ringing her hands and weeping
bitterly, but Kit made no attempt to comfort her and remained quite
bewildered. The baby in the cradle woke up and cried; the boy in the
clothes-basket fell over on his back with the basket upon him, and was
seen no more; the mother wept louder yet and rocked faster; but Kit,
insensible to all the din and tumult, remained in a state of utter
stupefaction.

CHAPTER 11

Quiet and solitude were destined to hold uninterrupted rule no longer,
beneath the roof that sheltered the child. Next morning, the old man
was in a raging fever accompanied with delirium; and sinking under the
influence of this disorder he lay for many weeks in imminent peril of
his life. There was watching enough, now, but it was the watching of
strangers who made a greedy trade of it, and who, in the intervals in
their attendance upon the sick man huddled together with a ghastly
good-fellowship, and ate and drank and made merry; for disease and
death were their ordinary household gods.

Yet, in all the hurry and crowding of such a time, the child was more
alone than she had ever been before; alone in spirit, alone in her
devotion to him who was wasting away upon his burning bed; alone in her
unfeigned sorrow, and her unpurchased sympathy. Day after day, and
night after night, found her still by the pillow of the unconscious
sufferer, still anticipating his every want, still listening to those
repetitions of her name and those anxieties and cares for her, which
were ever uppermost among his feverish wanderings.

The house was no longer theirs. Even the sick chamber seemed to be
retained, on the uncertain tenure of Mr Quilp's favour. The old man's
illness had not lasted many days when he took formal possession of the
premises and all upon them, in virtue of certain legal powers to that
effect, which few understood and none presumed to call in question.
This important step secured, with the assistance of a man of law whom
he brought with him for the purpose, the dwarf proceeded to establish
himself and his coadjutor in the house, as an assertion of his claim
against all comers; and then set about making his quarters comfortable,
after his own fashion.

To this end, Mr Quilp encamped in the back parlour, having first put an
effectual stop to any further business by shutting up the shop. Having
looked out, from among the old furniture, the handsomest and most
commodious chair he could possibly find (which he r