening. But the other person who thinks that David might actually have feelings for Agnes is Uriah. The other really slimy thing that Uriah does in this chapter is essentially turn

his mother into a spy, such that

David and Agnes can never be alone together. And he does this because he's worried that David plans to propose to Agnes one day and he's trying to prevent him from doing that.

And Uriah has also clearly set his mother the task of talking him up to Agnes in the hopes that Agnes

will start to develop feelings for him. Right. David says this is a quote.

Once she asked for a particular ballad,

she being Mrs. Heap, right? She asked for a particular ballad, which

she said her Yuri, who was yawning in a great chair, doted on. And at intervals she looked round at him and reported to Agnes that he

was in raptures with the music.

But she hardly ever spoke. I question if she ever did without making some mention of him. It was evident to me that this was the duty assigned to her.

So Uriah clearly feels that it would be only natural for David to want to marry Agnes.

And he also obviously feels that there's

a danger that Agnes would say yes

if David asked her.

And because of this, Uriah has made

the whole house kind of incredibly oppressive.

Because he can't bear the closeness that

David and Agnes share.

Here's what David to have seen.

The mother and son, like two great bats hanging over the whole house and darkening it with their ugly forms, made me so uncomfortable that I would rather have remained downstairs knitting and all, than gone to bed.

I mean, that is a real villain, right?

He has taken over the Wickfields lives

and he's after the one last thing he doesn't have, which is Agnes's hand in marriage.

And he's not even subtle about it. He's very clear with David that he's trying to keep David away from Agnes, that he sees David as a rival.

Because when David reveals that he's not going to marry Agnes and he's engaged to somebody else, this is what Uriah.

I'm sure I'll take off, Mother. Directly and only too happy. I know you'll excuse the precautions of affection, won't you? Okay, so he's admitting it.

He's been guarding Agnes like some sort of awful troll because he didn't want David to swoop in and take her away. And all David can really do is

tell Uriah that even though he, David,

isn't going to marry Agnes, he feels that she's far too good for Uriah to marry. He says, before we leave the subject,

you ought to understand that I believe Agnes Wickfield to be as far above you and as far removed from all

your aspirations as that moon herself. Okay?

But it's this.

David's confession that he has no desire to marry Agnes and that therefore there's actually no romantic relationship going on between Agnes and David. It is this that that causes Uriah

to show his hand to Mr. Wickfield

and reveal his intention to propose to her. And it really seems to take him off guard that Mr. Wickfield would have such a huge and negative reaction to this idea.

Which tells us, and I love this

detail, but it tells us that Uriah doesn't know how awful he is. He doesn't know how icky and slimy and disgusting he seems to everyone else. David says Uriah pale and glowering in

a corner, evidently very much out in

his calculations and taken by by surprise.

[Mr. Peggotty]

Right?

[Faith Moore]

He thought that Mr. Wakefield would be okay with this idea since he's been allowing everything else that Uriah's been doing. But Mr. Wickfield loves Agnes more than anything else on earth. Remember, he used to say that she was his one purpose in life and he couldn't bear it if she had to marry this awful man. But Uriah doesn't see himself as an awful man, and that's what makes him a great villain. He sees himself as a great man, man who was born too low. He sees himself as a man deserving of everything he can grasp onto for himself, even Agnes. So he is a villain, really and

truly, and I don't know about you, but I love to hate him.

He's a great villain, I think.

Truly awful. But now, whether or not we think

that David should marry Agnes, Agnes, in her goodness, has given David some really good advice about how he can get back with Dora, which is that he should chill out, stop doing everything clandestinely, and he should write to the aunts that Dora now lives with and explain

that he would like to court their niece.

So we, as the reader are in the position of having to watch as the woman we want David to marry makes it potentially easier for David to continue his relationship with the woman that we don't want David to marry, which, at least narratively, if not emotionally, is a very delicious little quandary. And the drama is heightened by the fact that when David tries to get

Agnes to promise him that she won't ever agree to marry Uriah, she won't do that. She won't make that promise. David says, oh, long, long afterwards I saw that look subside as it did now into the lovely smile with which she told me she had no fear for herself, I need have none for her, and parted from me by the

name of brother, and was gone on.

Okay, so, yeah, things are not looking so great for the wickfields or for Mr. Macawber. They've got this horrible eel bat guy,

Uriah, hanging over them with really not much at all standing in his way.

But David is going to write to

Dora's aunt, so maybe he'll be able to see her again at some point. So there's that. But hopefully all of this will get sorted out somehow. Hopefully somehow good, not somehow bad, but actually, there's only one way to find out, and that is to keep reading.

