فصل 26

CHAPTER XXVI

In which a mysterious character appears upon the scene and many things, inseparable from this history, are done and performed.

THE OLD MAN HAD GAINED THE STREET CORNER BEFORE HE began to recover the effect of Toby Crackits intelligence. He had relaxed nothing of his unusual speed, but was still pressing onward, in the same wild and disordered manner, when the sudden dashing past of a carriage, and a boisterous cry from the foot passengers who saw his danger, drove him back upon the pavement. Avoiding, as much as possible all the main streets, and skulking only through the by-ways and alleys, he at length emerged on Snow Hill. Here he walked even faster than before nor did he linger until he had again turned into a court, when, as if conscious that he was now in his proper element, he fell into his usual shuffling pace and seemed to breathe more freely.

Near to the spot on which Snow Hill and Holborn Hill meet, there opens, upon the right hand as you come out of the City, a narrow and dismal alley leading to Saffron Hill. In its filthy shops are exposed for sale huge bunches of second-hand silk handkerchiefs of all sizes and patterns for here reside the traders who purchase them from pickpockets. Hundreds of these handkerchiefs hang dangling from pegs outside the windows or flaunting from the door-posts and the shelves, within, are piled with them. Confined as the limits of Field Lane are, it has its barber, its coffee-shop, its beer-shop, and its fried-fish warehouse. It is a commercial colony of itself, the emporium of petty larceny, visited at early morning, and setting-in of dusk, by silent merchants who traffic in dark back-parlours and who go as strangely as they come. Here the clothesman, the shoe-vamper, and the rag-merchant display their goods, as signboards to the petty thief there, stores of old iron and bones, and heaps of mildewy fragments of woollen-stuff and linen, rust and rot in the grimy cellars.

It was into this place that the Jew turned. He was well known to the sallow denizens of the lane for such of them as were on the look-out to buy or sell, nodded familiarly as he passed along. He replied to their salutations in the same way but bestowed no closer recognition until he reached the further end of the alley, when he stopped to address a salesman of small stature, who had squeezed as much of his person into a childs chair as the chair would hold, and was smoking a pipe at his warehouse door.

“Why, the sight of you, Mr. Fagin, would cure the hop talmy! said this respectable trader, in acknowledgment of the Jews inquiry after his health.

“The neighbourhood was a little too hot, Lively, said Fagin, elevating his eyebrows, and crossing his hands upon his shoulders.

“Well, Ive heerd that complaint of it, once or twice before, replied the trader “but it soon cools down again dont you find it so?

Fagin nodded in the affirmative. Pointing in the direction of Saffron Hill, he inquired whether any one was up yonder to night.

“At the Cripples? inquired the man.

The Jew nodded.

“Let me see, pursued the merchant, reflecting. “Yes, theres some half-dozen of em gone in, that I knows. I dont think your friends there.

“Sikes is not, I suppose? inquired the Jew, with a disappointed countenance.

“Non istwentus, as the lawyers say, replied the little man, shaking his head, and looking, amazingly sly. “Have you got anything in my line to-night?

“Nothing to-night, said the Jew, turuing away.

“Are you going up to the Cripples, Fagin? cried the little man, calling after him. “Stop! I dont mind if I have a drop there with you!

But as the Jew, looking back, waved his hand to intimate that he preferred being alone, and, moreover, as the little man could not very easily disengage himself from the chair, the sign of the Cripples was, for a time, bereft of the advantage of Mr. Livelys presence. By the time he had got upon his legs, the Jew had disappeared so Mr. Lively, after ineffectually standing on tiptoe in the hope of catching sight of him, again forced himself into the little chair and, exchanging a shake of the head with a lady in the opposite shop, in which doubt and mistrust were plainly mingled, resumed his pipe with a grave demeanour.

The Three Cripples, or rather the Cripples, which was the sign by which the establishment was familiarly known to its patrons, was the public-house in which Mr. Sikes and his dog have already figured. Merely making a sign to a man at the bar, Fagin walked straight upstairs, and opening the door of a room, and softly insinuating himself into the chamber, looked anxiously about, shading his eyes with his hand as if in search of some particular person.

