Business is business, and must be minded. You pretty nearly frightened
me into fits; anybody could have knocked me down with a straw when I see
the shutters up. How is she?"
"She's very well, thank you, my boy," answered Oliver, meekly.
"Mother not turned up, I guess?" said Tony.
"No; she comes on Friday," he replied.
Tony winked, and put his tongue into his cheek; but he gave utterance to
no remark until after the shutters were in their place. Then he surveyed
himself as well as he could, with an air of satisfaction. His face and
hands were clean, and his skin looked very white through the holes in his
tattered clothes; even his feet, except for an unavoidable under surface
of dust, were unsoiled. His jacket and trousers appeared somewhat more
torn than the evening before; but they bore every mark of having been
washed also.
"Washed myself early in the morning, afore the bobbies were much about,"
remarked Tony, "in the fountains at Charing Cross; but I hadn't time to
get my rags done, so I did 'em down under the bridge, when the tide were
going down; but I could only give 'em a bit of a swill and a ring out.
Anyhow, I'm a bit cleaner this morning than last night, master.
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