in a narrow side street in london there once stood a shabby building called the old curiosity shop, because all sorts of curious things were kept for sale there—such as rusty swords, china figures, quaint carvings and old-fashioned furniture.
a little old man named trent owned the shop, and he looked as old as anything in it. he was thin and bent, with long gray hair and bright blue eyes, and his face was wrinkled and full of care. he had an orphan grandchild who lived with him—a pretty little golden-haired girl whom every one called little nell, who kept the shop clean and neat and cooked the meals just as a grown woman would have done. she slept in a back room in a bed so small it might almost have been a fairy's. she lived a very lonely life, but she kept a cheerful face and did not complain.
she had only one protector besides her grandfather, and that was a big, awkward boy named christopher nubbles, called kit for short. he had a very large mouth and a turned-up nose, and[pg 20] when he spoke he had a habit of standing sidewise and twisting his head back over his shoulder. everything he did seemed funny, and little nell laughed at him all the while, though she loved him almost as much as she did her grandfather. he ran errands for them, and in the long winter evenings she used to teach him to read and write.
kit liked to be taught and even liked to be laughed at, and always ended by laughing himself, with his mouth wide open and his eyes shut. he was the best-natured lad in the world, and would have given his life to make little nell happy.
she was not as happy as she seemed to her grandfather's eyes. there was some mystery about the old man that she could not understand. almost every night he left her to go to bed all alone in the shop, and went away and did not come back till sunrise, when the door-bell woke her and she let him in.
and, too, he always talked of the great fortune she was to have sometime—if only some mysterious plan he was working on turned out right—the carriages and fine frocks and jewels. but the plan seemed always to go wrong, and the poor old man grew sadder and sadder as he grew more feeble.
often at night little nell sat at the upper window, watching for him, crying, and fearing that he might die or lose his mind; she never knew that kit used to stand in the shadow of an archway opposite[pg 21] and watch to see that no harm came to her, till she vanished and he knew she had gone to bed.
what troubled little nell most of all was a strange visitor her grandfather used to have. this was a hideous man named quilp, with the body of a dwarf and the head of a giant. his black eyes were sharp and cunning, his face was always covered with a stubby beard and he had a cruel smile that made him look like a panting dog. he had grizzled, tangled hair, crooked finger nails, and wore a dirty handkerchief tied around his neck, instead of a collar. he used to bring money to her grandfather, and little nell more than once saw him look at her and at the contents of the shop in a gloating way that made her shiver.
indeed, everybody who ever met quilp was afraid of him, and most afraid of all was his wife. he had a habit of drinking scalding tea and of eating boiled eggs, shell and all, that quite terrified her. besides, he treated the poor woman cruelly. sometimes, for instance, when she displeased him, he made her sit bolt upright in a chair all night, without moving or going to bed, while he sat smoking and making faces at her.
little nell often had to carry messages from her grandfather to the dwarf, and came to know that he had somehow fallen into quilp's power.
the fact was that the old man had been borrowing money from the dwarf for a long time, and had spent it on the great plan, which he had[pg 22] thought sure to succeed, and he now owed the other much more than all the shop and everything in it was worth.
quilp had loaned the money because he thought when the wonderful plan succeeded he would make the grandfather give him back very much more than he had loaned him. but when the old man continually wanted to borrow more money and yet paid none back, the dwarf grew suspicious and tried hard to find out what the great plan was. to do this he used to question little nell and try to persuade her to tell how her grandfather passed the time.
she would never tell him anything, but one day, when she had brought a message to his house, the dwarf hid in a closet and listened while the child told his wife how her grandfather, every night after quilp had brought him money, went out and did not come home till daybreak, and always sadly then. you see, little nell was in such trouble that she had to tell somebody about it and ask advice, and the dwarf's wife had always been very kind to her.
when quilp heard the story he guessed the secret—that her grandfather, hoping to win more for little nell, had gambled away all the money. he was full of rage and sent word that he would loan no more.
the old man was in great grief at this. his mind had not been strong for a long time, or this[pg 23] foolish and wrong plan would never have misled him, and now, at the thought that he would have no more chance to win the fortune for his grandchild, he fell ill. the child did her best to comfort him, but he told her that if quilp deserted them they would be no better than beggars.
"let us be beggars then, and be happy," said little nell, putting her arms around his neck. "i would rather beg than live as we do now. if you are sorrowful now, let me know it. if you are weaker, let me be your nurse. it breaks my heart to see you so and not to know why. let us leave this place and sleep in the fields in the country and never think of money again, and i will beg for us both."
neither had heard the dwarf, who had stolen into the shop behind them. little nell shrieked when she saw him, and her grandfather sent her into her own room.
"so that is the way all the money i have loaned you has gone!" sneered quilp. "your precious scheme to make a fortune was the gaming-table!"
the old man cried out at this, trembling, that he had done it all for little nell; that he had never staked a single penny for himself, or without praying that it might win for her good. he told how he had begun gambling months before, knowing he must soon die, hoping thus to leave her enough to live on; how, after losing all his own savings, he had borrowed and lost all that, too. and he[pg 24] begged the dwarf to loan him a little more so that he might tempt luck again.
any one but quilp would have pitied the poor old man, but not he. he refused, and thinking of a lie which would make the other yet more miserable, he told him as he left that it was kit who had told him where the money was going.
the first kit knew of this was that night when little nell came to tell him her grandfather was very ill, and that he raved continually against kit so that he must never come to the shop again. kit was stupefied at this, but there was no help for it, so little nell went sorrowfully back alone.
the old curiosity shop belonged to the dwarf now and he at once moved into the parlor. he took little nell's own bed for himself and she had to sleep on a pallet on the floor up stairs. she was busy nursing her grandfather, for he was very ill for some time, and she scarcely ever came down because she was so afraid of the dwarf.
quilp was waiting for the old man to die, thinking that then he would have the shop for his own, and meantime he did a hundred disagreeable things, such as filling the house with strong tobacco smoke from a big pipe he used all the time and driving every one away who came to ask how the sick man was. he even drove off kit when he came below the window to beg little nell to come and bring her grandfather to live at his own mother's house.[pg 25]
the old man would certainly have died if little nell had not nursed him so faithfully, all alone, till he grew better and at length was able to sit up.
but it was a bitter thing to live as they did, and one day little nell begged her grandfather to come away with her—to wander anywhere in the world, only so it was under god's sky and away from every one that pursued them—and he agreed.
so that night they dressed and stole down stairs very quietly in order not to waken the dwarf who was snoring frightfully in the back room, and went through the shop to the front door. the bolts were rusty and creaked loudly, and, worst of all, they found the key was not in the lock. little nell had to take off her shoes and creep into the back room to get it out of the dwarf's pocket.
she was terribly frightened at the sight of quilp, for he was having a bad dream, and was hanging so far out of bed that he was almost standing on his head; his ugly mouth was wide open, and his breath came in a sort of growl. but she found the key at last, and they unlocked the door and came safely into the dark street.
the old man did not know where to go, but little nell took his hand and led him gently away.