The room was illuminated by two gaslights, the glare of which was prevented by the barred shutters, and closely drawn curtains of faded red, from being visible outside. The ceiling was blackened, to prevent its colour from being injured by the flaring of the lamps and the place was so full of dense tobacco smoke that at first it was scarcely possible to discern anything more. By degrees, however, as some of it cleared away through the open door, an assemblage of heads, as confused as the noises that greeted the ear, might be made out and as the eye grew more accustomed to the scene, the spectator gradually became aware of the presence of a numerous company, male and female, crowded round a long table, at the upper end of which sat a chairman with a hammer of office in his hand, while a professional gentleman, with a bluish nose, and his face tied up for the benefit of a toothache, presided at a jingling piano in a remote corner.

As Fagin stepped softly in, the professional gentleman, running over the keys by way of prelude, occasioned a general cry of order for a song, which, having subsided, a young lady proceeded to entertain the company with a ballad in four verses, between each of which the accompanyist played the melody all through, as loud as he could. When this was over, the chairman gave a sentiment, after which the professional gentlemen on the chairmans right and left volunteered a duet, and sang it, with great applause.

It was curious to observe some faces which stood out prominently from among the group. There was the chairman himself the landlord of the house, a coarse, rough, heavy-built fellow, who, while the songs were proceeding, rolled his eyes hither and thither and, seeming to give himself up to joviality, had an eye for everything that was done and an ear for everything that was said—and sharp ones, too. Near him were the singers, receiving, with professional indifference, the compliments of the company, and applying themselves in turn to a dozen proffered glasses of spirits and water tendered by their more boisterous admirers, whose countenances, expressive of almost every vice in almost every grade, irresistibly attracted the attention by their very repulsiveness. Cunning, ferocity, and drunkenness in all its stages, were there, in their strongest aspects and women—some with the last lingering tinge of their early freshness almost fading as you looked others with every mark and stamp of their sex utterly beaten out, and pre -seating but one loathsome blank of profligacy and crime some mere girls, others but young women, and none past the prime of life—formed the darkest and saddest portion of this dreary picture.

Fagin, troubled by no grave emotions, looked eagerly from face to face while these proceedings were in progress, but apparently without meeting that of which he was in search. Succeeding, at length, in catching the eye of the man who occupied the chair, he beckoned to him slightly and left the room as quietly as he had entered it.

“What can I do for you, Mr. Fagin? inquired the man, as he followed him out to the landing. “Wont you join us? Theyll be delighted, every one ofem.

The Jew shook his head impatiently, and said in a whisper, “Is he here?

“No, replied the man.

“And no news of Barney? inquired Fagin.

“None, replied the landlord of the Cripples, for it was he. “He wont stir till its all safe. Depend on it, theyre on the scent down there and that if he moved, hed blow upon the thing at once. Hes all right enough, Barney is, else I should have heard of him. Ill pound it that Barneys managing properly. Let him alone for that.

“Will he be here to-night? asked the Jew, laying the same emphasis on the pronoun as before.

“Monks, do you mean? inquired the landlord, hesitating.

“Hush! said the Jew. “Yes.

“Certain, replied the man, drawing a gold watch from his fob “I expected him here before now. If youll wait ten minutes, hell be—

“No, no, said the Jew hastily, as though, however desirous he might be to see the person in question, he was nevertheless relieved by his absence. “Tell him I came here to see him, and that he must come to me to-night. No, say to-morrow. As he is not here, to-morrow will be time enough.

“Good! said the man. “Nothing more?

“Not a word now, said the Jew, descending the stairs.

“I say, said the other, looking over the rails, and speaking in a hoarse whisper, “what a time this would be for a sell! Ive got Phil Barker here, so drunk that a boy might take him.

“Aha! But its not Phil Barkers time, said the Jew, looking up. “Phil has something more to do before we can afford to part with him so go back to the company, my dear, and tell them to lead merry lives—while they last. Ha! ha! ha!

The landlord reciprocated the old mans laugh, and returned to his guests. The Jew was no sooner alone than his countenance resumed its former expression of anxiety and thought. After a brief reflection he called a hack cabriolet and bade the. man drive towards Bethnal Green. He dismissed him within some quarter of a mile of Mr. Sikess residence, and performed the short remainder of the distance on foot.

