Charles Dickens: Fiction
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Oliver Twist: Chapter LIII
CHAPTER LIII.AND LAST The fortunes of those who have figured in this tale are nearly closed. The little that remains to their historian to relate, is told in few and simple words. Before three months had passed, Rose Fleming and Harry Maylie were married in the village church which was henceforth to be the scene
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Oliver Twist: Chapter LII
CHAPTER LII.FAGIN’S LAST NIGHT ALIVE The court was paved, from floor to roof, with human faces. Inquisitive and eager eyes peered from every inch of space. From the rail before the dock, away into the sharpest angle of the smallest corner in the galleries, all looks were fixed upon one man—Fagin. Before him and behind:
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Oliver Twist: Chapter LI
CHAPTER LI.AFFORDING AN EXPLANATION OF MORE MYSTERIES THAN ONE, AND COMPREHENDING A PROPOSAL OF MARRIAGE WITH NO WORD OF SETTLEMENT OR PIN-MONEY The events narrated in the last chapter were yet but two days old, when Oliver found himself, at three o’clock in the afternoon, in a travelling-carriage rolling fast towards his native town. Mrs.
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Oliver Twist: Chapter L
CHAPTER L.THE PURSUIT AND ESCAPE Near to that part of the Thames on which the church at Rotherhithe abuts, where the buildings on the banks are dirtiest and the vessels on the river blackest with the dust of colliers and the smoke of close-built low-roofed houses, there exists the filthiest, the strangest, the most extraordinary
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Oliver Twist: Chapter XLIX
CHAPTER XLIX.MONKS AND MR. BROWNLOW AT LENGTH MEET. THEIR CONVERSATION, AND THE INTELLIGENCE THAT INTERRUPTS IT The twilight was beginning to close in, when Mr. Brownlow alighted from a hackney-coach at his own door, and knocked softly. The door being opened, a sturdy man got out of the coach and stationed himself on one side
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Oliver Twist: Chapter XLVIII
CHAPTER XLVIII.THE FLIGHT OF SIKES Of all bad deeds that, under cover of the darkness, had been committed within wide London’s bounds since night hung over it, that was the worst. Of all the horrors that rose with an ill scent upon the morning air, that was the foulest and most cruel. The sun—the bright
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Oliver Twist: Chapter XLVII
CHAPTER XLVII.FATAL CONSEQUENCES It was nearly two hours before day-break; that time which in the autumn of the year, may be truly called the dead of night; when the streets are silent and deserted; when even sounds appear to slumber, and profligacy and riot have staggered home to dream; it was at this still and
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Oliver Twist: Chapter XLVI
CHAPTER XLVI.THE APPOINTMENT KEPT The church clocks chimed three quarters past eleven, as two figures emerged on London Bridge. One, which advanced with a swift and rapid step, was that of a woman who looked eagerly about her as though in quest of some expected object; the other figure was that of a man, who
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Oliver Twist: Chapter XLV
CHAPTER XLV.NOAH CLAYPOLE IS EMPLOYED BY FAGIN ON A SECRET MISSION The old man was up, betimes, next morning, and waited impatiently for the appearance of his new associate, who after a delay that seemed interminable, at length presented himself, and commenced a voracious assault on the breakfast. “Bolter,” said Fagin, drawing up a chair
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Oliver Twist: Chapter XLIV
CHAPTER XLIV.THE TIME ARRIVES FOR NANCY TO REDEEM HER PLEDGE TO ROSE MAYLIE. SHE FAILS. Adept as she was, in all the arts of cunning and dissimulation, the girl Nancy could not wholly conceal the effect which the knowledge of the step she had taken, wrought upon her mind. She remembered that both the crafty
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Oliver Twist: Chapter XLIII
CHAPTER XLIII.WHEREIN IS SHOWN HOW THE ARTFUL DODGER GOT INTO TROUBLE “And so it was you that was your own friend, was it?” asked Mr. Claypole, otherwise Bolter, when, by virtue of the compact entered into between them, he had removed next day to Fagin’s house. “Cod, I thought as much last night!” “Every man’s
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Oliver Twist: Chapter XLII
