Vol.1 f.052 recto

[The top of the page is marked by a large 9 (page number?) which is obscured by a large deleted section perhaps from the previous page.]
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[?????????? ?????????? ??????? 9 ?????? ????? ?????]
[alleys] blind alleys that are [???] stone blind indeed . [??so] Hence the smugglers [?? in fact ??] habitually consorted with the debtors
(who received them with open arms), except [on??] at certain [o??? ?????] [?????? ??????]constitutional moments when somebody came from some
[other??] Office, to go through some form of [inspecting??] overlooking something [??? for] which [?he ?????? some ????] neither
he nor anybody else knew anything about. [?x???? ???? ?? ???? ???pace? ????? ???] On these truly British [ ???????]
[???? ????? ???? ????]
occasions, the smugglers, / if any, [???] [?????] made a feint of walking [????] into the strong cells and the blind alley, while this somebody
[was ???? and an ????] pretended to do his something: and [walked] made a reality of walking out again as soon as he hadn’t done
it—[???] neatly epitomising the administration of [all ??? ???? ??? ?] most ?????? of the public affairs in our ????? right little,
tight little, island. [???? ???? ?? ???? ???? ????? ???????? ???? ????]

[?? boiling in the sun, a ???? debtor] There had been taken to the Marshalsea Prison, long before the day when the sun shone on Marseilles
and on the [first??]opening of this narrative, a debtor with whom
[it] [????]this narrative has [????] some [???ing] concern.

No! [ He was, at that time, [a] a very [very?]amiable and very any very helpless middle-aged man?? gentleman, who was going out again directly. [??]
[????] Necessarily, he was going out again directly, because the Marshalsea lock never turned upon a debtor who
was not. He [had???] [?????] brought in a portmanteau with him, which [?????] he doubted its being worth while to unpack; he was so perfectly
clear—like all the rest of them, the turnkey on the lock said—about that he was going out again directly.

He was a shy, retiring [?? ????] [??????] man; [f???? looking ??? of?] well-looking, though in an effeminate style;
of good looks with a mild voice, curling hair, and [????] irresolute hands—[??????] rings upon the fingers in those days—which nervously
wandered to his trembling lip a hundred times [or so??] in the first half-hour of his acquaintance
with the jail. After some days [???] His [wife] principal anxiety was about his wife. [She]

“Do you think, sir,” he asked the turnkey, “that she will be very much shocked, if she should
come to the gate to-morrow morning?”

[Some of] The turnkey gave it as the result of his experience that some of ‘em was and some
of ‘em wasn’t. In general, more no than yes. “What like is she, you see?” [????] he [he?] philosophically [??? ????? ????? ???? ?????] asked : “that’s what it hinges on.”

“She is very [?timid?] delicate and [????] inexperienced indeed.”

“That,” "[????]" said the turkey, “ [?? ?????her/e] is agen her.”

“She is so little used to go [about??] out alone,” said the debtor, “that I [can't think?] [???? can't]am at a loss to think how she will ever [find the?] make her way here, if she walks.”

“P’raps,” quoth the turnkey, “she’ll take a ackney ? Ackney coach.”

“Perhaps.” [???] "???????" The irresolute fingers [?????] [????] went to the trembling lip [?again] . “I hope she will. She may not think of it.”

“Or p’raps,” said the turnkey, [?????king ?ff???] offering his suggestions from the the top of his
well-worn wooden stool, as he might have offered them to a child for whose [weakkness?] [??????] weakness he felt a compassion, “p’raps she’ll get her brother, or her sister, to come along with her [???? ? ?????] [has she ?????] .”

“She has no brother or sister.” She is an only child???

“???Niece, nevy, cousin, serwant, ???? ?????? [????????? ??????] young ‘ooman, greengrocer [????????? ????????] .— Dash Blow B??? Blow Dash it! ?????????? One
or another on ‘em,” said the turnkey, repudiating i? ???????? beforehand the refusal of all his suggestions.

“I [think?] fear—I hope it is not against the rules—that she may? [????] will bring the children.”

“The children? ?” said the turnkey. “And the rules? ? Why, Lord set you up like a corner
pin, we’ve a reg’lar playground o’ children ?????? here. Children! Why we swarm with ‘em. How many ???y ?? got a you got?”

“Two,” said the debtor [??? ???? ??????, lifting his irresolute hand [???????????]