"But hear this first-hear this first, brother Ned," said the old man, hastily, placing two chairs, one on each side of Nicholas: "I"ll tell it you myself, brother Ned, because the young gentleman is modest, and is a scholar, Ned, and I shouldn"t feel it right that he should tell us his story over and over again as if he was a beggar, or as if we doubted him. No, no no."
"No, no, no," returned the other, nodding his head gravely. "Very right, my dear brother, very right."
"He will tell me I"m wrong, if I make a mistake," said Nicholas"s friend. "But whether I do or not, you"ll be very much affected, brother Ned, remembering the time when we were two friendless lads, and earned our first shilling in this great city."
The twins pressed each other"s hands in silence; and in his own homely manner, brother Charles related the particulars he had heard from Nicholas. The conversation which ensued was a long one, and when it was over, a secret conference of almost equal duration took place between brother Ned and Tim Linkinwater in another room. It is no disparagement to Nicholas to say, that before he had been closeted with the two brothers ten minutes, he could only wave his hand at every fresh expression of kindness and sympathy, and sob like a little child.
At length brother Ned and Tim Linkinwater came back together, when Tim instantly walked up to Nicholas and whispered in his ear in a very brief sentence (for Tim was ordinarily a man of few words), that he had taken down the address in the Strand, and would call upon him that evening, at eight. Having done which, Tim wiped his spectacles and put them on, preparatory to hearing what more the brothers Cheeryble had got to say.
"Tim," said brother Charles, "you understand that we have an intention of taking this young gentleman into the counting-house?"
Brother Ned remarked that Tim was aware of that intention, and quite approved of it; and Tim having nodded, and said he did, drew himself up and looked particularly fat, and very important. After which, there was a profound silence.
"I"m not coming an hour later in the morning, you know," said Tim, breaking out all at once, and looking very resolute. "I"m not going to sleep in the fresh air; no, nor I"m not going into the country either. A pretty thing at this time of day, certainly. Pho!"
"d.a.m.n your obstinacy, Tim Linkinwater," said brother Charles, looking at him without the faintest spark of anger, and with a countenance radiant with attachment to the old clerk. "d.a.m.n your obstinacy, Tim Linkinwater, what do you mean, sir?"
"It"s forty-four year," said Tim, making a calculation in the air with his pen, and drawing an imaginary line before he cast it up, "forty-four year, next May, since I first kept the books of Cheeryble, Brothers. I"ve opened the safe every morning all that time (Sundays excepted) as the clock struck nine, and gone over the house every night at half-past ten (except on Foreign Post nights, and then twenty minutes before twelve) to see the doors fastened, and the fires out. I"ve never slept out of the back-attic one single night. There"s the same mignonette box in the middle of the window, and the same four flower-pots, two on each side, that I brought with me when I first came. There an"t-I"ve said it again and again, and I"ll maintain it-there an"t such a square as this in the world. I KNOW there an"t," said Tim, with sudden energy, and looking sternly about him. "Not one. For business or pleasure, in summer-time or winter-I don"t care which-there"s nothing like it. There"s not such a spring in England as the pump under the archway. There"s not such a view in England as the view out of my window; I"ve seen it every morning before I shaved, and I ought to know something about it. I have slept in that room," added Tim, sinking his voice a little, "for four-and-forty year; and if it wasn"t inconvenient, and didn"t interfere with business, I should request leave to die there."
"d.a.m.n you, Tim Linkinwater, how dare you talk about dying?" roared the twins by one impulse, and blowing their old noses violently.
"That"s what I"ve got to say, Mr Edwin and Mr Charles," said Tim, squaring his shoulders again. "This isn"t the first time you"ve talked about superannuating me; but, if you please, we"ll make it the last, and drop the subject for evermore."
With these words, Tim Linkinwater stalked out, and shut himself up in his gla.s.s case, with the air of a man who had had his say, and was thoroughly resolved not to be put down.
The brothers interchanged looks, and coughed some half-dozen times without speaking.
"He must be done something with, brother Ned," said the other, warmly; "we must disregard his old scruples; they can"t be tolerated, or borne. He must be made a partner, brother Ned; and if he won"t submit to it peaceably, we must have recourse to violence."
