The Old Curiosity Shop | Page 9

pretty well my own. A few stragglers from the theatres hurried by, and
now and then I turned aside to avoid some noisy drunkard as he reeled
homewards, but these interruptions were not frequent and soon ceased.

The clocks struck one. Still I paced up and down, promising myself that
every time should be the last, and breaking faith with myself on some
new plea as often as I did so.
The more I thought of what the old man had said, and of his looks and
bearing, the less I could account for what I had seen and heard. I had a
strong misgiving that his nightly absence was for no good purpose. I
had only come to know the fact through the innocence of the child, and
though the old man was by at the time, and saw my undisguised
surprise, he had preserved a strange mystery upon the subject and
offered no word of explanation. These reflections naturally recalled
again more strongly than before his haggard face, his wandering
manner, his restless anxious looks. His affection for the child might not
be inconsistent with villany of the worst kind; even that very affection
was in itself an extraordinary contradiction, or how could he leave her
thus? Disposed as I was to think badly of him, I never doubted that his
love for her was real. I could not admit the thought, remembering what
had passed between us, and the tone of voice in which he had called her
by her name.
'Stay here of course,' the child had said in answer to my question, 'I
always do!' What could take him from home by night, and every night!
I called up all the strange tales I had ever heard of dark and secret deeds
committed in great towns and escaping detection for a long series of
years; wild as many of these stories were, I could not find one adapted
to this mystery, which only became the more impenetrable, in
proportion as I sought to solve it.
Occupied with such thoughts as these, and a crowd of others all tending
to the same point, I continued to pace the street for two long hours; at
length the rain began to descend heavily, and then over-powered by
fatigue though no less interested than I had been at first, I engaged the
nearest coach and so got home. A cheerful fire was blazing on the
hearth, the lamp burnt brightly, my clock received me with its old
familiar welcome; everything was quiet, warm and cheering, and in
happy contrast to the gloom and darkness I had quitted.
But all that night, waking or in my sleep, the same thoughts recurred

and the same images retained possession of my brain. I had ever before
me the old dark murky rooms--the gaunt suits of mail with their ghostly
silent air--the faces all awry, grinning from wood and stone--the dust
and rust and worm that lives in wood--and alone in the midst of all this
lumber and decay and ugly age, the beautiful child in her gentle
slumber, smiling through her light and sunny dreams.

CHAPTER 2
After combating, for nearly a week, the feeling which impelled me to
revisit the place I had quitted under the circumstances already detailed,
I yielded to it at length; and determining that this time I would present
myself by the light of day, bent my steps thither early in the morning.
I walked past the house, and took several turns in the street, with that
kind of hesitation which is natural to a man who is conscious that the
visit he is about to pay is unexpected, and may not be very acceptable.
However, as the door of the shop was shut, and it did not appear likely
that I should be recognized by those within, if I continued merely to
pass up and down before it, I soon conquered this irresolution, and
found myself in the Curiosity Dealer's warehouse.
The old man and another person were together in the back part, and
there seemed to have been high words between them, for their voices
which were raised to a very high pitch suddenly stopped on my
entering, and the old man advancing hastily towards me, said in a
tremulous tone that he was very glad I had come.
'You interrupted us at a critical moment,' said he, pointing to the man
whom I had found in company with him; 'this fellow will murder me
one of these days. He would have done so, long ago, if he had dared.'
'Bah! You would swear away my life if you could,' returned the other,
after bestowing a stare and a frown on me; 'we all know that!'
'I almost think I could,' cried the old man, turning