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[分享]Oliver Twist

Nancy keeps an appointment
On exactly the same night as Nancy had met Rose Maylie, two people from Oliver’s home town were making their way towards London. Their progress was slow, since they traveled on foot, and in addition, the girl was carrying a heavy bag on her back. The young man carried nothing. From time to time he turned to shout at the girl behind him. ‘Hurry up! What a lazy creature you are, Charlotte! I’ll come and give you a kick if you don’t move faster!’
The young man was Noah Claypole, who had made Oliver’s life so miserable at Mr. Sowerberry’s house. He was now taller and uglier but otherwise little changed. He and Charlotte had grown tired of the undertaking business and had set off to London to start a new life – with all the money from Mr. Sowerberry’s shop in their pockets.
Eventually, they entered London, and Noah began to look for a quiet, cheap pub where they could spend the night. Charlotte followed obediently at his heels as they walked through a district of narrow, dirty streets.
At last Noah found a pub that he thought was suitable. It was dark and dirty, with a few rough – looking men in the bar. They entered and asked for a room for the night and a meal of cold meat and beer, which they ate in the bar. The beer made Noah talkative and he began to boast. ‘So it’s no more coffins for us, my girl. We can do better than just robbing Mr. Sowerberry. In London there are pockets, houses, coaches – even banks!’
‘I like the sound of it, Noah, but how are we going to do all this?’ asked Charlotte.
‘We can meet people who know about these things. I’d like to be the leader of some gang, if there’s a good profit to be made in that kind of work.’ Noah felt very pleased with himself, and looked forward to an easy life of crime in the capital.
They talked about their plans for a few minutes. Then a stranger, who had been sitting unseen round the corner, came up to them. The stranger was Fagin. He greeted them in a very friendly and cheerful way, sat down with them, and immediately ordered more beer for Noah.
‘That’s good beer,’ said Fagin. ‘If you drink that every day, my dear, you’ll need to empty pockets, houses, coaches, even banks.’
When he heard his own words repeated, Noah went pale with terror. The stranger must have heard everything, even how they had robbed Mr. Sowerberry!
‘Don’t worry,’ laughed Fagin, pulling his chair closer. ‘You’re lucky it was only me who heard you.’
I didn’t take it,’ said Noah quickly. ‘It was the woman who did it!’
‘It doesn’t matter who did it, my dear,’ replied Fagin. Looking quickly at Charlotte. ‘Because I’m in that business myself. And the people in my house as well. I can introduce you to the right people, if you’re interested. You both look like good workers.’
Charlotte and Noah felt a mixture of fear and pleasure. ‘What would you want me to do?’ asked Noah. ‘Something light, if possible,’ he added.
‘What about spying on people?’ asked Fagin. ‘Or robbing young children who are going shopping for their mothers? That’s light work, and easy.’
Noah laughed. ‘That sounds like just the thing for me! And what will I earn for this work?’
‘You can live free in my house, and give me half of what you earn.’
After further discussion, and the transfer of Mr. Sowerberry’s money from Noah’s pocket to Fagin’s, agreement was reached. The next day Noah and Charlotte went to live in Fagin’s house and began to be instructed in their new profession.

