'Nelly!' 'Yes, sir.' 'Do you know what's inside this letter, Nell ?' 'No, sir!' 'Are you sure, quite sure, quite certain, upon your soul ?' 'Quite sure, sir.' 'Do you wish you may die if you do know, hey ?' said the dwarf.
'Indeed I don't know,' returned the child.
'Well!' muttered Quilp as he marked her earnest look.

'I believe you.
Humph! Gone already?
Gone in four-and-twenty hours! What the devil has he done with it, that's the mystery!' This reflection set him scratching his head and biting his nails once more.

While he was thus employed his features gradually relaxed into what was with him a cheerful smile, but which in any other man would have been a ghastly grin of pain, and when the child looked up again she found that he was regarding her with extraordinary favour and complacency.
'You look very pretty to-day, Nelly, charmingly pretty.

Are you tired, Nelly ?' 'No, sir.

I'm in a hurry to get back, for he will be anxious while I am away.' 'There's no hurry, little Nell, no hurry at all,' said Quilp.