登陆注册
5199200000054

第54章

HOW OLIVER PASSED HIS TIME IN THE IMPROVING SOCIETY OF HISREPUTABLE FRIENDS

About noon next day, when the Dodger and Master Bates had gone out to pursue their customary avocations, Mr. Fagin took the opportunity of reading Oliver a long lecture on the crying sin of ingratitude; of which he clearly demonstrated he had been guilty, to no ordinary extent, in wilfully absenting himself from the society of his anxious friends; and, still more, in endeavouring to escape from them after so much trouble and expense had been incurred in his recovery. Mr. Fagin laid great stress on the fact of his having taken Oliver in, and cherished him, when, without his timely aid, he might have perished with hunger; and he related the dismal and affecting history of a young lad whom, in his philanthropy, he had succoured under parallel circumstances, but who, proving unworthy of his confidence and evincing a desire to communicate with the police, had unfortunately come to be hanged at the Old Bailey one morning. Mr. Fagin did not seek to conceal his share in the catastrophe, but lamented with tears in his eyes that the wrong-headed and treacherous behaviour of the young person in question, had rendered it necessary that he should become the victim of certain evidence for the crown:

which, if it were not precisely true, was indispensably necessary for the safety of him (Mr. Fagin) and a few select friends. Mr.

Fagin concluded by drawing a rather disagreeable picture of the discomforts of hanging; and, with great friendliness and politeness of manner, expressed his anxious hopes that he might never be obliged to submit Oliver Twist to that unpleasant operation.

Little Oliver's blood ran cold, as he listened to the Jew's words, and imperfectly comprehended the dark threats conveyed in them. That it was possible even for justice itself to confound the innocent with the guilty when they were in accidental companionship, he knew already; and that deeply-laid plans for the destruction of inconveniently knowing or over-communicative persons, had been really devised and carried out by the Jew on more occasions than one, he thought by no means unlikely, when he recollected the general nature of the altercations between that gentleman and Mr. Sikes: which seemed to bear reference to some foregone conspiracy of the kind. As he glanced timidly up, and met the Jew's searching look, he felt that his pale face and trembling limbs were neither unnoticed nor unrelished by that wary old gentleman.

The Jew, smiling hideously, patted Oliver on the head, and said, that if he kept himself quiet, and applied himself to business, he saw they would be very good friends yet. Then, taking his hat, and covering himself with an old patched great-coat, he went out, and locked the room-door behind him.

And so Oliver remained all that day, and for the greater part of many subsequent days, seeing nobody, between early morning and midnight, and left during the long hours to commune with his own thoughts. Which, never failing to revert to his kind friends, and the opinion they must long ago have formed of him, were sad indeed.

After the lapse of a week or so, the Jew left the room-door unlocked; and he was at liberty to wander about the house.

It was a very dirty place. The rooms upstairs had great high wooden chimney-pieces and large doors, with panelled walls and cornices to the ceiling; which, although they were black with neglect and dust, were ornamented in various ways. From all of these tokens Oliver concluded that a long time ago, before the old Jew was born, it had belonged to better people, and had perhaps been quite gay and handsome: dismal and dreary as it looked now.

Spiders had built their webs in the angles of the walls and ceilings; and sometimes, when Oliver walked softly into a room, the mice would scamper across the floor, and run back terrified to their holes. With these exceptions, there was neither sight nor sound of any living thing; and often, when it grew dark, and he was tired of wandering from room to room, he would crouch in the corner of the passage by the street-door, to be as near living people as he could; and would remain there, listening and counting the hours, until the Jew or the boys returned.

In all the rooms, the mouldering shutters were fast closed: the bars which held them were screwed tight into the wood; the only light which was admitted, stealing its way through round holes at the top: which made the rooms more gloomy, and filled them with strange shadows. There was a back-garret window with rusty bars outside, which had no shutter; and out of this, Oliver often gazed with a melancholy face for hours together; but nothing was to be descried from it but a confused and crowded mass of housetops, blackened chimneys, and gable-ends. Sometimes, indeed, a grizzly head might be seen, peering over the parapet-wall of a distant house; but it was quickly withdrawn again; and as the window of Oliver's observatory was nailed down, and dimmed with the rain and smoke of years, it was as much as he could do to make out the forms of the different objects beyond, without making any attempt to be seen or heard,--which he had as much chance of being, as if he had lived inside the ball of St.

Paul's Cathedral.