[分享]Oliver Twist

Although training and experience had made Nancy an expert liar, she could not completely hide the fear in her mind. She knew she had taken an enormous risk in going to see Rose Maylie. If Fagin or Sikes ever found out… But she pushed these fears away. She was determined to keep her promise to Rose Maylie, and meet her as arranged.
On the first Sunday night after her meeting with Rose, she was in Sikes’ room when the clock struck eleven. Fagin was there, too, discussing some business with Sikes. Nancy stood up and put on her coat. Sikes watched her, surprised.
‘Nancy! Where are you going at this time of night?’
‘Not far.’
‘What kind of answer is that? Where are you going?’
‘I don’t know,’ replied the girl.
‘Then I do. Nowhere. Sit down.’
‘I’m not well. I want a breath of air.’
Sikes got up and locked the door.
‘Let me go!’ said the girl with great force. ‘Just for one hour – let me go!’
Sikes seized her arms roughly. ‘The girl’s gone mad!’
Nancy fought wildly, and Sikes had to hold to down in a chair. She continued to scream and fight until midnight, when, exhausted and tearful, she stopped struggling. She went into another room and threw herself of a bed.
‘She’s a strange girl,’ Sikes said to Fagin, shaking his head. ‘Why did she suddenly decide to go out tonight? I thought that after all these years I’d finally tamed her. She must be ill – perhaps she’s still got a bit of fever.’
‘That must be it,’ said Fagin, nodding thoughtfully.
As he walked home, Fagin’s eyes were sharp with suspicion. He had suspected for a while that Nancy had become tired of Bill Sikes’ brutality and violence, and that she had found a new friend to take his place. Her manner was different, she often left home alone, and she seemed less interested in the gang. And tonight, her desperate impatience to go out at particular hour… He was certain he was right. He began to make plans.
First, he wanted to know who Nancy’s new friend was. He could make him a valuable new member of the gang, with Nancy as his assistant. But there was another, darker reason. Fagin, too, had become tired of Sikes. Sikes knew too much – too many dangerous secrets about Fagin himself. Fagin distrusted everybody, but he hated and distrusted Sikes most of all. It would be very convenient if Sikes could be… removed.
‘With a little persuasion,’ Fagin thought, ‘perhaps the girl would poison Sikes.’ Suddenly, his eyes narrowed in delight. ‘Yes! First, I must have her watched, and find out who her new man is. Then I shall threaten to tell Sikes everything. She knows that neither she nor her new man will ever be safe from Sikes’ violent jealousy. She will have no choice except to do as I ask her – and then, once the murder is done, she will be in my power for ever!’
Early next morning Fagin called the newest member of his gang. Noah was doing very well. He had already brought home quite a lot of money. He had found that robbing small children was indeed light, easy work, and he was proud of his success.
‘I have another job for you now,’ Fagin told him. ‘It needs great care and secrecy. I want you to follow a woman. I want to know where she goes, who she sees, and if possible, what she says. I will pay you a pound for this information.’
Noah’s eyes were wide with greed. ‘I’m the right man for this job. Who is she?’
‘One of us.’
‘What? You don’t trust her, then?’
‘Exactly so, my dear. Exactly so,’ smiled Fagin.

[分享]Oliver Twist

The following Sunday, soon after eleven o’clock, a woman walked quickly through the dark streets towards London Bridge. A mist hung over the river, and the buildings on the far bank could hardly be seen. A man followed some distance behind her, keeping to the darkest shadows. It was a cold, damp night, and there were very few people on the streets at this late hour.
When the woman reached the center of the bridge, she stopped and looked around anxiously. The man following her stopped too. The heavy bell of St. Paul’s cathedral rang out, announcing the death of another day. Just as it finished, a grey – haired man and a young woman got out of a coach and walked across the bridge. They met the woman, who took them down some steps leading to the river bank. They stood in deep shadow by the wall of the bridge. The man hurried down some other steps, crept up to the corner of the wall, and listened.
Nancy spoke first. ‘I’m so frightened tonight I can hardly breathe.’
‘Frightened of what?’ asked Mr. Brownlow. He seemed to pity her.
‘I wish I knew. Horrible thoughts of death, and blood, have been with me all day. I don’t know why.’
‘Speak to her kindly,’ said Rose to Mr. Brownlow. ‘Poor girl! She seems to need it.’
‘I couldn’t come last Sunday,’ continued the girl. ‘I was kept in by force. But tonight he’ll be out all night until daylight. Now, before I tell you anything else, I must tell you that I don’t want Fagin, or any of the other members of the gang, to be handed to the police.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because I couldn’t betray them. They’ve been loyal to me, and I’ll stay loyal to them.’
‘Then just tell us how we can get Monks, and I promise none of your friends will be harmed,’ said Mr. Brownlow.
‘And Monks will never know how you found out about him?’ she asked.
‘We promise,’ said Rose gently.
Nancy then told them, in so low a voice that the listener round the corner could hardly hear her, where Monks often went for a drink, and what he looked like. She finished by saying, ‘On his throat, high up, thee is –’
‘A bright red mark?’ asked Mr. Brownlow.
‘Do you know him?’ asked Nancy in surprise.
‘I think I do.’ Mr. Brownlow murmured to himself, ‘It must be him!’ Then more loudly, he said to Nancy, ‘Thank you for everything you’ve told us. But now – how can you go back to these people? Come with us now, tonight. We can arrange for you to be hidden from them all forever, if you want us to.’
The girl shook her head. ‘I’m chained to him, bad as they are. I’ve gone too far to change my life now.’ She looked nervously over her shoulder. ‘I can feel those dreadful terrors again – visions of blood and death. I must go hime.’
Mr. Brwnlow and Rose could not persuade her to change her mind Sadly, they turned to leave, and when they had gone, Nancy fell to the ground in a storm of tears. Meanwhile, Noah Claypole, amazed by all that he had heard, crept up the steps and ran for Fagin’s house as fast as his legs could carry him.

