Part 49 (2/2)

'But-but-he'll hearfrom head to foot

'Then dean't shut it at all,' retorted John Browdie 'Dang it, thee bean't afeard o' schoolmeasther's takkin cold, I hope?'

'N-no,' said Sht ain He will, he will indeed'

'He wull, he wull!' replied John impatiently 'He wean't, he wean't Look'ee! I wont to do this neighbourly loike, and let theotten awa' o' theeself, but if he coo off, he mun' have mercy on his oun boans, for I wean't If he foinds it oot, soon efther, I'll put 'un on a wrong scent, I warrant 'ee But if thee keep'st a good hart, thee'lt be at whoaotten off Cooh of this to knoas intended as encourage steps, when John whispered in his ear

'Thee'lt just tell yoong Measther that I'm sploiced to 'Tilly Price, and to be heerd on at the Saracen by latther, and that I bean't jealous of 'un-dang it, I'ht! 'Cod, I think I see 'un now, a powderin' awa' at the thin bread an' butther!'

It was rather a ticklish recollection for John just then, for he ithin an ace of breaking out into a loud guffaw Restraining hilided downstairs, hauling S himself close to the parlour door, to confront the first person that ot so far, Sently, and casting a look of ratitude and terror at his deliverer, he took the direction which had been indicated to him, and sped away like the wind

The Yorkshi+re that there was no pause in the conversation inside, crept back again unheard, and stood, listening over the stair-rail, for a full hour Everything reot into Mr Squeers's bed, once hed till he was nearly smothered

If there could only have been somebody by, to see how the bedclothes shook, and to see the Yorkshi+rereat red face and round head appear above the sheets, every now and then, like so to the surface to breathe, and onceforth afresh-that somebody would have been scarcely less amused than John Browdie himself

CHAPTER 40

In which Nicholas falls in Love He es are croith unexpected Success, excepting in one solitary Particular Once more out of the clutches of his old persecutor, it needed no fresh stiy and exertion that S for a , or the probability of its leading hi swiftness and constancy of purpose, borne upon such wings as only Fear can wear, and iinary shouts in the well remembered voice of Squeers, ith a host of pursuers, seemed to the poor fellow's disordered senses to press hard upon his track; now left at a greater distance in the rear, and now gaining faster and faster upon hiitated hi after he had become assured that these sounds were but the creation of his excited brain, he still held on, at a pace which even weakness and exhaustion could scarcely retard It was not until the darkness and quiet of a country road, recalled him to a sense of external objects, and the starry sky, above, warned hiht of ti for breath, he stopped to listen and look about hiht in the distance, casting a ware city lay Solitary fields, divided by hedges and ditches, through ht, skirted the road, both by the way he had come and upon the opposite side It was late now They could scarcely trace hiain his oelling, it must surely be at such a tirees, became pretty plain, even to the ue and childish idea of travelling into the country for ten or a dozenhomewards by a wide circuit, which should keep hi the streets alone, lest he should again encounter his dreaded enehts inspired, he turned back, and taking the open road, though not without ain, with scarcely less speed of foot than that hich he had left the temporary abode of Mr Squeers

By the tireater part of the shops were closed Of the throngs of people who had been tempted abroad after the heat of the day, but few re home But of these he asked his way froth reached the dwelling of New and searching in byways and corners for the very person who now knocked at his door, while Nicholas had been pursuing the sa, with a melancholy air, at his poor supper, when Smike's timorous and uncertain knock reached his ears Alive to every sound, in his anxious and expectant state, New a cry of joyful surprise, dragged the welcoe and up the stairs, and said not a word until he had hiarret and the door was shut behind thein-and-water, and holding it to Sht hold a bowl of medicine to the lips of a refractory child, commanded him to drain it to the last drop

Newman looked uncommonly blank when he found that Smike did little more than put his lips to the preciousto his own h of coinning to relate the adventures which had befallen hi in his hand

