say to them? Why, if I was to say to them, "I'm
told your friend Sir Mulberry is a base wretch," they'd laugh at me.'

'They will laugh no more at us, I take it,' said Nicholas, advancing.
'Come, mother, there is a coach at the door, and until Monday, at all
events, we will return to our old quarters.'

'--Where everything is ready, and a hearty welcome into the bargain,'
added Miss La Creevy. 'Now, let me go with you downstairs.'

But Mrs Nickleby was not to be so easily moved, for first she insisted
on going upstairs to see that nothing had been left, and then on going
downstairs to see that everything had been taken away; and when she was
getting into the coach she had a vision of a forgotten coffee-pot on the
back-kitchen hob, and after she was shut in, a dismal recollection of
a green umbrella behind some unknown door. At last Nicholas, in a
condition of absolute despair, ordered the coachman to drive away,
and in the unexpected jerk of a sudden starting, Mrs Nickleby lost a
shilling among the straw, which fortunately confined her attention to
the coach until it was too late to remember anything else.

Having seen everything safely out, discharged the servant, and locked
the door, Nicholas jumped into a cabriolet and drove to a bye place near
Golden Square where he had appointed to meet Noggs; and so quickly had
everything been done, that it was barely half-past nine when he reached
the place of meeting.

'Here is the letter for Ralph,' said Nicholas, 'and here the key. When
you come to me this evening, not a word of last night. Ill news travels
fast, and they will know it soon enough. Have you heard if he was much
hurt?'

Newman shook his head.

'I will ascertain that myself without loss of time,' said Nicholas.

'You had better take some rest,' returned Newman. 'You are fevered and
ill.'

Nicholas waved his hand carelessly, and concealing the indisposition he
really felt, now that the excitement which had sustained him was over,
took a hurried farewell of Newman Noggs, and left him.

Newman was not three minutes' walk from Golden Square, but in the course
of that three minutes he took the letter out of his hat and put it in
again twenty times at least. First the front, then the back, then the
sides, then the superscription, then the seal, were objects of Newman's
admiration. Then he held it at arm's length as if to take in the whole
at one delicious survey, and then he rubbed his hands in a perfect
e