Descriptive of a Dinner at Mr Ralph Nickleby’s, andof the Manner in which the Company entertainedthemselves, before Dinner, at Dinner, and afterDinner.
The bile and rancour of the worthy Miss Knag undergoingno diminution during the remainder of the week, butrather augmenting with every successive hour; and thehonest ire of all the young ladies rising, or seeming to rise, in exactproportion to the good spinster’s indignation, and both waxingvery hot every time Miss Nickleby was called upstairs; it will bereadily imagined that that young lady’s daily life was none of themost cheerful or enviable kind. She hailed the arrival of Saturdaynight, as a prisoner would a few delicious hours’ respite from slowand wearing torture, and felt that the poor pittance for her firstweek’s labour would have been dearly and hardly earned, had itsamount been trebled.
When she joined her mother, as usual, at the street corner, shewas not a little surprised to find her in conversation with Mr RalphNickleby; but her surprise was soon redoubled, no less by thematter of their conversation, than by the smoothed and alteredmanner of Mr Nickleby himself.
‘Ah! my dear!’ said Ralph; ‘we were at that moment talkingabout you.’
‘Indeed!’ replied Kate, shrinking, though she scarce knew why,from her uncle’s cold glistening eye.
‘That instant,’ said Ralph. ‘I was coming to call for you, makingsure to catch you before you left; but your mother and I have beentalking over family affairs, and the time has slipped away sorapidly—’
‘Well, now, hasn’t it?’ interposed Mrs Nickleby, quite insensibleto the sarcastic tone of Ralph’s last remark. ‘Upon my word, Icouldn’t have believed it possible, that such a—Kate, my dear,you’re to dine with your uncle at half-past six o’clock tomorrow.’
Triumphing in having been the first to communicate thisextraordinary intelligence, Mrs Nickleby nodded and smiled agreat many times, to impress its full magnificence on Kate’swondering mind, and then flew off, at an acute angle, to acommittee of ways and means.
‘Let me see,’ said the good lady. ‘Your black silk frock will bequite dress enough, my dear, with that pretty little scarf, and aplain band in your hair, and a pair of black silk stock—Dear, dear,’
cried Mrs Nickleby, flying off at another angle, ‘if I had but thoseunfortunate amethysts of mine—you recollect them, Kate, mylove—how they used to sparkle, you know—but your papa, yourpoor dear papa—ah! there never was anything so cruellysacrificed as those jewels were, never!’ Overpowered by thisagonising thought, Mrs Nickleby shook her head, in a melancholymanner, and applied her handkerchief to her eyes.
I don’t want them, mama, indeed,’ said Kate. ‘Forget that youever had them.’
‘Lord, Kate, my dear,’ rejoined Mrs Nickleby, pettishly, ‘howlike a child you talk! Four-and-twenty silver tea-spoons, brother-in-law, two gravies, four salts, all the amethysts—necklace, brooch,and ear-rings—all made away with, at the same time, and I saying, almost on my bended knees, to that poor good soul, “Why don’tyou do something, Nicholas? Why don’t you make somearrangement?” I am sure that anybody who was about us at thattime, will do me the justice to own, that if I said that once, I said itfifty times a day. Didn’t I, Kate, my dear? Did I ever lose anopportunity of impressing it on your poor papa?’
‘No, no, mama, never,’ replied Kate. And to do Mrs Nicklebyjustice, she never had lost—and to do married ladies as a bodyjustice, they seldom do lose—any occasion of inculcating similargolden percepts, whose only blemish is, the slight degree ofvagueness and uncertainty in which they are usually enveloped.
‘Ah!’ said Mrs Nickleby, with great fervour, ‘if my advice hadbeen taken at the beginning—Well, I have always done MY duty,and that’s some comfort.’
When she had arrived at this reflection, Mrs Nickleby sighed,rubbed her hands, cast up her eyes, and finally assumed a look ofmeek composure; thus importing that she was a persecuted saint,but that she wouldn’t trouble her hearers by mentioning acircumstance which must be so obvious to everybody.
‘Now,’ said Ralph, with a smile, which, in common with allother tokens of emotion, seemed to skulk under his face, ratherthan play boldly over it—’ to return to the point from which wehave strayed. I have a little party of—of—gentlemen with whom Iam connected in business just now, at my house tomorrow; andyour mother has promised that you shall keep house for me. I amnot much used to parties; but this is one of business, and suchfooleries are an important part of it sometimes. You don’t mindobliging me?’
