Part 72 (2/2)

Here he paused, but Ralph did not stir, and the brothers signed to him to proceed

'It was then that I became acquainted with these circumstances from his own lips They were no secrets then; for the brother, and others, knew them; but they were communicated to me, not on this account, but because I anted He followed the fugitives Some said to make money of his wife's shae, for that was as much his character as the other; perhapsafter I don't knohether he began to think he ht like the child, or whether he wished to make sure that it should never fall into its mother's hands; but, before he went, he intrustedit home And I did so'

He went on, from this point, in a stillto Ralph as he resumed

'He had used o when I ht the child holect had ed to call in a doctor, who said he e of air, or he would die I think that first put it in one six weeks, and when he came back, I told him-with every circumstance well planned and proved; nobody could have suspected ht have been disappointed in soht have had sorieved at THAT, and I was confir it amoney from him I had heard, like most other men, of Yorkshi+re schools I took the child to one kept by a ave him the name of Smike Year by year, I paid twenty pounds a-year for hi the secret all the tie, and quarrelled with hiain I was sent away froht years Directly I caain, I travelled down into Yorkshi+re, and, skulking in the village of an evening-time, made inquiries about the boys at the school, and found that this one, who the naht his father out in London, and hinting at what I could tell him, tried for a little money to support life; but he repulsedon froood reasons for co on; and it was I who told him that the boy was no son of the man who claimed to be his father All this tith, I heard from this same source that he was very ill, and where he was I travelled down there, that I ht recall myself, if possible, to his recollection and confirm my story I came upon hiood cause to remember me, poor lad!-and I would have sworn to him if I had met him in the Indies I knew the piteous face I had seen in the little child After a few days' indecision, I applied to the young gentleman in whose care he was, and I found that he was dead He kno quickly he recognisedhiarret he recollected: which is the one I have spoken of, and in his father's house to this day This is ht face to face with the schoolmaster, and put to any possible proof of any part of it, and I will show that it's too true, and that I have this guilt upon my soul'

'Unhappy man!' said the brothers 'What reparation can you entle to hope now I am old in years, and older still inuponand punishment; but I make it, and will abide by it whatever co out this dreadful retribution upon the head of a man who, in the hot pursuit of his bad ends, has persecuted and hunted down his own child to death It must descend upon me too I know it must fall My reparation comes too late; and, neither in this world nor in the next, can I have hope again!'

He had hardly spoken, when the lamp, which stood upon the table close to where Ralph was seated, and which was the only one in the rooround, and left the another light; the interval was a ht appeared, Ralph Nickleby was gone

The good brothers and Ti the probability of his return; and, when it became apparent that he would not come back, they hesitated whether or no to send after hiely and silently he had sat in one iht possibly be ill, they deterh it was now very late, to send to his house on so an excuse in the presence of Brooker, who his wishes, they concluded to act upon this resolution before going to bed

CHAPTER 61

Wherein Nicholas and his Sister forfeit the good Opinion of all worldly and prudent People On the nextafter Brooker's disclosure had beenbetween hi emotion on both sides; for they had been informed by his letters of what had occurred: and, besides that his griefs were theirs, they mourned with him the death of one whose forlorn and helpless state had first established a clairateful earnest nature had, every day, endeared him to the her eyes, and sobbing bitterly, 'I have lost the best, the most zealous, and most attentive creature that has ever been a co you, my dear Nicholas, and Kate, and your poor papa, and that well-behaved nurse who ran aith the linen and the twelve small forks, out of the question, of course Of all the tractable, equal-tes that ever lived, I believe he was the arden, now, that he took so o into his room and see it filled with so many of those little contrivances for our co, and ht he would leave unfinished-I can't bear it, I cannot really Ah! This is a great trial to reat trial It will be comfort to you, my dear Nicholas, to the end of your life, to recollect how kind and good you alere to him-so it will be to me, to think what excellent terms ere always upon, and how fond he alas of me, poor fellow! It was very natural you should have been attached to him, my dear-very-and of course you were, and are very much cut up by this I aed you are, to see that; but nobody knohat s are-nobody can-it's quite impossible!'

While Mrs Nickleby, with the utave vent to her sorrows after her own peculiar fashi+on of considering herself fores Kate, although well accustoet herself when others were to be considered, could not repress her grief; Madeline was scarcely less moved than she; and poor, hearty, honest little Miss La Creevy, who had come upon one of her visits while Nicholas ay, and had done nothing, since the sad news arrived, but console and cheer the in at the door, than she sat herself down upon the stairs, and bursting into a flood of tears, refused for a long time to be comforted

'It hurts me so,' cried the poor body, 'to see hi what he ave way a little more; but he bears it so manfully'

'Why, so I should,' said Nicholas, 'should I not?'

'Yes, yes,' replied the little woood creature! but this does see to say so, and I shall be sorry for it presently-this does seem such a poor reward for all you have done'

'Nay,' said Nicholas gently, 'what better reward could I have, than the knowledge that his last days were peaceful and happy, and the recollection that I was his constant coht have been by a hundred circu beside him?'

