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OCR
102 confused as the noises that greeted the ear, might be made out; and, as the eye grew more accustomed to the scene, the spectator gradually became aware of the presence of a numerous company, male and female, crowded round a long table, at the upper end of which sat a chairman with a hammer of office in his hand, while a professional gentleman, with a bluish of a tooth-ache, presided at a jingling piano in a remote corner. sional gentleman, running over the keys by way of prelude, occasioned a general cry of order for a song; which having subsided, a young lady proceeded to entertain the company with a ballad in four verses, between each of which the accompanyist played the melody all through as loud as he could. When this was over, the chairman gave a sentiment; after which, the professional gentlemen on the chairman’s right and left volunteered a duet, and sang it with great applause. It was curious to observe some faces which stood out prominently from among the group. There was the chairman himself, the landlord of the house: a coarse, rough, heavy-built fellow, who, while the songs hither and thither, and, seeming to give himself up to joviality, had an eye for everything that was done, and an ear for everything that was said,—and sharp ones, too. Near him were the singers, receiving with professional indifference the compliments of the company, and applying themselves in turn to a dozen proffered glasses of spirits and water tendered by their more boisterous admirers, whose countenances, expressive of almost every vice in almost every grade, irresistibly attracted the attention by their very repulsiveness. Cunning, ferocity, and drunkenness in all its stages, were there in their strongest aspects; and women—some with the last lingering tinge of their early freshness almost fading as you looked, and others with every mark and stamp of their sex utterly beaten out, and presenting but one loathsome blank of profligacy and crime; some mere girls, others but young women, and none past the prime of life,—formed the darkest and saddest portion of this dreary picture. bled by in, trou no grave emotions, looked eagerly from face to face while these proceedings were in progress, but apparently without meeting that of which he was in search. Succeeding at length in catching the eye of the man who occupied the chair, he beckoned to him slightly, and left the room as quietly as he had entered it. “ What can I do for you, Mr. Fagin?” softly inquired the man as he followed him out to the landing. “ Won’t you join ust They ’ll be delighted, every one of "em." The Jew shook his head impatiently, and said in a whisper, “Is he here?" “ No,” replied the man. “And no news of Barney?” inquired Fagin. “None,” replied the landlord of the Cripples, for it was he. “He won't stir till it’s all safe. Depend on it that they ’re on the scent down there, and that once. He’s all right enough, Barney is; pound it that Barney ’s managing properly. Let him alone for that.” “Will he be here to-night?” asked the pronoun as before. “ Monks do you mean?” inyuired the landlord, hesitating. “ Hush!” said the Jew. “ Yes.” “Certain,” replied the man, drawing a gold watch from his fob; “I expected him here before now. If you ‘ll wait ten minutes, he "11 re “No, no,” said the Jew hastily, as though, however desirous he might be to see the person in question, he was nevertheless relieved by his absence. “ Tell him I came here to see him, and that he must come to me to-night; no, say tomorrow. As he is not here, to-morrow will be time enough.” “Good!” said the man. “ Nothing more ?" | * Not a word now,” said the Jew, descending the stairs. “T say,” said the other, looking over the rails, and speaking in a hoarse whisper; “what a time this would be for a sell! I’ve got Phil Barker here, so drunk, that a boy might take him.” “Aha! But it’s not Phil Barker's time,” said the Jew, looking up. “ Phil has something more to do before we can afford to part with him; so go back to the company, my dear, and tell them to lead merry lives—thile they last. Ha! ha! ha!’ The landlord reciprocated the old man’s laugh, and returned to his guests, The
