第316章

Tim stopped, looked steadily and severely at Ralph, nodded his head once, in a curt manner which seemed to say there was a little more behind, and vanished. After a short interval, he returned, and, ushering Ralph into the presence of the two brothers, remained in the room himself.

`I want to speak to you, who spoke to me this morning,' said Ralph, pointing out with his finger the man whom he addressed.

`I have no secrets from my brother Ned, or from Tim Linkinwater,' observed brother Charles quietly.

`I have,' said Ralph.

`Mr Nickleby, sir,' said brother Ned, `the matter upon which my brother Charles called upon you this morning is one which is already perfectly well known to us three, and to others besides, and must unhappily soon become known to a great many more. He waited upon you, sir, this morning, alone, as a matter of delicacy and consideration. We feel, now, that further delicacy and consideration would be misplaced; and, if we confer together, it must be as we are or not at all.'

`Well, gentlemen,' said Ralph with a curl of the lip, `talking in riddles would seem to be the peculiar forte of you two, and I suppose your clerk, like a prudent man, has studied the art also with a view to your good graces.

Talk in company, gentlemen, in God's name. I'll humour you.'

`Humour!' cried Tim Linkinwater, suddenly growing very red in the face.

`He'll humour us! He'll humour Cheeryble Brothers! Do you hear that? Do you hear him? Do you hear him say he'll humour Cheeryble Brothers?'

`Tim,' said Charles and Ned together, `pray, Tim -- pray now, don't.'

Tim, taking the hint, stifled his indignation as well as he could, and suffered it to escape through his spectacles, with the additional safety-valve of a short hysterical laugh now and then, which seemed to relieve him mightily.

`As nobody bids me to a seat,' said Ralph, looking round, `I'll take one, for I am fatigued with walking. And now, if you please, gentlemen, I wish to know -- I demand to know; I have the right -- what you have to say to me, which justifies such a tone as you have assumed, and that underhand interference in my affairs which, I have reason to suppose, you have been practising. I tell you plainly, gentlemen, that little as I care for the opinion of the world (as the slang goes), I don't choose to submit quietly to slander and malice. Whether you suffer yourselves to be imposed upon too easily, or wilfully make yourselves parties to it, the result to me is the same. In either case, you can't expect from a plain man like myself much consideration or forbearance.'

So coolly and deliberately was this said, that nine men out of ten, ignorant of the circumstances, would have supposed Ralph to be really an injured man. There he sat, with folded arms; paler than usual, certainly, and sufficiently ill-favoured, but quite collected -- far more so than the brothers or the exasperated Tim -- and ready to face out the worst.

`Very well, sir,' said brother Charles. `Very well. Brother Ned, will you ring the bell?'

`Charles, my dear fellow! stop one instant,' returned the other. `It will be better for Mr Nickleby and for our object that he should remain silent, if he can, till we have said what we have to say. I wish him to understand that.'

`Quite right, quite right,' said brother Charles.

Ralph smiled, but made no reply. The bell was rung; the room-door opened;a man came in, with a halting walk; and, looking round, Ralph's eyes met those of Newman Noggs. From that moment, his heart began to fail him.

`This is a good beginning,' he said bitterly. `Oh! this is a good beginning You are candid, honest, open-hearted, fair-dealing men! I always knew the real worth of such characters as yours! To tamper with a fellow like this, who would sell his soul (if he had one) for drink, and whose every word is a lie, -- what men are safe if this is done? Oh, it's a good beginning!'

`I will speak,' cried Newman, standing on tiptoe to look over Tim's head, who had interposed to prevent him. `Hallo, you sir -- old Nickleby!

what do you mean when you talk of "a fellow like this"? Who made me "a fellow like this"? If I would sell my soul for drink, why wasn't I a thief, swindler, housebreaker, area sneak, robber of pence out of the trays of blind men's dogs, rather than your drudge and packhorse? If my every word was a lie, why wasn't I a pet and favourite of yours? Lie! When did I ever cringe and fawn to you -- eh? Tell me that! I served you faithfully. Idid more work, because I was poor, and took more hard words from you because I despised you and them, than any man you could have got from the parish workhouse. I did. I served you because I was proud; because I was a lonely man with you, and there were no other drudges to see my degradation; and because nobody knew, better than you, that I was a ruined man: that I hadn't always been what I am: and that I might have been better off, if I hadn't been a fool and fallen into the hands of you and others who were knaves.

Do you deny that -- eh?'

`Gently,' reasoned Tim; `you said you wouldn't.'

`I said I wouldn't!' cried Newman, thrusting him aside, and moving his hand as Tim moved, so as to keep him at arm's length; `don't tell me! Here, you Nickleby! don't pretend not to mind me; it won't do; I know better.

You were talking of tampering, just now. Who tampered with Yorkshire schoolmasters, and, while they sent the drudge out, that he shouldn't overhear, forgot that such great caution might render him suspicious, and that he might watch his master out at nights, and might set other eyes to watch the schoolmaster?

Who tampered with a selfish father, urging him to sell his daughter to old Arthur Gride, and tampered with Gride too, and did so in the little office, with a closet in the room ?'

Ralph had put a great command upon himself; but he could not have suppressed a slight start, if he had been certain to be beheaded for it next moment.