The Old Curiosity Shop

by Dickens, Charles

could have seen him.'

  'Ah!' returned the gruff voice; 'for all old Luke's winning through

  thick and thin of late years, I remember the time when he was the

  unluckiest and unfortunatest of men. He never took a dice-box in

  his hand, or held a card, but he was plucked, pigeoned, and cleaned

  out completely.'

  'Do you hear what he says?' whispered the old man. 'Do you hear

  that, Nell?'

  The child saw with astonishment and alarm that his whole appearance

  had undergone a complete change. His face was flushed and eager,

  his eyes were strained, his teeth set, his breath came short and

  thick, and the hand he laid upon her arm trembled so violently that

  she shook beneath its grasp.

  'Bear witness,' he muttered, looking upward, 'that I always said

  it; that I knew it, dreamed of it, felt it was the truth, and that

  it must be so! What money have we, Nell? Come! I saw you with

  money yesterday. What money have we? Give it to me.'

  'No, no, let me keep it, grandfather,' said the frightened child.

  'Let us go away from here. Do not mind the rain. Pray let us go.'

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  'Give it to me, I say,' returned the old man fiercely. 'Hush,

  hush, don't cry, Nell. If I spoke sharply, dear, I didn't mean it.

  It's for thy good. I have wronged thee, Nell, but I will right

  thee yet, I will indeed. Where is the money?'

  'Do not take it,' said the child. 'Pray do not take it, dear. For

  both our sakes let me keep it, or let me throw it away--better let

  me throw it away, than you take it now. Let us go; do let us go.'

  'Give me the money,' returned the old man, 'I must have it. There--

  there--that's my dear Nell. I'll right thee one day, child,

  I'll right thee, never fear!'

  She took from her pocket a little purse. He seized it with the

  same rapid impatience which had characterised his speech, and

  hastily made his way to the other side of the screen. It was

  impossible to restrain him, and the trembling child followed close

  behind.

  The landlord had placed a light upon the table, and was engaged in

  drawing the curtain of the window. The speakers whom they had

  heard were two men, who had a pack of cards and some silver money

  between them, while upon the screen itself the games they had

  played were scored in chalk. The man with the rough voice was a

  burly fellow of middle age, with large black whiskers, broad

  cheeks, a coarse wide mouth, and bull neck, which was pretty freely

  displayed as his shirt collar was only confined by a loose red

  neckerchief. He wore his hat, which was of a brownish-white, and

  had beside him a thick knotted stick. The other man, whom his

  companion had called Isaac, was of a more slender figure--

  stooping, and high in the shoulders--with a very ill-favoured

  face, and a most sinister and villainous squint.

  'Now old gentleman,' said Isaac, looking round. 'Do you know

  either of us? This side of the screen is private, sir.'

  'No offence, I hope,' returned the old man.

  'But by G--, sir, there is offence,' said the other, interrupting

  him, 'when you intrude yourself upon a couple of gentlemen who are

  particularly engaged.'

  'I had no intention to offend,' said the old man, looking anxiously

  at the cards. 'I thought that--'

  'But you had no right to think, sir,' retorted the other. 'What

  the devil has a man at your time of life to do with thinking?'

  'Now bully boy,' said the stout man, raising his eyes from his

  cards for the first time, 'can't you let him speak?'

  The landlord, who had apparently resolved to remain neutral until

  he knew which side of the question the stout man would espouse,

  chimed in at this place with 'Ah, to be sure, can't you let him

  speak, Isaac List?'

  'Can't I let him speak,' sneered Isaac in reply, mimicking as

  nearly as he could, in his shrill voice, the tones of the landlord.

  'Yes, I can let him speak, Jemmy Groves.'

  'Well then, do it, will you?' said the landlord.

  Mr List's squint assumed a portentous character, which seemed to

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  threaten a prolongation of this controversy, when his companion,

  who had been looking sharply at the old man, put a timely stop to

  it.

  'Who knows,' said he, with a cunning look, 'but the gentleman may

  have civilly meant to ask if he might have the honour to take a

  hand with us!'

  'I did mean it,' cried the old man. 'That is what I mean. That is

  what I want now!'

  'I thought so,' returned the same man. 'Then who knows but the

  gentleman, anticipating our objection to play for love, civilly

  desired to play for money?'

  The old man replied by shaking the little purse in his eager hand,

  and then throwing it down upon the table, and gathering up the

  cards as a miser would clutch at gold.

  'Oh! That indeed,' said Isaac; 'if that's what the gentleman

  meant, I beg the gentleman's pardon. Is this the gentleman's

  little purse? A very pretty little purse. Rather a light purse,'

  added Isaac, throwing it into the air and catching it dexterously,

  'but enough to amuse a gentleman for half an hour or so.'

