Part 65 (1/2)

'I suppose you think now,' said Bray, wheeling his chair round and confronting Nicholas, 'that, but for such pitiful suhter has chosen to employ her tiht about it,' returned Nicholas

'You have not thought about it!' sneered the invalid 'You know you HAVE thought about it, and have thought that, and think so every ti man, that I don't knohat little purse-proud tradeset the upper hand for a brief day-or think they get the upper hand-of a gentleman?'

'My business,' said Nicholas respectfully, 'is with a lady'

'With a gentleging spirit is the sa ORDERS, eh? Have you any fresh ORDERS for hter, sir?'

Nicholas understood the tone of triu the necessity of supporting his assu to contain a list of sos which his employer desired to have executed; and hich he had prepared hiency

'Oh!' said Mr Bray 'These are the orders, are they?'

'Since you insist upon the term, sir, yes,' replied Nicholas

'Then you ain, with an exulting shter, Miss Madeline Bray, condescends to eer in such labours as these; that she is not at his beck and call, as he supposes her to be; that we don't live upon his ive whatever he owes us, to the first beggar that passes his shop, or add it to his own profits next tio to the devil for ment of his orders, sir!'

'And this is the independence of a irl!' thought Nicholas

The father was too much absorbed with his own exultation to mark the look of scorn which, for an instant, Nicholas could not have suppressed had he been upon the rack 'There,' he continued, after a short silence, 'you have your e and can retire-unless you have any further-ha!-any further orders'

'I have none,' said Nicholas; 'nor, in the consideration of the station you once held, have I used that or any other hich, however harmless in itself, could be supposed to imply authority on my part or dependence on yours I have no orders, but I have fears-fears that I will express, chafe as youlady to so you by the labour of her hands, had she worked herself dead These are my fears, and these fears I found upon your own demeanour Your conscience will tell you, sir, whether I construe it well or not'

'For Heaven's sake!' cried Madeline, interposing in alarm between them 'Reasping and catching for breath 'Ill! Ill! I am bearded and bullied by a shop-boy, and she beseeches him to pity me and remember I am ill!'

He fell into a paroxysm of his disorder, so violent that for a fewthat he began to recover, he withdrew, after signifying by a gesture to the young lady that he had so important to communicate, and would wait for her outside the rooradually, but slowly, to himself, and that without any reference to what had just occurred, as though he had no distinct recollection of it as yet, he requested to be left alone

'Oh!' thought Nicholas, 'that this slender chance ht prevail, if it were but for one week's tied with so herself in great agitation 'Do not press it now, I beg and pray you The day after tomorrow; come here then'

'It will be too late-too late for what I have to say,' rejoined Nicholas, 'and you will not be here Oh, ht of hi care for your own peace of ive '

She atteently detained her

'A hearing,' said Nicholas 'I ask you but to hear me: not me alone, but him for whoer In the name of Heaven hear me!'

The poor attendant, with her eyes swollen and red eeping, stood by; and to her Nicholas appealed in such passionate ter herroom, beckoned Nicholas to follow the lady

'I cannot, will not leave you thus,' returned Nicholas 'I have a duty to discharge; and, either here, or in the room from which we have just now come, at whatever risk or hazard to Mr Bray, I ain the fearful course to which you have been impelled'

'What course is this you speak of, and i lady, with an effort to speak proudly

'I speak of this e, fixed for tomorrow, by one who never faltered in a bad purpose, or lent his aid to any good design; of this e, the history of which is known to me, better, far better, than it is to you I knoeb is wound about you I knohat men they are from whom these scheold, whose every coin is rusted with tears, if not red with the blood of ruined men, who have fallen desperately by their own e,' said Madeline, 'and so have I And with the help of Heaven I will perform it'

'Say rather with the help of devils,' replied Nicholas, 'with the help of men, one of them your destined husband, who are-'

'Ito repress a shudder, occasioned, as it seeht allusion to Arthur Gride 'This evil, if evil it be, has been ofI am impelled to this course by no one, but follow it of my own free will You see I am not constrained or forced Report this,' said Madeline, 'towith you my prayers and thanks for him and for yourself, leave ht you, with all the earnestness and fervour by which I ae for one short week Not until I have besought you to think more deeply than you can have done, influenced as you are, upon the step you are about to take Although you cannot be fully conscious of the villainy of this ive your hand, some of his deeds you know You have heard him speak, and have looked upon his face Reflect, reflect, before it is too late, on theto him at the altar, faith in which your heart can have no share-of uttering soleainst which nature and reason radation of yourself in your own esteeravated every day, as his detested character opens upon you more and more Shrink from the loathsome companionshi+p of this wretch as you would from corruption and disease Suffer toil and labour if you will, but shun him, shun him, and be happy For, believe me, I speak the truth; the most abject poverty, the ht o as the wife of such abefore Nicholas ceased to speak, the young lady buried her face in her hands, and gave her tears free way In a voice at first inarticulate with eth as she proceeded, she answered hiht-that I have undergone great pain of mind, and have been nearly broken-hearted since I saw you last I do NOT love this gentlees, tastes, and habits, forbids it This he knows, and knowing, still offersit, and by that step alone, I can releasehis life, perhaps, for many years; restore hienerous rieve to say, his noble heart is little understood Do not think so poorly of n a love I do not feel Do not report so ill of me, for THAT I could not bear If I cannot, in reason or in nature, love the e the duties of a wife: I can be all he seeks in me, and will He is content to take me as I am I have passed my word, and should rejoice, not weep, that it is so I do The interest you take in one so friendless and forlorn as I, the delicacy hich you have discharged your trust, the faith you have kept with me, have my warment, move me to tears, as you see But I do not repent, nor am I unhappy I am happy in the prospect of all I can achieve so easily I shall be more so when I look back upon it, and all is done, I know'

