“He!” exclaimed Sikes.“Have him, Bill!” said Nancy. “I would, if I was in your place.He mayn’t be so much up, as any of the others; but that’s not whatyou ,want, if he’s only to open a door for you. Depend upon it, he’sa safe one, Bill.”“I know he is,” rejoined Fagin. “He’s been in good trainingthese last few weeks, and it’s time he began to work for his bread.Besides, the others are all too big.”“Well, he is just the size I want,” said Mr. Sikes, ruminating.“And will do everything you want, Bill, my dear,” interposedthe Jew; “he can’t help himself. That is, if you frighten himenough.”“Frighten him!” echoed Sikes. “It’ll be no sham frightening,mind you. If there’s anything queer about him when we once getinto the work, in for a penny, in for a pound. You won’t see himalive again, Fagin. Think of that, before you send him. Mark mywords!” said the robber, poising a crowbar, which he had drawnfrom under the bedstead.“I’ve thought of it all,” said the Jew, with energy. “I’ve—I’vehad my eye upon him, my dears, close—close. Once let him feelthat he is one of us; once fill his mind with the idea that he hasbeen a thief; and he’s ours! Ours for his life! Oho! It couldn’t havecome about better!” The old man crossed his arms upon hisbreast; and, drawing his head and shoulders into a heap, literallyhugged himself for joy.“Ours!” said Sikes. “Yours, you mean.”“Perhaps I do, my dear,” said the Jew, with a shrill chuckle.“Mine, if you like, Bill.”“And wot,” said Sikes, scowling fiercely on his agreeable friend,Charles Dickens ElecBook ClassicsOliver Twist 204“wot makes you take so much pains about one chalk-faced kid,when you know there are fifty boys snoozing about CommonGarden every night, as you might pick and choose from?”“Because they’re of no use to me, my dear,” replied the Jew,with some confusion, a not worth the taking. Their looks convict’em when they get into trouble, and I lose ’em all. With this boy,properly managed, my dears, I could do what I couldn’t withtwenty of them. Besides,” said the Jew, recovering his self-possession, “he has us now if he could only give us leg-bail again;and he must be in the same boat with us. Never mind how he camethere; it’s quite enough for my power over him that he was in arobbery; that’s all I want. Now, how much better this is, than beingobliged to put the poor leetle boy out of the way—which would bedangerous, and we should lose by it besides.”“When is it to be done?” asked Nancy, stopping some turbulentexclamation on the part of Mr. Sikes, expressive of the disgustwith which he received Fagin’s affectation of humanity.“Ah, to be sure,” said the Jew; “when is it to be done, Bill?”“I planned with Toby, the night arter tomorrow,” rejoinedSikes, in a surly voice, “if he heerd nothing from me to thecontrairy.”“Good,” said the Jew; “there’s no moon.”“No,” rejoined Sikes.“It’s all arranged, about bringing off the swag, is it?” asked theJew.Sikes nodded.“And about—”“Oh, ah, it’s all planned,” rejoined Sikes, interrupting him.“Never mind particulars. You’d better bring the boy hereCharles Dickens ElecBook ClassicsOliver Twist 205tomorrow night. I shall get off the stones an hour arter daybreak.Then you hold your tongue, and keep the melting-pot ready, andthat’s all you’ll have to do.”After some discussion, in which all three took an active part, itwas decided that Nancy should repair to the Jew’s next eveningwhen the night had set in, and bring Oliver away with her; Fagincraftily observing, that, if he evinced any disinclination to the task,he would be more willing to accompany the girl who had sorecently interfered in his behalf, than anybody else. It was alsosolemnly arranged that poor Oliver should, for the purposes (If thecontemplated expedition, be unreservedly consigned to the careand custody of Mr. William Sikes; and further, that the said Sikesshould deal with him as he thought fit; and should not be heldresponsible by the Jew for any mischance or evil that might befallhim, or any punishment with which it might be necessary to visithim; it being understood that, to render the compact in thisrespect binding, any representations made by Mr. Sikes on hisreturn should be required to be confirmed and corroborated, in allimportant particulars, by the testimony of flash Toby Crackit.These preliminaries adjusted, Mr. Sikes proceeded to drinkbrandy at a furious rate, and to flourish the crowbar in analarming manner; yelling forth, at the same time, most unmusicalsnatches of song, mingled with wild execrations. At length, in a fitof professional enthusiasm, he insisted upon producing his box ofhousebreaking tools; which he had no sooner stumbled in with,and opened for the purpose of explaining the nature andproperties of the various implements it contained, and the peculiarbeauties of their construction, than he fell over the box upon thefloor, and went to sleep where he fell.Charles Dickens ElecBook ClassicsOliver Twist 206“Good-night, Nancy,” said the Jew muffling himself up asbefore.