 himself to and fro in his
chair and nursing his left leg at the same time, fell into certain meditations,
of which it may be necessary to relate the substance.
    First, he reviewed the circumstances which had led to his repairing to that
spot, which were briefly these. Dropping in at Mr. Sampson Brass's office on the
previous evening, in the absence of that gentleman and his learned sister, he
had lighted upon Mr. Swiveller, who chanced at the moment to be sprinkling a
glass of warm gin and water on the dust of the law, and to be moistening his
clay, as the phrase goes, rather copiously. But as clay in the abstract, when
too much moistened, becomes of a weak and uncertain consistency, breaking down
in unexpected places, retaining impressions but faintly, and preserving no
strength or steadiness of character, so Mr. Swiveller's clay, having imbibed a
considerable quantity of moisture, was in a very loose and slippery state,
insomuch that the various ideas impressed upon it were fast losing their
distinctive character, and running into each other. It is not uncommon for human
clay in this condition to value itself above all things upon its great prudence
and sagacity; and Mr. Swiveller, especially prizing himself upon these
qualities, took occasion to remark that he had made strange discoveries in
connection with the single gentleman who lodged above, which he had determined
to keep within his own bosom, and which neither tortures nor cajolery should
ever induce him to reveal. Of this determination Mr. Quilp expressed his high
approval, and setting himself in the same breath to goad Mr. Swiveller on to
further hints, soon made out that the single gentleman had been seen in
communication with Kit, and that this was the secret which was never to be
disclosed.
    Possessed of this piece of information, Mr. Quilp directly supposed that the
single gentleman above stairs must be the same individual who had waited on him,
and having assured himself by further inquiries that this surmise was correct,
had no difficulty in arriving at the conclusion that the intent and object of
his correspondence with Kit was the recovery of his old client and the child.
Burning with curiosity to know what proceedings were afoot, he resolved to
pounce upon Kit's mother as the person least able to resist his arts, and
consequently the most likely to be entrapped into such revelations as he sought;
so taking an abrupt leave of Mr. Swiveller, he hurried to her house. The good
woman being from home, he made inquiries of a neighbour, as Kit himself did soon
afterwards, and being
