The Poor Traveller by Charles Dickens - Full Audiobook | Christmas Stories

the poor Traveler by Charles Dickens [Music] in the year 1799 a relative of mine came limping down on foot to the town of Chatham he was a poor traveler with not a farthing in his pocket my relative came down to Chatham to enlist in a Cavalry Regiment if a Cavalry Regiment would have him if not to take King George's Shilling from any Corporal or Sergeant who would put a bunch of ribbons in his hat his object was to get shot but he thought he might as well ride to death as be at the trouble of

walking my relative's Christian name was Richard but tea was better known as dick he dropped his own surname on the road down and took up that of double dick he was passed as Richard double dick age 22 height 5'10 native place exmouth which he had never been near in his life there was no Cavalry in Chatham when he limped over the bridge with half a shoe to his Dusty feet so he enlisted into a regiment of the line and was glad to get drunk and forget all about it you ought to know that this relative

of mine had gone wrong and run wild his heart was in the right place but it was sealed up he had been betrothed to a good and beautiful girl whom he had loved better than she or perhaps even he believed but in an evil hour he had given her cause to say to him solemnly Richard I will never marry any other man I will live single for your sake but Mary Marshall's lips her name was Mary Marshall never address another word to you on Earth go Richard Heaven forgive you this finished him this brought him

down to Chatham this made him private Richard double dick with a determination to be shot there was not a more dissipated and Reckless soldier in Chatham barracks in the year 1799 than private Richard doubledick he associated with the dregs of every regiment he was a seldom sober as he could be and was constantly under punishment it became clear to the whole Barracks that private Richard double dick would very soon be flogged now the captain of Richard double Dick's company was a young gentleman not above five years his senior whose eyes had an expression in them

which affected private Richard double dick in a very remarkable way they were bright handsome dark eyes what are called laughing eyes generally and when serious rather steady than severe but they were the only eyes now left in his narrowed world that private Richard double dick could not stand unabashed by evil report and Punishment defiant of everything else and everybody else he had but to know that those eyes looked at him for a moment and he felt ashamed he could not so much as salute Captain Taunton in the street like any other officer he was reproached

and Confused troubled by the mere possibility of the captains looking at him in his worst moments he would rather turn back and go any distance out of his way than encounter those two handsome dark bright eyes one day when private Richard double dick came out of the black hole where he had been passing the last 8 and 40 hours and in which Retreat he spent a good deal of his time he was ordered to partake himself to Captain taunton's Quarters in the stale and squalid state of a man just out of the black hole he

had less fancy than ever for being seen by the captain but he was not so mad yet as to disobey orders and consequently went up to the Terrace overlooking the parade ground where the officer's quarters were twisting and breaking in his hands as he went along a bit of the straw that had formed the decorative furniture of the black hole come in cried the captain when he knocked with his knuckles at the door private Richard double dick pulled off his cap took a stride forward and felt very conscious that he stood in the light of

the dark bright eyes there was a slight pause private Richard double dick could put the straw in his mouth and was gradually doubling it up into his windpipe and choking himself double dick said the captain do you know where you were going to to the devil sir double dick yes return the captain and very fast private Richard double dick turned the straw of the black hole in his mouth and made a miserable salute of acquiescence double dick said the captain since I entered his Majesty's service a boy of 17 I've been pained to see many

men of Promise going that road but I have never been so pained to see a man determined to make the shameful Journey as I have been ever since you joined the regiment to see you private Richard double dick began to find a film stealing over the floor at which he looked also to find the legs of the captain's breakfast table turning crooked as if he saw them through water I'm only a common Soldier sir said he it signifies very little what such a poor brute comes to you are a man returned the captain with grave

indignation of education and Superior advantages and if you say that meaning what you say you have sunk lower than I had believed how low that must be I leave you to consider knowing what I know of your disgrace and seeing what I see I hope to get shot soon sir said private Richard double dick and then the regiment and the world together will be rid of me the legs of the table were becoming very crooked double dick looking up to steady his vision met the eyes that it's so strong an influence over him he put

his hand before his own eyes and the breast of his disgraced jacket swelled as if it would fly asunder I would rather said the young captain see this in you double dick then I would see 5 000 guineas counted out upon this table for a gift to my good mother have you a mother I'm thankful to say she is dead sir if your praises returned the captain was sounded from mouth to mouth through the whole regiment through the whole Army through the whole country you would wish she had lived to say with pride and joy

