in his mind and
considering it carefully, promised, on behalf of his mother, that she
should be ready within two hours from that time to undertake the
expedition, and engaged to produce her in that place, in all respects
equipped and prepared for the journey, before the specified period had
expired.

Having given this pledge, which was rather a bold one, and not
particularly easy of redemption, Kit lost no time in sallying forth,
and taking measures for its immediate fulfilment.

CHAPTER 41

Kit made his way through the crowded streets, dividing the stream of
people, dashing across the busy road-ways, diving into lanes and
alleys, and stopping or turning aside for nothing, until he came in
front of the Old Curiosity Shop, when he came to a stand; partly from
habit and partly from being out of breath.

It was a gloomy autumn evening, and he thought the old place had never
looked so dismal as in its dreary twilight. The windows broken, the
rusty sashes rattling in their frames, the deserted house a dull
barrier dividing the glaring lights and bustle of the street into two
long lines, and standing in the midst, cold, dark, and empty--presented
a cheerless spectacle which mingled harshly with the bright prospects
the boy had been building up for its late inmates, and came like a
disappointment or misfortune. Kit would have had a good fire roaring
up the empty chimneys, lights sparkling and shining through the
windows, people moving briskly to and fro, voices in cheerful
conversation, something in unison with the new hopes that were astir.
He had not expected that the house would wear any different aspect--had
known indeed that it could not--but coming upon it in the midst of
eager thoughts and expectations, it checked the current in its flow,
and darkened it with a mournful shadow.

Kit, however, fortunately for himself, was not learned enough or
contemplative enough to be troubled with presages of evil afar off,
and, having no mental spectacles to assist his vision in this respect,
saw nothing but the dull house, which jarred uncomfortably upon his
previous thoughts. So, almost wishing that he had not passed it,
though hardly knowing why, he hurried on again, making up by his
increased speed for the few moments he had lost.

'Now, if she should be out,' thought Kit, as he approached the poor
dwelling of his mother, 'and I not able to find her, this impatient
gentleman would be in a pretty taking. And sur