After a short interval, which John Browdie employed upon the ham and a cold round of beef, the waiter returned with another pie, and the information that Mr Squeers was not stopping in the house, but that he came there every day and that directly he arrived, he should be shown upstairs. With this, he retired; and he had not retired two minutes, when he returned with Mr Squeers and his hopeful son.
"Why, who"d have thought of this?" said Mr Squeers, when he had saluted the party and received some private family intelligence from his daughter.
"Who, indeed, pa!" replied that young lady, spitefully. "But you see "Tilda IS married at last."
"And I stond threat for a soight o" Lunnun, schoolmeasther," said John, vigorously attacking the pie.
"One of them things that young men do when they get married," returned Squeers; "and as runs through with their money like nothing at all! How much better wouldn"t it be now, to save it up for the eddication of any little boys, for instance! They come on you," said Mr Squeers in a moralising way, "before you"re aware of it; mine did upon me."
"Will "ee pick a bit?" said John.
"I won"t myself," returned Squeers; "but if you"ll just let little Wackford tuck into something fat, I"ll be obliged to you. Give it him in his fingers, else the waiter charges it on, and there"s lot of profit on this sort of vittles without that. If you hear the waiter coming, sir, shove it in your pocket and look out of the window, d"ye hear?"
"I"m awake, father," replied the dutiful Wackford.
"Well," said Squeers, turning to his daughter, "it"s your turn to be married next. You must make haste."
"Oh, I"m in no hurry," said Miss Squeers, very sharply.
"No, f.a.n.n.y?" cried her old friend with some archness.
"No, "Tilda," replied Miss Squeers, shaking her head vehemently. "I can wait."
"So can the young men, it seems, f.a.n.n.y," observed Mrs Browdie.
"They an"t draw"d into it by ME, "Tilda," retorted Miss Squeers.
"No," returned her friend; "that"s exceedingly true."
The sarcastic tone of this reply might have provoked a rather acrimonious retort from Miss Squeers, who, besides being of a const.i.tutionally vicious temper-aggravated, just now, by travel and recent jolting-was somewhat irritated by old recollections and the failure of her own designs upon Mr Browdie; and the acrimonious retort might have led to a great many other retorts, which might have led to Heaven knows what, if the subject of conversation had not been, at that precise moment, accidentally changed by Mr Squeers himself "What do you think?" said that gentleman; "who do you suppose we have laid hands on, Wackford and me?"
"Pa! not Mr-?" Miss Squeers was unable to finish the sentence, but Mrs Browdie did it for her, and added, "Nickleby?"
"No," said Squeers. "But next door to him though."
"You can"t mean Smike?" cried Miss Squeers, clapping her hands.
"Yes, I can though," rejoined her father. "I"ve got him, hard and fast."
"Wa"at!" exclaimed John Browdie, pushing away his plate. "Got that poor-dom"d sc.o.o.ndrel? Where?"
"Why, in the top back room, at my lodging," replied Squeers, "with him on one side, and the key on the other."
"At thy loodgin"! Thee"st gotten him at thy loodgin"? Ho! ho! The schoolmeasther agin all England. Give us thee hond, mun; I"m darned but I must shak thee by the hond for thot.-Gotten him at thy loodgin"?"
"Yes," replied Squeers, staggering in his chair under the congratulatory blow on the chest which the stout Yorkshireman dealt him; "thankee. Don"t do it again. You mean it kindly, I know, but it hurts rather. Yes, there he is. That"s not so bad, is it?"
"Ba"ad!" repeated John Browdie. "It"s eneaf to scare a mun to hear tell on."
"I thought it would surprise you a bit," said Squeers, rubbing his hands. "It was pretty neatly done, and pretty quick too."
"Hoo wor it?" inquired John, sitting down close to him. "Tell us all aboot it, mun; coom, quick!"
Although he could not keep pace with John Browdie"s impatience, Mr Squeers related the lucky chance by which Smike had fallen into his hands, as quickly as he could, and, except when he was interrupted by the admiring remarks of his auditors, paused not in the recital until he had brought it to an end.
"For fear he should give me the slip, by any chance," observed Squeers, when he had finished, looking very cunning, "I"ve taken three outsides for tomorrow morning-for Wackford and him and me-and have arranged to leave the accounts and the new boys to the agent, don"t you see? So it"s very lucky you come today, or you"d have missed us; and as it is, unless you could come and tea with me tonight, we shan"t see anything more of you before we go away."
