Chapter 47 Chapter Forty-Six

(Appointment.) When the church bells struck a quarter to eleven, two figures appeared on London Bridge.A woman hurriedly walked ahead, looking around eagerly, as if looking for some expected target.The figure of another man was sneaky, and he tried to walk under the darkest shadow along the way. He adjusted his pace from time to time, keeping a certain distance from the woman. When the woman stopped, he stopped, and the woman continued to walk. She also moved forward quietly, but even if she followed her vigorously, she would never rush to her front.So they crossed the bridge at Midsex, and came to the banks of the Cellais.At this time, the woman was obviously disappointed, because she searched impatiently, but she didn't see the person she was looking for among the passers-by, so she turned and walked back.This action was very sudden, but the person watching her did not make a mistake in his busy schedule. He dodged and hid in a four-way place on the top of the bridge pier, and climbed over the railing to hide even more tightly.He listened to the woman walking across the sidewalk.The woman walked to the front, almost the same distance as before, and then he slipped out without a sound, and followed up again.Almost in the middle of the bridge, the woman stopped.The man stopped too.

The night is dark, the stars and the moon are dark.The weather has been bad all day long, and there are few people coming and going here at this time.Even if there was, they walked by in a hurry, no matter whether it was to the woman or the man who was staring at her firmly, they probably didn't even look at her, even if they saw her, they definitely didn't pay attention.The appearance of a couple of poor Londoners who happened to pass the bridge that night, seeking shelter in a cold archway or in a shabby house with a wide open door, did not arouse their repulsive looks. look.The two stood there in silence, not speaking to any passerby, and no one spoke to them.

A layer of mist hung over the river, making the red lights of the boats moored at various docks appear darker, and the gloomy and chaotic buildings on the bank appeared more dim and hazy.Some warehouses along the banks of the river have long been smoky and stained with smoke, rising dull and melancholy from the dense roofs and gables, frowning coldly towards the water, and the black river reflects their thick and ugly appearance not come out.In the darkness, the bell tower of the ancient Church of the Savior and the spire of St. Magnus Church are faintly visible, still guarding the historic bridge like two giant spirit gods, but the masts under the bridge are almost the same as the dotted church spires on the shore. It's all gone.

While the girl was pacing up and down restlessly—she was being watched closely by the shadowy man—the bells of St. Paul's Cathedral rang heavily, announcing the end of another day.Midnight has come to this densely populated city, to palaces, basement hotels, prisons, madhouses, into these dormitories shared by life and death, health and disease, and to the rigid and stern faces of corpses and the peaceful and sweet sleep of children. Less than two minutes after the stroke of twelve, a young girl, accompanied by a gray-haired gentleman, got out of a cab, sent the cart away, and headed straight for the bridge. come.As soon as they stepped onto the sidewalk, the girl suddenly started up and immediately went forward.

They walked slowly up the bridge, looking around as though they were only trying something that seemed unlikely to come true, when suddenly they joined their new companion.With an exclamation that had just uttered and ended abruptly, they stopped, for at that moment a man dressed as a countryman came up to them--and did brush them. "Not here," said Nancy hastily, "I'm afraid to talk to you here. Go up—outside the road—to the lower steps." As she said this, she pointed to the direction she wanted them to go, and the countryman looked back, asked them in a rough voice why they occupied the whole sidewalk, and then walked away.

The stone steps Miss Nancy was referring to were on the Selay River Embankment, on the same side of the bridge as the Church of the Savior, and were a section of stone steps for boarding and disembarking boats. He observed the terrain for a moment, then began to walk down. This stone ladder is part of the bridge and has three sections.After descending the second flight of stairs, the stone wall on the left ends with an ornamental pilaster facing the Thames.Going down from here, the stone ladder is wider. As long as a person turns to the back of the stone wall, he will definitely not be seen by the people on the stone ladder, even if he is only one step higher than him.The countryman came to this place and looked around in a hurry. It seemed that there was no better hiding place in front of him. In addition, the tide had receded, so there were plenty of places to stand.He slipped aside, turned his back to the pilasters, and waited for work: he was sure they would not go down any further, and even if he couldn't hear what they were saying, he could still keep watching them steadily.

