Nicholas Nickleby: Chapters 37 - 48

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Another note from ch 39 …

The New General Post Office was an enormous building, opened in 1829. A Post Office had been established in the City since the mid-17th century but it was in 1829 that the Post Office moved from cramped premises in Lombard St to a new home in an imposing neoclassical building nearer St Paul's.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General...

John and Tilda would never have seen Post Office this sort of size; theirs would be in a little thatched cottage. It was still before postage stamps (the first one in the world was the Penny Black in 1840) and so the joke about “dooble-latthers” was due to letters being charged according to how many pages they were e.g. 2 pages cost twice as much as one.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

And now on to chapter 40, a change of tone and a most surprising turn of events!

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Installment 13:

Chapter 40: In which Nicholas falls in Love. He employs a Mediator, whose Proceedings are crowned with unexpected Success, excepting in one solitary Particular

The events follow straight on.

Smike flees as quickly as he can, not even paying attention to whether the direction will take him home. He believes he hears Squeers’ voice pursuing him, and it takes him a while to realise that this is just his imagination. He tries to cover his tracks to prevent Squeers from tracking him. Covered with dust and panting, he does not stop running until he is outside London:

“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.”

Smike skirts round the great city, and enters from the West: the other direction. Every so often he asks the way of passers by and eventually finds himself where Newman Noggs lives. Newman Noggs and Nicholas have been searching for him all day, and Noggs is sitting, feeling depressed by it being unproductive, so he is overjoyed to see Smike when he answers the door.

Noggs tells Smike to rest, and feeds him a great mug-full of gin-and-water before he lets him speak. When Smike relates all that has happened Noggs listens carefully. At the point where Squeers beats Smike 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 Smike’s story reaches the part abut John Browdie’s rescue, Noggs gives a great laugh. He says he will tell the Nicklebys that Smike has returned, saying they have been half mad with worry:

“Has she thought about me?’ said Smike. ‘Has she though?”

and when Noggs assures him that Kate has been worried too, Smike can’t help bursting into tears. He desperately wants to return home immediately, so Noggs escorts him back. The whole Nickleby family are also overjoyed to see him. Nicholas is convinced that his uncle must be behind it, but finally decides it must all be the work of Squeers. He tries to think of a way of punishing him.

At work the next day, Tim Linkinwater tells Nicholas about a hunchbacked invalid boy he watches across the way, whose only pleasure seems to be to grow beautiful flowers in blacking bottles.

“He used to nod, at first, and then we came to speak. Formerly, when I called to him of a morning, and asked him how he was, he would smile, and say, “Better!” but now he shakes his head, and only bends more closely over his old plants.”

Tim always feels sorry for him, and says the boy is getting weaker now. The boy likes to watch him at night, and he believes it makes the boy feel as if Tim is keeping him company. Tim says he will miss the boy when he dies, even though they have never even shaken hands. It is things like this, he says, which make Tim value life in London above life in the country.

Tim seems distracted, either by these thoughts or by a complicated arithmetical problem. At any rate, when Nicholas asks if Mr Charles Cheeryble is alone, he mistakenly answers in the affirmative. So Nicholas knocks on the door, and getting no answer walks into Mr. Charles Cheeryble’s office to deliver a letter. However he is astonished to see a young woman on her knees, and Mr. Cheeryble trying to persuade her to rise.



“Nicholas Recognises the Young Lady Unknown” - Hablot K. Browne (Phiz) - April 1839

Nicholas immediately recognises her and her attendant as the beautiful young lady who had enquired about a governess position at the Register’s Office, long ago.

Nicholas stammers out an apology but when the young woman faints, he darts forward, eager to help.



“Nicholas comes in upon an awkward scene” - Harry Furniss - 1910

But both Cheeryble brothers call for Tim Linkinwater, and dismiss Nicholas. Nicholas is curious about the young woman and why she is there. For almost a whole hour, he can think of nothing else:

“‘I should have known her among ten thousand”.

When Tim returns, Nicholas questions him, but can find out nothing more for several days. The narrator remarks that:

“Love, … is assisted by a warm and active imagination: which has a long memory, and will thrive, for a considerable time, on very slight and sparing food … and thus it was, that Nicholas, thinking of nothing but the unknown young lady, from day to day and from hour to hour, began, at last, to think that he was very desperately in love with her, and that never was such an ill-used and persecuted lover as he.”

He would have confided in Kate, but is aware that he has never spoken to the young woman. Eventually he confides the whole secret to Newman Noggs, and implores him to follow her, and to find out as much as he can. Noggs does this, but looks so odd with his hat pulled down over his eyes, that anyone might think he looked suspicious:

“and sundry little boys who stopped to drink at the ladle, were almost scared out of their senses, by the apparition of Newman Noggs looking stealthily round the pump, with nothing of him visible but his face, and that wearing the expression of a meditative Ogre.”



“The Meditative Ogre” - Fred Barnard - 1875

Two nights later, Noggs meets Nicholas with news. He tells Nicholas that the young woman’s name is Cecilia Bobster. Nicholas is doubtful that she could called anything as ordinary as “Bobster”, but likes the pretty name Cecilia. Noggs has arranged a meeting with her, and says she seems as good-hearted as she is beautiful. Newman has told her that Nicholas loves her.

Cecilia is an only child who lives with her violent and brutal father. Her mother has died. He has not been able to find out any reason for her meetings with the Cheeryble brothers, but her maidservant has quite a bit of influence over her, which is how Noggs has got her to agree to the meeting.

Nicholas thinks that the woman is unhappy, but is “angry with the young lady for being so easily won”. He could have been just anybody! Then he reasons that it is probably due to her desire to escape her situation. However it might be, he is certain of her virtue, and knows that the Cheeryble brothers have a good opinion of her. “The fact is, she’s a mystery altogether”, he muses.

Nicholas dresses with great care for the meeting, and even Noggs has dressed up as far as he can. Newman tells him they are sneaking down the outside step, the kitchen way, because if her father catches them, he will box her ears. Nicholas is appalled both at the ignominy of their entrance, and the young woman’s predicament.

They meet in the cellar.

“A gleam of light shone into the place, and presently the servant girl appeared, bearing a light, and followed by her young mistress, who seemed to be overwhelmed by modesty and confusion.”

Nicholas stands shock still, his face changing colour. However, her father’s loud knocking frightens her, and she begs them to leave, so Noggs drags Nicholas out, despite Nicholas’s protestations:



“Nicholas in love …” - Charles Stanley Reinhart - 1875

“Let me go, Newman, in the Devil’s name! … I must speak to her. I will! I will not leave this house without.”

But when they are back in the street, Nicholas tells Noggs that he has followed the wrong young woman and the wrong servant. How it happened does not matter. Nicholas doesn’t care, for he is now smitten with this young lady, who is: “now as far beyond his reach as ever.”

