's not a long one - Daniel Quilp.«
    »Harkee, Mr. Quilp, then,« pursued the other. »You have some influence with
my grandfather there.«
    »Some,« said Mr. Quilp emphatically.
    »And are in a few of his mysteries and secrets.«
    »A few,« replied Quilp, with equal dryness.
    »Then let me tell him once for all, through you, that I will come into and
go out of this place as often as I like, so long as he keeps Nell here; and that
if he wants to be quit of me, he must first be quit of her. What have I done to
be made a bugbear of, and to be shunned and dreaded as if I brought the plague?
He'll tell you that I have no natural affection; and that I care no more for
Nell, for her own sake, than I do for him. Let him say so. I care for the whim,
then, of coming to and fro, and reminding her of my existence. I will see her
when I please. That's my point. I came here to-day to maintain it, and I'll come
here again fifty times with the same object and always with the same success. I
said I would stop till I had gained it. I have done so, and now my visit's
ended. Come, Dick.«
    »Stop!« cried Mr. Swiveller, as his companion turned towards the door.
»Sir!«
    »Sir, I am your humble servant,« said Mr. Quilp, to whom the monosyllable
was addressed.
    »Before I leave the gay and festive scene, and halls of dazzling light,
sir,« said Mr. Swiveller, »I will, with your permission, attempt a slight
remark. I came here, sir, this day, under the impression that the old min was
friendly.«
    »Proceed, sir,« said Daniel Quilp; for the orator had made a sudden stop.
    »Inspired by this idea and the sentiments it awakened, sir, and feeling as a
mutual friend that badgering, baiting, and bullying, was not the sort of thing
calculated to expand the souls and promote the social harmony of the contending
parties, I took upon myself to suggest a course which is the course to be
adopted on the present occasion. Will you allow me to whisper half a syllable,
sir?«
    Without waiting for the permission he sought, Mr. Swiveller stepped up to
the dwarf,
