Page:Oliver Twist (1838) vol. 1.djvu/343

Rh "Not at all," replied Sikes coldly.

"Not to be done at all!" echoed the Jew, leaning back in his chair. "No, not at all," rejoined Sikes; "at least it can't be a put-up job, as we expected." "Then it hasn't been properly gone about," said the Jew, turning pale with anger. "Don't tell me." "But I will tell you," retorted Sikes. "Who are you that's not to be told? I tell you that Toby Crackit has been hanging about the place for a fortnight, and he can't get one of the servants into a line." "Do you mean to tell me, Bill," said the Jew, softening as the other grew heated, "that neither of the two men in the house can be got over?" "Yes, I do mean to tell you so," replied Sikes. "The old lady has had 'em these twenty year; and, if you were to give 'em five hundred pound, they wouldn't be in it." "But do you mean to say, my dear,"