Oldal 244 [244]
184
sorbed in thought, he bit his long black
nails, he disclosed among his toothless
gave a few such fangs as should have
en a dog’s or rat’s.
Stretched upon a mattress on the floor
lay Noah Claypole, fast asleep. ‘Towards
him the old man sometimes directed his
eyes for an instant, then brought them
back again to the candle, which, with
long burnt wick drooping almost double,
and hot grease falling down in clots upon
the table, plainly showed that his thoughts
were busy elsewhere.
Indeed they were. Mortification at
the overthrow of his notable scheme, ha¬
tred of the
with strangers, an utter distrust of the
sincerity of her refusal to yield him up,
bitter disappointment at the loss of his
revenge on Sikes, the fear of detection
and ruin and death, and a fierce and
deadly rage kindled by all—these were
the passionate considerations, that follow¬
ing upon each other with rapid and cease¬
less whirl, shot through the brain of Fa¬
gin, as every evil thought and blackest
pagpone lay working at his heart.
e sat without changing his attitude
in the least, or appearing to take the
smallest heed of time, until his quick ear
seemed to be attracted by a footstep in
the street.
s At last," muttered the Jew, wiping
. his dry and fevered mouth. “ At last.”
The bell rang gently as he spoke. He
crept up stairs to the door, and presently
returned accompanied by a man muffled
to the chin, who carried a bundle under
one arm. Sitting down and throwing
back his outer coat, the man displayed
the burly frame of Sikes.
“There,” he said, laying the bundle
on the table. “ Take care of that, and
do the most you can with it. It’s been
trouble enough to get it; I thought I
Fagin laid his hand upon the bundle,
and locking it in the cupboard, sat down
again without speaking. But he did not
take his eyes off the robber for an instant
during this action, and now that they
sat over against each other face to face,
he looked fixedly at him, with his lips
quivering so violently, and his face so
altered by the emotions which had mas¬
tered him, that the house-breaker invo¬
luntarily drew back his chair and surveyed
him with a look of real affright.
“ Wot now?” cried Sikes. “ Wot do
you look at a man so for? Speak, will
vou!
shook his trembling forefinger in the air;
but his passion was so great that the
power of speech was for the moment
gone.
“Damme!” said Sikes, feeling in his
breast, with a look of alarm. "Hess
gone mad. I must look to myself here.”
6 No, no,” rejoined Fagin, finding his
voice. " It’s not—you’re not the person,
Bill. I’ve no—no fault to find with you,”
“Oh! you haven't, haven’t you,” said
Sikes, looking sternly at him, and osten¬
tatiously passing a pistol into a more con¬
venient pocket. ‘ That’s lucky—for one
of us. Which one that is don’t matter.”
s] "ve got that-to tell you, Bill,” said
the Jew, drawing his chair nearer, “ will
make you worse than me.”
6 Ay?” returned the robber, with an
incredulous air. " Tell away. Look
sharp, or Nance will think I’m lost.”
6 Lost!” cried Fagin. ‘“ She has pret¬
ty well settled that in her own mind al¬
ready.”
Sikes looked with an aspect of great
perplexity into the Jew’s face, and read¬
ng no satisfactory explanation of the
riddle there, clenched his coat-collar in
his huge hand and shook him soundly.
“Speak, will you,” he said; “or if
you don’t, it shall be for want of breath.
Open your mouth, and say wot you’ve
got to say in plain words. Out with it,
you thundering old cur, out with it.”
“Suppose that lad that’s lying there—”
Fagin began,
Sikes turned round to where Noah was
sleeping, as if he had not previously ob¬
served him. ‘ Well,” he said, resuming
his former position.
“ Suppose that lad,” pursued the Jew,
“was to beach—blow upon us all—first
seeking out the right folks for the pur¬
pose, and then having a meeting with ’em
in the street to paint our likenesses, de¬
scribe every mark that they might know
us by, and the crib where we might be
most easily taken. Suppose he was to
do all this, and besides, to blow upon a
plant we’ve all been in, more or less—
of his own fancy; not grabbed, trapped,
tried, ear-wigged by the parson, and
brought to it on bread and water, but of
his own fancy, to please his own taste,
stealing out at nights to find those most
interested against us, and peaching to
them. Do you hear me?” cried the Jew,
his eyes flashing with rage. " Suppose
he did all this; what then?"
c What then!” replied Sikes, with a
tremendous oath. “If he were left alive