Page:Hopkinson Smith--In Dickens's London.djvu/118

IN DICKENS'S LONDON "'I have seen her in the streets,' he (Peggotty) answered with a shiver.

"'But you don't know,' said I, 'that Emily was charitable to her, with Ham's help, long before she fled from home. Nor, that, when we met one night, and spoke together in the room yonder, over the way, she listened at the door.'

"'Mas'r Davy?' he replied in astonishment. 'That night when it snew so hard?'

"'That night. I have never seen her since. I went back, after parting from you, to speak to her, but she was gone. I was unwilling to mention her to you then, and I am now; but she is the person of whom I speak, and with whom I think we should communicate. Do you understand?'

"'Too well, Sir,' he replied. We had sunk our voices, almost to a whisper, and continued to speak in that tone. '"You say you have seen her. Do you think that you could find her? I could only hope to do so by chance.'

"'I think, Mas'r David, I know wheer to look.'

"'It is dark. Being together, shall we go out now, and try to find her to-night?'

"He assented, and prepared to accompany me.&hellip;

"We had come, through Temple Bar, into the City. Conversing no more now, and walking at my side, he yielded himself up to the one aim of his devoted life, and went on, with that hushed concentration of his faculties which would have made his figure solitary in a multitude. We were not far from Blackfriars Bridge, when he turned his head and 68