he is my son spare me sir said double dick she would never have heard any good of me she would never have had any pride and joy in owning herself my mother love and compassion she might have had and would have always had I know but not spare me sir I am a broken wretch quite at your mercy and he turned his face to the wall and stretched out his imploring hand my friend began the captain God bless you sir sobbed private Richard double dick you are at the crisis of your fate hold your course

unchanged a little longer and you know what must happen I know even better than you can imagine that after that has happened you are lost no man who could shed Those Tears Could bear those marks I fully believe it's a in a low shivering voice said private Richard double dick but a man in any station can do his duty said the young captain and in doing it can earn his own respect even if his case should be so very unfortunate and so very rare that he can earn no other man's a common Soldier poor brute

though you called him just now has this advantage in the stormy times we live in that he always does his duty before a host of sympathizing witnesses do you doubt that he may so do it as to be extolled through a whole regiment through a whole Army through a whole country turn while you may yet retrieve the past and try I will I ask for only one witness sir cried Richard with a bursting heart I understand you I will be a watchful and a faithful one I have heard from private Richard double Dick's own lips

that he dropped down upon his knee kissed that officer's hand arose and went out of the light of the dark bright eyes an altered man in that year 1799 the French were in Egypt in Italy in Germany were not Napoleon Bonaparte had likewise begun to stir against England in India and most men could read the signs of the great troubles that were coming on in the very next year when we formed an alliance with Austria against him Captain taunton's regiment was on service in India and there was not a finer non-commissioned officer in it no

nor in the whole line than Corporal Richard double dick in 1801 the Indian army were on the coast of Egypt next year was the year of the Proclamation of the short peace and they were recalled it had then become well known to thousands of men that were ever Captain Taunton with the dark bright eyes LED there close to him ever at his side firm as a rock true as the sun and brave as Mars would be certain to be found while life beaten their hearts that famous Soldier Sergeant Richard double dick 1805 besides being the

great year of Trafalgar was a year of hard fighting in India that year saw such wonders done by a sergeant major who cut his way single-handed through a solid mass of men recovered the colors of his regiment which had been seized from the hand of a poor boy shot through the heart and rescued his wounded Captain who was down and in a very Jungle of horses hoofs and Sabers saw such wonders done I say by this Brave sergeant major that he was specially made the bearer of the colors he had won and Ensign Richard doubledick

had risen from the ranks sorely cut up in every battle but always reinforced by the bravest of men for the fame of following the old colors shot through and through which ensigned Richard double dick had saved inspired all breasts this regiment fought its way through the Peninsular War up to the investment of barahoth in 1812. again and again it had been cheered through the British ranks until the tears had sprung into men's eyes at the mere hearing of the mighty British voice so exultant in their Valor and there was not a drummer boy but knew

the legend that wherever the two friends majored Taunton with the dark bright eyes and Ensign Richard double dick who was devoted to him was seen to go they're the boldest spirits in the English army became wild to follow One Day At badahoth A not in the great storming but in repelling a hot Sally of the besieged Upon Our Men at Work in the trenches who had given way the two officers found themselves hurrying forward face to face against a party of French infantry who made a stand there was an officer at their head encouraging his

men a courageous handsome Gallant officer of 5 and 30 whom doubledick saw hurriedly almost momentarily but saw well he particularly noticed this officer waving his sword and rallying his men with an eager and excited cry when they fired in obedience to his gesture and major Taunton dropped it was over in 10 minutes more and double dick returned to the spot where he had laid the best friend man ever had on a coat spread upon the wet clay major taunton's uniform was opened at the breast and on his shirt were three little spots of blood dear

double dick said he I am dying For the Love of Heaven no exclaimed the other kneeling down beside him and passing his arm around his neck to raise his head Taunton my preserver my guardian angel my witness dearest truest kindest of human beings Taunton for God's sake the bright dark eyes so very very dark now in the pale face smiled upon him and the hand he had kissed 13 years ago laid itself fondly on his breast write to my mother you will see home again tell her how we became friends it will comfort her as

it comforts me he spoke no more but faintly signed for a moment toward his hair as it fluttered in the Wind the Anson understood him he smiled again when he saw that and gently turning his face over on the supporting arm as if for rest died with his hand upon the breast in which he had revived a soul no dry eye looked on Ensign Richard double dick that melancholy day he buried his friend on the field and became alone bereaved man Beyond his duty he appeared to have but two remaining cares in life one to

