Vol.1 f.073 recto

and other [??? ???????? ?????? ?? ???? ???????? ??????? ??????] premises generally tending to the deduction that the way to be
healthy, wealthy, and wise, was to come to the Marshalsea.

[????? ??? ????? ?????] The two tables put together in a corner, were, at length, [??????] converted [?turned?] into a very fair bed; and the stranger
was left to the Windsor chairs, the presidential tribune, the beery atmosphere, the sawdust, pipe-lights, spittoons
and repose. But the last item was long, [?long and?] long, [?and ling???] long, in linking itself to the rest. The novelty
of the place, the coming upon it without any preparation, the sense of being locked up, the remembrance of
that room up-stairs, yonder yonder of the two brothers, and above all of the [q?????? childish ??? form] [??????? ????????] retiring childish
form, and the [d???????] face in which he now saw years of insufficient food, if not of [???????] [??????] want, kept him
waking and unhappy.

Speculations, [?of the wild ????? which there was no controlling?] too, [?????? the ???????] [c??????ing?] bearing the strangest
relations towards the prison, but always about the prison, ran like [??????] nightmares through his mind
while he was [?????] awake. [W????] Whether [??????] coffins were kept ready for people who might die there,
where they were kept, how they were kept, where people who died in the prison were buried, how they were
taken out, what forms were observed, whether an implacable creditor could [????? ???????] arrest the dead?
As to escaping, [?????] what chances there were of escape? [??????] Whether a prisoner could scale the walls with a cord and
grapple, how he would descend upon the other side? [??? ?????? of ???? ??? ????????] whether he could alight [????? ??? ???? ????? ??? ???? ????? ?? ? ????????? ?????? ??????] on a housetop, [??? ???????]
[??? ???????????] stealing down a staircase, let himself out at a door, and [get ??] get lost in the crowd? As to
Fire in the prison, if [?????] if one were to break out [?there?] [?then?] while he lay there [??]?

And these involuntary [?????????????] starts of fancy distressing by being [????????????????] uncontrollable
were, after all, but the setting of a picture in which three people [???? ??????] kept before him. His father,
with the steadfast look [??? ??????? ??? ???? ????? ????? ????? ????? ?????? ??????] with which he had died,[???? ??????] prophetically [??????????] darkened
forth in the portrait;[???? which ??? ?? ??? ????] his mother, with her arm up, [?as if she ???? ???? ?????? ???? ??????] warding off [?????]
[???????????] [?? ??? ???] his [???? ???] suspicion; Little Dorrit, [in her ?????????? ??????? ???? ??????? ????] with her hand on the degraded arm, and her drooping head turned away.

What if [?????? ???????? ???????? ????? ??????????] his mother had an old reason she well [????] knew for softening somewhat to this poor girl! [?? ?????? ???? ?????? ???? ????? ???? ????? ???????] if
the [??????? ????????? ?????] [??????? ?????] prisoner now sleeping quietly—God [???? ?? ???????] grant [???????] [???????] it!— [?had been ????]
[???????? ?????? ??] [????? ?????] by the light of the great Day of judgment should [????? ??? ??? ????? ??? ???? ?????? ?????] [?????? ??? ?????? ????] trace [??] back his [??????]
[???????] fall [?and ??????? ?????] to her. if [???????] any act [???? ??? ??????] of hers and of his father’s, should
have even remotely [???? ????] [?brought those?] brought those two grey heads [?he had ?pitied?] so low! [?with that, a new thought came into his mind?]

A new swift thought shot into his mind. In that long imprisonment here, and in [???] her
[?????] own long confinement to her room, [??? might ?? ???? ????? ???? ??????] did she find a balance to be struck? “I [???? ??? ??????? ???? ??? ????]
[????? ?? ??? ?? ??????] admit that I was accessory to that man’s captivity. I have suffered for it in kind. He decayed in
his prison: I in mine. [??????? ???? ????? ???????????] I have paid the penalty.”

When all the other thoughts had faded [?and ???? ??? ?of his chair?] [?????] out, this one held possession
[of ???] of him. When he fell asleep, she came before him in her wheeled chair, warding him off with
this justification. When he awoke, and sprang up [????????? ??? ???] causelessly terrified , the words were in his ears, [????] as
[????????] [??????] if her voice had slowly spoken them at his pillow, to break his rest: “He withers away in his prison; I wither away in mine; inexorable justice is done; what do I owe on
this score!”