[The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens]@TWC D-Link book
The Old Curiosity Shop

CHAPTER 31
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How much greater cause she had for weeping now! The child sat watching and thinking of these things, until the phantom in her mind so increased in gloom and terror, that she felt it would be a relief to hear the old man's voice, or, if he were asleep, even to see him, and banish some of the fears that clustered round his image.
She stole down the stairs and passage again.

The door was still ajar as she had left it, and the candle burning as before.
She had her own candle in her hand, prepared to say, if he were waking, that she was uneasy and could not rest, and had come to see if his were still alight.

Looking into the room, she saw him lying calmly on his bed, and so took courage to enter.
Fast asleep.

No passion in the face, no avarice, no anxiety, no wild desire; all gentle, tranquil, and at peace.

This was not the gambler, or the shadow in her room; this was not even the worn and jaded man whose face had so often met her own in the grey morning light; this was her dear old friend, her harmless fellow-traveller, her good, kind grandfather.
She had no fear as she looked upon his slumbering features, but she had a deep and weighty sorrow, and it found its relief in tears.
'God bless him!' said the child, stooping softly to kiss his placid cheek.


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