there the matter will rest; there must be circumstances in Oliver’slittle history which it would be painful to drag before the publiceye, and if the truth is once elicited, they shall go scot-free.”“And if it is not?” suggested the girl.“Then,” pursued the gentleman, “this Fagin shall not bebrought to justice without your consent. In such a case I couldshow you reasons, I think, which would induce you to yield it.”“Have I the lady’s promise for that?” asked the girl.“You have,” replied Rose. “My true and faithful pledge.”“Monks would never learn how you know what you do?” saidthe girl, after a short pause.“Never,” replied the gentleman. “The intelligence should be sobrought to bear upon him, that he could never even guess.”“I have been a liar, and among liars from a little child,” said thegirl, after another interval of silence, “but I will take your words.”After receiving an assurance from both, that she might safely doso, she proceeded in a voice so low that it was often difficult for thelistener to discover even the import of what she said, to describe,by name and situation, the public-house whence she had beenfollowed that night. From the manner in which she occasionallypaused, it appeared as if the gentleman were making some hastynotes of the information she communicated. When she hadthoroughly explained the localities of the place, the best positionfrom which to watch it without exciting observation, and the nightand hour on which Monks was most in the habit of frequenting it,she seemed to consider for a few moments, for the purpose ofrecalling his features and appearance more forcibly to herrecollection.“He is tall,” said the girl, “and a strongly-made man, but notCharles Dickens ElecBook ClassicsOliver Twist 496stout; he has a lurking walk; and as he walks, constantly looks overhis shoulder, first on one side, and then on the other. Don’t forgetthat, for his eyes are sunk in his head so much deeper than anyother man’s, that you might almost tell him by that alone. His faceis dark, like his hair and eyes; and, although he can’t be more thansix or eight-and-twenty, withered and haggard. His lips are oftendiscoloured and disfigured with the marks of teeth; for he hasdesperate fits, and sometimes even bites his hands and coversthem with wounds.—Why did you start?” said the girl, stoppingsuddenly.The gentleman replied, in a hurried manner, that he was notconscious of having done so, and begged her to proceed.“Part of this,” said the girl, “I’ve drawn out from other people atthe house I tell you of, for I have only seen him twice, and bothtimes he was covered up in a large cloak. I think that’s all I cangive you to know him by. Stay, though,” she added. “Upon histhroat, so high that you can see a part of it below his neckerchiefwhen he turns his face, there is—”“A broad red mark, like a burn or scald?” cried the gentleman.“How’s this?” said the girl. “You know him!”The young lady uttered a cry of surprise, and for a fewmoments they were so still that the listener could distinctly hearthem breathe.“I think I do,” said the gentleman, breaking silence. “I shouldby your description. We shall see. Many people are singularly likeeach other. It may not be the same.”As he expressed himself to this effect, with assumedcarelessness, he took a step or two nearer the concealed spy, asthe latter could tell from the distinctness with which he heard himCharles Dickens ElecBook ClassicsOliver Twist 497mutter, “It must be he!”“Now,” he said, returning, so it seemed by the sound, to thespot where he had stood before, “you have given us most valuableassistance, young woman, and I wish you to be the better for it.What can I do to serve you?”“Nothing,” replied Nancy.“You will not persist in saying that,” rejoined the gentleman,with a voice and emphasis of kindness that might have touched amuch harder and more obdurate heart. “Think now. Tell me.”“Nothing, sir,” rejoined the girl, weeping. “You can do nothingto help me. I am past all hope, indeed.”“You put yourself beyond its pale,” said the gentleman. “Thepast has been a dreary waste with you, of youthful energiesmisspent, and such priceless treasures lavished, as the Creatorbestows but once and never grants again; but, for the future, youmay hope. I do not say that it is in our power to offer you peace ofheart and mind, for that must come as you seek it; but a quietasylum, either in England, or, if you fear to remain here, in someforeign country, it is not only within the compass of our ability butour most anxious wish to secure you. Before the dawn of morning,before this river wakes to the first glimpse of daylight, you shall beplaced as entirely beyond the reach of your former associates, andleave as utter an absence of all trace behind you, as if you were todisappear from the earth this moment. Come! I would not haveyou go back to exchange one word with any old companion or takeone look at any old haunt, or breathe the very air which ispestilence and death to you. Quit them all, while there is time andopportunity!”