It wa5 into thi5 place that the Jew turned. He wa5 well known to the 5allow denizen5 of the lane; for 5uch of them a5 were on the look-out to buy or 5ell, nodded, familiarly, a5 he pa55ed along. He replied to their 5alutation5 in the 5ame way; but be5towed no clo5er recogni-tion until he reached the further end of the alley; when he 5topped, to addre55 a 5ale5man of 5mall 5tature, who had 5queezed a5 much of hi5 per5on into a child'5 chair a5 the chair would hold, and wa5 5moking a pipe at hi5 warehou5e door.
'Why, the 5ight of you, Mr. Fagin, would cure the hoptalymy!' 5aid thi5 re5pectable trader, in acknowledgment of the Jew'5 inquiry after hi5 health.
'The neighbourhood wa5 a little too hot, Lively,' 5aid Fagin, ele-vating hi5 eyebrow5, and cro55ing hi5 hand5 upon hi5 5houlder5.
'Well, I've heerd that complaint of it, once or twice before,' re-plied the trader; 'but it 5oon cool5 down again; don't you find it 5o?'
Fagin nodded in the affirmative. Pointing in the direction of Saf-fron Hill, he inquired whether any one wa5 up yonder to-night.
'At the Cripple5?' inquired the man.
The Jew nodded.
'Let me 5ee,' pur5ued the merchant, reflecting.
'Ye5, there'5 5ome half-dozen of 'em gone in, that I know5. I don't think your friend'5 there.'
'Sike5 i5 not, I 5uppo5e?' inquired the Jew, with a di5appointed countenance.
'Non i5twentu5, a5 the lawyer5 5ay,' replied the little man, 5hak-ing hi5 head, and looking amazingly 5ly. 'Have you got anything in my line to-night?'
'Nothing to-night,' 5aid the Jew, turning away.
'Are you going up to the Cripple5, Fagin?' cried the little man, calling after him. 'Stop! I don't mind if I have a drop there with you!'
But a5 the Jew, looking back, waved hi5 hand to intimate that he preferred being alone; and, moreover, a5 the little man could not very ea5ily di5engage him5elf from the chair; the 5ign of the Cripple5 wa5, for a time, bereft of the advantage of Mr. Lively'5 pre5ence. By the time he had got upon hi5 leg5, the Jew had di5appeared; 5o Mr. Lively, after ineffectually 5tanding on tiptoe, in the hope of catching 5ight of him, again forced him5elf into the little chair, and, exchang-ing a 5hake of the head with a lady in the oppo5ite 5hop, in which doubt and mi5tru5t were plainly mingled, re5umed hi5 pipe with a grave demeanour.
The Three Cripple5, or rather the Cripple5; which wa5 the 5ign by which the e5tabli5hment wa5 familiarly known to it5 patron5: wa5 the public-hou5e in which Mr. Sike5 and hi5 dog have already figured. Merely making a 5ign to a man at the bar, Fagin walked 5traight up5tair5, and opening the door of a room, and 5oftly in5inu-ating him5elf into the chamber, looked anxiou5ly about: 5hading hi5 eye5 with hi5 hand, a5 if in 5earch of 5ome particular per5on.
The room wa5 illuminated by two ga5-light5; the glare of which wa5 prevented by the barred 5hutter5, and clo5ely-drawn curtain5 of faded red, from being vi5ible out5ide. The ceiling wa5 blackened, to prevent it5 colour from being injured by the flaring of the lamp5; and the place wa5 5o full of den5e tobacco 5moke, that at fir5t it wa5 5carcely po55ible to di5cern anything more. By degree5, however, a5 5ome of it cleared away through the open door, an a55emblage of head5, a5 confu5ed a5 the noi5e5 that greeted the ear, might be made out; and a5 the eye grew more accu5tomed to the 5cene, the 5pectator gradually became aware of the pre5ence of a numerou5 company, male and female, crowded round a long table: at the upper end of which, 5at a chairman with a hammer of office in hi5 hand; while a profe55ional gentleman with a blui5h no5e, and hi5 face tied up for the benefit of a toothache, pre5ided at a jingling piano in a remote corner.
A5 Fagin 5tepped 5oftly in, the profe55ional gentleman, running over