Oldal 104 [104]
68
if he were bewildered and could scarcely
understand what passed; but when Bill
Sikes concluded, he ess suddenly to
his feet, and tore wildly from the room,
uttering shrieks for help that made the
bare old house echo to the roof.
: Keep back the dog, Bill!” cried Nan¬
cy, springing before the door, and closing
it as the Jew and his two pupils darted out
in pursuit; "keep back the dog; hel
tear the boy to pieces."
“Serve him right!” cried Sikes, strug¬
gling to disengage himself from the girl’s
grasp. " Stand off from me, or I 11 split
your skull against the wall!”
“1 don’t care for that, Bill; I don’t care
for that,” screamed the girl, struggling
violently with the man: “ the child shan’t
be torn down by the dog, unless you kill
me first.”
“Shan’t he!" said Sikes, setting his
teeth fiercely. ‘I’Jl soon do that, if you
don’t keep off.”
The housebreaker flung the girl from
him to the further end of the room, just
as the Jew and the two boys returned,
dragging Oliver among them.
c What’s the matter here?” said the
Jew, looking round.
“The girl’s gone mad, I think,” replied
Sikes savagely.
* No, she hasn’t,” said Nancy, pale and
breathless from the scuffle; "no, she
hasn’t, Fagin: don’t think it.”
“Then keep quiet, will you?” said the
Jew with a threatening look.
‘No, I w ont do that either,” replied
Nancy, speaking very loud. ‘Come,
what do you think of that?”
Mr. Fagin was sufficiently well ac¬
quainted with the manners and customs
of that particular species of humanity to
which Miss Nancy belonged, to feel tolera¬
bly certain that it would be rather unsafe
to prolong any conversation with her at
present. With the view of diverting the
attention of the company, he turned to
Oliver.
“So you wanted to get away, my dear,
did you?” said the Jew, taking up a jagged
and knotted club which lay in a corner of
the fire-place; “eh?”
Oliver made no reply, but he watched
the Jew’s motions and breathed quickly.
“ Wanted to get assistance,—called for
the police, did you?" sneered the Jew,
catching the boy by the arm. “We’ll
cure you of that, my dear.” |
The Jew inflicted a smart blow on Oli¬
vers shoulders with the club, and was
raising it for a second, when the girl, rush¬
flung it into the fire with a force that
brought some of the glowing coals whirl¬
ing out into the room.
6] won’t stand by and see it done, Fa¬
gin," cried the girl. “You’ve got the
boy, and what more would you have? Let
him be—let him be, or I shall put the
mark on some of you that will bring me
to the gallows before my time !"
The girl stamped her foot violently on
the floor as she vented this threat; and
with her lips compressed, and her hands
clenched, looking alternately at the Jew
and the other robber, her face quite co¬
which she had gradually worked herself.
“Why, Nancy!” said the Jew in a
soothing tone, after a pause, during which
he and Mr. Sikes had stared at one an¬
other in a disconcerted manner, § you—
sg re more clever than ever to-night.
a! ha! my dear, you are acting beauti¬
fully.”
“Am I!" said the girl. " "Take care
I don’t overdo it: you will be the worse
for it, Fagin, if I do; and so I tell you in
time to keep clear of me.”
There is something about a roused wo- |
man, especially if she add to all her other
strong passions the fierce impulses of
recklessness and despair, which few men
like to provoke. The Jew saw that it
would be hopeless to affect any further
mistake regarding the reality of Miss
Nancy’s rage; and, shrinking involunta¬
rily back, a few paces, cast a glance, half¬
imploring and half-cowardly, at Sikes, as
if to hint that he was the fittest person
to pursue the dialogue.
Mr. Sikes thus mutely appealed to, and
possibly feeling his personal pride and in¬
fluence interested in the immediate re¬
duction of Miss Nancy to reason, gave
utterance to about a couple of score of
curses and threats, the rapid delivery of
which reflected great credit on the fer¬
tility of his invention. As they produced
no visible effect on the object against
whom they were discharged, however, he
resorted to more tangible arguments. :
c What do you mean by this?” said
Sikes, backing the inquiry with a very
common imprecation concerning the most
beautiful of human features, which, if it
were heard above, only once out of every
fifty thousand times it is uttered below,
would render blindness as common a dis¬
order as measles; " "what do yoy mean
by it? Burn my body! do you know who
you are, and what you are ?”
‘Oh, yes, I know all about it,” replied