The Old Curiosity Shop | Page 5

I did
not observe at first, for all was very dark and silent within, and I was
anxious (as indeed the child was also) for an answer to our summons.
When she had knocked twice or thrice there was a noise as if some
person were moving inside, and at length a faint light appeared through
the glass which, as it approached very slowly, the bearer having to
make his way through a great many scattered articles, enabled me to
see both what kind of person it was who advanced and what kind of
place it was through which he came.
It was an old man with long grey hair, whose face and figure as he held
the light above his head and looked before him as he approached, I
could plainly see. Though much altered by age, I fancied I could

recognize in his spare and slender form something of that delicate
mould which I had noticed in a child. Their bright blue eyes were
certainly alike, but his face was so deeply furrowed and so very full of
care, that here all resemblance ceased.
The place through which he made his way at leisure was one of those
receptacles for old and curious things which seem to crouch in odd
corners of this town and to hide their musty treasures from the public
eye in jealousy and distrust. There were suits of mail standing like
ghosts in armour here and there, fantastic carvings brought from
monkish cloisters, rusty weapons of various kinds, distorted figures in
china and wood and iron and ivory: tapestry and strange furniture that
might have been designed in dreams. The haggard aspect of the little
old man was wonderfully suited to the place; he might have groped
among old churches and tombs and deserted houses and gathered all the
spoils with his own hands. There was nothing in the whole collection
but was in keeping with himself nothing that looked older or more
worn than he.
As he turned the key in the lock, he surveyed me with some
astonishment which was not diminished when he looked from me to
my companion. The door being opened, the child addressed him as
grandfather, and told him the little story of our companionship.
'Why, bless thee, child,' said the old man, patting her on the head, 'how
couldst thou miss thy way? What if I had lost thee, Nell!'
'I would have found my way back to YOU, grandfather,' said the child
boldly; 'never fear.'
The old man kissed her, then turning to me and begging me to walk in,
I did so. The door was closed and locked. Preceding me with the light,
he led me through the place I had already seen from without, into a
small sitting-room behind, in which was another door opening into a
kind of closet, where I saw a little bed that a fairy might have slept in, it
looked so very small and was so prettily arranged. The child took a
candle and tripped into this little room, leaving the old man and me
together.

'You must be tired, sir,' said he as he placed a chair near the fire, 'how
can I thank you?'
'By taking more care of your grandchild another time, my good friend,'
I replied.
'More care!' said the old man in a shrill voice, 'more care of Nelly! Why,
who ever loved a child as I love Nell?'
He said this with such evident surprise that I was perplexed what
answer to make, and the more so because coupled with something
feeble and wandering in his manner, there were in his face marks of
deep and anxious thought which convinced me that he could not be, as
I had been at first inclined to suppose, in a state of dotage or imbecility.
'I don't think you consider--' I began.
'I don't consider!' cried the old man interrupting me, 'I don't consider
her! Ah, how little you know of the truth! Little Nelly, little Nelly!'
It would be impossible for any man, I care not what his form of speech
might be, to express more affection than the dealer in curiosities did, in
these four words. I waited for him to speak again, but he rested his chin
upon his hand and shaking his head twice or thrice fixed his eyes upon
the fire.
While we were sitting thus in silence, the door of the closet opened,
and the child returned, her light brown hair hanging loose about her
neck, and her face flushed with the haste she had made to rejoin us. She
busied herself immediately in preparing supper, and while she was thus
engaged I remarked that the old man took an opportunity of observing
me more closely than he had done yet. I