So let's do that.

Let's read the next chapter.

But of course, don't forget to write to me.

It's faith k.moore.com and then click on Contact. Or you can scroll into the show notes. That same link is there. Please do get in touch. Things are getting exciting around here. So please do get in touch with all your thoughts and your questions and your reactions, because I love to hear from from you.

All right, let's get started with chapter 40 of David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. It's story time. Chapter 40. The Wanderer. We had a very serious conversation in Buckingham street that night about the domestic occurrences I have detailed in the last chapter. My aunt was deeply interested in them and walked up and down the room with her arms folded for more than two hours. Afterwards, whenever she was particularly discomposed, she

always performed one of these pedestrian feats,

and the amount of her discomposure might always be estimated by the duration of her walk. On this occasion she was so much disturbed in mind as to find it

necessary to open the bedroom door and make a course for herself comprising the

full extent of the bedrooms from wall to wall all. And while Mr. Dick and I sat quietly by the fire, she kept passing in and out along this measured track at an unchanging pace with the regularity of a clock pendulum. When my aunt and I were left to ourselves by Mr. Dick's going out to bed, I sat down to write my letter to the two old ladies. By that time she was tired of walking and sat by the fire with her dress tucked up as usual. But instead of sitting in her usual manner, holding her glass upon her knees, me she suffered it to stand neglected on the chimney piece, and resting her left elbow on her right arm and her chin on her left hand, looked thoughtfully at me. As often as I raised my eyes from what I was about, I met hers. I am in the lovingest of tempers,

my dear, she would assure me with

a nod, but I am fidgeted and sorry. I had been too busy to observe until after she was gone to bed that she had left her night mixture, as she always called it, it untasted on the chimney piece. She came to her door with even more than her usual affection of manner. When I knocked to acquaint her with this discovery, but only said, I have not the heart to take it trot to night, and shook her head and went in again. She read my letter to the two old ladies in the morning and approved of it. I posted it and had nothing to do then but wait as patiently as I could for the reply.

I was still in this state of

expectation, and had been for nearly a week when I left the doctors one

[Mr. Peggotty]

snowy night night to walk home.

[Faith Moore]

It had been a bitter day, and a cutting northeast wind had blown for some time. The wind had gone down with the light, and so the snow had come on. It was a heavy settled fall, I recollect, in great flakes, and it lay thick. The noise of wheels and tread of people were as hushed as if the streets had been Strewn that depth with feathers. My shortest way home, and I naturally

took the shortest way on such a

night, was through St. Martin's Lane. Now the church which gives its name to the lane, stood in a less free situation at that time, there being no open space before it and the lane winding down to the strand. As I passed the steps of the portico I encountered at the corner a woman's face. It looked in mine, passed across the narrow lane and disappeared. I knew it. I had seen it somewhere, but I could not remember where. I had some association with it that struck upon my heart directly, but I was thinking of anything else when it came upon me and was confused. On the steps of the church there was the stooping figure of a man who had put down some burden on the smooth snow to adjust it. My seeing the face and my seeing him him were simultaneous. I don't think I had stopped in my surprise but in any case, as I went on he rose, turned and came down towards me. I stood face to face with Mr. Peggotty. Then I remembered the woman. It was Martha to whom Emily had given the money that night in the kitchen. Martha Endel, side by side with whom he would not have seen his dear niece, Ham had told me, for all the treasures wrecked in the sea. We shook hands heartily at first neither of us could speak a word. Master Davy, he said, gripping me tight,

[Mr. Peggotty]

it do my heart good to see you, sir. Well met, well met, well met, my dear old friend, said I. I had my thoughts a comin to make inquiration for you, sir, to night he said. But knowing as your aunt was living along with you, for I've been down yonder Yarmouth way, I was afeard it was too late. I should ha come early in the morning, sir, afore going away again, said I.

[Faith Moore]

Yes sir, he replied patiently, shaking his head.

[Mr. Peggotty]

I'm away to morrow.

[Faith Moore]

Where were you going now? I asked.

Well, he replied, shaking the snow out

of his long hair, I was a

[Mr. Peggotty]

going to turn in somewheres in those days.

