Officiates as a kind of Gentleman Usher, in bringing various People
together
The storm had long given place to a calm the most profound, and the
evening was pretty far advanced--indeed supper was over, and the
process of digestion proceeding as favourably as, under the influence of
complete tranquillity, cheerful conversation, and a moderate allowance
of brandy-and-water, most wise men conversant with the anatomy and
functions of the human frame will consider that it ought to have
proceeded, when the three friends, or as one might say, both in a civil
and religious sense, and with proper deference and regard to the holy
state of matrimony, the two friends, (Mr. and Mrs. Browdie counting as
no more than one,) were startled by the noise of loud and angry
threatenings below stairs, which presently attained so high a pitch,
and were conveyed besides in language so towering, sanguinary, and
ferocious, that it could hardly have been surpassed, if there had
actually been a Saracen’s head then present in the establishment,
supported on the shoulders and surmounting the trunk of a real, live,
furious, and most unappeasable Saracen.
This turmoil, instead of quickly subsiding after the first outburst,
(as turmoils not unfrequently do, whether in taverns, legislative
assemblies, or elsewhere,) into a mere grumbling and growling squabble,
increased every moment; and although the whole din appeared to be
raised by but one pair of lungs, yet that one pair was of so powerful
a quality, and repeated such words as ‘scoundrel,’ ‘rascal,’ ‘insolent
puppy,’ and a variety of expletives no less flattering to the party
addressed, with such great relish and strength of tone, that a dozen
voices raised in concert under any ordinary circumstances would have
made far less uproar and created much smaller consternation.
‘Why, what’s the matter?’ said Nicholas, moving hastily towards the
door.
John Browdie was striding in the same direction when Mrs. Browdie turned
pale, and, leaning back in her chair, requested him with a faint voice
to take notice, that if he ran into any danger it was her intention to
fall into hysterics immediately, and that the consequences might be more
serious than he thought for. John looked rather disconcerted by this
intelligence, though there was a lurking grin on his face at the same
time; but, being quite unable to keep out of the fray, he compromised
the matter by tucking his wife’s arm under his own, and, thus
accompanied, following Nicholas downstairs with all speed.
The passage outside the coffee-room door was the scene of disturbance,
and here were congregated the coffee-room customers and waiters,
together with two or three coachmen and helpers from the yard. These had
hastily assembled round a young man who from his appearance might have
been a year or two older than Nicholas, and who, besides having given
utterance to the defiances just now described, seemed to have proceeded
to even greater lengths in his indignation, inasmuch as his feet had no
other covering than a pair of stockings, while a couple of slippers lay
at no great distance from the head of a prostrate figure in an opposite
corner, who bore the appearance of having been shot into his present
retreat by means of a kick, and complimented by having the slippers
flung about his ears afterwards.
The coffee-room customers, and the waiters, and the coachmen, and the
helpers--not to mention a barmaid who was looking on from behind an
open sash window--seemed at that moment, if a spectator might judge from
their winks, nods, and muttered exclamations, strongly disposed to take
part against the young gentleman in the stockings. Observing this, and
that the young gentleman was nearly of his own age and had in nothing
the appearance of an habitual brawler, Nicholas, impelled by such
feelings as will influence young men sometimes, felt a very strong
disposition to side with the weaker party, and so thrust himself at once
into the centre of the group, and in a more emphatic tone, perhaps, than
circumstances might seem to warrant, demanded what all that noise was
about.
‘Hallo!’ said one of the men from the yard, ‘this is somebody in
disguise, this is.’
‘Room for the eldest son of the Emperor of Roosher, gen’l’men!’ cried
another fellow.
Disregarding these sallies, which were uncommonly well received, as
sallies at the expense of the best-dressed persons in a crowd usually
are, Nicholas glanced carelessly round, and addressing the young
gentleman, who had by this time picked up his slippers and thrust his
feet into them, repeated his inquiries with a courteous air.
‘A mere nothing!’ he replied.
