Mr. Dickens And His Carol

As Dickens walks through London, he passes familiar spaces, including a restaurant where he and Forster used to dine. Eventually, he reaches the Folly, the theater in which his actor friend Macready is currently performing as Hamlet. As he walks toward the theater, the clock tower chimes 12 times. The chimes comfort and hypnotize him, and he forgets why he is there. After the 12th chime, he regains his awareness of the world and tries to find Macready, only to see a mysterious woman with a purple cloak. He nearly collides with her and apologizes, saying that the clock reminds him of the time he has lost. She counters this by asking if it does not also mean that he has a “chance to begin again” (78).

When they part, Dickens notices that the fog is starting to disappear. However, when he hears Maria Winter talking and sees her walking toward him, he heads back toward the cloaked woman and pretends to walk with her in order to avoid Maria. He tells her that he wants to escape the past, but the woman says that he cannot do so for long. They approach the woman’s house, and he learns that she works at the theater. She thanks him for escorting her, and as he leaves, he begins to feel a new sense of inspiration.

Dickens contemplates his meeting with the woman and soon finds himself near Furnival’s Inn, where he used to eat, write, and sleep as a young bachelor. He reminisces about this time in his life and remembers what the woman said. He decides to give the inn another chance after so many years. He sees the desk clerk and elicits a promise that his stay at the inn will remain confidential. Although he is discouraged to learn that the inn’s popularity has not been boosted by its importance to his early history, he is happy to learn that his old room is still available. The desk clerk asks him to sign his name, so Dickens takes inspiration from the temperance society that irked him and signs under the name of Ebenezer Scrooge, which interests the desk clerk.

He enters his old room and studies it. His surroundings have changed little since his earlier habitation there, and he reminisces about his nights writing in that room. Not knowing who he really is, the desk clerk him asks if he admires Charles Dickens. Dickens replies in the affirmative. He looks outside and feels better being in his old room. He plans to stay in the inn until he completes his Christmas book and asks to borrow a quill, ink, and paper. Two days later, Forster learns that Dickens is staying at Furnival’s and goes to question him. Dickens reassures him that he is making the right choice, but Forster is also worried about the author’s slow progress and reminds him that the book must be ready for printing in two weeks. Dickens tells Forster not to worry.

Dickens goes to Covent Garden and peruses the marketplace. He sees a baker selling muffins and crumpets and realizes that he had not eaten in two days. As he heads toward the bread, however, he sees a poor boy with a sketchbook and assumes that he sketches celebrities. The boy flees when Dickens tries to approach. An old woman selling lavender flowers approaches him, suggesting that he buy some flowers for a woman, but he declines; the encounter reminds him of Catherine’s absence. As he heads toward the muffins and crumpets, he sees the purple-cloaked woman, so he goes back to buy her some lavender flowers. To his horror, the woman disappears, and Maria is suddenly there. She mistakenly believes that he has bought the lavender for her. She invites him for tea, and although he does not want to visit with her, his hunger drives him to accept her invitation. He looks back to see if the woman is there, but she is not.

At Artillery Place, Dickens satisfies his hunger and listens to Maria talk about tea, Dickens’s literary greatness, and her husband’s good traits. Although Dickens suspects Maria of leading up to asking him for money, she never does. Later, his memory of her inspires him to write an unflattering character that is based on her. He then goes to the Folly to see the purple-cloaked woman, keeping a low profile so that he will not be spotted. He then sees plays that are plagiarized forms of his works, which angers him because little has been done to stop such plagiarism despite Forster’s lawsuits. When Dickens sees Macready, the two friends reunite happily. He tells Dickens that his theater entourage is sailing to India after the New Year, and Dickens promises to think about joining him. As they talk, Dickens spots the woman again and remembers that he saw her acting and singing in a pirate costume two years before and was enchanted by her even then. He greets her and gives her a faux lavender bouquet as a gift, saying that he intended to give her real lavender but gave it away. He compliments her acting in the production two years ago, and she admits that she was standing in for a better actress who was ill. She knows who Dickens is as well, and when he expresses his worries about writing, she assures him that he will write again. He finds himself captivated by her and imagines a simple life without the pressures of fame. He invites her to dinner, but she declines for the moment and says they might do so another time. He finally learns that her name is Eleanor Lovejoy.

The following day, Dickens and Forster eat breakfast at Saracens Head Inn. Forster asks Dickens about his progress, and Dickens assures him that the book will be finished in time. He announces his plans to leave Chapman and Hall once the book is written and says that he might even stop writing. He mentions Macready’s trip to India and describes how meeting Eleanor has inspired him to write again. After breakfast, Dickens heads to Furnival’s but first buys Eleanor some laurels at a flower market. He goes to her lodging house to give her the flowers but she is not there. However, the door is unlocked, so he enters. He finds the house modest but clean and soon finds a chest upstairs. He starts to move it but then goes to put it back in its place. However, a magazine falls down in the process, and he sees the latest publication of Oliver Twist, which catches his attention. When he opens the chest, he finds his own works in it. He then hears voices, so he puts the publications back and sees a bound book with the name of Timothy Lovejoy on it. He puts the trunk back and leaves. He starts to fear that Eleanor might have a husband. The leader of the children on the street, David Copperfield, appears again and asks Dickens for more money. Dickens leaves as Eleanor approaches her house.