[Faith Moore]

There was a side entrance to the stable yard of the Golden Cross, the inn so memorable to me in connection with his misfortune. Nearly opposite to where we stood, I pointed out the gateway, put my arm through his and we went across two or three public rooms opened out of the stable yard and looking into one of them and finding it empty and a good fire burning, I took him in there. When I saw him in the light I observed not only that his hair was long and ragged, but that his face was burnt dark by the sun. He was grayer, the lines in his face and forehead were deeper, and he had every appearance of having toiled and wandered through all varieties of weather. But he looked very strong and like a man upheld by steadfastness of purpose whom nothing could tire out. He shook the snow from his hat and clothes and brushed it away from his face. While I was inwardly making these remarks as he sat down opposite to me at a table with his back to the door by which we had entered, he put out his rough hand again and grasped mine warmly, warmly. I'll tell you, Master Davy, he said,

[Mr. Peggotty]

where all I've been and what all we've heard I've been fur and we've heard little, but I'll tell you.

[Faith Moore]

I rang the bell for something hot to drink. He would have nothing stronger than ale, and while it was being brought and being warmed at the fire, he sat thinking there was a fine massive gravity in his face. I did not venture to disturb.

[Mr. Peggotty]

When she was a child, he said,

[Faith Moore]

lifting up his head, soon after we

were left alone, she used to talk

[Mr. Peggotty]

to me a deal about the sea, and about them coasts where the sea got to be dark blue and to lay a shinin and a shinin the sun. I thought odd times, as her father beIN drownded made her think on it so much. I dunno, you see, but maybe she believed or hoped he had drifted out to them parts where the flowers is always a blowin and the country bright.

[Faith Moore]

It is likely to have been a

[Mr. Peggotty]

childish fancy, I replied when she was

[Faith Moore]

lost, said Mr. Peggotty, I knowed in my mind as he would take her to them countries.

[Mr. Peggotty]

I knowed in my mind as he'd have told her wonders of em and how she was to be a lady there, and how he got her to listen to em fust along all such life. When we see his mother. I knowed quite well as I was right. I went across channel to France and landed there as if I'd fell down from the sky.

[Faith Moore]

I saw the door move and the snow drift in. I saw it move a little more, and a hand softly interposed to keep it open.

[Mr. Peggotty]

I found an English gentleman, as was an authority, said Mr. Peggotty, and told him I was a going to seek my niece. He got me them papers as I wanted for to carry me through. I don't rightly know how they're called,

[Faith Moore]

and he would have give me money,

[Mr. Peggotty]

but that I was thankful to have no need on. I thanked him kind, for he had done. I am sure I wrote afore you.

[Faith Moore]

He Says to me, and I shall

[Mr. Peggotty]

speak to many as will come that way, and many will know you for distant from here when you're a travelling alone. I told em best as I was able what my gratitude was and went away through France. Alone and on foot, said I. Mostly afoot he rejoined sometimes in carts along with people going to market, sometimes in empty coaches. Many mile a day afoot, and often with some poor soldier or another traveling to see his friends. I couldn't talk to him, said Mr. Peggotty, nor he to me. But we was company for one another to along the dusty roads.

[Faith Moore]

I should have known that by his friendly tone.

[Mr. Peggotty]

When I come to ony town, he pursued. I found the inn and waited about the yard till someone turned up. Someone mostly did as knowed English. Then I told how I was on my way to seek my niece and they told me what manner of gentlefolks was in the house. And I waited to see any as seemed like her going in or out. When it warn't Emily, I went on again, but little and little. When I come to a new village or that among the poor people, I found they knewed about me. They would set me down at their cottage doors and give me what not for to eat and drink and show

[Faith Moore]

me where to sleep.

[Mr. Peggotty]

And many a woman, Master Davie, as has had a daughter of about em' ly's age, I've found a waitin for me at our Saviour's cross outside the village, for to do me similar kindnesses some as had daughters as was dead and God only knows how good them mothers was to me.

[Faith Moore]

It was Martha at the door. I saw her haggard listening face distinctly. My dread was lest he should turn his head and see her too.

[Mr. Peggotty]

They would often put their children particular their little girls, said Mr. Peggotty upon my knee. And many a time you might have seen me sitting at their doors when night was coming in, almost as if they'd been my Darlins children. Oh, my darling.

[Faith Moore]

Overpowered by sudden grief, he sobbed aloud. I laid my trembling hand upon the hand he put before his face.

[Mr. Peggotty]

Thank you, sir, he said. Don't take no notice.

[Faith Moore]

In a very little while he took his hand away and put it on his breast and went on with his story.