"Quite right," replied brother Ned, nodding his head as a man thoroughly determined; "quite right, my dear brother. If he won"t listen to reason, we must do it against his will, and show him that we are determined to exert our authority. We must quarrel with him, brother Charles."
"We must. We certainly must have a quarrel with Tim Linkinwater," said the other. "But in the meantime, my dear brother, we are keeping our young friend; and the poor lady and her daughter will be anxious for his return. So let us say goodbye for the present, and-there, there-take care of that box, my dear sir-and-no, no, not a word now; but be careful of the crossings and-"
And with any disjointed and unconnected words which would prevent Nicholas from pouring forth his thanks, the brothers hurried him out: shaking hands with him all the way, and affecting very unsuccessfully-they were poor hands at deception!-to be wholly unconscious of the feelings that completely mastered him.
Nicholas"s heart was too full to allow of his turning into the street until he had recovered some composure. When he at last glided out of the dark doorway corner in which he had been compelled to halt, he caught a glimpse of the twins stealthily peeping in at one corner of the gla.s.s case, evidently undecided whether they should follow up their late attack without delay, or for the present postpone laying further siege to the inflexible Tim Linkinwater.
To recount all the delight and wonder which the circ.u.mstances just detailed awakened at Miss La Creevy"s, and all the things that were done, said, thought, expected, hoped, and prophesied in consequence, is beside the present course and purpose of these adventures. It is sufficient to state, in brief, that Mr Timothy Linkinwater arrived, punctual to his appointment; that, oddity as he was, and jealous, as he was bound to be, of the proper exercise of his employers" most comprehensive liberality, he reported strongly and warmly in favour of Nicholas; and that, next day, he was appointed to the vacant stool in the counting-house of Cheeryble, Brothers, with a present salary of one hundred and twenty pounds a year.
"And I think, my dear brother," said Nicholas"s first friend, "that if we were to let them that little cottage at Bow which is empty, at something under the usual rent, now? Eh, brother Ned?"
"For nothing at all," said brother Ned. "We are rich, and should be ashamed to touch the rent under such circ.u.mstances as these. Where is Tim Linkinwater?-for nothing at all, my dear brother, for nothing at all."
"Perhaps it would be better to say something, brother Ned," suggested the other, mildly; "it would help to preserve habits of frugality, you know, and remove any painful sense of overwhelming obligations. We might say fifteen pound, or twenty pound, and if it was punctually paid, make it up to them in some other way. And I might secretly advance a small loan towards a little furniture, and you might secretly advance another small loan, brother Ned; and if we find them doing well-as we shall; there"s no fear, no fear-we can change the loans into gifts. Carefully, brother Ned, and by degrees, and without pressing upon them too much; what do you say now, brother?"
Brother Ned gave his hand upon it, and not only said it should be done, but had it done too; and, in one short week, Nicholas took possession of the stool, and Mrs Nickleby and Kate took possession of the house, and all was hope, bustle, and light-heartedness.
There surely never was such a week of discoveries and surprises as the first week of that cottage. Every night when Nicholas came home, something new had been found out. One day it was a grapevine, and another day it was a boiler, and another day it was the key of the front-parlour closet at the bottom of the water-b.u.t.t, and so on through a hundred items. Then, this room was embellished with a muslin curtain, and that room was rendered quite elegant by a window-blind, and such improvements were made, as no one would have supposed possible. Then there was Miss La Creevy, who had come out in the omnibus to stop a day or two and help, and who was perpetually losing a very small brown-paper parcel of tin tacks and a very large hammer, and running about with her sleeves tucked up at the wrists, and falling off pairs of steps and hurting herself very much-and Mrs Nickleby, who talked incessantly, and did something now and then, but not often-and Kate, who busied herself noiselessly everywhere, and was pleased with everything-and Smike, who made the garden a perfect wonder to look upon-and Nicholas, who helped and encouraged them every one-all the peace and cheerfulness of home restored, with such new zest imparted to every frugal pleasure, and such delight to every hour of meeting, as misfortune and separation alone could give!
In short, the poor Nicklebys were social and happy; while the rich Nickleby was alone and miserable.