At this a murmur was raised by the lookers-on, and some of the boldest
cried, ‘Oh, indeed!--Wasn’t it though?--Nothing, eh?--He called that
nothing, did he? Lucky for him if he found it nothing.’ These and many
other expressions of ironical disapprobation having been exhausted, two
or three of the out-of-door fellows began to hustle Nicholas and the
young gentleman who had made the noise: stumbling against them by
accident, and treading on their toes, and so forth. But this being a
round game, and one not necessarily limited to three or four players,
was open to John Browdie too, who, bursting into the little crowd--to
the great terror of his wife--and falling about in all directions,
now to the right, now to the left, now forwards, now backwards, and
accidentally driving his elbow through the hat of the tallest helper,
who had been particularly active, speedily caused the odds to wear a
very different appearance; while more than one stout fellow limped away
to a respectful distance, anathematising with tears in his eyes the
heavy tread and ponderous feet of the burly Yorkshireman.
‘Let me see him do it again,’ said he who had been kicked into the
corner, rising as he spoke, apparently more from the fear of John
Browdie’s inadvertently treading upon him, than from any desire to place
himself on equal terms with his late adversary. ‘Let me see him do it
again. That’s all.’
‘Let me hear you make those remarks again,’ said the young man, ‘and
I’ll knock that head of yours in among the wine-glasses behind you
there.’
Here a waiter who had been rubbing his hands in excessive enjoyment
of the scene, so long as only the breaking of heads was in question,
adjured the spectators with great earnestness to fetch the police,
declaring that otherwise murder would be surely done, and that he was
responsible for all the glass and china on the premises.
‘No one need trouble himself to stir,’ said the young gentleman, ‘I am
going to remain in the house all night, and shall be found here in the
morning if there is any assault to answer for.’
‘What did you strike him for?’ asked one of the bystanders.
‘Ah! what did you strike him for?’ demanded the others.
The unpopular gentleman looked coolly round, and addressing himself to
Nicholas, said:
‘You inquired just now what was the matter here. The matter is simply
this. Yonder person, who was drinking with a friend in the coffee-room
when I took my seat there for half an hour before going to bed, (for I
have just come off a journey, and preferred stopping here tonight, to
going home at this hour, where I was not expected until tomorrow,) chose
to express himself in very disrespectful, and insolently familiar
terms, of a young lady, whom I recognised from his description and other
circumstances, and whom I have the honour to know. As he spoke loud
enough to be overheard by the other guests who were present, I informed
him most civilly that he was mistaken in his conjectures, which were
of an offensive nature, and requested him to forbear. He did so for a
little time, but as he chose to renew his conversation when leaving the
room, in a more offensive strain than before, I could not refrain
from making after him, and facilitating his departure by a kick, which
reduced him to the posture in which you saw him just now. I am the
best judge of my own affairs, I take it,’ said the young man, who had
certainly not quite recovered from his recent heat; ‘if anybody here
thinks proper to make this quarrel his own, I have not the smallest
earthly objection, I do assure him.’
Of all possible courses of proceeding under the circumstances detailed,
there was certainly not one which, in his then state of mind, could
have appeared more laudable to Nicholas than this. There were not many
subjects of dispute which at that moment could have come home to his
own breast more powerfully, for having the unknown uppermost in his
thoughts, it naturally occurred to him that he would have done just the
same if any audacious gossiper durst have presumed in his hearing to
speak lightly of her. Influenced by these considerations, he espoused
the young gentleman’s quarrel with great warmth, protesting that he had
done quite right, and that he respected him for it; which John Browdie
(albeit not quite clear as to the merits) immediately protested too,
with not inferior vehemence.
‘Let him take care, that’s all,’ said the defeated party, who was being
rubbed down by a waiter, after his recent fall on the dusty boards. ‘He
don’t knock me about for nothing, I can tell him that. A pretty state of
things, if a man isn’t to admire a handsome girl without being beat to
pieces for it!’
This reflection appeared to have great weight with the young lady in
the bar, who (adjusting her cap as she spoke, and glancing at a mirror)
declared that it would be a very pretty state of things indeed; and that
if people were to be punished for actions so innocent and natural as
that, there would be more people to be knocked down than there would
be people to knock them down, and that she wondered what the gentleman
meant by it, that she did.
‘My dear girl,’ said the young gentleman in a low voice, advancing
towards the sash window.
