"Forgive  me,"  said  Nicholas,  with  respectful  earnestness,
^'  if  I  seem  to  say  too  much,  or  to  presume  upon  the  confidence
which  has  been  entrusted  to  me.  But  I  could  not  leave  you  as
if  my  interest  and  sympathy  expired  with  the  commission  of
the  day.  I  am  your  faithful  servant,  humbly  devoted  to  you
from  this  hour  —  devoted  in  strict  truth  and  honor  to  him
who  sent  me  here,  and  in  pure  integrity  of  heart,  and  distant
respect  for  you.  If  I  meant  more  or  less  than  this,  I  should
be  unworthy  his  regard,  and  false  to  the  very  nature  that
prompts  the  honest  words  I  utter.*'

She  waved  her  hand,  entreating  him  to  be  gone,  but
answered  not  a  word.  Nicholas  could  say  no  more,  and
silently  withdrew.  And  thus  ended  his  first  interview  with
Madeline  Bray.
214  LIFE  AND  ADVENTURES  OF


CHAPTER  XV.
MB.  RALPH  NIGKUSBY  HAS  SOME  CONFIDENTIAL  INTERCOUBSB
WITH  ANOTHER  OLD  FRIEND.  THEY  CONCERT  BETWEEN
THEM  A   PROJECT^    WHICH   PROMISES   WELL    FOB   BOTH.
"There  go  the  three  quarters  past!"  muttered  Newman
Koggs,  listening  to  the  chimes  of  some  neighboring  church,
"and  my  dinner  time's  two.  He  does  it  on  purpose.  He
makes  a  point  of  it.     It's  just  like  him."

It  was  in  his  own  little  den  of  an  office  and  on  the  top  of
his  official  stool  that  Newman  thus  soliloquized;  and  the
soliloquy  referred,  as  Newman's  grumbling  soliloquies  usually
did,  to  Ralph  Nickleby.