[Mr. Peggotty]

They often walked with me, he said, in the morning, maybe a mile or two upon my road. And when we parted and I said, I'm very thankful to you. God bless you. They always seemed to understand and answered pleasant. At last I come to the sea. It warn't hard. You may suppose For a seafaring man like me to work his way over to Italy. When I got there I wandered on as I had done before. The people was just as good to me and I should have gone from town to town, maybe the country through. But then I got news of her being seen among them Swiss mountains. Yonder, yonder. 1 as knowed his servant see em thereall 3 and told me how they travelled and where they was. I made for the mountains, Master Davie, day and night, ever so fur as I went, ever so fur. The mountains seemed to shift away from me but I come up with them and I crossed em. When I got nigh the place as I had been told of I began to think within my own self. What shall I do when I see her?

[Faith Moore]

The listening face, face insensible to the inclement night, still drooped at the door and the hands begged me, prayed me not to cast it forth. I never doubted her, said Mr. Peggotty.

[Mr. Peggotty]

No, not a bit. Only let her see my face, only let her hear my voice, only let my standing still afore her bring to her thoughts the home she had fled away from and the child she had been.

[Faith Moore]

And if she had grown to be

[Mr. Peggotty]

a royal lady, she'd have fell down at my feet. I knowed it well. Many a time in my sleep had I heard her cry out uncle, and seen her fall like death afore me. Many a time in my sleep had I raised her up and whispered to Em', Ly, my dear, I am come for to bring forgiveness and to take you home.

[Faith Moore]

He stopped and shook his head and went on with a sigh.

[Mr. Peggotty]

He was not to me now. Now Em' ly was all I bought a country dress to put upon her and I knowed that once found she would walk beside me over them stony roads, go where I would and never, never leave me more. To put that dress upon her and to cast off what she wore, to take her on my arm again and wander towards home, to stop sometimes upon the road and heal her bruised feet and her worse bruised heart was all that I thought of now. I don't believe I should have done so much as look at him. But Master Davy, it warn't to be, not yet. I was too late and they was gone. Where I couldn't learn. Some said here, some said there. I travelled here and I travelled there but I found no Em' ly and I travelled home. How long ago?

[Faith Moore]

I asked.

[Mr. Peggotty]

A matter of four days, said Mr. Peggotty. I sighted the old boat after dark and the light a Shining in the window. When I come nigh and looked in through the glass, I see the faithful Cratur Mrs. Goomidge sitting by the fire as we had fixed upon alone, I called out, don't be afeard, it's Dan'. L. And I went in. I never could have thought the old boat would have been so strange.

[Faith Moore]

From some pocket in his breast he took out with a very careful hand a small paper bundle containing two or three letters or little packets which he laid upon the table.

[Mr. Peggotty]

This first one, come, he said, selecting

[Faith Moore]

it from the rest afore I had

[Mr. Peggotty]

been gone a week, a 50 pound bank note in a sheet of paper directed to me and put underneath the door. In the night she tried to hide her writing, but she couldn't hide it from me.

[Faith Moore]

He folded up the note again with

great patience and care, in exactly the

same form and laid it on one side.

[Mr. Peggotty]

This come to Mrs. Gummidge, he said, opening another.

[Faith Moore]

Two or three months ago, after looking at it for some moments, he gave it to me and added in a

[Mr. Peggotty]

low voice, be so good as to read it, sir.

[Faith Moore]

I read as follows.

[Emily]

Oh, what will you feel when you see this writing and know it comes from my wicked hand? But try, try, not for my sake, but for Uncle's goodness. Try to let your heart soften to me only for a little, little time. Try, pray do to relent towards a miserable girl and write down on a bit of paper whether he is well

[Faith Moore]

and what he said about me before

[Emily]

you left off ever naming me among yourselves, and whether of a night, when

[Faith Moore]

it is my old time of coming

[Emily]

home, you ever see him look as if he thought of one he used to love so dear. Oh, my heart is breaking when I think about it. I am kneeling down to you, begging and praying you not to be as hard with me as I deserve, as I well, well know I deserve but to be so gentle and so good as to write down something of him and to send it to me.

[Faith Moore]

Me.

[Emily]

You need not call me little, you need not call me by the name I have disgraced. But, oh, listen to my agony and have mercy on me so far as to write me some word of uncle never, never to be seen in this world by my eyes again. Dear, if your heart is hard towards me, justly hard, I know. But listen, if it is hard, dear, ask him I have wronged the most, him whose wife I was to have been. Before you quite decide against my poor, poor prayer, if he should be so compassionate as to say that you might write something for me to Read. I think he would. Oh, I think he would, if you would only ask him, for he always was so brave and so forgiving. Tell him then, but not else, that when I hear the wind blowing at night, I feel as if it was passing angrily from seeing him and uncle,

[Faith Moore]

and was going up to God against me.

