The Problem of 'Edwin Drood': A Study in the Methods of Dickens
Chapter xxii. is much corrected, and the whole of the second paragraph is
rewritten and pasted on. Chapter xxiii. is also a good deal corrected. Near the beginning we have the following: ‘The Cathedral doors have closed for the night; and the Choir-master, on a short leave of absence for two or three services, sets his face towards London.’ This was originally written: ‘The Cathedral doors have closed for the night; and the Choir-master, on leave of absence for a few days, sets his face towards London.’
The passage beginning: ‘But she goes no further away from it than the chair upon the hearth,’ and the next two paragraphs are entirely rewritten and pasted on, and the following sentences are cancelled: ‘“So far I might a’most as well have never found out how to set you talking,” is her commentary. “You are too sleepy to talk too plain. You hold your secrets right you do!”’ A little further on we have: ‘“Halloa!” he cries in a low voice, seeing her brought to a standstill: “who are you looking for?”’ This was originally ‘“Halloa!” cries this gentleman, “who are you looking for?”’
On the next page we have: ‘With his uncovered gray hair blowing about.’ Dickens originally wrote: ‘With his gray hair blowing about.’
On the same page, when Datchery and the opium woman are talking together Dickens puts in the following sentence about opium as an afterthought: ‘“And it’s like a human creetur so far, that you always hear what can be said against it, but seldom what can be said in its praise.”’
A little further on we have: ‘Mr. Datchery stops in his counting, finds he has counted wrong, shakes his money together, and begins again.’ Originally we had: ‘Mr. Datchery stops in his counting, finds he has counted wrong, and begins again.’ Very near the end of this chapter we have: ‘At length he rises, throws open the door of a corner cupboard, and refers to a few uncouth chalked strokes on its inner side.’ Dickens first wrote: ‘At length he rises, throws open the door of a corner cupboard, and refers to a few chalked strokes on its inner side.’