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, and two or three weeks
afterwards went out together one morning before breakfast, and, coming back with
merry faces, were found to have been quietly married that day.
The money which Nicholas acquired in right of his wife he invested in the
firm of Cheeryble Brothers, in which Frank had become a partner. Before many
years elapsed, the business began to be carried on in the names of `Cheeryble
and Nickleby,' so that Mrs Nickleby's prophetic anticipations were realised at
last.
The twin brothers retired. Who needs to be told that they were happy? They
were surrounded by happiness of their own creation, and lived but to increase
it.
Tim Linkinwater condescended, after much entreaty and browbeating, to accept
a share in the house; but he could never be prevailed upon to suffer the
publication of his name as a partner, and always persisted in the punctual and
regular discharge of his clerkly duties.
He and his wife lived in the old house, and occupied the very bedchamber in
which he had slept for four-and-forty years. As his wife grew older, she became
even a more cheerful and light-hearted little creature; and it was a common
saying among their friends, that it was impossible to say which looked the
happier--Tim as he sat calmly smiling in his elbow-chair on one side of the
fire, or his brisk little wife chatting and laughing, and constantly bustling in
and out of hers, on the other.
Dick, the blackbird, was removed from the counting-house and promoted to a
warm corner in the common sitting-room. Beneath his cage hung two miniatures, of
Mrs Linkinwater's execution; one representing herself, and the other Tim; and
both smiling very hard at all beholders. Tim's head being powdered like a
twelfth cake, and his spectacles copied with great nicety, strangers detected a
close resemblance to him at the first glance, and this leading them to suspect
that the other must be his wife, and emboldening them to say so without scruple,
Mrs Linkinwater grew very proud of these achievements in time, and considered
them among the most successful likenesses she had ever painted. Tim had the
profoundest faith in them, likewise; for on this, as on all other subjects, they
held but one opinion; and if ever there were a `comfortable couple' in the
world, it was Mr and Mrs Linkinwater.
Ralph, having died intestate, and having no relations but those with whom he
had lived in such enmity, they would have become in legal course his heirs. But
they could not bear the thought of growing rich on money so acquired, and felt
as though they could never hope to prosper with it. They made no claim to his
wealth; and the riches for which he had toiled all his days, and burdened his
soul with so many evil deeds, were swept at last into the coffers of the state,
and no man was the better or the happier for them.
Arthur Gride was tried for the unlawful possession of the will, which he had
either procured to be stolen, or had dishonestly acquired and retained by other
means as bad. By dint of an ingenious counsel, and a legal flaw, he escaped; but
only to undergo a worse punishment; for, some years afterwards, his house was
broken open in the night by robbers, tempted by the rumours of his great wealth,
and he was found murdered in his bed.
Mrs Sliderskew went beyond the seas at nearly the same time as Mr Squeers,
and in the course of nature never returned. Brooker died penitent. Sir Mulberry
Hawk lived abroad for some years, courted and caressed, and in high repute as a
fine dashing fellow. Ultimately, returning to this country, he was thrown into
gaol for debt, and there perished miserably, as such high spirits generally do.
The first act of Nicholas, when he became a rich and prosperous merchant, was
to buy his father's old house. As time crept on, and there came gradually about
him a group of lovely children, it was altered and enlarged; but none of the old
rooms were ever pulled down, no old tree was ever rooted up, nothing with which
there was any association of bygone times was ever removed or changed.
Within a stone's throw was another retreat, enlivened by children's pleasant
voices too; and here was Kate, with many new cares and occupations, and many new
faces courting her sweet smile (and one so like her own, that to her mother she
seemed a child again), the same true gentle creature, the same fond sister, the
same in the love of all about her, as in her girlish days.
Mrs Nickleby lived, sometimes with her daughter, and sometimes with her son,
accompanying one or other of them to London at those periods when the cares of
business obliged both families to reside there, and always preserving a great
appearance of dignity, and relating her experiences (especially on points
connected with the management and bringing-up of children) with much solemnity
and importance. It was a very long time before she could be induced to receive
Mrs Linkinwater into favour, and it is even doubtful whether she ever thoroughly
forgave her.
There was one grey-haired, quiet, harmless gentleman, who, winter and summer,
lived in a little cottage hard by Nicholas's house, and, when he was not there,
assumed the superintendence of affairs. His chief pleasure and delight was in
the children, with whom he was a child himself, and master of the revels. The
little people could do nothing without dear Newman Noggs.
The grass was green above the dead boy's grave, and trodden by feet so small
and light, that not a daisy drooped its head beneath their pressure. Through all
the spring and summertime, garlands of fresh flowers, wreathed by infant hands,
rested on the stone; and, when the children came to change them lest they should
wither and be pleasant to him no longer, their eyes filled with tears, and they
spoke low and softly of their poor dead cousin.
|