When her term of mourning had expired, Madeline gave her hand and fortune to Nicholas; and, on the same day and at the same time, Kate became Mrs Frank Cheeryble. It was expected that Tim Linkinwater and Miss La Creevy would have made a third couple on the occasion, but they declined, and two or three weeks afterwards went out together one morning before breakfast, and, coming back with merry faces, were found to have been quietly married that day.
The money which Nicholas acquired in right of his wife he invested in the firm of Cheeryble Brothers, in which Frank had become a partner. Before many years elapsed, the business began to be carried on in the names of ‘Cheeryble and Nickleby,’ so that Mrs. Nickleby’s prophetic anticipations1 were realised at last.
The twin brothers retired2. Who needs to be told that they were happy? They were surrounded by happiness of their own creation, and lived but to increase it.
Tim Linkinwater condescended3, after much entreaty4 and brow-beating, to accept a share in the house; but he could never be prevailed upon to suffer the publication of his name as a partner, and always persisted in the punctual and regular discharge of his clerkly duties.
He and his wife lived in the old house, and occupied the very bedchamber in which he had slept for four-and-forty years. As his wife grew older, she became even a more cheerful and light-hearted little creature; and it was a common saying among their friends, that it was impossible to say which looked the happier, Tim as he sat calmly smiling in his elbow-chair on one side of the fire, or his brisk little wife chatting and laughing, and constantly bustling5 in and out of hers, on the other.
Dick, the blackbird, was removed from the counting-house and promoted to a warm corner in the common sitting-room6. Beneath his cage hung two miniatures, of Mrs. Linkinwater’s execution; one representing herself, and the other Tim; and both smiling very hard at all beholders. Tim’s head being powdered like a twelfth cake, and his spectacles copied with great nicety, strangers detected a close resemblance to him at the first glance, and this leading them to suspect that the other must be his wife, and emboldening7 them to say so without scruple8, Mrs. Linkinwater grew very proud of these achievements in time, and considered them among the most successful likenesses she had ever painted. Tim had the profoundest faith in them, likewise; for on this, as on all other subjects, they held but one opinion; and if ever there were a ‘comfortable couple’ in the world, it was Mr. and Mrs. Linkinwater.
Ralph, having died intestate, and having no relations but those with whom he had lived in such enmity, they would have become in legal course his heirs. But they could not bear the thought of growing rich on money so acquired, and felt as though they could never hope to prosper9 with it. They made no claim to his wealth; and the riches for which he had toiled10 all his days, and burdened his soul with so many evil deeds, were swept at last into the coffers of the state, and no man was the better or the happier for them.
Arthur Gride was tried for the unlawful possession of the will, which he had either procured11 to be stolen, or had dishonestly acquired and retained by other means as bad. By dint12 of an ingenious counsel, and a legal flaw, he escaped; but only to undergo a worse punishment; for, some years afterwards, his house was broken open in the night by robbers, tempted13 by the rumours14 of his great wealth, and he was found murdered in his bed.
Mrs. Sliderskew went beyond the seas at nearly the same time as Mr. Squeers, and in the course of nature never returned. Brooker died penitent15. Sir Mulberry Hawk16 lived abroad for some years, courted and caressed17, and in high repute as a fine dashing fellow. Ultimately, returning to this country, he was thrown into jail for debt, and there perished miserably18, as such high spirits generally do.
The first act of Nicholas, when he became a rich and prosperous merchant, was to buy his father’s old house. As time crept on, and there came gradually about him a group of lovely children, it was altered and enlarged; but none of the old rooms were ever pulled down, no old tree was ever rooted up, nothing with which there was any association of bygone times was ever removed or changed.
Within a stone’s throw was another retreat, enlivened by children’s pleasant voices too; and here was Kate, with many new cares and occupations, and many new faces courting her sweet smile (and one so like her own, that to her mother she seemed a child again), the same true gentle creature, the same fond sister, the same in the love of all about her, as in her girlish days.
Mrs. Nickleby lived, sometimes with her daughter, and sometimes with her son, accompanying one or other of them to London at those periods when the cares of business obliged both families to reside there, and always preserving a great appearance of dignity, and relating her experiences (especially on points connected with the management and bringing-up of children) with much solemnity and importance. It was a very long time before she could be induced to receive Mrs. Linkinwater into favour, and it is even doubtful whether she ever thoroughly19 forgave her.
There was one grey-haired, quiet, harmless gentleman, who, winter and summer, lived in a little cottage hard by Nicholas’s house, and, when he was not there, assumed the superintendence of affairs. His chief pleasure and delight was in the children, with whom he was a child himself, and master of the revels20. The little people could do nothing without dear Newman Noggs.
The grass was green above the dead boy’s grave, and trodden by feet so small and light, that not a daisy drooped21 its head beneath their pressure. Through all the spring and summertime, garlands of fresh flowers, wreathed by infant hands, rested on the stone; and, when the children came to change them lest they should wither22 and be pleasant to him no longer, their eyes filled with tears, and they spoke23 low and softly of their poor dead cousin.
The End
The End
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1
anticipations
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| 预期( anticipation的名词复数 )； 预测； （信托财产收益的）预支； 预期的事物 | |
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2
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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3
condescended
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| 屈尊，俯就( condescend的过去式和过去分词 )； 故意表示和蔼可亲 | |
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4
entreaty
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| n.恳求，哀求 | |
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5
bustling
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| adj.喧闹的 | |
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6
sitting-room
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| n.（BrE）客厅，起居室 | |
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7
emboldening
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| v.鼓励，使有胆量( embolden的现在分词 ) | |
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8
scruple
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| n./v.顾忌，迟疑 | |
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prosper
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| v.成功，兴隆，昌盛；使成功，使昌隆，繁荣 | |
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10
toiled
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的过去式和过去分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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11
procured
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| v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的过去式和过去分词 )；拉皮条 | |
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12
dint
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| n.由于，靠；凹坑 | |
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13
tempted
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| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
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14
rumours
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| n.传闻( rumour的名词复数 )；风闻；谣言；谣传 | |
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15
penitent
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| adj.后悔的；n.后悔者；忏悔者 | |
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16
hawk
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| n.鹰，骗子；鹰派成员 | |
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17
caressed
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| 爱抚或抚摸…( caress的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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miserably
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| adv.痛苦地；悲惨地；糟糕地；极度地 | |
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19
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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20
revels
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| n.作乐( revel的名词复数 )；狂欢；着迷；陶醉v.作乐( revel的第三人称单数 )；狂欢；着迷；陶醉 | |
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21
drooped
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| 弯曲或下垂，发蔫( droop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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22
wither
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| vt.使凋谢，使衰退，(用眼神气势等)使畏缩；vi.枯萎，衰退，消亡 | |
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23
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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