Page 207 [207]
Mr. Sikes himself would have fully con¬
firmed these symptoms if they had stood
in need of corroboration.
The housebreaker was lying on the bed
wrapped in his white (metert by way
of dressing-gown, and displaying a set of
features in no degree improved by the ca¬
daverous hue of illness, and the addition
of a soiled nightcap, and a stiff, black
beard of a week"s growth. The dog sat
at the bedside, now eyeing his master with
a wistful look, and now pricking his ears,
and uttering a low growl as some noise
in the street, or in the lower part of the
house, attracted his attention. Seated by
the window, busily en in patching
an old waistcoat which formed a portion
of the robber’s ordinary dress, was a fe¬
male, so pale and reduced with watching
and privation that there would have been
considerable difficulty in recognizing her
as the same Nancy who has already
figured in this tale, but for the voice in
which she replied to Mr. Sikes’s question.
“ Not long gone seven,” said the girl.
4 How do you feel to-night, Bill?"
s As weak as water,” replied Mr. Sikes,
with an imprecation on his eyes and limbs.
“Here; lend usa hand, and let me get
off this thundering bed, anylhiow.”
Illness had not improved Mr. Sikes’s
temper, for, as the girl raised him up, and
led him to a chair, he muttered various
— upon her awkwardness, and struck
r,
“Whining, are you?" said Sikes.
6 Come; don’t stand snivelling there. If
you can’t do anything better than that,
cut off altogether. D’ ye hear me?”
“T hear you,” replied the girl, turning
her face aside, and forcing a laugh.
“What fancy have you got in your head
now ?"
“Oh! you ’ve thought better of it, have
you!" growled Sikes, marking the tear
which trembled in her eye. “All the
better for you, you have.”
“ Why, you don’t mean to say you "d be
girl, laying her hand upon his shoulder.
“No!” cried Mr. Sikes. “ Why not?"
“Such a number of nights,” said the
girl, with a touch of woman’s tenderness,
which communicated something like
sweetness of tone even to her voice,—
“such a number of nights as I’ve been
patient with you, nursing and caring for
you as if you had been a child, and this
the first that I’ve seen you like yourself;
you wouldn’t have served me as you did
just now, if you’d thought of that, would
you? Come, come; say you wouldn't.”
sc Well, then,” rejoined Mr. Sikes, “1
wouldn’t. Why, damme, now, the girl’s
whining again !”
“It’s nothing,” said the girl, throwing
herself into a chair. “ Don’t you seem to
mind me, and it’ll soon be over.”
c What’ll be over?” demanded Mr.
Sikes in a savage voice. ‘ What foolery
are you up to now again? Get up, and
bustle about, and don’t come over me with
your woman’s nonsense.”
At any other time this remonstrance,
and the tone in which it was delivered,
would have had the desired effect; but
the girl being really weak and exhausted,
dropped her head over the back of the
chair, and fainted, before Mr. Sikes could
get out a few of the appropriate oaths with
which on similar occasions he was accus¬
tomed to garnish his threats. Not know¬
ing very well what to do in this uncom¬
mon emergency, for Miss Nancy’s hyste¬
rics were usually of that violent kind
which the patient fights and struggles out
of without much assistance, Mr. Sikes
tried a little blasphemy, and, finding that
mode of treatment wholly ineffectual,
called for assistance.
“What’s the matter here, my dear?"
said the Jew, looking in.
s Lend a hand to the girl, can’t you?’
replied Sikes impatiently, "and don’t
stand chattering and grinning at me!”
With an exclamation of surprise, Fagin
hastened to the girl’s assistance, while
Mr. John Dawkins, (otherwise the Artful
Dodger,) who had followed his venerable
friend into the room, hastily deposited on
the floor a bundle with which he was
laden, and, snatching a bottle from the
grasp of Master Charles Bates who came
ling with his teeth, and poured a portion
of its contents down the patient’s throat;
previously taking a taste himself to pre¬
vent mistakes,
“Give her a whiff of fresh air with the
bellows, Charley,” said Mr. Dawkins;
“and you slap her hands, Fagin, while
Bill undoes the petticuts.”
These united restoratives, administered
with great energy, especially that depart¬
ment consigned to Master Bates, who ap
peared to consider his share in the pro¬
ceeding a piece of unexampled pleasantry,
were not long in producing the desired
effect. The girl gradually recovered her
senses, and, staggering to a chair by the
bedside, hid her face upon the pillow,
leaving Mr. Sikes to confront the new¬
comers, in some astonishment at their un
looked-for appearance.