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The bile and rancour of the worthy Miss Knag undergoing no diminutionduring the remainder of the week, but rather augmenting with everysuccessive hour; and the honest ire of all the young ladies rising, orseeming to rise, in exact proportion to the good spinster's indignation,and both waxing very hot every time Miss Nickleby was called upstairs;it will be readily imagined that that young lady's daily life wasnone of the most cheerful or enviable kind. She hailed the arrival ofSaturday night, as a prisoner would a few delicious hours' respite fromslow and wearing torture, and felt that the poor pittance for her firstweek's labour would have been dearly and hardly earned, had its amountbeen trebled.

When she joined her mother, as usual, at the street corner, she was nota little surprised to find her in conversation with Mr Ralph Nickleby;but her surprise was soon redoubled, no less by the matter of theirconversation, than by the smoothed and altered manner of Mr Nicklebyhimself.

'Ah! my dear!' said Ralph; 'we were at that moment talking about you.'

'Indeed!' replied Kate, shrinking, though she scarce knew why, from heruncle's cold glistening eye.

'That instant,' said Ralph. 'I was coming to call for you, making sureto catch you before you left; but your mother and I have been talkingover family affairs, and the time has slipped away so rapidly--'

'Well, now, hasn't it?' interposed Mrs Nickleby, quite insensible to thesarcastic tone of Ralph's last remark. 'Upon my word, I couldn't havebelieved it possible, that such a--Kate, my dear, you're to dine withyour uncle at half-past six o'clock tomorrow.'

Triumphing in having been the first to communicate this extraordinaryintelligence, Mrs Nickleby nodded and smiled a great many times, toimpress its full magnificence on Kate's wondering mind, and then flewoff, at an acute angle, to a committee of ways and means.

'Let me see,' said the good lady. 'Your black silk frock will be quitedress enough, my dear, with that pretty little scarf, and a plain bandin your hair, and a pair of black silk stock--Dear, dear,' cried MrsNickleby, flying off at another angle, 'if I had but those unfortunateamethysts of mine--you recollect them, Kate, my love--how they used tosparkle, you know--but your papa, your poor dear papa--ah! therenever was anything so cruelly sacrificed as those jewels were, never!'Overpowered by this agonising thought, Mrs Nickleby shook her head, in amelancholy manner, and applied her handkerchief to her eyes.

I don't want them, mama, indeed,' said Kate. 'Forget that you ever hadthem.'

'Lord, Kate, my dear,' rejoined Mrs Nickleby, pettishly, 'how like achild you talk! Four-and-twenty silver tea-spoons, brother-in-law,two gravies, four salts, all the amethysts--necklace, brooch, andear-rings--all made away with, at the same time, and I saying, almoston my bended knees, to that poor good soul, "Why don't you do something,Nicholas? Why don't you make some arrangement?" I am sure that anybodywho was about us at that time, will do me the justice to own, that ifI said that once, I said it fifty times a day. Didn't I, Kate, my dear?Did I ever lose an opportunity of impressing it on your poor papa?'

'No, no, mama, never,' replied Kate. And to do Mrs Nickleby justice, shenever had lost--and to do married ladies as a body justice, they seldomdo lose--any occasion of inculcating similar golden percepts, whose onlyblemish is, the slight degree of vagueness and uncertainty in which theyare usually enveloped.

'Ah!' said Mrs Nickleby, with great fervour, 'if my advice had beentaken at the beginning--Well, I have always done MY duty, and that'ssome comfort.'

When she had arrived at this reflection, Mrs Nickleby sighed, rubbed herhands, cast up her eyes, and finally assumed a look of meek composure;thus importing that she was a persecuted saint, but that she wouldn'ttrouble her hearers by mentioning a circumstance which must be soobvious to everybody.

'Now,' said Ralph, with a smile, which, in common with all other tokensof emotion, seemed to skulk under his face, rather than play boldly overit--'to return to the point from which we have strayed. I have a littleparty of--of--gentlemen with whom I am connected in business just now,at my house tomorrow; and your mother has promised that you shallkeep house for me. I am not much used to parties; but this is one ofbusiness, and such fooleries are an important part of it sometimes. Youdon't mind obliging me?'