'To be sure,' sobbed Miss La Creevy; 'it's very true, and I'rateful, iood soul fell to crying afresh, and, endeavouring to recover herself, tried to laugh The laugh and the cry, le for the mastery; the result was, that it was a drawn battle, and Miss La Creevy went into hysterics

Waiting until they were all tolerably quiet and coain, Nicholas, who stood in need of so journey, retired to his own roo himself, dressed as he was, upon the bed, fell into a sound sleep When he awoke, he found Kate sitting by his bedside, who, seeing that he had opened his eyes, stooped down to kiss hiain'

'But I can't tell you how glad I a so for your return,' said Kate, 'mama and I, and-and Madeline'

'You said in your last letter that she was quite well,' said Nicholas, rather hastily, and colouring as he spoke 'Has nothing been said, since I have been away, about any future arrangements that the brothers have in contemplation for her?'

'Oh, not a word,' replied Kate 'I can't think of parting from her without sorrow; and surely, Nicholas, YOU don't wish it!'

Nicholas coloured again, and, sitting down beside his sister on a little couch near the , said: 'No, Kate, no, I do not I s from anybody but you; but I will tell you that-briefly and plainly, Kate-that I love her'

Kate's eyes brightened, and she was going to make some reply, when Nicholas laid his hand upon her arm, and went on: 'nobody must know this but you She, last of all'

'Dear Nicholas!'

'Last of all; never, though never is a long day Sometimes, I try to think that the time may come when I may honestly tell her this; but it is so far off; in such distant perspective, so many years must elapse before it comes, and when it does come (if ever) I shall be so unlike what I am now, and shall have so outlived h not, I am sure, of love for her-that even I feel how visionary all such hopes must be, and try to crush them rudely myself, and have the pain over, rather than suffer time to wither them, and keep the disappointment in store No, Kate! Since I have been absent, I have had, in that poor felloho is gone, perpetually before my eyes, another instance of the munificent liberality of these noble brothers As far as in me lies, I will deserve it, and if I have wavered in my bounden duty to theidly, and to put further delays and temptations beyond my reach'

'Before you say another word, dear Nicholas,' said Kate, turning pale, 'you must hear what I have to tell you I caives me new heart' She faltered, and burst into tears

There was that in herKate tried to speak, but her tears prevented her

'Coirl,' said Nicholas; 'why, Kate, Kate, be a woman! I think I knohat you would tell me It concerns Mr Frank, does it not?'

Kate sunk her head upon his shoulder, and sobbed out 'Yes'

'And he has offered you his hand, perhaps, since I have been away,' said Nicholas; 'is that it? Yes Well, well; it is not so difficult, you see, to tell me, after all He offered you his hand?'

'Which I refused,' said Kate

'Yes; and why?'

'I told hi voice, 'all that I have since found you told mama; and while I could not conceal froreat trial, I did so fired him not to see me any more'

'That'sher to his breast 'I knew you would'

'He tried to alter my resolution,' said Kate, 'and declared that, be ht, he would not only inform his uncles of the step he had taken, but would communicate it to you also, directly you returned I a her, 'I ah, how deeply I felt such disinterested love, and how earnestly I prayed for his future happiness If you do talk together, I should-I should like him to know that'

'And did you suppose, Kate, when you had ht and honourable, that I should shrink from mine?' said Nicholas tenderly

'Oh no! not if your position had been the same, but-'

'But it is the same,' interrupted Nicholas 'Madeline is not the near relation of our benefactors, but she is closely bound to them by ties as dear; and I was first intrusted with her history, specially because they reposed unbounded confidence in me, and believed that I was as true as steel How base would it be of e of the circuht service I was happily able to render her, and to seek to engage her affections when the result must be, if I succeeded, that the brothers would be disappointed in their darling wish of establishi+ng her as their own child, and that I must seem to hope to buildcreature whoratitude and war in her misfortunes! I, too, whose duty, and pride, and pleasure, Kate, it is to have other claiet; and who have the ht to look beyond it! I have deterht fro, even now; and today I will, without reserve or equivocation, disclose my real reasons to Mr Cherryble, and i lady to the shelter of some other roof'

'Today? so very soon?'

'I have thought of this for weeks, and why should I postpone it? If the scene through which I have just passed has taught me to reflect, and has awakened me to a more anxious and careful sense of duty, why should I wait until the impression has cooled? You would not dissuade row rich, you know,' said Kate

'I row rich!' repeated Nicholas, with a row old! But rich or poor, or old or young, we shall ever be the same to each other, and in that our comfort lies What if we have but one home? It can never be a solitary one to you and me What if ere to remain so true to these first impressions as to for chain that binds us together It seems but yesterday that ere playfellows, Kate, and it will see back to these cares as we look back, now, to those of our childish days: and recollecting with a melancholy pleasure that the time hen they could move us Perhaps then, e are quaint old folks and talk of the tirey, we may be even thankful for the trials that so endeared us to each other, and turned our lives into that current, dohich we shall have glided so peacefully and cal people about us-as young as you and I are now, Kate-may come to us for sympathy, and pour distresses which hope and inexperience could scarcely feel enough for, into the compassionate ears of the old bachelor brother and his maiden sister'