“Good-night.”Their eyes met, and the Jew scrutinised her narrowly. Therewas no flinching about the girl. She was as true and earnest in thematter as Toby Crackit himself could be.The Jew again bade her good-night, and bestowing a sly kickupon the prostrate form of Mr. Sikes while her back was turned,groped downstairs.“Always the way!” muttered the Jew to himself as he turnedhomeward. “The worst of these women is, that a very little thingserves to call up some long-forgotten feeling; and the best of themis, that it never lasts. Ha! ha! The man against the child, for a bagof gold!”Beguiling the time with these pleasant reflections, Mr. Faginwended his way, through mud and mire, to his gloomy abode,where the Dodger was sitting up, impatiently awaiting his return.“Is Oliver a-bed? I want to speak to him,” was his first remarkas they descended the stairs.“Hours ago,” replied the Dodger, throwing open a door. “Herehe is!”The boy was lying, fast asleep, on a rude bed upon the floor; sopale with anxiety, and sadness, and the closeness of his prison,that he looked like death; not death as it shows in shroud andcoffin, but in the guise it wears when life has just departed; when ayoung and gentle spirit has, but an instant, fled to heaven, and thegross air of the world has not had time to breathe upon thechanging dust it hallowed.“Not now,” said the Jew, turning softly away. “Tomorrow.Charles Dickens ElecBook ClassicsOliver Twist 207Tomorrow.”Charles Dickens ElecBook ClassicsOliver Twist 208Chapter 20Wherein Oliver Is Delivered Over To Mr. WilliamSikes.When Oliver awoke in the morning, he was a good dealsurprised to find that a new pair of shoes, with strong,thick soles, had been placed at his bedside, and that hisold shoes had been removed. At first, he was pleased with thediscovery, hoping that it might be the forerunner of his release;but such thoughts were quickly dispelled, on his sitting down tobreakfast along with the Jew, who told him, in a tone and mannerwhich increased his alarm, that he was to be taken to theresidence of Bill Sikes that night.“To—to—stop there, sir?” asked Oliver anxiously.“No, no, my dear. Not to stop there,” replied the Jew. “Weshouldn’t like to lose you. Don’t be afraid, Oliver, you shall comeback to us again. Ha! ha! ha! We won’t be so cruel as to send youaway, my dear. Oh, no no!”The old man, who was stooping over the fire toasting a piece ofbread, looked round as he bantered Oliver thus; and chuckled as ifto show that he knew he would still be very glad to get away if hecould.“I suppose,” said the Jew, fixing his eyes on Oliver, “you wantto know what you’re going to Bill’s for—eh, my dear?”Oliver coloured, involuntarily, to find that the old thief hadbeen reading his thoughts; but boldly said, Yes, he did want toknow.Charles Dickens ElecBook ClassicsOliver Twist 209“Why, do you think?” inquired Fagin, parrying the question.“Indeed I don’t know, sir,” replied Oliver.“Bah!” said the Jew, turning away with a disappointedcountenance from a close perusal of the boy’s face. “Wait till Billtells you, then.”The Jew seemed much vexed by Oliver’s not expressing anygreater curiosity on the subject; but the truth is, that, althoughOliver felt very anxious, he was too much confused by the earnestcunning of Fagin’s looks, and his own speculations, to make anyfurther inquiries just then. He had no other opportunity, for theJew remained very surly and silent till night, when he prepared togo abroad.“You may burn a candle,” said the Jew, putting one upon thetable. “And here’s a book for you to read, till they come to fetchyou. Good-night!”“Good-night!” replied Oliver softly.The Jew walked to the door, looking over his shoulder at theboy as he went. Suddenly stopping, he called him by his name.Oliver looked up; the Jew, pointing to the candle, motioned himto light it. He did so; and, as he placed the candlestick upon thetable, saw that the Jew was gazing fixedly at him, with loweringand contracted brows, from the dark end of the room.“Take heed, Oliver! take heed!” said the old man, shaking hisright hand before him in a warning manner. “He’s a rough man,and thinks nothing of blood when his Own is up. Whatever fallsout, say nothing; and do what he bids you. Mind!” Placing a strongemphasis on the last word, he suffered his features gradually toresolve themselves into a ghastly grin, and, nodding his head, leftthe room.Charles Dickens ElecBook ClassicsOliver Twist 210Oliver leaned his head upon his hand when the old mandisappeared, and pondered, with a trembling heart, on the wordshe had just heard. The more he thought of the Jew’s admonition,the more he was at a loss to divine its real purpose and meaning.He could think of no bad object to be attained by sending him toSikes, which would not be equally well answered by his remainingwith Fagin; and after meditating for a long time, concluded that hehad been selected to perform some ordinary menial offices for thehousebreaker, until another