CHAPTER XLII.AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE OF OLIVER’S, EXHIBITING DECIDED MARKS OF GENIUS, BECOMES A PUBLIC CHARACTER IN THE METROPOLIS Upon the night when Nancy, having lulled Mr. Sikes to sleep, hurried on her self-imposed mission to Rose Maylie, there advanced towards London, by the Great North Road, two persons, upon whom it is expedient that this
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Oliver Twist: Chapter XLI
CHAPTER XLI.CONTAINING FRESH DISCOVERIES, AND SHOWING THAT SUPRISES, LIKE MISFORTUNES, SELDOM COME ALONE Her situation was, indeed, one of no common trial and difficulty. While she felt the most eager and burning desire to penetrate the mystery in which Oliver’s history was enveloped, she could not but hold sacred the confidence which the miserable woman
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Oliver Twist: Chapter XL
CHAPTER XL.A STRANGE INTERVIEW, WHICH IS A SEQUEL TO THE LAST CHAMBER The girl’s life had been squandered in the streets, and among the most noisome of the stews and dens of London, but there was something of the woman’s original nature left in her still; and when she heard a light step approaching the
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Oliver Twist: Chapter XXXIX
CHAPTER XXXIX.INTRODUCES SOME RESPECTABLE CHARACTERS WITH WHOM THE READER IS ALREADY ACQUAINTED, AND SHOWS HOW MONKS AND THE JEW LAID THEIR WORTHY HEADS TOGETHER On the evening following that upon which the three worthies mentioned in the last chapter, disposed of their little matter of business as therein narrated, Mr. William Sikes, awakening from a
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Oliver Twist: Chapter XXXVIII
CHAPTER XXXVIII.CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF WHAT PASSED BETWEEN MR. AND MRS. BUMBLE, AND MR. MONKS, AT THEIR NOCTURNAL INTERVIEW It was a dull, close, overcast summer evening. The clouds, which had been threatening all day, spread out in a dense and sluggish mass of vapour, already yielded large drops of rain, and seemed to presage
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Oliver Twist: Chapter XXXVII
CHAPTER XXXVII.IN WHICH THE READER MAY PERCEIVE A CONTRAST, NOT UNCOMMON IN MATRIMONIAL CASES Mr. Bumble sat in the workhouse parlour, with his eyes moodily fixed on the cheerless grate, whence, as it was summer time, no brighter gleam proceeded, than the reflection of certain sickly rays of the sun, which were sent back from
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Oliver Twist: Chapter XXXVI
CHAPTER XXXVI.IS A VERY SHORT ONE, AND MAY APPEAR OF NO GREAT IMPORTANCE IN ITS PLACE, BUT IT SHOULD BE READ NOTWITHSTANDING, AS A SEQUEL TO THE LAST, AND A KEY TO ONE THAT WILL FOLLOW WHEN ITS TIME ARRIVES “And so you are resolved to be my travelling companion this morning; eh?” said the
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Oliver Twist: Chapter XXXV
CHAPTER XXXV.CONTAINING THE UNSATISFACTORY RESULT OF OLIVER’S ADVENTURE; AND A CONVERSATION OF SOME IMPORTANCE BETWEEN HARRY MAYLIE AND ROSE When the inmates of the house, attracted by Oliver’s cries, hurried to the spot from which they proceeded, they found him, pale and agitated, pointing in the direction of the meadows behind the house, and scarcely
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Oliver Twist: Chapter XXXIV
CHAPTER XXXIV.CONTAINS SOME INTRODUCTORY PARTICULARS RELATIVE TO A YOUNG GENTLEMAN WHO NOW ARRIVES UPON THE SCENE; AND A NEW ADVENTURE WHICH HAPPENED TO OLIVER It was almost too much happiness to bear. Oliver felt stunned and stupefied by the unexpected intelligence; he could not weep, or speak, or rest. He had scarcely the power of
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Oliver Twist: Chapter XXXIII
CHAPTER XXXIII.WHEREIN THE HAPPINESS OF OLIVER AND HIS FRIENDS, EXPERIENCES A SUDDEN CHECK Spring flew swiftly by, and summer came. If the village had been beautiful at first it was now in the full glow and luxuriance of its richness. The great trees, which had looked shrunken and bare in the earlier months, had now
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Oliver Twist: Chapter XXXII
CHAPTER XXXII.OF THE HAPPY LIFE OLIVER BEGAN TO LEAD WITH HIS KIND FRIENDS Oliver’s ailings were neither slight nor few. In addition to the pain and delay attendant on a broken limb, his exposure to the wet and cold had brought on fever and ague: which hung about him for many weeks, and reduced him
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Oliver Twist: Chapter XXXI