'Mind!' cried Mrs Nickleby. 'My dear Kate, why--'

'Pray,' interrupted Ralph, motioning her to be silent. 'I spoke to myniece.'

'I shall be very glad, of course, uncle,' replied Kate; 'but I am afraidyou will find me awkward and embarrassed.'

'Oh no,' said Ralph; 'come when you like, in a hackney coach--I'll payfor it. Good-night--a--a--God bless you.'

The blessing seemed to stick in Mr Ralph Nickleby's throat, as if itwere not used to the thoroughfare, and didn't know the way out. But itgot out somehow, though awkwardly enough; and having disposed of it, heshook hands with his two relatives, and abruptly left them.

'What a very strongly marked countenance your uncle has!' said MrsNickleby, quite struck with his parting look. 'I don't see the slightestresemblance to his poor brother.'

'Mama!' said Kate reprovingly. 'To think of such a thing!'

'No,' said Mrs Nickleby, musing. 'There certainly is none. But it's avery honest face.'

The worthy matron made this remark with great emphasis and elocution,as if it comprised no small quantity of ingenuity and research; and,in truth, it was not unworthy of being classed among the extraordinarydiscoveries of the age. Kate looked up hastily, and as hastily lookeddown again.

'What has come over you, my dear, in the name of goodness?' asked MrsNickleby, when they had walked on, for some time, in silence.

'I was only thinking, mama,' answered Kate.

'Thinking!' repeated Mrs Nickleby. 'Ay, and indeed plenty to thinkabout, too. Your uncle has taken a strong fancy to you, that's quiteclear; and if some extraordinary good fortune doesn't come to you, afterthis, I shall be a little surprised, that's all.'

With this she launched out into sundry anecdotes of young ladies, whohad had thousand-pound notes given them in reticules, by eccentricuncles; and of young ladies who had accidentally met amiable gentlemenof enormous wealth at their uncles' houses, and married them, aftershort but ardent courtships; and Kate, listening first in apathy, andafterwards in amusement, felt, as they walked home, something of hermother's sanguine complexion gradually awakening in her own bosom, andbegan to think that her prospects might be brightening, and that betterdays might be dawning upon them. Such is hope, Heaven's own gift tostruggling mortals; pervading, like some subtle essence from theskies, all things, both good and bad; as universal as death, and moreinfectious than disease!

The feeble winter's sun--and winter's suns in the city are very feebleindeed--might have brightened up, as he shone through the dim windowsof the large old house, on witnessing the unusual sight which onehalf-furnished room displayed. In a gloomy corner, where, for years, hadstood a silent dusty pile of merchandise, sheltering its colony of mice,and frowning, a dull and lifeless mass, upon the panelled room, savewhen, responding to the roll of heavy waggons in the street without,it quaked with sturdy tremblings and caused the bright eyes of its tinycitizens to grow brighter still with fear, and struck them motionless,with attentive ear and palpitating heart, until the alarm had passedaway--in this dark corner, was arranged, with scrupulous care, allKate's little finery for the day; each article of dress partaking ofthat indescribable air of jauntiness and individuality which emptygarments--whether by association, or that they become moulded, asit were, to the owner's form--will take, in eyes accustomed to, orpicturing, the wearer's smartness. In place of a bale of musty goods,there lay the black silk dress: the neatest possible figure in itself.The small shoes, with toes delicately turned out, stood upon the verypressure of some old iron weight; and a pile of harsh discolouredleather had unconsciously given place to the very same little pairof black silk stockings, which had been the objects of Mrs Nickleby'speculiar care. Rats and mice, and such small gear, had long ago beenstarved, or had emigrated to better quarters: and, in their stead,appeared gloves, bands, scarfs, hair-pins, and many other littledevices, almost as ingenious in their way as rats and mice themselves,for the tantalisation of mankind. About and among them all, moved Kateherself, not the least beautiful or unwonted relief to the stern, old,gloomy building.

