Becky Sharp

“ She is really a worse Becky Sharp, or a rather cleverer Valérie Marneffe (who perhaps was her model [423] ) , and she forms a cunning plan by which the child may be legitimated and she herself, apparently renouncing, will really secure a chance of, the countdom, the marquisate, and the mountains of iron and gold. (Of the latter she has got a good share out of her lover already.) ”

“ Come down, and let me try. I never saw a tree yet big enough to scare me.”
“Who’s scart, Becky Sleeper? I ain’t—not by a long chalk. When a feller’s holdin’ on with both hands, he can’t be expected to pick very quick—can he?”
[8]
“Wind your arm round that branch over your head. There; now you’re all right, Teddy.”
“That’s so. What a hand you are to contrive! Now look sharp—they’re coming!”
Becky Sleeper, in imitation of famed “Humpty Dumpty,” sat upon a wall, where she had no business to be, for the wall was the boundary of Captain Thompson’s orchard. ”

“ Be as quiet as [92] you can, so as not to alarm Richard Manx. I’ll keep outside the street door while you’re gone.”
Becky went softly into the kitchen for the key of the first floor front, and then went upstairs and opened the door. She might have been a shadow, she glided about so noiselessly. The window was not easy to open, but she succeeded in raising the sash almost without a sound.
“It is done,” she said, as she stood before the detective once more.
“I’d like to have another daughter,” said he, in a tone of approval, “with wits as sharp as yours. I believe Mr. ”

“ At the end of this building was a low, slant-roofed stable. In the sorting-room from ten to a dozen females were usually employed; and to this section of the paper mill Becky was assigned.
To no pleasant work did Becky set her hands; in no very pleasant companionship did she find herself. With the exception of Jenny York, the [138] “girls” were middle aged and old women, loud-tongued, and very apt to be quarrelsome. At first Becky tried to make friends with all of them; but, finding her overtures met with rudeness, she desisted from further attempts, and drew the closer to the little cripple. ”

“ But she was a saint in a shrine—it will be seen that he did not hesitate to borrow from Randy. She was a saint in a shrine, and well, he knelt at her feet—a sinner. "You needn't think that I don't know what I have done, Becky. I swept you along with me without a thought of anything serious in it for either of us. It was just a game, sweetheart, and lots of people play it, but it isn't a game now, it is the most serious thing in life."
There is no eloquence so potent as that which is backed by genuine passion. Becky coming down through the garden had been so sure of herself. ”

“ Miss Becky, at this, exchanged with me a long, deep look. 'Never.'
We had, in silence, a little luminous talk about it, in the course of which she seemed to tell me the most interesting things. 'And how's your mother?' I then inquired.
She hesitated, but finally spoke with the same serenity. 'My mother's all right. You see, she's not alive.'
'Oh, Becky!' my sister-in-law pleadingly interjected.
But Becky only addressed herself to me. 'Come and see if she is. I think she isn't—but Maria perhaps isn't so clear. ”

“ She believed herself indispensable, but she knew that in such a mischanceful world as this the very powers of darkness might rise to separate her from this pearl among jobs.
When Becky came in from lunch she went down the long hall to the wash-room, where all the little girls who worked in the advertising and circulation departments kept their hats and jackets. There were shelves and shelves of bright spring hats, piled on top of one another, all as stiff as sheet-iron and trimmed with gay flowers. ”

“ Drinkwater’s my teacher.”
Harry Thompson stepped from his desk. The lower jaw came up with an ominous snap. He went to where Becky sat kicking the form before her, and looked down at her. She appeared so little, that his anger at her sauciness vanished at once.
“Becky, you and I will have a private session [88] after school. You will read to me then, I think, for old acquaintance’s sake,” he said, with a smile, and returned to his desk. “I am very much obliged to you all for your attention. School is dismissed. Becky Sleeper will remain.” ”

“ I’m a good-looking old lady—a good-looking old lady—a good-looking old lady! Becky’s a clever girl—I won’t forget her.”
As Becky descended to the kitchen, she heard a newsboy calling out a new edition of the Evening Moon. Becky went to the street door and asked the boy if there was anything fresh in the paper about the murder. ”

