Oh, no!' said the child eagerly, 'so different! We were once so happy

and he so cheerful and contented! You cannot think what a sad

change has fallen on us since.'

I am very, very sorry, to hear you speak like this, my dear!' said Mrs

Quilp. And she spoke the truth.

Thank you,' returned the child, kissing her cheek, 'you are always

kind to me, and it is a pleasure to talk to you. I can speak to no one

else about him, but poor Kit. I am very happy still, I ought to feel

happier perhaps than I do, but you cannot think how it grieves me

sometimes to see him alter so.'

He'll alter again, Nelly,' said Mrs Quilp, 'and be what he was before.'

Oh, if God would only let that come about!' said the child with

streaming eyes; 'but it is a long time now, since he first began to - I

thought I saw that door moving!'

'It's the wind,' said Mrs Quilp, fainly. 'Began to - -'

To be so thoughtful and dejected, and to forget our old way ot

spending the time in the long evenings,' said the child. 'I used to read

to him by the fireside, and he sat listening, and when I stopped and

we began to talk, he told me about my mother, and how she once

looked and spoke just like me when she was a little child. Then he

used to take me on his knee, and try to make me understand that she

was not lying in her grave, but had flown to a beautiful country

beyond the sky where nothing died or ever grew old - we were very

happy once!'

'Nelly, Nelly!' said the poor woman, 'I can't bear to see one as young as

you so sorrowful. Pray don't cry.'

I do so very seldom,' said Nell,' but I have kept this to myself a long

time, and I am not quite well, I think, for the tears come into my eyes

and I cannot keep them back. I don't mind telling you my grief, for I

know you will not tell it to any one again.'

Mrs Quilp turned away her head and made no answer.

Then,' said the child, 'we often walked in the fields and among the

green trees, and when we came home at night, we liked it better for

being tired, and said what a happy place it was. And if it was dark and

rather dull, we used to say, what did it matter to us, for it only made

us remember our last walk with greater pleasure, and look forward to

our next one. But now we never have these walks, and though it is the

The Old Curiosity Shop