In Which Mr Headstone Makes The Acquaintance Of Barnacle Junior

Mr. Headstone found Barnacle Junior singeing the calves of his legs before a fire in a comfortable room, which was handsomely furnished in the higher official manner. Young Barnacle had, not surprisingly, a youthful aspect, and the fluffiest little whisker, perhaps, that ever was seen. He had a superior eye-glass, which kept tumbling out no matter how tightly he screwed it in, and it dangled before his waistcoat clicking against the buttons with a sound that discomposed him very much. After a preliminary conversation had established beyond any measure of a doubt that Mr. Headstone had not come to discuss the question of Tonnage, Barnacle Junior put up his eye-glass and invited his visitor to take a seat and state his business. Mr. Headstone came directly to the point; which startled Barnacle Junior, as coming to the point – directly or otherwise – was not the regular practice of the Circumlocution Office, and the novelty of the circumstance caused him to stare so much that his eye-glass popped out and could not be restored without the risk of severe ocular injury. In a state of desperation, Barnacle Junior sidled up to the fireplace and rang the bell for a messenger.

In Which Mr Headstone Applies To The Circumlocution Office

Having returned to London a wealthier man than he had left it, Mr. Headstone was naturally in want of a set of friends and acquaintances suited to his newly acquired status. These it was not difficult to obtain, and an announcement in the society pages of the city’s reputable newspapers was enough to admit him into the ranks of privilege and fortune. Chief amongst this tribe was the Barnacle family, and chief amongst the Barnacles – for they were a very high family, and a very large family – was Lord Decimus Tite Barnacle, his wife Lady Jemima Bilberry; his nephew Mr. Tite Barnacle, and his son Clarence Barnacle, who, on account of his youth, had had as yet no title conferred upon him by the nation, and was universally referred to as Barnacle Junior. It was with this gentleman that Mr. Headstone signified his desire to confer when he paid a visit one day to the Circumlocution Office. The Circumlocution Office was (as everybody knows without being told) the most important Department under Government. The Barnacle family had for some time helped to administer this glorious establishment, and were entirely responsible for the reputation that it enjoyed.

In Which Mr Headstone Experiences A Reversal Of Fortune

Mr. Headstone’s suffering after his misadventure in Old Hell Shaft was greatly mollified by the news of which he was apprised by Mr. Bounderby as soon as he (the pedagogue, not the banker) had regained consciousness: viz, that his inheritance was intact and secure, having been kept under lock and key in a separate safe, to which the perpetrator of the late robbery had had no access. There was much rejoicing at the announcement of Mr. Headstone’s recovery and his reversal of fortune, not least amongst the gentleman’s creditors, all of whom were paid in full for their goods and services before the pedagogue’s departure. It seemed that the whole of Coketown – from the humblest labourer to the wealthiest mill owner – turned out at the station to see him off to London. Not least amongst them was Bitzer, the light porter, who was rewarded for his part in the rescue with a freshly minted copper penny, which shone in the afternoon sunlight as if to prove the old adage that all that glistens is not gold.