One afternoon, the Dodger and Master Bates being engaged out that evening, the first-named young gentleman took it into his head to evince some anxiety regarding the decoration of his person (to do him justice, this was by no means an habitual weakness with him);and, with this end and aim, he condescendingly commanded Oliver to assist him in his toilet, straightway.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 幸福在春天招手

    幸福在春天招手

    一个乡村派出所,几个性格迥异的警察。锅碗瓢盆的琐碎生活,更能检验一个人的幸福。百姓的事情无小事,在忍禁不禁的故事里,你会看到平淡中的真情。一对老夫妻进城看病,却意外撞见了三个儿女家各自的难处。谁能在我们父母需要的时候,尽心地问询一句?她们是一群花季少女,这是残酷的青春游戏。风雪中总有一条回家的路,通往心的方向。
  • 墨染锦年思夏

    墨染锦年思夏

    我就想写个故事集。看见了就点个收藏吧,进来怒斥这个天天裸更,咕咕咕的作者吧。手动狗头(doge)
  • 回望家园

    回望家园

    闲来翻书,常常由衷的羡慕古代所谓“文人”的生活。在他们的生活里,诗、书、画犹如血脉,时而各行其道,时而汩汩交汇,径直通向他们的心灵。他们在艺术的海洋里自由自在地穿行,反观当下,在分工日益精细化的时代(当然还有诸多的原因),不要说达芬奇式的巨人不复出现,就连文艺也被分割成了不同的营垒。不同艺术门类之间隔山而望,跨门类的“通才”已近罕见。当然也曾发现几位作家朋友,或是因为家学,或是因为机缘,有幸对音乐、绘画、书法之类有所涉猎,其作品就有了旁人所没有的气象,着实令人羡慕。正因为如此,当我偶遇吕中元先生的散文集《回望家园》时,那份惊喜就可以想见了。
  • 喉科秘诀

    喉科秘诀

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 大财阀的隐婚甜妻

    大财阀的隐婚甜妻

    【重生甜宠+虐渣虐狗】前世,顾薇薇被所爱的男人和她最信任的闺蜜背叛,惨死。一朝重生,却成了华国第一财阀傅寒峥的小女友。她步步小心,向曾经暗害她的人复仇。他处处护佑,将她宠到极致。都说,傅寒峥高冷薄情无人性。那天天撩得她脸红心跳,宠她宠得无法无天的完美老公,是个假老公吗?“先生,学校好多男生在追太太。”“把学校男生全部退学,给我改建成女校。”“先生,太太和圈内当红男星传绯闻,炒CP了。”“把那个男星封杀!”“那是你弟弟。”“……那就打死吧。”
  • 王爷,别过分

    王爷,别过分

    与太子大婚当日被拒之门外惨遭凌辱沦为笑柄,转眼间便改嫁给太子的皇叔成为当朝最富盛名的轩王正妃。嘲笑我身残?奚落我无能?说我是克二娘克亲娘又克自己的扫把星,只是占着太师嫡女的尊贵身份,才有幸做上了王妃,其实就是天下第一的废物?切,姑奶奶我是真心不想计较。若不是我神机妙算道行高,怎么能亲自设计把自个儿嫁给了如意郎君?瘸女成王妃,是继续掩盖风华还是尽显傲姿绰妁?在太师府隐忍偷生只为不招人耳目活的清静,奈何上天不肯给她这个机会。那她只有奋勇直上,褪尽铅华,将绝代风姿傲立在本属于男儿的朝堂之上,笑傲天下。--情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 碎裂天宇

    碎裂天宇

    浩劫降临,人心惶恐,神秘上天即将降临而下,出手灭亡放逐之地之人,在这生死存亡的时刻,在这大劫降临之时,一位从禁区末日峡谷之中走出的神秘少年开始了他踏上巅峰的路途!横扫四域!战龙谷!灭亡灵!踏碎天空!联合精灵!混乱一统!手握天下,征战上天,成就不朽传奇!
  • 叱咤世界经济风云的金融大鳄

    叱咤世界经济风云的金融大鳄

    你想在商界纵横遨游么,你知道香奈儿时尚界传奇的创业历程么,你知道苹果之父乔布斯的经典语录么,你知道石油大王洛克菲勒的成长经历么,你想成为下个IT界的戴安娜么,那么关注这些叱咤商界的精英们吧。
  • 杂剧艺术上(生命百科)

    杂剧艺术上(生命百科)

    白朴杂剧杂剧艺术唐明皇秋夜梧桐雨楔子(冲末扮张守珪引卒子上,诗云)坐拥貔貅镇朔方,每临塞下受降王。太平时世辕门静,自把雕弓数雁行。某姓张,名守珪,见任幽州节度使。幼读儒书,兼通韬略,为藩镇之名臣,受心膂之重寄。
  • 淑慈传

    淑慈传

    她只是一个卑微的六品官员之女,自从五岁来到这个时代只想安稳地过日子。可皇后的一场算计,让她嫁于不学无术行事荒诞的三皇子为嫡妃。婆婆的百般挑剔,旁人的轻视不屑。就连自己的夫君在大婚当日都在青楼过夜。但那又如何,既然卷入这张纷争,那最后的赢家就只能是她!若来人挡路,必除之!她只相信,我命由我,不由天!