Oliver Twist (1838)/Volume 2/Chapter 29
CHAPTER XXVIX.
has an introductory account of the inmates of the house of which oliver resorted, and relates what they thought of him.
In a handsome room—though its furniture had rather the air of old-fashioned comfort, than of modern elegance—there sat two ladies at a well-spread breakfast-table. Mr. Giles dressed with scrupulous care in a full suit of black, was in attendance upon them. He had taken his station some half-way between the sideboard and the breakfast-table, and with his body drawn up to its full height, his head thrown back, and inclined the merest trifle on one side, his left leg advanced, and his right hand thrust into his waistcoat, while his left hung down by his side grasping a waiter, looked like one who laboured under a very agreeable sense of his own merits and importance.
Of the two ladies, one was well advanced in years, but the high-backed oaken chair in which she sat was not more upright than she. Dressed with the utmost nicety and precision, in a quaint mixture of bygone costume with some slight concessions to the prevailing taste, which rather served to point the old style pleasantly than to impair its effect, she sat in a stately manner with her hands folded on the table before her, and her eyes, of which age had dimmed but little of their brightness, attentively fixed upon her young companion.
The younger lady was in the lovely bloom and spring-time of womanhood; at that age when, if ever angels be for God's good purposes enthroned in mortal forms, they may be without impiety supposed to abide in such as hers.
She was not past seventeen. Cast in so slight and exquisite a mould; so mild and gentle, so pure and beautiful, that earth seemed not her element, nor its rough creatures her fit companions. The very intelligence that shone in her deep blue eye and was stamped upon her noble head, seemed scarcely of her age or of the world, and yet the changing expression of sweetness and goodhumour, the thousand lights that played about the face and left no shadow there; above all, the smile—the cheerful happy smile—were intwined with the best sympathies and affections of our nature.
She was busily engaged in the little offices of the table, and chancing to raise her eyes as the elder lady was regarding her, playfully put back her hair, which was simply braided on her forehead, and threw into one beaming look such a gush of affection and artless loveliness, that blessed spirits might have smiled to look upon her.
The elder lady smiled; but her heart was full, and she brushed away a tear as she did so.
"And Brittles has been gone upwards of an hour, has he?" asked the old lady after a pause.
"An hour and twelve minutes, ma'am," replied Mr. Giles, referring to a silver watch which he drew forth by a black ribbon.
"He is always slow," remarked the old lady.
"Brittles always was a slow boy, ma'am," replied the attendant. And seeing, by-the-by, that Brittles had been a slow boy for upwards of thirty years, there appeared no great probability of his ever being a fast one.
"He gets worse instead of better, I think," said the elder lady.
"It is very inexcusable in him if he stops to play with any other boys," said the young lady smiling.
Mr. Giles was apparently considering the propriety of indulging in a respectful smile himself, when a gig drove up to the garden-gate, out of which there jumped a fat gentleman, who ran straight up to the door, and getting quickly into the house by some mysterious process, burst into the room, and nearly overturned Mr. Giles and the breakfast-table together.
"I never heard of such a thing!" exclaimed the fat gentleman. "My dear Mrs. Maylie—bless my soul—in the silence of night too—I never heard of such a thing!"
With these expressions of condolence, the fat gentleman shook hands with both ladies, and drawing up a chair, inquired how they found themselves.
"You ought to be dead—positively dead with the fright," said the fat gentleman. "Why didn't you send? Bless me, my man should have come in a minute, and so would I, and my assistant would have been delighted, or any body I'm sure, under such circumstances; dear, dear—so unexpected—in the silence of night too!"
The doctor seemed especially troubled by the fact of the robbery having been unexpected, and attempted in the night-time, as if it were the established custom of gentlemen in the housebreaking way to transact business at noon, and to make an appointment by the twopenny post a day or two previous.
"And you, Miss Rose," said the doctor, turning to the young lady, "I———"
"Oh! very much so, indeed," said Rose, interrupting him; "but there is a poor creature up stairs whom aunt wishes you to see."
"Ah! to be sure," replied the doctor, "so there is. That was your handiwork, Giles, I understand."
Mr. Giles, who had been feverishly putting the tea-cups to rights, blushed very red, and said that he had had that honour.
"Honour, eh?" said the doctor; "well, I don't know; perhaps it's as honourable to hit a thief in a back kitchen, as to hit your man at twelve paces. Fancy that he fired in the air, and you've fought a duel, Giles."
