"I have heard the circumstances, sir, and I know that you pervert them." — thirty-second illustration by W. L. Sheppard for Dickens's "Dombey and Son" (American Household Edition, 1873)

"I have heard the circumstances, Sir, and I know that you pervert them." by W. L. Sheppard. Thirty-second illustration for Dickens's Dombey and Son in the American Household Edition (1873), Chapter XXXVII, "More Warnings than One," p. 216. Page 215's Heading: "Mr. Carker the Manager Manages." 9.4 x 13.7 cm (3 ¾ by 5 ⅜ inches) framed. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]

Passage Illustrated: Edith spars verbally with James Carker about Florence

Sol Eytinge, Junior, in the Diamond Edition implies that there is no character closely affiliated character with Dombey's Manager as the artist presents him alone, rather than paired with an associate: Mr. Carker (1867).

“Miss Florence,” said Carker, “left to the care — if one may call it care — of servants and mercenary people, in every way her inferiors, necessarily wanted some guide and compass in her younger days, and, naturally, for want of them, has been indiscreet, and has in some degree forgotten her station. There was some folly about one Walter, a common lad, who is fortunately dead now: and some very undesirable association, I regret to say, with certain coasting sailors, of anything but good repute, and a runaway old bankrupt.”

“I have heard the circumstances, Sir,” said Edith, flashing her disdainful glance upon him, “and I know that you pervert them. You may not know it. I hope so.”

“Pardon me,” said Mr. Carker, “I believe that nobody knows them so well as I. Your generous and ardent nature, Madam — the same nature which is so nobly imperative in vindication of your beloved and honoured husband, and which has blessed him as even his merits deserve — I must respect, defer to, bow before. [Chapter XXXVII, "More Warnings than One," 215]

Commentary: Carker expresses an undue interest in Florence's situation

Harry Furniss implies some sort of close relationship has developed between Edith Dombey and her stepdaughter in The Dombey Dinner Party (1910).

Edith Dombey and her mother (Mrs. Skewton, seated, knitting) are in the Dombey drawing-room at the beginning of Chapter 37. Having received James Carker's visting card and request for a 'business' interview, Edith agrees to receive him, after initially having regarded his call as getting in the way of her going out with her mother and Florence. As her stepdaughter leaves Mrs. Skewton's drawing-room she passes Carker, about the enter. The ever-smiling, observant Carker almost instantly makes Edith uncomfortable as she senses that he sees through her aristocratic veneer, and knows about her financially constrained past: "that every degradation she had suffered in her own eyes was as plain to his to herself" (214). In the ensuing interview, which Sheppard has chosen as his subject, Carker has finally been invited to sit. Having acceded to her mother's request to allow Carker to sit and be heard, Edith does not permit her mother to leave. He counterfeits concern for the plight of Florence, stating that he feels obliged to raise her situation with Edith because Dombey continues to neglect her. He fears that in her loneliness she is vulnerable to exploitation by mercenary characters such as Walter's uncle, Sol Gills, and his friend, Captain Cuttle. To Edith he confides his fear that Florence’s relationship with her father would suffer irreparably if he were to discover her interest in these odd people. Carker hopes that Edith can deal with this problem without bothering her husband.

Sheppard admirably realizes the interview, showing Carker looking down, rather than directly at Edith, and clutching his hands, as if speaking of such matters causes him anxiety. Edith's accusatory finger represents her attempt to suggest that Carker is not accurately reflecting Florence's circumstances. For her part, "Cleopatra" (Edith's mother) seems oblivious to the conversation. Edith terminates the interview with the wish that Carker will take this matter "no further" (216), that is, to Dombey himself.

Related Material, including Other Illustrated Editions of Dombey and Son (1846-1910)

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Bibliography

Dickens, Charles. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by W. L. Sheppard. The Household Edition. 18 vols. New York: Harper & Co., 1873.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by F. O. C. Darley and John Gilbert. The Works of Charles Dickens. The Household Edition. 55 vols. New York: Sheldon and Company, 1862. Vols. 1-4.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Sol Eytinge, Jr., and engraved by A. V. S. Anthony. 14 vols. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1867. III.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Fred Barnard [62 composite wood-block engravings]. The Works of Charles Dickens. The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1877. XV.

__________. Dombey and Son. With illustrations by H. K. Browne. The illustrated library Edition. 2 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, c. 1880. II.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Fred Barnard. 61 wood-engravings. The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1877. XV.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by W. H. C. Groome. London and Glasgow, 1900, rpt. 1934. 2 vols. in one.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. 18 vols. London: Educational Book, 1910. Vol. IX.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Hablot K. Browne ("Phiz"). 8 coloured plates. London and Edinburgh: Caxton and Ballantyne, Hanson, 1910.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Hablot K. Browne ("Phiz"). The Clarendon Edition, ed. Alan Horsman. Oxford: Clarendon, 1974.

Created 14 February 2022