A word of encouragement, of pity for my childish ignorance, of welcome home, of reassurance to me that it was home, might have made me dutiful to him in my heart henceforth, instead of in my hypocritical outside, and might have made me respect instead of hating him.

Miss Murdstone arrived next day; she was dark, like her brother, and greatly resembled him in face and voice.  Firmness was the grand quality on which both of them took their stand.

I soon fell into disgrace over my lessons.  I never could do them with my mother satisfactorily with the Murdstones sitting by; their influence upon me was like the fascination of two snakes on a wretched young bird.

One dreadful morning, when the lessons had turned out even more badly than usual, Mr. Murdstone seized hold of me and twisted my head under his arm preparatory to beating me with a cane.  At the first stroke I caught the hand with which he held me, in my mouth, between my teeth, and bit it through.  He beat me then as if he would have beaten me to death.  And when he had gone, I was kept a close prisoner in my room, and was not allowed to see my mother, and was only permitted to walk in the garden for half an hour every day.  Miss Murdstone acted as gaoler, and after five days of this confinement, she told me I was to be sent away to school—­to Salem House School, Blackheath.

I saw my mother before I left.  They had persuaded her I was a wicked fellow, and she was more sorry for that than for my going.

II.—­I Begin Life on My own Account

I was doing my second term at school when I was told that my mother was dead, and that I was to go home to the funeral.

I never returned to Salem House.  Mr. Murdstone and his sister left me to myself, and I could see that Mr. Murdstone liked me less than ever.  At odd times I speculated on the possibility of not being taught any more or cared for any more, and growing up to be a shabby, moody man, lounging an idle life away about the village.

Peggotty was under notice to quit, and thought of going to live with her brother at Yarmouth; but as it turned out, she didn’t do this, but married the old carrier Barkis instead.

“Young or old, Davy dear, as long as I am alive, and have this house over my head,” said Peggotty to me on the day she was married, “you shall find it as if I expected you here directly.  I shall keep it every day, as I used to keep your old little room, my darling.”

The solitary condition I now fell into for some weeks was ended one day by Mr. Murdstone telling me that I was to be put into the business of Murdstone and Grinby.

“You will earn enough to provide for your eating and drinking, and pocket money,” said Mr. Murdstone.  “Your lodging, which I have arranged for, will be paid by me.  So will your washing, and your clothes will be looked after for you, too.  You are now going to London, David, to begin the world on your own account.”