In good time, or in bad time, as the reader likes to take it--for MrsNickleby's impatience went a great deal faster than the clocks at thatend of the town, and Kate was dressed to the very last hair-pin a fullhour and a half before it was at all necessary to begin to think aboutit--in good time, or in bad time, the toilet was completed; and it beingat length the hour agreed upon for starting, the milkman fetched a coachfrom the nearest stand, and Kate, with many adieux to her mother, andmany kind messages to Miss La Creevy, who was to come to tea, seatedherself in it, and went away in state, if ever anybody went away instate in a hackney coach yet. And the coach, and the coachman, and thehorses, rattled, and jangled, and whipped, and cursed, and swore, andtumbled on together, until they came to Golden Square.

The coachman gave a tremendous double knock at the door, which wasopened long before he had done, as quickly as if there had been a manbehind it, with his hand tied to the latch. Kate, who had expected nomore uncommon appearance than Newman Noggs in a clean shirt, was not alittle astonished to see that the opener was a man in handsome livery,and that there were two or three others in the hall. There was no doubtabout its being the right house, however, for there was the name uponthe door; so she accepted the laced coat-sleeve which was tendered her,and entering the house, was ushered upstairs, into a back drawing-room,where she was left alone.

If she had been surprised at the apparition of the footman, she wasperfectly absorbed in amazement at the richness and splendour of thefurniture. The softest and most elegant carpets, the most exquisitepictures, the costliest mirrors; articles of richest ornament, quitedazzling from their beauty and perplexing from the prodigality withwhich they were scattered around; encountered her on every side. Thevery staircase nearly down to the hall-door, was crammed with beautifuland luxurious things, as though the house were brimful of riches, which,with a very trifling addition, would fairly run over into the street.

Presently, she heard a series of loud double knocks at the street-door,and after every knock some new voice in the next room; the tones of MrRalph Nickleby were easily distinguishable at first, but by degreesthey merged into the general buzz of conversation, and all she couldascertain was, that there were several gentlemen with no very musicalvoices, who talked very loud, laughed very heartily, and swore morethan she would have thought quite necessary. But this was a question oftaste.

At length, the door opened, and Ralph himself, divested of his boots,and ceremoniously embellished with black silks and shoes, presented hiscrafty face.

'I couldn't see you before, my dear,' he said, in a low tone, andpointing, as he spoke, to the next room. 'I was engaged in receivingthem. Now--shall I take you in?'

'Pray, uncle,' said Kate, a little flurried, as people much moreconversant with society often are, when they are about to enter a roomfull of strangers, and have had time to think of it previously, 'arethere any ladies here?'

'No,' said Ralph, shortly, 'I don't know any.'

'Must I go in immediately?' asked Kate, drawing back a little.

'As you please,' said Ralph, shrugging his shoulders. 'They are allcome, and dinner will be announced directly afterwards--that's all.'

Kate would have entreated a few minutes' respite, but reflecting thather uncle might consider the payment of the hackney-coach fare a sortof bargain for her punctuality, she suffered him to draw her arm throughhis, and to lead her away.

Seven or eight gentlemen were standing round the fire when they went in,and, as they were talking very loud, were not aware of their entranceuntil Mr Ralph Nickleby, touching one on the coat-sleeve, said in aharsh emphatic voice, as if to attract general attention--

'Lord Frederick Verisopht, my niece, Miss Nickleby.'

The group dispersed, as if in great surprise, and the gentlemanaddressed, turning round, exhibited a suit of clothes of the mostsuperlative cut, a pair of whiskers of similar quality, a moustache, ahead of hair, and a young face.

'Eh!' said the gentleman. 'What--the--deyvle!'

With which broken ejaculations, he fixed his glass in his eye, andstared at Miss Nickleby in great surprise.

'My niece, my lord,' said Ralph.

'Then my ears did not deceive me, and it's not wa-a-x work,' said hislordship. 'How de do? I'm very happy.' And then his lordship turnedto another superlative gentleman, something older, something stouter,something redder in the face, and something longer upon town, and saidin a loud whisper that the girl was 'deyvlish pitty.'

'Introduce me, Nickleby,' said this second gentleman, who was loungingwith his back to the fire, and both elbows on the chimneypiece.

'Sir Mulberry Hawk,' said Ralph.

