Whatever there was of happiness or of sorrow, of success or of failure, in
my later life, does not belong on these pages. The identity of the child,
and of the boy, David Copperfield is now forever merged in the personality
of--Trotwood Copperfield, Esquire, householder and Man.
KIT NUBBLES
[Illustration: KIT NUBBLES.]
Christopher, or Kit Nubbles, as he was commonly called, was not handsome
in the estimation of anyone except his mother, and mothers are apt to be
partial. He was a shock-headed, shambling, awkward lad, with an uncommonly
wide mouth, very red cheeks, a turned-up nose, and certainly the most
comical expression of face I ever saw.
He was errand-boy at the Old Curiosity Shop, and deeply attached to both
little Nell Trent and her grandfather, his employer. And just here let me
explain that Nell's grandfather led a curious sort of double life; his
days were spent in the shop, but when night fell, he invariably took his
cloak, his hat, and his stick, and kissing the child, passed out, leaving
her alone through the long hours of the night, and Nell had no knowledge
that in those nightly absences he was haunting the gaming table; risking
large sums, and ever watching with feverish anticipation for the time when
he should win a vast fortune to lay by for the child, his pet and darling,
to keep her from want if death should take him away.
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