‘Mind!’ cried Mrs Nickleby. ‘My dear Kate, why—’
‘Pray,’ interrupted Ralph, motioning her to be silent. ‘I spoke tomy niece.’
‘I shall be very glad, of course, uncle,’ replied Kate; ‘but I amafraid you will find me awkward and embarrassed.’
‘Oh no,’ said Ralph; ‘come when you like, in a hackney coach—I’ll pay for it. Good-night—a—a—God bless you.’
The blessing seemed to stick in Mr Ralph Nickleby’s throat, asif it were not used to the thoroughfare, and didn’t know the wayout. But it got out somehow, though awkwardly enough; andhaving disposed of it, he shook hands with his two relatives, andabruptly left them.
‘What a very strongly marked countenance your uncle has!’
said Mrs Nickleby, quite struck with his parting look. ‘I don’t seethe slightest resemblance to his poor brother.’
‘Mama!’ said Kate reprovingly. ‘To think of such a thing!’
‘No,’ said Mrs Nickleby, musing. ‘There certainly is none. Butit’s a very honest face.’
The worthy matron made this remark with great emphasis andelocution, as if it comprised no small quantity of ingenuity andresearch; and, in truth, it was not unworthy of being classedamong the extraordinary discoveries of the age. Kate looked uphastily, and as hastily looked down again.
‘What has come over you, my dear, in the name of goodness?’
asked Mrs Nickleby, when they had walked on, for some time, insilence.
‘I was only thinking, mama,’ answered Kate.
‘Thinking!’ repeated Mrs Nickleby. ‘Ay, and indeed plenty tothink about, too. Your uncle has taken a strong fancy to you, that’squite clear; and if some extraordinary good fortune doesn’t come to you, after this, I shall be a little surprised, that’s all.’
With this she launched out into sundry anecdotes of youngladies, who had had thousand-pound notes given them inreticules, by eccentric uncles; and of young ladies who hadaccidentally met amiable gentlemen of enormous wealth at theiruncles’ houses, and married them, after short but ardentcourtships; and Kate, listening first in apathy, and afterwards inamusement, felt, as they walked home, something of her mother’ssanguine complexion gradually awakening in her own bosom, andbegan to think that her prospects might be brightening, and thatbetter days might be dawning upon them. Such is hope, Heaven’sown gift to struggling mortals; pervading, like some subtle essencefrom the skies, all things, both good and bad; as universal as death,and more infectious than disease!
The feeble winter’s sun—and winter’s suns in the city are veryfeeble indeed—might have brightened up, as he shone through thedim windows of the large old house, on witnessing the unusualsight which one half-furnished room displayed. In a gloomycorner, where, for years, had stood a silent dusty pile ofmerchandise, sheltering its colony of mice, and frowning, a dulland lifeless mass, upon the panelled room, save when, respondingto the roll of heavy waggons in the street without, it quaked withsturdy tremblings and caused the bright eyes of its tiny citizens togrow brighter still with fear, and struck them motionless, withattentive ear and palpitating heart, until the alarm had passedaway—in this dark corner, was arranged, with scrupulous care, allKate’s little finery for the day; each article of dress partaking ofthat indescribable air of jauntiness and individuality which emptygarments—whether by association, or that they become moulded, as it were, to the owner’s form—will take, in eyes accustomed to,or picturing, the wearer’s smartness. In place of a bale of mustygoods, there lay the black silk dress: the neatest possible figure initself. The small shoes, with toes delicately turned out, stood uponthe very pressure of some old iron weight; and a pile of harshdiscoloured leather had unconsciously given place to the verysame little pair of black silk stockings, which had been the objectsof Mrs Nickleby’s peculiar care. Rats and mice, and such smallgear, had long ago been starved, or had emigrated to betterquarters: and, in their stead, appeared gloves, bands, scarfs, hairpins, and many other little devices, almost as ingenious in theirway as rats and mice themselves, for the tantalisation of mankind.
About and among them all, moved Kate herself, not the leastbeautiful or unwonted relief to the stern, old, gloomy building.
