it
led to something else, and in the end he and Newman walked away side by
side--the strange man talking earnestly, and Newman listening.

CHAPTER 45

Containing Matter of a surprising Kind

'As we gang awa' fra' Lunnun tomorrow neeght, and as I dinnot know that
I was e'er so happy in a' my days, Misther Nickleby, Ding! but I WILL
tak' anoother glass to our next merry meeting!'

So said John Browdie, rubbing his hands with great joyousness, and
looking round him with a ruddy shining face, quite in keeping with the
declaration.

The time at which John found himself in this enviable condition was the
same evening to which the last chapter bore reference; the place was
the cottage; and the assembled company were Nicholas, Mrs Nickleby, Mrs
Browdie, Kate Nickleby, and Smike.

A very merry party they had been. Mrs Nickleby, knowing of her son's
obligations to the honest Yorkshireman, had, after some demur, yielded
her consent to Mr and Mrs Browdie being invited out to tea; in the
way of which arrangement, there were at first sundry difficulties and
obstacles, arising out of her not having had an opportunity of 'calling'
upon Mrs Browdie first; for although Mrs Nickleby very often observed
with much complacency (as most punctilious people do), that she had not
an atom of pride or formality about her, still she was a great stickler
for dignity and ceremonies; and as it was manifest that, until a call
had been made, she could not be (politely speaking, and according to the
laws of society) even cognisant of the fact of Mrs Browdie's existence,
she felt her situation to be one of peculiar delicacy and difficulty.

'The call MUST originate with me, my dear,' said Mrs Nickleby, 'that's
indispensable. The fact is, my dear, that it's necessary there should
be a sort of condescension on my part, and that I should show this
young person that I am willing to take notice of her. There's a very
respectable-looking young man,' added Mrs Nickleby, after a short
consideration, 'who is conductor to one of the omnibuses that go by
here, and who wears a glazed hat--your sister and I have noticed him
very often--he has a wart upon his nose, Kate, you know, exactly like a
gentleman's servant.'

'Have all gentlemen's servants warts upon their noses, mother?' asked
Nicholas.

'Nicholas, my dear, how very absurd you are,' returned his mother; 'of
course I mean that his glazed hat looks like a gentleman's servant, and
not the wart