Mr Bumble coughed.'What is it ?'he asked,looking at the bottle with interest.

 

'Gin. Ikeep it for the children's  medicine drink.'

 

'You give the children gin, Mrs Mann ?' asked MR bumble ,watching as she mixed his drink.

 

'Only with medicine ,sir. I don't like to see them suffer.'

 

'You're a good woman, Mrs Mann .' Mr Bumble drank half his glass immediately.'I'll tell the board about you . Mow the reason why I'm here. Oliver Twist is nine years old today. We've never been able to discover any thing about his parents.'

 

'Then how did he get his name?'

 

'I gave it to him ,' said Mr Bumble proudly. 'We folow the apphabet. The last one was an S-Swubble. Then it was T, so this one is T, so this one is Twist. The next one will be Unwin.Anyway, Oliver Twist is now old enough to return to the workhouse. Bring him here,please.' While Mrs Mann went to get him , Mr Bumble fineshed the rest of his gin.

 

Oliver, his face and hands now almost clean, was led into the room.