Part 48 (1/2)

Ralph, as no common observer, was surprised to see that as this tirade proceeded, the manner of Lord Frederick Verisopht, who at the co his whiskers with a most dandified and listless air, underwent a complete alteration He was stilllord angrily, and almost unaffectedly, requested never to have the subject renewed in his presence

'Mind that, Hawk!' he added, with unusual energy 'I never will be a party to, or per fellow'

'Cowardly!' interrupted his friend

'Ye-es,' said the other, turning full upon hiiven him your card, and found out, afterwards, that his station or character prevented your fighting hih then; upon h then As it is, you did wrong I did wrong too, not to interfere, and I am sorry for it What happened to you afterwards, was as n, and e, be cruelly visited upon him, it shall not indeed'

With this e lord turned upon his heel; but before he had reached the adjoining rooreater vehemence than he had displayed before, 'I do believe, now; upon my honour I do believe, that the sister is as virtuous andlady as she is a handsome one; and of the brother, I say this, that he acted as her brother should, and in a manly and spirited manner And I only wish, with all my heart and soul, that any one of us came out of this , Lord Frederick Verisopht walked out of the roo Ralph Nickleby and Sir Mulberry in most unpleasant astonishment

'Is this your pupil?' asked Ralph, softly, 'or has he come fresh from some country parson?'

'Green fools take these fits so his lip, and pointing to the door 'Leave hied a farown confidential again in this alarhtfully and slowly

While these things were being said and done, and long before they were concluded, the oed Miss La Creevy and her escort, and they had arrived at her own door Now, the good-nature of the littleback again, until he had been previously refreshed with just a sip of so co no objection either to the sip of so on the contrary that they would be a very pleasant preparation for a walk to Bow, it fell out that he delayed inally intended, and that it was some half-hour after dusk when he set forth on his journey ho his way, for it lay quite straight before him, and he had walked into toith Nicholas, and back alone, almost every day So, Miss La Creevy and he shook hands with ed with more kind remembrances to Mrs and Miss Nickleby, Sate Hill, he turned a little out of the road to satisfy his curiosity by having a look at Newgate After staring up at the soreat care and dread for soain into the old track, and walked briskly through the city; stopping now and then to gaze in at theof so for a little way, then stopping again, and so on, as any other country lad h a jeweller's ishi+ng he could take so what delight they would afford if he could, when the clocks struck three-quarters past eight; roused by the sound, he hurried on at a very quick pace, and was crossing the corner of a by-street when he felt hiht to, with a jerk so sudden that he was obliged to cling to a la At the sa, and a shrill cry of 'Here he is, father! Hooray!' vibrated in his ears

S eyes doard towards the for from head to foot, looked round Mr Squeers had hooked him in the coat collar with the handle of his uht and main The cry of triuardless of all his kicks and struggles, clung to hilance showed hilance the terrified creature became utterly powerless and unable to utter a sound

'Here's a go!' cried Mr Squeers, gradually co it when he had got tight hold of the victio! Wackford, my boy, call up one of them coaches'

'A coach, father!' cried little Wackford

'Yes, a coach, sir,' replied Squeers, feasting his eyes upon the countenance of Smike 'damn the expense Let's have hi of?' asked a labourer with a hod of bricks, against whom and a fellow-labourer Mr Squeers had backed, on the first jerk of the u fixedly at his old pupil in a sort of rapturous trance 'Everything-running away, sir-joining in bloodthirsty attacks upon histhat's bad that he hasn't done Oh, what a delicious go is this here, good Lord!'

The man looked from Squeers to Smike; but such mental faculties as the poor fellow possessed, had utterly deserted him The coach came up; Master Wackford entered; Squeers pushed in his prize, and following close at his heels, pulled up the glasses The coach the two bricklayers, and an old apple-wo school, who had been the only witnesses of the scene, to meditate upon it at their leisure

Mr Squeers sat himself down on the opposite seat to the unfortunate S his hands firmly on his knees, looked at hi to recover froh, and slapped his old pupil's face several tiht and left sides alternately

'It isn't a dream!' said Squeers 'That's real flesh and blood! I know the feel of it!' and being quite assured of his good fortune by these experiments, Mr Squeers administered a few boxes on the ear, lest the entertainhed louder and longer at every one

'Your mother will be fit to jump out of her skin, my boy, when she hears of this,' said Squeers to his son

'Oh, won't she though, father?' replied Master Wackford

'To think,' said Squeers, 'that you andout of a street, and coht, at only one cast of the u-iron! Ha, ha!'

