Stranica 236 [236]
178
monstrous slice of bread. " Where s
Charlotte ?”
6 Out," said Fagin, “I sent her out
this morning with the other young wo¬
man, because I wanted us to be alone.”
6 Qh!” said Noah, “I wish yer’d or¬
dered her to make some buttered toast
first. Well, talk away. Yer won’t in¬
terrupt me.”
There seemed indeed no great fear of
anything interrupting him, as he had evi
dently sat down with a determination to
do a great deal of business.
said the Jew, “beautiful! six shillings
and ninepence-halfpenny on the very first
day! The kinchin lay will be a fortune
to you.”
“ Don’t yer forget to add three pint-pots
and a milk-can,”’ said Mr. Bolter.
6 No, no, my dear,” replied the Jew ;
cc the pint-pots were great strokes of ge¬
nius, but the milk-can was a perfect mas¬
terpiece.”
6 Pretty well, I think, for a beginner,”
remarked Mr. Bolter complacently. “ The
pots I took off airy railings, and the milk¬
can was standing by itself outside a pub¬
lic house, so [ thought it might get rusty
with the rain, or take cold, yer know.
Ha! ha! ha!”
The Jew affected to laugh very heartily,
and Mr. Bolter had his laugh out, took a
series of large bites, which finished his
first hunk of bread and butter, and assisted
himself to a second.
“] want you, Bolter,” said Fagin lean¬
ing over the table, " to doa piece of work
for me, my dear, that needs great care
and caution.”
6] say," rejoined Bolter, “don’t yer
go shoving me into danger, or sending me
to any more police offices. That don’t
suit me, that don’t, and so I tell yer.”
“There "s not the smallest danger in it
— not the very smallest,’’ said the Jew.
4 [t "s only to dodge a woman.”
6 An old woman?” demanded Mr. Bol¬
ter.
6 A young one,” replied Fagin.
“7 can do that pretty well, I know,”
said Bolter; “I was a regular cunning
sneak when I was at school. What am
I to dodge her for —not to——”
“« Not to do anything,” interrupted the
Jew, " but te tell me where she goes to,
who she sees, and, if possible, what she
says: to remember the street, if it is a
street, or the house, if it’s a house, and
to bring me back all the information you
can."
“What’ll yer give me?" asked Noah,
setting down his cup, and looking his em¬
ployer eagerly in the face.
“If you do it well, a pound, my dear—
one pound,” said Fagin, wishing to inte¬
rest him in the scent as much as possible.
“And that’s what I never gave yet for
any job of work where there wasn’t valu¬
able consideration to be gained.”
c Who is she?” inquired Noah.
“One of us.”
“Oh Lor!” cried Noah, curling up his
nose. “ Yer doubtful of her, are yer?”
c She has found out some new friends,
my dear, and [ must know who they are,”
replied the Jew.
“T see,” said Noah, "just to have the
pleasure of knowing them, if they re re¬
spectable people—eh? Ha! ha! ha!—
I’m your man.”
“] knew you would be,” cried Fagin,
elated by the success of his proposal.
“ Of course, of course,” replied Noah.
6 Where is she? Where am I to wait for
her? When am I to go?
“ All that, my dear, you shall hear from
me. I’ll point her out at the proper
time,” said Fagin, “you keep ready, and
leave the rest to me.”
That night, and the next, and the next
again, the spy sat booted and equipped in
his carter’s dress, ready to turn out at a
word from Fagin. Six nights passed—
six long weary nights—and on each Fa¬
gin came home with a disappointed face,
and briefly intimated that it was not yet
time. On the seventh he returned ear¬
lier, and with an exultation he could not
conceal. It was Sunday.
“She goes abroad to-night,” said Fa¬
gin, “and on the right errand, I’m sure;
for she has been alone all day, and the
man she is afraid of will not be back
much before day-break. Come with me.
Quick.”
Noah started up without saying a word,
for the Jew was in a state of such intense
excitement that it infected him. They
left the house stealthily, and hurrying
through a labyrinth of streets, arrived at
length before a public house, which Noah
recognized as the same in which he had
cr on the night of his arrival in Lon¬
on.
It was past eleven o’clock, and the door
was closed. It opened softly on its hinges,
as the Jew gave a low whistle. They.
entered without noise, and the door closed
behind them.
Scarcely venturing to whisper, but sub¬
stituting dumb-show for words, Fagin and
the young Jew who had admitted them
pointed out the pane of glass to Noah, and