فصل 16

CHAPTER XVI

Relates what became of Oliver Twist after he had been claimed by Nancy.

THE NARROW STREETS AND COURTS, AT LENGTH, TERMINATED IN a large open space, scattered about which were pens for beasts and other indications of a cattle market. Sikes slackened his pace when they reached this spot, the girl being quite unable to support any longer the rapid rate at which they had hitherto walked. Turning to Oliver, he roughly commanded him to take hold of Nancys hand.

“Do you hear? growled Sikes, as Oliver hesitated and looked round.

They were in a dark corner, quite out of the track of passengers. Oliver saw, but too plainly, that resistance would be of no avail. He held out his hand, which Nancy clasped tight in hers.

“Give me the other, said Sikes, seizing Olivers unoccupied hand. “Here, Bulls-eye!

The dog looked up, and growled.

“See here, boy! said Sikes, putting his other hand to Olivers throat “if he speaks ever so soft a word, hold him! Dye mind!

The dog growled again and licking his lips, eyed Oliver as if he were anxious to attach himself to his windpipe without delay.

“Hes as willing as a Christian, strike me blind if he isnt! said Sikes, regarding the animal with a kind of grim and ferocious approval. “Now, you know what youve got to expect, master, so call away as quick as you like the dog will soon stop that game. Get on, young un!

Bulls-eye wagged his tail in acknowledgement of this unusually endearing form of speech and, giving vent to another admonitory growl for the benefit of Oliver, led the way onward.

It was Smithfield that they were crossing, although it might have been Grosvenor Square, for anything Oliver knew to the contrary. The night was dark and foggy. The lights in the shops could scarcely struggle through the heavy mist, which thickened every moment and shrouded the streets and houses in gloom, rendering the strange place still stranger in Olivers eyes, and making his uncertainty the more dismal and depressing.

They had hurried on a few paces when a deep church-bell-struck the hour. With its first stroke, his two conductors stopped and turned their heads in the direction whence the sound proceeded.

“Eight oclock, Bill, said Nancy, when the bell ceased.

“Whats the good of telling me that I can hear it, cant I! replied Sikes.

“I wonder whether they can hear it, said Nancy.

“Of course they can, replied Sikes. “It was Bartlemy time when I was shopped, and there warnt a penny trumpet in the fair as I couldnt hear the squeaking on. Arter I was locked up for the night, the row and din outside made the thundering old jail so silent that I could almost have beat my brains out against the iron plates of the door.

“Poor fellows! said Nancy, who still had her face turned towards the quarter in which the bell had sounded. “Oh, Bill such fine young chaps as them!

“Yes, thats all you women think of, answered Sikes. “Fine young chaps! Well, theyre as good as dead, so it dont much matter.

With this consolation, Mr. Sikes appeared to repress a rising tendency to jealousy, and clasping Olivers wrist more firmly, told him to step out again.

“Wait a minute! said the girl “I wouldnt hurry by if it was you that was coming out to be hung, the next time eight oclock struck, Bill. Id walk round and round the place till I dropped, if the snow was on the ground and I hadnt a shawl to cover me.

“And what good would that do? inquired the unsentimental Mr. Sikes. “Unless you could pitch over a file and twenty yards of good stout rope, you might as well be walking fifty miles off, or not walking at all, for all the good it would do me. Come on, and dont stand preaching there.

The girl burst into a laugh, drew her shawl more closely round her, and they walked away. But Oliver felt her hand tremble, and, looking up in her face as they passed a gas-lamp, saw that it had turned a deadly white.

They walked on, by little-frequented and dirty ways, for a full half-hour, meeting very few people, and those appearing from their looks to hold much the same position in society as Mr. Sikes himself. At length they turned into a very filthy narrow street, nearly full of old-clothes shops the dog running forward, as if conscious that there was no further occasion for his keeping on guard, stopped before the door of a shop that was closed and apparently untenanted the house was in a ruinous condition and on the door was nailed a board, intimating that it was to let, which looked as if it had hung there for many years.

“All right, cried Sikes, glancing cautiously about.

Nancy stooped below the shutters, and Oliver heard the sound of a bell. They crossed to the opposite side of the street and stood for a few moments under a lamp. A noise, as if a, sash window were gently raised, and heard and soon afterwards the door softly opened. Mr. Sikes then seized the terrified boy by the collar with very little ceremony, and all three were quickly inside the house.

