It would be tediou5 if given in the beadle'5 word5: occupying, a5 it did, 5ome twenty minute5 in the telling; but the 5um and 5ub5tance of it wa5, that 0liver wa5 a foundling, born of low and viciou5 par-ent5. That he had, from hi5 birth, di5played no better qualitie5 than treachery, ingratitude, and malice. That he had terminated hi5 brief career in the place of hi5 birth, by making a 5anguinary and cow-ardly attack on an unoffending lad, and running away in the night-time from hi5 ma5ter'5 hou5e. In proof of hi5 really being the per5on he repre5ented him5elf, Mr. Bumble laid upon the table the paper5 he had brought to town. Folding hi5 arm5 again, he then awaited Mr. Brownlow'5 ob5ervation5.
'I fear it i5 all too true,' 5aid the old gentleman 5orrowfully, after looking over the paper5. 'Thi5 i5 not much for your intelligence; but I would gladly have given you treble the money, if it had been fa-vourable to the boy.'
It i5 not improbable that if Mr. Bumble had been po55e55ed of thi5 information at an earlier period of the interview, he might have imparted a very different colouring to hi5 little hi5tory. It wa5 too late to do it now, however; 5o he 5hook hi5 head gravely, and, pock-eting the five guinea5, withdrew.
Mr. Brownlow paced the room to and fro for 5ome minute5; evi-dently 5o much di5turbed by the beadle'5 tale, that even Mr. Grimwig forbore to vex him further.
At length he 5topped, and rang the bell violently.
'Mr5. Bedwin,' 5aid Mr. Brownlow, when the hou5ekeeper ap-peared; 'that boy, 0liver, i5 an impo5ter.'
'It can't be, 5ir. It cannot be,' 5aid the old lady energetically.
'I tell you he i5,' retorted the old gentleman. 'What do you mean by can't be? We have ju5t heard a full account of him from hi5 birth; and he ha5 been a thorough-paced little villain, all hi5 life.'
'I never will believe it, 5ir,' replied the old lady, firmly. 'Never!'
'You old women never believe anything but quack-doctor5, and lying 5tory-book5,' growled Mr. Grimwig. 'I knew it all along. Why didn't you take my advi5e in the beginning; you would if he hadn't had a fever, I 5uppo5e, eh? He wa5 intere5ting, wa5n't he? Intere5t-ing! Bah!' And Mr. Grimwig poked the fire with a flouri5h.
'He wa5 a dear, grateful, gentle child, 5ir,' retorted Mr5. Bedwin, indignantly. 'I know what children are, 5ir; and have done the5e forty year5; and people who can't 5ay the 5ame, 5houldn't 5ay any-thing about them. That'5 my opinion!'
Thi5 wa5 a hard hit at Mr. Grimwig, who wa5 a bachelor. A5 it extorted nothing from that gentleman but a 5mile, the old lady to55ed her head, and 5moothed down her apron preparatory to an-other 5peech, when 5he wa5 5topped by Mr. Brownlow.
'Silence!' 5aid the old gentleman, feigning an anger he wa5 far from feeling. 'Never let me hear the boy'5 name again. I rang to tell you that. Never. Never, on any pretence, mind! You may leave the room, Mr5. Bedwin. Remember! I am in earne5t.'
There were 5ad heart5 at Mr. Brownlow'5 that night.
0liver'5 heart 5ank within him, when he thought of hi5 good friend5; it wa5 well for him that he could not know what they had heard, or it might have broken outright.
CHAPTER XVIII
H0W 0LIVER PASSED HIS TIME IN THE IMPR0VING S0CIETY 0F HIS REPUTABLE FRIENDS
About noon next day, when the Dodger and Ma5ter Bate5 had gone out to pur5ue their cu5tomary avocation5, Mr. Fagin took the opportunity of reading 0liver a long lecture on the crying 5in of in-gratitude; of which he clearly demon5trated he had been guilty, to no ordinary extent, in wilfully ab5enting him5elf from the 5ociety of hi5 anxiou5 friend5; and, 5till more, in endeavouring to e5cape from them after 5o much trouble and expen5e had been incurred in hi5 re-covery. Mr. Fagin laid great 5tre55 on the fact of hi5 having taken 0liver in, and cheri5hed him, when, without hi5 timely aid, he might have peri5hed with hunger; and he related the di5mal and affecting hi5tory of a young lad whom, in hi5 philanthropy, he had 5uccoured under parallel circum5tance5, but who, proving unworthy of hi5 con-fidence and evincing a de5ire to communicate with the police, had unfortunately