preserve the little packet of hair he was to give to taunton's mother the other to encounter that French officer who had rallied the men under whose fire taunt and fell a new Legend now began to circulate among our troops and it was that when he and the French officer came face to face once more there would be weeping in France the war went on and through it went the exact picture of the French officer on the one side and the bodily reality upon the other until the Battle of Toulouse was fought in the return sent

home appeared these words severely wounded but not dangerously Lieutenant Richard double dick at mid-summer time in the year 1814 Lieutenant Richard doubledick now a brown Soldier 7 and 30 years of age came home to England invalided he brought the hair with him near his heart many a French officer had he seen since that day many a dreadful night in searching with men and lanterns for his wounded had he relieved French officers lying disabled but the mental picture and the reality had never come together though he was weak and suffered pain he lost not an hour

in getting down to Froome in somersetcher where taunton's mother lived in the sweet compassionate words that naturally present themselves to the mind tonight he was the only son of his mother and she was a widow it was a Sunday evening and the lady sat at her quiet Garden window reading the Bible reading to herself in a trembling voice that very passage in it as I have heard him tell he heard the words young man I say unto thee arise he had to pass the window and the bright dark eyes of his debased time seemed to

look at him her heart told her who he was she came to the door quickly and fell upon his neck he saved me from ruin made me a human creature won me from infamy and shame oh God forever bless him as he will he will he will the lady answered I know he is in heaven then she piteously cried but oh my darling boy my darling boy never from the hour when private Richard double dick enlisted that Chatham had the private Corporal Sergeant sergeant major Ensign or Lieutenant breathed his right name or the name of

Mary Marshall or a word of the story of his life into any ear except his reclaimers that previous scene in his existence was closed he had firmly resolved that his expiration should be to live unknown to disturb no more the peace that had long grown over his old offenses to let it be revealed when he was dead that he had striven and suffered and had never forgotten and then if they could forgive him and believe him well it would be time enough time enough but that night remembering the words he had cherished for two years

tell her how we became friends it will comfort her as it comforts me he related everything it gradually seemed to him as if in his maturity he had recovered a mother it gradually seemed to her as if in her bereavement she had found a son during his stay in England the quiet Garden into which he had slowly and painfully crept a stranger became the boundary of his home when he was able to rejoin his regiment in the spring he left the garden thinking was this indeed the first time he had ever turned his face toward

the old colors with a woman's blessing he followed them so ragged so scarred and pierced now that they would scarcely hold together to katpar and lini he stood beside them in an awful Stillness of many men shadowy through the mist and drizzle of a wet June 4 noon on the field of Waterloo and down to that hour the picture in his mind of the French officer had never been compared with the reality the famous regiment was in action early in the battle and received its first check in many an eventful year when he was seen

to fall but it swept on to avenge him and left behind it no such creature in the world of Consciousness as Lieutenant Richard doubledick through pits of Maya and pools of rain along deep ditches once roads that were pounded and plowed to Pieces by artillery heavy wagons of men and horses and the struggle of every wheeled thing that could carry wounded soldiers jolted among the dying and the dead so disfigured by Blood and mud as to be hardly recognizable for Humanity dead as to any sentient life that was in it and yet alive the form

that had been Lieutenant Richard double dick with whose Praises England rang was conveyed to Brussels there it was tenderly laid down in hospital and there it lay week after week through the long bright summer days until the Harvest spared by War had ripened and was gathered in slowly laboring at last through a long heavy dream of confused time and place presenting faint glimpses of army surgeons whom he knew and of faces that had been familiar to his youth dearest and kindest among them Mary Marshals with a solicitude upon it more like reality than anything he

could discern Lieutenant Richard doubledick came back to life to the Beautiful Life of a calm Autumn evening sunset to the peaceful life of a fresh quiet room with a large window standing open a balcony Beyond in which were moving leaves and sweet smelling flowers Beyond again the clear sky with the sun full in his sight pouring its golden Radiance on his bed it was so tranquil and so lovely that he thought he had passed into another world and he said in a faint voice Taunton are you near me a face bent over him not his

his mother's I came to nurse you we have nursed you many weeks you were moved here long ago do you remember nothing the lady kissed his cheek and held his hand soothing him where is the regiment what has happened let me call you mother what has happened mother a great Victory dear the war is over and the regiment was the bravest in the field his eyes kindled his lips trembled he sobbed and the tears ran down his face he was very weak too weak to move his hand from that time he recovered slowly for he