The passage was perfectly dark. They waited while the person who had let them in, chained and barred the door.

“Anybody here? inquired Sikes.

“No, replied a voice, which Oliver thought he had heard before.

“Is the old un here? asked the robber.

“Yes, replied the voice, “and precious down in the mouth he has been. Wont he be glad to see you? Oh, no!

The style of this reply, as well as the voice which delivered it, seemed familiar to Olivers ears but it was impossible to distinguish even the form of the speaker in the darkness.

“Lets have a glim, said Sikes, “or we shall go breaking our necks, or treading on the dog. Look after your legs if you do!

“Stand still a moment, and Ill get you one, replied the voice. The receding footsteps of the speaker were heard and, in another minute, the form of Mr. John Dawkins, otherwise the artful Dodger, appeared. He bore in his right hand a tallow candle stuck in the end of a cleft stick.

The young gentleman did not stop to bestow any other mark of recognition upon Oliver than a humorous grin, but, turning away, beckoned the visitors to follow him down a flight of stairs. They crossed an empty kitchen and, opening the door of a low earthy-smelling room, which seemed to have been built in a small back-yard, were received with a shout of laughter.

“Oh, my wig, my wig! cried Master Charles Bates, from whose lungs the laughter had proceeded “Here he is! oh, cry, here he is! Oh, Fagin, look at him! Fagin, do look at him! I cant bear it it is such a jolly game, I cant bear it. Hold me, somebody, while I laugh it out.

With this irrepressible ebullition of mirth, Master Bates laid himself flat on the floor and kicked convulsively for five minutes, in an ecstasy of facetious joy. Then jumping to his feet, he snatched the cleft stick from the Dodger and, advancing to Oliver, viewed him round and round, while the Jew, taking off his nightcap, made a great number of low bows to the bewildered boy. The Artful, meantime, who was of a rather saturnine disposition, and seldom gave way to merriment when it interfered with business, rifled Olivers pockets with steady assiduity.

“Look at his togs, Fagin! said Charley, putting the light so close to his new jacket as nearly to set him on fire. “Look at his togs! Superfine cloth, and the heavy swell cut! Oh, my eye, what a game! And his books, too! Nothing but a gentleman, Fagin!

“Delighted to see you looking so well, my dear, said the Jew, bowing with mock humility. “The Artful shall give you another suit, my dear, for fear you should spoil that Sunday one. Why didnt you write, my dear and say you were coming? Wed have got something warm for supper.

At this, Master Bates roared again, so loud that Fagin himself relaxed, and even the Dodger smiled but as the Artful drew forth the five-pound note at that instant, it is doubtful whether the sally or the discovery awakened his merriment.

“Hallo! whats that? inquired Sikes, stepping forward as the Jew seized the note. “Thats mine, Fagin.

“No, no, my dear, said the Jew. “Mine, Bill, mine. You shall have the books.

“If that aint mine! said Bill Sikes, putting on his hat with a determined air, “mine and Nancys, that is, Ill take the boy back again.

The Jew started. Oliver started too, though from a very different cause for he hoped that the dispute might really end in his being taken back.

“Come! Hand over, will you? said Sikes.

“This is hardly fair, Bill hardly fair, is it, Nancy? inquired the Jew.

“Fair, or not fair, retorted Sikes, “hand over, I tell you! Do you think Nancy and me has got nothing else to do with our precious time but to spend it in scouting arter and kidnapping every young boy as gets grabbed through you? Give it here, you avaricious old skeleton, give it here!

With this gentle remonstrance, Mr. Sikes plucked the note from between the Jews finger and thumb, and looking the old man coolly in the face, folded it up small and tied it in his neckerchief.

“Thats for our share of the trouble, said Sikes “and not half enough, neither. You may keep the books, if youre fond of reading. If you ant, sell em.

“Theyre very pretty, said Charley Bates, who, with sundry grimaces, had been affecting to read one of the volumes in question “beautiful writing, isnt it, Oliver? At sight of the dismayed look with which Oliver regarded his tormentors, Master Bates, who was blessed with a lively sense of the ludicrous, fell into another ecstasy, more boisterous than the first.