'Didn't I catch hold of his leg, neither, father?' said little Wackford

'You did; like a good 'un,his son's head, 'and you shall have the best button-over jacket and waistcoat that the next new boy brings down, as a reward of merit Mind that You always keep on in the sas that you see your father do, and when you die you'll go right slap to Heaven and no questions asked'

I the occasion in these words, Mr Squeers patted his son's head again, and then patted S tone how he found hio ho wildly round

'To be sure you o home very soon, you will You'll find yourself at the peaceful village of Dotheboys, in Yorkshi+re, in so friend; and the next tiive you leave to keep away Where's the clothes you run off in, you ungrateful robber?' said Mr Squeers, in a severe voice

Slanced at the neat attire which the care of Nicholas had provided for hi you up, outside of the Old Bailey, foraith them articles of property?' said Squeers 'Do you know that it's a hanging matter-and I an't quite certain whether it an't an anatomy one besides-to walk off with up'ards of the valley of five pound fro-house? Eh? Do you know that? What do you suppose was the worth of theton boot you wore, cost eight-and-twenty shi+llings when it was a pair, and the shoe seven-and-six? But you caht shop for mercy when you caot to serve you with the article'

Anybody not in Mr Squeers's confidence would have supposed that he was quite out of the article in question, instead of having a large stock on hand ready for all cooneSmike in the chest with the ferrule of his u a smart shower of bloith the ribs of the same instrument, upon his head and shoulders

'I never threshed a boy in a hackney coach before,' said Mr Squeers, when he stopped to rest 'There's inconveniency in it, but the novelty gives it a sort of relish, too!'

Poor Smike! He warded off the blows, as well as he could, and now shrunk into a corner of the coach, with his head resting on his hands, and his elbows on his knees; he was stunned and stupefied, and had no more idea that any act of his, would enable him to escape from the all-powerful Squeers, now that he had no friend to speak to or to advise with, than he had had in all the weary years of his Yorkshi+re life which preceded the arrival of Nicholas

The journey seemed endless; street after street was entered and left behind; and still they went jolting on At last Mr Squeers began to thrust his head out of theevery half-minute, and to bawl a variety of directions to the coachh several mean streets which the appearance of the houses and the bad state of the road denoted to have been recently built, Mr Squeers suddenly tugged at the check string with all hisa rily down

'That's the house,' replied Squeers 'The second of thereen shutters There's brass plate on the door, with the na a man's limbs off his body?' inquired the coachman

'No!' bawled Mr Squeers 'Say another word, and I'll su a broken winder Stop!'

Obedient to this direction, the coach stopped at Mr Snawley's door Mr Snawley entleman who confided two sons (in law) to the parental care of Mr Squeers, as narrated in the fourth chapter of this history Mr Snawley's house was on the extre Sos therein for a short ti experience of Master Wackford's appetite, had declined to receive hirown custo Smike into the little parlour, where Mr Snawley and his ere taking a lobster supper 'Here's the vagrant-the felon-the rebel-the monster of unthankfulness'

'What! The boy that run away!' cried Snawley, resting his knife and fork upright on the table, and opening his eyes to their full width

'The very boy', said Squeers, putting his fist close to S the process several times, with a vicious aspect 'If there wasn't a lady present, I'd fetch him such a-: never mind, I'll owe it him'

And here Mr Squeers related how, and in what manner, and when and where, he had picked up the runaway

'It's clear that there has been a Providence in it, sir,' said Mr Snawley, casting down his eyes with an air of hu his fork, with a bit of lobster on the top of it, towards the ceiling

'Providence is against hi his nose 'Of course; that was to be expected Anybodywill never prosper, sir,' said Mr Snawley

'Never was such a thing known,' rejoined Squeers, taking a little roll of notes from his pocket-book, to see that they were all safe

'I have been, Mr Snawley,' said Mr Squeers, when he had satisfied himself upon this point, 'I have been that chap's benefactor, feeder, teacher, and clother I have been that chap's classical, coonomical friend My son-my only son, Wackford-has been his brother; Mrs Squeers has been his randmother, aunt,-ah! and I may say uncle too, all in one She never cottoned to anybody, except thehtful boys of yours, as she cottoned to this chap What's my return? What's come of my milk of human kindness? It turns into curds and hen I look at him'

'Well it may, sir,' said Mrs Snawley 'Oh! Well it may, sir'

'Where has he been all this ti with-?'