فصل 05

Chapter five

A Wedding and a Disinheritance

Captain Dobbin now found himself in a very painful and difficult position. He could see that George was less and less keen to marry Amelia, and he realised that he himself was falling in love with her.

‘She will die if George does not marry her,’ he thought. He determined to make sure that the wedding went ahead.

George and his father, meanwhile, had quarrelled bitterly. Mr Osborne wanted his son to marry a rich girl. George, however, who had been influenced by Dobbin’s account of Amelia’s sufferings, promised to be true to his word.

‘I’ll have no beggars in my family, sir!’ his father roared. ‘Marry Amelia and you leave this house for ever - you leave it a penniless man, I tell you!’

‘I’ve done it, Dobbin,’ George told his friend afterwards.

‘Done what?’ Dobbin asked.

‘I’ve told my father,’ George informed him. ‘I’ll marry her tomorrow - I love her more and more each day!’

One morning a quiet wedding took place in London. Amelia was the bride and George the bridegroom. The best man was the faithful Dobbin. Jos Sedley was also in attendance, as was Mrs Sedley. Mr Sedley did not attend the ceremony.

George and Amelia went to Brighton for their honeymoon. They were accompanied by Jos Sedley. Here they met up with Captain Crawley and his wife. Jos was now wearing military-style clothing in honour of the coming war, and George and Captain Crawley teased him about it.

The two couples spent most of their time together. The gentlemen had their own amusements after dinner. They usually played billiards or cards, and this allowed Captain Crawley to acquire some much-needed ready money.

One day Dobbin came down to Brighton to see his friends. He greeted them in a friendly way, but his face was serious.

‘What’s the news?’ George asked eagerly. ‘What does my father say?’

‘I’ll tell you everything later,’ Dobbin said quietly. ‘The really important thing is - ‘

‘Come on, tell us!’ George cried excitedly.

‘The campaign’s started. We’re going to Belgium, old boy. O’Dowd’s in command. We leave next week.’

It was true that Dobbin had been to see Mr Osborne, to break the news of his son’s marriage to Amelia. The interview had not been a success. Mr Osborne was furious at his son’s disobedience, and furious with poor Dobbin as well for having encouraged the match.

When he returned home that evening, Mr Osborne sat for many hours in his study. He adored his son, but he was a very proud man, and George’s marriage had disappointed him bitterly. Mr Osborne took down the family Bible, where the names of all his children were inscribed. He eliminated George’s name. Then he wrote a letter to the bank, instructing the cashier not to pay further funds to his son.

Another visitor who was staying at Brighton was Miss Crawley. Becky made Rawdon write the old lady a note. Then Becky took the note to Briggs and begged her to deliver it. Miss Crawley laughed when she read it.

‘Don’t you see,’ she cried, ‘Rawdon never wrote a word of it! His letters are always about money, and they’re full of spelling mistakes and bad grammar. It’s that little governess of his who told him what to say!’ In her heart she felt sad and bitter. She knew that everyone wanted her dead; they wanted her money.

‘You may tell Captain Crawley,’ she informed Briggs, ‘that he can call on my lawyer in London. There will be something for him there.’

Rawdon and Becky were delighted at the news from Miss Crawley. They hurried as fast as they could to London. Rawdon then made his way to the lawyer’s office. He looked gloomy when he joined Becky.

‘It’s a rotten trick, Becky,’ he told her. ‘The old lady’s only given me twenty pounds!’

The joke was too good for Becky to resist. She looked at Rawdon’s serious face, and burst out laughing.