CHAPTER XXXI.INVOLVES A CRITICAL POSITION “Who’s that?” inquired Brittles, opening the door a little way, with the chain up, and peeping out, shading the candle with his hand. “Open the door,” replied a man outside; “it’s the officers from Bow Street, as was sent to to-day.” Much comforted by this assurance, Brittles opened the door
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Oliver Twist: Chapter XXX
CHAPTER XXX.RELATES WHAT OLIVER’S NEW VISITORS THOUGHT OF HIM With many loquacious assurances that they would be agreeably surprised in the aspect of the criminal, the doctor drew the young lady’s arm through one of his; and offering his disengaged hand to Mrs. Maylie, led them, with much ceremony and stateliness, upstairs. “Now,” said the
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Oliver Twist: Chapter XXIX
CHAPTER XXIX.HAS AN INTRODUCTORY ACCOUNT OF THE INMATES OF THE HOUSE, TO WHICH OLIVER RESORTED In a handsome room: though its furniture had rather the air of old-fashioned comfort, than of modern elegance: there sat two ladies at a well-spread breakfast-table. Mr. Giles, dressed with scrupulous care in a full suit of black, was in
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Oliver Twist: Chapter XXVIII
CHAPTER XXVIII.LOOKS AFTER OLIVER, AND PROCEEDS WITH HIS ADVENTURES “Wolves tear your throats!” muttered Sikes, grinding his teeth. “I wish I was among some of you; you’d howl the hoarser for it.” As Sikes growled forth this imprecation, with the most desperate ferocity that his desperate nature was capable of, he rested the body of
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Oliver Twist: Chapter XXVII
CHAPTER XXVII.ATONES FOR THE UNPOLITENESS OF A FORMER CHAPTER; WHICH DESERTED A LADY, MOST UNCEREMONIOUSLY As it would be, by no means, seemly in a humble author to keep so mighty a personage as a beadle waiting, with his back to the fire, and the skirts of his coat gathered up under his arms, until
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Oliver Twist: Chapter XXVI
CHAPTER XXVI.IN WHICH A MYSTERIOUS CHARACTER APPEARS UPON THE SCENE; AND MANY THINGS, INSEPARABLE FROM THIS HISTORY, ARE DONE AND PERFORMED The old man had gained the street corner, before he began to recover the effect of Toby Crackit’s intelligence. He had relaxed nothing of his unusual speed; but was still pressing onward, in the
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Oliver Twist: Chapter XXV
CHAPTER XXV.WHEREIN THIS HISTORY REVERTS TO MR. FAGIN AND COMPANY While these things were passing in the country workhouse, Mr. Fagin sat in the old den—the same from which Oliver had been removed by the girl—brooding over a dull, smoky fire. He held a pair of bellows upon his knee, with which he had apparently
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Oliver Twist: Chapter XXIV
CHAPTER XXIV.TREATS ON A VERY POOR SUBJECT. BUT IS A SHORT ONE, AND MAY BE FOUND OF IMPORTANCE IN THIS HISTORY It was no unfit messenger of death, who had disturbed the quiet of the matron’s room. Her body was bent by age; her limbs trembled with palsy; her face, distorted into a mumbling leer,
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Oliver Twist: Chapter XXIII
CHAPTER XXIII.WHICH CONTAINS THE SUBSTANCE OF A PLEASANT CONVERSATION BETWEEN MR. BUMBLE AND A LADY; AND SHOWS THAT EVEN A BEADLE MAY BE SUSCEPTIBLE ON SOME POINTS The night was bitter cold. The snow lay on the ground, frozen into a hard thick crust, so that only the heaps that had drifted into byways and
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Oliver Twist: Chapter XXII
CHAPTER XXII.THE BURGLARY “Hallo!” cried a loud, hoarse voice, as soon as they set foot in the passage. “Don’t make such a row,” said Sikes, bolting the door. “Show a glim, Toby.” “Aha! my pal!” cried the same voice. “A glim, Barney, a glim! Show the gentleman in, Barney; wake up first, if convenient.” The
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Oliver Twist: Chapter XXI
CHAPTER XXI.THE EXPEDITION It was a cheerless morning when they got into the street; blowing and raining hard; and the clouds looking dull and stormy. The night had been very wet: large pools of water had collected in the road: and the kennels were overflowing. There was a faint glimmering of the coming day in
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Oliver Twist: Chapter XX
CHAPTER XX.WHEREIN OLIVER IS DELIVERED OVER TO MR. WILLIAM SIKES When Oliver awoke in the morning, he was a good deal surprised to find that a new pair of shoes, with strong thick soles, had been placed at his bedside; and that his old shoes had been removed. At first, he was pleased with the
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Oliver Twist: Chapter XIX