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Did Dickens “fiddle” this bit?

I’m just wondering if anyone noticed a minor inconsistency by Charles Dickens in ch 39. It's the sort of thing John Sutherland writes his "literary conundrums" about ...

When John Browdie was telling the bewildered Smike who he was, he said he was the: “chap as met thee efther schoolmeaster was banged” i.e. the man who met you after the schoolmaster had been beaten up. But they had not met then!

In ch 13, after Nicholas had thrashed Squeers, he “looked anxiously round for Smike, as he left the room, but he was nowhere to be seen.” Then when Nicholas immediately left Dotheboys Hall by himself, he had met John Browdie (on horseback) on the road. It was not until the following morning, when Nicholas had been sleeping in a barn all night, that he saw Smike curled up close by near him.

Smike had never met John Browdie … all we can assume is that when Smike was following Nicholas in ch 13 without being noticed, Charles Dickens hopes we think that he saw the man from afar, and now trusts his rescuer (John Browdie) to be Nicholas’s friend.

To me, this is another case - (like the fact that Charles Dickens has just brought back Mr Snawley from ch 4 - and reminded us so!) - of Charles Dickens writing his serial and not realising at first exactly how it would play out, (and even in some cases that a minor character would prove useful later).

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Smike's Flight, and Fairytales

Poor Smike. He had been thrown back right in his mind to the scared creature he had been for all those years, and the only impulse he had was to stay quiet and not give away his friend.

I was struck by the way he navigated his way round the outskirts of London. Granted it was not the huge metropolis it is now, and we were told he kept asking, but this shows that Smike is not an imbecile. He has skills, such as a keen sense of direction (and tending the garden).

Plus Charles Dickens carefully has not named any of these districts and boroughs (or what would then be villages, like Bow) so nobody could query it! This has the impression of a wild fight, a little like David’s (view spoiler)[long trek to his aunt’s which only makes sense if you alter the timing and the number on the milestone (hide spoiler)] in - David Copperfield.

Smike's flight has the feel of a fairytale with all those lights. And then we have the fairytale of Nicholas’s imagined love, complete with a wicked ogre - the father of Nicholas's imagined sweetheart. (Not the jokey ogre of Noggs peeping round the fountain 😄)

In fact the fairytale theme of this chapter is signalled near the start, with Noggs’s heartrending and tragic story of the weak hunchbacked boy. This made me pause for thought in another way.

The boy planted flowers in blacking bottles, and as we know Charles Dickens worked in a blacking factory. We know too that he was very weak as a child (which perhaps partly accounts for his deliberate regime of keeping fit as an adult, such as the cultivation of sports, and his obsessive walking).

I was also put in mind of Charles Dickens's nephew (his sister Fanny’s son), Harry Burnett, his invalid crippled nephew who died from a progressive, insidious form of spinal tuberculosis at age 9. His mother had died from the same disease a year earlier.

However this was in 1848 and 1849, so although it is widely believed that Harry Burnett was his role model for Tiny Tim in A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens probably took his inspiration for Tim Linkinwater’s boy from one of the other many children in London who were suffering from tuberculosis.

Still, as we keep finding, I do wonder if some aspects of this interlude are autobiographical.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

I have quite a few, but a recurring image in my mind gives me my favourite quotation today, about Newman Noggs:

“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.” 😄

Over to you for your thoughts on this chapter; another one which follows 2 distinct themes 🤔

[Paul]

Bionic Jean wrote: "However this was in 1848 and 1849, so although it is widely believed that Harry Burnett was his role model for Tiny Tim in A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens probably took his inspiration for Tim Linkinwater’s boy from one of the other many children in London who were suffering from tuberculosis."

This character and the model from which Dickens took his inspiration cannot have been far from his mind as he created Dombey's son later in his literary career.

[Sue]

I loved this chapter, Jean. And the comic ending with Nicholas telling Newman Noggs that it was the wrong young woman was a perfect blend of comedy and light tragedy for Nicholas. I love how Dickens is blending these types of chapters.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Paul - Yes indeed, there are quite a few instances of extremely ill or disabled small children in Charles Dickens's works. This poor boy I think is one the Victorians would call a "wise child" - one who seems to have a heighgtened awareness of things.

Sue - I loved it too; how right you are 😊

And now for today's hilarious comic interlude ...

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Chapter 41: Containing some Romantic Passages between Mrs. Nickleby and the Gentleman in the Small-clothes next Door

Ever since the memorable talk with her son, Mrs. Nickleby has started to take more trouble with her appearance. Her mourning outfit loses its mark of respect for the dead and looks more an outfit designed to attract and impress.

Since Nicholas has denounced their neighbour as a dotard and an idiot, Mrs. Nickleby has decided to be kinder to him. She does not believe him to be stupid at all. How could he help but fall victim to her charms? She remembers her courtship with her late husband, when she used to pretend that she hated him. Now she is surprised that her husband did not become so despondent as to leave the country.

In the garden one day, Mrs. Nickleby begins to chatter about all sorts of things, to which Kate responds cheerfully. Mrs Nickleby then suggests going to sit in the arbour with their work, remarking that Smike is very good with the garden, although he tends to put all the gravel on Kate’s side. Kate offers to swap sides, but her mother declines, and comments that she thinks Smike has put the gravel there because a certain flower will grow better in it than in the leaf mould on her side.

Hiding her face, Kate asks her mother if she had many suitors before she was married. Mrs. Nickleby is surprised at the sudden change of subject from Smike’s “thoughtfulness and attention to me” or “prais[ing] the neatness and prettiness with which [the garden] is kept:

“‘I do praise it, mama,’ answered Kate, gently. ‘Poor fellow!’”

Nevertheless Mrs Nickleby proceeds to count off about a dozen of her early suitors. Their neighbour in the garden startles them by coughing. Kate thinks that he is trying to get their attention, and Mrs. Nickleby corrects her, saying that he is doing it to get her attention:

“don’t be alarmed, my love, it’s not directed to you, and is not intended to frighten anybody. Let us give everybody their due, Kate; I am bound to say that.”

A few moments later, strange scuffling noises and whoops are heard on the other side of the fence, and then:

“a large cucumber was seen to shoot up in the air with the velocity of a sky-rocket, whence it descended, tumbling over and over, until it fell at Mrs. Nickleby’s feet.”



“Kate and Mrs. Nickleby and the Madman” - Harry Furniss -
1910

A variety of other vegetables soon follow: a vegetable marrow, more cucumbers, onions, and turnip-radishes in a great profusion. Kate grasps her mother’s hand, preparing to flee, but meets resistance. An old cap appears over the fence, and then:

“a very large head, and an old face, in which were a pair of most extraordinary grey eyes: very wild, very wide open, and rolling in their sockets, with a dull, languishing, leering look, most ugly to behold.”.



