Chapter 51 - Page 2

some time, he at last broke out into this apostrophe a€" a€˜Miggs, my good girl, go to beda€"do go to bed. Youa€™re really worse than the dripping of a hundred water-butts outside the window, or the scratching of as many mice behind the wainscot. I cana€™t bear it. Do go to bed, Miggs. To oblige mea€"do.a€™

a€˜You havena€™t got nothing to untie, sir,a€™ returned Miss Miggs, a€˜and therefore your requests does not surprise me. But missis hasa€"and while you sit up, mima€™a€"she added, turning to the locksmitha€™s wife, a€˜I couldna€™t, no, not if twenty times the quantity of cold water was aperiently running down my back at this moment, go to bed with a quiet spirit.a€™

Having spoken these words, Miss Miggs made divers efforts to rub her shoulders in an impossible place, and shivered from head to foot; thereby giving the beholders to understand that the imaginary cascade was still in full flow, but that a sense of duty upheld her under that and all other sufferings, and nerved her to endurance.

Mrs Varden being too sleepy to speak, and Miss Miggs having, as the phrase is, said her say, the locksmith had nothing for it but to sigh and be as quiet as he could.

But to be quiet with such a basilisk before him was impossible. If he looked another way, it was worse to feel that she was rubbing her cheek, or twitching her ear, or winking her eye, or making all kinds of extraordinary shapes with her nose, than to see her do it. If she was for a moment free from any of these complaints, it was only because of her foot being asleep, or of her arm having got the fidgets, or of her leg being doubled up with the cramp, or of some other horrible disorder which racked her whole frame. If she did enjoy a momenta€™s ease, then with her eyes shut and her mouth wide open, she would be seen to sit very stiff and upright in her chair; then to nod a little way forward, and stop with a jerk; then to nod a little farther forward, and stop with another jerk; then to recover herself; then to come forward againa€"lowera€"lowera€"lowera€" by very slow degrees, until, just as it seemed impossible that she could preserve her balance for another instant, and the locksmith was about to call out in an agony, to save her from dashing down upon her forehead and fracturing her skull, then all of a sudden and without the smallest notice, she would come upright and rigid again with her eyes open, and in her countenance an expression of defiance, sleepy but yet most obstinate, which plainly said, a€˜Ia€™ve never once closed a€™em since I looked at you last, and Ia€™ll take my oath of it!a€™

At length, after the clock had struck two, there was a sound at the street