‘Nonsense, sir!’ replied the young lady sharply, smiling though as she
turned aside, and biting her lip, (whereat Mrs. Browdie, who was still
standing on the stairs, glanced at her with disdain, and called to her
husband to come away).
‘No, but listen to me,’ said the young man. ‘If admiration of a pretty
face were criminal, I should be the most hopeless person alive, for I
cannot resist one. It has the most extraordinary effect upon me, checks
and controls me in the most furious and obstinate mood. You see what an
effect yours has had upon me already.’
‘Oh, that’s very pretty,’ replied the young lady, tossing her head,
‘but--’
‘Yes, I know it’s very pretty,’ said the young man, looking with an air
of admiration in the barmaid’s face; ‘I said so, you know, just this
moment. But beauty should be spoken of respectfully--respectfully, and
in proper terms, and with a becoming sense of its worth and excellence,
whereas this fellow has no more notion--’
The young lady interrupted the conversation at this point, by thrusting
her head out of the bar-window, and inquiring of the waiter in a shrill
voice whether that young man who had been knocked down was going to
stand in the passage all night, or whether the entrance was to be left
clear for other people. The waiters taking the hint, and communicating
it to the hostlers, were not slow to change their tone too, and the
result was, that the unfortunate victim was bundled out in a twinkling.
‘I am sure I have seen that fellow before,’ said Nicholas.
‘Indeed!’ replied his new acquaintance.
‘I am certain of it,’ said Nicholas, pausing to reflect. ‘Where can I
have--stop!--yes, to be sure--he belongs to a register-office up at the
west end of the town. I knew I recollected the face.’
It was, indeed, Tom, the ugly clerk.
‘That’s odd enough!’ said Nicholas, ruminating upon the strange manner
in which the register-office seemed to start up and stare him in the
face every now and then, and when he least expected it.
‘I am much obliged to you for your kind advocacy of my cause when it
most needed an advocate,’ said the young man, laughing, and drawing a
card from his pocket. ‘Perhaps you’ll do me the favour to let me know
where I can thank you.’
Nicholas took the card, and glancing at it involuntarily as he returned
the compliment, evinced very great surprise.
‘Mr. Frank Cheeryble!’ said Nicholas. ‘Surely not the nephew of Cheeryble
Brothers, who is expected tomorrow!’
‘I don’t usually call myself the nephew of the firm,’ returned Mr. Frank,
good-humouredly; ‘but of the two excellent individuals who compose it,
I am proud to say I AM the nephew. And you, I see, are Mr. Nickleby, of
whom I have heard so much! This is a most unexpected meeting, but not
the less welcome, I assure you.’
Nicholas responded to these compliments with others of the same kind,
and they shook hands warmly. Then he introduced John Browdie, who had
remained in a state of great admiration ever since the young lady in
the bar had been so skilfully won over to the right side. Then Mrs. John
Browdie was introduced, and finally they all went upstairs together
and spent the next half-hour with great satisfaction and mutual
entertainment; Mrs. John Browdie beginning the conversation by
declaring that of all the made-up things she ever saw, that young woman
below-stairs was the vainest and the plainest.
This Mr. Frank Cheeryble, although, to judge from what had recently taken
place, a hot-headed young man (which is not an absolute miracle and
phenomenon in nature), was a sprightly, good-humoured, pleasant fellow,
with much both in his countenance and disposition that reminded Nicholas
very strongly of the kind-hearted brothers. His manner was as unaffected
as theirs, and his demeanour full of that heartiness which, to most
people who have anything generous in their composition, is peculiarly
prepossessing. Add to this, that he was good-looking and intelligent,
had a plentiful share of vivacity, was extremely cheerful, and
accommodated himself in five minutes’ time to all John Browdie’s
oddities with as much ease as if he had known him from a boy; and it
will be a source of no great wonder that, when they parted for the
night, he had produced a most favourable impression, not only upon the
worthy Yorkshireman and his wife, but upon Nicholas also, who, revolving
all these things in his mind as he made the best of his way home,
arrived at the conclusion that he had laid the foundation of a most
agreeable and desirable acquaintance.
