Stranica 268 [268]
204
This salutation was addressed to Mr.
Brownlow, who had stepped up to within
a short distance of the respectable couple,
and who inguired as he pointed to Monks,
“Do you know that person ?"
a No,” replied Mrs. Bumble, flatly.
‘Perhaps you don’t,” said Mr. Brown¬
low, addressing her spouse.
s] never saw him in all my life,” said
Mr. Bumble.
‘ Nor sold him anything, perhaps?”
cc No,” replied Mrs. Bumble.
6 You never had, perhaps, a certain
gold locket and ring?’ said Mr. Brown¬
ow.
“Certainly not,” replied the matron.
to such nonsense as this for?”
Grimwig, and again that gentleman limp¬
ed away with extraordinary readiness.
But not again did he return with a stout
man and wife; for this time he led in two
palsied women, who shook and tottered
as they walked.
6 You shut the door the night old
Sally died,” said the foremost one, rais¬
ing her shrivelled head; “but you
couldn’t shut out the sound, nor stop the
chinks.”’
“No, no," said the other, looking
round her, and wagging her toothless
jaws; “no, no, no."
c We heard her try to tell you what
she’d done, and saw you take a paper
from her hand; and watched you, too,
next day, to the pawnbroker’s shop,” said
the first.
6 Yes," added the second; “and it was
a locket and gold ring. We found out
that, and saw it given you. We were
by. Oh! we were by.”
c And we know more than that,’’ re¬
sumed the first; “for she told us often,
long ago, that the young mother had told
her, that feeling she should never get
over it, she was on her way, at the time
she was taken ill, to die near the grave
of the father of the child.”
* Would you like to see the pawn¬
broker, himself?” asked Mr. Grimwig,
with a motion towards the door.
“No,” replied the woman. “If he,"
enough to confess, as I see he has, and
you have sounded all these hags till you
found the right ones, I have nothing
more to say. I did sell them, and
they’re where you'll never get them.
What then ?”
“ Nothing,” replied Mr. Brownlow,
“except that it remains for us to take
care that you are neither of you employed
in a situation of trust again. You may
leave the room.”
“T hope, said Mr. Bumble, looking
about him with great ruefulness, as Mr.
Grimwig disappeared with the two old
women, “I hope that this unfortunate
little circumstance will not deprive me
of my porochial office?"
‘Indeed it will,” replied Mr. Brown¬
| low. ‘“ You must make up your mind to
that, and think yourself well off besides.”
“It was all Mrs. Bumble. She would
do it,” urged Mr. Bumble; first looking
| round to ascertain that his partner had
left the room.
“That is no excuse,” returned Mr.
Brownlow. ‘“ You were present on the
occasion of the destruction of these trink¬
| ets, and, indeed, are the more guilty of
the two in the eye of the law, for the law
| supposes that your wife acts under your
direction.”
“If the law supposes that,” said Mr.
| Bumble, squeezing his hat emphatically
in both hands, “the law is an ass—an
idiot. If that is the eye of the law, the
law’s a bachelor; and the worst I wish
the law is, that his eye may be opened
by experience—by experience.”
Laying great stress on the repetition
of these two words, Mr. Bumble fixed his
| hat on very tight, and putting his hands
in his pockets, followed his helpmate
down stairs.
6 Young lady,” said Mr. Brownlow,
turning to Rose, “ give me your hand.
| Do not tremble: you need not fear to
hear the few remaining words we have
to say."
“If they have—I do not know how
| they can—but if they have any reference
to me," said Rose, “pray let me hear
them at some other time. I have not
strength or spirits now.”
“ Nay,” returned the old gentleman,
drawing her arm through his, “ you
have more fortitude than this, I am sure.
Do you know this young lady, sir ?"
| “ Yes," replied Monks.
s] never saw you before,” said Rose,
faintly.
“YT have seen you often,” returned
Monks,
| The father of the unhappy Agnes had
two daughters,” said Mr. Brownlow.
“What was the fate of the other—the
child ?”
“The child,” replied Monks, “ when
her father died, in a strange place, in a
strange name, without a letter, book, or
scrap of paper, that yielded the faintest