“ There was a rush for out doors, and the school-room was quickly cleared of all but Becky and the teacher. Teddy had lingered a moment to exchange a word with Becky, in which “the Basin,” and “wait outside,” might be distinguished, and then had taken his leave.
“Now, Becky, let me hear you read.”
Becky arose, but instead of stepping to the platform, marched straight for the door. But not quite fast enough, for Harry stepped before her, closed the door, and locked it.
“Becky,” said he, “the first duty to be learned in school is obedience to the teacher. Go to the platform!” ”

“ She had reached her culmination: her voice rose trilling and bright over the storm of applause: and soared as high and joyful as her triumph. There was a ball after the dramatic entertainments, and everybody pressed round Becky as the great point of attraction of the evening. The Royal Personage declared with an oath, that she was perfection, and engaged her again and again in conversation. Little Becky's soul swelled with pride and delight at these honours; she saw fortune, fame, fashion before her. Lord Steyne was her slave ”

“ When, in the following June, I went on to return my sister-in-law's visit the first object that met my eyes in her little white parlour was a figure that, to my stupefaction, presented itself for the moment as that of Mrs. Rimmle. I had gone to my room after arriving, and, on dressing, had come down: the apparition I speak of had arisen in the interval. Its ambiguous character lasted, however, but a second or two—I had taken Becky for her mother because I knew no one but her mother of that extreme age. Becky's age was quite startling ”

“ The whole use, too, of the work—that of generously measuring one another by this standard—is lost, the moment you convict Becky of a capital crime. Who can, with any face, liken a dear friend to a murderess? Whereas now there are no little symptoms of fascinating ruthlessness, graceful ingratitude, or ladylike selfishness, observable among our charming acquaintance, that we may not immediately detect to an inch, and more effectually intimidate by the simple application of the Becky gauge than by the most vehement use of all ten commandments. ”

“ And away goes Aunt Sophia, nodding her head out of the window until a bend in the road hides the fly from view, and the girls go indoors again to interview Becky. Certainly she is a remarkable-looking young person; and many a grave discussion is held as to the phrenological meaning of the enormous bumps on either side of her head. To Becky herself they chiefly mean that not all the bonnet-pins and hair-pins in the world will keep her cap straight; if it is not leaning over too much on one side, it is sure to be on the other. ”

“ Becky knew that well enough. Why should she be told what she knew so well? It was nobody’s business, any way. Why didn’t people attend to their own affairs? She failed to recognize the voice, and, being in an ugly state of misery, snatched the soft hand from its resting-place, and flung it rudely from her, with her eyes defiantly closed.
Mrs. Thompson did not replace the hand, did not repeat the words. She stood looking at the girl a moment, then passed across the room, and took a seat by the window. This movement set Becky to thinking. ”

“ Becky asked me how to stop the launch, and I told her. She made a lot of finger signs to Lonesome, and inside of five minutes the Greased Lightning was anchored in front of us. Old man Huckleberries was still hankering to interview Todd with the pitchfork, but Becky settled that all right. She jumped in front of him, and her eyes snapped and her feet stamped and her fingers flew. And 'twould have done you good to see her dad shrivel up and get humble. I always had thought that a woman wasn't much good as a boss of the roost unless she could use her tongue, but Becky showed me my mistake. ”

“ Lizzie thought to herself; and half an hour later, when she met Becky in the lunch-room, she called out to her,—
"Come, Becky, give us the swells at the ribbon counter."
"Eh?" said Becky.
Lizzie repeated her request, and the other girls joined in: "Yes, Becky, give us the swells at the ribbon counter; we want some fun."
"They warn't funny," answered Becky, shortly. ”

“ He leaped from his seat and took Jenny in his arms and placed her in the wagon.
“There’s room for you, too, Becky. Jump in. God bless you, girl. It’s hard to lose all I have in the world, but it would have been harder to bear had there been a life lost.”
Becky climbed into the wagon followed by Teddy who took up the reins and drove away. As they moved off the excited crowd, who had witnessed Becky’s valor, shouted until Becky was out of sight, “Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah!” As they flew down the road Jenny poured into the ears of Teddy Sleeper the exciting narrative of the escape. ”

