[Illustration: DOTHEBOYS HALL.]
"Education.--At Mr. Wackford Squeers's Academy, Dotheboys Hall, at the
delightful village of Dotheboys, near Greta Bridge in Yorkshire, Youth are
boarded, clothed, booked, furnished with pocket-money, provided with all
necessaries, instructed in all languages living and dead, mathematics,
orthography geometry, astronomy, trigonometry, the use of the globes,
algebra, single stick (if required), writing, arithmetic, fortification,
and every other branch of classical literature. Terms, twenty guineas per
annum. No extras, no vacations, and diet unparalleled. Mr. Squeers is in
town, and attends daily from one till four, at the Saracen's Head, Snow
Hill. N.B. An able assistant wanted. Annual salary £5. A Master of Arts
would be preferred."
When this advertisement in the "London Herald" came to the notice of Mr.
Nicholas Nickleby, then in search of a position as teacher, it seemed to
be the opening for which he was looking, and the next day he hastened to
the Saracen's Head, Snow Hill, to have an interview with Mr. Wackford
Squeers.
Mr. Squeers's appearance was not prepossessing. He had but one eye, and
the popular prejudice runs in favour of two. The blank side of his face
was much wrinkled and puckered up, which gave him a very sinister
appearance, especially when he smiled. His hair was very flat and shiny,
save at the ends, where it was brushed stiffly up from a low protruding
forehead, which assorted well with his harsh voice and coarse manner. He
was about two or three and fifty, and a trifle below the middle size; he
wore a white neckerchief and a suit of scholastic black; but his coat
sleeves being a great deal too long, and his trousers a great deal too
short, he appeared ill at ease in his clothes.
In the corner of the room with Mr. Squeers was a very small deal trunk,
tied round with a scanty piece of cord, and on the trunk was perched--his
lace-up half-boots and corduroy trousers dangling in the air--a diminutive
boy, with his shoulders drawn up to his ears, and his hands planted on his
knees, who glanced timidly at the schoolmaster from time to time, with
evident dread and apprehension, and at last gave a violent sneeze.
"Halloa, sir!" growled the schoolmaster, turning round. "What's that,
sir?"
"Nothing, please sir," said the little boy.
"Nothing, sir!" exclaimed Mr. Squeers.
"Please, sir, I sneezed," rejoined the boy, trembling till the little
trunk shook under him.
"Oh! sneezed, did you?" retorted Mr. Squeers. "Then what did you say
'nothing' for, sir?"
In default of a better answer to this question, the little boy screwed a
couple of knuckles into each of his eyes and began to cry; wherefore Mr.
Squeers knocked him off the trunk with a blow on one side of his face, and
knocked him on again with a blow on the other.
"Wait till I get you down into Yorkshire, my young gentleman," said Mr.
Squeers, "and then I'll give you the rest. Will you hold that noise, sir?"
"Ye-ye-yes," sobbed the little boy, rubbing his face very hard.
"Then do so at once, sir," said Squeers. "Do you hear?"
As this admonition was accompanied with a threatening gesture, and uttered
with a savage aspect, the little boy rubbed his face harder, and between
alternately sniffing and choking, gave no further vent to his emotions.
"Mr. Squeers," said the waiter, at this juncture; "here's a gentleman
asking for you."
"Show the gentleman in, Richard," replied Mr. Squeers, in a soft voice.
"Put your handkerchief in your pocket, you little scoundrel, or I'll
murder you when the gentleman goes."
The schoolmaster had scarcely uttered these words in a fierce whisper,
when the stranger entered. Affecting not to see him, Mr. Squeers feigned
to be intent upon mending a pen, and offering benevolent advice to his
youthful pupil.
"My dear child," said Mr. Squeers, "All people have their trials. This
early trial of yours that is fit to make your little heart burst, and your
very eyes come out of your head with crying, what is it? Less than
nothing. You are leaving your friends, but you will have a father in me,
my dear, and a mother in Mrs. Squeers. At the delightful village of
Dotheboys, near Greta Bridge in Yorkshire, where youth are boarded,
clothed, booked, washed, furnished with pocket-money, provided with all
necessaries----"
Here the waiting stranger interrupted with inquiries about sending his
boys to Mr. Squeers, and before he and Mr. Squeers had finished their
talk, Nicholas Nickleby entered. He briefly stated his desire for a
position, his having seen Mr. Squeers's "Herald" advertisement, and, after
more or less questioning and examination from the schoolmaster, Nicholas
was engaged as assistant master for Dotheboys Hall, and it was settled
that he was to go by coach with Mr. Squeers at eight o'clock the next
morning.