'Otherwise the most knowing card in the pa-ack, Miss Nickleby,' saidLord Frederick Verisopht.

'Don't leave me out, Nickleby,' cried a sharp-faced gentleman, who wassitting on a low chair with a high back, reading the paper.

'Mr Pyke,' said Ralph.

'Nor me, Nickleby,' cried a gentleman with a flushed face and a flashair, from the elbow of Sir Mulberry Hawk.

'Mr Pluck,' said Ralph. Then wheeling about again, towards a gentlemanwith the neck of a stork and the legs of no animal in particular, Ralphintroduced him as the Honourable Mr Snobb; and a white-headed personat the table as Colonel Chowser. The colonel was in conversation withsomebody, who appeared to be a make-weight, and was not introduced atall.

There were two circumstances which, in this early stage of the party,struck home to Kate's bosom, and brought the blood tingling to her face.One was the flippant contempt with which the guests evidently regardedher uncle, and the other, the easy insolence of their manner towardsherself. That the first symptom was very likely to lead to theaggravation of the second, it needed no great penetration to foresee.And here Mr Ralph Nickleby had reckoned without his host; for howeverfresh from the country a young lady (by nature) may be, and howeverunacquainted with conventional behaviour, the chances are, that she willhave quite as strong an innate sense of the decencies and proprieties oflife as if she had run the gauntlet of a dozen London seasons--possiblya stronger one, for such senses have been known to blunt in thisimproving process.

When Ralph had completed the ceremonial of introduction, he led hisblushing niece to a seat. As he did so, he glanced warily round asthough to assure himself of the impression which her unlooked-forappearance had created.

'An unexpected playsure, Nickleby,' said Lord Frederick Verisopht,taking his glass out of his right eye, where it had, until now, doneduty on Kate, and fixing it in his left, to bring it to bear on Ralph.

'Designed to surprise you, Lord Frederick,' said Mr Pluck.

'Not a bad idea,' said his lordship, 'and one that would almost warrantthe addition of an extra two and a half per cent.'

'Nickleby,' said Sir Mulberry Hawk, in a thick coarse voice, 'take thehint, and tack it on the other five-and-twenty, or whatever it is, andgive me half for the advice.'

Sir Mulberry garnished this speech with a hoarse laugh, and terminatedit with a pleasant oath regarding Mr Nickleby's limbs, whereat MessrsPyke and Pluck laughed consumedly.

These gentlemen had not yet quite recovered the jest, when dinner wasannounced, and then they were thrown into fresh ecstasies by a similarcause; for Sir Mulberry Hawk, in an excess of humour, shot dexterouslypast Lord Frederick Verisopht who was about to lead Kate downstairs, anddrew her arm through his up to the elbow.

'No, damn it, Verisopht,' said Sir Mulberry, 'fair play's a jewel, andMiss Nickleby and I settled the matter with our eyes ten minutes ago.'

'Ha, ha, ha!' laughed the honourable Mr Snobb, 'very good, very good.'

Rendered additionally witty by this applause, Sir Mulberry Hawk leeredupon his friends most facetiously, and led Kate downstairs with anair of familiarity, which roused in her gentle breast such burningindignation, as she felt it almost impossible to repress. Nor was theintensity of these feelings at all diminished, when she found herselfplaced at the top of the table, with Sir Mulberry Hawk and LordFrederick Verisopht on either side.

'Oh, you've found your way into our neighbourhood, have you?' said SirMulberry as his lordship sat down.

'Of course,' replied Lord Frederick, fixing his eyes on Miss Nickleby,'how can you a-ask me?'

'Well, you attend to your dinner,' said Sir Mulberry, 'and don't mindMiss Nickleby and me, for we shall prove very indifferent company, Idare say.'

'I wish you'd interfere here, Nickleby,' said Lord Frederick.

'What is the matter, my lord?' demanded Ralph from the bottom of thetable, where he was supported by Messrs Pyke and Pluck.

'This fellow, Hawk, is monopolising your niece,' said Lord Frederick.

'He has a tolerable share of everything that you lay claim to, my lord,'said Ralph with a sneer.