“ She goes to school to you, teacher," the old man added, presently, brightening with a senile predilection for gossip.
"Becky's a very sensible girl," said Grandma Keeler; "and don't cast no sheep's eyes, but goes right along and minds her own business. Becky plays very purty on the music, too."
"Yes. But you know Dave Rollin wouldn't any more think of marrying Becky Weir than he would of marrying me," cried Mrs. Philander. "Of all the fishermen that have come down here not one of them ever married in Wallencamp. He's just trifling, and she thinks he's in real earnest ”

“ He’s nothing but a boy.”
“What will the captain say now, Becky?”
“I don’t care what he says. Guess he don’t like the teacher any better than I do. Come, let’s get away from here; he’ll be after us.”
“That’s so. Where shall we go?”
“Where we were going this morning. We’ve got time to ‘shoot the Basin’ before dinner.”
So saying, Becky, whose hasty exit from the school-room had not allowed her to gain possession of her hat, started off bareheaded, followed by Teddy, along the bank of the river, towards the Corner. ”

“ The room was neat and tidy; the “poor man” lay upon a sofa; two of the five children with which this couple were blessed were playing about the room; two were at church; the eldest, Silly, was in the next room, putting away her things, having just returned from Mrs. Thompson’s.
“Only think, father, here’s Becky and Teddy Sleeper come all the way alone to bring you something nice. Of all things! Why, Becky, I thought you didn’t care for anything but getting into scrapes and out again. You’ve got a good heart, any way—ain’t she father?” ”

“ Every description of fashionable life tells [Pg 276] the same story and we have to realise this to understand “Vanity Fair.”
I must ask you to pardon me if I linger over this theme and try to elaborate it. Becky had had a good deal of experience before her chance came, and she was fit to take it. Her brother-in-law, Pitt Crawley, was always a little smitten by her charm and determined to do the right thing by Rawdon by inviting him and Becky to Queen’s Crawley. Becky strikes the right note at once—they go by coach, “it looks more humble.” ”

“ They’d beat and cut a man who meant nothing at all in mentioning that they lived along the road. White or colored? No one knew, and least of all themselves. They drifted around from job to job. We, who had cast out their mother because of them, could we take them in? They answered black and white folks by shooting up two men and leaving town. “Godam the white folks; godam the niggers,” they shouted as they left town. Becky? Smoke curled up from her chimney; she must be there. Trains passing shook the ground. ”

“ Ardessa told an appealing story to O’Mally, and brought Becky into the office, at a salary of six dollars a week, to help with the copying and to learn business routine. When Becky first came she was as ignorant as a young savage. She was rapid at her shorthand and typing, but a Kafir girl would have known as much about the English language. Nobody ever wanted to learn more than Becky. She fairly wore the dictionary out. She dug up her old school grammar and worked over it at night. She faithfully mastered Miss Devine’s fussy system of punctuation. ”

“ Pity would be thrown away upon one who has not heart enough for it to ache even for herself. Becky is perfectly happy, as all must be who excel in what they love best. Her life is one exertion of successful power. Shame never visits her, for "'Tis conscience that makes cowards of us all"—and she has none. She realizes that ne plus ultra of sublunary comfort which it was reserved for a Frenchman to define—the blessed combination of "le bon estomac et le mauvais coeur": for Becky adds to her other good qualities that of an excellent digestion. ”

“ Well, meanwhile Becky was the greatest comfort and convenience to her, and she gave her a couple of new gowns, and an old necklace and shawl, and shewed her friendship by abusing all her intimate acquaintances to her new confidante (than which there can't be a more touching proof of regard) , and meditated vaguely some great future benefit—to marry her perhaps to Clump, the apothecary, or to settle her in some advantageous way of life; or, at any rate, to send her back to Queen's Crawley when she had done with her, and the full London season had begun. ”

“ Becky with a sudden impulse put it on. She stripped the cap from her head, and wound her bronze locks in a high knot. She surveyed herself.
Well, she was Becky Bannister of Huntersfield—and the mirror showed her beauty. And Dalton had not known or cared. He thought her poor; and had thrown her aside like an old glove!
Down-stairs the telephone rang. Old Mandy, coming up to say that Mr. Randy was on the wire, stood in amazement at the sight of Becky in the rosy wrap with her hair peaked up to a topknot. ”