Nicholas despairs of rescuing Madeline Bray, butplucks up his Spirits again, and determines toattempt it. Domestic Intelligence of the Kenwigsesand Lillyvicks.

　　Finding that Newman was determined to arrest his progressat any hazard, and apprehensive that some well-intentioned passenger, attracted by the cry of ‘Stop thief,’

　　might lay violent hands upon his person, and place him in adisagreeable predicament from which he might have somedifficulty in extricating himself, Nicholas soon slackened his pace,and suffered Newman Noggs to come up with him: which he did,in so breathless a condition, that it seemed impossible he couldhave held out for a minute longer.

　　‘I will go straight to Bray’s,’ said Nicholas. ‘I will see this man. Ifthere is a feeling of humanity lingering in his breast, a spark ofconsideration for his own child, motherless and friendless as sheis, I will awaken it.’

　　‘You will not,’ replied Newman. ‘You will not, indeed.’

　　‘Then,’ said Nicholas, pressing onward, ‘I will act upon my firstimpulse, and go straight to Ralph Nickleby.’

　　‘By the time you reach his house he will be in bed,’ saidNewman.

　　‘I’ll drag him from it,’ cried Nicholas.

　　‘Tut, tut,’ said Noggs. ‘Be yourself.’

　　‘You are the best of friends to me, Newman,’ rejoined Nicholas after a pause, and taking his hand as he spoke. ‘I have made headagainst many trials; but the misery of another, and such misery, isinvolved in this one, that I declare to you I am rendered desperate,and know not how to act.’

　　In truth, it did seem a hopeless case. It was impossible to makeany use of such intelligence as Newman Noggs had gleaned, whenhe lay concealed in the closet. The mere circumstance of thecompact between Ralph Nickleby and Gride would not invalidatethe marriage, or render Bray averse to it, who, if he did notactually know of the existence of some such understanding,doubtless suspected it. What had been hinted with reference tosome fraud on Madeline, had been put, with sufficient obscurityby Arthur Gride, but coming from Newman Noggs, and obscuredstill further by the smoke of his pocket-pistol, it became whollyunintelligible, and involved in utter darkness.

　　‘There seems no ray of hope,’ said Nicholas.

　　‘The greater necessity for coolness, for reason, forconsideration, for thought,’ said Newman, pausing at everyalternate word, to look anxiously in his friend’s face. ‘Where arethe brothers?’

　　‘Both absent on urgent business, as they will be for a week tocome.’

　　‘Is there no way of communicating with them? No way ofgetting one of them here by tomorrow night?’

　　‘Impossible!’ said Nicholas, ‘the sea is between us and them.

　　With the fairest winds that ever blew, to go and return would takethree days and nights.’

　　‘Their nephew,’ said Newman, ‘their old clerk.’

　　‘What could either do, that I cannot?’ rejoined Nicholas. ‘With reference to them, especially, I am enjoined to the strictest silenceon this subject. What right have I to betray the confidence reposedin me, when nothing but a miracle can prevent this sacrifice?’

　　‘Think,’ urged Newman. ‘Is there no way.’

　　‘There is none,’ said Nicholas, in utter dejection. ‘Not one. Thefather urges, the daughter consents. These demons have her intheir toils; legal right, might, power, money, and every influenceare on their side. How can I hope to save her?’

　　‘Hope to the last!’ said Newman, clapping him on the back.

　　‘Always hope; that’s a dear boy. Never leave off hoping; it don’tanswer. Do you mind me, Nick? It don’t answer. Don’t leave astone unturned. It’s always something, to know you’ve done themost you could. But, don’t leave off hoping, or it’s of no use doinganything. Hope, hope, to the last!’

　　Nicholas needed encouragement. The suddenness with whichintelligence of the two usurers’ plans had come upon him, the littletime which remained for exertion, the probability, almostamounting to certainty itself, that a few hours would placeMadeline Bray for ever beyond his reach, consign her tounspeakable misery, and perhaps to an untimely death; all thisquite stunned and overwhelmed him. Every hope connected withher that he had suffered himself to form, or had entertainedunconsciously, seemed to fall at his feet, withered and dead. Everycharm with which his memory or imagination had surroundedher, presented itself before him, only to heighten his anguish andadd new bitterness to his despair. Every feeling of sympathy forher forlorn condition, and of admiration for her heroism andfortitude, aggravated the indignation which shook him in everylimb, and swelled his heart almost to bursting.

