Page:Oliver Twist (1838) vol. 2.djvu/79

Rh in her most civil tones, and dropping a curtsey as she spoke. "You should get better coals out of your contractors," said the apothecary's deputy, breaking a lump on the top of the fire with the rusty poker; "these are not at all the sort of thing for a cold night." "They're the board's choosing, sir," returned the matron. "The least they could do would be to keep us pretty warm, for our places are hard enough." The conversation was here interrupted by a moan from the sick woman. "Oh!" said the young man, turning his face, towards the bed, as if he had previously quite forgotten the patient, "it's all U. P. there, Mrs. Corney." "It is, is it, sir?" asked the matron. "If she lasts a couple of hours, I shall be surprised," said the apothecary's apprentice, intent upon the toothpick's point. "It's a break-up of the system altogether. Is she dozing, old lady?"