CHAPTER 36
Private and confidential; relating to Family Matters. Showing how Mr Kenwigs underwent violent Agitation, and how Mrs Kenwigs was as well as could be expected It might have been seven o"clock in the evening, and it was growing dark in the narrow streets near Golden Square, when Mr Kenwigs sent out for a pair of the cheapest white kid gloves-those at fourteen-pence-and selecting the strongest, which happened to be the right-hand one, walked downstairs with an air of pomp and much excitement, and proceeded to m.u.f.fle the k.n.o.b of the street-door knocker therein. Having executed this task with great nicety, Mr Kenwigs pulled the door to, after him, and just stepped across the road to try the effect from the opposite side of the street. Satisfied that nothing could possibly look better in its way, Mr Kenwigs then stepped back again, and calling through the keyhole to Morleena to open the door, vanished into the house, and was seen no longer.
Now, considered as an abstract circ.u.mstance, there was no more obvious cause or reason why Mr Kenwigs should take the trouble of m.u.f.fling this particular knocker, than there would have been for his m.u.f.fling the knocker of any n.o.bleman or gentleman resident ten miles off; because, for the greater convenience of the numerous lodgers, the street-door always stood wide open, and the knocker was never used at all. The first floor, the second floor, and the third floor, had each a bell of its own. As to the attics, no one ever called on them; if anybody wanted the parlours, they were close at hand, and all he had to do was to walk straight into them; while the kitchen had a separate entrance down the area steps. As a question of mere necessity and usefulness, therefore, this m.u.f.fling of the knocker was thoroughly incomprehensible.
But knockers may be m.u.f.fled for other purposes than those of mere utilitarianism, as, in the present instance, was clearly shown. There are certain polite forms and ceremonies which must be observed in civilised life, or mankind relapse into their original barbarism. No genteel lady was ever yet confined-indeed, no genteel confinement can possibly take place-without the accompanying symbol of a m.u.f.fled knocker. Mrs Kenwigs was a lady of some pretensions to gentility; Mrs Kenwigs was confined. And, therefore, Mr Kenwigs tied up the silent knocker on the premises in a white kid glove.
"I"m not quite certain neither," said Mr Kenwigs, arranging his shirt-collar, and walking slowly upstairs, "whether, as it"s a boy, I won"t have it in the papers."
Pondering upon the advisability of this step, and the sensation it was likely to create in the neighbourhood, Mr Kenwigs betook himself to the sitting-room, where various extremely diminutive articles of clothing were airing on a horse before the fire, and Mr Lumbey, the doctor, was dandling the baby-that is, the old baby-not the new one.
"It"s a fine boy, Mr Kenwigs," said Mr Lumbey, the doctor.
"You consider him a fine boy, do you, sir?" returned Mr Kenwigs.
"It"s the finest boy I ever saw in all my life," said the doctor. "I never saw such a baby."
It is a pleasant thing to reflect upon, and furnishes a complete answer to those who contend for the gradual degeneration of the human species, that every baby born into the world is a finer one than the last.
"I ne-ver saw such a baby," said Mr Lumbey, the doctor.
"Morleena was a fine baby," remarked Mr Kenwigs; as if this were rather an attack, by implication, upon the family.
"They were all fine babies," said Mr Lumbey. And Mr Lumbey went on nursing the baby with a thoughtful look. Whether he was considering under what head he could best charge the nursing in the bill, was best known to himself.
During this short conversation, Miss Morleena, as the eldest of the family, and natural representative of her mother during her indisposition, had been hustling and slapping the three younger Miss Kenwigses, without intermission; which considerate and affectionate conduct brought tears into the eyes of Mr Kenwigs, and caused him to declare that, in understanding and behaviour, that child was a woman.
"She will be a treasure to the man she marries, sir," said Mr Kenwigs, half aside; "I think she"ll marry above her station, Mr Lumbey."
"I shouldn"t wonder at all," replied the doctor.
"You never see her dance, sir, did you?" asked Mr Kenwigs.
The doctor shook his head.
"Ay!" said Mr Kenwigs, as though he pitied him from his heart, "then you don"t know what she"s capable of."
