“I’ll take care,” replied Mrs. Squeers; “and mind you take care, young man, and get first wash. The teacher ought always to have it; but they get the better of him if they can.”
Mr. Squeers then nudged Mrs. Squeers to bring away the brandy bottle, lest Nicholas should help himself in the night; and the lady having seized it with great precipitation, they retired together.
Nicholas, being left alone, took half-a-dozen turns up and down the room in a condition of much agitation and excitement; but, growing gradually calmer, sat himself down in a chair, and mentally resolved that, come what come might, he would endeavour, for a time, to bear whatever wretchedness might be in store for him, and that remembering the helplessness of his mother and sister, he would give his uncle no plea for deserting them in their need. Good resolutions seldom fail of producing some good effect in the mind from which they spring. He grew less desponding, and—so sanguine and buoyant is youth—even hoped that affairs at Dotheboys Hall might yet prove better than they promised.
He was preparing for bed, with something like renewed cheerfulness, when a sealed letter fell from his coat pocket. In the hurry of leaving London, it had escaped his attention, and had not occurred to him since, but it at once brought back to him the recollection of the mysterious behaviour of Newman Noggs.
“Dear me!” said Nicholas; “what an extraordinary hand!”
It was directed to himself, was written upon very dirty paper, and in such cramped and crippled writing as to be almost illegible. After great difficulty and much puzzling, he contrived to read as follows:—
My dear young Man.
I know the world. Your father did not, or he would not have done me a kindness when there was no hope of return. You do not, or you would not be bound on such a journey.
If ever you want a shelter in London (don’t be angry at this, I once thought I never should), they know where I live, at the sign of the Crown, in Silver Street, Golden Square. It is at the corner of Silver Street and James Street, with a bar door both ways. You can come at night. Once, nobody was ashamed—never mind that. It’s all over.
Excuse errors. I should forget how to wear a whole coat now. I have forgotten all my old ways. My spelling may have gone with them.
It may be a very undignified circumstances to record, but after he had folded this letter and placed it in his pocketbook, Nicholas Nickleby’s eyes were dimmed with a moisture that might have been taken for tears.
VIII
Of the internal economy of Dotheboys Hall.
A ride of two hundred and odd miles in severe weather, is one of the best softeners of a hard bed that ingenuity can devise. Perhaps it is even a sweetener of dreams, for those which hovered over the rough couch of Nicholas, and whispered their airy nothings in his ear, were of an agreeable and happy kind. He was making his fortune very fast indeed, when the faint glimmer of an expiring candle shone before his eyes, and a voice he had no difficulty in recognising as part and parcel of Mr. Squeers, admonished him that it was time to rise.
“Past seven, Nickleby,” said Mr. Squeers.
“Has morning come already?” asked Nicholas, sitting up in bed.
“Ah! that has it,” replied Squeers, “and ready iced too. Now, Nickleby, come; tumble up, will you?”
Nicholas needed no further admonition, but “tumbled up” at once, and proceeded to dress himself by the light of the taper, which Mr. Squeers carried in his hand.
“Here’s a pretty go,” said that gentleman; “the pump’s froze.”
“Indeed!” said Nicholas, not much interested in the intelligence.
“Yes,” replied Squeers. “You can’t wash yourself this morning.”
“Not wash myself!” exclaimed Nicholas.
“No, not a bit of it,” rejoined Squeers tartly. “So you must be content with giving yourself a dry polish till we break the ice in the well, and can get a bucketful out for the boys. Don’t stand staring at me, but do look sharp, will you?”
Offering no further observation, Nicholas huddled on his clothes. Squeers, meanwhile, opened the shutters and blew the candle out; when the voice of his amiable consort was heard in the passage, demanding admittance.
“Come in, my love,” said Squeers.
Mrs. Squeers came in, still habited in the primitive night-jacket which had displayed the symmetry of her figure on the previous night, and further ornamented with a beaver bonnet of some antiquity, which she wore, with much ease and lightness, on the top of the nightcap before mentioned.
“Drat the things,” said the lady, opening the cupboard; “I can’t find the school spoon anywhere.”
“Never mind it, my dear,” observed Squeers in a soothing manner; “it’s of no consequence.”
“No consequence, why how you talk!” retorted Mrs. Squeers sharply; “isn’t it brimstone morning?”
“I forgot, my dear,” rejoined Squeers; “yes, it certainly is. We purify the boys’ bloods now and then, Nickleby.”
“Purify fiddlesticks’ ends,” said his lady. “Don’t think, young man, that we go to the expense of flower of brimstone and molasses, just to purify them; because if you think we carry on the business in that way, you’ll find yourself mistaken, and so I tell you plainly.”
“My dear,” said Squeers frowning. “Hem!”
“Oh! nonsense,” rejoined Mrs. Squeers. “If the young man comes to be a teacher here, let him understand, at once, that we don’t want any foolery about the boys. They have the brimstone and treacle, partly because if
