s till you haven't a
profile between you, I will.'

'Come, you drop that stick or it'll be worse for you,' said his boy,
dodging round him and watching an opportunity to rush in; 'you drop
that stick.'

'Come a little nearer, and I'll drop it on your skull, you dog,' said
Quilp, with gleaming eyes; 'a little nearer--nearer yet.'

But the boy declined the invitation until his master was apparently a
little off his guard, when he darted in and seizing the weapon tried to
wrest it from his grasp. Quilp, who was as strong as a lion, easily
kept his hold until the boy was tugging at it with his utmost power,
when he suddenly let it go and sent him reeling backwards, so that he
fell violently upon his head. The success of this manoeuvre tickled Mr
Quilp beyond description, and he laughed and stamped upon the ground as
at a most irresistible jest.

'Never mind,' said the boy, nodding his head and rubbing it at the same
time; 'you see if ever I offer to strike anybody again because they say
you're an uglier dwarf than can be seen anywheres for a penny, that's
all.'

'Do you mean to say, I'm not, you dog?' returned Quilp.

'No!' retorted the boy.

'Then what do you fight on my wharf for, you villain?' said Quilp.

'Because he said so,' replied to boy, pointing to Kit, 'not because you
an't.'

'Then why did he say,' bawled Kit, 'that Miss Nelly was ugly, and that
she and my master was obliged to do whatever his master liked? Why did
he say that?'

'He said what he did because he's a fool, and you said what you did
because you're very wise and clever--almost too clever to live, unless
you're very careful of yourself, Kit.' said Quilp, with great suavity
in his manner, but still more of quiet malice about his eyes and mouth.
'Here's sixpence for you, Kit. Always speak the truth. At all times,
Kit, speak the truth. Lock the counting-house, you dog, and bring me
the key.'

The other boy, to whom this order was addressed, did as he was told,
and was rewarded for his partizanship in behalf of his master, by a
dexterous rap on the nose with the key, which brought the water into
his eyes. Then Mr Quilp departed with the child and Kit in a boat, and
the boy revenged himself by dancing on his head at intervals on the
extreme verge of the wharf, during the whole time they crossed the
river.

There was only Mrs Quilp at home, and she, little expecting the return
of her lord, was just composing herself for a refreshing slum