Mr. Giles, who thought this light treatment of the matter an unjust attempt at diminishing his glory, answered respectfully, that it was not for the like of him to judge about that, but he rather thought it was no joke to the opposite party.
"'Gad, that's true!" said the doctor. "Where is he? Show me the way. I'll look in again as I come down, Mrs. Maylie. That's the little window that he got in at, eh? Well, I couldn't have believed it." Talking all the way, he followed Mr. Giles up stairs; and while he is going up stairs, the reader may be informed that Mr. Losberne, a surgeon in the neighbourhood, known through a circuit of ten miles round as "the doctor," had grown fat more from good-humour than from good living, and was as kind and hearty, and withal as eccentric an old bachelor, as will be found in five times that space by any explorer alive.
The doctor was absent much longer than either he or the ladies had anticipated. A large flat box was fetched out of the gig, and a bedroom bell was rung very often, and the servants ran up and down stairs perpetually; from which tokens it was justly concluded that something important was going on above. At length he returned; and in reply to an anxious inquiry after his patient, looked very mysterious, and closed the door carefully.
"This is a very extraordinary thing, Mrs. Maylie," said the doctor, standing with his back to the door as if to keep it shut.
"He is not in danger, I hope?" said the old lady.
"Why, that would not be an extraordinary thing, under the circumstances," replied the doctor, "though I don't think he is. Have you seen this thief?"
"No," rejoined the old lady.
"Nor heard any thing about him?"
"No."
"I beg your pardon, ma'am," interposed Mr Giles; "but I was going to tell you about him when Doctor Losberne came in."
The fact was, that Mr. Giles had not at first been able to bring his mind to the avowal that he had only shot a boy. Such commendations had been bestowed upon his bravery, that he could not for the life of him help postponing the explanation for a few delicious minutes, during which he had flourished in the very zenith of a brief reputation for undaunted courage.
"Rose wished to see the man," said Mrs. Maylie, "but I wouldn't hear of it."
"Humph!" rejoined the doctor. "There's nothing very alarming in his appearance. Have you any objection to see him in my presence?"
"If it be necessary," replied the old lady, "certainly not."
"Then I think it is necessary," said the doctor; "at all events I am quite sure that you would deeply regret not having done so, if you postponed it. He is perfectly quiet and comfortable now. Allow me—Miss Rose, will you permit me? Not the slightest fear, I pledge you my honour."
With many more loquacious assurances that they would be agreeably surprised in the aspect of the criminal, the doctor drew the young lady's arm through one of his, and offering his disengaged hand to Mrs. Maylie, led them with much ceremony and stateliness up stairs.
"Now," said the doctor in a whisper, as he softly turned the handle of a bedroom-door, "let us hear what you think of him. He has not been shaved very recently, but he doesn't look at all ferocious notwithstanding. Stop, though—let me see that he is in visiting order first."
Stepping before them, he looked into the room, and motioning them to advance, closed the door when they had entered, and gently drew back the curtains of the bed. Upon it, in lieu of the dogged, black—visaged ruffian they had expected to behold, there lay a mere child, worn with pain and exhaustion, and sunk into a deep sleep. His wounded arm, bound and splintered up, was crossed upon his breast, and his head reclined upon the other, which was half hidden by his long hair as it streamed over the pillow.
The honest gentleman held the curtain in his hand, and looked on for a minute or so, in silence. Whilst he was watching the patient thus, the younger lady glided softly past, and seating herself in a chair by the bedside gathered Oliver's hair from his face, and as she stooped over him her tears fell upon his forehead.
The boy stirred and smiled in his sleep, as though these marks of pity and compassion had awakened some pleasant dream of a love and affection he had never known; as a strain of gentle music, or the rippling of water in a silent place, or the odour of a flower, or even the mention of a familiar word, will sometimes call up sudden dim remembrances of scenes that never were, in this life, which vanish like a breath, and which some brief memory of a happier existence long gone by, would seem to have awakened, for no power of the human mind can ever recal them.
"What can this mean?" exclaimed the elder lady. "This poor child can never have been the pupil of robbers!"
"Vice," sighed the surgeon, replacing the curtain, "takes up her abode in many temples, and who can say that a fair outside shall not enshrine her?"
"But at so early an age!" urged Rose.
"My dear young lady," rejoined the surgeon, mournfully shaking his head, "crime, like death, is not confined to the old and withered alone. The youngest and fairest are too often its chosen victims."
"But, can you—oh, sir! can you, really believe that this delicate boy has been the voluntary associate of the worst outcasts of society?" said Rose anxiously.
