now that you were
hanging about the house the other night, like a thief, eh? Weren't you
told then?'

'No,' replied the boy.

'You were not?' said Quilp. 'What were you told then; what were you
talking about?'

Kit, who knew no particular reason why he should keep the matter secret
now, related the purpose for which he had come on that occasion, and
the proposal he had made.

'Oh!' said the dwarf after a little consideration. 'Then, I think
they'll come to you yet.'

'Do you think they will?' cried Kit eagerly.

'Aye, I think they will,' returned the dwarf. 'Now, when they do, let
me know; d'ye hear? Let me know, and I'll give you something. I want
to do 'em a kindness, and I can't do 'em a kindness unless I know where
they are. You hear what I say?'

Kit might have returned some answer which would not have been agreeable
to his irascible questioner, if the boy from the wharf, who had been
skulking about the room in search of anything that might have been left
about by accident, had not happened to cry, 'Here's a bird! What's to
be done with this?'

'Wring its neck,' rejoined Quilp.

'Oh no, don't do that,' said Kit, stepping forward. 'Give it to me.'

'Oh yes, I dare say,' cried the other boy. 'Come! You let the cage
alone, and let me wring its neck will you? He said I was to do it.
You let the cage alone will you.'

'Give it here, give it to me, you dogs,' roared Quilp. 'Fight for it,
you dogs, or I'll wring its neck myself!'

Without further persuasion, the two boys fell upon each other, tooth
and nail, while Quilp, holding up the cage in one hand, and chopping
the ground with his knife in an ecstasy, urged them on by his taunts
and cries to fight more fiercely. They were a pretty equal match, and
rolled about together, exchanging blows which were by no means child's
play, until at length Kit, planting a well-directed hit in his
adversary's chest, disengaged himself, sprung nimbly up, and snatching
the cage from Quilp's hands made off with his prize.

He did not stop once until he reached home, where his bleeding face
occasioned great consternation, and caused the elder child to howl
dreadfully.

'Goodness gracious, Kit, what is the matter, what have you been doing?'
cried Mrs Nubbles.

'Never you mind, mother,' answered her son, wiping his face on the
jack-towel behind the door. 'I'm not hurt, don't you be afraid for me.
I've been a fightin' for a bird and won him, that's all. Ho