Tell him that if I was to

[Emily]

die tomorrow, and, oh, if I was fit, I would be so glad to die I would bless him and uncle with my last words and pray for his happy home with my last breath.

[Faith Moore]

Some money was enclosed in this letter also £5. It was untouched, like the previous sum, and he refolded it in the same way. Detailed instructions were added relative to the address of a reply, which, although they betrayed the intervention of several hands and

[Mr. Peggotty]

made it difficult to arrive at any

[Faith Moore]

very probable conclusion in reference to her place of concealment, made it at least not unlikely that she had written from that spot where she was stated to have been seen. What answer was sent? I inquired of Mr. Peggotty.

[Mr. Peggotty]

Mrs. Gummidge. He returned, not beIN a good scholar, sir, Ham kindly drawed it out, and she made a copy on it. They told her I was gone to

[Faith Moore]

seek her and what my part in words was. Is that another letter in your hand?

[Mr. Peggotty]

Said I. It's money, sir, said Mr. Peggotty, unfolding

[Faith Moore]

it a little way.

[Mr. Peggotty]

Ten pound, ye see. And wrote inside from a true friend like the first, but the first was put underneath the door. And this come by the post day afore yesterday. I'm a going to seek her at the postmark.

[Faith Moore]

He showed it to me. It was a town on the upper Rhine. He had found out at Yarmouth some foreign dealers who knew that country, and they had drawn him a rude map on paper which he could very well understand. He laid it between us on the table. Table and with his chin resting on one hand, tracked his course upon it with the other. I asked him how Ham was. He shook his head.

[Mr. Peggotty]

He works, he said, as bold as a man can. His name's as good in all the parts as any man's is anywheres in the world. Anyone's hand is ready to help him, you understand, and his is ready to help them. He's never been heard for to complain. But my sister's belief is twixt ourselves as it has caught him deep.

[Faith Moore]

Poor fellow. I can believe it.

[Mr. Peggotty]

He ain't no care, master Davie, said

[Faith Moore]

Mr. Peggotty in a solemn whisper.

[Mr. Peggotty]

Kinder no care no how for his life. When a man's wanted for rough sarvice in Rough weather he is there when there's hard duty to be done with danger in it, he steps forward afore his mates and yet he's as gentle as any child. There ain't a child in Yarmouth that don't know him.

[Faith Moore]

He gathered up the letters thoughtfully, smoothing them with his hand, put them into their little bundle and placed it tenderly in his breast. Again the face was gone from the door. I still saw the snow drifting in, but nothing else was there.

Well, he said, looking to his bag,

[Mr. Peggotty]

having seen you to night, Master Davy, and that doos me good. I shall away betimes to morrow morning. You have seen what I've got here.

[Faith Moore]

Putting his hand on where the little packet lay.

[Mr. Peggotty]

All that troubles me is to think that any harm might come to me afore that money was give back. If I was to die and it was lost or stole or elseways made away with and it was never knowed by him but what I'd took it, I believe the t' other world wouldn't hold me. I believe I must come back.

[Faith Moore]

He's saying if he dies before giving the money back to Steerforth because he refuses to accept anything from him, then

he'll probably come back to life so

that he can give it back. He rose and I rose too. We grasped each other by the hand again before going out.

[Mr. Peggotty]

Had go 10,000 mile, he said. Had go till I dropped dead to lay that money down a forum. If I do that and find my Emily, only I'm content if I don't find her. Maybe she'll come to here sometime, as her lovin uncle only ended his search for her when he ended his life. And if I know her, even that will turn her home at last.

[Faith Moore]

As he went out into the rigorous night, I saw the lonely figure flit away before us. I turned him hastily on some pretence and held him in conversation until it was gone. He spoke of a traveller's house on the Dover Road Road where he knew he could find a clean plain lodging for the night. I went with him over Westminster Bridge and parted from him on the Surrey shore. Everything seemed to my imagination to be hushed in reverence for him as he resumed his solitary journey through the snow. I returned to the inn yard and impressed by my remembrance of the face, meaning Martha's face, looked awfully around, for was not there. The snow had covered our late footprints. My new track was the only one to be seen and even that began to die away. It snowed so fast as I looked back over my shoulder. 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? You please go to my website, faithkmore.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 though, 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 it all right everyone, story time is over.

[Mr. Peggotty]

To be continued.