said the Jew. ‘He knows what I mean, Nancy; don’t he?’

‘No, he don’t,’ sneered Mr. Sikes. ‘Or he won’t, and that’s the same thing. Speak out, and call things by their right names; don’t sit there, winking and blinking, and talking to me in hints, as if you warn’t the very first that thought about the robbery. Wot d’ye mean?’

‘Hush, Bill, hush!’ said the Jew, who had in vain attempted to stop this burst of indignation; ‘somebody will hear us, my dear. Somebody will hear us.’

‘Let ‘em hear!’ said Sikes; ‘I don’t care.’ But as Mr. Sikes DID care, on reflection, he dropped his voice as he said the words, and grew calmer.