Hello.
Welcome to Sleep Stories with Steph,
Your go-to romantic podcast that guarantees you a calm and entertaining transition into a great night's sleep.
Come with me as we immerse ourselves in a romantic journey to a time long since forgotten.
But before we begin,
Let's take a moment to focus on where we are now.
Take a deep breath in through your nose and let it out with a long sigh.
Now close your eyes and feel yourself sink deeper into the support beneath you.
It is time to relax and fully let go.
There is nothing you need to be doing now and nowhere you need to go.
Happy listening.
Chapter 16 Continued Keep back the dog,
Bill,
Cried Nancy,
Springing before the door and closing it as the Jew and his two pupils darted out in pursuit.
Keep back the dog,
He'll tear the boys to pieces.
Serve him right.
Cried Sykes,
Struggling to disengage himself from the girl's grasp.
Stand off from me or I'll split your head against the wall.
I don't care for that,
Bill,
I don't care for that.
Screamed the girl,
Struggling violently with a man.
The child shan't be torn down by the dog unless you kill me first.
Shan't he?
Said Sykes,
Setting his teeth.
I'll soon do that if you don't keep off.
The housebreaker flung the girl from him to the further end of the room,
Just as the Jew and the two boys returned,
Dragging Oliver among them.
What's the matter here?
Said Fagin,
Looking round.
The girl's gone mad,
I think,
Replied Sykes,
Savagely.
No,
She hasn't,
Said Nancy,
Pale and breathless from the scuffle.
No,
She hasn't,
Fagin,
Don't think it.
Then keep quiet,
Will you?
Said the Jew,
With a threatening look.
No,
I won't do that neither,
Replied Nancy,
Speaking very loud.
Come,
What do you think of that?
Mr Fagin was sufficiently well acquainted with the manners and customs of that particular species of humanity to which Nancy belonged to feel tolerably certain it would be rather unsafe to prolong any conversation with her at present.
With a view of diverting the attention of the company,
He turned to Oliver.
So,
You wanted to get away,
My dear,
Did you?
Said the Jew,
Taking up a jagged and knotted club which stood in a corner of the fireplace.
Oliver made no reply,
But he watched the Jew's motions and breathed quickly.
Wanted to get assistance?
Called for the police,
Did you?
Sneered the Jew,
Catching the boy by the arm.
We'll cure you of that,
My young master.
He inflicted a smart blow on Oliver's shoulders with the club and was raising it for a second when the girl,
Rushing forward,
Wrestled it from his hand.
She flung it into the fire with a force that brought some of the glowing coals whirling out into the room.
I won't stand by and see it done,
Fagin,
Cried the girl.
You've got the boy,
And what more would you have?
Let him be,
Let him be,
Or I shall put that mark on some of you that will bring me to the gallows before my time.
The girl stamped her foot violently on the floor as she vented this threat,
And with her lips compressed and her hands clenched,
Looked alternately at the Jew and the other robber,
Her face quite colourless from the passion of rage into which she'd gradually worked herself.
Why,
Nancy,
Said the Jew in a soothing tone,
After a pause during which he'd been and Mr Sykes had stared at one another in a disconcerted manner.
You,
You're more clever than ever tonight.
Ah,
My dear,
You are acting beautifully.
Am I?
Said the girl.
Take care I don't overdo it.
You'll be the worst for it,
Fagin,
If I do,
And so I tell you in good time to clear of me.
There is something about a roused woman,
Especially if she add to all her other strong passions,
The fierce impulses of recklessness and despair,
Which few men like to provoke.
The Jew saw that it would be hopeless to effect any further mistake regarding the reality of Miss Nancy's rage,
And shrinking involuntarily back a few paces,
The girl was forced to cast a glance,
Half imploringly,
Half cowardly,
At Sykes as if to hint he was the fittest person to pursue the dialogue.
Mr Sykes thus,
Mutely appealed to,
And possibly feeling his personal pride and influence interested in the immediate reduction of Miss Nancy to reason,
Gave utterance to about a couple of score of curses and threats,
The rapid reduction of which reflected great credit on the fertility of his invention.
As they produced no visible effect on the object against whom they were discharged,
However,
He resorted to more tangible arguments.
"'What do you mean by this?