　　 But, if Nicholas’s own heart embarrassed him, Newman’s cameto his relief. There was so much earnestness in his remonstrance,and such sincerity and fervour in his manner, odd and ludicrousas it always was, that it imparted to Nicholas new firmness, andenabled him to say, after he had walked on for some little way insilence:

　　‘You read me a good lesson, Newman, and I will profit by it.

　　One step, at least, I may take—am bound to take indeed—and tothat I will apply myself tomorrow.’

　　‘What is that?’ asked Noggs wistfully. ‘Not to threaten Ralph?

　　Not to see the father?’

　　‘To see the daughter, Newman,’ replied Nicholas. ‘To do what,after all, is the utmost that the brothers could do, if they werehere, as Heaven send they were! To reason with her upon thishideous union, to point out to her all the horrors to which she ishastening; rashly, it may be, and without due reflection. To entreather, at least, to pause. She can have had no counsellor for hergood. Perhaps even I may move her so far yet, though it is theeleventh hour, and she upon the very brink of ruin.’

　　‘Bravely spoken!’ said Newman. ‘Well done, well done! Yes.

　　Very good.’

　　‘And I do declare,’ cried Nicholas, with honest enthusiasm, ‘thatin this effort I am influenced by no selfish or personalconsiderations, but by pity for her, and detestation andabhorrence of this scheme; and that I would do the same, werethere twenty rivals in the field, and I the last and least favoured ofthem all.’

　　‘You would, I believe,’ said Newman. ‘But where are youhurrying now?’

　　 ‘Homewards,’ answered Nicholas. ‘Do you come with me, or Ishall say good-night?’

　　‘I’ll come a little way, if you will but walk: not run,’ said Noggs.

　　‘I cannot walk tonight, Newman,’ returned Nicholas, hurriedly.

　　‘I must move rapidly, or I could not draw my breath. I’ll tell youwhat I’ve said and done tomorrow.’

　　Without waiting for a reply, he darted off at a rapid pace, and,plunging into the crowds which thronged the street, was quicklylost to view.

　　‘He’s a violent youth at times,’ said Newman, looking after him;‘and yet like him for it. There’s cause enough now, or the deuce isin it. Hope! I said hope, I think! Ralph Nickleby and Gride withtheir heads together! And hope for the opposite party! Ho! ho!’

　　It was with a very melancholy laugh that Newman Noggsconcluded this soliloquy; and it was with a very melancholy shakeof the head, and a very rueful countenance, that he turned about,and went plodding on his way.

　　This, under ordinary circumstances, would have been to somesmall tavern or dram-shop; that being his way, in more sensesthan one. But, Newman was too much interested, and too anxious,to betake himself even to this resource, and so, with manydesponding and dismal reflections, went straight home.

　　It had come to pass, that afternoon, that Miss MorleenaKenwigs had received an invitation to repair next day, per steamerfrom Westminster Bridge, unto the Eel-pie Island at Twickenham:

　　there to make merry upon a cold collation, bottled beer, shrub,and shrimps, and to dance in the open air to the music of alocomotive band, conveyed thither for the purpose: the steamerbeing specially engaged by a dancing-master of extensive connection for the accommodation of his numerous pupils, andthe pupils displaying their appreciation of the dancing-master’sservices, by purchasing themselves, and inducing their friends todo the like, divers light-blue tickets, entitling them to join theexpedition. Of these light-blue tickets, one had been presented byan ambitious neighbour to Miss Morleena Kenwigs, with aninvitation to join her daughters; and Mrs Kenwigs, rightlydeeming that the honour of the family was involved in MissMorleena’s making the most splendid appearance possible on soshort a notice, and testifying to the dancing-master that therewere other dancing-masters besides him, and to all fathers andmothers present that other people’s children could learn to begenteel besides theirs, had fainted away twice under themagnitude of her preparations, but, upheld by a determination tosustain the family name or perish in the attempt, was still hard atwork when Newman Noggs came home.

　　Now, between the italian-ironing of frills, the flouncing oftrousers, the trimming of frocks, the faintings and the comings-toagain, incidental to the occasion, Mrs Kenwigs had been soentirely occupied, that she had not observed, until within half anhour before, that the flaxen tails of Miss Morleena’s hair were, in amanner, run to seed; and that, unless she were put under thehands of a skilful hairdresser, she never could achieve that signaltriumph over the daughters of all other people, anything less thanwhich would be tantamount to defeat. This discovery drove MrsKenwigs to despair; for the hairdresser lived three streets andeight dangerous crossings off; Morleena could not be trusted to gothere alone, even if such a proceeding were strictly proper: ofwhich Mrs Kenwigs had her doubts; Mr Kenwigs had not returned from business; and there was nobody to take her. So, Mrs Kenwigsfirst slapped Miss Kenwigs for being the cause of her vexation, andthen shed tears.