“She will be persuaded now,” cried the young lady. “SheCharles Dickens ElecBook ClassicsOliver Twist 498hesitates, I am sure.”“I fear not, my dear,” said the gentleman.“No, sir, I do not,” replied the girl, after a short struggle. “I amchained to my old life. I loathe and hate it now, but I cannot leaveit. I must have gone too far to turn back—and yet I don’t know, forif you had spoken to me so, some time ago, I should have laughedit off. But,” she said, looking hastily round, “this fear comes overme again. I must go home.”“Home!” repeated the young lady, with great stress upon theword.“Home, lady,” rejoined the girl. “To such a home as I haveraised for myself with the work of my whole life. Let us part. I shallbe watched or seen. Go! Go! If I have done you any service, all Iask is, that you leave me, and let me go my way alone.”“It is useless,” said the gentleman, with a sigh. “Wecompromise her safety, perhaps, by staying here. We may havedetained her longer than she expected already.”“Yes, yes,” urged the girl. “You have.”“What,” cried the young lady, “can be the end of this poorcreature’s life!”“What!” repeated the girl. “Look before you, lady. Look at thatdark water. How many times do you read of such as I who springinto the tide, and leave no living thing, to care for, or bewail them.It may be years hence, or it may be only months, but I shall cometo that at last.”“Do not speak thus, pray,” returned the young lady, sobbing.“It will never reach your ears, dear lady, and God forbid suchhorrors should!” replied the girl. “Good-night, good-night!”The gentleman turned away.Charles Dickens ElecBook ClassicsOliver Twist 499“This purse,” cried the young lady. “Take it for my sake, thatyou may have some resource in an hour of need and trouble.”“No!” replied the girl. “I have not done this for money. Let mehave that to think of. And yet—give me something that you haveworn—I should like to have something—no, no, not a ring—yourgloves or handkerchief—anything that I can keep, as havingbelonged to you, sweet lady. There. Bless you! God bless you.Good-night, good-night!”The violent agitation of the girl, and the apprehension of somediscovery which would subject her to ill-usage and violence,seemed to determine the gentleman to leave her, as she requested.The sound of retreating footsteps were audible and the voicesceased.The two figures of the young lady and her companion soonafterwards appeared upon the bridge. They stopped at the summitof the stairs.“Hark!” cried the young lady, listening. “Did she call! thought Iheard her voice.”“No, my love,” replied Mr. Brownlow, looking sadly back. “Shehas not moved, and will not till we are gone.”Rose Maylie lingered, but the old gentleman drew her armthrough his, and led her, with gentle force, away. As theydisappeared, the girl sank down nearly at her full length upon oneof the stone stairs, and vented the anguish of her heart in bittertears.After a time she arose, and, with feeble and tottering steps,ascended to the street. The astonished listener remainedmotionless on his post for some minutes afterwards, and havingascertained, with many cautious glances round him, that he wasCharles Dickens ElecBook ClassicsOliver Twist 500again alone, crept slowly from his hiding-place, and returned,stealthily and in the shade of the wall, in the same manner as hehad descended.Peeping out, more than once, when he reached the top, to makesure that he was unobserved, Noah Claypole darted away at hisutmost speed, and made for the Jew’s house as fast as his legswould carry him.Charles Dickens ElecBook ClassicsOliver Twist 501Chapter 47Fatal Consequences.It was nearly two hours before daybreak; that time which inthe autumn of the year may be truly called the dead of night;when the streets are silent and deserted; when even soundsappear to slumber, and profligacy and riot have staggered home todream; it was at this still and silent hour, that Fagin sat watchingin his old lair, with face so distorted and pale, and eyes so red andbloodshot, that he looked less like a man, than like some hideousphantom, moist from the grave, and worried by an evil spirit.He sat crouching over a cold hearth; wrapped in an old torncoverlet, with his face turned towards a wasting candle that stoodupon a table by his side. His right hand was raised to his lips, andas, absorbed in thought, he bit his long black nails, he disclosedamong his toothless gums a few such fangs as should have been adog’s or rat’s.Stretched upon a mattress on the floor, lay Noah Claypole, fastasleep. Towards him the old man sometimes directed his eyes foran instant, and then brought them back again to the candle; whichwas a long-burnt wick drooping almost double, and hot greasefalling down in clots upon the table, plainly showed that histhoughts were busy elsewhere.Indeed they were. Mortification at the overthrow of his notablescheme; hatred of the girl who had dared to palter with strangers;an utter distrust of the sincerity of her refusal to yield him up;bitter disappointment at the loss of his revenge on Sikes; the fearCharles Dickens ElecBook ClassicsOliver Twist 502of detection, and ruin, and death; and a fierce and deadly ragekindled by all; these were the passionate considerations which,following close upon each other with rapid and ceaseless whirl,shot through the brain of Fagin, as every evil thought and blackestpurpose lay working at his heart.He sat without changing his attitude in the least, or appearingto take the smallest heed of time, until his quick ear seemed to beattracted by a footstep in the street.