felt as if she were hemmed in
by a legion of Quilps, and the very air itself were filled with them.

The delight of the Nobility and Gentry and the patronised of Royalty
had, by some process of self-abridgment known only to herself, got into
her travelling bed, where she was snoring peacefully, while the large
bonnet, carefully disposed upon the drum, was revealing its glories by
the light of a dim lamp that swung from the roof. The child's bed was
already made upon the floor, and it was a great comfort to her to hear
the steps removed as soon as she had entered, and to know that all easy
communication between persons outside and the brass knocker was by this
means effectually prevented. Certain guttural sounds, too, which from
time to time ascended through the floor of the caravan, and a rustling
of straw in the same direction, apprised her that the driver was
couched upon the ground beneath, and gave her an additional feeling of
security.

Notwithstanding these protections, she could get none but broken sleep
by fits and starts all night, for fear of Quilp, who throughout her
uneasy dreams was somehow connected with the wax-work, or was wax-work
himself, or was Mrs Jarley and wax-work too, or was himself, Mrs
Jarley, wax-work, and a barrel organ all in one, and yet not exactly
any of them either. At length, towards break of day, that deep sleep
came upon her which succeeds to weariness and over-watching, and which
has no consciousness but one of overpowering and irresistible enjoyment.

CHAPTER 28

Sleep hung upon the eyelids of the child so long, that, when she awoke,
Mrs Jarley was already decorated with her large bonnet, and actively
engaged in preparing breakfast. She received Nell's apology for being
so late with perfect good humour, and said that she should not have
roused her if she had slept on until noon.

'Because it does you good,' said the lady of the caravan, 'when you're
tired, to sleep as long as ever you can, and get the fatigue quite off;
and that's another blessing of your time of life--you can sleep so very
sound.'

'Have you had a bad night, ma'am?' asked Nell.

'I seldom have anything else, child,' replied Mrs Jarley, with the air
of a martyr. 'I sometimes wonder how I bear it.'

Remembering the snores which had proceeded from that cleft in the
caravan in which the proprietress of the wax-work passed the night,
Nell rather thought she must have been dreaming of lying awake.
H