' said Sykes,
Backing the inquiry with a very common implication concerning the most beautiful of human features,
Which,
If it were heard above,
Only once out of every 50,
000 times that it is uttered below,
Would render blindness as common a disorder as measles.
"'What do you mean by it?
Burn my body!
Do you know who you are and what you are?
' "'Oh yes,
I know all about it,
' replied the girl,
Laughing hysterically and shaking her head from side to side with a poor assumption of indifference.
"'Well then,
Keep quiet,
' rejoined Sykes,
With a growl like he was accustomed to use when addressing his dog,
Or I'll quiet you for a good long time to come.
" The girl laughed again,
Even less composedly than before,
And darting a hasty look at Sykes,
Turned her face aside and bit her lip until the blood came.
"'You're a nice one,
' added Sykes,
As he surveyed her with a contemptuous air,
To take up the humane and gentile side,
A pretty subject for the child,
As you call him,
To make a friend of.
"'God Almighty,
Help me,
I am!
' cried the girl passionately,
And I wish I'd been struck dead in the street or had changed places with him we passed so near tonight,
Before I had lent a hand in bringing him here.
"'He's a thief,
A liar,
A devil,
All that's bad from this night forth.
Ain't that enough for the old wretch without blows?
' "'Come,
Come,
Sykes,
' said the Jew,
Appealing to him in a remonstratory tone,
And motioning towards the boys who were eagerly attentive to all that passed.
"'We must have civil words,
Civil words,
Bill.
' "'Civil words!
' cried the girl,
Whose passion was frightful to see.
"'Civil words,
You villain!
Yes,
You deserve them from me.
I thieved for you when I was a child,
Not half as old as this.
' Pointing to Oliver.
"'I've been in the same trade and in the same service for twelve years since.
Don't you know it?
Speak out.
Don't you know it?
' "'Well,
Well,
' replied the Jew,
With an attempted pacification.
"'And if you have,
It's your living.
' "'Aye,
It is,
' returned the girl,
Not speaking but pouring out the words in one continuous and vehement scream.
"'It's my living,
And the cold,
Wet,
Dirty streets are my home,
And you're the wretch that drove me to them long ago,
And that'll keep me there day and night,
Day and night,
Till I die.
' "'I shall do you a mischief,
' interposed the Jew,
Goaded by these reproaches.
A mischief worse than that,
If you say much more.
The girl said nothing more,
But tearing her hair and dress in a transport of passion,
Made such a rush at the Jew as would probably have left signal marks of her revenge upon him,
Had not her wrists been seized by Sykes at the right moment,
Upon which she made a few ineffectual struggles,
And fainted.
"'She's all right now,
' said Sykes,
Laying her down in a corner.
"'She's uncommon strong in the arms when she's up in this way.
' The Jew wiped his forehead and smiled as if it were a relief to have the disturbance over,
But neither he nor Sykes,
Nor the dog,
Nor the boys,
Seemed to consider it in any other light than a common occurrence incidental to business.
"'It's the worst of having to do with women,
' said the Jew,
Replacing his club.
"'But they're clever,
And we can't get on in our line without them.
Charlie,
Show Oliver to bed.
' "'I suppose he'd better not wear his best clothes tomorrow,
Faking,
Had he?
' inquired Charlie Bates.
"'Certainly not,
' replied the Jew,
Reciprocating the grin with which Charlie put the question.
Master Bates,
Apparently much delighted with his commission,
Took the cleft stick and led Oliver into an adjacent kitchen where there were two or three of the beds on which he had slept before.
And here,
With many uncontrollable bursts of laughter,
He produced the identical old suit of clothes which Oliver had so much congratulated himself upon leaving off at Mr Brownlow's,
And the accidental display of which,
To fake in by the Jew who purchased them,
Had been the very first clue received of his whereabouts.
"'Put off the smart ones,
' said Charlie,
And I'll give them to Fagin to take care of.
What fun it is!
' Poor Oliver unwillingly complied.
Master Bates,
Rolling up the new clothes under his arm,
Departed from the room,
Leaving Oliver in the dark and locking the door behind him.
The noise of Charlie's laughter and the voice of Miss Betsy,
Who opportunely arrived to throw water over her friend and perform other feminine offices for the promotion of her recovery,
Might have kept many people awake under more happy circumstances.
Than those in which Oliver was placed.
But he was sick and weary.
And soon,
He fell asleep.