''Gad, so he has,' replied the young man; 'deyvle take me if I knowwhich is master in my house, he or I.'

'I know,' muttered Ralph.

'I think I shall cut him off with a shilling,' said the young nobleman,jocosely.

'No, no, curse it,' said Sir Mulberry. 'When you come to theshilling--the last shilling--I'll cut you fast enough; but till then,I'll never leave you--you may take your oath of it.'

This sally (which was strictly founded on fact) was received with ageneral roar, above which, was plainly distinguishable the laughterof Mr Pyke and Mr Pluck, who were, evidently, Sir Mulberry's toads inordinary. Indeed, it was not difficult to see, that the majority of thecompany preyed upon the unfortunate young lord, who, weak and silly ashe was, appeared by far the least vicious of the party. Sir MulberryHawk was remarkable for his tact in ruining, by himself and hiscreatures, young gentlemen of fortune--a genteel and elegant profession,of which he had undoubtedly gained the head. With all the boldness of anoriginal genius, he had struck out an entirely new course of treatmentquite opposed to the usual method; his custom being, when he had gainedthe ascendancy over those he took in hand, rather to keep them downthan to give them their own way; and to exercise his vivacity uponthem openly, and without reserve. Thus, he made them butts, in a doublesense, and while he emptied them with great address, caused them to ringwith sundry well-administered taps, for the diversion of society.

The dinner was as remarkable for the splendour and completeness of itsappointments as the mansion itself, and the company were remarkablefor doing it ample justice, in which respect Messrs Pyke and Pluckparticularly signalised themselves; these two gentlemen eating of everydish, and drinking of every bottle, with a capacity and perseverancetruly astonishing. They were remarkably fresh, too, notwithstandingtheir great exertions: for, on the appearance of the dessert, they brokeout again, as if nothing serious had taken place since breakfast.

'Well,' said Lord Frederick, sipping his first glass of port, 'if thisis a discounting dinner, all I have to say is, deyvle take me, if itwouldn't be a good pla-an to get discount every day.'

'You'll have plenty of it, in your time,' returned Sir Mulberry Hawk;'Nickleby will tell you that.'

'What do you say, Nickleby?' inquired the young man; 'am I to be a goodcustomer?'

'It depends entirely on circumstances, my lord,' replied Ralph.

'On your lordship's circumstances,' interposed Colonel Chowser of theMilitia--and the race-courses.

The gallant colonel glanced at Messrs Pyke and Pluck as if he thoughtthey ought to laugh at his joke; but those gentlemen, being only engagedto laugh for Sir Mulberry Hawk, were, to his signal discomfiture, asgrave as a pair of undertakers. To add to his defeat, Sir Mulberry,considering any such efforts an invasion of his peculiar privilege,eyed the offender steadily, through his glass, as if astonished at hispresumption, and audibly stated his impression that it was an 'infernalliberty,' which being a hint to Lord Frederick, he put up HIS glass,and surveyed the object of censure as if he were some extraordinary wildanimal then exhibiting for the first time. As a matter of course, MessrsPyke and Pluck stared at the individual whom Sir Mulberry Hawk staredat; so, the poor colonel, to hide his confusion, was reduced to thenecessity of holding his port before his right eye and affecting toscrutinise its colour with the most lively interest.

All this while, Kate had sat as silently as she could, scarcely daringto raise her eyes, lest they should encounter the admiring gaze of LordFrederick Verisopht, or, what was still more embarrassing, the boldlooks of his friend Sir Mulberry. The latter gentleman was obligingenough to direct general attention towards her.

'Here is Miss Nickleby,' observed Sir Mulberry, 'wondering why the deucesomebody doesn't make love to her.'

'No, indeed,' said Kate, looking hastily up, 'I--' and then she stopped,feeling it would have been better to have said nothing at all.

'I'll hold any man fifty pounds,' said Sir Mulberry, 'that Miss Nicklebycan't look in my face, and tell me she wasn't thinking so.'

'Done!' cried the noble gull. 'Within ten minutes.'

'Done!' responded Sir Mulberry. The money was produced on both sides,and the Honourable Mr Snobb was elected to the double office ofstake-holder and time-keeper.