“The Gentleman Next Door Declares His Passion for Mrs. Nickleby” - Hablot K. Browne - April 1839

Kate is momentarily terrified, and cries out to her mother to come in with her, but Mrs. Nickleby calls her a coward. Mrs. Nickleby asks the gentleman what he wants, simpering and feigning displeasure at the intrusion. He makes extravagant professions of love, and asks why a beauty such as she should spurn him. Kate is astonished, pleading to go inside, but her mother says:

“Hush, my dear!… ‘he is very polite, and I think that was a quotation from the poets.”

The gentleman carries on in the same fanciful way, and says he wishes to ask her a question. Kate wants them both to run inside and wait for Nicholas to come home.

But Mrs. Nickleby does not leave. She says that if he will behave like a gentleman, she will allow him to ask her his question. He then asks her if she is a princess. He tells her, when she denies it, that he mistook her for one because of her dignified air. Mrs Nickleby takes exception to his reference to her being related to the Commissioners of Paving, and he apologises. He is sure that they are fitted for one another.

The gentleman also says that he is a wealthy man with many enemies who are out to get his property. Then he asks her to be his:

“‘Be mine, be mine!’ repeated the old gentleman.
‘Kate, my dear,’ said Mrs. Nickleby, ‘I have hardly the power to speak; but it is necessary for the happiness of all parties that this matter should be set at rest for ever.’“

Mrs. Nickleby tells him that she is flattered, but that she plans to devote herself to her children, and remain a widow. She is however pleased to have him as a neighbour.

To the great terror of them both the gentleman jumps on top of the wall, stands on one leg and bellows again.



“Mrs. Nickleby Encourages the Mad Market-Gardener” - Fred Barnard - 1875

“He concluded by standing on one leg, and repeating his favourite bellow with increased vehemence”.

A pair of hands belonging to another person grab his ankles. The gentleman laughs when he sees who it is, and after a couple of exchanges he decides to return to his garden. A coarse squat man appears over the wall, evidently having climbed the steps the gentleman had occupied:

“‘Beg your pardon, ladies,’ said this new comer, grinning and touching his hat. ‘Has he been making love to either of you?’”

Kate confirms this, and asks the man if he is insane, to which the other agrees. He says he has been this way a while, but he deserves it because:

“He was the cruellest, wickedest, out-and-outerest old flint that ever drawed breath”

He tells how the gentleman had broken his wife’s heart, and turned his children out into the streets. He was a drinker and a glutton; acquisitive, selfish and bad-tempered. There wasn’t any hope for him.

“During this conversation, Mrs. Nickleby had regarded the man with a severe and steadfast look. She now heaved a profound sigh, and pursing up her lips, shook her head in a slow and doubtful manner.”

Kate is compassionate but Mrs. Nickleby does not believe that her neighbour is mad, because he is too eloquent.

“It’s some plot of these people to possess themselves of his property—didn’t he say so himself? He may be a little odd and flighty, perhaps, many of us are that … No, no, Kate, there’s a great deal too much method in his madness; depend upon that, my dear.”

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

And a little more …

“Gog and Magog, Gog and Magog”

Mentioned by the eccentric neighbour, these were also mentioned before in ch 11; and come into Charles Dickens’s work quite often. They are two huge wooden statues of London’s guardian deities sited in Guildhall. Gog and Magog were the last two survivors of a mythical race of giants said to inhabit ancient Britain. There is an interesting piece on their history here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gogmago...

And here is a short piece (including a photo) abut the statues themselves, which are carried in effigy through London every year as part of the Lord Mayor’s Parade (which is this Saturday if you want to whizz over here! It’s the second Saturday in November):

https://lordmayorsshow.london/history...

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

small-clothes - breeches, or “smalls”

grey worsteds - stockings

Mrs Nickleby herself is quoting William Shakespeare in her final “wise” speech: method in his madness” is adapted from Hamlet Act II Scene 2:

“though this be madness,
yet there is method in ’t“

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Well! What do we think to this? It didn’t seem very likely that anyone could be more eccentric than Mrs Nickleby, but I found this shorter chapter a hoot! 😂🤣

I’m not sure the neighbour would be a good husband for Mrs Nickleby now though. 😄 And I’m in two minds about the man who apologised for him. Maybe he is employed there as a sort of guard, to make sure he doesn’t get up to mischief. Maybe Mrs Nickleby is right that the man’s family just want his money, as the man was referred to as "coarse" by the narrator, and didn’t seem like a companion or medical person, but …

And what about the subtext with Kate?

At any rate, this chapter was a hoot, and made a great comic interlude between all the action and drama.

Over to you!

[Peter]

The past two chapters have been delightful. Humour, plus eccentric touches of love, and, I agree, a liberal amount of fairy tale dust were needed to bring smiles to our faces.

Love is in the air. Nicholas is besotted by a mysterious young lady and his mother is lovingly pelted with vegetables. Dickens does present us with various levels and intensities of love, doesn’t he?

I could not escape the thought that these past two chapters were wonderfully suited for the stage. Melodramatic, over the top humour, and a dash of suspense because I think we all know Nicholas will see more of the mysterious young lady.

Is it possible a triple Nickleby wedding (mother, daughter, and son) is in the future?

[Werner]

Personally, I don't see a triple Nickleby wedding that includes the mother as being in the cards. That's not only because she's categorically declared here that she's resolved to remain single for the rest of her days and "devote" herself to her children; it's because I think her would-be suitor is, to use a British phrase, "barking mad," as evidenced by his wild and outlandish behavior, his bizarre speeches (which are insane rather than poetic --the Commissioners of Paving don't figure in any classic love poetry that I know of :-) ), and his obvious delusions of grandeur and persecution. (That explains why he didn't choose to pursue an acquaintance with Mrs. Nickleby in a sane and socially acceptable fashion.)

IMO, Dickens intends us to understand this, and the original readers would have. Kate, who's the voice of common sense and grounding in reality here, already understood this from the above evidences even before the old gentleman's keeper confirmed it. Mrs. Nickleby's inability to recognize it stems from her vanity, which is gratified only if she imagines him to be sane. This is typical of the way she has misjudged and misinterpreted people in virtually every interaction she's had up to this point.

(To my mind, the fact that the keeper is described as "coarse" doesn't impugn his reliability. No, he's not a medical practitioner, nor employed as a "gentleman companion" for the lunatic. He's a common laborer employed by the family as a caretaker, who can do the servile work involved, doesn't mind the boredom of the dead-end job, and who's tough and strong enough to keep his charge from escaping and doing mischief to himself or others.)

Bionic Jean wrote: "And what about the subtext with Kate?"