CHAPTER XIX.IN WHICH A NOTABLE PLAN IS DISCUSSED AND DETERMINED ON It was a chill, damp, windy night, when the Jew: buttoning his great-coat tight round his shrivelled body, and pulling the collar up over his ears so as completely to obscure the lower part of his face: emerged from his den. He paused on
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Oliver Twist: Chapter XVIII
CHAPTER XVIII.HOW OLIVER PASSED HIS TIME IN THE IMPROVING SOCIETY OF HIS REPUTABLE FRIENDS About noon next day, when the Dodger and Master Bates had gone out to pursue their customary avocations, Mr. Fagin took the opportunity of reading Oliver a long lecture on the crying sin of ingratitude; of which he clearly demonstrated he
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Oliver Twist: Chapter XVII
CHAPTER XVII.OLIVER’S DESTINY CONTINUING UNPROPITIOUS, BRINGS A GREAT MAN TO LONDON TO INJURE HIS REPUTATION It is the custom on the stage, in all good murderous melodramas, to present the tragic and the comic scenes, in as regular alternation, as the layers of red and white in a side of streaky bacon. The hero sinks
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Oliver Twist: Chapter XVI
CHAPTER XVI.RELATES WHAT BECAME OF OLIVER TWIST, AFTER HE HAD BEEN CLAIMED BY NANCY The narrow streets and courts, at length, terminated in a large open space; scattered about which, were pens for beasts, and other indications of a cattle-market. Sikes slackened his pace when they reached this spot: the girl being quite unable to
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Oliver Twist: Chapter XV
CHAPTER XV.SHOWING HOW VERY FOND OF OLIVER TWIST, THE MERRY OLD JEW AND MISS NANCY WERE In the obscure parlour of a low public-house, in the filthiest part of Little Saffron Hill; a dark and gloomy den, where a flaring gas-light burnt all day in the winter-time; and where no ray of sun ever shone
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Oliver Twist: Chapter XIV
CHAPTER XIV.COMPRISING FURTHER PARTICULARS OF OLIVER’S STAY AT MR. BROWNLOW’S, WITH THE REMARKABLE PREDICTION WHICH ONE MR. GRIMWIG UTTERED CONCERNING HIM, WHEN HE WENT OUT ON AN ERRAND Oliver soon recovering from the fainting-fit into which Mr. Brownlow’s abrupt exclamation had thrown him, the subject of the picture was carefully avoided, both by the old
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Oliver Twist: Chapter XIII
CHAPTER XIII.SOME NEW ACQUAINTANCES ARE INTRODUCED TO THE INTELLIGENT READER, CONNECTED WITH WHOM VARIOUS PLEASANT MATTERS ARE RELATED, APPERTAINING TO THIS HISTORY “Where’s Oliver?” said the Jew, rising with a menacing look. “Where’s the boy?” The young thieves eyed their preceptor as if they were alarmed at his violence; and looked uneasily at each other.
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Oliver Twist: Chapter XII
CHAPTER XII.IN WHICH OLIVER IS TAKEN BETTER CARE OF THAN HE EVER WAS BEFORE. AND IN WHICH THE NARRATIVE REVERTS TO THE MERRY OLD GENTLEMAN AND HIS YOUTHFUL FRIENDS. The coach rattled away, over nearly the same ground as that which Oliver had traversed when he first entered London in company with the Dodger; and,
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Oliver Twist: Chapter XI
CHAPTER XI.TREATS OF MR. FANG THE POLICE MAGISTRATE; AND FURNISHES A SLIGHT SPECIMEN OF HIS MODE OF ADMINISTERING JUSTICE The offence had been committed within the district, and indeed in the immediate neighborhood of, a very notorious metropolitan police office. The crowd had only the satisfaction of accompanying Oliver through two or three streets, and
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Oliver Twist: Chapter X
CHAPTER X.OLIVER BECOMES BETTER ACQUAINTED WITH THE CHARACTERS OF HIS NEW ASSOCIATES; AND PURCHASES EXPERIENCE AT A HIGH PRICE. BEING A SHORT, BUT VERY IMPORTANT CHAPTER, IN THIS HISTORY For many days, Oliver remained in the Jew’s room, picking the marks out of the pocket-handkerchief, (of which a great number were brought home,) and sometimes
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Oliver Twist: Chapter IX
CHAPTER IX.CONTAINING FURTHER PARTICULARS CONCERNING THE PLEASANT OLD GENTLEMAN, AND HIS HOPEFUL PUPILS It was late next morning when Oliver awoke, from a sound, long sleep. There was no other person in the room but the old Jew, who was boiling some coffee in a saucepan for breakfast, and whistling softly to himself as he
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Oliver Twist: Chapter VIII