In good time, or in bad time, as the reader likes to take it—forMrs Nickleby’s impatience went a great deal faster than the clocksat that end of the town, and Kate was dressed to the very last hairpin a full hour and a half before it was at all necessary to begin tothink about it—in good time, or in bad time, the toilet wascompleted; and it being at length the hour agreed upon forstarting, the milkman fetched a coach from the nearest stand, andKate, with many adieux to her mother, and many kind messages toMiss La Creevy, who was to come to tea, seated herself in it, andwent away in state, if ever anybody went away in state in ahackney coach yet. And the coach, and the coachman, and thehorses, rattled, and jangled, and whipped, and cursed, and swore,and tumbled on together, until they came to Golden Square.
The coachman gave a tremendous double knock at the door,which was opened long before he had done, as quickly as if there had been a man behind it, with his hand tied to the latch. Kate,who had expected no more uncommon appearance than NewmanNoggs in a clean shirt, was not a little astonished to see that theopener was a man in handsome livery, and that there were two orthree others in the hall. There was no doubt about its being theright house, however, for there was the name upon the door; soshe accepted the laced coat-sleeve which was tendered her, andentering the house, was ushered upstairs, into a back drawing-room, where she was left alone.
If she had been surprised at the apparition of the footman, shewas perfectly absorbed in amazement at the richness andsplendour of the furniture. The softest and most elegant carpets,the most exquisite pictures, the costliest mirrors; articles of richestornament, quite dazzling from their beauty and perplexing fromthe prodigality with which they were scattered around;encountered her on every side. The very staircase nearly down tothe hall-door, was crammed with beautiful and luxurious things,as though the house were brimful of riches, which, with a verytrifling addition, would fairly run over into the street.
Presently, she heard a series of loud double knocks at thestreet-door, and after every knock some new voice in the nextroom; the tones of Mr Ralph Nickleby were easily distinguishableat first, but by degrees they merged into the general buzz ofconversation, and all she could ascertain was, that there wereseveral gentlemen with no very musical voices, who talked veryloud, laughed very heartily, and swore more than she would havethought quite necessary. But this was a question of taste.
At length, the door opened, and Ralph himself, divested of hisboots, and ceremoniously embellished with black silks and shoes, presented his crafty face.
‘I couldn’t see you before, my dear,’ he said, in a low tone, andpointing, as he spoke, to the next room. ‘I was engaged inreceiving them. Now—shall I take you in?’
‘Pray, uncle,’ said Kate, a little flurried, as people much moreconversant with society often are, when they are about to enter aroom full of strangers, and have had time to think of it previously,‘are there any ladies here?’
‘No,’ said Ralph, shortly, ‘I don’t know any.’
‘Must I go in immediately?’ asked Kate, drawing back a little.
‘As you please,’ said Ralph, shrugging his shoulders. ‘They areall come, and dinner will be announced directly afterwards—that’sall.’
Kate would have entreated a few minutes’ respite, butreflecting that her uncle might consider the payment of thehackney-coach fare a sort of bargain for her punctuality, shesuffered him to draw her arm through his, and to lead her away.
Seven or eight gentlemen were standing round the fire whenthey went in, and, as they were talking very loud, were not awareof their entrance until Mr Ralph Nickleby, touching one on thecoat-sleeve, said in a harsh emphatic voice, as if to attract generalattention—‘Lord Frederick Verisopht, my niece, Miss Nickleby.’
The group dispersed, as if in great surprise, and the gentlemanaddressed, turning round, exhibited a suit of clothes of the mostsuperlative cut, a pair of whiskers of similar quality, a moustache,a head of hair, and a young face.
‘Eh!’ said the gentleman. ‘What—the—deyvle!’
With which broken ejaculations, he fixed his glass in his eye, and stared at Miss Nickleby in great surprise.
‘My niece, my lord,’ said Ralph.
‘Then my ears did not deceive me, and it’s not wa-a-x work,’
said his lordship. ‘How de do? I’m very happy.’ And then hislordship turned to another superlative gentleman, somethingolder, something stouter, something redder in the face, andsomething longer upon town, and said in a loud whisper that thegirl was ‘deyvlish pitty.’
‘Introduce me, Nickleby,’ said this second gentleman, who waslounging with his back to the fire, and both elbows on thechimneypiece.