"Dean"t say anoother wurd," returned the Yorkshireman, shaking him by the hand. "We"d coom, if it was twonty mile."
"No, would you though?" returned Mr Squeers, who had not expected quite such a ready acceptance of his invitation, or he would have considered twice before he gave it.
John Browdie"s only reply was another squeeze of the hand, and an a.s.surance that they would not begin to see London till tomorrow, so that they might be at Mr Snawley"s at six o"clock without fail; and after some further conversation, Mr Squeers and his son departed.
During the remainder of the day, Mr Browdie was in a very odd and excitable state; bursting occasionally into an explosion of laughter, and then taking up his hat and running into the coach-yard to have it out by himself. He was very restless too, constantly walking in and out, and snapping his fingers, and dancing sc.r.a.ps of uncouth country dances, and, in short, conducting himself in such a very extraordinary manner, that Miss Squeers opined he was going mad, and, begging her dear "Tilda not to distress herself, communicated her suspicions in so many words. Mrs Browdie, however, without discovering any great alarm, observed that she had seen him so once before, and that although he was almost sure to be ill after it, it would not be anything very serious, and therefore he was better left alone.
The result proved her to be perfectly correct for, while they were all sitting in Mr Snawley"s parlour that night, and just as it was beginning to get dusk, John Browdie was taken so ill, and seized with such an alarming dizziness in the head, that the whole company were thrown into the utmost consternation. His good lady, indeed, was the only person present, who retained presence of mind enough to observe that if he were allowed to lie down on Mr Squeers"s bed for an hour or so, and left entirely to himself, he would be sure to recover again almost as quickly as he had been taken ill. n.o.body could refuse to try the effect of so reasonable a proposal, before sending for a surgeon. Accordingly, John was supported upstairs, with great difficulty; being a monstrous weight, and regularly tumbling down two steps every time they hoisted him up three; and, being laid on the bed, was left in charge of his wife, who, after a short interval, reappeared in the parlour, with the gratifying intelligence that he had fallen fast asleep.
Now, the fact was, that at that particular moment, John Browdie was sitting on the bed with the reddest face ever seen, cramming the corner of the pillow into his mouth, to prevent his roaring out loud with laughter. He had no sooner succeeded in suppressing this emotion, than he slipped off his shoes, and creeping to the adjoining room where the prisoner was confined, turned the key, which was on the outside, and darting in, covered Smike"s mouth with his huge hand before he could utter a sound.
"Ods-bobs, dost thee not know me, mun?" whispered the Yorkshireman to the bewildered lad. "Browdie. Chap as met thee efther schoolmeasther was banged?"
"Yes, yes," cried Smike. "Oh! help me."
"Help thee!" replied John, stopping his mouth again, the instant he had said this much. "Thee didn"t need help, if thee warn"t as silly yoongster as ever draw"d breath. Wa"at did "ee come here for, then?"
"He brought me; oh! he brought me," cried Smike.
"Brout thee!" replied John. "Why didn"t "ee punch his head, or lay theeself doon and kick, and squeal out for the pollis? I"d ha" licked a doozen such as him when I was yoong as thee. But thee be"est a poor broken-doon chap," said John, sadly, "and G.o.d forgi" me for bragging ower yan o" his weakest creeturs!"
Smike opened his mouth to speak, but John Browdie stopped him.
"Stan" still," said the Yorkshireman, "and doant"ee speak a morsel o" talk till I tell"ee."
With this caution, John Browdie shook his head significantly, and drawing a screwdriver from his pocket, took off the box of the lock in a very deliberate and workmanlike manner, and laid it, together with the implement, on the floor.
"See thot?" said John "Thot be thy doin". Noo, coot awa"!"
Smike looked vacantly at him, as if unable to comprehend his meaning.
"I say, coot awa"," repeated John, hastily. "Dost thee know where thee livest? Thee dost? Weel. Are yon thy clothes, or schoolmeasther"s?"
"Mine," replied Smike, as the Yorkshireman hurried him to the adjoining room, and pointed out a pair of shoes and a coat which were lying on a chair.
"On wi" "em," said John, forcing the wrong arm into the wrong sleeve, and winding the tails of the coat round the fugitive"s neck. "Noo, foller me, and when thee get"st ootside door, turn to the right, and they wean"t see thee pa.s.s."
