第324章

Wherein Nicholas and his sister forfeit the good opinion of all worldly and prudent people O N 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 his letters of what had occurred: and, besides that his griefs were theirs, they mourned with him the death of one whose forlorn and helpless state had first established a claim upon their compassion, and whose truth of heart and grateful earnest nature had, every day, endeared him to them more and more.

`I am sure,' said Mrs Nickleby, wiping her eyes, and sobbing bitterly, `I have lost the best, the most zealous, and most attentive creature that has ever been a companion to me in my life--putting you, my dear Nicholas, and Kate, and your poor papa, and that well-behaved nurse who ran away with the linen and the twelve small forks, out of the question, of course.

Of all the tractable, equal-tempered, attached, and faithful beings that ever lived, I believe he was the most so. To look round upon the garden, now, that he took so much pride in, or to go into his room and see it filled with so many of those little contrivances for our comfort that he was so fond of making, and made so well, and so little thought he would leave unfinished--I can't bear it, I cannot really. Ah! This is a great trial to me, a great trial. It will be comfort to you, my dear Nicholas, to the end of your life, to recollect how kind and good you always were to him--so it will be to me, to think what excellent terms we were always upon, and how fond he always was of me, poor fellow! It was very natural you should have been attached to him, my dear--very--and of course you were, and are very much cut up by this. I am sure it's only necessary to look at you and see how changed you are, to see that; but nobody knows what my feelings are--nobody can--it's quite impossible!'

While Mrs Nickleby, with the utmost sincerity, gave vent to her sorrows after her own peculiar fashion of considering herself foremost, she was not the only one who indulged such feelings. Kate, although well accustomed to forget herself when others were to be considered, could not repress her grief; Madeline was scarcely less moved than she; and poor, hearty, honest little Miss La Creevy, who had come upon one of her visits while Nicholas was away, and had done nothing, since the sad news arrived, but console and cheer them all, no sooner beheld him coming in at the door, than she sat herself down upon the stairs, and bursting into a flood of tears, refused for a long time to be comforted.

`It hurts me so,' cried the poor body, `to see him come back alone.

I can't help thinking what he must have suffered himself. I wouldn't mind so much if he gave way a little more; but he bears it so manfully.'

`Why, so I should,' said Nicholas, `should I not?'

`Yes, yes,' replied the little woman, `and bless you for a good creature!

but this does seem at first to a simple soul like me--I know it's wrong to say so, and I shall be sorry for it presently--this does seem such a poor reward for all you have done.'

`Nay,' said Nicholas gently, `what better reward could I have, than the knowledge that his last days were peaceful and happy, and the recollection that I was his constant companion, and was not prevented, as I might have been by a hundred circumstances, from being beside him?'

`To be sure,' sobbed Miss La Creevy; `it's very true, and I'm an ungrateful, impious, wicked little fool, I know.'

With that, the good soul fell to crying afresh, and, endeavouring to recover herself, tried to laugh. The laugh and the cry, meeting each other thus abruptly, had a struggle for the mastery; the result was, that it was a drawn battle, and Miss La Creevy went into hysterics.

Waiting until they were all tolerably quiet and composed again, Nicholas, who stood in need of some rest after his long journey, retired to his own room, and throwing himself, dressed as he was, upon the bed, fell into a sound sleep. When he awoke, he found Kate sitting by his bedside, who, seeing that he had opened his eyes, stooped down to kiss him.

`I came to tell you how glad I am to see you home again.'

`But I can't tell you how glad I am to see you, Kate.'

`We have been wearying so for your return,' said Kate, `mamma and I, and--and Madeline.'

`You said in your last letter that she was quite well,' said Nicholas, rather hastily, and colouring as he spoke. `Has nothing been said, since I have been away, about any future arrangements that the brothers have in contemplation for her?'

`Oh, not a word,' replied Kate. `I can't think of parting from her without sorrow; and surely, Nicholas, you don't wish it!'

Nicholas coloured again, and, sitting down beside his sister on a little couch near the window, said:

`No, Kate, no, I do not. I might strive to disguise my real feelings from anybody but you; but I will tell you that--briefly and plainly, Kate--that I love her.'

Kate's eyes brightened, and she was going to make some reply, when Nicholas laid his hand upon her arm, and went on:

`Nobody must know this but you. She, last of all.'

`Dear Nicholas!'

`Last of all--never, though never is a long day. Sometimes, I try to think that the time may come when I may honestly tell her this; but it is so far off; in such distant perspective, so many years must elapse before it comes, and when it does come (if ever) I shall be so unlike what I am now, and shall have so outlived my days of youth and romance--though not, I am sure, of love for her--that even I feel how visionary all such hopes must be, and try to crush them rudely myself, and have the pain over, rather than suffer time to wither them, and keep the disappointment in store.