| 357 | 358 | 359 | 360 | 361 |
| 1 | 133 | 265 | 398 | 530 |
|
Quilp passed the evening with great cheerfulness; solacing himself all
the time with the pipe and the case-bottle; and occasionally
entertaining himself with a melodious howl, intended for a song, but
bearing not the faintest resemblance to any scrap of any piece of
music, vocal or instrumental, ever invented by man. Thus he amused
himself until nearly midnight, when he turned into his hammock with
the utmost satisfaction.
The first sound that met his ears in the morning - as he half opened
his eyes, and, finding himself so unusually near the ceiling,
entertained a drowsy idea that he must have been transformed into a
fly or blue-bottle in the course of the night, - was that of a stifled
sobbing and weeping in the room. Peeping cautiously over the side of
his hammock, he descried Mrs Quilp, to whom, after contemplating
her for some time in silence, he communicated a violent start by
suddenly yelling out - 'Halloa!'
'
Oh, Quilp!' cried his poor little wife, looking up. 'How you frightened
me!'
'
I meant to, you jade,' returned the dwarf. 'What do you want here?
I'm dead, an't I?'
'
Oh, please come home, do come home,' said Mrs Quilp, sobbing; 'we'll
never do so any more, Quilp, and after all it was only a mistake that
grew out of our anxiety.'
'
Out of your anxiety,' grinned the dwarf. 'Yes, I know that - out of your
anxiety for my death. I shall come home when I please, I tell you. I
shall come home when I please, and go when I please. I'll be a Will o'
the Wisp, now here, now there, dancing about you always, starting up
when you least expect me, and keeping you in a constant state of
restlessness and irritation. Will you begone?'
Mrs Quilp durst only make a gesture of entreaty.
'
I tell you no,' cried the dwarf. 'No. If you dare to come here again
unless you're sent for, I'll keep watch-dogs in the yard that'll growl
and bite - I'll have man-traps, cunningly altered and improved for
catching women - I'll have spring guns, that shall explode when you
tread upon the wires, and blow you into little pieces. Will you begone?'
'Do forgive me. Do come back,' said his wife, earnestly.
'
No-o-o-o-o!' roared Quilp. 'Not till my own good time, and then I'll
return again as often as I choose, and be accountable to nobody for
my goings or comings. You see the door there. Will you go?'
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