[分享]Oliver Twist

Some hours later, nearly two hours before dawn, Noah lay asleep in Fagin’s house. But Fagin sat silently by a dead fire, staring at the flame of a candle on the table beside him. With his pale, wrinkled face and his red, staring eyes, he looked like a devil out of hell. Hatred ran like poison through his every thought. Hatred for the girl who had dared to talk to strangers, who had ruined his plan to get rid of Sikes. He did not believe her promise not to betray him, and he feared that he would now be caught, and hung.
Just before dawn Sikes entered the room, carrying a bundle which contained the results of his night’s work. Fagin took what Sikes gave him, then stared at the robber for a long time without speaking.
‘Why are you looking at me like that?’ asked Sikes, uneasy at the old man’s strange expression.
Fagin raised his hand, but his passion was so great that he could not speak.
‘Say something, will you!’ shouted Sikes, placing his huge hand on Fagin’s collar and shaking him in his anger and fear. ‘Open your mouth and say what you’ve got to say!’
Eventually Fagin found his voice. ‘Bill, what would you do if one of the gang went out at night and told someone all about us, and what we’d done? What would you do to him?’
‘I’d smash his head into little pieces,’ said the robber, swearing violently.
‘And what if it was me, who knows so much about all of us, and could put us all in prison and get us all hanged?’ whispered Fagin, his eyes flashing with hate.
‘I’d beat your brains out in public. Even in the law – court, I’d run over and kill you with my bare hands,’ said Sikes, showing his teeth in his anger. ‘I don’t care who it was, that’s what I’d do.’
Fagin woke Noah. ‘Tell Bill what you told me, what you saw, what she did. Tell him!’
Noah rubbed the sleep from his eyes and told Sikes everything. His face white with passion, Sikes listened to the end, then swearing furiously, he rushed from the room and down the stairs.
‘Bill!’ Fagin called after him. ‘You won’t be… too violent?’
Sikes made no reply, but, pulling open the door, ran out into the silent streets. He did not turn his head to right or left, but looked straight in front of him with wild determination. He ran at great speed, his eyes on fire, his teeth tight together, and did not pause until he reached his teeth tight together, and did not pause until he reached his own door. He ran up to his room, entered and locked the door, put a table against it, then woke Nancy.
‘Bill!’ she said, pleased to see him. But when she saw his expression, the colour went out of her face. ‘What’s the matter?’ she said in alarm.
‘You know what.’ Sikes took out his gun, but realizing, even in his madness, that a shot might be heard, he beat her twice across the face with it as hard as he could. She fell, with a low cry of pain and terror, almost blinded by the blood that flowed from the cut on her forehead. The murderer staggered to a corner, seized a heavy stick and struck her down.

