Oldal 245 [245]
185
till I came, I’d grind his skull under the
iron heel of my boot into as many grains
as there are hairs upon his head.”
“ What if I did it!" cried the Jew,
almost in a yell. “ J, that know so much,
and could hang so many besides your¬
self!”
6 [ don’t know,” replied Sikes, clench-.
ing his teeth, and turning white at the
mere suggestion. “I'd do something in
the jail that’d get me put in irons, and if
I was tried along with you, I’d fall upon
you with them in the open court, and beat
ps brains out afore the people. I should
ave such strength,” muttered the robber,
poising his brawny arm, “that [ could
smash your head as if a loaded wagon
had gone over it.”
s You would?"
“ Would I! said the housebreaker.
4 Try me.” |
“If it was Charley, or the Dodger, or
Bet, or——”
“I don’t care who,” replied Sikes, im¬
patiently. ‘ Whoever it was, l’d serve
them the same.”
Fagin again looked hard at the robber,
and motioning him to be silent, stooped
over the bed upon the floor, and shook the
sleeper to rouse him. Sikes leant for¬
ward in his chair, looking on with his
hands upon his knees, as if wondering
much what all this questioning and pre¬
paration was to end in.
66 Bolter, Bolter. Poor lad!’ said Fa¬
on looking up with an expression of
evilish anticipation, and speaking slow¬
ly, and with marked emphasis. “ He’s
tired—tired with watching for her so long
—watching for her, Bill.”
c Wot d’ye mean ?” asked Sikes, draw¬
ing back.
The Jew made no answer, but bending
over the sleeper again, hauled him into a
sitting position. When his assumed
Noah rubbed his eyes, and giving a heavy
yawn, looked sleepily about him.
“Tell me that again—once again ;
pointing to Sikes as he spoke.
Noah, shaking himself pettishly.
“'That about Nancy," said the Jew,
clutching Sikes by the wrist, as if to pre¬
heard enough. “ You followed her ?”
“+ Yes.”
4 To London Bridge ?”
“ Yes.”
“ Where she met two people ?”
** So she did.”
16* Y
“A gentleman and a lady, that she
had gone to of her own accord before,
who asked her to give up all her pals,
and Monks first, which she did—and to
describe him, which she did—to tell her
what house it was we meet at and go to,
which she did—and where it would be
best watched from, which she did—and
what time the people went there, which
she did. She did all this; she told it
all, every word, without a threat, without
a murmur—she did. Didn’t she ?" cried
the Jew, half mad with fury.
“All right,” replied Noah, scratching
his head. “ That’s just what it was.”
“What did they say about last San¬
day !" demanded the Jew.
“About last Sunday!’ replied Noah,
considering; “ why I told you that be¬
fore."
s Again — telt it again,” cried Fagin,
tightening his grasp on Sikes, and bran¬
dishing his. other hand aloft, as the foam
fiew from his lips.
s They asked her," said Noah, who, as
he grew more wakefuJ, seemed to have
a dawning perception who Sikes was,—
“they asked her why she didn’t come last
Sunday, as she promised? She said
‘she couldn't.’ ”
“Why, why?" interrupted the Jew
triumphantly. “ Tell him that.”
“ Because she was forcibly kept at
home by Bill, the man she had told them
of before,” replied Noah.
c What more of him?" cried the Jew.
“ What more of the man she had told
them of before? ‘Tell him that, tell him
that.”
“Why, that she couldn’t very easily
get out of doors unless he knew where
she was going to,” said Noah; “and so
the first time she went to see the lady,
she—ha! ha! ha!—it made me laugh
when she said it—that it did—she gave
him a drink of laudanum!” |
s Hell’s fire!" cried Sikes, breaking
fiercely from the Jew. “ Let me go!”
Flinging the old man from him, he rush¬
ed froin the room, and darted wildly and
furiously np the stairs.
se Bill, Bull!’ cried the Jew, following
6 A word—only a word.”
The word would not have been ex¬
changed, but that the housebreaker was
unable to open the door, on which he was
expending fruitless oaths and violence
when the Jew came panting up.
“Let me out,” said Sikes. “ Don’t
speak to me—it’s not safe. Let me out,
I say !”’ 2
“ Hear me speak a word,” rejoined