From the clues that Dickens has already provided in previous chapters, and the added clue of Smike's planting flowers just on Kate's side of the arbour (and Kate's embarrassment about it), it's pretty clear to me that Smike has a strong crush on Kate. (She's naturally attractive enough to make that very understandable.)

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Oh Peter ... Your last line about the "triple wedding" made me fall about all over again 🤣

So who are our contenders?

Nicholas - (who, let's face it, is in love with the idea of being in love at the moment) x his imagined amorata (who doesn't even know of his existence, unless she has a very long memory!)

Kate - (so sympathetic: our romantic lead heroine) x Smike (our wounded figure of pathos)

Mrs Nickleby - "weak-headed" according to the narrator and much given to flights of fancy x her neighbour whom Werner judges to be "barking mad" (and I might suggest, equally colloquially, "nutty as a fruitcake" 😄)

Oh boy! I know I'm English so am admittedly partisan here, but I do think English humour tops the league for being absurd, whimsical - and pure knockabout farce - but you have added an extra droll dimension here Peter, which is also a feature of English comedy! 😂🤣

Yes, Werner, the original readers would have loved it, and I suspect they would have loved to see both these chapters dramatised on the stage even more (and we know that the dramatisations were ongoing, from the previous November 1838).

As Peter says, these chapters are so melodramatic, and I can just imagine the audience joining in, as we have learned in our Dramatic Dickens season they did at the time, very noisily and enthusiastically - such that if a modern audience did that they would be thrown out!

But also, aha Peter you have slyly nailed a real possibility here. 🤔 Because one cardinal rule in any farce is that couples are mismatched to start with, before they are paired with their one true love 🥰

So let's continue to hope for the best, for our three romantic leads. And as you said before, perhaps a frog will come along for Fanny Squeers (and faced with the reality, will no doubt prefer to remain just as he is, 🐸 rather than transmogrifying into a handsome prince) 😉

[Shirley (stampartiste)]

You are so right about British humor, Jean! The old cucumber-throwing man reminded me of Benny Hill - I could see him doing that skit! 😂

As to the mismatched love interests, I did wonder if Kate was also falling in love with Smike - as impossible as that may seem. But maybe she's realizing there's more to him than they originally thought. He is not without skills, and maybe it's a mixture of love and compassion. I did remember (but I can find it right now) that someone was asking for Smike at the school, so maybe he comes from a good family after all, and he would be a great match for Kate.

[Kathleen]

Going back a bit to post 53, I thought it strange that the young woman and Charles Cheeryble are physically so far apart in the first illustration.

“Nicholas Recognises the Young Lady Unknown” - Hablot K. Browne (Phiz) - April 1839

I like your comment, Jean, that Nicholas is willing to be in love with almost just any woman! If not this woman, then that woman. He's just ready for love :-)

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Kathleen wrote: "Going back a bit to post 53, I thought it strange that the young woman and Charles Cheeryble are physically so far apart in the first illustration.

“Nicholas Recognises the Young Lady Unknown” - ..."

Looking at this illustration again, I think maybe Mr Cheeryble is just trying to observe the proprieties? When the young lady recovered, she might well have been embarrassed, had he been any closer. We don't yet know what their relationship is to each other; just that she is a frequent visitor to the office. So we need to surmise in what situation she would be on bended knee.

Shirley - you have cast the neighbour perfectly! 😂 And a personal note ... (view spoiler)[before Benny Hill became known on TV for his risque humour, he used to do "end-of-the-pier" family entertainment: variety shows at the seaside. When I was tiny, I was shyly pushed forward to ask for his autograph, and he was very kind and friendly. He loved children, and my parents always remembered how nice he was to me. (hide spoiler)]

[Shirley]

Bionic Jean wrote: "And a personal note..."

What a wonderful experience meeting Benny Hill, Jean! It’s so nice to hear what kind of man he was in real life.

[Peter]

Bionic Jean wrote: "Kathleen wrote: "Going back a bit to post 53, I thought it strange that the young woman and Charles Cheeryble are physically so far apart in the first illustration.

“Nicholas Recognises the Young..."

Jean

Ah, you met Benny Hill. Love it! British humour is the best. We have Britbox and love the British drama, mysteries, detective/police series and the wild and wacky comedies.

[Shirley (stampartiste)]

Bionic Jean wrote: "Hi Shirley A! 😊 Yes, I still have some autographs from those days ...

Welcome! And do introduce yourself LINK HERE if you like, so we can get to know you."

Hi, Jean~. This is me, Shirley (stampartiste). I inadvertently posted message 70 from my iPad. For some reason, during the notification kerfuffle of several weeks ago, Amazon lost my Goodreads account on my iPad (I am still able to access my account on my Mac and my iPhone 🙄), but I can't seem to get it to recognize me on my iPad. I haven't been able to fix it, so I will make sure not to use my iPad again when leaving comments. Sorry for the confusion.

[Chris]

I loved both of these over-the-top chapters.
CHAP 40: I certainly immediately thought of Tiny Tim when the discussion between Tim Linkinwater & Nicholas about the sickly boy was raised and I loved the quote It is a good heart that disentangles itself from the close avocations of every day, to heed such things.
I'm glad to hear others talk of Nicholas being ready for love. I can live with that more than the "insta-love" of so many novels and which seemed to be the case here as well. So ridiculous.
CHAP 41: What a hilarious chapter!!

[Kathleen]

I enjoyed both of these chapters too. I'm crazy about the Barnard illustration above, Mrs. Nickleby Encourages the Mad Market-Gardener. He so, I don't know, over-sized! And that disembodied hand on the wall ...! All this brings to mind Mr. Dick from David Copperfield. There is something so heart-warming about the variety of humans that Dickens creates.
Kathleen C.

[Sue]

I loved the descriptions of Mrs. Nickleby adjusting her appearance to match her feelings. The changes she made to her mourning clothes were so good. My favorite quote: “Mrs. Nickleby had begun to display unusual care in the adornment of her person… …her mourning garments assumed a new character. From being the outward tokens of respect and sorrow for the dead, they became converted into signals of very slaughterous and killing designs upon the living.”

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Shirley (stampartiste) wrote: "Hi, Jean~. This is..."

Oooh! Sorry Shirley- and that must be so irritating for you. I hope the 2 accounts combine soon, as you have 2 identities on GR now, (as you know). And now the "random" message in the middle of a read makes sense to me 😆 But since it looked as if our new member was new to GR, with no books or friends yet, it seemed right to encourage them (I'll delete my welcome now!)

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Chris wrote: "I'm glad to hear others talk of Nicholas being ready for love ..."

Well the narrator certainly made this very clear with a long account of how Nicholas had decided that he was very much in love, and cast himself in the role. Perhaps the most telling part about this is in ch 40, culminating with this sentence:

"Thus it is, that [love] often attains its most luxuriant growth in separation and under circumstances of the utmost difficulty; and thus it was, that Nicholas, thinking of nothing but the unknown young lady, from day to day and from hour to hour, began, at last, to think that he was very desperately in love with her, and that never was such an ill-used and persecuted lover as he."

