The Old Curiosity Shop / Лавка древностей
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Nell went away.
“Tell me,” said the old man, “have you brought me any money?”
“No!” returned Quilp.
“Then,” said the old man, clenching his hands desperately, and looking upward, “the child and I are lost!”
“Neighbour,” said Quilp, “let me be plain with you. You have no secret from me now.”
The old man looked up, trembling.
“You are surprised,” said Quilp. “Well, perhaps that’s natural. You have no secret from me now, I say; no, not one. For now, I know, that all those sums of money, that all those loans, advances, and supplies that you have had from me, have gone… shall I say the word?”
“Yes!” replied the old man, “say it, if you will.”
“To the gaming-table,” rejoined Quilp, “This was your precious plan to become rich; this was the secret certain source of wealth in which I spent my money; this was your inexhaustible mine of gold, your El Dorado [26] , eh?”
“Yes,” cried the old man, “it was. It is. It will be, till I die.”
“I have been blinded,” said Quilp looking contemptuously at him, “by a mere shallow gambler!”
26
El Dorado –
“I am no gambler,” cried the old man fiercely. “I never played for gain of mine, or love of play. Every piece I staked, I whispered to myself that orphan’s name and called on Heaven to bless the venture; which it never did. Who were those with whom I played? Men who lived by plunder, profligacy, and riot.”
“When did you first begin this mad career?” asked Quilp.
“When did I first begin?” he rejoined, passing his hand across his brow. “When was it, that I first began? When I began to think how little I had saved, how long a time it took to save at all.”
“You lost your money, first, and then came to me. While I thought you were making your fortune (as you said you were) you were making yourself a beggar, eh? Dear me!” said Quilp. “But did you never win?”
“Never!” groaned the old man. “Never won back my loss.”
“I thought,” sneered the dwarf, “that if a man played long enough he was sure to win.”
“And so he is,” cried the old man, “so he is; I have always known it. Quilp, I have dreamed, three nights, of winning the same large sum, I never could dream that dream before, though I have often tried. Do not desert me, now that I have this chance. I have no resource but you, give me some help, let me try this one last hope.”
The dwarf shrugged his shoulders and shook his head.
“See Quilp, good tender-hearted Quilp,” said the old man, drawing some papers from his pocket with a trembling hand, and clasping the dwarfs arm, “only see here. Look at these figures, the result of long calculation, and painful and hard experience. I must win. I only want a little help once more, a few pounds, dear Quilp.”
“The last advance was seventy,” said the dwarf; “and it went in one night.”
“I know it did,” answered the old man, “but that was the worst night of all. Quilp, consider, consider that orphan child! Help me for her sake I implore you; not for mine; for hers!”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t do it really,” said Quilp with unusual politeness. “I’d have advanced you, even now, what you want, on your simple note of hand, if I hadn’t unexpectedly known your secret way of life.”
“Who told you?” retorted the old man desperately, “Come. Let me know the name the person.”
The crafty dwarf said, “Now, who do you think?”
“It was Kit, it is the boy; he is the spy!” said the old man.
“Yes, you’re right” said the dwarf. “Yes, it was Kit. Poor Kit!”
So saying, he nodded in a friendly manner, and left, grinning with extraordinary delight.
“Poor Kit!” muttered Quilp. “I think it was Kit who said I was an uglier dwarf than could be seen anywhere for a penny, wasn’t it? Ha ha ha! Poor Kit!”
9
Kit lifted the latch of the door and passed in.
“Bless us!” cried a woman turning sharply round, “who’s that? Oh! It’s you, Kit!”
“Yes, mother, it’s me.”
“Why, how tired you look, my dear!”
“Old master did not go out tonight,” said Kit. With which words, he sat down by the fire and looked very mournful and discontented.
Kit’s room was an extremely poor and homely place. His mother was still hard at work at an ironing-table; a young child lay sleeping in a cradle near the fire; and another, a sturdy boy of two or three years old, was sitting bolt upright in a clothes-basket.
“Ah mother!” said Kit, falling upon [27] a great piece of bread and meat, “what a kind woman you are!”
27
falling upon –
набрасываясь на“I hope there are many far better, Kit,” said Mrs. Nubbles [28] ; “Did you tell me, just now, that your master hadn’t gone out tonight?”
“Yes,” said Kit, “worse luck!”
“I wonder what Mrs. Nelly’d say, if she knew that every night, when she is sitting alone at the window, you are watching in the open street.”
“Never mind what she’d say,” replied Kit; “she’ll never know it, and consequently, she’ll never say anything.”
Mrs. Nubbles ironed away in silence for a minute or two, then she observed:
28
Nubbles – Набблс
“I know what some people would say, Kit. Some people would say that you’d fallen in love with her.”
“It’s somebody crossing over here,” said Kit, “and coming very fast too, mother!”
The boy stood. The footsteps drew nearer, the door was opened with a hasty hand, and the child herself, pale and breathless, hurried into the room.
“Miss Nelly! What is the matter?” cried mother and son together.
“I must not stay a moment,” she returned, “grandfather is very ill. I found him upon the floor.”
“I’ll run for a doctor” said Kit, seizing his brimless hat. “I’ll be there directly.”
“No, no,” cried Nell, “there is one there, you… you must never come near us any more!”
“What?” roared Kit.
“Never again,” said the child. “Don’t ask me why, for I don’t know. Pray don’t ask me why, pray don’t be sorry! I have nothing to do with it indeed!”
Kit looked at her with his eyes opened wide.
“Grandfather complains and raves of you,” said the child, “I don’t know what you have done, but I hope it’s nothing very bad. He cries that you’re the cause of all his misery. You must not return to us any more. I came to tell you. Oh, Kit, what have you done? You, in whom I trusted so much! You were almost the only friend I had!”