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and never has been seen or heard of since till I set eyes on
him just now. And that young lady that was such a pret-
ty dear caught his illness, lost her beautiful looks, and
wouldn’t hardly be known for the same young lady now if
it wasn’t for her angel temper, and her pretty shape, and her
sweet voice. Do you know it? You ungrateful wretch, do you
know that this is all along of you and of her goodness to
you?’ demands the woman, beginning to rage at him as she
recalls it and breaking into passionate tears.
The boy, in rough sort stunned by what he hears, falls
to smearing his dirty forehead with his dirty palm, and to
staring at the ground, and to shaking from head to foot un-
til the crazy hoarding against which he leans rattles.
Allan restrains the woman, merely by a quiet gesture,
but effectually.
‘Richard told me—‘ He falters. ‘I mean, I have heard of
this— don’t mind me for a moment, I will speak presently.’
He turns away and stands for a while looking out at the
covered passage. When he comes back, he has recovered his
composure, except that he contends against an avoidance
of the boy, which is so very remarkable that it absorbs the
woman’s attention.
‘You hear what she says. But get up, get up!’
Jo, shaking and chattering, slowly rises and stands, after
the manner of his tribe in a difficulty, sideways against the
hoarding, resting one of his high shoulders against it and
covertly rubbing his right hand over his left and his left foot
over his right.
‘You hear what she says, and I know it’s true. Have you

940 Bleak House