“They belong to the old gentleman, said Oliver, wringing his hands “to the good, kind, old gentleman who took me into his house, and had me nursed when I was near dying of the fever. Oh, pray send them back send him back the books and money. Keep me here all my life long but pray, pray send them back. Hell think I stole them the old lady—all of them who were so kind to me will think I stole them. Oh, do have mercy upon me, and send them back!

With those words, which were uttered with all the energy of passionate grief, Oliver fell upon his knees at the Jews feet, and beat his hands together in perfect desperation.

“The boys right, remarked Fagin, looking covertly round, and knitting his shaggy eyebrows into a hard knot. “Youre right, Oliver, youre right they will think you have stolen em. Ha! ha! chuckled the Jew, rubbing his hands “it couldnt have happened better if we had chosen our time!

“Of course it couldnt, replied Sikes “I knowd that, directly I see him coming through Clerkenwell with the books under his arm. Its all right enough. Theyre soft-hearted psalm-singers, or they wouldnt have taken him in at all and theyll ask no questions after him, fear they should be obliged to prosecute, and so get him lagged. Hes safe enough.

Oliver had looked from one to the other, while these words were being spoken, as if he were bewildered, and could scarcely understand what passed but when Bill Sikes concluded, he jumped suddenly to his feet, and tore wildly from the room uttering shrieks for help, which made the bare old house echo to the roof.

“Keep back the dog, Bill! cried Nancy, springing before the door, and closing it, as the Jew and his two pupils darted out in pursuit. “Keep back the dog hell tear the boy to pieces.

“Serve him right! cried Sikes, struggling to disengage himself from the girls grasp. “Stand off from me, or Ill split your head against the wall.

“I dont care for that, Bill, I dont care for that, screamed the girl, struggling violently with the man “the child shant be torn down by the dog, unless you kill me first.

“Shant he! said Sikes, setting his teeth. “Ill soon do that if you dont keep off.

The housebreaker flung the girl from him to the further end of the room, just as the Jew and the two boys returned, dragging Oliver among them.

“Whats the matter here! said Fagin, looking round.

“The girls gone mad, I think, replied Sikes, savagely.

“No, she hasnt, said Nancy, pale and breathless from the scuffle “no, she hasnt, Fagin dont think it.

“Then keep quiet, will you? said the Jew, with a threatening look.

“No, I wont do that, neither, replied Nancy, speaking very loud. “Come! What do you think of that?

Mr. Fagin was sufficiently well acquainted with the manners and customs of that particular species of humanity to which Nancy belonged, to feel tolerably certain that it would be rather unsafe to prolong any conversation with her, at present. With the view of diverting the attention of the company, he turned to Oliver.

“So you wanted to get away, my dear, did you? said the Jew, taking up a jagged and knotted club which lay in a corner of the fireplace “eh?

Oliver made no reply. But he watched the Jews motions, and breathed quickly.

“Wanted to get assistance called for the police, did you? sneered the Jew, catching the boy by the arm. “Well cure you of that, my young master.

The Jew inflicted a smart blow on Olivers shoulders with the club, and was raising it for a second when the girl, rushing forward, wrested it from his hand. She flung it into the fire with a force that brought some of the glowing coals whirling out into the room.

“I wont stand by and see it done, Fagin, cried the girl. “Youve got the boy, and what more would you have?—Let him be—let him be—or I shall put that mark on some of you, that will bring me to the gallows before my time.

The girl stamped her foot violently on the floor as she vented this threat, and with her lips compressed, and her hands clenched, looked alternately at the Jew and the other robber, her face quite colourless from the passion of rage into which she had gradually worked herself.

“Why, Nancy! said the Jew, in a soothing tone, after a pause, during which he and Mr. Sikes had stared at one another in a disconcerted manner “you—youre more clever than ever tonight Ha! ha! my dear, you are acting beautifully.

“Am I! said the girl. “Take care I dont overdo it. You will be the worse for it, Fagin, if I do and so I tell you in good time to keep clear of me.

There is something about a roused woman—especially if she add to all her other strong passions, the fierce impulses of recklessness and despair—which few men like to provoke. The Jew saw that it would be hopeless to affect any further mistake regarding the reality of Miss Nancys rage and, shrinking involuntarily back a few paces, cast a glance, half imploring and half cowardly at Sikes, as if to hint that he was the fittest person to pursue the dialogue.

