wards
her.

'We are very much obliged to you, ma'am,' said Nell, 'and thankfully
accept your offer.'

'And you'll never be sorry for it,' returned Mrs Jarley. 'I'm pretty
sure of that. So as that's all settled, let us have a bit of supper.'

In the meanwhile, the caravan blundered on as if it too had been
drinking strong beer and was drowsy, and came at last upon the paved
streets of a town which were clear of passengers, and quiet, for it was
by this time near midnight, and the townspeople were all abed. As it
was too late an hour to repair to the exhibition room, they turned
aside into a piece of waste ground that lay just within the old
town-gate, and drew up there for the night, near to another caravan,
which, notwithstanding that it bore on the lawful panel the great name
of Jarley, and was employed besides in conveying from place to place
the wax-work which was its country's pride, was designated by a
grovelling stamp-office as a 'Common Stage Waggon,' and numbered
too--seven thousand odd hundred--as though its precious freight were
mere flour or coals!

This ill-used machine being empty (for it had deposited its burden at
the place of exhibition, and lingered here until its services were
again required) was assigned to the old man as his sleeping-place for
the night; and within its wooden walls, Nell made him up the best bed
she could, from the materials at hand. For herself, she was to sleep
in Mrs Jarley's own travelling-carriage, as a signal mark of that
lady's favour and confidence.

She had taken leave of her grandfather and was returning to the other
waggon, when she was tempted by the coolness of the night to linger for
a little while in the air. The moon was shining down upon the old
gateway of the town, leaving the low archway very black and dark; and
with a mingled sensation of curiosity and fear, she slowly approached
the gate, and stood still to look up at it, wondering to see how dark,
and grim, and old, and cold, it looked.

There was an empty niche from which some old statue had fallen or been
carried away hundreds of years ago, and she was thinking what strange
people it must have looked down upon when it stood there, and how many
hard struggles might have taken place, and how many murders might have
been done, upon that silent spot, when there suddenly emerged from the
black shade of the arch, a man. The instant he appeared, she
recognised him--Who could have failed to recognise, in