Shall we stop here long, Mr Quilp?' inquired his legal friend, when the

dwarf had given his boy this gentle admonition.

We must stop, I suppose, till the old gentleman up stairs is dead,'

returned Quilp.

'He he he!' laughed Mr Brass, 'oh! very good!'

Smoke away!' cried Quilp. 'Never stop! You can talk as you smoke.

Don't lose time.'

'He he he!' cried Brass faintly, as he again applied himself to the

odious pipe. 'But if he should get better, Mr Quilp?'

Then we shall stop till he does, and no longer,' returned the dwarf.

How kind it is of you, Sir, to wait till then!' said Brass. 'Some people,

Sir, would have sold or removed the goods - oh dear, the very instant

the law allowed 'em. Some people, Sir, would have been all flintiness

and granite. Some people, sir, would have - '

'Some people would have spared themselves the jabbering of such a

parrot as you,' interposed the dwarf.

He he he!' cried Brass. 'You have such spirits!'

The smoking sentinel at the door interposed in this place, and without

taking his pipe from his lips, growled,

Here's the gal a comin' down.'

The what, you dog?' said Quilp.

The gal,' returned the boy. 'Are you deaf?'

Oh!' said Quilp, drawing in his breath with great relish as if he were

taking soup, 'you and I will have such a settling presently; there's

such a scratching and bruising in store for you, my dear young friend!

Aha! Nelly! How is he now, my duck of diamonds?’

He's very bad,' replied the weeping child.

What a pretty little Nell!' cried Quilp.

Oh beautiful, sir, beautiful indeed,' said Brass. 'Quite charming.'

The Old Curiosity Shop