'Pray,' said Kate, in great confusion, while these preliminaries werein course of completion. 'Pray do not make me the subject of any bets.Uncle, I cannot really--'

'Why not, my dear?' replied Ralph, in whose grating voice, however,there was an unusual huskiness, as though he spoke unwillingly, andwould rather that the proposition had not been broached. 'It is done ina moment; there is nothing in it. If the gentlemen insist on it--'

'I don't insist on it,' said Sir Mulberry, with a loud laugh. 'That is,I by no means insist upon Miss Nickleby's making the denial, for if shedoes, I lose; but I shall be glad to see her bright eyes, especially asshe favours the mahogany so much.'

'So she does, and it's too ba-a-d of you, Miss Nickleby,' said the nobleyouth.

'Quite cruel,' said Mr Pyke.

'Horrid cruel,' said Mr Pluck.

'I don't care if I do lose,' said Sir Mulberry; 'for one tolerable lookat Miss Nickleby's eyes is worth double the money.'

'More,' said Mr Pyke.

'Far more,' said Mr Pluck.

'How goes the enemy, Snobb?' asked Sir Mulberry Hawk.

'Four minutes gone.'

'Bravo!'

'Won't you ma-ake one effort for me, Miss Nickleby?' asked LordFrederick, after a short interval.

'You needn't trouble yourself to inquire, my buck,' said Sir Mulberry;'Miss Nickleby and I understand each other; she declares on my side, andshows her taste. You haven't a chance, old fellow. Time, Snobb?'

'Eight minutes gone.'

'Get the money ready,' said Sir Mulberry; 'you'll soon hand over.'

'Ha, ha, ha!' laughed Mr Pyke.

Mr Pluck, who always came second, and topped his companion if he could,screamed outright.

The poor girl, who was so overwhelmed with confusion that she scarcelyknew what she did, had determined to remain perfectly quiet; but fearingthat by so doing she might seem to countenance Sir Mulberry's boast,which had been uttered with great coarseness and vulgarity of manner,raised her eyes, and looked him in the face. There was something soodious, so insolent, so repulsive in the look which met her, that,without the power to stammer forth a syllable, she rose and hurried fromthe room. She restrained her tears by a great effort until she was aloneupstairs, and then gave them vent.

'Capital!' said Sir Mulberry Hawk, putting the stakes in his pocket.

'That's a girl of spirit, and we'll drink her health.'

It is needless to say, that Pyke and Co. responded, with great warmth ofmanner, to this proposal, or that the toast was drunk with manylittle insinuations from the firm, relative to the completeness of SirMulberry's conquest. Ralph, who, while the attention of the other guestswas attracted to the principals in the preceding scene, had eyed themlike a wolf, appeared to breathe more freely now his niece was gone; thedecanters passing quickly round, he leaned back in his chair, and turnedhis eyes from speaker to speaker, as they warmed with wine, with looksthat seemed to search their hearts, and lay bare, for his distemperedsport, every idle thought within them.

Meanwhile Kate, left wholly to herself, had, in some degree, recoveredher composure. She had learnt from a female attendant, that her unclewished to see her before she left, and had also gleaned the satisfactoryintelligence, that the gentlemen would take coffee at table. Theprospect of seeing them no more, contributed greatly to calm heragitation, and, taking up a book, she composed herself to read.

She started sometimes, when the sudden opening of the dining-room doorlet loose a wild shout of noisy revelry, and more than once rose ingreat alarm, as a fancied footstep on the staircase impressed herwith the fear that some stray member of the party was returningalone. Nothing occurring, however, to realise her apprehensions, sheendeavoured to fix her attention more closely on her book, in whichby degrees she became so much interested, that she had read on throughseveral chapters without heed of time or place, when she was terrifiedby suddenly hearing her name pronounced by a man's voice close at herear.

The book fell from her hand. Lounging on an ottoman close beside her,was Sir Mulberry Hawk, evidently the worse--if a man be a ruffian atheart, he is never the better--for wine.

'What a delightful studiousness!' said this accomplished gentleman. 'Wasit real, now, or only to display the eyelashes?'

