Yah!' cried the dwarf. 'Never thinking of anybody but yourself - why

don't you retrench then - scrape up, hoard, economise, eh?'

Why, sir,' replied Brass, 'upon my word I think Sarah's as good an

economiser as any going. I do indeed, Mr Quilp.'

Moisten your clay, wet the other eye, drink, man!' cried the dwarf.

You took a clerk to oblige me.'

Delighted, sir, I am sure, at any time,' replied Sampson. 'Yes, Sir, I

did.'

'Then now you may discharge him,' said Quilp. 'There's a means of

retrenchment for you at once.'

'Discharge Mr Richard, sir?' cried Brass.

Have you more than one clerk, you parrot, that you ask the question?

Yes.'

'Upon my word, Sir,' said Brass, 'I wasn't prepared for this-'

How could you be?' sneered the dwarf, 'when I wasn't? How often am I

to tell you that I brought him to you that I might always have my eye

on him and know where he was - and that I had a plot, a scheme, a

little quiet piece of enjoyment afoot, of which the very cream and

essence was, that this old man and grandchild (who have sunk

underground I think) should be, while he and his precious friend

believed them rich, in reality as poor as frozen rats?'

'I quite understood that, sir,' rejoined Brass. 'Thoroughly.'

Well, Sir,' retorted Quilp, 'and do you understand now, that they're

not poor - that they can't be, if they have such men as your lodger

searching for them, and scouring the country far and wide?'

'Of course I do, Sir,' said Sampson.

Of course you do,' retorted the dwarf, viciously snapping at his words.

Of course do you understand then, that it's no matter what comes of

this fellow? of course do you understand that for any other purpose

he's no man for me, nor for you?'

'I have frequently said to Sarah, sir,' returned Brass, 'that he was of

no use at all in the business. You can't put any confidence in him, sir.

If you'll believe me I've found that fellow, in the commonest little

matters of the office that have been trusted to him, blurting out the

truth, though expressly cautioned. The aggravation of that chap sir,

The Old Curiosity Shop