Time seemed so procrastinated in this secluded corner, and the spy was so anxious that he wanted to find out their intention for this meeting immediately. You must know that this was completely different from what he estimated from just listening to the introduction. The matter was blown, and he persuaded himself to believe that they either stopped far above and did not leave, or they found another place to have a secret conversation.He was about to emerge from his hiding place and return to the road when he heard footsteps, followed by voices almost close to his ears. He straightened his body, stuck straight against the stone wall, held his breath, and listened attentively.

"It's far enough now," said a voice, evidently that of the gentleman, "I can't ask this lady to go any further. No one else would trust you, and would not even come here." Yes, but you can also see that I am willing to follow your mind." "Follow my mind." That was the voice of the girl Noah Claypole was following. "You're so considerate, sir. Follow my mind. Well, well, it doesn't matter." "Oh, why," the gentleman said softly, "what is your purpose in bringing us to such an incredible place? Why don't you let me talk with you up there, where there are lights and Someone is moving around, but they want to lead us into this desolate black hole?"

"I told you just now," answered Nancy, "that I was afraid to talk to you there. Somehow," said the girl, trembling, "but I was so frightened to-night that I couldn't stand. " "What are you afraid of?" The gentleman seemed sympathetic to her. "I simply don't know what's the matter," answered the girl, "if only I knew. All I have been thinking about all day is the horrible idea of ​​death, the bloody shroud, and the more I am afraid, the hotter I am, like It's like being put on a fire. I read a book tonight, trying to kill time, and these things came out of the book again."

"It's imagination," Gentleman reassured her. "It's not imagination," the girl's voice was hoarse, "I can swear, I saw the word 'coffin' on every page of the book, in big and black characters—ah, just now on the street, they carried walked past me with a coffin." "It's no wonder," said the gentleman, "that it happens to me quite often." "That's a real coffin," answered the girl, "but what I see is not real." The tone of her speech was indeed extraordinary, and the spies who were hiding aside and eavesdropping couldn't help being terrified, and their blood was cold.Then he heard the soft voice of the young lady, and he felt a relief he had never felt before, begging her to calm down, and not to be tormented by such terrible visions.

