Frankenstein - According to

retreat because he lived unknown and in wretchedness.
    My
father loved Beaufort with the truest friendship He bitterly deplored the false
pride which led his friend to a conduct so little worthy of the affection that
united them. He lost no time in endeavouring to seek him out He went round the
streets with a stop watch, ringing a bell and shouting, ‘Beaufort, for Christ’s
sake where are ; you man?’
    Beaufort
had taken effectual measures to conceal himself: he painted himself black and
it was ten months before the paint wore off. My father discovered his abode and
hastened to the house. But when he entered, misery and despair alone welcomed
him. Beaufort had saved but a very small sum of money from the wreck of his
fortunes but it was sufficient to provide him with sustenance, which was all he
ate. He was so poor that he had the arse out of not his but somebody else’s
trousers. At length his grief took so fast hold of his mind that at the end of
three months he lay on a bed of sickness, incapable of any exertion except to
play the trombone.
    Caroline
Beaufort possessed a mind of an uncommon mould: it was back to front, but her
courage rose to support her in her adversity. She procured plain work; she
plaited straw blankets. She plaited a straw blanket for her father; she earned
a sustenance.
    Several
months passed in this manner. Her father smoked and set fire to his straw
blanket. Her father grew worse. Her time was entirely occupied in attending him
and his trombone. Her means of subsistence decrease and in the tenth month her
father died in her arms, leaving her an orphan and a beggar, a terrible
inheritance. The orphan was adopted but they told the beggar to ‘bugger off.
The last blow overcame her, and she knelt by Beaufort’s coffin weeping. When my
father entered the chamber it was flooded. He came like a protecting spirit to
the poor girl and her magnificent bosom. After the interment of his friend he
conducted her to Geneva, and placed her under the protection of a relation. Two
years later, he shot his wife. Caroline and her magnificent boobs then became
his wife.
    They
seemed to grow in their bonds of devoted affection. There was a sense of
justice in my father’s upright mind which rendered it necessary that he should
approve highly in order to love strongly. He did it to her six times a day;
then he would rest for a fortnight. During former years he had suffered from
the late-discovered unworthiness of one beloved, and so was disposed to set a
greater value on tried worth. He put a value of £100 on his beloved. Of course
he did not know about the liaison between his wife and the milkman — he just
wondered why they had not had a milk bill for a year. He strove to shelter her
so, as a fair exotic is sheltered by the gardener from every rougher wind, he
bought her an umbrella and he had a fence built round her to protect her. Her
health and even the tranquillity of her hitherto constant spirit had been
shaken by what she had gone through. She had gone through £10,000. During the
two years that had elapsed previous to their marriage, my father had gradually
relinquished all his public functions - railway guard, hotel porter and
tallyman.
    They
travelled to Italy, they visited Germany, France and Bexhill-on-Sea. Their
eldest child was born in Naples. For several years I was the only child. Much
as they were attached to each other (they were joined at the hip) they seemed
to draw inexhaustible stores of affection from a very mine of love to bestow on
me. Yes that was it — I was a plaything and when they got tired of than their idol,
and as a last resort, they used me as a child! During every hour of my infant
life I received the lesson of patience (for this I was locked in a cupboard for
an hour), charity (they made me give them all my pocket money) and, finally,
karate lessons.
    For
a long time, apart from the rent, I was their only expense. Occasionally, to
prove my progress I would fell my father with a karate chop to the neck.
    My
mother often used to visit the poor. I didn’t understand — we were the poor. To
my mother this was more than a duty. For her to act in her turn the guardian
angel to the afflicted was a great act in itself, and she travelled the halls
with it. One house she visited contained some neglected children. It spoke of
penury in the worst shape. In fact, one of the children spoke, ‘This is penury
in its worst shape.’ Among the children was very thin girl, fair