‘But it’s a most extraordinary thing about that register-office fellow!’
thought Nicholas. ‘Is it likely that this nephew can know anything about
that beautiful girl? When Tim Linkinwater gave me to understand the
other day that he was coming to take a share in the business here, he
said he had been superintending it in Germany for four years, and that
during the last six months he had been engaged in establishing an agency
in the north of England. That’s four years and a half--four years and a
half. She can’t be more than seventeen--say eighteen at the outside. She
was quite a child when he went away, then. I should say he knew nothing
about her and had never seen her, so HE can give me no information. At
all events,’ thought Nicholas, coming to the real point in his mind,
‘there can be no danger of any prior occupation of her affections in
that quarter; that’s quite clear.’
Is selfishness a necessary ingredient in the composition of that passion
called love, or does it deserve all the fine things which poets, in the
exercise of their undoubted vocation, have said of it? There are, no
doubt, authenticated instances of gentlemen having given up ladies
and ladies having given up gentlemen to meritorious rivals, under
circumstances of great high-mindedness; but is it quite established
that the majority of such ladies and gentlemen have not made a virtue of
necessity, and nobly resigned what was beyond their reach; as a private
soldier might register a vow never to accept the order of the Garter, or
a poor curate of great piety and learning, but of no family--save a very
large family of children--might renounce a bishopric?
Here was Nicholas Nickleby, who would have scorned the thought of
counting how the chances stood of his rising in favour or fortune with
the brothers Cheeryble, now that their nephew had returned, already deep
in calculations whether that same nephew was likely to rival him in the
affections of the fair unknown--discussing the matter with himself too,
as gravely as if, with that one exception, it were all settled; and
recurring to the subject again and again, and feeling quite indignant
and ill-used at the notion of anybody else making love to one with
whom he had never exchanged a word in all his life. To be sure, he
exaggerated rather than depreciated the merits of his new acquaintance;
but still he took it as a kind of personal offence that he should have
any merits at all--in the eyes of this particular young lady, that is;
for elsewhere he was quite welcome to have as many as he pleased. There
was undoubted selfishness in all this, and yet Nicholas was of a most
free and generous nature, with as few mean or sordid thoughts, perhaps,
as ever fell to the lot of any man; and there is no reason to suppose
that, being in love, he felt and thought differently from other people
in the like sublime condition.
He did not stop to set on foot an inquiry into his train of thought or
state of feeling, however; but went thinking on all the way home,
and continued to dream on in the same strain all night. For, having
satisfied himself that Frank Cheeryble could have no knowledge of, or
acquaintance with, the mysterious young lady, it began to occur to him
that even he himself might never see her again; upon which hypothesis he
built up a very ingenious succession of tormenting ideas which answered
his purpose even better than the vision of Mr. Frank Cheeryble, and
tantalised and worried him, waking and sleeping.
Notwithstanding all that has been said and sung to the contrary,
there is no well-established case of morning having either deferred
or hastened its approach by the term of an hour or so for the mere
gratification of a splenetic feeling against some unoffending lover:
the sun having, in the discharge of his public duty, as the books
of precedent report, invariably risen according to the almanacs, and
without suffering himself to be swayed by any private considerations.
So, morning came as usual, and with it business-hours, and with them Mr
Frank Cheeryble, and with him a long train of smiles and welcomes from
the worthy brothers, and a more grave and clerk-like, but scarcely less
hearty reception from Mr. Timothy Linkinwater.
‘That Mr. Frank and Mr. Nickleby should have met last night,’ said
Tim Linkinwater, getting slowly off his stool, and looking round the
counting-house with his back planted against the desk, as was his custom
when he had anything very particular to say: ‘that those two young men
should have met last night in that manner is, I say, a coincidence, a
remarkable coincidence. Why, I don’t believe now,’ added Tim, taking off
his spectacles, and smiling as with gentle pride, ‘that there’s such a
place in all the world for coincidences as London is!’
‘I don’t know about that,’ said Mr. Frank; ‘but--’
‘Don’t know about it, Mr. Francis!’ interrupted Tim, with an obstinate
air. ‘Well, but let us know. If there is any better place for such
things, where is it? Is it in Europe? No, that it isn’t. Is it in Asia?