"Please try to persuade her," said the lady to the old gentleman, "the poor girl. She seems to need it very much." "Seeing me to-night, some of your proud congregations will inevitably lift their heads and pray for hell-fire and God's wrath," cried the girl. "Oh, dear lady, there are those who claim to be children of People, why can’t they treat us poor people with such consideration and kindness like you? You are young and beautiful, and you have everything we have lost. You can be proud and you don’t need to be so humble.” "Oh," said the old gentleman, "the Turk washes his face, and prays facing east. And the good ones, in their friction with the world, seem to have even wiped out their smiles, and always face the darkest part of heaven. side. If I had to choose between heretics and hypocrites, I would prefer the former." These words were ostensibly addressed to the young lady, but their purpose was perhaps to give Nancy a moment to settle down.After a short pause, the old gentleman started talking to her himself. "You weren't here last Sunday night," he said. "I can't come," answered Nancy, "I'm forced to stay." "By whom?" "The man I told Miss before." "We came here this evening, and no one suspects that you've come to tip off somebody?" said the old gentleman. "No," answered the girl, shaking her head, "it's hard for me to leave him, unless I let him know why. If I hadn't given him a little laudanum before I came out, I should never see the lady again. " "He didn't wake up before you went back?" asked the old gentleman. "No, neither he nor any of them doubted me." "Very well," said the old gentleman, "now listen to me." "I'm listening." The girl replied the moment he stopped. "Miss," said the old gentleman, "tell me and several other friends who can be completely trusted with what you said almost half a month ago. Frankly speaking, at first I doubted whether you were absolutely reliable, But now I am convinced that you can be relied upon." "I can be relied upon," said the girl sincerely. "I repeat, I have no doubts about it. In order to prove to you my confidence in you, I will tell you without reservation that we intend to use the fear of this man Monks to force him to tell the secret, No matter what kind of secret it is. But if—if—” said the old gentleman, “he cannot be caught, or, if caught, cannot be made to do what we want, you must denounce the Jewish." "Fagin!" cried the girl, drawing back suddenly. "You must report on that man," said the old gentleman. "I will not. I will never do such a thing!" replied the girl, "though he is a devil, and treat me worse than the devil, I will never do such a thing." "You don't want to?" The old gentleman seemed to be fully prepared for this answer. "Never!" replied the girl. "Can you tell me why?" "There is a reason," the girl replied decisively. "There is a reason that Miss knows, and Ju will support me. I know she will support me, because I have an appointment with her first. Besides, there is another reason, he I'm a bad guy, but I'm no good, and many of us do the same thing, and I can't sell them out, and they—whoever they are—could have sold me out, but they didn't, Although they are bad people." "In that case," the old man said immediately, as if this was what he wanted to achieve with all his heart, "then hand over Monks to me, and I will deal with him." "What if he confessed to someone else?" "I promise you that, in such a case, as long as he tells the truth, the matter will be over. There must have been incidents in Oliver's brief life which are too inconvenient to tell. Once the truth comes out, they will be out of the way. " "What if you don't know?" the girl reminded. "Then," continued the old gentleman, "the Jew will not be brought to court unless you consent. If that were the case, I could presumably explain the reasons to you, and you would agree to it." "Miss, do you agree?" the girl asked. "I promise you," replied Ruth, "with all my heart." "Monks will never understand how you know these things?" the girl paused for a moment and said. "Absolutely not," replied the old gentleman. "It is about to fall upon him, and he has no way of guessing." "I'm a liar, and I've lived among liars since I was a child," the girl said after a while, after another silence, "but I believe you." After getting her reassurance from the two of them, she began to describe the name and location of the tavern that she was targeted as soon as she walked out that night. The spies who eavesdropped often couldn't figure out the gist of what she said.Judging from her occasional pauses, the old gentleman seemed to be making some hasty notes of what she had given her.She explained the location of the small hotel in detail, where is the best place to monitor without attracting others' attention, which nights Pankes is most likely to go to the hotel, what time, next , she seemed to think about it for a while, in order to recall his physical features more clearly. "He's tall," said the girl, "sturdy, not fat, and he walks furtively, always looking back, first one way and then the other. Don't forget, Because his eyes are sunken in, much deeper than any other man, you can recognize him by that alone. His face is dark, and his hair and eyes are the same. Although he is not more than twenty-six years old, even if he is two Eighteen years old, his skin has already developed a lot of wrinkles, and he is quite haggard. His lips are often bloodless, and the teeth marks are very deep. He suffers from cramps, and sometimes his hands are covered with scars from biting—why are you so scared? Jump?" The girl stopped suddenly as she said. The old man quickly replied that this was an unconscious action, and asked her to continue talking. "This man," said the girl, "is partly what I have learned from other people who live in the hotel, the hotel I am telling you about, and I have only seen him twice, and twice he They're all wearing a big cloak. That's probably all you can tell him about him. Wait a minute, and," she added, "his