Tormented by thoughts of Eleanor and her possible husband, Dickens feels humiliated and goes to a dining room to eat alone. Twin sisters approach him; one asks if he is Charles Dickens, but he denies it, not wanting to be bothered. He then sees Eleanor and goes after her. He is astounded by her beauty, and she is happy to see him. She was looking for him because he left the laurels at her door. This admission gives Dickens hope that Timothy Lovejoy is not her husband.

Later, Dickens tells Eleanor about his current separation from his family. She sympathizes with his situation, and this makes Dickens feel understood in a way he never had before. Knowing that as a married man, he should not be seen with her, he tells her that he has no intention of risking her reputation. However, as the twins approach him again, Eleanor tells him that he is the one who needs to be careful with his reputation. One twin, who does not like his books, cuts fur from his coat, wanting to collect it The other twin kicks him in the leg for killing off Little Nell in The Old Curiosity Shop. After they leave, Eleanor states she felt the same way about Little Nell but would not have kicked him.

Dickens and Eleanor go to the Folly, where Eleanor creates a disguise for him so that he can avoid any further unpleasant encounters. She creates a costume of a grumpy old man with a balding white wig and spectacles. After feeling the expectations of everyone with little return, he finds Eleanor to be someone he can trust and who expects nothing in return from him. He is happy to know that he can now walk around London without people recognizing him. She gives him a cane to complete the look, and he revisits his acting days, showing his skills and enjoying her applause. He then mentions the acting troupe’s upcoming trip to India. She expresses an interest, and they talk about the possibility of acting in India. Realizing that he has become too bold, Dickens apologizes, and Eleanor tells him that India is a pleasant idea but not one that she can fulfill. He understands this, for he knows that his marriage makes it impossible to pursue such an outlandish endeavor, for he is unwilling to hurt his wife again. He mentions Timothy and asks if she loves him, and she tells him that she does, though they are not together. He understands this as well. They agree not to entertain the thought of India again.

Dickens flees to Furnival’s in humiliation only to find his brother Fred outside the inn. Fred tells him that he has another scheme for a Christmas card and needs money. Dickens suggests that Fred must see Christmas as a chance to have his expenses paid by others. Feeling his anger rising, Dickens feels that his brother has always been the most financially foolish member of the family. Fred reminds him of their father’s view of Christmas, but Dickens declares, “Christmas begins and ends in the purse” (123) and coldly dismisses him.

After a night of writing, Dickens gets up and the desk clerk initially does not recognize him under his disguise. He tells the clerk that he is Scrooge and is hiding from those who know him. Dickens then enjoys walking through London with his disguise. When he sees plagiarized versions of his books in the bookstore, he expresses his anger to the bookseller, who maintains that Dickens deserves to be plagiarized because he copied Oliver Twist from Cruikshank. (In reality, this is not true.) When the bookseller continues to praise the plagiarist’s writing over that of Dickens, Dickens shouts, “Bah! Humbug!” (128) and leaves. He then takes an evangelical woman’s sign, which warns about the propensity of novels to increase violence. She hits him with her purse, pulling off his hat and wig. He insults her and leaves. A man then appears with a paper, and Dickens mistakenly assumes that he wants an autograph. However, the man tells him that Magistrate Laing is suing him.

Dickens meets Forster at The Whig & Pen in his disguise. After witnessing Thackeray insulting his writing again, he gets Forster alone and confronts him about Magistrate Laing’s lawsuit. Forster explains that the magistrate is suing Dickens because he has based a character on him and made the character a heavy drinker. Dickens asserts (and Forster acknowledges) that the magistrate does in fact drink heavily. When Thackeray insults Dickens’s writing again, Forster tells him that he and the others will never reach Dickens’s caliber. He and the disguised Dickens leave. Outside, Dickens shows Forster Cruikshank’s false accusation against him and demands that Forster take care of these lawsuits. Forster agrees, but pursuing the lawsuits will cost them both a large amount of money, so Dickens must finish the Christmas book.

Forster reads Dickens’s manuscript in a tavern and tells him that there is not enough Christmas in it yet. He also notes that Scrooge is a deeply unlikeable man who hates everyone around him and plans to murder his harmless nephew, Fred. Dickens defends Scrooge, saying that everyone around the character is horrible and demanding. After further argument, Dickens goes out into the rain, and Forster stops him. They wonder if Mudie’s bookstore is going out of business, and Forster reveals that Mudie’s has placed hundreds of copies of the Christmas book at a discount. This troubles Dickens, but Forster reminds him that he is being accosted by those relatives who are seeking Dickens’s money. Dickens tells Forster that Eleanor has inspired him, but Forster believes she is trying to ruin him and urges him to focus on writing his book. Dickens takes issue with this advice but agrees to finish the book and solve Forster’s problem regarding his relatives. He goes to see the apprentice at The Times and has him send the message that he will not be sending money to relatives anymore.

Dickens meets Macready at the Folly. The actor is frustrated with his play’s abysmal reviews. Dickens enlists Macready’s help in learning more about Eleanor. Macready compliments Dickens’s wig, which he says he used in a production of King Lear. Dickens describes Eleanor, and Macready observes that the writer must be smitten with her. However, Dickens insists that he only wants to verify her identity. Macready finds records of Eleanor but learns that the last time she was paid was the previous year. This makes Dickens uncertain of Eleanor’s true identity.