[分享]Oliver Twist

The end of the gang
The sun burst upon the crowded city in all its brightness. It lit up every corner of London, the great houses of the rich, and the miserable homes of the poor. It shone everywhere, even into the room where the murdered woman lay. The horror of that scene was even mote dreadful in the clear morning light.
Sikes sat there, unable to move, looking at the body. He had thrown the blood – covered stick into the fire, then washed himself and his clothes. He had cut out the bits of his clothes that were stained and burnt them too, but there were still bloodstains all over the floor. Even the dog’s feet were bloody.
Finally, he forced himself to leave the room, pulling the dog out with him and locking the door behind him. He walked rapidly north, towards Highgate, then on to Hampstead. On the open land of Hampstead Heath, away from people and houses, he found a place in a field where he could sleep without being disturbed.
But before long he was up again and running. This time he ran back towards London for a while. Then he turned and went north again, sometimes walking, sometimes running, with no clear purpose in his mind. Eventually, he felt hungry, and changed direction towards Hendon, a quiet place away from the crowds, where he could buy food. But even the children and chickens there seemed to look at him with suspicion. So he turned back towards Hampstead Heath again, without having eaten, uncertain where to go.
At last he turned north again, his dog still running at his heels, and set off to a village just outside London. He stopped At a small, quiet pub and bought a meal, then went on again. It was now dark and as he continued walking, he felt as if Nancy were following him, her shadow on the road, her last low cry in the wind. If he stopped, the ghostly figure did the same. If he ran, it ran too, moving stiffly, like a corpse. Sometimes he turned, determined to drive the ghost away, but his blood ran cold with terror. Every time he turned, the ghost turned too, and was still behind him.
Finally, he found another field where he could hide. He lay down, unable to sleep, his mind filled with visions of the dead girl. Her wide, dead eyes stared at him, watching him through a curtain of blood.
Suddenly he heard shouting in the distance. He jumped to his feet and saw that the sky seemed on fire. Sheets of flame shot into the air, driving clouds of smoke in his direction. He heard an alarm bell, and more shouts of ‘Fire!’ Running with his dog across the fields, he joined the crowds of men and women fighting the fire. He could forget his own terror in this new danger, and he worked all night with the crowd, shouting, running and working together to stop the flames destroying more buildings.
In the morning the mad excitement was over, and the dreadful memory of his crime returned – more terrifying than ever. In desperation, he decided to go back to London.
‘At least there’ll be somebody I can speak to,’ he thought to himself. ‘And it’s a better hiding – place than out here in the country. I’ll hide there for a week, get some money out of Fagin, then escape to France.’
Suddenly he remembered the dog – people would be looking for his dog as well as himself. He decided to drown the animal. But the dog smelt the man’s fear, and turned and ran away from him faster than it had ever run in its life.

[分享]Oliver Twist

‘You have a choice, Mr. Monks,’ said Mr. Brownlow. ‘You have been kidnapped and brought here to my house. You can either tell me what I want to know, or I’ll have you arrested, instantly, for fraud and robbery. It’s your choice. And you must decide now. At once.’
Monks hesitated and looked at the old man, but Mr. Brownlow’s expression was so serious and determined that the younger man realized it was pointless to protest. ‘I didn’t expect this treatment from my father’s oldest friend,’ said Monks angrily, sitting down with a frown on his face.
‘Yes, I was your father’s oldest friend,’ said Mr. Brownlow. ‘And I know all about you – how your father, while still a boy, was forced by his family into an unhappy marriage with an older woman, and how you were the result of that marriage. I also know that your parents separated, hating each other by the end.’
‘Well – what’s so important about that?’
‘When they’d been separated for ten years,’ said Mr. Brownlow, ‘your father met another family. There were two daughters, one nineteen years old and the other only two or three. Your father became engaged to the older daughter. At this point one of his rich relations died and left him a lot of money in his will. Your father had to travel to Italy to receive his inheritance, and while there, he became ill and died. Your mother, who was living with you in Paris, immediately rushed to Italy when she heard the news. As your father had made no will of his own, all the relation’s money came to you and her.’
Monks listened with close attention, biting his lip and staring at the floor.
‘Before you father went to receive that money, he came to see me,’ continued Mr. Brownlow slowly, his eyes fixed on Monks’ face.
‘I never heard that before,’ said Monks, looking up suddenly, a suspicious expression on his face.
‘He left me a picture of the poor girl he wanted to marry. He talked wildly about shame and guilt, and how he would give part of the money he’d inherited to his wife and to you, and use the rest to escape from England with the girl he loved. He refused to tell me any more details.’
Monks breathed more easily, and even smiled.
‘But,’ said Mr. Brownlow, pulling his chair nearer to the other man, ‘by chance I was able to rescue your brother Oliver from a life of misery and—‘
‘What!’ cried Monks.
Mr. Brownlow continued without a pause. ‘And when he was recovering from his sickness here in my house, I noticed how similar he looked to the girl’s face in the picture. But he was taken away before I could discover his history – as you know very well.’
‘You can’t prove anything!’ said Monks.
‘I can. I heard that you were in the West Indies. I went there to try and find you to see if you knew anything about Oliver, but you’d already left. I returned to London, and was unable to find you until two hours ago.’
‘And now what? You can’t prove that Oliver’s my brother.’ Monks smiled unpleasantly.
‘I couldn’t before,’ said Mr. Brownlow, standing up. ‘But now I can. There was a will, but your mother destroyed it. This will mentioned a child that would be born later; this was Oliver, the child you met later by accident. You noticed his resemblance to your father and you became suspicious. You then went back to his birthplace, found proof of his birth and the fact that he’s your half – brother, and destroyed that proof.’
Monks sat in silence, his eyes filled with fear.
‘Yes,’ continued Mr. Brownlow fiercely, ‘shadows on the wall have caught your whispers with Fagin, and brought them to my ear. For the sake of that innocent child, whom you wanted to destroy. And now murder had been done, and you are as guilty of that as if you had struck the blow yourself!’
‘No, no,’ said Monks quickly. ‘I knew nothing of that. Nothing at all.’ He was silent for a while, realizing how much was known about him. Hatred and fear fought inside him, but he was a coward at heart. At last, seeing no escape, he raised his head. ‘I will admit everything – in front of witnesses, if necessary.’
Mr. Brownlow nodded coldly. ‘I will prepare a document for you to sign. You must give Oliver what is really his, and then you can go where you please.’
At that moment Dr. Losberne rushed into the room. ‘The murderer will be taken tonight! His dog’s been found.’
‘And Fagin?’ asked Mr. Brownlow.
‘They’re sure of him. They may have him already.’
Mr. Brownlow turned back to Monks. ‘Have you made up your mind?’
‘Yes,’ said Mr. Brownlow. ‘You have my promise – it’ll remain a secret? No police, or charges of fraud against me?’
‘Yes,’ said Mr. Brownlow. ‘You have my promise. For now, you must remain here, locked in this room. I will come for you tomorrow evening and take you to sign a confession in front of witnesses.’
Mr. Brownlow then left the room with doctor, and they eagerly discussed the news of the hunt for the criminals. ‘My blood boils with anger,’ said Mr. Brownlow. ‘This poor murdered girl must be revenged. You stay here and guard Monks. I’ll go out and get the latest news.’
The two men parted, each in a fever of excitement.

