he feared to distress us!'

'Mighty fine certainly,' said Ralph, with great testiness. 'When I first
went to business, ma'am, I took a penny loaf and a ha'porth of milk for
my breakfast as I walked to the city every morning; what do you say to
that, ma'am? Breakfast! Bah!'

'Now, Nickleby,' said Squeers, coming up at the moment buttoning his
greatcoat; 'I think you'd better get up behind. I'm afraid of one of
them boys falling off and then there's twenty pound a year gone.'

'Dear Nicholas,' whispered Kate, touching her brother's arm, 'who is
that vulgar man?'

'Eh!' growled Ralph, whose quick ears had caught the inquiry. 'Do you
wish to be introduced to Mr Squeers, my dear?'

'That the schoolmaster! No, uncle. Oh no!' replied Kate, shrinking back.

'I'm sure I heard you say as much, my dear,' retorted Ralph in his cold
sarcastic manner. 'Mr Squeers, here's my niece: Nicholas's sister!'

'Very glad to make your acquaintance, miss,' said Squeers, raising his
hat an inch or two. 'I wish Mrs Squeers took gals, and we had you for a
teacher. I don't know, though, whether she mightn't grow jealous if we
had. Ha! ha! ha!'

If the proprietor of Dotheboys Hall could have known what was passing
in his assistant's breast at that moment, he would have discovered, with
some surprise, that he was as near being soundly pummelled as he had