“Now, muttered the Jew, as he knocked at the door, “if there is any deep play here, I shall have it out of you, my girl, cunning as you are.

She was in her room, the woman said. Fagin crept softly up stairs, and entered it without any previous ceremony. The girl was alone, lying with her head upon the table and her hair straggling over it.

“She has been drinking, thought the Jew, coolly, “or perhaps she is only miserable.

The old man turned to close the door as he made this reflection the noise thus occasioned, roused the girl. She eyed his crafty face narrowly as she inquired whether there was any news, and as she listened to his recital of Toby Crackits story. When it was concluded, she sank into her former attitude, but spoke not a word. She pushed the candle impatiently away, and once or twice as she feverishly changed her position, shuffled her feet upon the ground but this was all.

During the silence the Jew looked restlessly about the room, as if to assure himself that there were no appearances of Sikes having covertly returned. Apparently satisfied with his inspection, he coughed twice or thrice and made as many efforts to open a conversation but the girl heeded him no more than if he had been made of stone. At length he made another attempt, and rubbing his hands together, said in his most conciliatory tone

“And where should you think Bill was now, my dear?

The girl moaned out some half intelligible reply, that she could not tell, and seemed, from the smothered noise that escaped her, to be crying.

“And the boy, too, said the Jew, straining his eyes to catch a glimpse of her face. “Poor leetle child! Left in a ditch, Nance only think!

“The child, said the girl, suddenly looking up, “is better where he is, than among us and if no harm comes to Bill from it, I hope he lies dead in the ditch, and that his young bones may rot there.

“What! cried the Jew, in amazement.

“Ay, I do, returned the girl, meeting his gaze. “I shall be glad to have him away from my eyes, and to know that the worst is over. I cant bear to have him about me. The sight of him turns me against myself, and all of you.

“Pooh! cried the Jew, scornfully. “Youre drunk.

“Am I? cried the girl, bitterly. “Its no fault of yours, if I am not! Youd never have me anything else, if you had your will, except now—the humour doesnt suit you, doesnt it?

“No! rejoined the Jew, furiously. “It does. not.

“Change it, then! responded the girl, with a laugh.

“Change it! exclaimed the Jew, exasperated beyond all bounds by his companions unexpected obstinacy, and the vexation of the night “I WILL change it! Listen to me, you drab. Listen to me, who, with six words, can strangle Sikes as surely as if I had his bulls throatbetween my fingers now. If he comes back, and leaves the boy behind him—if he gets off free, and dead or alive, fails to restore him to me—murder him yourself if you would have him escape Jack Ketch. And do it the moment he sets foot in this room, or mind me, it will be too late!

“What is all this? cried the girl involuntarily.

“What is it? pursued Fagin, mad with rage. “When the boys worth hundreds of pounds to me, am I to lose what chance threw me in the way of getting safely, through the whims of a drunken gang that I could whistle away the lives of! And me bound, too, to a born devil that only wants the will, and has the power to, to—

Panting for breath, the old man stammered for a word, and in that instant checked the torrent of his wrath and changed his whole demeanour. A moment before, his clenched hands had grasped the air, his eyes had dilated, and his face grown livid with passion but now he shrunk into a chair and, cowering together, trembled with the apprehension of having himself disclosed some hidden villainy. After a short silence, he ventured to look round at his companion. He appeared somewhat reassured, on beholding her in the same listless attitude from which he had first roused her.

“Nancy, dear, croaked the Jew, in his usual voice. “Did you mind me, dear?

“Dont worry me now, Fagin! replied the girl, raising her head languidly. “If Bill has not done it this time, he will another. He has done many a good job for you, and will do many more when he can and when he cant he wont, so no more about that.

“Regarding this boy, my dear? said the Jew, rubbing the palms of his hands nervously together.

“The boy must take his chance with the rest, interrupted Nancy, hastily “and I say again, I hope he is dead, and out of harms way, and out of yours—that is, if Bill comes to no harm. And if Toby got clear off, Bills pretty sure to be safe, for Bills worth two of Toby any time.

“And about what I was saying, my dear? observed the Jew, keeping his glistening eye steadily upon her.