The surgeon shook his head in a manner which intimated that he feared it was very possible; and observing that they might disturb the patient, led the way into an adjoining apartment.
"But even if he has been wicked," pursued Rose, "think how young he is; think that he may never have known a mother's love, or even the comfort of a home, and that ill—usage and blows, or the want of bread, may have driven him to herd with the men who have forced him to guilt. Aunt, dear aunt, for mercy's sake think of this before you let them drag this sick child to a prison, which in any case must be the grave of all his chances of amendment. Oh! as you love me, and know that I have never felt the want of parents in your goodness and affection, but that I might have done so, and might have been equally helpless and unprotected with this poor child, have pity upon him before it is too late."
"My dear love!" said the elder lady, as she folded the weeping girl to her bosom; "do you think I would harm a hair of his head?"
"Oh, no!" replied Rose, eagerly, "not you, aunt, not you!"
"No," said the old lady with a trembling lip; "my days are drawing to their close, and may mercy be shown to me as I show it to others. What can I do to save him, sir?"
"Let me think, ma'am," said the doctor, "let me think."
Mr. Losberne thrust his hands into his pockets and took several turns up and down the room, often stopping and balancing himself on his toes, and frowning frightfully. After various exclamations of "I've got it now," and "no, I haven't," and as many renewals of the walking and frowning, he at length made a dead halt, and spoke as follows:
"I think if you give me a full and unlimited commission to bully Giles and that little boy, Brittles, I can manage it. He is a faithful fellow and an old servant, I know; but you can make it up to him in a thousand ways, and reward him for being such a good shot besides. You don't object to that?"
"Unless there is some other way of preserving the child," replied Mrs. Maylie.
"There is no other," said the doctor. "No other, take my word for it."
"Then aunt invests you with full power," said Rose, smiling through her tears; "but pray don't be harder upon the poor fellows than is indispensably necessary."
"You seem to think," retorted the doctor, "that every body is disposed to be hard-hearted to-day except yourself. I only hope, for the sake of the rising male sex generally, that you may be found in as vulnerable and soft-hearted a mood by the very first eligible young fellow who appeals to your compassion; and I wish I were a young fellow that I might avail myself on the spot of such a favourable opportunity for doing so, as the present."
"You are as great a boy as poor Brittles himself," returned Rose, blushing.
"Well," said the doctor, laughing heartily, "that is no very difficult matter. But to return to this boy: the great point of our agreement is yet to come. He will wake in an hour or so, I dare say, and although I have told that thickheaded constable fellow down stairs that he mustn't be moved or spoken to, on peril of his life, I think we may converse with him without danger. Now, I make this stipulation—that I shall examine him in your presence, and that if from what he says, we judge, and I can show to the satisfaction of your cool reason, that he is a real and thorough bad one (which is more than possible), he shall be left to his fate, without any further interference on my part, at all events."
"Oh no, aunt!" entreated Rose.
"Oh yes, aunt!" said the doctor. "Is it a bargain?"
"He cannot be hardened in vice," said Rose; "it is impossible."
"Very good," retorted the doctor; "then so much the more reason for acceding to my proposition."
Finally the treaty was entered into, and the parties thereto sat down to wait with some impatience until Oliver should awake.
The patience of the two ladies was destined to undergo a longer trial than Mr. Losberne had led them to expect, for hour after hour passed on, and still Oliver slumbered heavily. It was evening, indeed, before the kind-hearted doctor brought them the intelligence that he had at length roused sufficiently to be spoken to. The boy was very ill, he said, and weak from the loss of blood; but his mind was so troubled with anxiety to disclose something, that he deemed it better to give him the opportunity than to insist upon his remaining quiet until next morning, which he should otherwise have done.
The conference was a long one, for Oliver told them all his simple history, and was often compelled to stop by pain and want of strength. It was a solemn thing to hear, in the darkened room, the feeble voice of the sick child recounting a weary catalogue of evils and calamities which hard men had brought upon him. Oh! if, when we oppress and grind our fellow-creatures, we bestowed but one thought on the dark evidences of human error, which, like dense and heavy clouds are rising, slowly it is true, but not less surely, to Heaven, to pour their aftervengeance on our heads—if we heard but one instant in imagination the deep testimony of dead men's voices, which no power can stifle and no pride shut out, where would be the injury and injustice, the suffering, misery, cruelty, and wrong, that each day's life brings with it!
