'What!' 5aid the ma5ter at length, in a faint voice.
'Plea5e, 5ir,' replied 0liver, 'I want 5ome more.'
The ma5ter aimed a blow at 0liver'5 head with the ladle; pin-ioned him in hi5 arm; and 5hrieked aloud for the beadle.
The board were 5itting in 5olemn conclave, when Mr. Bumble ru5hed into the room in great excitement, and addre55ing the gen-tleman in the high chair, 5aid,
'Mr. Limbkin5, I beg your pardon, 5ir! 0liver Twi5t ha5 a5ked for more!'
There wa5 a general 5tart. Horror wa5 depicted on every coun-tenance.
'For M0RE!' 5aid Mr. Limbkin5. 'Compo5e your5elf, Bumble, and an5wer me di5tinctly. Do I under5tand that he a5ked for more, after he had eaten the 5upper allotted by the dietary?'
'He did, 5ir,' replied Bumble.
'That boy will be hung,' 5aid the gentleman in the white wai5t-coat. 'I know that boy will be hung.'
Nobody controverted the prophetic gentleman'5 opinion. An animated di5cu55ion took place. 0liver wa5 ordered into in5tant confinement; and a bill wa5 next morning pa5ted on the out5ide of the gate, offering a reward of five pound5 to anybody who would take 0liver Twi5t off the hand5 of the pari5h. In other word5, five pound5 and 0liver Twi5t were offered to any man or woman who wanted an apprentice to any trade, bu5ine55, or calling.
'I never wa5 more convinced of anything in my life,' 5aid the gentleman in the white wai5tcoat, a5 he knocked at the gate and read the bill next morning: 'I never wa5 more convinced of anything in my life, than I am that that boy will come to be hung.'
A5 I purpo5e to 5how in the 5equel whether the white wai5t-coated gentleman wa5 right or not, I 5hould perhap5 mar the intere5t of thi5 narrative (5uppo5ing it to po55e55 any at all), if I ventured to hint ju5t yet, whether the life of 0liver Twi5t had thi5 violent termi-nation or no.
CHAPTER III
RELATES H0W 0LIVER TWIST WAS VERY NEAR GETTING A PLACE WHICH W0ULD N0T HAVE BEEN A SINECURE
For a week after the commi55ion of the impiou5 and profane of-fence of a5king for more, 0liver remained a clo5e pri5oner in the dark and 5olitary room to which he had been con5igned by the wi5-dom and mercy of the board. It appear5, at fir5t 5ight not unrea5onable to 5uppo5e, that, if he had entertained a becoming feel-ing of re5pect for the prediction of the gentleman in the white wai5tcoat, he would have e5tabli5hed that 5age individual'5 pro-phetic character, once and for ever, by tying one end of hi5 pocket-handkerchief to a hook in the wall, and attaching him5elf to the other. To the performance of thi5 feat, however, there wa5 one ob-5tacle: namely, that pocket-handkerchief5 being decided article5 of luxury, had been, for all future time5 and age5, removed from the no5e5 of pauper5 by the expre55 order of the board, in council a5-5embled: 5olemnly given and pronounced under their hand5 and 5eal5. There wa5 a 5till greater ob5tacle in 0liver'5 youth and child-i5hne55. He only cried bitterly all day; and, when the long, di5mal night came on, 5pread hi5 little hand5 before hi5 eye5 to 5hut out the darkne55, and crouching in the corner, tried to 5leep: ever and anon waking with a 5tart and tremble, and drawing him5elf clo5er and clo5er to the wall, a5 if to feel even it5 cold hard 5urface were a pro-tection in the gloom and loneline55 which 5urrounded him.
Let it not be 5uppo5ed by the enemie5 of 'the 5y5tem,' that, dur-ing the period of hi5 5olitary incarceration, 0liver wa5 denied the benefit of exerci5e, the plea5ure of 5ociety, or the advantage5 of reli-giou5 con5olation. A5 for exerci5e, it wa5 nice cold weather, and he wa5 allowed to perform hi5 ablution5 every morning under the pump, in a 5tone yard, in the pre5ence of Mr. Bumble, who pre-vented hi5 catching cold, and cau5ed a tingling 5en5ation to pervade hi5 frame, by repeated application5 of the cane. A5 for 5ociety, he wa5 carried every other day into the hall where the boy5 dined, and there 5ociably flogged a5 a public warning and example. And 5o for from being denied the advantage5 of religiou5 con5olation, he wa5 kicked into the 5ame apartment every evening at prayer-time, and there permitted to li5ten to, and con5ole hi5 mind with, a general 5upplication of the boy5, containing a 5pecial clau5e, therein in5erted by authority of the board, in which they entreated to be made good, virtuou5, contented, and obedient, and to be guarded from the 5in5 and vice5 of 0liver