He looked tired and worn, but there was the same complacent
repose upon his features that they always wore:
and through dirt, and beard, and whisker, there still
shone, unimpaired, the self-satisfied smirk of flash
Toby Crackit. Then the Jew, in an agony of impatience,
watched every morsel he put into his mouth; pacing
up and down the room, meanwhile, in irrepressible
excitement. It was all of no use. Toby
continued to eat with the utmost outward indifference,
until he could eat no more; then, ordering the Dodger
out, he closed the door, mixed a glass of spirits
and water, and composed himself for talking.
‘First and foremost, Faguey,’ said Toby.
‘Yes, yes!’ interposed the Jew, drawing
up his chair.
Mr. Crackit stopped to take a draught of spirits and
water, and to declare that the gin was excellent;
then placing his feet against the low mantelpiece,
so as to bring his boots to about the level of his
eye, he quietly resumed.
‘First and foremost, Faguey,’ said the
housebreaker, ’how’s Bill?’
‘What!’ screamed the Jew, starting from
his seat.
‘Why, you don’t mean to say—’
began Toby, turning pale.
‘Mean!’ cried the Jew, stamping furiously
on the ground. ’Where are they? Sikes
and the boy! Where are they? Where have
they been? Where are they hiding? Why
have they not been here?’
‘The crack failed,’ said Toby faintly.
‘I know it,’ replied the Jew, tearing
a newspaper from his pocket and pointing to it.
‘What more?’
’They fired and hit the boy. We cut over
the fields at the back, with him between us—straight
as the crow flies—through hedge and ditch.
They gave chase. Damme! the whole country was
awake, and the dogs upon us.’
‘The boy!’
’Bill had him on his back, and scudded like
the wind. We stopped to take him between us;
his head hung down, and he was cold. They were
close upon our heels; every man for himself, and each
from the gallows! We parted company, and left
the youngster lying in a ditch. Alive or dead,
that’s all I know about him.’
The Jew stopped to hear no more; but uttering a loud
yell, and twining his hands in his hair, rushed from
the room, and from the house.
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 Crackit’s
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 was 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.