"But-but-he"ll hear me shut the door," replied Smike, trembling from 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 Smike, his teeth chattering in his head. "But he brought me back before, and will again. 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 them think thee"s gotten awa" o" theeself, but if he cooms oot o" thot parlour awhiles theer"t clearing 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 whoam afore they know thee"st gotten off. Coom!"
Smike, who comprehended just enough of this to know it was intended as encouragement, prepared to follow with tottering 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"m loike to boost when I think o" that neight! "Cod, I think I see "un now, a powderin" awa" at the thin bread an" b.u.t.ther!"
It was rather a ticklish recollection for John just then, for he was within an ace of breaking out into a loud guffaw. Restraining himself, however, just in time, by a great effort, he glided downstairs, hauling Smike behind him; and placing himself close to the parlour door, to confront the first person that might come out, signed to him to make off.
Having got so far, Smike needed no second bidding. Opening the house-door gently, and casting a look of mingled grat.i.tude and terror at his deliverer, he took the direction which had been indicated to him, and sped away like the wind.
The Yorkshireman remained on his post for a few minutes, but, finding 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 remaining perfectly quiet, he got into Mr Squeers"s bed, once more, and drawing the clothes over his head, laughed till he was nearly smothered.
If there could only have been somebody by, to see how the bedclothes shook, and to see the Yorkshireman"s great red face and round head appear above the sheets, every now and then, like some jovial monster coming to the surface to breathe, and once more dive down convulsed with the laughter which came bursting forth afresh-that somebody would have been scarcely less amused than John Browdie himself.
CHAPTER 40
In which Nicholas falls in Love. He employs a Mediator, whose Proceedings are crowned with unexpected Success, excepting in one solitary Particular Once more out of the clutches of his old persecutor, it needed no fresh stimulation to call forth the utmost energy and exertion that Smike was capable of summoning to his aid. Without pausing for a moment to reflect upon the course he was taking, or the probability of its leading him homewards or the reverse, he fled away with surprising swiftness and constancy of purpose, borne upon such wings as only Fear can wear, and impelled by imaginary shouts in the well remembered voice of Squeers, who, with 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 him, as the alternations of hope and terror agitated him by turns. Long after he had become a.s.sured 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 r.e.t.a.r.d. 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 him of the rapid flight of time, that, covered with dust and panting for breath, he stopped to listen and look about him.
All was still and silent. A glare of light in the distance, casting a warm glow upon the sky, marked where the huge city lay. Solitary fields, divided by hedges and ditches, through many of which he had crashed and scrambled in his flight, skirted the road, both by the way he had come and upon the opposite side. It was late now. They could scarcely trace him by such paths as he had taken, and if he could hope to regain his own dwelling, it must surely be at such a time as that, and under cover of the darkness. This, by degrees, became pretty plain, even to the mind of Smike. He had, at first, entertained some vague and childish idea of travelling into the country for ten or a dozen miles, and then returning homewards by a wide circuit, which should keep him clear of London-so great was his apprehension of traversing the streets alone, lest he should again encounter his dreaded enemy-but, yielding to the conviction which these thoughts inspired, he turned back, and taking the open road, though not without many fears and misgivings, made for London again, with scarcely less speed of foot than that with which he had left the temporary abode of Mr Squeers.
By the time he re-entered it, at the western extremity, the greater part of the shops were closed. Of the throngs of people who had been tempted abroad after the heat of the day, but few remained in the streets, and they were lounging home. But of these he asked his way from time to time, and by dint of repeated inquiries, he at length reached the dwelling of Newman Noggs.
All that evening, Newman had been hunting and searching in byways and corners for the very person who now knocked at his door, while Nicholas had been pursuing the same inquiry in other directions. He was sitting, 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, Newman hurried downstairs, and, uttering a cry of joyful surprise, dragged the welcome visitor into the pa.s.sage and up the stairs, and said not a word until he had him safe in his own garret and the door was shut behind them, when he mixed a great mug-full of gin-and-water, and holding it to Smike"s mouth, as one might 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 precious mixture; he was in the act of raising the mug to his own mouth with a deep sigh of compa.s.sion for his poor friend"s weakness, when Smike, beginning to relate the adventures which had befallen him, arrested him half-way, and he stood listening, with the mug in his hand.