Kate, looking anxiously towards the door, made no reply.

'I have looked at 'em for five minutes,' said Sir Mulberry. 'Upon mysoul, they're perfect. Why did I speak, and destroy such a pretty littlepicture?'

'Do me the favour to be silent now, sir,' replied Kate.

'No, don't,' said Sir Mulberry, folding his crushed hat to lay his elbowon, and bringing himself still closer to the young lady; 'upon my life,you oughtn't to. Such a devoted slave of yours, Miss Nickleby--it's aninfernal thing to treat him so harshly, upon my soul it is.'

'I wish you to understand, sir,' said Kate, trembling in spite ofherself, but speaking with great indignation, 'that your behaviouroffends and disgusts me. If you have a spark of gentlemanly feelingremaining, you will leave me.'

'Now why,' said Sir Mulberry, 'why will you keep up this appearance ofexcessive rigour, my sweet creature? Now, be more natural--my dear MissNickleby, be more natural--do.'

Kate hastily rose; but as she rose, Sir Mulberry caught her dress, andforcibly detained her.

'Let me go, sir,' she cried, her heart swelling with anger. 'Do youhear? Instantly--this moment.'

'Sit down, sit down,' said Sir Mulberry; 'I want to talk to you.'

'Unhand me, sir, this instant,' cried Kate.

'Not for the world,' rejoined Sir Mulberry. Thus speaking, he leanedover, as if to replace her in her chair; but the young lady, making aviolent effort to disengage herself, he lost his balance, and measuredhis length upon the ground. As Kate sprung forward to leave the room, MrRalph Nickleby appeared in the doorway, and confronted her.

'What is this?' said Ralph.

'It is this, sir,' replied Kate, violently agitated: 'that beneath theroof where I, a helpless girl, your dead brother's child, should mosthave found protection, I have been exposed to insult which should makeyou shrink to look upon me. Let me pass you.'

Ralph DID shrink, as the indignant girl fixed her kindling eye upon him;but he did not comply with her injunction, nevertheless: for he led herto a distant seat, and returning, and approaching Sir Mulberry Hawk, whohad by this time risen, motioned towards the door.

'Your way lies there, sir,' said Ralph, in a suppressed voice, that somedevil might have owned with pride.

'What do you mean by that?' demanded his friend, fiercely.

The swoln veins stood out like sinews on Ralph's wrinkled forehead, andthe nerves about his mouth worked as though some unendurable emotionwrung them; but he smiled disdainfully, and again pointed to the door.

'Do you know me, you old madman?' asked Sir Mulberry.

'Well,' said Ralph. The fashionable vagabond for the moment quitequailed under the steady look of the older sinner, and walked towardsthe door, muttering as he went.

'You wanted the lord, did you?' he said, stopping short when he reachedthe door, as if a new light had broken in upon him, and confrontingRalph again. 'Damme, I was in the way, was I?'

Ralph smiled again, but made no answer.

'Who brought him to you first?' pursued Sir Mulberry; 'and how, withoutme, could you ever have wound him in your net as you have?'

'The net is a large one, and rather full,' said Ralph. 'Take care thatit chokes nobody in the meshes.'

'You would sell your flesh and blood for money; yourself, if you havenot already made a bargain with the devil,' retorted the other. 'Do youmean to tell me that your pretty niece was not brought here as a decoyfor the drunken boy downstairs?'

Although this hurried dialogue was carried on in a suppressed tone onboth sides, Ralph looked involuntarily round to ascertain that Kate hadnot moved her position so as to be within hearing. His adversary saw theadvantage he had gained, and followed it up.

'Do you mean to tell me,' he asked again, 'that it is not so? Do youmean to say that if he had found his way up here instead of me, youwouldn't have been a little more blind, and a little more deaf, and alittle less flourishing, than you have been? Come, Nickleby, answer methat.'

'I tell you this,' replied Ralph, 'that if I brought her here, as amatter of business--'

'Ay, that's the word,' interposed Sir Mulberry, with a laugh. 'You'recoming to yourself again now.'

