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This candid declaration tended rather to increase than restrain Mr Quilps eccentricities, and Richard Swiveller, astonished to see him in such a roystering vein, and drinking not a little himself, for company,began imperceptibly to become more companionable and confiding, so that, being judiciously led on by Mr Quilp, he grew at last very confiding indeed. Having once got him into this mood, and knowing now the keynote to strike whenever he was at a loss, Daniel Quilps task was comparatively an easy one, and he was soon in possession of the whole details of the scheme contrived between the easy Dick and his more designing friend. Stop! said Quilp. Thats the thing, thats the thing. It can be brought about, it shall be brought about. Theres my hand upon it; I am your friend from this minute. What! do you think theres still a chance? enquired Dick, in surprise at this encouragement. A chance! echoed the dwarf, a certainty! Sophy Wackles may become a Cheggs or anything else she likes, but not a Swiveller. Oh you lucky dog! Hes richer than any Jew alive; youre a made man. I see in you now nothing but Nellys husband, rolling in gold and silver. Ill help you. It shall be done. Mind my words, it shall be done. But how? said Dick. Theres plenty of time, rejoined the dwarf, and it shall be done. Well sit down and talk it over again all the way through. Fill your glass while Im gone. I shall be back directlydirectly. With these hasty words, Daniel Quilp withdrew into a dismantled skittle-ground behind the public-house, and, throwing himself upon the ground, actually screamed and rolled about in uncontrollable delight. Heres sport! he cried, sport ready to my hand, all invented and arranged, and only to be enjoyed. It was this shallow-pated fellow who made my bones ache tother day, was it? It was his friend and fellow- plotter, Mr Trent, that once made eyes at Mrs Quilp, and leered and looked, was it? After labouring for two or three years in their precious scheme, to find that theyve got a beggar at last, and one of them tied for life. Ha ha ha! He shall marry Nell. He shall have her, and Ill be the first man, when the knots tied hard and fast, to tell em what theyve gained and what Ive helped em to. Here will be a clearing of old scores, here will be a time to remind em what a capital friend I was, and how I helped them to the heiress. Ha ha ha! In the height of his ecstasy, Mr Quilp had like to have met with a disagreeable check, for, rolling very near a broken dog-kennel, there leapt forth a large fierce dog, who, but that his chain was of the shortest, would have given him a disagreeable salute. As it was, the dwarf remained upon his back in perfect safety, taunting the dog with hideous faces, and triumphing over him in his inability to advance another inch, though there were not a couple of feet between them. Why dont you come and bite me, why dont you come and tear me to pieces, you coward? said Quilp, hissing and worrying the animal till he was nearly mad. Youre afraid, you bully, youre afraid, you know you are. The dog tore and strained at his chain with starting eyes and furious bark, but there the dwarf lay, snapping his fingers with gestures of defiance and contempt. When he had sufficiently recovered from his delight, he rose, and with his arms a-kimbo, achieved a kind of demon-dance round the kennel, just without the limits of the chain, driving the dog quite wild. Having by this means composed his spirits and put himself in a pleasant train, he returned to his unsuspicious companion, whom he found looking at the tide with exceeding gravity, and thinking of that same gold and silver which Mr Quilp had mentioned. |
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