Mr. Sikes, thus mutely appealed to, and possibly feeling his personal pride and influence interested in the immediate reduction of Miss Nancy to reason, gave utterance to about a couple of score of curses and threats, the rapid production of which reflected great credit on the fertility of his invention. As they produced no visible effect on the object against whom they were discharged, however, he resorted to more tangible arguments.

“What do you mean by this? said Sikes, backing the inquiry with a very common imprecation concerning the most beautiful of human features, which, if it were heard above only once out of every fifty thousand times that it is uttered below, would render blindness as common a disorder as measles “what do you mean by it? Burn my body! Do you know who you are, and what you are?

“Oh, yes, I know all about it, replied the girl, laughing hysterically and shaking her head from side to side, with a poor assumption of indifference.

“Well, then, keep quiet, rejoined Sikes, with a growl like that he was accustomed to use when addressing his dog, “or Ill quiet you for a good long time to come.

The girl laughing again, even less composedly than before, and darting a hasty look at Sikes, turned her face aside and bit her lip till the blood came.

“Youre a nice one, added Sikes, as he surveyed her with a contemptuous air, “to take up the humane and gen—teel side! A pretty subject for the child, as you call him, to make a friend of!

“God Almighty help me, I am! cried the girl passionately “and I wish I had been struck dead in the street, or had changed places with them we passed so near tonight, before I had lent a hand in bringing him here. Hes a thief, a liar, a devil, all thats bad, from this night forth. Isnt that enough for the old wretch, without blows?

“Come, come, Sikes, said the Jew, appealing to him in a remonstratory tone, and motioning towards the boys, who were eagerly attentive to all that passed “we must have civil words civil words, Bill.

“Civil words! cried the girl, whose passion was frightful to see. “Civil words, you villain! Yes, you deserve em from me. I thieved for you when I was a child not half as old as this! pointing to Oliver. “I have been in the same trade, and in the same service, for twelve years since. Dont you know it? Speak out! Dont you know it?

“Well, well, replied the Jew, with an attempt at pacification “and, if you have, its your living!

“Aye, it is! returned the girl, not speaking, but pouring out the words in one continuous and vehement scream. “It is my living and the cold, wet, dirty streets are my home and youre the wretch that drove me to them long ago, and that ll keep me there, day and night, day and night, till I die!

“I shall do you a mischief! interposed the Jew, goaded by these reproaches “a mischief worse than that, if you say much more!

The girl said nothing more but, tearing her hair and dress in a transport of passion, made such a rush at the Jew as would probably have left signal marks of her revenge upon him, had not her wrists been seized by Sikes at the right moment upon which, she made a few ineffectual struggles, and fainted.

“Shes all right now, said Sikes, laying her down in a corner. “Shes uncommon strong in the arms, when shes up in this way.

The Jew wiped his forehead and smiled, as if it were a relief to have the disturbance over, but neither he, nor Sikes, nor the dog, nor the boys, seemed to consider it in any other light than a common occurrence incidental to business.

“Its the worst of having to do with women, said the Jew, replacing his club, “but theyre clever, and we cant get on, in our line, without em. Charley, show Oliver to bed.

“I suppose hed better not wear his best clothes tomorrow, Fagin, had he? inquired Charley Bates.

“Certainly not, replied the Jew, reciprocating the grin with which Charley put the question.

Master Bates, apparently much delighted with his commission, took the cleft stick and led Oliver into an adjacent kitchen, where there were two or three of the beds on which he had slept before and here, with many uncontrollable bursts of laughter, he produced the identical old suit of clothes which Oliver had so much congratulated himself upon leaving off at Mr. Brownlows, and the accidental display of which to Fagin, by the Jew who purchased them, had been the very first clue received of his whereabout.

“Pull off the smart ones, said Charley, “and Ill give em to Fagin to take care of. What fun it is!

Poor Oliver unwillingly complied. Master Bates, rolling up the new clothes under his arm, departed from the room, leaving Oliver in the dark and locking the door behind him.

The noise of Charleys laughter, and the voice of Miss Betsy, who opportunely arrived to throw water over her friend and perform other feminine offices for the promotion of her recovery, might have kept many people awake under more happy circumstances than those in which Oliver was placed. But he was sick and weary and he soon fell sound asleep.