Stranica 84 [84]
OCR
92 “What made you tell the magistrate your name was Tom White?" *“T never told him .so, sir,” returned Oliver in amazement. This sounded so like a falsehood, that the old gentleman looked somewhat sternly in Oliver’s face. It was impossible to doubt him; there was truth in every one of its thin and sharpened lineaments. c Some mistake,” said Mr. Brownlow. But, although his motive for looking steadily at Oliver no longer existed, the old idea of the resemblance between his features and some familiar face came upon him so strongly that he could not withdraw his gaze. 6 IT hope you are not angry with me, sir,” said Oliver, raising his eyes beseechingly. “ No, no,” replied the old gentleman.— ‘*Gracious God, what’s this! Bedwin, look, look, there !” As he spoke, he pointed hastily to the picture above Oliver’s head, and then to the boy’s face. There was its living copy, the eyes, the head, the mouth; every feature was the same. ‘The expression was for the instant so precisely alike, that the minutest line seemed copied with an accuracy which was perfectly unearthly. Oliver knew not the cause of this sudden exclamation, for he was not strong enough to bear the start it gave him, and he fainted away. CHAPTER THE THIRTEENTH Reverts to the merry old gentleman and his youthful friends, through whom a new acquaintance is introduced to the intelligent reader, and connected with whom various pleasant matters are related appertaining to this history. WHEN the Dodger and his accomplished friend Master Bates joined in the hue and cry which was raised at Oliver’s heels, in consequence of their executing an illegal conveyance of Mr. Brownlow’s personal property, as hath been already described with great perspicuity in a foregoing chapter, they were actuated, as we therein took occasion to observe, by a very laudable and becoming regard for themselves: and forasmuch as the freedom of the subject and the liberty of the individual are among the first and proudest boasts of a true-hearted Englishman, so [ need hardly veg the reader to observe that this action must tend to exalt them in the opinion of u!l public and patriotic men, in almost as great a degree as this strong proof of their anxiety for their own preservation and safety goes to corroborate and confirm the little code of laws which certain profound and sound-judging philosophers have laid down as the mainsprings of all Madam Nature’s deeds and actions; the said philosophers very wisely reducing the good and theory, and, by a very neat and pretty compliment to her exalted wisdom and understanding, putting entirely out of sight any considerations of heart, or generous impulse and feeling, as matters totally beneath a female who is acknowledged by universal admission to be so far beyond the numerous little foibles and weaknesses of her sex. If I wanted any further proof of the strictly philosophical nature of the conduct of these young gentlemen in their very delicate predicament, I should at once find it in the fact (also recorded in a foregoing part of this narrative) of their quitting the pursuit when the general attention was fixed upon Oliver, and making immediately for their home by the shortest possible cut; for although I do not mean to assert that it is the practice of renowned and learned sages at al! to shorten the road to any great conclusion, their course indeed being rather to lengthen the distance by various circumlocutions and discursive staggerings, like those in which drunken men under the pressure of a too mighty flow of ideas are prone to indulge, still I do mean to say, and do say distinctly, that it is the invariable practice of all mighty philosophers, in carrying out their theories, to evince great wisdom and foresight in providing against every possible contingency which can be supposed at all likely to affect themselves. Thus, to do a great right, you may do a little wrong, and you may take any means which the end to be attained will justify ; the amount of the right or the amount of the wrong, or indeed the distinction between the two, being left entirely to the philosopher concerned: to be settled and: determined by his clear, comprehensive, and impartial view of his own particular case. It was not until the two boys had scour ed with great rapidity through a most intricate maze of narrow streets and courts, that they ventured to halt by common consent beneath a low and dark archway. Having remained silent here, just long enough to recover breath to speak, Master Bates uttered an exclamation of amusement and delight, and, bursting into an un