“At last,” he muttered, wiping his dry and fevered mouth. “Atlast!”The bell rang gently as he spoke. He crept upstairs to the door,and presently returned accompanied by a man muffled to thechin, who carried a bundle under one arm. Sitting down andthrowing back his outer coat, the man displayed the burly frame ofSikes.“There!” he said, laying the bundle on the table. “Take care ofthat, and do the most you can with it. It’s been trouble enough toget: I thought I should have been here three hours ago.”Fagin laid his hand upon the bundle, and locking it in thecupboard, sat down again without speaking. But he did not takehis eyes off the robber, for an instant, during this action; and nowthat they sat over against each other, face to face, he looked fixedlyat him, with his lips quivering so violently, and his face so alteredby the emotions which had mastered him, that the housebreakerinvoluntarily drew back his chair, and surveyed him with a look ofreal affright.“Wot now?” cried Sikes. “Wot do you look at a man so for?”Fagin raised his right hand, and shook his trembling forefingerin the air; but his passion was so great, that the power of speechCharles Dickens ElecBook ClassicsOliver Twist 503was for the moment gone.“Damme!” said Sikes, feeling in his breast with a look of alarm.“He’s gone mad. I must look to myself here.”“No, no,” rejoined Fagin, finding his voice. “It’s not—You’re notthe person, Bill. I’ve no—no fault to find with you.”“Oh, you haven’t, haven’t you?” said Sikes, looking sternly athim, and ostentatiously passing a pistol into a more convenientpocket. “That’s lucky—for one of us. Which one that is, don’tmatter.”“I’ve got that to tell you, Bill,” said Fagin, drawing his chairnearer, “will make you worse than me.”“Aye?” returned the robber, with an incredulous air. “Tellaway! Look sharp, or Nance will think I’m lost.”“Lost!” cried Fagin. “She has pretty well settled that, in herown mind, already.”Sikes looked with an aspect of great perplexity into the Jew’sface, and reading no satisfactory explanation of the riddle there,clenched his coat collar in his huge hand and shook him soundly.“Speak, will you!” he said; “or if you won’t, it shall be for wantof breath. Open your mouth and say wot you’ve got to say in plainwords Out with it, you thundering old cur, out with it!”“Suppose that lad that’s lying there—” Fagin began.Sikes turned round to where Noah was sleeping, as if he hadnot previously observed him. “Well?” he said, resuming his formerposition.“Suppose that lad,” pursued Fagin, “was to peach—to blowupon us all—first seeking out the right folks for the purpose, andthen having a meeting with ’em in the street to paint ourlikenesses, describe every mark that they might know us by, andCharles Dickens ElecBook ClassicsOliver Twist 504the crib where we might be most easily taken. Suppose he was todo all this, and besides to blow upon a plant we’ve all been in,more or less—of his own fancy; not grabbed, trapped, tried, ear-wigged by the parson and brought to it on bread and water—butof his own fancy; to please his own taste; stealing out at nights tofind those most interested against us, and peaching to them. Doyou hear me?” cried the Jew, his eyes flashing with rage.“Suppose he did all this, what then?”“What then!” replied Sikes, with a tremendous oath. “If he wasleft alive till I came, I’d grind his skull under the iron heel of myboot into as many grains as there are hairs upon his head.”“What if I did it!” cried Fagin, almost in a yell. “I, that know somuch, and could hang so many besides myself!”“I don’t know,” replied Sikes, clenching his teeth, and turningwhite at the mere suggestion. “I’d do something in the jail that ’udget me put in irons; and if I was tried along with you, I’d fall uponyou with them in the open court, and beat your brains out aforethe people. I should have such strength,” muttered the robber,poising his brawny arm, “that I could smash your head as if aloaded wagon had gone over it.”“You would?”“Would I!” said the housebreaker. “Try me.”“If it was Charley, or the Dodger, or Bet, or—”“I don’t care who,” replied Sikes impatiently. “Whoever it was,I’d serve them the same.”Fagin looked hard at the robber; and, motioning him to besilent, stooped over the bed upon the floor, and shook the sleeperto rouse him. Sikes leaned forward in his chair, looking on with hishands upon his knees, as if wondering much what all thisCharles Dickens ElecBook ClassicsOliver Twist 505questioning and preparation was to end in.