‘Sir Mulberry Hawk,’ said Ralph.
‘Otherwise the most knowing card in the pa-ack, MissNickleby,’ said Lord Frederick Verisopht.
‘Don’t leave me out, Nickleby,’ cried a sharp-faced gentleman,who was sitting on a low chair with a high back, reading the paper.
‘Mr Pyke,’ said Ralph.
‘Nor me, Nickleby,’ cried a gentleman with a flushed face and aflash air, from the elbow of Sir Mulberry Hawk.
‘Mr Pluck,’ said Ralph. Then wheeling about again, towards agentleman with the neck of a stork and the legs of no animal inparticular, Ralph introduced him as the Honourable Mr Snobb;and a white-headed person at the table as Colonel Chowser. Thecolonel was in conversation with somebody, who appeared to be amake-weight, and was not introduced at all.
There were two circumstances which, in this early stage of theparty, struck home to Kate’s bosom, and brought the bloodtingling to her face. One was the flippant contempt with which theguests evidently regarded her uncle, and the other, the easy insolence of their manner towards herself. That the first symptomwas very likely to lead to the aggravation of the second, it neededno great penetration to foresee. And here Mr Ralph Nickleby hadreckoned without his host; for however fresh from the country ayoung lady (by nature) may be, and however unacquainted withconventional behaviour, the chances are, that she will have quiteas strong an innate sense of the decencies and proprieties of life asif she had run the gauntlet of a dozen London seasons—possibly astronger one, for such senses have been known to blunt in thisimproving process.
When Ralph had completed the ceremonial of introduction, heled his blushing niece to a seat. As he did so, he glanced warilyround as though to assure himself of the impression which herunlooked-for appearance had created.
‘An unexpected playsure, Nickleby,’ said Lord FrederickVerisopht, taking his glass out of his right eye, where it had, untilnow, done duty on Kate, and fixing it in his left, to bring it to bearon Ralph.
‘Designed to surprise you, Lord Frederick,’ said Mr Pluck.
‘Not a bad idea,’ said his lordship, ‘and one that would almostwarrant the addition of an extra two and a half per cent.’
‘Nickleby,’ said Sir Mulberry Hawk, in a thick coarse voice,‘take the hint, and tack it on the other five-and-twenty, orwhatever it is, and give me half for the advice.’
Sir Mulberry garnished this speech with a hoarse laugh, andterminated it with a pleasant oath regarding Mr Nickleby’s limbs,whereat Messrs Pyke and Pluck laughed consumedly.
These gentlemen had not yet quite recovered the jest, whendinner was announced, and then they were thrown into fresh ecstasies by a similar cause; for Sir Mulberry Hawk, in an excessof humour, shot dexterously past Lord Frederick Verisopht whowas about to lead Kate downstairs, and drew her arm through hisup to the elbow.
‘No, damn it, Verisopht,’ said Sir Mulberry, ‘fair play’s a jewel,and Miss Nickleby and I settled the matter with our eyes tenminutes ago.’
‘Ha, ha, ha!’ laughed the honourable Mr Snobb, ‘very good, verygood.’
Rendered additionally witty by this applause, Sir MulberryHawk leered upon his friends most facetiously, and led Katedownstairs with an air of familiarity, which roused in her gentlebreast such burning indignation, as she felt it almost impossible torepress. Nor was the intensity of these feelings at all diminished,when she found herself placed at the top of the table, with SirMulberry Hawk and Lord Frederick Verisopht on either side.
‘Oh, you’ve found your way into our neighbourhood, have you?’
said Sir Mulberry as his lordship sat down.
‘Of course,’ replied Lord Frederick, fixing his eyes on MissNickleby, ‘how can you a-ask me?’
‘Well, you attend to your dinner,’ said Sir Mulberry, ‘and don’tmind Miss Nickleby and me, for we shall prove very indifferentcompany, I dare say.’
‘I wish you’d interfere here, Nickleby,’ said Lord Frederick.
‘What is the matter, my lord?’ demanded Ralph from thebottom of the table, where he was supported by Messrs Pyke andPluck.
‘This fellow, Hawk, is monopolising your niece,’ said LordFrederick.
‘He has a tolerable share of everything that you lay claim to, mylord,’ said Ralph with a sneer.
