Page:Oliver Twist (1838) vol. 2.djvu/126

114 for. Well; I got him back for you by means of the girl, and then she begins to favour him."

"Throttle the girl!" said Monks impatiently. "Why, we can't afford to do that just now, my dear," replied the Jew, smiling; "and, besides, that sort of thing is not in our way, or one of these days I might be glad to have it done. I know what these girls are, Monks, well. As soon as the boy begins to harden, she'll care no more for him than for a block of wood. You want him made a thief: if he is alive, I can make him one from this time; and if—if—" said the Jew, drawing nearer to the other,—"it's not likely, mind,—but if the worst comes to the worst, and he is dead———" "It's no fault of mine if he is!" interposed the other man with a look of terror, and clasping the Jews arm with trembling hands. "Mind that, Fagin! I had no hand in it. Any thing but his death, I told you from the first. I won't shed blood; it's always found out, and haunts a