| 89 | 90 | 91 | 92 | 93 |
| 1 | 133 | 265 | 398 | 530 |
|
triumph, when the recollection of the many hours she had passed
among them rose to her swelling heart, and made her feel the wish a
cruelty: lonely and sad though many of those hours had been! She sat
down at the window where she had spent so many evenings - darker
far than this - and every thought of hope or cheerfulness that had
occurred to her in that place came vividly upon her mind, and blotted
out all its dull and mournful associations in an instant.
Her own little room too, where she had so often knelt down and
prayed at night - prayed for the time which she hoped was dawning
now - the little room where she had slept so peacefully, and dreamed
such pleasant dreams! It was hard not to be able to glance round it
once more, and to be forced to leave it without one kind look or
grateful tear. There were some trifles there - poor useless things - that
she would have liked to take away; but that was impossible.
This brought to mind her bird, her poor bird, who hung there yet. She
wept bitterly for the loss of this little creature - until the idea occurred
to her - she did not know how, or why, it came into her head - that it
might, by some means, fall into the hands of Kit who would keep it for
her sake, and think, perhaps, that she had left it behind in the hope
that he might have it, and as an assurance that she was grateful to
him. She was calmed and comforted by the thought, and went to rest
with a lighter heart.
From many dreams of rambling through light and sunny places, but
with some vague object unattained which ran indistinctly through
them all, she awoke to find that it was yet night, and that the stars
were shining brightly in the sky. At length, the day began to glimmer,
and the stars to grow pale and dim. As soon as she was sure of this,
she arose, and dressed herself for the journey.
The old man was yet asleep, and as she was unwilling to disturb him,
she left him to slumber on, until the sun rose. He was anxious that
they should leave the house without a minute's loss of time, and was
soon ready.
The child then took him by the hand, and they trod lightly and
cautiously down the stairs, trembling whenever a board creaked, and
often stopping to listen. The old man had forgotten a kind of wallet
which contained the light burden he had to carry; and the going back
a few steps to fetch it seemed an interminable delay.
At last they reached the passage on the ground floor, where the
snoring of Mr Quilp and his legal friend sounded more terrible in their
ears than the roars of lions. The bolts of the door were rusty, and
difficult to unfasten without noise. When they were all drawn back, it
was found to be locked, and worst of all, the key was gone. Then the
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