[分享]Oliver Twist

Down by the river Thames was a district called Rotherhithe, one of the dirtiest and roughest places in London. The houses next to the river had no owners; they were broken down and ruined, but could be defended against attack. In an upper room of one of these houses, were three members of Fagin’s gang.
‘When was Fagin taken, then?’ asked the man called Toby.
‘Two o’clock this afternoon. Charley and I escaped up the chimney, but Noah was caught. Bet went to see Nancy and when she saw the body, she started screaming and wouldn’t stop. She’ been taken to hospital.’
‘What’s happened to Charley Bates?’
‘He’ll come here when it’s dark. It’s dangerous now.’
‘We’re in trouble,’ said Toby. ‘Fagin’s going to hang – that’s certain.’
‘You should have seen him when he was caught,’ said another robber. ‘The police carried him through the crowd while all the people jumped at him, screaming and trying to attack him.’
Suddenly Sikes’ dog ran into the room. All the robbers rushed out immediately to look for Sikes, but there was no sign of him. They returned to the upstairs room.
‘I hope he’s not coming here,’ said Toby.
‘The dog’s come a long way,’ said another man. ‘Covered in mud, and tired out.’
They sat there in silence, wondering where Sikes was. It was already dark when they heard a sudden, hurried knock at the door downstairs.
Toby went to the window to look down, then pulled his head back in, his face pale with fear. There was no need to tell the others who it was.
‘We must let him in,’ said Toby, although none of them wanted to see him. Toby went down to the door and returned, followed by Sikes. White – faced, with a three – day – old beard, hollow cheeks and staring eyes, Sikes looked like a ghost. No one said a word.
‘Nothing to say to me?’ Sikes asked.
The only answer was a low shout of many voices from outside in the distance, coming closer. Lights appeared. Looking out, Sikes saw a stream of people crossing the bridge towards them. Then there was a loud knocking on the door and more shouts from the crowd.
‘The doors are made of metal and they’re locked and chained,’ said Toby. The three robbers watched Sikes nervously, as if he were a wild animal.
‘Bring a ladder!’ shouted some of the crowd below.
‘Give me a rope, quick,’ Sikes said to the others. ‘I’ll go the other way, climb down the back and escape over the river. Get me a rope – now! Or I’ll do three more murders!’
A minute later, Sikes appeared on the roof and the shouts from the crowd below swelled to a great roar. Then the front door was smashed down and people streamed into the house. Sikes quickly tied the rope around the chimney, then began to tie the other end around himself, ready to lower himself to the ground behind the house. But just as he put the rope over his head, he screamed in terror and threw his arms above his head. As he fell, the rope tightened around his neck with a horrible jerk. In a second the murderer was dead, and there he hung, his body swinging gently from side to side. The dog, which had followed its master onto the roof, jumped down towards the lifeless body, missed, and fell dead on the stones below.