Why, of course it’s not. Is it in Africa? Not a bit of it. Is it in
America? YOU know better than that, at all events. Well, then,’ said
Tim, folding his arms resolutely, ‘where is it?’
‘I was not about to dispute the point, Tim,’ said young Cheeryble,
laughing. ‘I am not such a heretic as that. All I was going to say was,
that I hold myself under an obligation to the coincidence, that’s all.’
‘Oh! if you don’t dispute it,’ said Tim, quite satisfied, ‘that’s
another thing. I’ll tell you what though. I wish you had. I wish you
or anybody would. I would so put that man down,’ said Tim, tapping the
forefinger of his left hand emphatically with his spectacles, ‘so put
that man down by argument--’
It was quite impossible to find language to express the degree of mental
prostration to which such an adventurous wight would be reduced in the
keen encounter with Tim Linkinwater, so Tim gave up the rest of his
declaration in pure lack of words, and mounted his stool again.
‘We may consider ourselves, brother Ned,’ said Charles, after he had
patted Tim Linkinwater approvingly on the back, ‘very fortunate in
having two such young men about us as our nephew Frank and Mr. Nickleby.
It should be a source of great satisfaction and pleasure to us.’
‘Certainly, Charles, certainly,’ returned the other.
‘Of Tim,’ added brother Ned, ‘I say nothing whatever, because Tim is
a mere child--an infant--a nobody that we never think of or take into
account at all. Tim, you villain, what do you say to that, sir?’
‘I am jealous of both of ‘em,’ said Tim, ‘and mean to look out for
another situation; so provide yourselves, gentlemen, if you please.’
Tim thought this such an exquisite, unparalleled, and most extraordinary
joke, that he laid his pen upon the inkstand, and rather tumbling off
his stool than getting down with his usual deliberation, laughed till he
was quite faint, shaking his head all the time so that little particles
of powder flew palpably about the office. Nor were the brothers at all
behind-hand, for they laughed almost as heartily at the ludicrous idea
of any voluntary separation between themselves and old Tim. Nicholas
and Mr. Frank laughed quite boisterously, perhaps to conceal some other
emotion awakened by this little incident, (and so, indeed, did the three
old fellows after the first burst,) so perhaps there was as much keen
enjoyment and relish in that laugh, altogether, as the politest assembly
ever derived from the most poignant witticism uttered at any one
person’s expense.
‘Mr. Nickleby,’ said brother Charles, calling him aside, and taking him
kindly by the hand, ‘I--I--am anxious, my dear sir, to see that you are
properly and comfortably settled in the cottage. We cannot allow those
who serve us well to labour under any privation or discomfort that it is
in our power to remove. I wish, too, to see your mother and sister: to
know them, Mr. Nickleby, and have an opportunity of relieving their minds
by assuring them that any trifling service we have been able to do
them is a great deal more than repaid by the zeal and ardour you
display.--Not a word, my dear sir, I beg. Tomorrow is Sunday. I shall
make bold to come out at teatime, and take the chance of finding you at
home; if you are not, you know, or the ladies should feel a delicacy in
being intruded on, and would rather not be known to me just now, why
I can come again another time, any other time would do for me. Let it
remain upon that understanding. Brother Ned, my dear fellow, let me have
a word with you this way.’
The twins went out of the office arm-in-arm, and Nicholas, who saw in
this act of kindness, and many others of which he had been the subject
that morning, only so many delicate renewals on the arrival of their
nephew of the kind assurance which the brothers had given him in his
absence, could scarcely feel sufficient admiration and gratitude for
such extraordinary consideration.
The intelligence that they were to have a visitor--and such a
visitor--next day, awakened in the breast of Mrs. Nickleby mingled
feelings of exultation and regret; for whereas on the one hand she
hailed it as an omen of her speedy restoration to good society and the
almost-forgotten pleasures of morning calls and evening tea-drinkings,
she could not, on the other, but reflect with bitterness of spirit on
the absence of a silver teapot with an ivory knob on the lid, and a
milk-jug to match, which had been the pride of her heart in days of
yore, and had been kept from year’s end to year’s end wrapped up in
wash-leather on a certain top shelf which now presented itself in lively
colours to her sorrowing imagination.