When he arrived, punctually at the appointed hour, he found that learned
gentleman sitting at breakfast, with five little boys, whom he was to take
down with him, ranged in a row on the opposite seat. Mr. Squeers had
before him a small measure of coffee, a plate of hot toast, and a cold
round of beef, but he was at that moment intent on preparing breakfast for
the little boys.
"This is twopenn'orth of milk, is it waiter?" said Mr. Squeers.
"That's twopenn'orth, sir," replied the waiter.
"What a rare article milk is, to be sure, in London!" said Mr. Squeers,
with a sigh. "Just fill that mug up with lukewarm water, William, will
you?"
"To the wery top, sir?" inquired the waiter. "Why, the milk will be
drownded."
"Never you mind that," replied Mr. Squeers. "Serve it right for being so
dear. You ordered that thick bread and butter for three, did you?"
"Coming directly, sir."
"You needn't hurry yourself," said Squeers, "there's plenty of time.
Conquer your passions, boys, and don't be eager after vittles." As he
uttered this moral precept, Mr. Squeers took a large bite out of the cold
beef, and recognised Nicholas.
"Sit down, Mr. Nickleby," said Squeers. "Here we are, a breakfasting, you
see."
Nicholas did _not_ see that anybody was breakfasting, except Mr. Squeers;
but he bowed with all becoming reverence, and looked as cheerful as he
could.
"Oh, that's the milk and water, is it, William?" said Mr. Squeers. "Very
good; don't forget the bread and butter presently."
At this fresh mention of the bread and butter, the five little boys looked
very eager, and followed the waiter out, with their eyes; meanwhile Mr.
Squeers tasted the milk and water.
"Ah," said that gentleman, smacking his lips, "here's richness! Think of
the many beggars and orphans in the streets that would be glad of this,
little boys. A shocking thing hunger is, isn't it, Mr. Nickleby?"
"Very shocking, sir," said Nicholas.
"When I say number one," pursued Mr. Squeers, putting the mug before the
children, "the boy on the left hand nearest the window may take a drink;
and when I say number two, the boy next him will go in, and so till we
come to number five, which is the last boy. Are you ready?"
"Yes, sir," cried all the little boys with great eagerness.
"That's right," said Squeers, calmly getting on with his breakfast; "keep
ready till I tell you to begin. Subdue your appetites, my dears, and
you've conquered human natur. This is the way we inculcate strength of
mind, Mr. Nickleby," said the schoolmaster, turning to Nicholas.
Nicholas murmured something--he knew not what--in reply; and the little
boys, dividing their gaze between the mug, the bread and butter (which by
this time had arrived) and every morsel which Mr. Squeers took into his
mouth, remained with strained eyes in torments of expectation.
"Thank God for a good breakfast," said Squeers when he had finished.
"Number one may take a drink."
Number one seized the mug ravenously, and had just drunk enough to make
him wish for more, when Mr. Squeers gave the signal for number two, who
gave up at the same interesting moment to number three; and the process
was repeated until the milk and water terminated with number five.
"And now," said the schoolmaster, dividing the bread and butter for three
into as many portions as there were children, "you had better look sharp
with your breakfast, for the horn will blow in a minute or two, and then
every boy leaves off."
Permission being thus given to fall to, the boys began to eat voraciously,
and in desperate haste; while the schoolmaster (who was in high good
humour after his meal) looked smilingly on. In a very short time the horn
was heard.
"I thought it wouldn't be long," said Squeers, jumping up and producing a
little basket from under the seat; "put what you haven't had time to eat,
in here, boys. You'll want it on the road!"
Nicholas was considerably startled by these very economical arrangements;
but he had no time to reflect upon them, for the little boys had to be got
up to the top of the coach, and their boxes had to be brought out and put
in, and Mr. Squeers's luggage was to be seen carefully deposited in the
boot, and all these offices were in his department.
Presently, however, the coach was off, and they had started on their long
trip, made doubly long by the severity of the weather, which caused them
to be detained several times; so it was not until six o'clock the
following night, that he and Mr. Squeers, and the little boys, were all
put down together at the George and New Inn, Greta Bridge.
"Is it much farther to Dotheboys Hall, sir?" asked Nicholas, when they had
started off, the little boys in one vehicle, he and Mr. Squeers in
another.
"About three mile from here," replied Squeers. "But you needn't call it a
Hall down here. The fact is, it ain't a Hall," observed Squeers, drily.
"Oh, indeed!" said Nicholas, whom this piece of intelligence much
astonished.
"No," replied Squeers. "We call it a Hall up in London, because it sounds
better, but they don't know it by that name in these parts. A man may call
his house an island if he likes; there's no act of Parliament against
that, I believe?"
"I believe not, sir," rejoined Nicholas.
Squeers eyed his companion slily at the conclusion of this little
dialogue, and finding that he had grown thoughtful and appeared in nowise
disposed to volunteer any observations, contented himself with lashing the
pony until they reached their journey's end.