[分享]Oliver Twist

The end of the mystery
The next day Oliver traveled with Mr. Brownlow, Dr. Losberne, Mrs. Maylie and Rose back to his birthplace. He had been told a little of his history, and knew that there would be more explanations at the end of this journey. He was anxious and uncertain, wondering what he would hear.
But towards the end of the journey, he began to recognize familiar places, and in great excitement pointed them out to Rose. There was the path he had taken when he had run away. There, across the fields, was the ‘baby farm’. Then, as they drove into the town, he saw the house of Mr. Sowerberry the undertaker, and the workhouse that had been his prison.
They stopped at the biggest hotel in the town, and went in to their rooms. During dinner Mr. Brownlow stayed in a separate rooms, and the older members of the group went in and out with serious faces. Mrs. Maylie came back with her eyes red from crying. All this made Rose and Oliver, who had not been told any new secrets, very nervous and uncomfortable.
At nine o’clock Dr. Losberne and Mr. Brownlow brought Monks into once outside a pub, and seen another time with Faagin, looking in at him through the window of the country cottage. Oliver was told that Monks was his half – brother, and the boy stared at him in shock and amazement. Monks looked back at him with hatred.
‘We have the whole story here in these papers,’ said Mr. Brownlow, putting them on the table. ‘All we need now is for  you to sign them, Monks. And to tell Oliver what happened.’
Monks started hesitantly. ‘My father had arrived in Italy to collect the money he had inherited, when suddenly he fell ill. When he died, we found two papers in his desk. One was a letter to his girl; the other was a will.’
‘What was the letter?’ asked Mr. Brownlow.
‘It was written when he was ill, telling the girl how ashamed he was that she was pregnant. He asked her not to remember him as a bad man but as someone who had made a mistake. He reminded her of the day he’d given her the locket and ring.’
Oliver’s tears fell fast as he listened to the story of his father.
‘And what about the will?’ asked Mr. Brownlow.
Monks was silent.
‘The will,’ continued Mr. Brownlow, speaking for him, ‘was in the same spirit as the letter. He talked of the misery of his marriage to his wife, and the evil character of you, Monks, his only son, who had been brought up by your mother to hate him. He left you and your mother an annual income of ￡800. The rest of his property he left to his girl Agnes and to their child, if it were born alive, and if it showed itself to be of a good, kind character. The money would only go to you, Monks, as the older son, if the younger turned out to be as evil as you.’
‘My mother,’ said Monks, ‘burnt this will, and never sent the letter. The girl Agnes left her home in secret, so that her pregnancy would not bring shame on her family. I swore to my mother, when she was dying, that if I ever found my half - brother, I would do him all the harm I could. He would feel my hatred like a whip on his back. I paid Fagin to trap Oliver into a life of crime. But then he escaped, and that stupid, interfering girl Nancy talked to you. If I’d had the chance, I would have finished what I’d begun.’ Monks stared at Oliver, and his lips moved in a silent curse.
‘And the locket and ring?’ asked Mr. Brownlow.
‘I bought them from Mr. and Mrs. Bumble, who had stolen them from the nurse, who had stolen them from Agnes, the dead girl. I’ve already told you how I threw them into the river.’
Mr. Brownlow turned to Rose. ‘I have one more thing to explain,’ he said to the girl.
‘I don’t know if I have the strength to hear it now,’ she murmured, ‘having heard so much already.’
Mr. Brownlow put his hand under her arm. ‘You have a great deal of courage, dear child,’ he said kindly. He turned long time in silence, and the others left them alone.