neck, when he turns his face away, there's more or less under the scarf. You can see a little, there's—" "A big red spot, like a burn or scald," said the old gentleman loudly. "What's the matter? You know him!" said the girl. The young lady let out an exclamation, and for a while, the three of them fell silent, and the eavesdropper could even hear their breathing clearly. "I think so," the old gentleman broke the silence. "From your description, it should be so. Come on. Many people are strangely similar to each other, and they may not be the same person." When he said these words, he pretended to be nonchalant, and took two steps forward, getting closer to the secret agent hiding in the dark, who clearly heard him whispering: "It must be him. " "Okay." While speaking, he seemed to have returned to the place where he was standing just now (it sounded like this), "Girl, you have given us a very valuable help, and I hope you will be rewarded for it. I can do it for you what?" "Nothing," Nancy replied. "Don't be stubborn," the old man replied. His voice and tone were full of good intentions, and no matter how hard and stubborn his heart was, he couldn't help but be touched. "Think about it, and just say it." "Nothing, sir," answered the girl, weeping. "You can't help me. I'm hopeless, really." "Don't give up on yourself," said the old gentleman. "You have wasted your youthful vitality in vain in the past. This priceless treasure is only given to us once by the Creator and will never be given to us again. However, you can still hope for the future. I do not mean that, by Our power can bring you peace of mind, which can only be obtained by your own pursuit. However, we can provide you with a quiet place to live. It is also possible in England, if you dare not stay in the country, Abroad is also possible, and this is not only within our power, but also our earnest hope. Before dawn, before the first light of dawn on this river, you can reach places that were completely out of reach of your former comrades, and do not There will be a little trace left, as if you disappeared from the world at once. Tell me. I don't want you to go back and have a conversation with some old partner, or take a look at some old lair, or even let you breathe again Take a breath of that air, and that air will bring you nothing but plague and death. Throw it all away, while there is still time and opportunity." "She is about to be persuaded," cried the young lady. "She is hesitating, she must be." "I'm afraid it may not be so, my dear," said the old gentleman. "Yes, sir, I will not change my mind," answered the girl, after a short effort, "I am chained to my past life.I hate it now, hate it, but can't live without it.I just have to get to the point where I can never come back - I don't know how, even if you said that to me a long time ago, I would laugh and take it for granted.But," she looked over her shoulder in panic, "I'm scared again, I have to go home. " "Go home!" repeated the young lady, emphasizing the word "home". "Yes, come home, madam," answered the girl, "that is the home I have made for myself with all my life's labor. Let us part. I shall be watched or recognized. Go! Go! If I do anything for you, I don't have any other requirements, I just ask you to leave me alone and let me go my own way." "It's useless," said the gentleman, with a sigh. "We may endanger her safety by staying here, and we may have delayed her longer than she originally estimated." "Yes, yes," the girl urged persistently, "it's already exceeded." "What kind of destination will this poor man get?" the young lady cried. "What destination." The girl repeated. "Look ahead of you, miss, look at the dark water. You must have read how many times people like me jump into the water, and no one cares, no one cries. Maybe a few It may not be a year, or even a few months, but I will get there eventually." "Please, don't say that." The young lady replied with a sob. "Such things will not come to you, my dear lady, and God help you not to hear such dreadful things," replied the girl. "Good-bye, good-bye." The old gentleman turned away. "This purse," cried the young lady, "for my sake, please accept it. It may be useful in case of urgent need." "No," answered the girl, "I don't do it for money, let me bear that in mind. But—you can give me what you have with you: I want a thing— —No, no, not a ring—your gloves or your handkerchief—I want to keep something of yours as a souvenir, dear lady. Oh, my God! God bless you! Good-bye, good-bye!” Seeing that Miss Nancy was extremely impulsive, and worried that she would be beaten and abused if she was discovered, the old gentleman seemed determined to agree to her plea and leave her.The clearly audible footsteps gradually faded away, and the voice stopped. The figures of the young lady and her companion appeared on the bridge after a while.They stopped at the top of the stone steps. "Listen!" Ruth listened intently, and suddenly called out, "Is she calling! I seem to have heard her voice." "No, my dear," returned Mr. Brownlow, looking back mournfully, "she's still standing where she is, and she won't go away till we're gone." Ruth Maylie still hesitated, but the old gentleman took her arm, and with a little effort, led her away.They gradually disappeared, and the girl collapsed almost straight on the first step of the stone ladder, and the sorrow in her heart turned into bitter tears. After a while, she stood up, staggered onto the street with weak steps.A few minutes passed, and the astonished eavesdropper remained motionless. He looked around with prudent eyes again and again, making sure that there was no one else around him, and then slowly crawled out of his hiding place, Just like when I came down, I used the shadow of the stone wall to sneak up on the bridge. Noah Claypole went to the top, peeped out more than once, and concluded that no one noticed him, then jumped out, spread his legs, and ran towards the old Jewish residence at the fastest speed.