'Your tears fall faster as you talk of happiness,' said Nicholas, 'and you shun the contemplation of that dark future which e for a week For but one week!'

'He was talking, when you came upon us just noith such smiles as I remember to have seen of old, and have not seen for many and many a day, of the freedom that was to come tomorrow,' said Madeline, with e, the fresh air: all the new scenes and objects that would bring fresh life to his exhausted fraht I will not defer it for an hour'

'These are but tricks and wiles to urge you on,' cried Nicholas

'I'll hear no more,' said Madeline, hurriedly; 'I have heard too much-more than I should-already What I have said to you, sir, I have said as to that dear friend to whom I trust in you honourably to repeat it Some time hence, when I am more composed and reconciled to , I rite to his on his head, and prosper and preserve hi past Nicholas, when he threw hiain, upon the fate to which she was precipitately hastening

'There is no retreat,' said Nicholas, in an agony of supplication; 'no withdrawing! All regret will be unavailing, and deep and bitter it must be What can I say, that will induce you to pause at this last ,' she incoherently replied 'This is the hardest trial I have had Have mercy on me, sir, I beseech, and do not pierceI-I-must not, will not, remain here for another instant'

'If this were a plot,' said Nicholas, with the same violent rapidity hich she spoke, 'a plot, not yet laid bare by ht unravel; if you were (not knowing it) entitled to fortune of your ohich, being recovered, would do all that this e can accomplish, would you not retract?'

'No, no, no! It is i his death He is calling again!'

'It may be the last time we shall ever meet on earth,' said Nicholas, 'it may be better for me that we should never meet more'

'For both, for both,' replied Madeline, not heeding what she said 'The time will coht drive me mad Be sure to tell them, that you left rateful heart and blessing!'

She was gone Nicholas, staggering froht of the hurried scene which had just closed upon him, as if it were the phantoht, having been enabled in soain

That night, being the last of Arthur Gride's bachelorshi+p, found hireen suit had been brushed, ready for theSliderskew had rendered the accounts of her past housekeeping; the eighteen-pence had been rigidly accounted for (she was never trusted with a larger sum at once, and the accounts were not usually balanced more than twice a day); every preparation had been ht have sat down and conte happiness, but that he preferred sitting down and conte the entries in a dirty old vellum-book with rusty clasps

'Well-a-day!' he chuckled, as sinking on his knees before a strong chest screwed down to the floor, he thrust in his arreasy volume 'Well-a-day now, this is allbooks that were ever written! It's a delightful book, and all true and real-that's the best of it-true as the Bank of England, and real as its gold and silver Written by Arthur Gride He, he, he! None of your storybook writers will ever ood a book as this, I warrant me It's co, and nobody else's He, he, he!'

Muttering this soliloquy, Arthur carried his precious volu it upon a dusty desk, put on his spectacles, and began to pore ae sum to Mr Nickleby,' he said, in a dolorous voice 'Debt to be paid in full, nine hundred and seventy-five, four, three Additional sum as per bond, five hundred pound One thousand, four hundred and seventy-five pounds, four shi+llings, and threepence, toh, there's the PER CONTRA, by ain, there's the question whether I ht all this about, myself ”Faint heart never won fair lady” Why was my heart so faint? Why didn't I boldly open it to Bray myself, and save one thousand four hundred and seventy-five, four, three?'

These reflections depressed the old usurer so roan or two from his breast, and cause him to declare, with uplifted hands, that he would die in a workhouse Reitation, however, that under any circumstances he must have paid, or handso by no means confident that he would have succeeded had he undertaken his enterprise alone, he regained his equanimity, and chattered andSliderskew interrupted hi!' said Arthur, 'what is it? What is it now, Peg?'

'It's the fowl,' replied Peg, holding up a plate containing a little, a very little one Quite a phenomenon of a fowl So very small and skinny

'A beautiful bird!' said Arthur, after inquiring the price, and finding it proportionate to the size 'With a rasher of hareens, and an apple pudding, Peg, and a little bit of cheese, we shall have a dinner for an e, e've done'

'Don't you complain of the expense afterwards,' said Mrs Sliderskew, sulkily

'I am afraid we must live expensively for the first week,' returned Arthur, with a groan, 'and then we must make up for it I won't eat more than I can help, and I know you love your old ?'