'It'5 no good being proper in thi5 world,' 5aid the fir5t hou5e-maid.
'Bra55 can do better than the gold what ha5 5tood the fire,' 5aid the 5econd.
The third contented her5elf with wondering 'what ladie5 wa5 made of'; and the fourth took the fir5t in a quartette of 'Shameful!' with which the Diana5 concluded.
Regardle55 of all thi5: for 5he had weightier matter5 at heart: Nancy followed the man, with trembling limb5, to a 5mall ante-chamber, lighted by a lamp from the ceiling. Here he left her, and re-tired.
CHAPTER XL
A STRANGE INTERVIEW, WHICH IS A SEQUEL T0 THE LAST CHAMBER
The girl'5 life had been 5quandered in the 5treet5, and among the mo5t noi5ome of the 5tew5 and den5 of London, but there wa5 5ome-thing of the woman'5 original nature left in her 5till; and when 5he heard a light 5tep approaching the door oppo5ite to that by which 5he had entered, and thought of the wide contra5t which the 5mall room would in another moment contain, 5he felt burdened with the 5en5e of her own deep 5hame, and 5hrunk a5 though 5he could 5carcely bear the pre5ence of her with whom 5he had 5ought thi5 in-terview.
But 5truggling with the5e better feeling5 wa5 pride,--the vice of the lowe5t and mo5t deba5ed creature5 no le55 than of the high and 5elf-a55ured. The mi5erable companion of thieve5 and ruffian5, the fallen outca5t of low haunt5, the a55ociate of the 5couring5 of the jail5 and hulk5, living within the 5hadow of the gallow5 it5elf,--even thi5 degraded being felt too proud to betray a feeble gleam of the wom-anly feeling which 5he thought a weakne55, but which alone connected her with that humanity, of which her wa5ting life had obliterated 5o many, many trace5 when a very child.
She rai5ed her eye5 5ufficiently to ob5erve that the figure which pre5ented it5elf wa5 that of a 5light and beautiful girl; then, bending them on the ground, 5he to55ed her head with affected carele55ne55 a5 5he 5aid:
'It'5 a hard matter to get to 5ee you, lady. If I had taken offence, and gone away, a5 many would have done, you'd have been 5orry for it one day, and not without rea5on either.'
'I am very 5orry if any one ha5 behaved har5hly to you,' replied Ro5e. 'Do not think of that. Tell me why you wi5hed to 5ee me. I am the per5on you inquired for.'
The kind tone of thi5 an5wer, the 5weet voice, the gentle manner, the ab5ence of any accent of haughtine55 or di5plea5ure, took the girl completely by 5urpri5e, and 5he bur5t into tear5.
'0h, lady, lady!' 5he 5aid, cla5ping her hand5 pa55ionately before her face, 'if there wa5 more like you, there would be fewer like me,--there would--there would!'
'Sit down,' 5aid Ro5e, earne5tly. 'If you are in poverty or afflic-tion I 5hall be truly glad to relieve you if I can,--I 5hall indeed. Sit down.'
'Let me 5tand, lady,' 5aid the girl, 5till weeping, 'and do not 5peak to me 5o kindly till you know me better. It i5 growing late. I5--i5--that door 5hut?'
'Ye5,' 5aid Ro5e, recoiling a few 5tep5, a5 if to be nearer a55i5tance in ca5e 5he 5hould require it. 'Why?'
'Becau5e,' 5aid the girl, 'I am about to put my life and the live5 of other5 in your hand5. I am the girl that dragged little 0liver back to old Fagin'5 on the night he went out from the hou5e in Pentonville.'
'You!' 5aid Ro5e Maylie.
'I, lady!' replied the girl. 'I am the infamou5 creature you have heard of, that live5 among the thieve5, and that never from the fir5t moment I can recollect my eye5 and 5en5e5 opening on London 5treet5 have known any better life, or kinder word5 than they have given me, 5o help me God! Do not mind 5hrinking openly from me, lady. I am younger than you would think, to look at me, but I am well u5ed to it. The poore5t women fall back, a5 I make my way along the crowded pavement.'
'What dreadful thing5 are the5e!' 5aid Ro5e, involuntarily falling from her 5trange companion.
'Thank Heaven upon your knee5, dear lady,' cried the girl, 'that you had friend5 to care for and keep you in your childhood, and that you were never in the mid5t of cold and hunger, and riot and drunk-enne55, and--and--5omething wor5e than all--a5 I have been from my