"Jump out," said Squeers. "Hallo there! Come and put this horse up. Be
quick, will you!"
While the schoolmaster was uttering these and other impatient cries,
Nicholas had time to observe that the school was a long, cold-looking
house, one story high, with a few straggling outbuildings behind, and a
barn and stable adjoining. Mr. Squeers had dismounted, and after ordering
the boy, whom he called Smike, to see to the pony, and to take care that
he hadn't any more corn that night, he told Nicholas to wait at the front
door a minute, while he went round and let him in.
A host of unpleasant misgivings, which had been crowding upon Nicholas
during the whole journey, thronged into his mind. His great distance from
home, and the impossibility of reaching it, except on foot, should he feel
ever so anxious, presented itself to him in most alarming colours; and as
he looked up at the dreary house and dark windows, and upon the wild
country round, covered with snow, he felt a depression of heart and spirit
which he never had experienced before.
"Now, then!" cried Squeers, poking his head out at the front door, "Where
are you, Nickleby?"
"Here, sir," replied Nicholas.
"Come in, then," said Squeers, "the wind blows in, at this door, fit to
knock a man off his legs."
Nicholas sighed, and hurried in. Mr. Squeers ushered him into a small
parlour scantily furnished with a few chairs, a yellow map hung against
the wall, and a couple of tables; one of which bore some preparations for
supper. Mrs. Squeers then came in, and was duly made acquainted with
Nicholas, and after some conversation between Mr. and Mrs. Squeers, a
young servant girl brought in a Yorkshire pie, which being set upon the
table, the boy Smike appeared with a jug of ale.
Mr. Squeers meanwhile was emptying his great-coat pockets of letters to
different boys, which he had brought down. Smike glanced, with an anxious
and timid expression, at the papers, as if with a sickly hope that one
among them might relate to him. The look was a very painful one, and went
to Nicholas's heart at once; for it told a sad history. He considered the
boy more attentively, and was surprised to observe the extraordinary
mixture of garments which formed his dress. Although he could not have
been less than eighteen or nineteen years old, and was tall for that age,
he wore a skeleton suit, which, though most absurdly short in the arms and
legs, was quite wide enough for his attenuated frame. In order that the
lower part of his legs might be in keeping with this singular dress, he
had a very large pair of boots, originally made for tops, but now too
patched and tattered for a beggar. He was lame, and as he feigned to be
busy arranging the table, glanced at the letters with a look so keen, and
yet so dispirited and hopeless that Nicholas could hardly bear to watch
him.
"What are you bothering about there, Smike?" cried Mrs. Squeers; "let the
things alone, can't you?"
"Eh," said Squeers, looking up. "Oh, it's you, is it?"
"Yes, sir," replied the youth, pressing his hands together, as though to
control, by force, the nervous wandering of his fingers. "Is there----"
"Well!" said Squeers.
"Have you--did anybody--has nothing been heard--about me?"
"Not a word," resumed Squeers, "and never will be. Now, this is a pretty
sort of thing, isn't it, that you should have been left here, all these
years, and no money paid after the first six--nor no notice taken, nor no
clue to be got who you belong to? It's a pretty sort of thing that I
should have to feed a great fellow like you, and never hope to get one
penny for it, isn't it?"
The boy put his hand to his head as if he were making an effort to
recollect something, and then, looking vacantly at his questioner,
gradually broke into a smile, and limped away.
The following morning, when Nicholas appeared downstairs, Mrs. Squeers was
in a state of great excitement.
"I can't find the school spoon anywhere," she said anxiously.
"Never mind it, my dear," observed Squeers in a soothing manner; "it's of
no consequence."
"No consequence? Why, how you talk!" retorted Mrs. Squeers sharply, "isn't
it brimstone morning?"
"I forgot, my dear," rejoined Squeers; "yes, it certainly is. We purify
the boys' bloods now and then, Nickleby."
"Oh! nonsense," rejoined Mrs. Squeers. "If the young man comes to be a
teacher here, let him understand, at once, that we don't want any foolery
about the boys. They have the brimstone and treacle, partly because if
they hadn't something or other in the way of medicine they 'd be always
ailing and giving a world of trouble, and partly because it spoils their
appetites and comes cheaper than breakfast and dinner. So, it does them
good and us good at the same time, and that's fair enough, I'm sure!"
"But come," said Squeers, "let's go to the schoolroom; and lend me a hand
with my school-coat, will you?"
Nicholas assisted his master to put on an old fustian shooting jacket, and
Squeers, arming himself with his cane, led the way across a yard, to a
door in the rear of the house.
"There," said the schoolmaster, as they stepped in together; "this is our
shop, Nickleby!"
