nd through him he found a cheap room on the roof of the building, which
he rented for himself and Smike. Then he started out to find his mother
and Kate.

He would have hastened if he had guessed what was happening or how badly
Kate had been treated by Ralph Nickleby.

The evening before, as it happened, Kate had been invited to dinner at
her uncle's fine house, and there she had met two dissipated young
men--Lord Frederick Verisopht and Sir Mulberry Hawk, the latter of whom
had looked at her and talked to her so rudely that she had indignantly
left the table and gone home. She had not slept a wink that night, and
the next morning, to make her and her mother more wretched still, Ralph
Nickleby called with a letter he had just received from Fanny Squeers,
declaring that Nicholas was a thief and a scoundrel; that he had tried
to murder her father and all his family, and had run off with one of the
pupils of Dotheboys Hall.

To be sure, neither of them believed it, but if made them very unhappy.
And then, just as Ralph was reading them the last line of the letter, in
came Nicholas! You may be sure he comforted them and told them it was a
lie. He told Ralph what he thought of him also in stern language, which
made his uncle angrier than ever.

Then, seeing that his presence was making things worse, and realizing in
what poverty his dear ones were, and that they were so wholly dependent
on Ralph for help, Nicholas came to a very brave determination. He told
them that, as he could not help them himself, he would go away from them
until his fortune bettered. So, bidding them good-by, and telling his
uncle he should keep watch over them and that if any harm came to them
he would hold him accountable, Nicholas went sadly back to his garret
room and to Smike.

He tried hard for some days to find a situation, but failed, and he
would not take money from Noggs, who was so poor himself. So at last,
with Smike, he set out on foot for Portsmouth, which was a seaport,
thinking there they might find a chance to go as sailors in some ship.

At an inn on the way, however, Nicholas met a man who caused him to
change all his plans. This man was a Mr. Vincent Crummles. When Nicholas
first saw him in the inn he was teaching his two sons to make-believe
fight with swords. They were practising for a play, for Mr. Crummles was
manager of a theater in Portsmouth, and he proposed that Nicholas join
the company and become an actor.

There s