All this time there had been a great whisking in and out of the other room; the door had been opened and shut very softly about twenty times a minute (for it was necessary to keep Mrs Kenwigs quiet); and the baby had been exhibited to a score or two of deputations from a select body of female friends, who had a.s.sembled in the pa.s.sage, and about the street-door, to discuss the event in all its bearings. Indeed, the excitement extended itself over the whole street, and groups of ladies might be seen standing at the doors, (some in the interesting condition in which Mrs Kenwigs had last appeared in public,) relating their experiences of similar occurrences. Some few acquired great credit from having prophesied, the day before yesterday, exactly when it would come to pa.s.s; others, again, related, how that they guessed what it was, directly they saw Mr Kenwigs turn pale and run up the street as hard as ever he could go. Some said one thing, and some another; but all talked together, and all agreed upon two points: first, that it was very meritorious and highly praiseworthy in Mrs Kenwigs to do as she had done: and secondly, that there never was such a skilful and scientific doctor as that Dr Lumbey.
In the midst of this general hubbub, Dr Lumbey sat in the first-floor front, as before related, nursing the deposed baby, and talking to Mr Kenwigs. He was a stout bluff-looking gentleman, with no shirt-collar to speak of, and a beard that had been growing since yesterday morning; for Dr Lumbey was popular, and the neighbourhood was prolific; and there had been no less than three other knockers m.u.f.fled, one after the other within the last forty-eight hours.
"Well, Mr Kenwigs," said Dr Lumbey, "this makes six. You"ll have a fine family in time, sir."
"I think six is almost enough, sir," returned Mr Kenwigs.
"Pooh! pooh!" said the doctor. "Nonsense! not half enough."
With this, the doctor laughed; but he didn"t laugh half as much as a married friend of Mrs Kenwigs"s, who had just come in from the sick chamber to report progress, and take a small sip of brandy-and-water: and who seemed to consider it one of the best jokes ever launched upon society.
"They"re not altogether dependent upon good fortune, neither," said Mr Kenwigs, taking his second daughter on his knee; "they have expectations."
"Oh, indeed!" said Mr Lumbey, the doctor.
"And very good ones too, I believe, haven"t they?" asked the married lady.
"Why, ma"am," said Mr Kenwigs, "it"s not exactly for me to say what they may be, or what they may not be. It"s not for me to boast of any family with which I have the honour to be connected; at the same time, Mrs Kenwigs"s is-I should say," said Mr Kenwigs, abruptly, and raising his voice as he spoke, "that my children might come into a matter of a hundred pound apiece, perhaps. Perhaps more, but certainly that."
"And a very pretty little fortune," said the married lady.
"There are some relations of Mrs Kenwigs"s," said Mr Kenwigs, taking a pinch of snuff from the doctor"s box, and then sneezing very hard, for he wasn"t used to it, "that might leave their hundred pound apiece to ten people, and yet not go begging when they had done it."
"Ah! I know who you mean," observed the married lady, nodding her head.
"I made mention of no names, and I wish to make mention of no names," said Mr Kenwigs, with a portentous look. "Many of my friends have met a relation of Mrs Kenwigs"s in this very room, as would do honour to any company; that"s all."
"I"ve met him," said the married lady, with a glance towards Dr Lumbey.
"It"s naterally very gratifying to my feelings as a father, to see such a man as that, a kissing and taking notice of my children," pursued Mr Kenwigs. "It"s naterally very gratifying to my feelings as a man, to know that man. It will be naterally very gratifying to my feelings as a husband, to make that man acquainted with this ewent."
Having delivered his sentiments in this form of words, Mr Kenwigs arranged his second daughter"s flaxen tail, and bade her be a good girl and mind what her sister, Morleena, said.
"That girl grows more like her mother every day," said Mr Lumbey, suddenly stricken with an enthusiastic admiration of Morleena.
"There!" rejoined the married lady. "What I always say; what I always did say! She"s the very picter of her." Having thus directed the general attention to the young lady in question, the married lady embraced the opportunity of taking another sip of the brandy-and-water-and a pretty long sip too.
"Yes! there is a likeness," said Mr Kenwigs, after some reflection. "But such a woman as Mrs Kenwigs was, afore she was married! Good gracious, such a woman!"