‘‘Gad, so he has,’ replied the young man; ‘deyvle take me if Iknow which is master in my house, he or I.’
‘I know,’ muttered Ralph.
‘I think I shall cut him off with a shilling,’ said the youngnobleman, jocosely.
‘No, no, curse it,’ said Sir Mulberry. ‘When you come to theshilling—the last shilling—I’ll cut you fast enough; but till then, I’llnever leave you—you may take your oath of it.’
This sally (which was strictly founded on fact) was receivedwith a general roar, above which, was plainly distinguishable thelaughter of Mr Pyke and Mr Pluck, who were, evidently, SirMulberry’s toads in ordinary. Indeed, it was not difficult to see,that the majority of the company preyed upon the unfortunateyoung lord, who, weak and silly as he was, appeared by far theleast vicious of the party. Sir Mulberry Hawk was remarkable forhis tact in ruining, by himself and his creatures, young gentlemenof fortune—a genteel and elegant profession, of which he hadundoubtedly gained the head. With all the boldness of an originalgenius, he had struck out an entirely new course of treatmentquite opposed to the usual method; his custom being, when he hadgained the ascendancy over those he took in hand, rather to keepthem down than to give them their own way; and to exercise hisvivacity upon them openly, and without reserve. Thus, he madethem butts, in a double sense, and while he emptied them withgreat address, caused them to ring with sundry well-administeredtaps, for the diversion of society.
The dinner was as remarkable for the splendour and completeness of its appointments as the mansion itself, and thecompany were remarkable for doing it ample justice, in whichrespect Messrs Pyke and Pluck particularly signalised themselves;these two gentlemen eating of every dish, and drinking of everybottle, with a capacity and perseverance truly astonishing. Theywere remarkably fresh, too, notwithstanding their great exertions:
for, on the appearance of the dessert, they broke out again, as ifnothing serious had taken place since breakfast.
‘Well,’ said Lord Frederick, sipping his first glass of port, ‘if thisis a discounting dinner, all I have to say is, deyvle take me, if itwouldn’t be a good pla-an to get discount every day.’
‘You’ll have plenty of it, in your time,’ returned Sir MulberryHawk; ‘Nickleby will tell you that.’
‘What do you say, Nickleby?’ inquired the young man; ‘am I tobe a good customer?’
‘It depends entirely on circumstances, my lord,’ replied Ralph.
‘On your lordship’s circumstances,’ interposed ColonelChowser of the Militia—and the race-courses.
The gallant colonel glanced at Messrs Pyke and Pluck as if hethought they ought to laugh at his joke; but those gentlemen,being only engaged to laugh for Sir Mulberry Hawk, were, to hissignal discomfiture, as grave as a pair of undertakers. To add tohis defeat, Sir Mulberry, considering any such efforts an invasionof his peculiar privilege, eyed the offender steadily, through hisglass, as if astonished at his presumption, and audibly stated hisimpression that it was an ‘infernal liberty,’ which being a hint toLord Frederick, he put up his glass, and surveyed the object ofcensure as if he were some extraordinary wild animal thenexhibiting for the first time. As a matter of course, Messrs Pyke and Pluck stared at the individual whom Sir Mulberry Hawkstared at; so, the poor colonel, to hide his confusion, was reducedto the necessity of holding his port before his right eye andaffecting to scrutinise its colour with the most lively interest.
All this while, Kate had sat as silently as she could, scarcelydaring to raise her eyes, lest they should encounter the admiringgaze of Lord Frederick Verisopht, or, what was still moreembarrassing, the bold looks of his friend Sir Mulberry. The lattergentleman was obliging enough to direct general attentiontowards her.
‘Here is Miss Nickleby,’ observed Sir Mulberry, ‘wondering whythe deuce somebody doesn’t make love to her.’
‘No, indeed,’ said Kate, looking hastily up, ‘I—’ and then shestopped, feeling it would have been better to have said nothing atall.
‘I’ll hold any man fifty pounds,’ said Sir Mulberry, ‘that MissNickleby can’t look in my face, and tell me she wasn’t thinking so.’
‘Done!’ cried the noble gull. ‘Within ten minutes.’
‘Done!’ responded Sir Mulberry. The money was produced onboth sides, and the Honourable Mr Snobb was elected to thedouble office of stake-holder and time-keeper.