The "shop" was a bare and dirty room, with a couple of windows, whereof a
tenth part might be of glass, the remainder being stopped up with old
copybooks and paper. There were a couple of long, old rickety desks, cut
and notched, and inked, and damaged, in every possible way; two or three
forms; a detached desk for Squeers; and another for his assistant. The
ceiling was supported, like that of a barn, by cross beams and rafters;
and the walls were so stained and discoloured, that it was impossible to
tell whether they had ever been touched with paint or whitewash.
But the pupils! How the last faint traces of hope faded from the mind of
Nicholas as he looked in dismay around! There were pale and haggard faces,
lank and bony figures, boys of stunted growth; little faces which should
have been handsome, darkened with the scowl of sullen, dogged suffering;
vicious-faced boys, brooding with leaden eyes, with every kindly sympathy
and affection blasted in its birth, with every young and healthy feeling
flogged and starved down.
And yet this scene, painful as it was, had its grotesque features. Mrs.
Squeers stood at one of the desks, presiding over an immense basin of
brimstone and treacle, of which delicious compound she administered a
large instalment to each boy in succession: using for the purpose a common
wooden spoon, which widened every young gentleman's mouth considerably:
they being all obliged, under heavy corporal penalties, to take in the
whole of the bowl at a gasp.
In another corner, huddled together for companionship, were the little
boys who had arrived on the preceding night: at no great distance from
these was seated the juvenile son and heir of Mr. Squeers, Wackford by
name--a striking likeness of his father--kicking, with great vigour, under
the hands of Smike, who was fitting upon him a pair of new boots that bore
a most suspicious resemblance to those which the least of the little boys
had worn on the journey down--as the little boy himself seemed to think,
for he was regarding the appropriation with a look of rueful amazement.
"Now," said Squeers, giving the desk a great rap with his cane, which made
half the little boys nearly jump out of their boots, "is that physicking
over?"
"Just over," said Mrs. Squeers, choking the last boy in her hurry, and
tapping the crown of his head with the spoon to restore him. "Here, you
Smike; take away now. Look sharp!"
Smike shuffled out with the basin, and Mrs. Squeers, hurried out after him
into a wash-house where there were a number of little wooden bowls which
were arranged upon a board. Into these bowls, Mrs. Squeers poured a brown
composition, which was called porridge. A minute wedge of brown bread was
inserted in each bowl, and when they had eaten their porridge by means of
it, the boys ate the bread itself, and had finished their breakfast;
whereupon Mr. Squeers said in a solemn voice, "For what we have received,
may the Lord make us truly thankful!"--and went away to his own.
After eating his share of porridge, and having further disposed of a slice
of bread and butter, allotted to him in virtue of his office, Nicholas sat
himself down, to wait for school-time. He could not but observe how silent
and sad the boys seemed to be. There was none of the noise and clamour of
a school-room; none of its boisterous play, or hearty mirth. The only
pupil who evinced the slightest tendency towards locomotion or playfulness
was Master Squeers, and as his chief amusement was to tread upon the other
boys' toes in his new boots, his flow of spirits was rather disagreeable
than otherwise.
After some half-hour's delay, Mr. Squeers reappeared, and the boys took
their places and their books, and ranged themselves in front of the
schoolmaster's desk.
"This is the class in English spelling, and philosophy, Nickleby," said
Squeers, beckoning Nicholas to stand beside him. "We'll get up a Latin
one, and hand that over to you. Now, then, where's the first boy?"
"Please, sir, he's cleaning the back parlour window," answered one of the
class.
"So he is, to be sure," rejoined Squeers. "We go upon the practical mode
of teaching, Nickleby; the regular education system. C-l-e-a-n, clean,
verb active, to make bright, to scour. When the boy knows this out of
book, he goes and does it. Where's the second boy?"
"Please, sir, he's weeding the garden," replied a small voice.
"To be sure," said Squeers. "So he is. B-o-t, bot, t-i-n, tin, n-e-y, ney,
bottinney, noun substantive, a knowledge of plants. Third boy, what's a
horse?"
"A beast, sir," replied the boy.
"So it is," said Squeers. "Ain't it, Nickleby?"
"I believe there is no doubt of that, sir," answered Nicholas.
"Of course there isn't," said Squeers. "A horse is a quadruped, and
quadruped's Latin for beast, as every body that's gone through the grammar
knows. As you're perfect in that," resumed Squeers, turning to the boy,
"go and look after _my_ horse, and rub him down well, or I'll rub you
down. The rest of the class go and draw water up till somebody tells you
to leave off, for it's washing day to-morrow."
So saying, he dismissed the class, and eyed Nicholas with a look, half
cunning and half doubtful, as if he were not altogether certain what he
might think of him by this time.