Mr Lumbey shook his head with great solemnity, as though to imply that he supposed she must have been rather a dazzler.
"Talk of fairies!" cried Mr Kenwigs "I never see anybody so light to be alive, never. Such manners too; so playful, and yet so sewerely proper! As for her figure! It isn"t generally known," said Mr Kenwigs, dropping his voice; "but her figure was such, at that time, that the sign of the Britannia, over in the Holloway Road, was painted from it!"
"But only see what it is now," urged the married lady. "Does SHE look like the mother of six?"
"Quite ridiculous," cried the doctor.
"She looks a deal more like her own daughter," said the married lady.
"So she does," a.s.sented Mr Lumbey. "A great deal more."
Mr Kenwigs was about to make some further observations, most probably in confirmation of this opinion, when another married lady, who had looked in to keep up Mrs Kenwigs"s spirits, and help to clear off anything in the eating and drinking way that might be going about, put in her head to announce that she had just been down to answer the bell, and that there was a gentleman at the door who wanted to see Mr Kenwigs "most particular."
Shadowy visions of his distinguished relation flitted through the brain of Mr Kenwigs, as this message was delivered; and under their influence, he dispatched Morleena to show the gentleman up straightway.
"Why, I do declare," said Mr Kenwigs, standing opposite the door so as to get the earliest glimpse of the visitor, as he came upstairs, "it"s Mr Johnson! How do you find yourself, sir?"
Nicholas shook hands, kissed his old pupils all round, intrusted a large parcel of toys to the guardianship of Morleena, bowed to the doctor and the married ladies, and inquired after Mrs Kenwigs in a tone of interest, which went to the very heart and soul of the nurse, who had come in to warm some mysterious compound, in a little saucepan over the fire.
"I ought to make a hundred apologies to you for calling at such a season," said Nicholas, "but I was not aware of it until I had rung the bell, and my time is so fully occupied now, that I feared it might be some days before I could possibly come again."
"No time like the present, sir," said Mr Kenwigs. "The sitiwation of Mrs Kenwigs, sir, is no obstacle to a little conversation between you and me, I hope?"
"You are very good," said Nicholas.
At this juncture, proclamation was made by another married lady, that the baby had begun to eat like anything; whereupon the two married ladies, already mentioned, rushed tumultuously into the bedroom to behold him in the act.
"The fact is," resumed Nicholas, "that before I left the country, where I have been for some time past, I undertook to deliver a message to you."
"Ay, ay?" said Mr Kenwigs.
"And I have been," added Nicholas, "already in town for some days, without having had an opportunity of doing so."
"It"s no matter, sir," said Mr Kenwigs. "I dare say it"s none the worse for keeping cold. Message from the country!" said Mr Kenwigs, ruminating; "that"s curious. I don"t know anybody in the country."
"Miss Petowker," suggested Nicholas.
"Oh! from her, is it?" said Mr Kenwigs. "Oh dear, yes. Ah! Mrs Kenwigs will be glad to hear from her. Henrietta Petowker, eh? How odd things come about, now! That you should have met her in the country! Well!"
Hearing this mention of their old friend"s name, the four Miss Kenwigses gathered round Nicholas, open eyed and mouthed, to hear more. Mr Kenwigs looked a little curious too, but quite comfortable and unsuspecting.
"The message relates to family matters," said Nicholas, hesitating.
"Oh, never mind," said Kenwigs, glancing at Mr Lumbey, who, having rashly taken charge of little Lillyvick, found n.o.body disposed to relieve him of his precious burden. "All friends here."
Nicholas hemmed once or twice, and seemed to have some difficulty in proceeding.
"At Portsmouth, Henrietta Petowker is," observed Mr Kenwigs.
"Yes," said Nicholas, "Mr Lillyvick is there."
Mr Kenwigs turned pale, but he recovered, and said, THAT was an odd coincidence also.
"The message is from him," said Nicholas.
Mr Kenwigs appeared to revive. He knew that his niece was in a delicate state, and had, no doubt, sent word that they were to forward full particulars. Yes. That was very kind of him; so like him too!
"He desired me to give his kindest love," said Nicholas.