‘Pray,’ said Kate, in great confusion, while these preliminarieswere in course of completion. ‘Pray do not make me the subject ofany bets. Uncle, I cannot really—’
‘Why not, my dear?’ replied Ralph, in whose grating voice,however, there was an unusual huskiness, as though he spokeunwillingly, and would rather that the proposition had not beenbroached. ‘It is done in a moment; there is nothing in it. If thegentlemen insist on it—’
‘I don’t insist on it,’ said Sir Mulberry, with a loud laugh. ‘Thatis, I by no means insist upon Miss Nickleby’s making the denial,for if she does, I lose; but I shall be glad to see her bright eyes,especially as she favours the mahogany so much.’
‘So she does, and it’s too ba-a-d of you, Miss Nickleby,’ said thenoble youth.
‘Quite cruel,’ said Mr Pyke.
‘Horrid cruel,’ said Mr Pluck.
‘I don’t care if I do lose,’ said Sir Mulberry; ‘for one tolerablelook at Miss Nickleby’s eyes is worth double the money.’
‘More,’ said Mr Pyke.
‘Far more,’ said Mr Pluck.
‘How goes the enemy, Snobb?’ asked Sir Mulberry Hawk.
‘Four minutes gone.’
‘Bravo!’
‘Won’t you ma-ake one effort for me, Miss Nickleby?’ askedLord Frederick, after a short interval.
‘You needn’t trouble yourself to inquire, my buck,’ said SirMulberry; ‘Miss Nickleby and I understand each other; shedeclares on my side, and shows her taste. You haven’t a chance,old fellow. Time, Snobb?’
‘Eight minutes gone.’
‘Get the money ready,’ said Sir Mulberry; ‘you’ll soon handover.’
‘Ha, ha, ha!’ laughed Mr Pyke.
Mr Pluck, who always came second, and topped his companionif he could, screamed outright.
The poor girl, who was so overwhelmed with confusion that shescarcely knew what she did, had determined to remain perfectly quiet; but fearing that by so doing she might seem to countenanceSir Mulberry’s boast, which had been uttered with greatcoarseness and vulgarity of manner, raised her eyes, and lookedhim in the face. There was something so odious, so insolent, sorepulsive in the look which met her, that, without the power tostammer forth a syllable, she rose and hurried from the room. Sherestrained her tears by a great effort until she was alone upstairs,and then gave them vent.
‘Capital!’ said Sir Mulberry Hawk, putting the stakes in hispocket.
‘That’s a girl of spirit, and we’ll drink her health.’
It is needless to say, that Pyke and Co. responded, with greatwarmth of manner, to this proposal, or that the toast was drunkwith many little insinuations from the firm, relative to thecompleteness of Sir Mulberry’s conquest. Ralph, who, while theattention of the other guests was attracted to the principals in thepreceding scene, had eyed them like a wolf, appeared to breathemore freely now his niece was gone; the decanters passing quicklyround, he leaned back in his chair, and turned his eyes fromspeaker to speaker, as they warmed with wine, with looks thatseemed to search their hearts, and lay bare, for his distemperedsport, every idle thought within them.
Meanwhile Kate, left wholly to herself, had, in some degree,recovered her composure. She had learnt from a female attendant,that her uncle wished to see her before she left, and had alsogleaned the satisfactory intelligence, that the gentlemen wouldtake coffee at table. The prospect of seeing them no more,contributed greatly to calm her agitation, and, taking up a book,she composed herself to read.
She started sometimes, when the sudden opening of the dining-room door let loose a wild shout of noisy revelry, and more thanonce rose in great alarm, as a fancied footstep on the staircaseimpressed her with the fear that some stray member of the partywas returning alone. Nothing occurring, however, to realise herapprehensions, she endeavoured to fix her attention more closelyon her book, in which by degrees she became so much interested,that she had read on through several chapters without heed oftime or place, when she was terrified by suddenly hearing hername pronounced by a man’s voice close at her ear.
The book fell from her hand. Lounging on an ottoman closebeside her, was Sir Mulberry Hawk, evidently the worse—if a manbe a ruffian at heart, he is never the better—for wine.
‘What a delightful studiousness!’ said this accomplishedgentleman. ‘Was it real, now, or only to display the eyelashes?’