CHAPTER VIII.OLIVER WALKS TO LONDON. HE ENCOUNTERS ON THE ROAD A STRANGE SORT OF YOUNG GENTLEMAN Oliver reached the stile at which the by-path terminated; and once more gained the high-road. It was eight o’clock now. Though he was nearly five miles away from the town, he ran, and hid behind the hedges, by turns,
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Oliver Twist: Chapter VII
CHAPTER VII.OLIVER CONTINUES REFRACTORY Noah Claypole ran along the streets at his swiftest pace, and paused not once for breath, until he reached the workhouse-gate. Having rested here, for a minute or so, to collect a good burst of sobs and an imposing show of tears and terror, he knocked loudly at the wicket; and
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Oliver Twist: Chapter VI
CHAPTER VI.OLIVER, BEING GOADED BY THE TAUNTS OF NOAH, ROUSES INTO ACTION, AND RATHER ASTONISHES HIM The month’s trial over, Oliver was formally apprenticed. It was a nice sickly season just at this time. In commercial phrase, coffins were looking up; and, in the course of a few weeks, Oliver acquired a great deal of
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Oliver Twist: Chapter V
CHAPTER V.OLIVER MINGLES WITH NEW ASSOCIATES. GOING TO A FUNERAL FOR THE FIRST TIME, HE FORMS AN UNFAVOURABLE NOTION OF HIS MASTER’S BUSINESS Oliver, being left to himself in the undertaker’s shop, set the lamp down on a workman’s bench, and gazed timidly about him with a feeling of awe and dread, which many people
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Oliver Twist: Chapter IV
CHAPTER IV.OLIVER, BEING OFFERED ANOTHER PLACE, MAKES HIS FIRST ENTRY INTO PUBLIC LIFE In great families, when an advantageous place cannot be obtained, either in possession, reversion, remainder, or expectancy, for the young man who is growing up, it is a very general custom to send him to sea. The board, in imitation of so
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Oliver Twist: Chapter III
CHAPTER III.RELATES HOW OLIVER TWIST WAS VERY NEAR GETTING A PLACE WHICH WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN A SINECURE For a week after the commission of the impious and profane offence of asking for more, Oliver remained a close prisoner in the dark and solitary room to which he had been consigned by the wisdom and
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Oliver Twist: Chapter II
CHAPTER II.TREATS OF OLIVER TWIST’S GROWTH, EDUCATION, AND BOARD For the next eight or ten months, Oliver was the victim of a systematic course of treachery and deception. He was brought up by hand. The hungry and destitute situation of the infant orphan was duly reported by the workhouse authorities to the parish authorities. The
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Oliver Twist: Chapter I
CHAPTER I.TREATS OF THE PLACE WHERE OLIVER TWIST WAS BORN AND OF THE CIRCUMSTANCES ATTENDING HIS BIRTH Among other public buildings in a certain town, which for many reasons it will be prudent to refrain from mentioning, and to which I will assign no fictitious name, there is one anciently common to most towns, great
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No Thoroughfare: Act IV
ACT IV. THE CLOCK-LOCK The pleasant scene was Neuchâtel; the pleasant month was April; the pleasant place was a notary’s office; the pleasant person in it was the notary: a rosy, hearty, handsome old man, chief notary of Neuchâtel, known far and wide in the canton as Maître Voigt. Professionally and personally, the notary was
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No Thoroughfare: Act III
ACT III. IN THE VALLEY It was about the middle of the month of February when Vendale and Obenreizer set forth on their expedition. The winter being a hard one, the time was bad for travellers. So bad was it that these two travellers, coming to Strasbourg, found its great inns almost empty. And even
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No Thoroughfare: Act II
ACT II. VENDALE MAKES LOVE The summer and the autumn passed. Christmas and the New Year were at hand. As executors honestly bent on performing their duty towards the dead, Vendale and Bintrey had held more than one anxious consultation on the subject of Wilding’s will. The lawyer had declared, from the first, that it
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No Thoroughfare: Act I
ACT I. THE CURTAIN RISES In a court-yard in the City of London, which was No Thoroughfare either for vehicles or foot-passengers; a court-yard diverging from a steep, a slippery, and a winding street connecting Tower Street with the Middlesex shore of the Thames; stood the place of business of Wilding & Co., Wine Merchants.