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Kathleen C. - I like your comparison of the neighbour with Mr Dick in David Copperfield. He was based on Richard Dadd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard...

I read Richard Dadd: The Artist and the Asylum, and it had a lot of medical notes in it which made interesting reading. He probably had paranoid schizophrenia.

Charles Dickens creates these comic figures, inviting us to laugh, but he had an excellent knowledge of human nature, and also was unusually well-read in contemporary science and medical conditions. His extensive and well-thumbed library, examined by John Forster after his death, was testament to that. We can see it from the cameos Charles Dickens put in his work; some of which he identified so specifically that they are even named after his characters (e.g. "Pickwickian syndrome", or obesity hypoventilation syndrome, finally identified in 1956, but named after the fat boy who keeps falling asleep).

So we can easily be beguiled into just laughing and enjoying his caricatures, but it is often possible to see another layer, if we wish.

Mrs Nickleby is a case in point; we have ample evidence of her behaviour and thoughts, and see that it can vary. She would make an interesting case study for a psychologist, as well as serving here as comic relief. We also got to know Mr Dick and his child-like "wisdom" very well. But so far we can only get a snap impression about the neighbour, as we've only seen him once, plus the hearsay from Mrs Nickleby.

Charles Dickens is so extraordinarily good at making everything larger than life, (not only people but objects and places) that sometimes we do not look beneath the surface. We do not have to; we can just enjoy it, but any characters he spends time on will always bear closer examination if we wish.

As you say Kathleen C. "There is something so heart-warming about the variety of humans that Dickens creates"

Absolutely. And I think this is why. They are authentic, and feel "real".

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Sue wrote: My favorite quote: “Mrs. Nickleby['s] mourning garments assumed a new character ... they became converted into signals of very slaughterous and killing designs upon the living.

It's a fabulous quotation, isn't it Sue? I have to admit that when I was paraphrasing that bit, the word "vixen" came into my mind as apt, but I decided that is a modern idiom! We have probably all seen what Charles Dickens describes though, with some (usually females) wearing black to a funeral, but not with sober intent.🙄

[Peter]

Ah Jean

Your phrase “wearing black to a funeral, but not with sober intent” is a stroke of genius.

[Kathleen]

Bionic Jean wrote: "Kathleen C. - I like your comparison of the neighbour with Mr Dick in David Copperfield. He was based on Richard Dadd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard...

I read [book:Richard ..."

Thanks so much for the Richard Dadd info! Fascinating.

I love what you say, Jean:
"... sometimes we do not look beneath the surface. We do not have to; we can just enjoy it, but any characters he spends time on will always bear closer examination if we wish."

This is what we want from our great classics isn't it, what makes them endlessly re-readable, and Dickens always delivers!

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Oh yes, indeed Kathleen (and thank you for your enormous compliment Peter 😁)

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Chapter 42: Illustrative of the convivial Sentiment, that the best of Friends must sometimes part

Meanwhile in Snow Hill, an unusually large spread is set out for tea in one of the smallest sitting rooms. John Browdie is hovering and picking at the food, frustrated because he is having to wait for his tea. The waiter comes to tell him that there is a gentleman for him, and want to know if he should say he is “at home”. John does not understand the convention, and grumpily says that he wishes he was, because then he would have eaten 2 hours ago.

When he sees it is Nicholas, he instantly asks for his hand to shake, and tells him that it is about the proudest day of his life:

“slapping his palm with great violence between each shake, to add warmth to the reception.”

Nicholas glances at Tilda, and John says they will not quarrel about her, and tells Nicholas to help himself to the food, doing so himself after starting grace (and perhaps finishing it in his head).

Nicholas says he will “take the usual licence”, which proves to be another convention John has not come across before, as he is rather taken aback when Nicholas kisses the blushing bride. “Make yourself at home, won’t you” he says archly.



“Nicholas salutes John Browdie’s Bride” - Fred Barnard - 1875

Nicholas says he is sure to, as long as he can be the godfather of their first child. John finds this enormously funny and almost chokes himself laughing. Nicholas reminds him of when they first met for tea, saying he was such a monster, and Tilda agrees—saying how frightened she was to go home with him. She had almost made up her mind never to speak to him again. But John claims she spent the whole ride pleading with him, even though he had asked her why she allowed Nicholas to make up to her.

“‘Lor, John!’ interposed his pretty wife, colouring very much. ‘How can you talk such nonsense? As if I should have dreamt of such a thing!’”

John says how he had told Tilda she was fickle, and how she had said whyever would she want a little whippersnapper like Nicholas, when she could have a proper man like him. Nicholas laughs as heartily as John at this, to spare Tilda her embarrassment, and also because he has a sneaky feeling it might be true, despite her denials.

They all agree they feel like old friends, and Nicholas thanks John for lending him money when he had no right to expect it. John shrugs this aside, whereupon Nicholas also thanks him for rescuing Smike “at the risk of involving yourself in trouble and difficulty”. On being asked, John says that nobody ever suspected his involvement. He could hear Squeers threaten to break every bone in Smike’s body before he realised that he had escaped, and gleefully tells Nicholas about the wild good chase he had given the schoolmaster. All three of them laugh at John’s description, until they can laugh no longer.

“‘He’s a bad ‘un,’ said John, wiping his eyes; ‘a very bad ‘un, is schoolmeasther.’
‘I can’t bear the sight of him, John,’ said his wife.“

John is surprised at this, saying that he would never have known the family if it hadn’t been for Tilda, but she says that she had kept in contact because Fanny was an old childhood friend. John says that one shouldn’t quarrel with neighbours, and Nicholas agrees, saying that John had certainly acted on that principle when they had met and John had been on horseback. His kindness with the money was certainly not what Londoners mean by “coming Yorkshire over us” [being mean or ”near” with money].

John says that Fanny was a strange sort of bridesmaid and the couple jokily agree that she won’t be a bridesmaid any time soon.

Tilda says that they had written to Nicholas to have him meet them that evening, so there was no danger of him coming across Fanny, because Fanny is having tea with her father. John will call to bring her back to the inn. Tilda slyly refers to their former “love matter”. Nicholas says that she had acted rather wickedly there, and John good-naturedly agrees.

“Do you know, Mr. Nickleby,’ said Mrs. Browdie, with her archest smile, ‘that I really think Fanny Squeers was very fond of you?’” and Nicholas assures her that he had done nothing to encourage this. Tilda Browdie is just telling Nicholas that that is not what Fanny had told her, when a loud screech can be heard.

Fanny has returned, with her father and brother behind her, and denies this with a passion:

“this is the hend, is it, of all my forbearance and friendship for that double-faced thing—that viper, that—that—mermaid?”

