'Ah,' he said, drawing a long breath, 'there's the jail, Eppie;
that's just the same: I arn't afraid now. It's the third turning on
the left hand from the jail doors, that's the way we must go.'
'Oh, what a dark ugly place!' said Eppie. 'How it hides the sky!
It's worse than the Workhouse. I'm glad you don't live in this town
now, father. Is Lantern Yard like this street?'
'My precious child,' said Silas, smiling, 'it isn't a big street
like this. I never was easy i' this street myself, but I was fond o'
Lantern Yard. The shops here are all altered, I think- I can't make
'em out; but I shall know the turning, because it's the third.'
'Here it is,' he said, in a tone of satisfaction, as they came to a
narrow alley. 'And then we must go to the left again, and then
straight for'ard for a bit, up Shoe Lane; and then we shall be at
the entry next to the o'erhanging window, where there's the nick in
the road for the water to run. Eh, I can see it all.'
'Oh, father, I'm like as if I was stifled,' said Eppie. 'I couldn't
have thought as any folks lived i' this way, so close together. How
pretty the Stone-pits 'ull look when we get back!
'It looks comical to me, child, now- and smells bad. I can't
think as it usened to smell so.'
Here and there a sallow, begrimed face looked out from a gloomy
doorway at the strangers, and increased Eppie's uneasiness, so that it
was a longed-for relief when they issued from the alleys into Shoe
Lane, where there was a broader strip of sky.
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