Chapter 65

ConclusionWhen her term of mourning had expired, Madeline gaveher hand and fortune to Nicholas; and, on the same dayand at the same time, Kate became Mrs FrankCheeryble. It was expected that Tim Linkinwater and Miss LaCreevy would have made a third couple on the occasion, but theydeclined, and two or three weeks afterwards went out togetherone 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 heinvested in the firm of Cheeryble Brothers, in which Frank hadbecome a partner. Before many years elapsed, the business beganto be carried on in the names of ‘Cheeryble and Nickleby,’ so thatMrs Nickleby’s prophetic anticipations were realised at last.

　　The twin brothers retired. Who needs to be told that they werehappy? They were surrounded by happiness of their own creation,and lived but to increase it.

　　Tim Linkinwater condescended, after much entreaty and browbeating, to accept a share in the house; but he could never beprevailed upon to suffer the publication of his name as a partner,and always persisted in the punctual and regular discharge of hisclerkly duties.

　　He and his wife lived in the old house, and occupied the verybedchamber in which he had slept for four-and-forty years. As hiswife grew older, she became even a more cheerful and light-  1160hearted little creature; and it was a common saying among theirfriends, that it was impossible to say which looked the happier,Tim as he sat calmly smiling in his elbow-chair on one side of thefire, or his brisk little wife chatting and laughing, and constantlybustling in and out of hers, on the other.

　　Dick, the blackbird, was removed from the counting-house andpromoted to a warm corner in the common sitting-room. Beneathhis cage hung two miniatures, of Mrs Linkinwater’s execution; onerepresenting herself, and the other Tim; and both smiling veryhard at all beholders. Tim’s head being powdered like a twelfthcake, and his spectacles copied with great nicety, strangersdetected a close resemblance to him at the first glance, and thisleading them to suspect that the other must be his wife, andemboldening them to say so without scruple, Mrs Linkinwatergrew very proud of these achievements in time, and consideredthem among the most successful likenesses she had ever painted.

　　Tim had the profoundest faith in them, likewise; for on this, as onall other subjects, they held but one opinion; and if ever therewere a ‘comfortable couple’ in the world, it was Mr and MrsLinkinwater.

　　Ralph, having died intestate, and having no relations but thosewith whom he had lived in such enmity, they would have becomein legal course his heirs. But they could not bear the thought ofgrowing rich on money so acquired, and felt as though they couldnever hope to prosper with it. They made no claim to his wealth;and the riches for which he had toiled all his days, and burdenedhis soul with so many evil deeds, were swept at last into the coffersof the state, and no man was the better or the happier for them.

　　Arthur Gride was tried for the unlawful possession of the will,  1161which he had either procured to be stolen, or had dishonestlyacquired and retained by other means as bad. By dint of aningenious counsel, and a legal flaw, he escaped; but only toundergo a worse punishment; for, some years afterwards, hishouse was broken open in the night by robbers, tempted by therumours of his great wealth, and he was found murdered in hisbed.

　　Mrs Sliderskew went beyond the seas at nearly the same timeas Mr Squeers, and in the course of nature never returned.

　　Brooker died penitent. Sir Mulberry Hawk lived abroad for someyears, courted and caressed, and in high repute as a fine dashingfellow. Ultimately, returning to this country, he was thrown intojail for debt, and there perished miserably, as such high spiritsgenerally do.

　　The first act of Nicholas, when he became a rich andprosperous merchant, was to buy his father’s old house. As timecrept on, and there came gradually about him a group of lovelychildren, it was altered and enlarged; but none of the old roomswere ever pulled down, no old tree was ever rooted up, nothingwith which there was any association of bygone times was everremoved or changed.

　　Within a stone’s throw was another retreat, enlivened bychildren’s pleasant voices too; and here was Kate, with many newcares and occupations, and many new faces courting her sweetsmile (and one so like her own, that to her mother she seemed achild 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, andsometimes with her son, accompanying one or other of them to  1162London at those periods when the cares of business obliged bothfamilies to reside there, and always preserving a great appearanceof dignity, and relating her experiences (especially on pointsconnected with the management and bringing-up of children) withmuch solemnity and importance. It was a very long time beforeshe could be induced to receive Mrs Linkinwater into favour, andit is even doubtful whether she ever thoroughly forgave her.

　　There was one grey-haired, quiet, harmless gentleman, who,winter and summer, lived in a little cottage hard by Nicholas’shouse, and, when he was not there, assumed the superintendenceof affairs. His chief pleasure and delight was in the children, withwhom he was a child himself, and master of the revels. The littlepeople could do nothing without dear Newman Noggs.

　　The grass was green above the dead boy’s grave, and troddenby feet so small and light, that not a daisy drooped its headbeneath their pressure. Through all the spring and summertime,garlands of fresh flowers, wreathed by infant hands, rested on thestone; and, when the children came to change them lest theyshould wither and be pleasant to him no longer, their eyes filledwith tears, and they spoke low and softly of their poor dead cousin.

　　The End