The Old Curiosity Shop

about fields and lanes all day, or even escape for days or weeks together; but, saving in the country, I seldom go out until after

glare and hurry of broad noon are not adapted to idle pursuits like mine; a glimpse of passing faces caught by the light of a street-lamp or a shop window is often better for my purpose than their full revelat

and in the midst of pain and weariness obliged, despite himself (as though it were a task he must perform) to detect the child's step from the man's, the slipshod beggar from the booted exquisite, the lounging from the busy, the dull heel of the sauntering outcast from the quick tread of an expecta

wider and wider until at last it joins the broad vast sea-where some halt to rest from heavy loads and think as they look over the parapet that to smoke and lounge away one's life, and lie sleeping in the sun upon a hot tarpaulin, in a dull, slow, slu

garret window all night long, half mad with joy! Poor bird! the only neighbouring thing at all akin to the other little captives, some of whom, shrinking from the hot hands of drunken purchasers, lie drooping on the path already, while others

out to relate, and to which I shall recur at intervals, arose out of one of

which did not reach me, but which seemed to be addressed to myself, and was preferred in a soft sweet voice that struck me very pleasantly. I turned hastily round a

way from here,' s

dly. 'I am afraid it is a very long

id I, in so

but I am a little frightened

it of me? Suppose I s

e little creature,' you are such a very o

gy with which it was made, which brought a tear into the child's clear

I, 'I'll ta

e, and rather seeming to lead and take care of me than I to be protecting her. I observed that every now and then she stole a curious look at my face, as if to

able from what I could make out, that her very small and delicate frame imparted a peculiar youthfulness to her appearance. Though

ou so far by yo

is very kin

have you b

ot tell,' said

I wondered what kind of errand it might be that occasioned her to be prepared for questioning. Her quick eye seemed to read my thoughts, for as

uth. She walked on as before, growing more familiar with me as we proceeded and talking cheerfully by the way, but sh

ingenuousness or grateful feeling of the child for the purpose of gratifying my curiosity. I love these little people; and it is not a slight thing when they, who are so f

r home she might take farewell of me and deprive me of the opportunity, I avoided the most frequented ways and took the most intricate, and thus it was not until we arrived in the street itself that she knew

er 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

ly 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

sts 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

ot diminished when he looked from me to my companion. The door being opened, the ch

patting her on the head, 'how couldst thou m

k to you, grandfather,' said t

e 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 mig

he as he placed a chair near

r grandchild another time,

ill voice, 'more care of Nelly! Why, w

with something feeble and wandering in his manner, there were in his face marks of deep and anxious thought which

nk you consi

ng me, 'I don't consider her! Ah, how little you

ection than the dealer in curiosities did, in these four words. I waited for him to speak again, but

n 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 was surprised to see that all this time everything was done by the child, and that there

of children into the ways of life, when they are scarcely more than infants. It checks their confidence and simplicity-two of the b

springs are too deep. Besides, the children of the poor know but few ple

ng this-you are surely n

be rich one of these days, and a fine lady. Don't you think ill of me because I use her help. She gives it cheerfully as you see, and it would break her heart if she knew that I suffered anybody else to do for

again returned, and the old man motioning to me

ered, and Nell bursting into a hearty laugh, which I was rejoiced to hear, for it was

man fondling with her hair. '

help smiling from pure sympathy. The little old man took up a candl

or on seeing a stranger, twirled in his hand a perfectly round old hat without any vestige of a brim, and resting himself now on one leg and now on the other and changing them constantly, stood in the

t it, Kit?' said t

goodish stretch, ma

ou have come

der myself rather so,

e, but the child's exquisite enjoyment of his oddity, and the relief it was to find that there was something she associated with merriment in a place that appeared so unsuited to her, were quite irresistible. It was a great po

called forth by the fullness of heart with which she welcomed her uncouth favourite after the little anxiety of the night. As for Kit himself (whose laugh had been all the time one of tha

I had spoken to him but that moment, 'you don't know w

ight to a remark founded on first

d man thoughtfully, '

d from her seat, and pu

' said he. 'Say-do I l

y her caresses, and laid

towards me. 'Is it because thou know'st I love thee, and dost not like that I sho

lied the child with great ea

of a juggler, stopped short in his operations on being thus appealed to, and bawled 'Nobody isn't such a fool as to say h

when she shall be rich. It has been a long time coming, but it must come at last; a very long time, but

s I am, grandfathe

it must. It will be all the better for coming late'; and then he sighed and fell into his former musing state, and still holding the child between his knee

! Get home, get home, and be true to your time in the morning, for there's w

child, her eyes lighting up

iss Nell,' ret

the old man, 'but for whose care I mi

said Kit, 'that wo

mean?' crie

d her. I'll bet that I'd find her if she was above gro

eyes, and laughing like a stentor, Kit gradua

his departure; when he had gone, and the child wa

and heartily, and so does she, and her thanks are better worth than mine. I should be sorry that

m what I had seen. 'But,' I add

ied the old man

ty and intelligence-has she nobody to care for he

anxiously in my face, 'no

you know how to execute such a trust as this? I am an old man, like you, and I am actuated by an old man's concern in all that is young and

rson-that you have seen already. But waking or sleeping, by night or day, in sickness or health, she is the one object of my care, and if you knew of how much care, you w

which I had thrown off on entering the room, purposing to say no more. I was surprised to see

ot mine, my

e child, 'they ar

not going o

,' said the chi

omes of you,

ere of course

sied in the arrangement of his dress. From him I looked back to the slight gen

t we did not follow as she expected, she looked back with a smile and waited for us. The old man showed by his face that he plainly understood the cause of my

ed to say good night and raised her face to kiss me. Then she ran

ow voice, 'and angels guard thy bed!

he child fervently, 'the

said the old man. 'Bless thee a hundred ti

d the child. 'The bell wakes me,

and fastened on the inside, and satisfied that this was done, walked on at a slow pace. At the street-corner he stopped, and regarding me with a troubled countenance said that our ways were widely different and that he must take his leave. I would have spoken, but summoning up more alacrity than might have been

er there. I looked wistfully into the street we had lately quitted, and after a time directed my steps that wa

eeling as if some evil must ensue if I turned my back upon the place. The closing of a door or window in the street brought me before the curiosity-dealer's on

n 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

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

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 ma

avily, 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,

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