‘I wonder who’s got that spice-box,’ said Mrs. Nickleby, shaking her
head. ‘It used to stand in the left-hand corner, next but two to the
pickled onions. You remember that spice-box, Kate?’
‘Perfectly well, mama.’
‘I shouldn’t think you did, Kate,’ returned Mrs. Nickleby, in a severe
manner, ‘talking about it in that cold and unfeeling way! If there
is any one thing that vexes me in these losses more than the losses
themselves, I do protest and declare,’ said Mrs. Nickleby, rubbing her
nose with an impassioned air, ‘that it is to have people about me who
take things with such provoking calmness.’
‘My dear mama,’ said Kate, stealing her arm round her mother’s neck,
‘why do you say what I know you cannot seriously mean or think, or why
be angry with me for being happy and content? You and Nicholas are left
to me, we are together once again, and what regard can I have for a few
trifling things of which we never feel the want? When I have seen all
the misery and desolation that death can bring, and known the lonesome
feeling of being solitary and alone in crowds, and all the agony of
separation in grief and poverty when we most needed comfort and support
from each other, can you wonder that I look upon this as a place of such
delicious quiet and rest, that with you beside me I have nothing to
wish for or regret? There was a time, and not long since, when all
the comforts of our old home did come back upon me, I own, very
often--oftener than you would think perhaps--but I affected to care
nothing for them, in the hope that you would so be brought to regret
them the less. I was not insensible, indeed. I might have felt happier
if I had been. Dear mama,’ said Kate, in great agitation, ‘I know no
difference between this home and that in which we were all so happy
for so many years, except that the kindest and gentlest heart that ever
ached on earth has passed in peace to heaven.’
‘Kate my dear, Kate,’ cried Mrs. Nickleby, folding her in her arms.
‘I have so often thought,’ sobbed Kate, ‘of all his kind words--of the
last time he looked into my little room, as he passed upstairs to bed,
and said “God bless you, darling.” There was a paleness in his face,
mama--the broken heart--I know it was--I little thought so--then--’
A gush of tears came to her relief, and Kate laid her head upon her
mother’s breast, and wept like a little child.
It is an exquisite and beautiful thing in our nature, that when the
heart is touched and softened by some tranquil happiness or affectionate
feeling, the memory of the dead comes over it most powerfully and
irresistibly. It would almost seem as though our better thoughts and
sympathies were charms, in virtue of which the soul is enabled to hold
some vague and mysterious intercourse with the spirits of those whom
we dearly loved in life. Alas! how often and how long may those patient
angels hover above us, watching for the spell which is so seldom
uttered, and so soon forgotten!
Poor Mrs. Nickleby, accustomed to give ready utterance to whatever
came uppermost in her mind, had never conceived the possibility of her
daughter’s dwelling upon these thoughts in secret, the more especially
as no hard trial or querulous reproach had ever drawn them from her. But
now, when the happiness of all that Nicholas had just told them, and
of their new and peaceful life, brought these recollections so strongly
upon Kate that she could not suppress them, Mrs. Nickleby began to have
a glimmering that she had been rather thoughtless now and then, and was
conscious of something like self-reproach as she embraced her daughter,
and yielded to the emotions which such a conversation naturally
awakened.
There was a mighty bustle that night, and a vast quantity of preparation
for the expected visitor, and a very large nosegay was brought from a
gardener’s hard by, and cut up into a number of very small ones, with
which Mrs. Nickleby would have garnished the little sitting-room, in
a style that certainly could not have failed to attract anybody’s
attention, if Kate had not offered to spare her the trouble, and
arranged them in the prettiest and neatest manner possible. If the
cottage ever looked pretty, it must have been on such a bright and
sunshiny day as the next day was. But Smike’s pride in the garden,
or Mrs. Nickleby’s in the condition of the furniture, or Kate’s in
everything, was nothing to the pride with which Nicholas looked at Kate
herself; and surely the costliest mansion in all England might have
found in her beautiful face and graceful form its most exquisite and
peerless ornament.
