| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
| 1 | 133 | 265 | 398 | 530 |
|
'Justice or no justice,' said the young fellow, 'here I am and here I
shall stop till such time as I think fit to go, unless you send for
assistance to put me out - which you won't do, I know. I tell you again
that I want to see my sister.'
'
YOUR sister!' said the old man bitterly.
'Ah! You can't change the relationship,' returned the other. 'If you
could, you'd have done it long ago. I want to see my sister, that you
keep cooped up here, poisoning her mind with your sly secrets and
pretending an affection for her that you may work her to death, and
add a few scraped shillings every week to the money you can hardly
count. I want to see her; and I will.'
'
Here's a moralist to talk of poisoned minds! Here's a generous spirit
to scorn scraped-up shillings!' cried the old man, turning from him to
me. 'A profligate, sir, who has forfeited every claim not only upon
those who have the misfortune to be of his blood, but upon society
which knows nothing of him but his misdeeds. A liar too,' he added, in
a lower voice as he drew closer to me, 'who knows how dear she is to
me, and seeks to wound me even there, because there is a stranger
nearby.'
'Strangers are nothing to me, grandfather,' said the young fellow
catching at the word, 'nor I to them, I hope. The best they can do, is to
keep an eye to their business and leave me to mind. There's a friend of
mine waiting outside, and as it seems that I may have to wait some
time, I'll call him in, with your leave.'
Saying this, he stepped to the door, and looking down the street
beckoned several times to some unseen person, who, to judge from
the air of impatience with which these signals were accompanied,
required a great quantity of persuasion to induce him to advance. At
length there sauntered up, on the opposite side of the way - with a
bad pretense of passing by accident - a figure conspicuous for its dirty
smartness, which after a great many frowns and jerks of the head, in
resistence of the invitation, ultimately crossed the road and was
brought into the shop.
'
There. It's Dick Swiveller,' said the young fellow, pushing him in. 'Sit
down, Swiveller.'
'But is the old min agreeable?' said Mr Swiveller in an undertone.
Mr Swiveller complied, and looking about him with a propritiatory
smile, observed that last week was a fine week for the ducks, and this
week was a fine week for the dust; he also observed that whilst
standing by the post at the street-corner, he had observed a pig with a
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