had been desperately wounded in the head and had been shot in the body but making some little Advance every day when he had gained sufficient strength to converse as he lay in bed he soon began to remark that Mrs Taunton always brought him back to his own history then he recalled his preservers dying words and thought it Comforts her one day he awoke out of asleep refreshed and asked her to read to him but the curtain of the bed softening the light which he always Drew back when he awoke that she might see him from

her table at the bedside where she sat at work was held undrawn and a woman's voice spoke which was not hers can you bear to see a stranger it said Softly will you like to see a stranger stranger he repeated The Voice awoke old memories before the days of private Richard double dick a stranger now but not a stranger once it said in tones that thrilled him Richard Dear Richard lost through so many years my name he cried out her name Mary and she held him in her arms and his head lay on her bosom

I am not breaking a rash vow Richard these are not Mary Marshall's lips that speak I have another name she was married I have another name Richard did you ever hear it never he looked into her face so pensively beautiful and wondered at the smile upon it through her tears think again Richard are you sure you never heard my altered name never don't move your head to look at me Dear Richard let it lie here while I tell my story I loved A Generous noble man loved him with my whole heart loved him for years

and years loved him Faithfully devotedly loved him without hope of return loved him knowing nothing of His Highest qualities not even knowing that he was alive he was a brave Soldier he was honored and beloved by thousands of thousands when the mother of his dear friend found me and showed me that in all his triumphs he had never forgotten me he was wounded in a great battle he was brought dying here into Brussels I came to watch and tend him as I would have joyfully gone with such a purpose to the dreariest ends of the

Earth when he knew no one else he knew me when he suffered most he bore his sufferings barely murmuring content to rest his head where yours rests now when he lay at the point of death he married me that he might call me wife before he died and the name my dear love that I took on that forgotten night I know it now he sobbed the shadowy remembrance strengthens it has come back I thank heaven that my mind is quite restored my Mary kiss me lull this weary head to rest or I shall die of

gratitude his parting words were fulfilled I see home again well they were happy it was a long recovery but they were happy through it all the snow had melted on the ground and the birds were singing in the leafless thickets of the early spring when those three were first able to ride out together and when people flocked about the open Carriage to cheer and congratulate Captain Richard double dick but even then it became necessary for the captain instead of returning to England to complete his recovery in the climate of Southern France they found a spot

upon their own within a ride of the Old Town of Avignon and within view of its broken bridge which was all they could desire they lived there together six months then returned to England Mrs Taunton growing old after three years though not so old as that her bright dark eyes were dimmed and remembering that her strength had been benefited by the change resolved to go back for a year to those parts so she went with a faithful servant who had often carried her son in his arms and she was to be rejoined and escorted home

at the Year's End by Captain Richard double dick she wrote regularly to her children as she called them now and they to her she went to the neighborhood of ex and there in their own Chateau near the farmer's house she rented she grew into intimacy with a family belonging to that part of France the intimacy began in her often meeting Among The Vineyards a pretty child a child with the most Compassionate Heart who was never tired of listening to the solitary English lady stories of her poor son and the cruel Wars the family were as

gentle as the child and at length she came to know them so well that she accepted their invitation to pass the last month of her residence abroad under their roof all this intelligence she wrote home piecemeal as it came about from time to time and at last enclosed a polite note from the head of the Chateau soliciting on the occasion of his approaching mission to that neighborhood the honor of the company of that man so justly celebrated Captain Richard double dick Captain double dick now a Hardy handsome man in the full Vigor of Life broader

across the chest and shoulders than he had ever been before dispatched a courteous reply and followed it in person traveling through all that extent of country after three years of Peace he blessed the better days on which the world had fallen the corn was golden not drenched in unnatural red was bound in sheaves for food not trodden underfoot by men in Mortal fight the smoke rose up from peaceful Hearts not blazing ruins the carts were Laden with the fair fruits of the earth not with wounds and death to him who had so often seen the

terrible reverse these things were beautiful indeed and they brought him in a softened Spirit to the old Chateau near eggs upon a deep blue evening it was a large Chateau of the genuine old ghostly kind with round towers and extinguishers and a high leaden roof and more windows than Aladdin's Palace the lattice blinds were all thrown open after the heat of the day and there were glimpses of rambling walls and corridors Within then there were immense outbuildings fallen into partial Decay masses of dark trees Terrace Gardens balustrades tanks of water too weak to play and