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No Thoroughfare: The Overture
THE OVERTURE. Day of the month and year, November the thirtieth, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-five. London Time by the great clock of Saint Paul’s, ten at night. All the lesser London churches strain their metallic throats. Some, flippantly begin before the heavy bell of the great cathedral; some, tardily begin three, four, half
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 65
CHAPTER 65 Conclusion When her term of mourning had expired, Madeline gave her hand and fortune to Nicholas; and, on the same day and at the same time, Kate became Mrs Frank Cheeryble. It was expected that Tim Linkinwater and Miss La Creevy would have made a third couple on the occasion, but they declined,
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 64
CHAPTER 64 An old Acquaintance is recognised under melancholy Circumstances, and Dotheboys Hall breaks up for ever Nicholas was one of those whose joy is incomplete unless it is shared by the friends of adverse and less fortunate days. Surrounded by every fascination of love and hope, his warm heart yearned towards plain John Browdie.
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 63
CHAPTER 63 The Brothers Cheeryble make various Declarations for themselves and others. Tim Linkinwater makes a Declaration for himself Some weeks had passed, and the first shock of these events had subsided. Madeline had been removed; Frank had been absent; and Nicholas and Kate had begun to try in good earnest to stifle their own
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 62
CHAPTER 62 Ralph makes one last Appointment—and keeps it Creeping from the house, and slinking off like a thief; groping with his hands, when first he got into the street, as if he were a blind man; and looking often over his shoulder while he hurried away, as though he were followed in imagination or
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 61
CHAPTER 61 Wherein Nicholas and his Sister forfeit the good Opinion of all worldly and prudent People On the next morning after Brooker’s disclosure had been made, Nicholas returned home. The meeting between him and those whom he had left there was not without strong emotion on both sides; for they had been informed by
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 60
CHAPTER 60 The Dangers thicken, and the Worst is Told Instead of going home, Ralph threw himself into the first street cabriolet he could find, and, directing the driver towards the police-office of the district in which Mr. Squeers’s misfortunes had occurred, alighted at a short distance from it, and, discharging the man, went the
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 59
CHAPTER 59 The Plots begin to fail, and Doubts and Dangers to disturb the Plotter Ralph sat alone, in the solitary room where he was accustomed to take his meals, and to sit of nights when no profitable occupation called him abroad. Before him was an untasted breakfast, and near to where his fingers beat
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 58
CHAPTER 58 In which one Scene of this History is closed Dividing the distance into two days’ journey, in order that his charge might sustain the less exhaustion and fatigue from travelling so far, Nicholas, at the end of the second day from their leaving home, found himself within a very few miles of the
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 57
CHAPTER 57 How Ralph Nickleby’s Auxiliary went about his Work, and how he prospered with it It was a dark, wet, gloomy night in autumn, when in an upper room of a mean house situated in an obscure street, or rather court, near Lambeth, there sat, all alone, a one-eyed man grotesquely habited, either for
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 56
CHAPTER 56 Ralph Nickleby, baffled by his Nephew in his late Design, hatches a Scheme of Retaliation which Accident suggests to him, and takes into his Counsels a tried Auxiliary The course which these adventures shape out for themselves, and imperatively call upon the historian to observe, now demands that they should revert to the
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 55
CHAPTER 55 Of Family Matters, Cares, Hopes, Disappointments, and Sorrows Although Mrs. Nickleby had been made acquainted by her son and daughter with every circumstance of Madeline Bray’s history which was known to them; although the responsible situation in which Nicholas stood had been carefully explained to her, and she had been prepared, even for
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 54
CHAPTER 54 The Crisis of the Project and its Result There are not many men who lie abed too late, or oversleep themselves, on their wedding morning. A legend there is of somebody remarkable for absence of mind, who opened his eyes upon the day which was to give him a young wife, and forgetting
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 53
CHAPTER 53 Containing the further Progress of the Plot contrived by Mr. Ralph Nickleby and Mr. Arthur Gride With that settled resolution, and steadiness of purpose to which extreme circumstances so often give birth, acting upon far less excitable and more sluggish temperaments than that which was the lot of Madeline Bray’s admirer, Nicholas started,
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 52
