1 Oliver Twist‘that the women can’t be got over?’
‘Not a bit of it,’ replied Sikes.
‘Not by flash Toby Crackit?’ said the Jew incredulously.
‘Think what women are, Bill,’
‘No; not even by flash Toby Crackit,’ replied Sikes. ‘He
says he’s worn sham whiskers, and a canary waistcoat, the
whole blessed time he’s been loitering down there, and it’s
all of no use.’
‘He should have tried mustachios and a pair of military
trousers, my dear,’ said the Jew.
‘So he did,’ rejoined Sikes, ‘and they warn’t of no more
use than the other plant.’
The Jew looked blank at this information. After ruminat-
ing for some minutes with his chin sunk on his breast, he
raised his head and said, with a deep sigh, that if flash Toby
Crackit reported aright, he feared the game was up.
‘And yet,’ said the old man, dropping his hands on his
knees, ‘it’s a sad thing, my dear, to lose so much when we
had set our hearts upon it.’
‘So it is,’ said Mr. Sikes. ‘Worse luck!’
A long silence ensued; during which the Jew was plunged
in deep thought, with his face wrinkled into an expression
of villainy perfectly demoniacal. Sikes eyed him furtively
from time to time. Nancy, apparently fearful of irritating
the housebreaker, sat with her eyes fixed upon the fire, as if
she had been deaf to all that passed.
‘Fagin,’ said Sikes, abruptly breaking the stillness that
prevailed; ‘is it worth fifty shiners extra, if it’s safely done
from the outside?’