ed the other more humbly, 'and I met you here
at last, when I had almost given up the hope of encountering you, Mr
Nickleby.'

He seemed to wait for some reply, but Ralph giving him none, he
continued:

'I am a most miserable and wretched outcast, nearly sixty years old, and
as destitute and helpless as a child of six.'

'I am sixty years old, too,' replied Ralph, 'and am neither destitute
nor helpless. Work. Don't make fine play-acting speeches about bread,
but earn it.'

'How?' cried the other. 'Where? Show me the means. Will you give them to
me--will you?'

'I did once,' replied Ralph, composedly; 'you scarcely need ask me
whether I will again.'

'It's twenty years ago, or more,' said the man, in a suppressed voice,
'since you and I fell out. You remember that? I claimed a share in the
profits of some business I brought to you, and, as I persisted, you
arrested me for an old advance of ten pounds, odd shillings, including
interest at fifty per cent, or so.'

'I remember something of it,' replied Ralph, carelessly. 'What then?'

'That didn't part us,' said the man. 'I made submission, being on the
wrong side of the bolts and bars; and as you were not the made man then
that you are now, you were glad enough to take back a clerk who wasn't
over nice, and who knew something of the trade you drove.'

'You begged and prayed, and I consented,' returned Ralph. 'That was kind
of me. Perhaps I did want you. I forget. I should think I did, or you
would have begged in vain. You were useful; not too honest, not too
delicate, not too nice of hand or heart; but useful.'

'Useful, indeed!' said the man. 'Come. You had pinched and ground me
down for some years before that, but I had served you faithfully up to
that time, in spite of all your dog's usage. Had I?'

Ralph made no reply.

'Had I?' said the man again.

'You had had your wages,' rejoined Ralph, 'and had done your work. We
stood on equal ground so far, and could both cry quits.'

'Then, but not afterwards,' said the other.

'Not afterwards, certainly, nor even then, for (as you have just said)
you owed me money, and do still,' replied Ralph.

'That's not all,' said the man, eagerly. 'That's not all. Mark that. I
didn't forget that old sore, trust me. Partly in remembrance of that,
and partly in the hope of making money someday by the scheme, I took
advantage of my position about you, and possessed myself of a hold upon
you, which you would give half of