CHAPTER 52 Nicholas despairs of rescuing Madeline Bray, but plucks up his Spirits again, and determines to attempt it. Domestic Intelligence of the Kenwigses and Lillyvicks Finding that Newman was determined to arrest his progress at any hazard, and apprehensive that some well-intentioned passenger, attracted by the cry of ‘Stop thief,’ might lay violent hands
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 51
CHAPTER 51 The Project of Mr. Ralph Nickleby and his Friend approaching a successful Issue, becomes unexpectedly known to another Party, not admitted into their Confidence In an old house, dismal dark and dusty, which seemed to have withered, like himself, and to have grown yellow and shrivelled in hoarding him from the light of
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 50
CHAPTER 50 Involves a serious Catastrophe The little race-course at Hampton was in the full tide and height of its gaiety; the day as dazzling as day could be; the sun high in the cloudless sky, and shining in its fullest splendour. Every gaudy colour that fluttered in the air from carriage seat and garish
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 49
CHAPTER 49 Chronicles the further Proceedings of the Nickleby Family, and the Sequel of the Adventure of the Gentleman in the Small-clothes While Nicholas, absorbed in the one engrossing subject of interest which had recently opened upon him, occupied his leisure hours with thoughts of Madeline Bray, and in execution of the commissions which the
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 48
CHAPTER 48 Being for the Benefit of Mr. Vincent Crummles, and positively his last Appearance on this Stage It was with a very sad and heavy heart, oppressed by many painful ideas, that Nicholas retraced his steps eastward and betook himself to the counting-house of Cheeryble Brothers. Whatever the idle hopes he had suffered himself
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 47
CHAPTER 47 Mr. Ralph Nickleby has some confidential Intercourse with another old Friend. They concert between them a Project, which promises well for both ‘There go the three-quarters past!’ muttered Newman Noggs, listening to the chimes of some neighbouring church ‘and my dinner time’s two. He does it on purpose. He makes a point of
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 46
CHAPTER 46 Throws some Light upon Nicholas’s Love; but whether for Good or Evil the Reader must determine After an anxious consideration of the painful and embarrassing position in which he was placed, Nicholas decided that he ought to lose no time in frankly stating it to the kind brothers. Availing himself of the first
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 45
CHAPTER 45 Containing Matter of a surprising Kind ‘As we gang awa’ fra’ Lunnun tomorrow neeght, and as I dinnot know that I was e’er so happy in a’ my days, Misther Nickleby, Ding! but I will tak’ anoother glass to our next merry meeting!’ So said John Browdie, rubbing his hands with great joyousness, and looking
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 44
CHAPTER 44 Mr. Ralph Nickleby cuts an old Acquaintance. It would also appear from the Contents hereof, that a Joke, even between Husband and Wife, may be sometimes carried too far There are some men who, living with the one object of enriching themselves, no matter by what means, and being perfectly conscious of the
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 43
CHAPTER 43 Officiates as a kind of Gentleman Usher, in bringing various People together The storm had long given place to a calm the most profound, and the evening was pretty far advanced—indeed supper was over, and the process of digestion proceeding as favourably as, under the influence of complete tranquillity, cheerful conversation, and a
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 42
CHAPTER 42 Illustrative of the convivial Sentiment, that the best of Friends must sometimes part The pavement of Snow Hill had been baking and frying all day in the heat, and the twain Saracens’ heads guarding the entrance to the hostelry of whose name and sign they are the duplicate presentments, looked—or seemed, in the
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 41
CHAPTER 41 Containing some Romantic Passages between Mrs. Nickleby and the Gentleman in the Small-clothes next Door Ever since her last momentous conversation with her son, Mrs. Nickleby had begun to display unusual care in the adornment of her person, gradually superadding to those staid and matronly habiliments, which had, up to that time, formed
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 40
CHAPTER 40 In which Nicholas falls in Love. He employs a Mediator, whose Proceedings are crowned with unexpected Success, excepting in one solitary Particular Once more out of the clutches of his old persecutor, it needed no fresh stimulation to call forth the utmost energy and exertion that Smike was capable of summoning to his
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 39
CHAPTER 39 In which another old Friend encounters Smike, very opportunely and to some Purpose The night, fraught with so much bitterness to one poor soul, had given place to a bright and cloudless summer morning, when a north-country mail-coach traversed, with cheerful noise, the yet silent streets of Islington, and, giving brisk note of
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 38
CHAPTER 38 Comprises certain Particulars arising out of a Visit of Condolence, which may prove important hereafter. Smike unexpectedly encounters a very old Friend, who invites him to his House, and will take no Denial Quite unconscious of the demonstrations of their amorous neighbour, or their effects upon the susceptible bosom of her mama, Kate
