Stranica 116 [116]
78
CHAPTER THE NINETEENTH.
In which a notable plan is discussed and deter¬
mined on.
Ir was a chill, damp, windy night,
when the Jew, buttoning his great-coat
tight round his shrivelled body, and pull¬
ing the collar up over his ears so as com¬
pletely to obscure the lower part of his
face, emerged from his den. He paused
on the step as the door was locked and
chained behind him; and having listened
while the boys made all secure, and until
their retreating footsteps were no longer
audible, slunk down the street as quickly
as he could. .
The house to which Oliver had been
conveyed was in the neighbourhood of
Whitechapel; the Jew stopped for an
instant at the corner of the street, and,
glancing suspiciously round, crossed the
road, and struck off in the direction of
Spitalfields.
The mud lay thick upon the stones, and
" a black mist hung over the streets; the
rain fell sluggishly down, and rb ee
felt cold and clammy to the touch. It
seemed just the night when it befitted
such a being as the Jew to be abroad. As
he glided stealthily along, creeping be¬
neath the shelter of the walls and door¬
ways, the hideous old man seemed like
some loathsome reptile, engendered in the
slime and darkness through which he
moved, crawling forth by night in search
of some rich offal for a meal.
He kept on his course through many
winding and narrow ways until he reach¬
ed Bethnal Green; then turning suddenly
off to the left, he soon became involved in
amaze of the mean dirty streets which
abound in that close and densely-populat¬
ed quarter.
he Jew ‘was evidently too familiar
with the ground he traversed, however,
to be at all bewildered either by the dark¬
ness of the night or the intricacies of the
way. He hurried through several alleys
and streets, and at length turned into one
lighted only by a single lamp at the far¬
ther end. At the door of a house in this
street he knocked, and, having exchanged
a few muttered words with the person who
opened the door, walked up stairs.
A dog growled as he touched the han¬
dle of a door, and a man’s voice demanded
who was there.
“Only me, Bill; only me, my dear,”
said the Jew, looking in.
“Bring in your body,” said Sikes.
* Lie down, you stupid brute! Don’t you
know the devil when he’s got a great¬
coat on!"
Apparently the dog had been somewhat
deceived by Mr. Fagin’s outer garment;
for as the Jew unbuttoned it, and threw
it over the back of a chair, he retired to
the corner from which he had risen, wag¬
ging his tail as he went, to show that he
was as well satisfied as it was in his na¬
ture to be.
6 Well!" said Sikes.
“Well, my dear,” replied the Jew.
“Ah! Nancy.”
The latter recognition was uttered with
just enough of embarrassment to imply
a doubt of its reception; for Mr. Fagin
and his young friend had not met since
she had interfered in behalf of Oliver.
All doubts upon the subject, if he had any,
were, however, speedily removed by the
young lady’s behaviour. She took her
feet off the fender, pushed back her chair,
and bade Fagin draw up his without say¬
ing any more about it, for it was a cold
night, and no mistake. Miss Nancy pre¬
fixed to the word "cold" another adjective,
derived from the name of an unpleasant
instrument of death, which, as the word
is seldom mentioned to ears polite in any
other form than as a substantive, I have
omitted in this chronicle.
“Tt is cold, Nancy dear,” said the Jew,
as he warmed his skinny hands over the
fire. “It seems to go right through one,”
added the old man, touching his left side.
“Tt must be a piercer if it finds its way
throughly your heart,” said Mr. Sikes.
“Give him something to drink, Nancy.
Burn my body, make haste! It’s enough
to turn a man ill to see his lean old car¬
case shivering in that way, like a ugly
ghost just rose from the grave.”
Nancy quickly brought a bottle from a
cupboard in which there were many,
which, to judge from the diversity of their
appearance, were filled with several kinds
of liquids; and Sikes, pouring out a glass
of brandy, bade the Jew drink it off.
6 Quite enough, quite, thankye, Bill,"
replied the Jew, putting down the glass
after just setting his lips to it.
“What! you’re afraid of our gettin
the better of you, are you?” inquire
Sikes, fixing his eyes on the Jew; “ugh!”
With a hoarse grunt of contempt Mr.
Sikes seized the glass and emptied it, as
a preparatory ites! to filling it again
for himself, which he did at once.
The Jew glanced round the room as
his companion tossed down the second
glassful; not in curiosity, for he had seen
it often before, but in a restless and sus¬