Oliver's pillow was smoothed by woman's hands that night, and loveliness and virtue watched him as he slept. He felt calm and happy, and could have died without a murmur.
The momentous interview was no sooner concluded, and Oliver composed to rest again, than the doctor, after wiping his eyes and condemning them for being weak all at once, betook himself down stairs to open upon Mr. Giles. And finding nobody about the parlours, it occurred to him that he could perhaps originate the proceedings with better effect in the kitchen; so, into the kitchen he went.
There were assembled in that lower house of the domestic parliament, the women-servants, Mr. Brittles, Mr. Giles, the tinker (who had received a special invitation to regale himself for the remainder of the day in consideration of his services), and the constable. The latter gentleman had a large staff, a large head, large features, and large half-boots, and looked as if he had been taking a proportionate allowance of ale, as indeed he had.
The adventures of the previous night were still under discussion, for Mr. Giles was expatiating upon his presence of mind when the doctor entered; and Mr. Brittles, with a mug of ale in his hand, was corroborating every thing before his superior said it.
"Sit still," said the doctor, waving his hand.
"Thank you, sir," said Mr. Giles. "Misses wished some ale to be given out, sir, and as I felt noways inclined for my own little room, sir, and disposed for company, I am taking mine among 'em here."
Brittles headed a low murmur by which the ladies and gentlemen generally, were understood to express the gratification they derived from Mr. Giles's condescension; and Mr. Giles looked round with a patronising air, as much as to say that so long as they behaved properly, he would never desert them.
"How is the patient to-night, sir?" asked Giles.
"So-so;" returned the doctor. "I am afraid you have got yourself into a scrape there, Mr. Giles."
"I hope you don't mean to say, sir," said Mr. Giles, trembling, "that he's going to die. If I thought it, I should never be happy again. I wouldn't cut a boy off, no, not even Brittles here, not for all the plate in the country, sir."
"That's not the point," said the doctor, mysteriously. "Mr. Giles, are you a Protestant?"
"Yes, sir, I hope so," faltered Mr. Giles, who had turned very pale.
"And what are you, boy?" said the doctor, turning sharply upon Brittles.
"Lord bless me, sir!" replied Brittles, starting violently; "I'm the same as Mr. Giles, sir."
"Then tell me this," said the doctor, fiercely, "both of you—both of you; are you going to take upon yourselves to swear that that boy up stairs is the boy that was put through the little window last night? Out with it! Come; we are prepared for you."
The doctor, who was universally considered one of the best-tempered creatures on earth, made this demand in such a dreadful tone of anger, that Giles and Brittles, who were considerably muddled by ale and excitement, stared at each other in a state of stupefaction.
"Pay attention to the reply, constable, will you?" said the doctor, shaking his forefinger with great solemnity of manner, and tapping the bridge of his nose with it, to bespeak the exercise of that worthy's utmost acuteness. "Something may come of this before long."
The constable looked as wise as he could, and took up his staff of office which had been reclining indolently in the chimney-corner.
"It's a simple question of identity, you will observe," said the doctor.
"That's what it is, sir," replied the constable, coughing with great violence; for he had finished his ale in a hurry, and some of it had gone the wrong way.
"Here's a house broken into," said the doctor, "and a couple of men catch one moment's glimpse of a boy in the midst of gunpowder-smoke, and in all the distraction of alarm and darkness. Here's a boy comes to that very same house next morning, and because he happens to have his arm tied up, these men lay violent hands upon him—by doing which, they place his life in great danger—and swear he is the thief. Now, the question is, whether these men are justified by the fact, and if not, what situation do they place themselves in?"
The constable nodded profoundly, and said that if that wasn't law, he should be glad to know what was.
"I ask you again," thundered the doctor, "are you on your solemn oaths able to identify that boy?"
Brittles looked doubtfully at Mr. Giles, Mr. Giles looked doubtfully at Brittles; the constable put his hand behind his ear to catch the reply; the two women and the tinker leant forward to listen; and the doctor glanced keenly round, when a ring was heard at the gate, and at the same moment the sound of wheels.
"It's the runners!" cried Brittles, to all appearance much relieved.
"The what!" exclaimed the doctor, aghast in his turn.
"The Bow-street officers, sir," replied Brittles, taking up a candle, "me and Mr. Giles sent for 'em this morning."
"What!" cried the doctor.
"Yes," replied Brittles, "I sent a message up by the coachman, and I only wonder they weren't here before, sir."
"You did, did you? Then confound your ———slow coaches down here; that's all," said the doctor, walking away.