“You must say it all over again, if its anything you want me to do, rejoined Nancy “and if it is, you had better wait till tomorrow. You put me up for a minute but now Im stupid again.

Fagin put several other questions. all with the same drift of ascertaining whether the girl had profited by his unguarded hints but she answered them so readily, and was withal so utterly unmoved by his searching looks, that his original impression of her being more than a trifle in liquor, was confirmed. Nancy, indeed, was not exempt from a failing which was very common among the Jews female pupils, and in which, in their tenderer years, they were rather encouraged than checked. Her disordered appearance, and a wholesale perfume of Geneva which pervaded the apartment, afforded strong confirmatory evidence of the justice of the Jews supposition and when, after indulging in the temporary display of violence above described, she subsided, first into dullness, and afterwards into a compound of feelings under the influence of which she shed tears one minute, and in the next gave utterance to various exclamations of “Never say die! and divers calculations as to what might be the amount of the odds so long as a lady or gentleman was happy, Mr. Fagin, who had had considerable experience of such matters in his time, saw, with great satisfaction, that she was very far gone indeed.

Having eased his mind by this discovery, and having accomplished his twofold object of imparting to the girl what he had, that night, heard, and of ascertaining, with his own eyes, that Sikes had not returned. Mr. Fagin again turned his face homeward, leaving his young friend asleep, with her head upon the table.

It was within an hour of midnight. The weather being dark, and piercing cold, he had no great temptation to loiter. The sharp wind that scoured the streets seemed to have cleared them of passengers, as of dust and mud, for few people were abroad, and they were to all appearance hastening fast home. It blew from the right quarter for the Jew, however, and straight before it he went, trembling and shivering as every fresh gust drove him rudely on his way.

He had reached the comer of his own street, and was already fumbling in his pocket for the door-key, when a dark figure emerged from a projecting entrance which lay in deep shadow and, crossing the road, glided up to him unperceived.

“Fagin! whispered a voice close to his ear.

“Ah! said the Jew, turning quickly round, “is that—

“Yes! interrupted the stranger. “I have been lingering here these two hours. Where the devil have you been?

“On your business, my dear, replied the Jew, glancing uneasily at his companion, and slackening his pace as he spoke. “On your business all night.

“Oh, of course! said the stranger, with a sneer. “Well, and whats come of it?

“Nothing good, said the Jew.

“Nothing bad, I hope? said the stranger, stopping short, and turning a startled look on his companion.

The Jew shook his head, and was about to reply, when the stranger, interrupting him, motioned to the house, before which they had by this time arrived, remarking that he had better say what he had got to say, under cover for his blood was chilled with standing about so long, and the wind blew through him.

Fagin looked as if he could have willingly excused himself from taking home a visitor at that unseasonable hour, and, indeed, muttered something about having no fire but his companion repeating his request in a peremptory manner, he unlocked the door, and requested him to close it softly, while he got a light.

“It as dark as a grave, said the man, groping forward a few steps. “Make haste!

“Shut the door, whispered Fagin from the end of the passage. As he spoke, it closed with a loud noise.

“That wasnt my doing, said the other man, feeling his way. “The wind blew it to, or it shut of its own accord, one or the other. Look sharp with the light, or I shall knock my brains out against something in this confounded hole.

Fagin stealthily descended the kitchen stairs. After a short absence he returned with a lighted candle, and the intelligence that Toby Crackit was asleep in the back room below, and that the boys were in the front one. Beckoning the man to follow him, he led the way upstairs.

“We can say the few words weve got to say, in here, my dear, said the Jew, throwing open a door on the first floor “and as there are holes in the shutters, and we never show lights to our neighbours, well set the candle on the stairs. There!

With those words, the Jew, stooping down, placed the candle on an upper flight of stairs, exactly opposite to the room door. This done, he led the way into the apartment, which was destitute of all movables save a broken arm-chair and an old couch or sofa, without covering, which stood behind the door. Upon this piece of furniture the stranger sat himself with the air of a weary man and the Jew drawing up the arm-chair opposite, they sat face to face. It was not quite dark, the door was partially open, and the candle outside threw a feeble reflection on the opposite wall.