"That's the way we do it, Nickleby," he said, after a pause.
Nicholas shrugged his shoulders, and said he saw it was.
"And a very good way it is, too," said Squeers. "Now just take them
fourteen little boys and hear them some reading, because, you know, you
must begin to be useful."
Mr. Squeers said this as if it had suddenly occurred to him, either that
he must not say too much to his assistant, or that his assistant did not
say enough to him in praise of the establishment. The children were
arranged in a semi-circle round the new master, and he was soon listening
to their dull, drawling, hesitating recital of stories to be found in the
old spelling books. In this exciting occupation the morning lagged heavily
on. At one o'clock, the boys sat down in the kitchen to some hard salt
beef. After this, there was another hour of crouching in the schoolroom
and shivering with cold, and then school began again.
It was Mr. Squeers's custom to call the boys together, and make a sort of
report, after every half-yearly visit to the metropolis, regarding the
relations and friends he had seen, the news he had heard, the letters he
had brought down, and so forth. This solemn proceeding took place on the
afternoon of the day succeeding his return. The boys were recalled from
house-window, garden and stable, and cow-yard, when Mr. Squeers with a
small bundle of papers in his hand, and Mrs. Squeers following with a pair
of canes, entered the room, and proclaimed silence.
"Let any boy speak without leave," said Mr. Squeers mildly, "and I'll take
the skin off his back."
This special proclamation had the desired effect, and a death-like silence
immediately prevailed, in the midst of which Mr. Squeers went on to say:
"Boys, I've been to London, and have returned as strong and well as ever."
According to half-yearly custom, the boys gave three feeble cheers at this
refreshing intelligence. Such cheers! Sighs of extra strength with the
chill on.
Squeers then proceeded to give several messages of various degrees of
unpleasantness to sundry of the boys, followed up by vigorous canings
where he had any grudge to pay off. One by one the boys answered to their
names.
"Now let us see," said Squeers. "A letter for Cobbey. Stand up, Cobbey."
Another boy stood up and eyed the letter very hard, while Squeers made a
mental abstract of the same.
"Oh," said Squeers; "Cobbey's grandmother is dead, which is all the news
his sister sends, except eighteenpence, which will just pay for that
broken square of glass. Mrs. Squeers, my dear, will you take the money?"
The worthy lady pocketed the eighteenpence with a most business-like air,
and Squeers passed on to the next boy, as coolly as possible.
"Mobbs's step-mother," said Squeers, "took to her bed on hearing that he
wouldn't eat fat, and has been very ill ever since. She wishes to know, by
an early post, where he expects to go to if he quarrels with his vittles;
and with what feelings he could turn up his nose at the cow's liver broth,
after his good master had asked a blessing on it. This was told her in the
London newspapers--not by Mr. Squeers, for he is too kind and good to set
anybody against anybody--and it has vexed her so much, Mobbs can't think.
She is sorry to find he is discontented, which is sinful and horrid, and
hopes Mr. Squeers will flog him into a happier state of mind; and with
this view, she has also stopped his halfpenny a week pocket-money, and
given a double-bladed knife with a corkscrew in it to the Missionaries,
which she had bought on purpose for him."
[Illustration: BOLDER, COBBEY, GRAYMARSH, MOBB'S.]
"A sulky state of feeling," said Squeers, after a terrible pause.
"Cheerfulness and contentment must be kept up. Mobbs, come to me."
Mobbs moved slowly towards the desk, rubbing his eyes in anticipation of
good cause for doing so; and he soon afterwards retired by the side door,
with as good a cause as a boy need have.
Mr. Squeers then proceeded to open a miscellaneous collection of letters;
some enclosing money, which Mrs. Squeers "took care of;" and others
referring to small articles of apparel, all of which the same lady stated
to be too large, or too small, and calculated for nobody but young
Squeers, who would appear indeed to have had most accommodating limbs,
since everything that came into the school fitted him to a nicety. His
head, in particular, must have been singularly elastic, for hats and caps
of all dimensions were alike to him.
This business despatched, a few slovenly lessons were performed, and
Squeers retired to his fireside, leaving Nicholas to take care of the boys
in the schoolroom. There was a small stove at that corner of the room
which was nearest to the master's desk, and by it Nicholas sat down,
depressed and degraded by the consciousness of his position. But for the
present his resolve was taken. He had written to his mother and sister,
announcing the safe conclusion of his journey, and saying as little about
Dotheboys Hall, and saying that little as cheerfully, as he could. He
hoped that by remaining where he was, he might do some good, even there;
at all events, others depended too much on him to admit of his complaining
just then.
