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Support the Monkey! Tell All your Friends and Teachers |
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Support the Monkey! Tell All your Friends and Teachers |
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482 the ordinary course of business Newman would have either admitted the new-comer in silence, or have requested him or her to stand aside while the gentlemen passed out. But he no sooner saw who it was, than as if for some private reason of his own, he boldly departed from the established custom of Ralph’s mansion in business hours, and looking towards the respectable trio who were approaching, cried in a loud and sonorous voice, ‘Mrs Nickleby!’ ‘Mrs Nickleby!’ cried Sir Mulberry Hawk, as his friend looked back, and stared him in the face. It was, indeed, that well-intentioned lady, who, having received an offer for the empty house in the city directed to the landlord, had brought it post-haste to Mr Nickleby without delay. ‘Nobody you know,’ said Ralph. ‘Step into the office, my--my-- dear. I’ll be with you directly.’ ‘Nobody I know!’ cried Sir Mulberry Hawk, advancing to the astonished lady. ‘Is this Mrs Nickleby--the mother of Miss Nickleby--the delightful creature that I had the happiness of meeting in this house the very last time I dined here? But no;’ said Sir Mulberry, stopping short. ‘No, it can’t be. There is the same cast of features, the same indescribable air of--But no; no. This lady is too young for that.’ ‘I think you can tell the gentleman, brother-in-law, if it concerns him to know,’ said Mrs Nickleby, acknowledging the compliment with a graceful bend, ‘that Kate Nickleby is my daughter.’ ‘Her daughter, my lord!’ cried Sir Mulberry, turning to his friend. ‘This lady’s daughter, my lord.’ ‘My lord!’ thought Mrs Nickleby. ‘Well, I never did--’ ‘This, then, my lord,’ said Sir Mulberry, ‘is the lady to whose |