They conversed for some time in whispers. Though nothing of the conversation was distinguishable beyond a few disjointed words here and there, a listener might easily have perceived that Fagin appeared to be defending himself against some remarks of the stranger, and that the latter was in a state of considerable irritation. They might have been talking thus for a quarter of an hour or more when Monks—by which name the Jew had designated the strange man several times in the course of their colloquy—Said, raising his voice a little

“I tell you again, it was badly planned. Why not have kept him here among the rest, and made a sneaking, snivelling pickpocket of him at once?

“Only hear him! exclaimed the Jew, shrugging his shoulders.

“Why, do you mean to say you couldnt have done it if you had chosen? demanded Monks, sternly. “Havent you done it, with other boys, scores of times? If you had had patience for a twelvemonth, at most, couldnt you have got him convicted and sent safely out of the kingdom, perhaps for life?

“Whos turn would that have served, my dear? inquired the Jew humbly.

“Mine, replied Monks.

“But not mine, said the Jew, submissively. “He might have become of use to me. When there are two parties to a bargain, is it only reasonable that the interests of both should be consulted is it, my good friend?

“What then? demanded Monks.

“I saw it was not easy to train him to the business, replied the Jew “he was not like other boys in the same circumstances.

“Curse him, no! muttered the man, “or he would have been a thief long ago.

“I had no hold upon him to make him worse, pursued the Jew, anxiously watching the countenance of his companion. “His hand was not in. I had nothing to frighten him with, which we always must have in the beginning, or we labour in vain. What could I do? Send him out with the Dodger and Charley? We had enough of that at first, my dear I trembled for us all.

“That was not my doing, observed Monks.

“No, no, my dear! renewed the Jew. “And I dont quarrel with it now, because, if it had never happened, you might never have clapped eyes upon the boy to notice him, and so led to the discovery that it was him you were looking for. Well! I got him back for you by means of the girl and then she begins to favour him.

“Throttle the girl! said Monks, impatiently.

“Why, we cant afford to do that just now, my dear, replied the Jew, smiling “and, besides that sort of thing is not in our way or, one of these days, I might be glad to have it done. I know what these girls are, Monks, well. As soon as the boy begins to harden, shell care no more for him than for a block of wood. You want him made a thief. If he is alive, I can make him one from this time and if—if— said the Jew, drawing nearer to the other—“its not likely, mind—but if the worst comes to the worst, and he is dead—

“Its no fault of mine if he is! interposed the other man, with a look of terror, and clasping the Jews arm with trembling hands. “Mind that, Fagin! I had no hand in it. Anything but his death, I told you from the first. I wont shed blood its always found out, and haunts a man besides. If they shot him dead, I was not the cause do you hear me? Fire this infernal den! Whats that?

“What! cried the Jew, grasping the coward round the body with both arms as he sprung to his feet. “Where?

“Yonder! replied the man, glaring at the opposite wall. “The shadow! I saw the shadow of a woman, in a cloak and bonnet, pass along the wainscot like a breath!

The Jew released his hold, and they rushed tumultuously from the room. The candle, wasted by the draught, was standing where it had been placed. It showed them only the empty staircase and their own white faces. They listened intently a profound silence reigned throughout the house.

“Its your fancy, said the Jew, taking up the light and turning to his companion.

“Ill swear I saw it! replied Monks, trembling. “It was bending forward when I saw it first and when I spoke, it darted away.

The Jew glanced contemptuously at the pale face of his associate and, telling him he could follow if he pleased, ascended the stairs. They looked into all the rooms they were cold, bare, and empty. They descended into the passage, and thence into the cellars below. The green damp hung upon the low walls, the tracks of the snail and slug glistened in the light of the candle, but all was still as death.

“What do you think now? said the Jew, when they had regained the passage. “Besides ourselves, theres, not a creature in the house except Toby and the boys and theyre safe enough See here!

As a proof of the fact, the Jew drew forth two keys from his pocket, and explained that when he first went downstairs he had locked them in to prevent any intrusion on the conference.

This accumulated testimony effectually staggered Mr. Monks. His protestations had gradually become less and less vehement as they proceeded in their search without making any discovery and, now he gave vent to several very grim laughs, and confessed it could only have been his excited imagination. He declined any renewal of the conversation, however, for that night, suddenly remembering that it was past one oclock. And so the amiable couple parted.