‘He was a dear, grateful, gentle child, sir,’
retorted Mrs. Bedwin, indignantly. ’I
know what children are, sir; and have done these forty
years; and people who can’t say the same, shouldn’t
say anything about them. That’s my opinion!’
This was a hard hit at Mr. Grimwig, who was a bachelor.
As it extorted nothing from that gentleman but a
smile, the old lady tossed her head, and smoothed
down her apron preparatory to another speech, when
she was stopped by Mr. Brownlow.
‘Silence!’ said the old gentleman, feigning
an anger he was far from feeling. ’Never
let me hear the boy’s name again. I rang
to tell you that. Never. Never, on any
pretence, mind! You may leave the room, Mrs.
Bedwin. Remember! I am in earnest.’
There were sad hearts at Mr. Brownlow’s that
night.
Oliver’s heart sank within him, when he thought
of his good friends; it was well for him that he could
not know what they had heard, or it might have broken
outright.
HOW OLIVER PASSED HIS TIME IN THE IMPROVING SOCIETY
OF HIS REPUTABLE FRIENDS
About noon next day, when the Dodger and Master Bates
had gone out to pursue their customary avocations,
Mr. Fagin took the opportunity of reading Oliver a
long lecture on the crying sin of ingratitude; of
which he clearly demonstrated he had been guilty,
to no ordinary extent, in wilfully absenting himself
from the society of his anxious friends; and, still
more, in endeavouring to escape from them after so
much trouble and expense had been incurred in his
recovery. Mr. Fagin laid great stress on the fact
of his having taken Oliver in, and cherished him, when,
without his timely aid, he might have perished with
hunger; and he related the dismal and affecting history
of a young lad whom, in his philanthropy, he had succoured
under parallel circumstances, but who, proving unworthy
of his confidence and evincing a desire to communicate
with the police, had unfortunately come to be hanged
at the Old Bailey one morning. Mr. Fagin did
not seek to conceal his share in the catastrophe,
but lamented with tears in his eyes that the wrong-headed
and treacherous behaviour of the young person in question,
had rendered it necessary that he should become the
victim of certain evidence for the crown: which,
if it were not precisely true, was indispensably necessary
for the safety of him (Mr. Fagin) and a few select
friends. Mr. Fagin concluded by drawing a rather
disagreeable picture of the discomforts of hanging;
and, with great friendliness and politeness of manner,
expressed his anxious hopes that he might never be
obliged to submit Oliver Twist to that unpleasant
operation.