  'We'll make a four-handed game of it, and take in Groves,' said the

  stout man. 'Come, Jemmy.'

  The landlord, who conducted himself like one who was well used to

  such little parties, approached the table and took his seat. The

  child, in a perfect agony, drew her grandfather aside, and implored

  him, even then, to come away.

  'Come; and we may be so happy,' said the child.

  'We WILL be happy,' replied the old man hastily. 'Let me go, Nell.

  The means of happiness are on the cards and the dice. We must rise

  from little winnings to great. There's little to be won here; but

  great will come in time. I shall but win back my own, and it's all

  for thee, my darling.'

  'God help us!' cried the child. 'Oh! what hard fortune brought us

  here?'

  'Hush!' rejoined the old man laying his hand upon her mouth,

  'Fortune will not bear chiding. We must not reproach her, or she

  shuns us; I have found that out.'

  'Now, mister,' said the stout man. 'If you're not coming yourself,

  give us the cards, will you?'

  'I am coming,' cried the old man. 'Sit thee down, Nell, sit thee

  down and look on. Be of good heart, it's all for thee--all--

  every penny. I don't tell them, no, no, or else they wouldn't

  play, dreading the chance that such a cause must give me. Look at

  them. See what they are and what thou art. Who doubts that we

  must win!'

  'The gentleman has thought better of it, and isn't coming,' said

  Isaac, making as though he would rise from the table. 'I'm sorry

  the gentleman's daunted--nothing venture, nothing have--but the

  gentleman knows best.'

  'Why I am ready. You have all been slow but me,' said the old man.

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  'I wonder who is more an
xious to begin than I.'

  As he spoke he drew a chair to the table; and the other three

  closing round it at the same time, the game commenced.

  The child sat by, and watched its progress with a troubled mind.

  Regardless of the run of luck, and mindful only of the desperate

  passion which had its hold upon her grandfather, losses and gains

  were to her alike. Exulting in some brief triumph, or cast down by

  a defeat, there he sat so wild and restless, so feverishly and

  intensely anxious, so terribly eager, so ravenous for the paltry

  stakes, that she could have almost better borne to see him dead.

  And yet she was the innocent cause of all this torture, and he,

  gambling with such a savage thirst for gain as the most insatiable

  gambler never felt, had not one selfish thought!

  On the contrary, the other three--knaves and gamesters by their

  trade--while intent upon their game, were yet as cool and quiet as

  if every virtue had been centered in their breasts. Sometimes one

  would look up to smile to another, or to snuff the feeble candle,

  or to glance at the lightning as it shot through the open window

  and fluttering curtain, or to listen to some louder peal of thunder

  than the rest, with a kind of momentary impatience, as if it put

  him out; but there they sat, with a calm indifference to everything

  but their cards, perfect philosophers in appearance, and with no

  greater show of passion or excitement than if they had been

  made of stone.

  The storm had raged for full three hours; the lightning had grown

  fainter and less frequent; the thunder, from seeming to roll and

  break above their heads, had gradually died away into a deep hoarse

  distance; and still the game went on, and still the anxious child

  was quite forgotten.

  CHAPTER 30

  At length the play came to an end, and Mr Isaac List rose the only

  winner. Mat and the landlord bore their losses with professional

  fortitude. Isaac pocketed his gains with the air of a man who had

  quite made up his mind to win, all along, and was neither surprised

  nor pleased.

  Nell's little purse was exhausted; but although it lay empty by his

  side, and the other players had now risen from the table, the old

  man sat poring over the cards, dealing them as they had been dealt

  before, and turning up the different hands to see what each man

  would have held if they had still been playing. He was quite

  absorbed in this occupation, when the child drew near and laid her

  hand upon his shoulder, telling him it was near midnight.

  'See the curse of poverty, Nell,' he said, pointing to the packs he

  had spread out upon the table. 'If I could have gone on a little

  longer, only a little longer, the luck would have turned on my

  side. Yes, it's as plain as the marks upon the cards. See here--

  and there--and here again.'

  'Put them away,' urged the child. 'Try to forget them.'

  'Try to forget them!' he rejoined, raising his haggard face to

  hers, and regarding her with an incredulous stare. 'To forget

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  them! How are we ever to grow rich if I forget them?'

  The child could only shake her head.

  'No, no, Nell,' said the old man, patting her cheek; 'they must not

  be forgotten. We must make amends for this as soon as we can.

  Patience--patience, and we'll right thee yet, I promise thee.

  Lose to-day, win to-morrow. And nothing can be won without anxiety

  and care--nothing. Come, I am ready.'

  'Do you know what the time is?' said Mr Groves, who was smoking

  with his friends. 'Past twelve o'clock--'

  '--And a rainy night,' added the stout man.

