Chapter 65

by Charles Dickens

　　ConclusionWhen her term of mourning had expired, Madeline gave her hand andfortune to Nicholas; and, on the same day and at the same time, Katebecame Mrs Frank Cheeryble. It was expected that Tim Linkinwaterand Miss La Creevy would have made a third couple on the occasion,but they declined, and two or three weeks afterwards went outtogether one morning before breakfast, and, coming back with merryfaces, were found to have been quietly married that day.The money which Nicholas acquired in right of his wife he investedin the firm of Cheeryble Brothers, in which Frank had become apartner. Before many years elapsed, the business began to becarried on in the names of 'Cheeryble and Nickleby,' so that MrsNickleby's prophetic anticipations were realised at last.The twin brothers retired. Who needs to be told that they werehappy? They were surrounded by happiness of their own creation, andlived but to increase it.Tim Linkinwater condescended, after much entreaty and brow-beating,to accept a share in the house; but he could never be prevailed uponto suffer the publication of his name as a partner, and alwayspersisted in the punctual and regular discharge of his clerklyduties.He and his wife lived in the old house, and occupied the verybedchamber in which he had slept for four-and-forty years. As hiswife grew older, she became even a more cheerful and light-heartedlittle creature; and it was a common saying among their friends,that it was impossible to say which looked the happier, Tim as hesat calmly smiling in his elbow-chair on one side of the fire, orhis brisk little wife chatting and laughing, and constantly bustlingin and out of hers, on the other.Dick, the blackbird, was removed from the counting-house andpromoted to a warm corner in the common sitting-room. Beneath hiscage hung two miniatures, of Mrs Linkinwater's execution; onerepresenting herself, and the other Tim; and both smiling very hardat all beholders. Tim's head being powdered like a twelfth cake,and his spectacles copied with great nicety, strangers detected aclose resemblance to him at the first glance, and this leading themto suspect that the other must be his wife, and emboldening them tosay so without scruple, Mrs Linkinwater grew very proud of theseachievements in time, and considered them among the most successfullikenesses she had ever painted. Tim had the profoundest faith inthem, likewise; for on this, as on all other subjects, they held butone opinion; and if ever there were a 'comfortable couple' in theworld, it was Mr and Mrs Linkinwater.Ralph, having died intestate, and having no relations but those withwhom he had lived in such enmity, they would have become in legalcourse his heirs. But they could not bear the thought of growingrich on money so acquired, and felt as though they could never hopeto prosper with it. They made no claim to his wealth; and theriches for which he had toiled all his days, and burdened his soulwith so many evil deeds, were swept at last into the coffers of thestate, 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 dishonestlyacquired and retained by other means as bad. By dint of aningenious counsel, and a legal flaw, he escaped; but only to undergoa worse punishment; for, some years afterwards, his house was brokenopen in the night by robbers, tempted by the rumours of his greatwealth, and he was found murdered in his bed.Mrs Sliderskew went beyond the seas at nearly the same time as MrSqueers, and in the course of nature never returned. Brooker diedpenitent. Sir Mulberry Hawk lived abroad for some years, courtedand caressed, and in high repute as a fine dashing fellow.Ultimately, returning to this country, he was thrown into jail fordebt, and there perished miserably, as such high spirits generallydo.The first act of Nicholas, when he became a rich and prosperousmerchant, was to buy his father's old house. As time crept on, andthere came gradually about him a group of lovely children, it wasaltered and enlarged; but none of the old rooms were ever pulleddown, no old tree was ever rooted up, nothing with which there wasany association of bygone times was ever removed or changed.Within a stone's throw was another retreat, enlivened by children'spleasant voices too; and here was Kate, with many new cares andoccupations, and many new faces courting her sweet smile (and one solike her own, that to her mother she seemed a child again), the sametrue gentle creature, the same fond sister, the same in the love ofall about her, as in her girlish days.Mrs Nickleby lived, sometimes with her daughter, and sometimes withher son, accompanying one or other of them to London at thoseperiods when the cares of business obliged both families to residethere, and always preserving a great appearance of dignity, andrelating her experiences (especially on points connected with themanagement and bringing-up of children) with much solemnity andimportance. It was a very long time before she could be induced toreceive Mrs Linkinwater into favour, and it is even doubtful whethershe ever thoroughly forgave her.There was one grey-haired, quiet, harmless gentleman, who, winterand summer, lived in a little cottage hard by Nicholas's house, and,when he was not there, assumed the superintendence of affairs. Hischief pleasure and delight was in the children, with whom he was achild himself, and master of the revels. The little people could donothing without dear Newman Noggs.The grass was green above the dead boy's grave, and trodden by feetso small and light, that not a daisy drooped its head beneath theirpressure. Through all the spring and summertime, garlands of freshflowers, wreathed by infant hands, rested on the stone; and, whenthe children came to change them lest they should wither and bepleasant to him no longer, their eyes filled with tears, and theyspoke low and softly of their poor dead cousin.