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I dont deny, added Bitzer, that my schooling was cheap. But that comes right, sir. I was made in the cheapest market, and have to dispose of myself in the dearest. He was a little troubled here, by Louisa and Sissy crying. Pray dont do that, said he, its of no use doing that: it only worries. You seem to think that I have some animosity against young Mr Tom; whereas I have none at all. I am only going, on the reasonable grounds I have mentioned, to take him back to Coketown. If he was to resist, I should set up the cry of Stop Thief! But, he wont resist, you may depend upon it. Mr Sleary, who with his mouth open and his rolling eye as immovably jammed in his head as his fixed one, had listened to these doctrines with profound attention, here stepped forward. Thquire, you know perfectly well, and your daughter knowth perfectly well (better than you, becauthe I thed it to her), that I didnt know what your thon had done, and that I didnt want to know I thed it wath better not, though I only thought, then, it wath thome thkylarking. However, thith young man having made it known to be a robbery of a bank, why, thath a theriouth thing; muth too theriouth a thing for me to compound, ath thith young man hath very properly called it. Conthequently, Thquire, you muthnt quarrel with me if I take thith young manth thide, and thay heth right and thereth no help for it. But I tell you what Ill do, Thquire; Ill drive your thon and thith young man over to the rail, and prevent expothure here. I cant conthent to do more, but Ill do that. Fresh lamentations from Louisa, and deeper affliction on Mr Gradgrinds part, followed this desertion of them by their last friend. But, Sissy glanced at him with great attention; nor did she in her own breast misunderstand him. As they were all going out again, he favoured her with one slight roll of his movable eye, desiring her to linger behind. As he locked the door, he said excitedly: The Thquire thtood by you, Thethilia, and Ill thtand by the Thquire. More than that: thith ith a prethiouth rathcal, and belongth to that bluthtering Cove that my people nearly pitht out o winder. Itll be a dark night; Ive got a horthe thatll do anything but thpeak; Ive got a pony thatll go fifteen mile an hour with Childerth driving of him; Ive got a dog thatll keep a man to one plathe four-and-twenty hourth. Get a word with the young Thquire. Tell him, when he theeth our horthe begin to danthe, not to be afraid of being thpilt, but to look out for a pony-gig coming up. Tell him, when he theeth that gig clothe by, to jump down, and itll take him off at a rattling pathe. If my dog leth thith young man thtir a peg on foot, I give him leave to go. And if my horthe ever thtirth from that thpot where he beginth a danthing, till the morning I dont know him? Tharpth the word! The word was so sharp, that in ten minutes Mr Childers, sauntering about the market-place in a pair of slippers, had his cue, and Mr Slearys equipage was ready. It was a fine sight, to behold the learned dog barking round it, and Mr Sleary instructing him, with his one practicable eye, that Bitzer was the object of his particular attentions. Soon after dark they all three got in and started; the learned dog (a formidable creature) already pinning Bitzer with his eye, and sticking close to the wheel on his side, that he might be ready for him in the event of his showing the slightest disposition to alight. The other three sat up at the inn all night in great suspense. At eight oclock in the morning Mr Sleary and the dog reappeared: both in high spirits. All right, Thquire! said Mr Sleary, your thon may be aboard-a-thip by thith time. Childerth took him off, an hour and a half after we left there latht night. The horthe danthed the polka till he wath dead beat (he would have walthed if he hadnt been in harneth), and then I gave him the word and he went to thleep comfortable. When that prethiouth young Rathcal thed hed go forard afoot, the dog hung on to hith neck-hankercher with all four legth in the air and pulled him down and rolled him over. Tho he come back into the drag, and there he that, till I turned the hortheth head, at half-patht thixth thith morning. |
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