  'The Valiant Soldier, by James Groves. Good beds. Cheap

  entertainment for man and beast,' said Mr Groves, quoting his

  sign-board. 'Half-past twelve o'clock.'

  'It's very late,' said the uneasy child. 'I wish we had gone

  before. What will they think of us! It will be two o'clock by the

  time we get back. What would it cost, sir, if we stopped here?'

  'Two good beds, one-and-sixpence; supper and beer one shilling;

  total two shillings and sixpence,' replied the Valiant Soldier.

  Now, Nell had still the piece of gold sewn in her dress; and when

  she came to consider the lateness of the hour, and the somnolent

  habits of Mrs Jarley, and to imagine the state of consternation in

  which they would certainly throw that good lady by knocking her up

  in the middle of the night--and when she reflected, on the other

  hand, that if they remained where they were, and rose early in the

  morning, they might get back before she awoke, and could plead the

  violence of the storm by which they had been overtaken, as a good

  apology for their absence--she decided, after a great deal of

  hesitation, to remain. She therefore took her grandfather aside,

  and telling him that she had still enough left to defray the cost

  of their lodging, proposed that they should stay there for the

  night.

  'If I had had but that money before--If I had only known of it a

  few minutes ago!' muttered the old man.

  'We will decide to stop here if you please,' said Nell, turning

  hastily to the landlord.

  'I think that's prudent,' returned Mr Groves. 'You shall have your

  suppers directly.'

  Accordingly, when Mr Groves had smoked his pipe out, knocked out

  the ashes, and placed it carefully in a corner of the fire-place,

  with the bowl downwards, he brought in the bread and cheese, and

  beer, with many high encomiums upon their excellence, and bade his

  guests fall to, and make themselves at home. Nell and her

  grandfather ate sparingly, for both were occupied with their own

  reflections; the other gentlemen, for whose constitutions beer was

  too weak and tame a liquid, consoled themselves with spirits and

  tobacco.

  As they would leave the house very early in the morning, the child

  was anxious to pay for their entertainment before they retired to

  bed. But as she felt the necessity of concealing her

  little hoard from her grandfather, and had to change the piece of

  gold, she took it secretly from its place of concealment, and

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  embraced an opportunity of following the landlord when he went out

  of the room, and tendered it to him in the little bar.

  'Will you give me the change here, if you please?' said the child.

  Mr James Groves was evidently surprised, and looked at the money,

  and rang it, and looked at the child, and at the money again, as

  though he had a mind to inquire how she came by it. The coin being

  genuine, however, and changed at his house, he probably felt, like

  a wise landlord, that it was no business of his. At any rate, he

  counted out the change, and gave it her. The child was returning

  to the room where they had passed the evening, when she fancied she

  saw a figure just gliding in at the door. There was nothing but a

  long dark passage between this door and the place where she had

  changed the money, an
d, being very certain that no person had

  passed in or out while she stood there, the thought struck her that

  she had been watched.

  But by whom? When she re-entered the room, she found its inmates

  exactly as she had left them. The stout fellow lay upon two

  chairs, resting his head on his hand, and the squinting man reposed

  in a similar attitude on the opposite side of the table. Between

  them sat her grandfather, looking intently at the winner with a

  kind of hungry admiration, and hanging upon his words as if he were

  some superior being. She was puzzled for a moment, and looked

  round to see if any else were there. No. Then she asked her

  grandfather in a whisper whether anybody had left the room while

  she was absent. 'No,' he said, 'nobody.'

  It must have been her fancy then; and yet it was strange, that,

  without anything in her previous thoughts to lead to it, she should

  have imagined this figure so very distinctly. She was still

  wondering and thinking of it, when a girl came to light her to bed.

  The old man took leave of the company at the same time, and they

  went up stairs together. It was a great, rambling house, with dull

  corridors and wide staircases which the flaring candles seemed to

  make more gloomy. She left her grandfather in his chamber, and

  followed her guide to another, which was at the end of a passage,

  and approached by some half-dozen crazy steps. This was prepared

  for her. The girl lingered a little while to talk, and tell her

  grievances. She had not a good place, she said; the wages were

  low, and the work was hard. She was going to leave it in a

  fortnight; the child couldn't recommend her to another, she

  supposed? Instead she was afraid another would be difficult to

  get after living there, for the house had a very indifferent

  character; there was far too much card-playing, and such like.

  She was very much mistaken if some of the people who

  came there oftenest were quite as honest as they might be, but she

  wouldn't have it known that she had said so, for the world. Then

  there were some rambling allusions to a rejected sweetheart, who

  had threatened to go a soldiering--a final promise of knocking at

  the door early in the morning--and 'Good night.'

  The child did not feel comfortable when she was left alone. She

  could not help thinking of the figure stealing through the passage

  down stairs; and what the girl had said did not tend to reassure