Sitting up all night?' said Quilp, supplying the conclusion of the

sentence. 'Yes she has!'

'All night?' cried Mrs Jiniwin.

Ay, all night. Is the dear old lady deaf?' said Quilp, with a smile of

which a frown was part. 'Who says man and wife are bad company?

Ha ha! The time has flown.'

You're a brute!' exclaimed Mrs Jiniwin.

Come come,' said Quilp, wilfully misunderstanding her, of course,

you mustn't call her names. She's married now, you know. And

though she did beguile the time and keep me from my bed, you must

not be so tenderly careful of me as to be out of humour with her. Bless

you for a dear old lady. Here's to your health!'

I am much obliged to you,' returned the old woman, testifying by a

certain restlessness in her hands a vehement desire to shake her

matronly fist at her son-in-law. 'Oh! I'm very much obliged to you!'

Grateful soul!' cried the dwarf. 'Mrs Quilp.'

Yes, Quilp,' said the timid sufferer.

Help your mother to get breakfast, Mrs Quilp. I am going to the wharf

this morning - the earlier the better, so be quick.'

Mrs Jiniwin made a faint demonstration of rebellion by sitting down in

a chair near the door and folding her arms as if in a resolute

determination to do nothing. But a few whispered words from her

daughter, and a kind inquiry from her son-in-law whether she felt

faint, with a hint that there was abundance of cold water in the next

apartment, routed these symptoms effectually, and she applied herself

to the prescribed preparations with sullen diligence.

While they were in progress, Mr Quilp withdrew to the adjoining room,

and, turning back his coat-collar, proceeded to smear his

countenance with a damp towel of very unwholesome appearance,

which made his complexion rather more cloudy than it was before.

But, while he was thus engaged, his caution and inquisitiveness did

not forsake him, for with a face as sharp and cunning as ever, he

often stopped, even in this short process, and stood listening for any

conversation in the next room, of which he might be the theme.

'Ah!' he said after a short effort of attention, 'it was not the towel over

my ears, I thought it wasn't. I'm a little hunchy villain and a monster,

am I, Mrs Jiniwin? Oh!'

The Old Curiosity Shop