[分享]Oliver Twist

The court was full of faces; from every corner, all eyes were on one man – Fagin. In front of him, behind, above, below – he seemed surrounded by staring eyes. Not one of the faces showed any sympathy towards him; all were determined that he should hang. At last, there was a cry of ‘Silence!’, and everyone looked towards the door. The jury returned, and passed close to Fagin. He could tell nothing from their faces; they could have been made of stone. Then there was complete stillness – not a whisper, not a breath… Guilty. The whole court rang with a great shout, echoing through all the rooms as the crowd ran out of the building to tell all the people waiting outside. The news was that he would die on Monday.
Fagin thought of nothing but death that night. He began to remember all the people he had ever known who had been hung. He could hardly count them. They might have sat in the same prison cell as he was sitting in now. He thought about death by hanging – the rope, the cloth bag over the head, the sudden change from strong men to bundles of clothes, hanging at the end of a rope.
As his last night came, despair seized Fagin’s evil soul. He could not sit still, and hurried up and down his small cell, gasping with terror, his eyes flashing with hate and anger. Then he lay trembling with hate and anger. Then he lay trembling on his stone bed and listened to the clock striking the hours. Where would he be when those hours came round again?
In the middle of that Sunday night. Mr. Brownlow and Oliver were allowed to enter the prison. Several strong doors were unlocked, and eventually they entered Fagin’s cell. The old robber was sitting on the bed, whispering to himself, his face more like a trapped animal’s than a human’s.
‘You have some papers, Fagin,’ said Mr. Brownlow quietly, ‘which were given to you by Monks to look after.’
‘It’s a lie!’ relied Fagin, not looking at him. ‘I haven’t got any.’
‘For the love of God,’ said Mr. Brownlow, very seriously, ‘don’t lie to us now, on the night before your death. You know that Sikes is dead and Monks had confessed. Where are the papers?’
‘I’ll tell you, Oliver,’ said Fagin. ‘Come here.’ He whispered to him. ‘They’re in a bag up the chimney in the front room at the top of the house. But I want to talk to you, My dear.’
‘Yes,’ said Oliver. ‘Will you pray with me?’
‘Outside, outside,’ said Fagin, pushing the boy in front of him towards the door. ‘Say I’ve gone to sleep – they’ll believe you. You can take me out with you when you go.’ The old man’s eyes shone with a mad light.
‘It’s no good,’ said Mr. Brownlow, taking Oliver’s hand. ‘He’s gone too far, and we can never reach him now.’
The cell door opened, and as the visitors left, Fagin started struggling and fighting with his guards, screaming so loudly that the prison walls rang with the sound.
The left the prison building in the grey light of dawn. Outside in the street, huge crowds were already gathering, joking and laughing, and pushing to get the best places near the great black platform, where the rope hung ready for its morning’s work.

[分享]Oliver Twist

Less than three months later, Rose married Harry Maylie. For her sake, Harry had abandoned his political ambitions, and had become a simple man of the church. There was no longer any mystery about Rose’s birth, but even if there had been, Harry would not have cared. They lived next to the church in a peaceful village. Mrs. Maylie went to live with them, and spent the rest of her days in quiet contentment.
Mr. Brownlow adopted Oliver as his son. They moved to a house in the same quiet village, and were just as happy. Dr. Losberne discovered suddenly that the air in Chertsey did not suit him. In less than three months he, too, had moved – to a cottage just outside the village, where he took up gardening and fishing with great energy and enthusiasm.
Mr. Brownlow suggested that half the remaining money from the will should be given to Monks and the other half to Oliver, although by law it should all have gone to Oliver alone. Oliver was glad to accept the suggestion. Monks went off with his money to the other side of the world, where he spent it quickly and was soon in prison for another act of fraud. In prison he became ill and died. The remaining members of Fagin’s gang died in similar ways in other distant countries, all except Charley Bates, who turned his back on his past life of crime and lived honestly, as a farmer.
Noah Claypole was given a free pardon for telling the police about Fagin. He soon became employed as an informer for the police, spying on people and telling the police about anyone who had broken the law. Mr. and Mrs. Bumble lost their jobs and became poorer and poorer, eventually living in poverty in the same workhouse that they had once managed.
In that quiet country village, the years passed peacefully. Mr. Brownlow filled the mind of his adopted son with knowledge, and as he watched the boy grow up, he was reminded more and more of his old friend, Oliver’s father. The two orphans, Rose and Oliver, led lives that were truly happy. The hardships that they had once suffered had left no bitterness in their gentle souls, and all their lives they showed the mercy and kindness to others that God himself shows to all things that breathe.

[分享]Oliver Twist

这是精简版的雾都孤儿,大家来看吧.

[分享]Oliver Twist

这是我好不容易打上来的,可能编辑得不好,以后有空的时候再来编辑,好吗?

[分享]Oliver Twist

我好不容易打上来的,大家还看呀?

[分享]Oliver Twist

I just read it in chinese~
english? it is too difficult~

[分享]Oliver Twist

[quote][b]下面引用由[u]hpxixi[/u]在 [i]2005/02/16 09:56pm[/i] 发表的内容：[/b]
I just read it in chinese~
english? it is too difficult~
[/quote]
这是简版的,量比较少,还是看看吧,不是太难的.