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- Чарльз Диккенс
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- Стр. 221/459
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If
the
truth
must
be
told
,
even
Mr
Swiveller
’
s
approaches
to
the
single
gentleman
were
of
a
very
distant
kind
,
and
met
with
small
encouragement
;
but
,
as
he
never
returned
from
a
monosyllabic
conference
with
the
unknown
,
without
quoting
such
expressions
as
‘
Swiveller
,
I
know
I
can
rely
upon
you
,
’
—
‘
I
have
no
hesitation
in
saying
,
Swiveller
,
that
I
entertain
a
regard
for
you
,
’
—
‘
Swiveller
,
you
are
my
friend
,
and
will
stand
by
me
I
am
sure
,
’
with
many
other
short
speeches
of
the
same
familiar
and
confiding
kind
,
purporting
to
have
been
addressed
by
the
single
gentleman
to
himself
,
and
to
form
the
staple
of
their
ordinary
discourse
,
neither
Mr
Brass
nor
Miss
Sally
for
a
moment
questioned
the
extent
of
his
influence
,
but
accorded
to
him
their
fullest
and
most
unqualified
belief
.
But
quite
apart
from
,
and
independent
of
,
this
source
of
popularity
,
Mr
Swiveller
had
another
,
which
promised
to
be
equally
enduring
,
and
to
lighten
his
position
considerably
.
He
found
favour
in
the
eyes
of
Miss
Sally
Brass
.
Let
not
the
light
scorners
of
female
fascination
erect
their
ears
to
listen
to
a
new
tale
of
love
which
shall
serve
them
for
a
jest
;
for
Miss
Brass
,
however
accurately
formed
to
be
beloved
,
was
not
of
the
loving
kind
.
That
amiable
virgin
,
having
clung
to
the
skirts
of
the
Law
from
her
earliest
youth
;
having
sustained
herself
by
their
aid
,
as
it
were
,
in
her
first
running
alone
,
and
maintained
a
firm
grasp
upon
them
ever
since
;
had
passed
her
life
in
a
kind
of
legal
childhood
.
She
had
been
remarkable
,
when
a
tender
prattler
for
an
uncommon
talent
in
counterfeiting
the
walk
and
manner
of
a
bailiff
:
in
which
character
she
had
learned
to
tap
her
little
playfellows
on
the
shoulder
,
and
to
carry
them
off
to
imaginary
sponging
-
houses
,
with
a
correctness
of
imitation
which
was
the
surprise
and
delight
of
all
who
witnessed
her
performances
,
and
which
was
only
to
be
exceeded
by
her
exquisite
manner
of
putting
an
execution
into
her
doll
’
s
house
,
and
taking
an
exact
inventory
of
the
chairs
and
tables
.
These
artless
sports
had
naturally
soothed
and
cheered
the
decline
of
her
widowed
father
:
a
most
exemplary
gentleman
(
called
‘
old
Foxey
’
by
his
friends
from
his
extreme
sagacity
,
)
who
encouraged
them
to
the
utmost
,
and
whose
chief
regret
,
on
finding
that
he
drew
near
to
Houndsditch
churchyard
,
was
,
that
his
daughter
could
not
take
out
an
attorney
’
s
certificate
and
hold
a
place
upon
the
roll
.
Filled
with
this
affectionate
and
touching
sorrow
,
he
had
solemnly
confided
her
to
his
son
Sampson
as
an
invaluable
auxiliary
;
and
from
the
old
gentleman
’
s
decease
to
the
period
of
which
we
treat
,
Miss
Sally
Brass
had
been
the
prop
and
pillar
of
his
business
.
It
is
obvious
that
,
having
devoted
herself
from
infancy
to
this
one
pursuit
and
study
,
Miss
Brass
could
know
but
little
of
the
world
,
otherwise
than
in
connection
with
the
law
;
and
that
from
a
lady
gifted
with
such
high
tastes
,
proficiency
in
those
gentler
and
softer
arts
in
which
women
usually
excel
,
was
scarcely
to
be
looked
for
.
Miss
Sally
’
s
accomplishments
were
all
of
a
masculine
and
strictly
legal
kind
.
They
began
with
the
practice
of
an
attorney
and
they
ended
with
it
.
She
was
in
a
state
of
lawful
innocence
,
so
to
speak
.
The
law
had
been
her
nurse
.
And
,
as
bandy
-
legs
or
such
physical
deformities
in
children
are
held
to
be
the
consequence
of
bad
nursing
,
so
,
if
in
a
mind
so
beautiful
any
moral
twist
or
handiness
could
be
found
,
Miss
Sally
Brass
’
s
nurse
was
alone
to
blame
.
It
was
upon
this
lady
,
then
,
that
Mr
Swiveller
burst
in
full
freshness
as
something
new
and
hitherto
undreamed
of
,
lighting
up
the
office
with
scraps
of
song
and
merriment
,
conjuring
with
inkstands
and
boxes
of
wafers
,
catching
three
oranges
in
one
hand
,
balancing
stools
upon
his
chin
and
penknives
on
his
nose
,
and
constantly
performing
a
hundred
other
feats
with
equal
ingenuity
;
for
with
such
unbendings
did
Richard
,
in
Mr
Brass
’
s
absence
,
relieve
the
tedium
of
his
confinement
.
These
social
qualities
,
which
Miss
Sally
first
discovered
by
accident
,
gradually
made
such
an
impression
upon
her
,
that
she
would
entreat
Mr
Swiveller
to
relax
as
though
she
were
not
by
,
which
Mr
Swiveller
,
nothing
loth
,
would
readily
consent
to
do
.
By
these
means
a
friendship
sprung
up
between
them
.
Mr
Swiveller
gradually
came
to
look
upon
her
as
her
brother
Sampson
did
,
and
as
he
would
have
looked
upon
any
other
clerk
.
He
imparted
to
her
the
mystery
of
going
the
odd
man
or
plain
Newmarket
for
fruit
,
ginger
-
beer
,
baked
potatoes
,
or
even
a
modest
quencher
,
of
which
Miss
Brass
did
not
scruple
to
partake
.
He
would
often
persuade
her
to
undertake
his
share
of
writing
in
addition
to
her
own
;
nay
,
he
would
sometimes
reward
her
with
a
hearty
slap
on
the
back
,
and
protest
that
she
was
a
devilish
good
fellow
,
a
jolly
dog
,
and
so
forth
;
all
of
which
compliments
Miss
Sally
would
receive
in
entire
good
part
and
with
perfect
satisfaction
.
One
circumstance
troubled
Mr
Swiveller
’
s
mind
very
much
,
and
that
was
that
the
small
servant
always
remained
somewhere
in
the
bowels
of
the
earth
under
Bevis
Marks
,
and
never
came
to
the
surface
unless
the
single
gentleman
rang
his
bell
,
when
she
would
answer
it
and
immediately
disappear
again
.
She
never
went
out
,
or
came
into
the
office
,
or
had
a
clean
face
,
or
took
off
the
coarse
apron
,
or
looked
out
of
any
one
of
the
windows
,
or
stood
at
the
street
-
door
for
a
breath
of
air
,
or
had
any
rest
or
enjoyment
whatever
.
Nobody
ever
came
to
see
her
,
nobody
spoke
of
her
,
nobody
cared
about
her
.
Mr
Brass
had
said
once
,
that
he
believed
she
was
a
‘
love
-
child
’
(
which
means
anything
but
a
child
of
love
)
,
and
that
was
all
the
information
Richard
Swiveller
could
obtain
.