boy, better suited for his purpose,could be engaged. He was too well accustomed to suffering, andhad suffered too much where he was, to bewail the prospect ofchange very severely. He remained lost in thought for someminutes; and then, with a heavy sigh, snuffed the candle, and,taking up the book which the Jew had left with him, began to read.He turned over the leaves carelessly at first; but, lighting on apassage which attracted his attention he soon became intent uponthe volume. It was a history of the lives and trials of greatcriminals; and the pages were soiled and thumbed with use. Here,he read of dreadful crimes that made the blood run cold; of secretmurders that had been committed by the lonely wayside; of bodieshidden from the eye of man in deep pits and wells: which wouldnot keep them down, deep as they were, but had yielded them upat last, after many years, and so maddened the murderers with thesight, that in their horror they had confessed their guilt, and yelledfor the gibbet to end their agony. Here, too, he read of men who,lying in their beds at dead of night, had been tempted (as theysaid) and led on, by their own bad thoughts, to such dreadfulbloodshed as it made the flesh creep, and the limbs quail, to thinkof. The terrible descriptions were so real and vivid, that the sallowCharles Dickens ElecBook ClassicsOliver Twist 211pages seemed to turn red with gore; and the words upon them, tobe sounded in his ears, as if they were whispered, in hollowmurmurs, by the spirits of the dead.In a paroxysm of fear, the boy closed the book, and thrust itfrom him. Then, falling upon his knees, he prayed Heaven to sparehim from such deeds; and rather to will that he should die at once,than be reserved for crimes so fearful and appalling. By degrees,he grew more calm, and besought in a low and broken voice, thathe might be rescued from his present dangers; and that if any aidwere to’ be raised up for a poor, outcast boy, who had neverknown the love of friends or kindred, it might come to him now,when, desolate and deserted, he stood alone in the midst ofwickedness and guilt.He had concluded his prayer, but still remained with his headburied in his hands, when a rustling noise aroused him.“What’s that?” he cried, starting up, and catching sight of afigure standing by the door. “Who’s there?”“Me. Only me,” replied a tremulous voice.Oliver raised the candle above his head, and looked towards thedoor. It was Nancy.“Put down the light,” said the girl, turning away her head; “ithurts my eyes.”Oliver saw that she was very pale, and gently inquired if shewere ill. The girl threw herself into a chair, with her back towardshim, and wrung her hands; but made no reply.“God forgive me!” she cried, after a while; “I never thought ofthis.”“Has anything happened?” asked Oliver. “Can I help you? I willif I can. I will, indeed.Charles Dickens ElecBook ClassicsOliver Twist 212She rocked herself to and fro; caught her throat; and, uttering agurgling sound, gasped for breath.“Nancy!” cried Oliver, “what is it?”The girl beat her hands upon her knees, and her feet upon theground; and, suddenly stopping, drew her shawl close round her,and shivered with cold.Oliver stirred the fire. Drawing her chair close to it, she satthere, for a little time, without speaking; but at length she raisedher head, and looked round.“I don’t know what comes over me sometimes,” said she,affecting to busy herself in arranging her dress; “it’s this damp,dirty room, I think. Now, Nolly, dear, are you ready?”“Am I to go with you?” asked Oliver.“Yes; I have come from Bill,” replied the girl. “You are to gowith me.”“What for?” asked Oliver, recoiling.“What for?” echoed the girl, raising her eyes, and averting themagain, the moment they encountered the boy’s face. “Oh! For noharm.”“I don’t believe it,” said Oliver, who had watched her closely.“Have it your own way,” rejoined the girl, affecting to laugh.“For no good, then.”Oliver could see that he had some power over the girl’s betterfeelings, and, for an instant, thought of appealing to hercompassion for his helpless state. But, then, the thought dartedacross his mind that it was barely eleven o’clock; and that manypeople were still in the streets, of whom surely some might befound to give credence to his tale. As the reflection occurred tohim, he stepped forward; and said, somewhat hastily, that he wasCharles Dickens ElecBook ClassicsOliver Twist 213ready.Neither his brief consideration, nor its purport, was lost on hiscompanion. She eyed him narrowly, while he spoke and cast uponhim a look of intelligence which sufficiently showed that sheguessed what had been passing in his thoughts.“Hush!” said the girl, stooping over him, and pointing to thedoor as she looked cautiously round. “You can’t help yourself. Ihave tried hard for you, but all to no purpose. You are hedgedround and round. If ever you are to get loose from here, this is notthe time.”Struck by the energy of her manner, Oliver looked up in her