She was
struck with Oliver's pallor and great grief and tried to shield him from
violence. But it was of little avail. He was beaten by the Jew, and then
led off by Master Bates into an adjacent kitchen to go to bed. His new
clothes were taken from him and he was given the identical old suit which
he had so congratulated himself upon leaving off at Mr. Brownlow's, and
the accidental display of which to Fagin, by the Jew who purchased them,
had been the first clue to Oliver's whereabouts.
For a week or so the boy was kept locked up, but after that the Jew left
him at liberty to wander about the house; which was a weird, ghostlike
place, with the mouldering shutters fast closed, and no evidence from
outside that it sheltered human creatures. Oliver was constantly with
Charley Bates and the Dodger, who played the old game with the Jew every
day. At times Fagin entertained the boys with stories of robberies he had
committed in his younger days, which made Oliver laugh heartily, and show
that he was amused in spite of his better feelings. In short, the wily old
Jew had the boy in his toils, and hoped gradually to instil into his soul
the poison which would blacken it and change its hue forever.
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