(She is in such a temper that all her vows are aspirated, and she chooses some extraordinary words.) Fanny’s father encourages her, wishing her mother could hear this. Fanny accuses Tilda of being two-faced, and setting out to catch vulgar admirers, but Tilda tries to reason with her, telling her she is talking nonsense.

“‘I will not look for blushes in such a quarter,’ said Miss Squeers, haughtily, ‘for that countenance is a stranger to everything but hignominiousness and red-faced boldness.’”



“John and Mrs. Browdie and Fanny Squeers - Sol Eytinge, Jr. - 1867

John is beginning to feel a little nettled at the attacks on his new wife, and urges Fanny to “draw it mild” [as if she is pulling a pint of ale without care]. But Fanny turns on John, and tells him she pities him.

“‘I know what you’ve got to go through,’ said Miss Squeers, shaking her curls violently. ‘I know what life is before you, and if you was my bitterest and deadliest enemy, I could wish you nothing worse.’”

Tilda then interjects smoothly and asks in that case, wouldn’t she prefer to be married to him herself? This inflames Fanny to sarcasm, and she now tells them that her family had worked out their plot, still declaiming that this would be the end of things. John impatiently says she should have her say, and once and for all say whether it is the end of things or not. Fanny continues her laborious sarcasm, and the suddenly makes even John jump, by the violence with which she renounces her association with Tilda and John for ever.

Tilda tells Fanny that she is sorry that Fanny had overheard what she said, but that she has often defended her behind her back. Miss Squeers now turns her sarcasm on Tilda, but Tilda says that although she has never said bad things of Fanny as Fanny has of her, she bears Fanny no malice and hopes for the same.

“Miss Squeers made no more direct reply than surveying her former friend from top to toe, and elevating her nose in the air with ineffable disdain. But some indistinct allusions to a ‘puss,’ and a ‘minx,’ and a ‘contemptible creature,’ escaped her”.

Meanwhile Mr. Squeers smacks his son, who has been stealing food from the table, although the narrator comments drily that:

“so long as the attention of the company was fixed upon other objects, [he had] hugged himself to think that his son and heir should be fattening at the enemy’s expense.”

John says to let him be. He wishes that all the schoolboys were there, for he would gladly spend his last penny to feed them. Squeers scowls at him, and surreptitiously shakes his fist, but John mildly tells him not to, because if he were to shake his back, then Squeers would fall down from the mere disturbance of the air it caused.

Squeers suddenly accuses John of helping Smike to run away, and John doesn’t deny it. He says he would do it again. In fact he would do it again twenty times over, and twenty more. Now his blood is up, he says he will tell Squeers that he is an old rascal, and it’s a good job Squeers is an old one or he would have pounded him to the floor when Squeers told him - an honest man - that he had whipped the boy in the coach.

Squeers threatens John Browdie with being taken to court, as he has two witnesses, but John counters with the fact that Yorkshire boarding schools have been prosecuted in court before, and it’s a sensitive subject with the assizes.

White-faced with rage, Squeers begins to pull Wackford Junior to the door, turning round to face Nicholas, who had “purposely abstained from taking any part in the discussion”, because he had attacked and injured Squeers before.

Squeers warns him that the father of any boy he kidnaps may come after him. Nicholas says with contempt that he doesn’t care. Squeers gives him a diabolical look, and Fanny sweeps out majestically, rather spoiling the effect by sobbing and screaming when she reaches the passage.

John stands with his mouth open, and accidentally knocking the tankard of ale, drinks deeply, before passing it to Nicholas. He rings the bell for the waiter, and orders something broiled for supper at ten, He must make sure there is plenty of it. He wants brandy and water, and the largest pair of slippers in the house - and to be quick about it! Cursing amicably, and rubbing his hands together with glee, John says there’s no going out tonight to fetch anyone home, so now they can begin to spend the evening together in earnest.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

This is the end of Installment 13. Installment 14 will begin with chapter 43, on Sunday.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

So here we have had yet another chapter largely of domestic comedy. This entire installment has been enjoyably light-hearted, but with undertones and some plot development too. Nicholas is very good at casting off threats with a shrug, we've see that with his uncle Ralph and Sir Mulberry Hawk, and now he has another, specific one from Squeers. We have to wonder which, if any, of these may come about.

Knowing how Charles Dickens gives us a good balance of episodes, and lulls us into a false sense of security makes me think this might be the calm before the storm ... but we'll no doubt see.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

There's no contest for my favourite quotation today. It's made by the spiteful Fanny Squeers, and is just so ludicrously absurd:

“this is the hend, is it, of all my forbearance and friendship for that double-faced thing—that viper, that—that—mermaid?” 😆🤣

I look forward to everyone's thoughts on this installment, and hope to see comments too from anyone who hasn't commented for a while 😊

[Sue]

Well this ended the installment with a bang, didn’t it. I loved all of the conversations and various confrontations. John is such a true friend and obviously will remain Nicholas’s friend in the future. His joy discussing Smike’s escape was wonderful.

When all of the Squeers entered, I wasn’t really surprised as this seemed inevitable, a true Dickensian moment. Somehow their evil seemed lessened against this threesome. The combination of John Bowdrie, wife Tilda and Nicholas just have too much goodness to be overwhelmed. Fanny became almost comical in trying to match “wits” with Tilda. And I wondered if she heard any of Tilda’s attempt to tell Nicholas about Fanny’s false claim of a proposal.

The only thing I feared during this chapter was that somehow Squeers would accuse Nicholas of the beating and have him arrested. At least nothing like that happened.

[Claudia]

A great chapter and a great summary, Jean!

I loved the very theatrical turning up of Miss Squeers and the pair of Wackfords just when the Broodies and Nicholas were speaking freely about them.

Nicholas came out unharmed by Mr Squeer but his mentioning the fathers of the boys Nicholas allegedly kidnapped suggests that Nicholas is not quite out of the woods as far as poor Smike is concerned. For the time being, we know only bits and pieces of Smikes' story.

[Peter]

Claudia wrote: "A great chapter and a great summary, Jean!

I loved the very theatrical turning up of Miss Squeers and the pair of Wackfords just when the Broodies and Nicholas were speaking freely about them.

N..."

Hi Claudia

I agree with you. We are still in the dark about Smike’s past. Surely, there is more to be unveiled.

The conflict between the forces of good (Nicholas and his allies) and evil was delightful to read. Could it be that other major conflicts on yet on the horizon?