From the moment of making that resolve, Nicholas got on in his place as
well as he could, doing his best to improve matters. He arranged a few
regular lessons for the boys, and saw that they were well attended; but
his heart sank more and more, for besides the dull, unvarying round of
misery there was another system of annoyance which nearly drove him wild
by its injustice and cruelty. Upon the wretched creature Smike, all the
spleen and ill-humour that could not be vented on Nicholas, were
unceasingly bestowed. Drudgery would have been nothing--Smike was well
used to that. Buffetings inflicted without cause would have been equally a
matter of course, for to them also he had served a long and weary
apprenticeship; but it was no sooner observed that he had become attached
to Nicholas, than stripes and blows, morning, noon, and night, were his
only portion. Squeers was jealous of the influence which his new teacher
had so soon acquired; and his family hated him, and Smike paid for both.
Nicholas saw this, and ground his teeth at every repetition of the savage
and cowardly attack.
Not many weeks later, on a cold January morning, when Nicholas awoke he
found the entire school agog with quivering excitement. Smike had run
away, and Squeers's anger was at white heat against him and every one
else.
"He is off," said Mrs. Squeers, angrily. "The cowhouse and stable are
locked up, so he can't be there; and he's not down stairs anywhere. He
must have gone York way, and by a public road too. Then of course,"
continued Mrs. Squeers, "as he had no money he must beg his way, and he
could do that nowhere, but on the public road."
"That's true," exclaimed Squeers, clapping his hands.
"True! Yes; but you would never have thought of it, if I hadn't said so,"
replied his wife. "Now, if you take the chaise and go one road, and I
borrow Swallow's chaise and go the other, one or other of us is pretty
certain to lay hold of him!"
This plan was adopted and put in execution without a moment's delay.
After a very hasty breakfast, Squeers started forth in the pony-chaise,
intent upon discovery and vengeance. Shortly afterwards, Mrs. Squeers
issued forth in another chaise and another direction, taking with her a
good-sized bludgeon, several odd pieces of strong cord, and a stout
labouring man.
Nicholas remained behind, in a tumult of feeling, sensible that whatever
might be the upshot of the boy's flight, nothing but painful and
deplorable consequences were likely to ensue from it. The unhappy being
had established a hold upon his sympathy and compassion, which made his
heart ache at the prospect of the suffering he was destined to undergo.
The next evening Squeers returned alone and unsuccessful. Another day
came, and Nicholas was scarcely awake when he heard the wheels of a chaise
approaching the house. It stopped. The voice of Mrs. Squeers was heard in
exultation. Nicholas hardly dared to look out of the window; but he did
so, and the very first object that met his eyes was the wretched Smike: so
bedabbled with mud and rain, so haggard, and worn, and wild, that, but for
his garments being such as no scarecrow was ever seen to wear, he might
have been doubtful, even then, of his identity.
"Lift him out," said Squeers, after he had literally feasted his eyes upon
the culprit. "Bring him in; bring him in!"
"Take care!" cried Mrs. Squeers. "We tied his legs under the apron and
made 'em fast to the chaise, to prevent his giving us the slip again."
With hands trembling with delight, Squeers unloosened the cord; and Smike,
more dead than alive, was brought into the house and securely locked up in
a cellar.
It may be a matter of surprise to some persons that Mr. and Mrs. Squeers
should have taken so much trouble to repossess themselves of an
incumbrance of which it was their wont to complain so loudly; but the
services of the drudge, if performed by any one else, would have cost some
ten or twelve shillings per week in the shape of wages; and furthermore,
all runaways were, as a matter of policy, made severe examples of, at
Dotheboys Hall, as in consequence of the limited extent of its
attractions, there was but little inducement, beyond the powerful impulse
of fear, for any pupil, provided with the usual number of legs and the
power of using them, to remain.
The news that Smike had been caught and brought back in triumph, ran like
wild-fire through the hungry community, and expectation was on tiptoe all
the morning. On tiptoe it was destined to remain, however, until
afternoon; when Squeers called the school together, and dragged Smike by
the collar to the front of the room before them all.
"Have you anything to say?" demanded Squeers, giving his right arm two or
three flourishes to try its power and suppleness. "Stand a little out of
the way, Mrs. Squeers, my dear; I've hardly got room enough."
"Spare me, sir!" cried Smike.
"Oh! that's all, is it?" said Squeers. "Yes, I'll flog you within an inch
of your life, and spare you that."
"I was driven to do it," said Smike faintly; and casting an imploring look
about him.
"Driven to do it, were you?" said Squeers. "Oh! It wasn't your fault; it
was mine, I suppose--eh?"
Squeers caught the boy firmly in his grip; one desperate cut had fallen on
his body--he was wincing from the lash and uttering a scream of pain--it
was raised again, and again about to fall--when Nicholas Nickleby,
suddenly starting up, cried "Stop!" in a voice that made the rafters ring.