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 37
CHAPTER 37 Nicholas finds further Favour in the Eyes of the brothers Cheeryble and Mr Timothy Linkinwater. The brothers give a Banquet on a great Annual Occasion. Nicholas, on returning Home from it, receives a mysterious and important Disclosure from the Lips of Mrs. Nickleby The square in which the counting-house of the brothers Cheeryble
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 36
CHAPTER 36 Private and confidential; relating to Family Matters. Showing how Mr Kenwigs underwent violent Agitation, and how Mrs. Kenwigs was as well as could be expected It might have been seven o’clock in the evening, and it was growing dark in the narrow streets near Golden Square, when Mr. Kenwigs sent out for a
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 35
CHAPTER 35 Smike becomes known to Mrs. Nickleby and Kate. Nicholas also meets with new Acquaintances. Brighter Days seem to dawn upon the Family Having established his mother and sister in the apartments of the kind-hearted miniature painter, and ascertained that Sir Mulberry Hawk was in no danger of losing his life, Nicholas turned his
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 34
CHAPTER 34 Wherein Mr. Ralph Nickleby is visited by Persons with whom the Reader has been already made acquainted ‘What a demnition long time you have kept me ringing at this confounded old cracked tea-kettle of a bell, every tinkle of which is enough to throw a strong man into blue convulsions, upon my life
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 33
CHAPTER 33 In which Mr. Ralph Nickleby is relieved, by a very expeditious Process, from all Commerce with his Relations Smike and Newman Noggs, who in his impatience had returned home long before the time agreed upon, sat before the fire, listening anxiously to every footstep on the stairs, and the slightest sound that stirred
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 32
CHAPTER 32 Relating chiefly to some remarkable Conversation, and some remarkable Proceedings to which it gives rise ‘London at last!’ cried Nicholas, throwing back his greatcoat and rousing Smike from a long nap. ‘It seemed to me as though we should never reach it.’ ‘And yet you came along at a tidy pace too,’ observed
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 31
CHAPTER 31 Of Ralph Nickleby and Newman Noggs, and some wise Precautions, the success or failure of which will appear in the Sequel In blissful unconsciousness that his nephew was hastening at the utmost speed of four good horses towards his sphere of action, and that every passing minute diminished the distance between them, Ralph
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 30
CHAPTER 30 Festivities are held in honour of Nicholas, who suddenly withdraws himself from the Society of Mr. Vincent Crummles and his Theatrical Companions Mr. Vincent Crummles was no sooner acquainted with the public announcement which Nicholas had made relative to the probability of his shortly ceasing to be a member of the company, than
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 29
CHAPTER 29 Of the Proceedings of Nicholas, and certain Internal Divisions in the Company of Mr. Vincent Crummles The unexpected success and favour with which his experiment at Portsmouth had been received, induced Mr. Crummles to prolong his stay in that town for a fortnight beyond the period he had originally assigned for the duration
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 28
CHAPTER 28 Miss Nickleby, rendered desperate by the Persecution of Sir Mulberry Hawk, and the Complicated Difficulties and Distresses which surround her, appeals, as a last resource, to her Uncle for Protection The ensuing morning brought reflection with it, as morning usually does; but widely different was the train of thought it awakened in the
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 27
CHAPTER 27 Mrs. Nickleby becomes acquainted with Messrs Pyke and Pluck, whose Affection and Interest are beyond all Bounds Mrs. Nickleby had not felt so proud and important for many a day, as when, on reaching home, she gave herself wholly up to the pleasant visions which had accompanied her on her way thither. Lady
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 26
CHAPTER 26 Is fraught with some Danger to Miss Nickleby’s Peace of Mind The place was a handsome suite of private apartments in Regent Street; the time was three o’clock in the afternoon to the dull and plodding, and the first hour of morning to the gay and spirited; the persons were Lord Frederick Verisopht,
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 25
CHAPTER 25 Concerning a young Lady from London, who joins the Company, and an elderly Admirer who follows in her Train; with an affecting Ceremony consequent on their Arrival The new piece being a decided hit, was announced for every evening of performance until further notice, and the evenings when the theatre was closed, were
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Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 24
CHAPTER 24 Of the Great Bespeak for Miss Snevellicci, and the first Appearance of Nicholas upon any Stage Nicholas was up betimes in the morning; but he had scarcely begun to dress, notwithstanding, when he heard footsteps ascending the stairs, and was presently saluted by the voices of Mr. Folair the pantomimist, and Mr Lenville,