Kate, looking anxiously towards the door, made no reply.
‘I have looked at ’em for five minutes,’ said Sir Mulberry. ‘Uponmy soul, they’re perfect. Why did I speak, and destroy such apretty little picture?’
‘Do me the favour to be silent now, sir,’ replied Kate.
‘No, don’t,’ said Sir Mulberry, folding his crushed hat to lay hiselbow on, and bringing himself still closer to the young lady; ’uponmy life, you oughtn’t to. Such a devoted slave of yours, MissNickleby—it’s an infernal thing to treat him so harshly, upon mysoul it is.’
‘I wish you to understand, sir,’ said Kate, trembling in spite ofherself, but speaking with great indignation, ‘that your behaviouroffends and disgusts me. If you have a spark of gentlemanlyfeeling remaining, you will leave me.’
‘Now why,’ said Sir Mulberry, ‘why will you keep up thisappearance of excessive rigour, my sweet creature? Now, be morenatural—my dear Miss Nickleby, be more natural—do.’
Kate hastily rose; but as she rose, Sir Mulberry caught herdress, and forcibly detained her.
‘Let me go, sir,’ she cried, her heart swelling with anger. ‘Doyou hear? Instantly—this moment.’
‘Sit down, sit down,’ said Sir Mulberry; ‘I want to talk to you.’
‘Unhand me, sir, this instant,’ cried Kate.
‘Not for the world,’ rejoined Sir Mulberry. Thus speaking, heleaned over, as if to replace her in her chair; but the young lady,making a violent effort to disengage herself, he lost his balance,and measured his length upon the ground. As Kate sprungforward to leave the room, Mr Ralph Nickleby appeared in thedoorway, and confronted her.
‘What is this?’ said Ralph.
‘It is this, sir,’ replied Kate, violently agitated: ‘that beneath theroof where I, a helpless girl, your dead brother’s child, should mosthave found protection, I have been exposed to insult which shouldmake you shrink to look upon me. Let me pass you.’
Ralph did shrink, as the indignant girl fixed her kindling eyeupon him; but he did not comply with her injunction,nevertheless: for he led her to a distant seat, and returning, andapproaching Sir Mulberry Hawk, who had by this time risen,motioned towards the door.
‘Your way lies there, sir,’ said Ralph, in a suppressed voice, thatsome devil might have owned with pride.
‘What do you mean by that?’ demanded his friend, fiercely.
The swoln veins stood out like sinews on Ralph’s wrinkled forehead, and the nerves about his mouth worked as though someunendurable emotion wrung them; but he smiled disdainfully, andagain pointed to the door.
‘Do you know me, you old madman?’ asked Sir Mulberry.
‘Well,’ said Ralph. The fashionable vagabond for the momentquite quailed under the steady look of the older sinner, andwalked towards the door, muttering as he went.
‘You wanted the lord, did you?’ he said, stopping short when hereached the door, as if a new light had broken in upon him, andconfronting Ralph again. ‘Damme, I was in the way, was I?’
Ralph smiled again, but made no answer.
‘Who brought him to you first?’ pursued Sir Mulberry; ‘andhow, without me, could you ever have wound him in your net asyou have?’
‘The net is a large one, and rather full,’ said Ralph. ‘Take carethat it chokes nobody in the meshes.’
‘You would sell your flesh and blood for money; yourself, if youhave not already made a bargain with the devil,’ retorted theother. ‘Do you mean to tell me that your pretty niece was notbrought here as a decoy for the drunken boy downstairs?’
Although this hurried dialogue was carried on in a suppressedtone on both sides, Ralph looked involuntarily round to ascertainthat Kate had not moved her position so as to be within hearing.
His adversary saw the advantage he had gained, and followed itup.
‘Do you mean to tell me,’ he asked again, ‘that it is not so? Doyou mean to say that if he had found his way up here instead ofme, you wouldn’t have been a little more blind, and a little moredeaf, and a little less flourishing, than you have been? Come, Nickleby, answer me that.’
‘I tell you this,’ replied Ralph, ‘that if I brought her here, as amatter of business—’
‘Ay, that’s the word,’ interposed Sir Mulberry, with a laugh.
‘You’re coming to yourself again now.’