'--As a matter of business,' pursued Ralph, speaking slowly and firmly,as a man who has made up his mind to say no more, 'because I thought shemight make some impression on the silly youth you have taken in handand are lending good help to ruin, I knew--knowing him--that it would belong before he outraged her girl's feelings, and that unless he offendedby mere puppyism and emptiness, he would, with a little management,respect the sex and conduct even of his usurer's niece. But if I thoughtto draw him on more gently by this device, I did not think of subjectingthe girl to the licentiousness and brutality of so old a hand as you.And now we understand each other.'

'Especially as there was nothing to be got by it--eh?' sneered SirMulberry.

'Exactly so,' said Ralph. He had turned away, and looked over hisshoulder to make this last reply. The eyes of the two worthies met,with an expression as if each rascal felt that there was no disguisinghimself from the other; and Sir Mulberry Hawk shrugged his shoulders andwalked slowly out.

His friend closed the door, and looked restlessly towards the spot wherehis niece still remained in the attitude in which he had left her. Shehad flung herself heavily upon the couch, and with her head droopingover the cushion, and her face hidden in her hands, seemed to be stillweeping in an agony of shame and grief.

Ralph would have walked into any poverty-stricken debtor's house, andpointed him out to a bailiff, though in attendance upon a young child'sdeath-bed, without the smallest concern, because it would have been amatter quite in the ordinary course of business, and the man would havebeen an offender against his only code of morality. But, here was ayoung girl, who had done no wrong save that of coming into the worldalive; who had patiently yielded to all his wishes; who had tried hardto please him--above all, who didn't owe him money--and he felt awkwardand nervous.

Ralph took a chair at some distance; then, another chair a littlenearer; then, moved a little nearer still; then, nearer again, andfinally sat himself on the same sofa, and laid his hand on Kate's arm.

'Hush, my dear!' he said, as she drew it back, and her sobs burst outafresh. 'Hush, hush! Don't mind it, now; don't think of it.'

'Oh, for pity's sake, let me go home,' cried Kate. 'Let me leave thishouse, and go home.'

'Yes, yes,' said Ralph. 'You shall. But you must dry your eyes first,and compose yourself. Let me raise your head. There--there.'

'Oh, uncle!' exclaimed Kate, clasping her hands. 'What have I done--whathave I done--that you should subject me to this? If I had wronged you inthought, or word, or deed, it would have been most cruel to me, and thememory of one you must have loved in some old time; but--'

'Only listen to me for a moment,' interrupted Ralph, seriously alarmedby the violence of her emotions. 'I didn't know it would be so; it wasimpossible for me to foresee it. I did all I could.--Come, let us walkabout. You are faint with the closeness of the room, and the heat ofthese lamps. You will be better now, if you make the slightest effort.'

'I will do anything,' replied Kate, 'if you will only send me home.'

'Well, well, I will,' said Ralph; 'but you must get back your own looks;for those you have, will frighten them, and nobody must know of this butyou and I. Now let us walk the other way. There. You look better evennow.'

With such encouragements as these, Ralph Nickleby walked to and fro,with his niece leaning on his arm; actually trembling beneath her touch.

In the same manner, when he judged it prudent to allow her to depart, hesupported her downstairs, after adjusting her shawl and performing suchlittle offices, most probably for the first time in his life. Acrossthe hall, and down the steps, Ralph led her too; nor did he withdraw hishand until she was seated in the coach.

As the door of the vehicle was roughly closed, a comb fell from Kate'shair, close at her uncle's feet; and as he picked it up, and returned itinto her hand, the light from a neighbouring lamp shone upon her face.The lock of hair that had escaped and curled loosely over her brow, thetraces of tears yet scarcely dry, the flushed cheek, the look of sorrow,all fired some dormant train of recollection in the old man's breast;and the face of his dead brother seemed present before him, with thevery look it bore on some occasion of boyish grief, of which everyminutest circumstance flashed upon his mind, with the distinctness of ascene of yesterday.

Ralph Nickleby, who was proof against all appeals of bloodand kindred--who was steeled against every tale of sorrow anddistress--staggered while he looked, and went back into his house, as aman who had seen a spirit from some world beyond the grave.