 were sufficiently laborious, Nell found in the lady of
the caravan a very kind and considerate person, who had not only a peculiar
relish for being comfortable herself, but for making everybody about her
comfortable also; which latter taste, it may be remarked, is, even in persons
who live in much finer places than caravans, a far more rare and uncommon one
than the first, and is not by any means its necessary consequence. As her
popularity procured her various little fees from the visitors on which her
patroness never demanded any toll, and as her grandfather too was well treated
and useful, she had no cause of anxiety in connexion with the wax-work, beyond
that which sprung from her recollection of Quilp, and her fears that he might
return and one day suddenly encounter them.
    Quilp indeed was a perpetual nightmare to the child, who was constantly
haunted by a vision of his ugly face and stunted figure. She slept, for their
better security, in the room where the wax-work figures were, and she never
retired to this place at night but she tortured herself - she could not help it
- with imagining a resemblance, in some one or other of their death-like faces,
to the dwarf, and this fancy would sometimes so gain upon her that she would
almost believe he had removed the figure and stood within the clothes. Then
there were so many of them with their great glassy eyes - and, as they stood one
behind the other all about her bed, they looked so like living creatures, and
yet so unlike in their grim stillness and silence, that she had a kind of terror
of them for their own sakes, and would often lie watching their dusky figures
until she was obliged to rise and light a candle, or go and sit at the open
window and feel a companionship in the bright stars. At these times, she would
recall the old house and the window at which she used to sit alone; and then she
would think of poor Kit and all his kindness, until the tears came into her
eyes, and she would weep and smile together.
    Often and anxiously at this silent hour, her thoughts reverted to her
grandfather, and she would wonder how much he remembered of their former life,
and whether he was ever really mindful of the change in their condition and of
their late helplessness and destitution. When they were wandering about, she
seldom thought of this, but now she could not help considering what would become
of them if he fell sick, or her own strength were to fail her. He was very
patient and