It was odd enough to see the change that came over Newman as Smike proceeded. At first he stood, rubbing his lips with the back of his hand, as a preparatory ceremony towards composing himself for a draught; then, at the mention of Squeers, he took the mug under his arm, and opening his eyes very wide, looked on, in the utmost astonishment. When Smike came to the a.s.sault upon himself in the hackney coach, he hastily deposited the mug upon the table, and limped up and down the room in a state of the greatest excitement, stopping himself with a jerk, every now and then, as if to listen more attentively. When John Browdie came to be spoken of, he dropped, by slow and gradual degrees, into a chair, and rubbing, his hands upon his knees-quicker and quicker as the story reached its climax-burst, at last, into a laugh composed of one loud sonorous "Ha! ha!" having given vent to which, his countenance immediately fell again 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 Smike. "I don"t think he could have missed me till I had got quite away."
Newman scratched his head with a shout of great disappointment, and once more lifting up the mug, applied himself to the contents; smiling meanwhile, over the rim, with a grim and ghastly smile at Smike.
"You shall stay here," said Newman; "you"re tired-f.a.gged. I"ll tell them you"re come back. They have been half mad about you. Mr Nicholas-"
"G.o.d 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 me?" said Smike. "Has she though? oh, has she, has she? Don"t tell me so if she has not."
"She has," cried Newman. "She is as n.o.ble-hearted as she is beautiful."
"Yes, yes!" cried Smike. "Well said!"
"So mild and gentle," said Newman.
"Yes, yes!" cried Smike, with increasing eagerness.
"And yet with such a true and gallant spirit," pursued Newman.
He was going on, in his enthusiasm, when, chancing 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.
A moment before, the boy"s eyes were sparkling with unwonted fire, and every feature had been lighted up with an excitement which made him appear, for the moment, quite a different being.
"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, from the tone of these broken reflections, that Newman Noggs considered them as explaining, at all satisfactorily, the emotion which had suggested them. He sat, in a musing att.i.tude, for some time, regarding Smike occasionally with an anxious and doubtful glance, which sufficiently showed that he was not very remotely connected with his thoughts.
At length he repeated his proposition that Smike should remain where he was for that night, and that he (Noggs) should straightway repair to the cottage to relieve the suspense of the family. But, as Smike would not hear of this-pleading his anxiety to see his friends again-they eventually sallied forth together; and the night being, by this time, far advanced, and Smike being, besides, so footsore that he could hardly crawl along, it was within an hour of sunrise when they reached their destination.
At the first sound of their voices outside the house, Nicholas, who had pa.s.sed a sleepless night, devising schemes for the recovery of his lost charge, started from his bed, and joyfully admitted them. There was so much noisy conversation, and congratulation, 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 a.s.sured him of her future favour and regard, and was so obliging as to relate, for his entertainment and that of the a.s.sembled 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 remember, effected by an officer whose name she had forgotten, 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. Determined to ascertain, if he could, through John Browdie, how the case really stood, he betook himself to his daily occupation: meditating, as he went, on a great variety of schemes for the punishment of the Yorkshire schoolmaster, all of which had their foundation in the strictest principles of retributive justice, and had but the one drawback of being wholly impracticable.
"A fine morning, 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 window."
"You should see it from MINE," replied Nicholas, with a smile.
"Pooh! pooh!" said Tim Linkinwater, "don"t tell me. Country!" (Bow was quite a rustic place to Tim.) "Nonsense! What can you get in the country but new-laid eggs and flowers? I can buy new-laid eggs in Leadenhall Market, any morning before breakfast; and as to flowers, it"s worth a run upstairs to smell my mignonette, or to see the double wallflower in the back-attic window, 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 Tim, "and planted in a cracked jug, without a spout. There were hyacinths there, this last spring, blossoming, in-but you"ll laugh at that, of course."
"At what?"
"At their blossoming in old blacking-bottles," said Tim.
"Not I, indeed," returned Nicholas.
Tim looked wistfully at him, for a moment, as if he were encouraged by the tone of this reply to be more communicative on the subject; and sticking behind his ear, a pen that he had been making, and shutting up his knife with a smart click, said, "They belong to a sickly bedridden hump-backed boy, and seem to be the only pleasure, Mr Nickleby, of his sad existence. How many years is it," said Tim, pondering, "since I first noticed him, quite a little child, dragging himself about on a pair of tiny crutches? Well! Well! Not many; but though they would appear nothing, if I thought of other things, they seem a long, long time, when I think of him. It is a sad thing," said Tim, breaking off, "to see a little deformed child sitting apart from other children, who are active and merry, watching the games he is denied the power to share in. He made my heart ache very often."