"Who cried stop?" said Squeers, turning savagely round.
"I," said Nicholas, stepping forward. "This must not go on!"
"Must not go on!" cried Squeers, almost in a shriek.
"No!" thundered Nicholas.
Aghast and stupified by the boldness of the interference, Squeers released
his hold of Smike, and, falling back a pace or two, gazed upon Nicholas
with looks that were positively frightful.
"I say must not," repeated Nicholas, nothing daunted; "shall not. I will
prevent it."
Squeers continued to gaze upon him, with his eyes starting out of his
head; but astonishment had actually, for the moment, bereft him of speech.
"You have disregarded all my quiet interference in the miserable lad's
behalf," said Nicholas; "you have returned no answer to the letter in
which I begged forgiveness for him, and offered to be responsible that he
would remain quietly here. Don't blame me for this public interference.
You have brought it upon yourself; not I."
"Sit down, beggar!" screamed Squeers, almost beside himself with rage, and
seizing Smike as he spoke.
"Wretch," rejoined Nicholas, fiercely, "touch him at your peril! I will
not stand by and see it done. My blood is up, and I have the strength of
ten such men as you. Look to yourself, for by Heaven I will not spare you,
if you drive me on!"
"Stand back," cried Squeers, brandishing his weapon.
"I have a long series of insults to avenge," said Nicholas, flushed with
passion; "and my indignation is aggravated by the dastardly cruelties
practised on helpless infancy in this foul den. Have a care; for if you do
rouse the devil within me, the consequences shall fall heavily upon your
own head!"
He had scarcely spoken, when Squeers, in a violent outbreak of wrath, and
with a cry like the howl of a wild beast, struck him a blow across the
face with his instrument of torture, which raised up a bar of livid flesh
as it was inflicted. Smarting with the agony of the blow, and
concentrating into that one moment all his feelings of rage, scorn, and
indignation, Nicholas sprang upon him, wrested the weapon from his hand,
and pinning him by the throat, beat the ruffian till he roared for mercy.
Then he hastily retired from the fray, leaving Squeers's family to restore
him as best they might. Seeking his room with all possible haste, Nicholas
considered seriously what course of action was best for him to adopt.
After a brief consideration, he packed up a few clothes in a small
leathern valise, and, finding that nobody offered to oppose his progress,
marched boldly out by the front door, and struck into the road which led
to Greta Bridge.
When he had cooled, sufficiently to be enabled to give his present
circumstances some little reflection, they did not appear in a very
encouraging light; he had only four shillings and a few pence in his
pocket, and was something more than two hundred and fifty miles from
London, whither he resolved to direct his steps.
He lay, that night, at a cottage where beds were let at a cheap rate to
the more humble class of travellers; and, rising betimes next morning,
made his way before night to Boroughbridge. Passing through that town in
search of some cheap resting-place, he stumbled upon an empty barn within
a couple of hundred yards of the road side; in a warm corner of which he
stretched his weary limbs, and soon fell asleep.
When he awoke next morning, and tried to recollect his dreams, which had
been all connected with his recent sojourn at Dotheboys Hall, he sat up,
rubbed his eyes, and stared--not with the most composed countenance
possible--at some motionless object which seemed to be stationed within a
few yards in front of him.
"Strange!" cried Nicholas, "can this be some lingering creation of the
visions that have scarcely left me? It cannot be real--and yet I--I am
awake! Smike!"
The form moved, rose, advanced, and dropped upon its knees at his feet. It
was Smike indeed.
"Why do you kneel to me?" said Nicholas, hastily raising him.
"To go with you--anywhere--everywhere--to the world's end--to the
churchyard grave," replied Smike, clinging to his hand. "Let me, oh, do
let me. You are my home--my kind friend--take me with you, pray."
I am a friend who can do "little for you," said Nicholas, kindly. "How
came you here?"
He had followed him, it seemed; had never lost sight of him all the way;
had watched while he slept, and when he halted for refreshment; and had
feared to appear before, lest he should be sent back. He had not intended
to appear now, but Nicholas had awakened more suddenly than he looked for,
and he had had no time to conceal himself.
"Poor fellow!" said Nicholas, "your hard fate denies you any friend but
one, and he is nearly as poor and helpless as yourself."
"May I--may I go with you?" asked Smike timidly. "I will be your faithful
hard-working servant, I will, indeed. I want no clothes," added the poor
creature, drawing his rags together; "these will do very well. I only want
to be near you."
"And you shall!" cried Nicholas. "The world shall deal by you as it does
by me, till one or both of us shall quit it for a better. Come!"
With these words, he strapped his burden on his shoulders, and, taking his
stick in one hand, extended the other to his delighted charge; and so they
passed out of the old barn together, out from the nightmare of life at
Dotheboys Hall, into the busy world outside.
