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“ I have promised that you will be quiet and silent , ” she whispered to him in the street . “ If you are not , you will only do harm to yourself and to me too , and perhaps be my death . See here ! I have suffered all this for you already . ” She showed him some dark marks on her arm . “ I have saved you from being hurt once , and I will again , and I do now . Remember this ! And don’t let me suffer more for you just now . ” Sikes was waiting for them in a small room . He made Oliver stand in front of him and showed him a pistol . “ Do you know what this is ? ” he asked , and he loaded it slowly . “ If you speak a word when you’re out of doors with me , except when I speak to you , that bullet will be in your head without any warning . So if you do make up your mind to speak without leave , say your prayers first . ” Oliver understood that he had no choice . He slept a little in his clothes on a mattress in the corner , and before dawn Sikes woke him , and they set out together . X . The Night at Chertsey Sikes and Oliver walked all day , and for part of the way a carter gave them a ride . When night came , they crossed the river in a small boat and reached an old , half - ruined house in the fields . Toby Crackit was waiting for them there . He was a cheerful man with long red curls and a large ring on his dirty finger , and he looked at Oliver with interest . “ Fagin’s boy ! ” he said . “ What a useful boy he’ll be among the old ladies in church ! His innocent face is a fortune to him . ” At half past one in the morning the three of them went out into the thick fog . They walked quickly through the sleeping town of Chertsey and stopped at a house with a high wall round it . Toby and Sikes climbed over and helped Oliver after them . Then they crept to the back of the house , where there was a small window about five and a half feet above the ground . Toby forced it open , and Sikes turned to Oliver with a dark lantern in his hand . “ Now listen , you young limb , ” he whispered . “ Take this light . Go softly up the steps straight in front of you and along the little hall to the street door . Unfasten it and let us in . ” Oliver was more dead than alive with fear , but he had made up his mind . Whether he died or not , he would try to run upstairs and wake the family . Toby lifted him through the window and set him down on the floor inside . “ Take this lantern , ” said Sikes , looking in . “ Do you see the stairs in front of you ? ” Oliver nodded , and Sikes pointed to the street door with his pistol . He told the boy that he was within shot all the way , and that if he faltered , he would fall dead that instant . Oliver stepped forward softly . Suddenly Sikes cried in a low voice , “ Back ! Back ! ” At the same moment there was a loud noise , and a light appeared at the top of the stairs . Oliver saw two terrified , half - dressed men , then a flash , and then a loud bang . He staggered back . Something burned his arm , and the world went dark .
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