“Would you give your great-uncle Lillyvick a kiss, if he was to ask you, Morleena?” said the collector, with some hesitation.

“Yes, Uncle Lillyvick, I would,” returned Miss Morleena with no hesitation whatsoever, whereupon Mr. Lillyvick caught her in his arms and kissed her, and being by this time at the door of the house, he walked straight up into the Kenwigses’ sitting-room and put her down in their midst.  The surprise and delight that reigned in the bosom of the Kenwigses at the unexpected sight, was only heightened by the joyful intelligence that their uncle’s married life had been both brief and unsatisfactory, and by his further statement: 

“Out of regard for you, Susan and Kenwigs, I shall to-morrow morning settle upon your children, and make payable to their survivors when they come of age, or marry, that money which I once meant to leave ’em in my will.  The deed shall be executed to-morrow!”

Overcome by this noble and generous offer, and by their emotion, Mr. Kenwigs, Mrs. Kenwigs, and Miss Morleena Kenwigs all began to sob together, and the noise communicating itself to the next room where the other children lay a-bed, and causing them to cry too, Mr. Kenwigs rushed wildly in, and bringing them out in his arms, by two and two, tumbled them down in their night-caps and gowns at the feet of Mr. Lillyvick, and called upon them to thank and bless him.

And this wonderful domestic scene,—­this family reconciliation was brought about by Miss Morleena, eldest of the four little Kenwigses, with the flaxen tails!

LITTLE NELL

[Illustration:  Little Nell and her grandfather]

LITTLE NELL

There was once an old man, whose daughter dying, left in his care two orphan children, a son twelve years old, and little Nell, a younger girl.  The grandfather was now an old and feeble man, but gathering himself together as best he could, he began to trade;—­in pictures first—­and then in curious ancient things, and from the Old Curiosity Shop, as it was called, he was able to obtain a slender income.

The boy grew into a wayward youth, and soon quitted his grandfather’s home for companions more suited to his taste, but sweet little Nell remained, and grew so like her mother, that when the old man had her on his knee, and looked into her mild blue eyes, he felt as if his daughter had come back, a child again.

The old man and little Nell dwelt alone,—­he loving her with a passionate devotion, and haunted with a fearful dread lest she should be left to a life of poverty and want, when he should be called to leave her.  This fear so overmastered him that it led him to the gaming-table, and—­for her sake—­he became a professional gambler, hoping to lay by a vast fortune for her future use.  But he lost heavily and constantly, until his slender resources were exhausted, and he was obliged to borrow money from the rich little dwarf money-lender, Quilp, pledging his stock as security for the loans.