* * * * *
Some years later, when Mr. Squeers was making one of his customary
semi-annual visits to London, he was arrested and sent to jail by persons
who had discovered his system of fraud and cruelty, as well as the fact
that he had in his possession a stolen will. Upon John Browdie, a burly
Scotchman, devolved the duty of carrying the painful news to Mrs. Squeers,
and of dismissing the school.
So, arriving at Dotheboys Hall, he tied his horse to a gate, and made his
way to the schoolroom door, which he found locked on the inside. A
tremendous noise and riot arose from within, and, applying his eye to a
convenient crevice in the wall, he did not remain long in ignorance of its
meaning.
The news of Mr. Squeers's downfall had reached Dotheboys; that was quite
clear. To all appearance, it had very recently become known to the young
gentlemen; for rebellion had just broken out.
It was one of the brimstone-and-treacle mornings, and Mrs. Squeers had
entered school according to custom with the large bowl and spoon, followed
by Miss Squeers and the amiable Wackford: who, during his father's
absence, had taken upon himself such minor branches of the executive as
kicking the pupils with his nailed boots, pulling the hair of some of the
smaller boys, pinching the others in aggravating places, and rendering
himself in various similar ways a great comfort and happiness to his
mother. Their entrance, whether by premeditation or a simultaneous
impulse, was the signal of revolt for the boys. While one detachment
rushed to the door and locked it, and another mounted the desks and forms,
the stoutest (and consequently the newest) boy seized the cane, and,
confronting Mrs. Squeers with a stern countenance, snatched off her cap
and beaver bonnet, put it on his own head, armed himself with the wooden
spoon, and bade her, on pain of death, go down upon her knees and take a
dose directly. Before that estimable lady could recover herself, or offer
the slightest retaliation, she was forced into a kneeling posture by a
crowd of shouting tormentors, and compelled to swallow a spoonful of the
odious mixture, rendered more than usually savoury by the immersion in the
bowl of Master Wackford's head, whose ducking was entrusted to another
rebel. The success of this first achievement prompted the malicious crowd,
whose faces were clustered together in every variety of lank and
half-starved ugliness, to further acts of outrage. The leader was
insisting upon Mrs. Squeers repeating her dose, Master Squeers was
undergoing another dip in the treacle, when John Browdie, bursting open
the door with a vigorous kick, rushed to the rescue. The shouts, screams,
groans, hoots, and clapping of hands, suddenly ceased, and a dead silence
ensued.
"Ye be noice chaps," said John, looking steadily round. "What's to do
here, thou yoong dogs?"
"Squeers is in prison, and we are going to run away!" cried a score of
shrill voices. "We won't stop, we won't stop!"
"Weel then, dinnot stop," replied John; "who waants thee to stop? Roon
awa' loike men, but dinnot hurt the women.
"Hurrah!" cried the shrill voices, more shrilly still.
"Hurrah?" repeated John. "Weel, hurrah loike men too. Noo then, look out.
Hip--hip--hip--hurrah!"
"Hurrah!" cried the voices.
"Hurrah! agean," said John. "Looder still."
The boys obeyed.
"Anoother!" said John. "Dinnot be afeared on it Let's have a good un!"
"Hurrah!"
"Noo then," said John, "let's have yan more to end wi', and then coot off
as quick as you loike. Tak' a good breath noo--Squeers be in jail--the
school's brokken oop--it's all ower--past and gane--think o' thot, and let
it be a hearty 'un! Hurrah!"
Such a cheer arose as the walls of Dotheboys Hall had never echoed before,
and were destined never to respond to again. When the sound had died away,
the school was empty; and of the busy noisy crowd which had peopled it but
five minutes before, not one remained.
For some days afterwards, the neighbouring country was overrun with boys,
who, the report went, had been secretly furnished by Mr. and Mrs. Browdie,
not only with a hearty meal of bread and meat, but with sundry shillings
and sixpences to help them on their way.
There were a few timid young children, who, miserable as they had been,
and many as were the tears they had shed in the wretched school, still
knew no other home, and had formed for it a sort of attachment which made
them weep when the bolder spirits fled, and cling to it as a refuge. Of
these, some were found crying under hedges and in such places, frightened
at the solitude. One had a dead bird in a little cage; he had wandered
nearly twenty miles, and when his poor favourite died, lost courage, and
lay down beside him. Another was discovered in a yard hard by the school,
sleeping with a dog, who bit at those who came to remove him, and licked
the sleeping child's pale face.
They were taken back, and some other stragglers were recovered, but by
degrees they were all claimed, and, in course of time, Dotheboys Hall and
its last breaking up began to be forgotten by the neighbours, or to be
only spoken of as among things that had been.