‘—As a matter of business,’ pursued Ralph, speaking slowly andfirmly, as a man who has made up his mind to say no more,‘because I thought she might make some impression on the sillyyouth you have taken in hand and are lending good help to ruin, Iknew—knowing him—that it would be long before he outragedher girl’s feelings, and that unless he offended by mere puppyismand emptiness, he would, with a little management, respect thesex and conduct even of his usurer’s niece. But if I thought todraw him on more gently by this device, I did not think ofsubjecting the girl to the licentiousness and brutality of so old ahand as you. And now we understand each other.’
‘Especially as there was nothing to be got by it—eh?’ sneeredSir Mulberry.
‘Exactly so,’ said Ralph. He had turned away, and looked overhis shoulder to make this last reply. The eyes of the two worthiesmet, with an expression as if each rascal felt that there was nodisguising himself from the other; and Sir Mulberry Hawkshrugged his shoulders and walked slowly out.
His friend closed the door, and looked restlessly towards thespot where his niece still remained in the attitude in which he hadleft her. She had flung herself heavily upon the couch, and withher head drooping over the cushion, and her face hidden in herhands, seemed to be still weeping in an agony of shame and grief.
Ralph would have walked into any poverty-stricken debtor’s house, and pointed him out to a bailiff, though in attendance upona young child’s death-bed, without the smallest concern, because itwould have been a matter quite in the ordinary course of business,and the man would have been an offender against his only code ofmorality. But, here was a young girl, who had done no wrong savethat of coming into the world alive; who had patiently yielded to allhis wishes; who had tried hard to please him—above all, whodidn’t owe him money—and he felt awkward and nervous.
Ralph took a chair at some distance; then, another chair a littlenearer; then, moved a little nearer still; then, nearer again, andfinally sat himself on the same sofa, and laid his hand on Kate’sarm.
‘Hush, my dear!’ he said, as she drew it back, and her sobsburst out afresh. ‘Hush, hush! Don’t mind it, now; don’t think of it.’
‘Oh, for pity’s sake, let me go home,’ cried Kate. ‘Let me leavethis house, and go home.’
‘Yes, yes,’ said Ralph. ‘You shall. But you must dry your eyesfirst, and compose yourself. Let me raise your head. There—there.’
‘Oh, uncle!’ exclaimed Kate, clasping her hands. ‘What have Idone—what have I done—that you should subject me to this? If Ihad wronged you in thought, or word, or deed, it would have beenmost cruel to me, and the memory of one you must have loved insome old time; but—’
‘Only listen to me for a moment,’ interrupted Ralph, seriouslyalarmed by the violence of her emotions. ‘I didn’t know it would beso; it was impossible for me to foresee it. I did all I could.—Come,let us walk about. You are faint with the closeness of the room,and the heat of these lamps. You will be better now, if you make the slightest effort.’
‘I will do anything,’ replied Kate, ‘if you will only send mehome.’
‘Well, well, I will,’ said Ralph; ‘but you must get back your ownlooks; for those you have, will frighten them, and nobody mustknow of this but you and I. Now let us walk the other way. There.
You look better even now.’
With such encouragements as these, Ralph Nickleby walked toand fro, with his niece leaning on his arm; actually tremblingbeneath her touch.
In the same manner, when he judged it prudent to allow her todepart, he supported her downstairs, after adjusting her shawland performing such little offices, most probably for the first timein his life. Across the hall, and down the steps, Ralph led her too;nor did he withdraw his hand until she was seated in the coach.
As the door of the vehicle was roughly closed, a comb fell fromKate’s hair, close at her uncle’s feet; and as he picked it up, andreturned it into her hand, the light from a neighbouring lampshone upon her face. The lock of hair that had escaped and curledloosely over her brow, the traces of tears yet scarcely dry, theflushed cheek, the look of sorrow, all fired some dormant train ofrecollection in the old man’s breast; and the face of his deadbrother seemed present before him, with the very look it bore onsome occasion of boyish grief, of which every minutestcircumstance flashed upon his mind, with the distinctness of ascene of yesterday.
Ralph Nickleby, who was proof against all appeals of blood andkindred—who was steeled against every tale of sorrow anddistress—staggered while he looked, and went back into his house, as a man who had seen a spirit from some world beyond the grave.
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