Stranica 92 [92]
OCR
60 light. "Dont go to hm, I called out of the window, ‘he’s an assassin — a mantrap! So he is. If he is not " Here the irascible old gentleman gave a great knock on the ground with his stick, which was always understood by his friends to imply the customary offer whenever it was not expressed in words. Then, still keeping his stick in his hand, he sat down, and, opening a double eye-glass which he wore attached to a broad black riband, took a view of Oliver, who, seeing that he was the object of inspection, coloured, and bowed again. c "That "s the boy, is it?” said Mr. Grimwig at length. : c That is the boy,” replied Mr. Brownlow, nodding good-humouredly to Oliver. “ How are you, boy ?" said Mr. GrimeA great deal better, thank you, sir,” replied Oliver. Mr. Brownlow, seeming to apprehend that his cay, 0 friend was about to say something disagreeable, asked Oliver to step down stairs, and tell Mrs. Bedwin they were ready for tea, which, as he did not half like the visitor’s manner, he was very happy to do. “He is a nice-looking boy, is he not ?” inquired Mr. Brownlow. 6 I don’t know,” replied Grimwig petba * Don’t know ?" ** No, I don’t know. I never see any difference in boys. I only know two sorts of boys —mealy boys, and beef-faced boys. * And which is Oliver?” * Mealy. I know a friend who’s got a beef-faced boy ; a fine boy they call him, with a round head, and red cheeks, and laring eyes; a horrid boy, with a body and imbs that appear to be swelling out of the seams of his blue clothes—with the voice of a pilot, and the appetite of a wolf. I know him, the wretch!” “Come,” said Mr. Brownlow, “these are not the characteristics of young Oliver Twist ; so he seedn’t excite your wrath.” c They are not,” replied Grimwig. “He may have worse.” ere Mr. Brownlow coughed impatiently, which appeared to afford Mr. Grimwig the most exquisite delight. “ He may have worse, I say,” repeated Mr. Grimwig. “Where does he come from? Whois het What is he? He has had a fever—wuat of that? Fevers are not peculiar to good people, are they ? Bad people have fevers sometimes, haven’t they, eh? I knew a man that was hung in Jamaica for murdering his master; he had had a fever six times; he wasn’t recommended to mercy on. that account. Pooh! nonsense !” Now, the fact was, that, in the inmost recesses of his own heart, Mr. Grimwig was strongly disposed to admit that Olivers appearance and manner were unusually prepossessing, but he had a strong appetite for contradiction, sharpened on this occasion by the finding of the orange peel; and inwardly determining that no was well looking or not, he had resolved from the first to oppose his friend. When Mr. Brownlow admitted that on no one point of inquiry could he yet return any satisfactory answer, and that he had postponed any investigation into Oliver’s previous history until he thought the boy was strong enough to bear it, Mr. Grimwi chuckled maliciously, and demanded, wi a sneer, whether the housekeeper was in the habit of counting the plate at night ; because, if she didn’t find a table-spoon or two missing some sunshiny morning, why, he would be content to-——, et cetera. All this Mr. Brownlow, although himself somewhat of an impetuous gentleman, knowing his friend’s peculiarities, bore with great good humour; and as Mr. Grimwig, at tea, was graciously pleased to express his entire approval of the muffins, matters went on very smoothly, and Oliver, who made one of the party, began to feel more at his ease than he had yet done in the fierce old gentleman's presence. “And when are you going to hear a full, true, and particular account of the life and adventures of Oliver Twist?” asked Grimwig of Mr. Brownlow, at the conclusion of the meal: looking sideways at Oliver as he resumed the subject. “To-morrow morning,” replied Mr. Brownlow. “I would rather he was alone with me at the time. Come up to me tomorrow morning at ten o’clock, my dear.” c Yes, sir,” replied Oliver. He answered with some hesitation, because he was confused by Mr. Grimwig’s looking 60 hard at him. “T’ll tell you what,” whispered that gentleman to Mr. Brownlow; “he won't come up to you to-morrow morning. I saw him hesitate. He is deceiving you, my dear friend.” “T’ll swear he is not,” replied Mr. Brownlow, warmly. ) “If he is not,” said Mr. Grimwig, "1711 ——” and down went the stick.