It was odd enough to see the change that ca his lips with the back of his hand, as a preparatory cereht; then, at thehis eyes very wide, looked on, in the utmost astonishment When Smike came to the assault upon hi upon the table, and lireatest excite himself with a jerk, every now and then, as if to listen more attentively When John Browdie carees, into a chair, and rubbing, his hands upon his knees-quicker and quicker as the story reached its clih coiven vent to which, his countenance iain as he inquired, with the utmost anxiety, whether it was probable that John Browdie and Squeers had come to blows

'No! I think not,' replied Sot quite away'

Newreat disappoint, applied hi hastly smile at Smike

'You shall stay here,' said Newed I'll tell them you're come back They have been half mad about you Mr Nicholas-'

'God bless him!' cried Smike

'Amen!' returned Newman 'He hasn't had a minute's rest or peace; no more has the old lady, nor Miss Nickleby'

'No, no Has SHE thought about h? oh, has she, has she? Don't tell me so if she has not'

'She has,' cried Newman 'She is as noble-hearted as she is beautiful'

'Yes, yes!' cried Sentle,' said Newerness

'And yet with such a true and gallant spirit,' pursued New to look at his companion, he saw that he had covered his face with his hands, and that tears were stealing out between his fingers

Awith unwonted fire, and every feature had been lighted up with an excitement which

'Well, well,' muttered Newman, as if he were a little puzzled 'It has touched ME, more than once, to think such a nature should have been exposed to such trials; this poor fellow-yes, yes,-he feels that too-it softens him-makes him think of his former misery Hah! That's it? Yes, that's-hum!'

It was by no means clear, fros considered the, at all satisfactorily, the e attitude, for so Slance, which sufficiently showed that he was not very reth he repeated his proposition that Sht, and that he (Noggs) should straightway repair to the cottage to relieve the suspense of the fa his anxiety to see his friends again-they eventually sallied forth together; and the night being, by this ti, besides, so footsore that he could hardly crawl along, it ithin an hour of sunrise when they reached their destination

At the first sound of their voices outside the house, Nicholas, who had passed a sleepless night, devising schee, started from his bed, and joyfully adratulation, and indignation, that the remainder of the family were soon awakened, and Smike received a warm and cordial welcome, not only from Kate, but from Mrs Nickleby also, who assured hi as to relate, for his entertainment and that of the assembled circle, a most remarkable account extracted from some work the name of which she had never known, of a miraculous escape from some prison, but what one she couldn't reotten, confined for some crime which she didn't clearly recollect

At first Nicholas was disposed to give his uncle credit for some portion of this bold attempt (which had so nearly proved successful) to carry off Smike; but on more mature consideration, he was inclined to think that the full merit of it rested with Mr Squeers Deterh John Browdie, how the case really stood, he betook hireat variety of schemes for the punishment of the Yorkshi+re schoolmaster, all of which had their foundation in the strictest principles of retributive justice, and had but the one drawback of being wholly i, Mr Linkinwater!' said Nicholas, entering the office

'Ah!' replied Tim, 'talk of the country, indeed! What do you think of this, now, for a day-a London day-eh?'

'It's a little clearer out of town,' said Nicholas

'Clearer!' echoed Tim Linkinwater 'You should see it from my bedroom '

'You should see it from MINE,' replied Nicholas, with a smile

'Pooh! pooh!' said Tim Linkinwater, 'don't tell me Country!' (Boas quite a rustic place to Tigs and flowers? I can buy new-laid eggs in Leadenhall Market, anybefore breakfast; and as to flowers, it's worth a run upstairs to snonette, or to see the double wallflower in the back-attic , at No 6, in the court'

'There is a double wallflower at No 6, in the court, is there?' said Nicholas

'Yes, is there!' replied Ti, without a spout There were hyacinths there, this last spring, blossoh at that, of course'

'At what?'

'At their blosso-bottles,' said Tim

'Not I, indeed,' returned Nicholas

Tim looked wistfully at hied by the tone of this reply to bebehind his ear, a pen that he had beenup his knife with a s to a sickly bedridden hump-backed boy, and seem to be the only pleasure, Mr Nickleby, of his sad existence How , 'since I first noticed hi himself about on a pair of tiny crutches? Well! Well! Not ht of other things, they see,' said Ti apart froames he is denied the power to share in He made my heart ache very often'