[Katy]

I have to believe that more major conflicts are on the horizon. Ralph Niclleby, Wrackford Squeers, and Sir Mulberry Hawk all hate Nicholas and they are all vengeful people. Uncle Ralph seems to be able to influence the other two to take action even when they might not do so otherwise. I hope Nicholas' friends will continue to be able to help him. Now John Browdie has also gained the hatred of Squeers and Smike seems to continue to remain in a vulnerable position. I'm not sure if this was ever made clear, but I'm wondering how old Smike is. For some reason I thought he was older than the other boys at Squeers' school. Is he young enough that a charge of kidnapping could be used in relation to him?

[Claudia]

Katy wrote: "I have to believe that more major conflicts are on the horizon. Ralph Niclleby, Wrackford Squeers, and Sir Mulberry Hawk all hate Nicholas and they are all vengeful people. Uncle Ralph seems to be ..."

Good point about all these vengeful people and good question Katy!

I suppose that Smike was older than the other inmates of that dreadful place when they left Dotheboys Hall, but perhaps not yet twenty one, i.e considered an adult by law?

By way of many Dickensian coincidences, Squeers could get hold of the person who got rid of Smike years earlier (or he might turn up uninvited) and use him as an instrument of retaliation in some way or other.

[Werner]

Katy wrote: "I'm not sure if this was ever made clear, but I'm wondering how old Smike is. For some reason I thought he was older than the other boys at Squeers' school. Is he young enough that a charge of kidnapping could be used in relation to him?"

Dickens established in an earlier chapter that Smike was about 19, around the same age as Nicholas. And as Claudia noted, the legal age of maturity then was 21; so yes, he's still legally a "minor."

[Katy]

Thank you Werner, for clarifying their ages. That does make Smike vulnerable. Besides which, he does not seem to have the ability to defend himself. And I do not trust any of Nicholas' enemies not to find ways to use the law for their own evil purposes.

[Bridget]

Thank you, Jean, for the summary of this chapter. I always love your summaries, but when the chapter concerns John Browdie's accent I an even more grateful for them. Luckily, I understood the basic intent of what John was saying, but its nice to read through your summary and make sure I got it all.

I've been wondering for a couple chapters now why Fanny Squeers is accompanying the Browdies on their honeymoon.
Was that a custom in Victorian times? At any rate, I'm glad she's there because Fanny Squeers made me laugh so much in this chapter! Dickens must have had fun writing words like hignominiousness and I also love unliquidated pity - as if "pity" ever comes in a solid form??

Since I'm just catching up, I hope its okay to make comment about Chapter 41. The hilarious throwing of vegetables over the fence made me think of this line from Andrew Marvell's poem To His Coy Mistress:
"my vegetable love should grow/vaster than empires and more slow". I wonder if Dickens was thinking of that line when he came up with the neighbor's outrageous and hilarious behavior.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Sue - “When all of the Squeers entered, I wasn’t really surprised as this seemed inevitable, a true Dickensian moment.”

Great observation! We get to recognise these moments, don’t we, and some of his most theatrical are in Nicholas Nickleby, as Claudia said.

Oh thank you Claudia - golly I knew these chapters are long, but had forgotten quite how eventful they are. You can’t miss a minute! 😆Thank you too Bridget ... both of your kind words are much appreciated! I’m never sure whether to just amend John Browdie's speech to r.p (received pronunciation) or just paraphrase the meaning! Perhaps it doesn’t matter, as long as it’s clear which is Charles Dickens’s text and which not. 🤔

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Bridget - I’m delighted you’re back commenting - and not to worry - as I think some are still on the previous thread.

And yes, bridesmaids (or maids of honour) did often accompany the couple on honeymoon in the Victorian Age, to assist the bride. Do you remember how the Infant Phenomenon (or Ninetta Crummles) went with the newly married Mrs Lillyvick (nee Miss Petowker) and her husband to the Isle of Wight, the overly money-conscious Mr Lillyvick having chosen her specifically because she could pass as a child, and he could get a reduced fare for her on the ferry? 😂 It seems a strange convention to us now though.

That’s an intriguing possibility about Andrew Marvell’s poem, and very likely I would think, thank you! (Going the other way, I always think that when the eccentric detective Hercule Poirot is reported as being obsessed with growing vegetable marrows in his garden plot, that must be proof that Agatha Christie had been reading Nicholas Nickleby!)

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Smike

Sue, Claudia, Peter and Katy have all expressed concerns about Smike … I’m sure we all feel this, as Charles Dickens has so cleverly implanted the fear in our minds, and is now revealing his back story, and cranking up the tension notch by notch.

As for how old Smike is, as Claudia says Charles Dickens is feeding information to us bit by bit on this, with no precise age given.

When he was first introduced in chapter 7, (which is the part Werner remembers), the narrator says:

“Although he could not have been less than eighteen or nineteen years old, and was tall for that age, he wore a skeleton suit, such as is usually put upon very little boys.”

Here’s my summary for chapter 7: LINK HERE

This is when Nicholas was 19; (and Kate 17) Nicholas may now be 20, and Smike could be 19.

Squeers then says “you should have been left here, all these years, and no money paid after the first six”

and in chapter 22, Smike himself gives part of his story as he remembers it, but no specific ages.

Yes, both he and Nicholas are both therefore legally minors at this time. Katy - you have used a word which will be used in the text of this installment, (view spoiler)[ kidnap (hide spoiler)] - but not in exactly the context you fear … I think everyone is on the right track though!

So let’s now move on to another long, eventful chapter, (which also has a little clue at the end about Smike.)

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Installment 14:

Chapter 43: Officiates as a kind of Gentleman Usher, in bringing various People together

Later that same evening, the Browdies and Nicholas have enjoyed a pleasant dinner, when they are startled by a commotion downstairs. They go down to see a brawl, which Nicholas is keen to join in, although Tilda tries to restrain her husband, hinting that if she has hysterics, it might prove to be more serious than he expects. John is disconcerted, but not for long, and “there was a lurking grin on his face at the same time”.

There is a young man a couple of years older than Nicholas in his stockinged feet, and a pair of slippers in the opposite corner, which look as if they have been kicked off in the direction of a figure who is lying prostrate.

The majority of watchers take the part of the prostrate figure, and mock Nicholas’s gentlemanly airs as he demands to know what it is all about, calling him the “eldest son of the Emperor of Russia”. Nicholas courteously repeats his question to the young man, who maintains it is a mere nothing. At this point:

“John Browdie … bursting into the little crowd—to the great terror of his wife—and falling about in all directions, now to the right, now to the left, now forwards, now backwards,” causes the great furore to start up again.



“John Browdie and Nicholas to the Rescue” - Charles Stanley Reinhart - 1875

The young man turns coolly to Nicholas to answer his question, and says that the other man had been speaking disrespectfully about a lady he knew - and doing it so loudly that others could hear. He had asked the man to stop, but when the man resumed his offensive remarks, he felt obliged to defend the lady’s reputation, which resulted in a fight.