too dirty to work statues weeds and thickets of iron railing that seemed to have overgrown themselves like the shrubberies and to have branched out in all manner of wild shapes the entrance Door stood open as doors often do in that country when the heat of the day is passed and the captain saw no Bell or knocker and walked in he walked into a lofty stone hall refreshingly cool and gloomy after the glare of a southern day's travel extending along the four sides of this Hall was a gallery leading to Suites of rooms and it was

lighted from the top still no Bell was to be seen faith said the captain halting ashamed of the clanking of his boots this is a ghostly beginning he started back and felt his face turn white in the gallery looking down at him stood the French officer the officer whose picture he had carried in his mind so long and so far compared with the original at last in every lineament how like it was he moved and disappeared and Captain Richard double dick heard his steps coming quickly down into the Hall he entered through an archway there

was a bright sudden look upon his face much such a look as it had worn in that fatal moment Capitan Richard double dick Enchanted to receive him a thousand apologies the servants were all out in the air there was a little fate among them in the garden in effect it was the Fate day of my daughter the little cherished and protected of Madame Taunton he was so gracious and so Frank the Monsieur Le Capitan Richard double dick could not withhold his hand it is the hand of a brave Englishman said the French officer retaining it

while he spoke I could respect a brave Englishman even as my foe how much more as my friend and I also am a soldier he has not remembered me as I have remembered him he did not take such a note of my face that day as I took of his thought Captain Richard double dick how shall I tell him the French officer conducted his guest into a garden and presented him to his wife an engaging and beautiful woman sitting with Mrs Taunton in a Whimsical old-fashioned Pavilion his daughter her Fair young face beaming with joy

came running to embrace him and there was a boy baby to Tumble down among the orange trees on the broad steps in making for his father's legs a multitude of children visitors were dancing to sprightly music and all the servants and peasants about the Chateau were dancing too it was a scene of innocent happiness that might have been invented for the climax of the scenes of Peace which had soothed the captain's Journey he looked on greatly troubled in his mind until a resounding bell rang and the French officer begged to show him his rooms they

went upstairs into the gallery from which the officer had looked down and Monsieur Le Capitan Richard double dick was cordially welcomed to a grand outer chamber and a smaller one within all clocks and draperies and hearts and Brazen dogs and tiles and cool devices and elegance and vastness you were at Waterloo said the French officer I was said Captain Richard double dick and at badahoth left alone with the sound of his own Stern voice in his ears he sat down to consider what shall I do and how shall I tell him at that time unhappily

many deplorable duels had been fought between English and French officers arising out of the recent war and these duels and how to avoid this officer's Hospitality were the uppermost thought in Captain Richard double Dick's mind he was thinking and letting the time run out in which he should have dressed for dinner when Mrs Taunton spoke to him outside the door asking if he could give her the letter he had brought from Mary his mother above all the captain thought how shall I tell her you will form a friendship with your host I hope said Mrs

Taunton whom he hurriedly admitted that will last for life he is so true-hearted and so generous Richard that you can hardly fail to esteem one another if he had been spared she kissed Not Without Tears the locket in which she wore his hair he would have appreciated him with his own magnanimity and would have been truly happy that the evil days were passed which made such a man his enemy she left the room and the captain walked first to one window when she could see the dancing in the garden then to another window when she

could see The Smiling Prospect and a peaceful Vineyards Spirit of my departed friend said he is it through thee these better thoughts arising in my mind is it thou who has shown me all the way I have drawn to meet this man the blessings of the altered time is it thou who was sent thy stricken mother to me to stay my Angry hand is it from Thee the whisper comes that this man did his duty as thou didst and as I did through thy guidance which has holy saved me here on Earth and that he

did no more he sat down with his head buried in his hands and when he rose up made the second strong resolution in his life that neither to the French officer nor to the mother of his departed friend nor to any Soul while either of the two was living would he breathe what only he knew and when he touched that French officer's glass with his own that day at dinner he secretly forgave him in the name of the Divine forgiver of injuries here I ended my story of the poor Traveler but if I had told

it now I could have added that the time has since come when the son of major Richard doubledick and the son of that French officer friends as their fathers were before them fought side by side in one cause with their respective Nations like long divided Brothers whom the better times have brought together fast United [Music] thank you for listening to the poor Traveler by Charles Dickens if you have enjoyed this audiobook please consider subscribing and leaving a like to help in the making a future audiobooks