'Oh there's no worst in it,' said the small servant. 'It hasn't
anything to do with you.'
'Has it anything to do with--is it anything you heard through
chinks or keyholes--and that you were not intended to hear?' asked
Dick, in a breathless state.
'Yes,' replied the small servant.
'In--in Bevis Marks?' pursued Dick hastily. 'Conversations
between Brass and Sally?'
'Yes,' cried the small servant again.
Richard Swiveller thrust his lank arm out of bed, and, gripping her
by the wrist and drawing her close to him, bade her out with it,
and freely too, or he would not answer for the consequences; being
wholly unable to endure the state of excitement and expectation.
She, seeing that he was greatly agitated, and that the effects of
postponing her revelation might be much more injurious than any
that were likely to ensue from its being made at once, promised
compliance, on condition that the patient kept himself perfectly
quiet, and abstained from starting up or tossing about.
'But if you begin to do that,' said the small servant, 'I'll leave
off. And so I tell you.
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