Nicholas has his thoughts continually occupied by a certain young lady, and knows that he would have done exactly the same thing, so he tells the young man he had: “done quite right, and that he respected him for it”. John Browdie immediately agrees, equally vehement in tone, although he isn’t quite sure what the fuss is about. The other man indignantly says that he has a right to admire a pretty girl without being beaten for it.

The barmaid, who is admiring herself in a mirror agrees with him. She doesn’t mind being admired, and is angry at anyone who says there is anything wrong with it. It is only natural. The young man makes as if to reason with her but she says:

“‘Nonsense, sir!’ … smiling though as she turned aside, and biting her lip.”

Mrs. Browdie then calls to her husband to forget the matter, looking at the girl with disdain. The young man says to the barmaid that however pretty she is, a man should express his admiration respectfully, and that the other man had no idea how to behave.

The barmaid calls to the waiters and hostlers [who look after the horses] to clear the entrance way, and the other man is bundled out. Nicholas is sure he has seen him somewhere before - and then recognises him as the ugly clerk, Tom, from the Register’s Office.

“He ruminat[es] upon the strange manner in which the register-office seemed to start up and stare him in the face every now and then, and when he least expected it.”

The young man thanks Nicholas for interceding, and gives him his card to introduce himself. It turns out that he is the Cheeryble brothers’ nephew, Frank Cheeryble. When Frank looks at Nicholas’s card, he too is delighted to find his defender is the new young clerk in his uncles’ office, of whom he has heard so much.

Nicholas introduces John and Tilda Browdie to Frank and they all get on well together for the next half hour. Frank reminds Nicholas irresistibly of a younger version of his uncles:

“[although] a hot-headed young man … a sprightly, good-humoured, pleasant fellow … Add to this, that he was good-looking and intelligent, had a plentiful share of vivacity … he had produced a most favourable impression … upon Nicholas, who … arrived at the conclusion that he had laid the foundation of a most agreeable and desirable acquaintance.”

Nicholas is curious whether Frank might know the beautiful young woman he is in love with. But Frank had been working in Germany for 4 years, and then establishing an agency in the north of England for the last 6 months. He reasons that “she can’t be more than seventeen—say eighteen at the outside” so she must have been a child when he left the country. At least Frank could not have been romantically interested in her then.

But even though Nicholas is “of a most free and generous nature, with as few mean or sordid thoughts, perhaps, as ever fell to the lot of any man” he begins to feel indignant at the thought that Frank might now become a rival for his mysterious love’s affections. And he worries about this all the time; it “tantalised and worried him, waking and sleeping”, although he doesn’t even know if he will ever see her again.

The next morning, Tim Linkinwater reflects on how odd it was that Nicholas and Frank met the way they did:

“’Why, I don’t believe now,’ added Tim, taking off his spectacles, and smiling as with gentle pride, ‘that there’s such a place in all the world for coincidences as London is!’”

The Cheeryble brothers say how lucky they are to have two such young men in the business, and praise both of them. Charles takes Nicholas aside, and says kindly that he would like to make sure that they are all settled in the cottage and to meet his family. He asks to come to tea the next day, or another day if it is not convenient. Nicholas realises that this invitation has come about because of Frank’s return, and:

“could scarcely feel sufficient admiration and gratitude for such extraordinary consideration.”

Mrs. Nickleby has mixed feelings about the visit. Part of her is pleased, believing that it will lead to restoring their fortunes. However, she misses the fine tea things she used to have to entertain.

Kate tells her that they are together now, and that that is the main thing. The worse thing that their poverty had inflicted, had been their brief separation from each other. Their possessions are trifles which they can do without, as long as they are together.

“Mrs. Nickleby began to have a glimmering that she had been rather thoughtless now and then, and was conscious of something like self-reproach as she embraced her daughter, and yielded to the emotions which such a conversation naturally awakened.”

Everyone bustles round to get the cottage and garden ready for their visitors. Yet it is not the Cheeryble brothers who arrive, but Charles and his nephew Frank. Frank is just as friendly and good-natured as his uncles, and Kate feels very relaxed in their company.

There is plenty of good conversation at tea, and some of it joking, especially about a burgomaster’s daughter in Germany, whom his uncle teases Frank about being in love with, although Frank denies it.

“Mrs. Nickleby slyly remarked, that she suspected, from the very warmth of the denial, there must be something in it …—he ‘quite coloured,’ which she rightly considered a memorable circumstance, …young men not being as a class remarkable for modesty or self-denial, especially when there is a lady in the case, when, if they colour at all, it is rather their practice to colour the story, and not themselves.”

After tea they have a walk in the garden, with Kate, Nicholas and Mr. Frank Cheeryble at the front, and Mrs Nickleby and the elder gentleman following, Charles Cheeryble’s conversation being so skilful and easy that Mrs Nickleby never strays from the point. Smike joins one group, and then the other, whenever:

“Nicholas, looking smilingly round, beckoned him to come and talk with the old friend who understood him best, and who could win a smile into his careworn face when none else could.”

Mrs Nickleby feels very proud of her children, and quietly sobs with gratitude later that night.

There are many smiles when the the two gentlemen take their leave. and Frank accidentally says goodbye to Kate more than once, which revives the old jest about the burgomaster’s daughter. But what is this?

One person is not happy and light-hearted.

One person tries to pray as his first friend has taught him, but stretches his folded hands wildly in the air, and collapses in a passion of bitter grief.


“[He] fell upon his face in a passion of bitter grief” - Fred Barnard - 1875

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Another long and eventful chapter, with 2 major scenes and locations, plus a linking one. I really enjoyed the developments here, and hope you did too. Do we now understand that Tilda is pregnant (since John has a "lurking grin" at Tilda's hints?) I liked the development of character of both Mrs Nickleby with her “glimmerings” and wise words about how young men tend to colour the tales of their romantic conquests. Kate comes across as increasing in maturity, and Tim Linkinwater ... well I’ll choose him for my favourite quotation.

“’Why, I don’t believe now,’ added Tim, taking off his spectacles, and smiling as with gentle pride, ‘that there’s such a place in all the world for coincidences as London is!’”

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

So we have a new character introduced: Frank Cheeryble. He’s bound to be popular with the Nickleby family, as a younger version of his cheery uncles. And his ideas of protecting a lady’s good name are that of a gentleman. They must have been very close to Nicholas’s heart, since he was embroiled in exactly the same sort of situation defending his sister’s good name.

But it looks as if, however personable Frank is, his appearance may cause ructions. Nicholas wonders despite Mr Cheeryble’s kindness, if his own position in the business will be quite so secure. He also briefly wonders whether “his” mysterious and beautiful young woman might be connected to Frank in some way (but reasons that she cannot be).

Plus the ending of this chapter really tugs at our heartstrings. We must know by now, who is so desperately sad at the arrival of this handsome and accomplished young man.

What are your thoughts about this chapter?