　　‘You ungrateful child!’ said Mrs Kenwigs, ‘after I have gonethrough what I have, this night, for your good.’

　　‘I can’t help it, ma,’ replied Morleena, also in tears; ‘my hair willgrow.’

　　‘Don’t talk to me, you naughty thing!’ said Mrs Kenwigs, ‘don’t!

　　Even if I was to trust you by yourself and you were to escape beingrun over, I know you’d run in to Laura Chopkins,’ who was thedaughter of the ambitious neighbour, ‘and tell her what you’regoing to wear tomorrow, I know you would. You’ve no properpride in yourself, and are not to be trusted out of sight for aninstant.’

　　Deploring the evil-mindedness of her eldest daughter in theseterms, Mrs Kenwigs distilled fresh drops of vexation from hereyes, and declared that she did believe there never was anybodyso tried as she was. Thereupon, Morleena Kenwigs wept afresh,and they bemoaned themselves together.

　　Matters were at this point, as Newman Noggs was heard to limppast the door on his way upstairs; when Mrs Kenwigs, gaining newhope from the sound of his footsteps, hastily removed from hercountenance as many traces of her late emotion as were effaceableon so short a notice: and presenting herself before him, andrepresenting their dilemma, entreated that he would escortMorleena to the hairdresser’s shop.

　　‘I wouldn’t ask you, Mr Noggs,’ said Mrs Kenwigs, ‘if I didn’tknow what a good, kind-hearted creature you are; no, not forworlds. I am a weak constitution, Mr Noggs, but my spirit would no more let me ask a favour where I thought there was a chance ofits being refused, than it would let me submit to see my childrentrampled down and trod upon, by envy and lowness!’

　　Newman was too good-natured not to have consented, evenwithout this avowal of confidence on the part of Mrs Kenwigs.

　　Accordingly, a very few minutes had elapsed, when he and MissMorleena were on their way to the hairdresser’s.

　　It was not exactly a hair-dresser’s; that is to say, people of acoarse and vulgar turn of mind might have called it a barber’s; forthey not only cut and curled ladies elegantly, and childrencarefully, but shaved gentlemen easily. Still, it was a highly genteelestablishment—quite first-rate in fact—and there were displayedin the window, besides other elegancies, waxen busts of a lightlady and a dark gentleman which were the admiration of thewhole neighbourhood. Indeed, some ladies had gone so far as toassert, that the dark gentleman was actually a portrait of thespirited young proprietor; and the great similarity between theirhead-dresses—both wore very glossy hair, with a narrow walkstraight down the middle, and a profusion of flat circular curls onboth sides—encouraged the idea. The better informed among thesex, however, made light of this assertion, for however willing theywere (and they were very willing) to do full justice to thehandsome face and figure of the proprietor, they held thecountenance of the dark gentleman in the window to be anexquisite and abstract idea of masculine beauty, realisedsometimes, perhaps, among angels and military men, but veryrarely embodied to gladden the eyes of mortals.

　　It was to this establishment that Newman Noggs led MissKenwigs in safety. The proprietor, knowing that Miss Kenwigs had three sisters, each with two flaxen tails, and all good forsixpence apiece, once a month at least, promptly deserted an oldgentleman whom he had just lathered for shaving, and handinghim over to the journeyman, (who was not very popular among theladies, by reason of his obesity and middle age,) waited on theyoung lady himself.

　　Just as this change had been effected, there presented himselffor shaving, a big, burly, good-humoured coal-heaver with a pipein his mouth, who, drawing his hand across his chin, requested toknow when a shaver would be disengaged.

　　The journeyman, to whom this question was put, lookeddoubtfully at the young proprietor, and the young proprietorlooked scornfully at the coal-heaver: observing at the same time:

　　‘You won’t get shaved here, my man.’

　　‘Why not?’ said the coal-heaver.

　　‘We don’t shave gentlemen in your line,’ remarked the youngproprietor.

　　‘Why, I see you a shaving of a baker, when I was a lookingthrough the winder, last week,’ said the coal-heaver.

　　‘It’s necessary to draw the line somewheres, my fine feller,’

　　replied the principal. ‘We draw the line there. We can’t go beyondbakers. If we was to get any lower than bakers, our customerswould desert us, and we might shut up shop. You must try someother establishment, sir. We couldn’t do it here.’

　　The applicant stared; grinned at Newman Noggs, whoappeared highly entertained; looked slightly round the shop, as ifin depreciation of the pomatum pots and other articles of stock............