‘Please Sir, I Want Some More!’
THE master aimed a blow at Oliver’s head with the ladle, pinioned him in his arms, and shrieked aloud for the beadle.
The Board were sitting in solemn conclave, when Mr Bumble rushed into the room in great excitement, and addressing the gentleman in the high chair, said —
‘Mr Limbkins, I beg your pardon, sir! Oliver Twist has asked for more!”
There was a general start. Horror was depicted on every countenance.
“For more!” said Mr Limbkins. “Compose yourself, Bumble, and answer me distinctly. Do I understand that he asked for more, after he had eaten the supper allotted by the dietary?”*
“He did, sir,” replied Bumble.
“That boy will be hung,” said the gentleman in the white waistcoat. “I know that boy will be hung.”*
Nobody controverted the prophetic gentleman’s opinion. An animated discussion took place. Oliver was ordered into instant confinement; and a bill was next morning pasted on the outside of the gate, offering a reward of five pounds to anybody who would take Oliver Twist off the hands of the parish.
* A now old-fashioned word for a restricted diet, a dietary regimen.
* We met the gentleman in the white waistcoat a few pages back, when Oliver first came to the workhouse. He pronounced Oliver ‘a fool’ even then; his opinion now took a turn for the worse. Properly speaking, when ‘hang’ means ‘execute by hanging’ the correct form is ‘will be hanged’ and not ‘will be hung’, but the mistake is a common one.