About six o’clock in the afternoon Mrs. Nickleby was thrown into a great
flutter of spirits by the long-expected knock at the door, nor was this
flutter at all composed by the audible tread of two pair of boots in the
passage, which Mrs. Nickleby augured, in a breathless state, must be ‘the
two Mr. Cheerybles;’ as it certainly was, though not the two Mrs. Nickleby
expected, because it was Mr. Charles Cheeryble, and his nephew, Mr. Frank,
who made a thousand apologies for his intrusion, which Mrs. Nickleby
(having tea-spoons enough and to spare for all) most graciously
received. Nor did the appearance of this unexpected visitor occasion
the least embarrassment, (save in Kate, and that only to the extent of
a blush or two at first,) for the old gentleman was so kind and cordial,
and the young gentleman imitated him in this respect so well, that the
usual stiffness and formality of a first meeting showed no signs of
appearing, and Kate really more than once detected herself in the very
act of wondering when it was going to begin.
At the tea-table there was plenty of conversation on a great variety of
subjects, nor were there wanting jocose matters of discussion, such as
they were; for young Mr. Cheeryble’s recent stay in Germany happening to
be alluded to, old Mr. Cheeryble informed the company that the aforesaid
young Mr. Cheeryble was suspected to have fallen deeply in love with
the daughter of a certain German burgomaster. This accusation young
Mr. Cheeryble most indignantly repelled, upon which Mrs. Nickleby slyly
remarked, that she suspected, from the very warmth of the denial, there
must be something in it. Young Mr. Cheeryble then earnestly entreated old
Mr. Cheeryble to confess that it was all a jest, which old Mr. Cheeryble
at last did, young Mr. Cheeryble being so much in earnest about it,
that--as Mrs. Nickleby said many thousand times afterwards in recalling
the scene--he ‘quite coloured,’ which she rightly considered a memorable
circumstance, and one worthy of remark, young men not being as a class
remarkable for modesty or self-denial, especially when there is a lady
in the case, when, if they colour at all, it is rather their practice to
colour the story, and not themselves.
After tea there was a walk in the garden, and the evening being very
fine they strolled out at the garden-gate into some lanes and bye-roads,
and sauntered up and down until it grew quite dark. The time seemed to
pass very quickly with all the party. Kate went first, leaning upon
her brother’s arm, and talking with him and Mr. Frank Cheeryble; and
Mrs. Nickleby and the elder gentleman followed at a short distance, the
kindness of the good merchant, his interest in the welfare of Nicholas,
and his admiration of Kate, so operating upon the good lady’s feelings,
that the usual current of her speech was confined within very narrow
and circumscribed limits. Smike (who, if he had ever been an object of
interest in his life, had been one that day) accompanied them, joining
sometimes one group and sometimes the other, as brother Charles, laying
his hand upon his shoulder, bade him walk with him, or Nicholas, looking
smilingly round, beckoned him to come and talk with the old friend who
understood him best, and who could win a smile into his careworn face
when none else could.
Pride is one of the seven deadly sins; but it cannot be the pride of
a mother in her children, for that is a compound of two cardinal
virtues--faith and hope. This was the pride which swelled Mrs. Nickleby’s
heart that night, and this it was which left upon her face, glistening
in the light when they returned home, traces of the most grateful tears
she had ever shed.
There was a quiet mirth about the little supper, which harmonised
exactly with this tone of feeling, and at length the two gentlemen
took their leave. There was one circumstance in the leave-taking which
occasioned a vast deal of smiling and pleasantry, and that was, that Mr
Frank Cheeryble offered his hand to Kate twice over, quite forgetting
that he had bade her adieu already. This was held by the elder Mr
Cheeryble to be a convincing proof that he was thinking of his German
flame, and the jest occasioned immense laughter. So easy is it to move
light hearts.
In short, it was a day of serene and tranquil happiness; and as we
all have some bright day--many of us, let us hope, among a crowd of
others--to which we revert with particular delight, so this one was
often looked back to afterwards, as holding a conspicuous place in the
calendar of those who shared it.
Was there one exception, and that one he who needed to have been most
happy?
Who was that who, in the silence of his own chamber, sunk upon his knees
to pray as his first friend had taught him, and folding his hands and
stretching them wildly in the air, fell upon his face in a passion of
bitter grief?