ey were
determined to help Nicholas protect Smike, he was afraid to go any
further with the plan. So he smothered his rage for the time being, and
meanwhile a most important thing happened to Nicholas--he fell in love!

It came about in this way: There was a man named Bray, who had been
arrested for debt and was allowed to live only in a certain street under
the guardianship of the jailer, for this was the law in England then. He
was slowly dying of heart-disease, and all the money he had to live on
was what his only daughter, a lovely girl named Madeline, earned by
painting and selling pictures.

The Cheeryble brothers had learned of their poverty, (for it was hard
for Madeline to find purchasers), and they sent Nicholas to buy some of
the pictures. He was to pretend to be a dealer, so that Madeline would
not suspect it was done for charity. Nicholas went more than once and
soon had fallen very much in love with Madeline Bray.

He was not the only one who admired her, however. There was an old man
named Gride, almost as stingy as Ralph Nickleby, who had discovered by
accident that a large sum of money really belonged to Madeline, which
she and her father knew nothing about, and he thought it would be a fine
thing to marry her and thus get this fortune into his hands. Now, Ralph
Nickleby was one of the men who was keeping Bray a prisoner, and so
Gride went to him and asked him to help him marry Madeline. If Bray
made his daughter marry the old miser he himself was to be set free.
Ralph, for his share, was to get some of the money the old man Gride
knew should be Madeline's.

It was a pretty plan and it pleased Ralph, for he cared little what
lives he ruined so long as he got money by it. So he agreed, and soon
convinced Bray (who, ill as he was, was utterly selfish) that it would
be a fine thing for Madeline to marry the hideous old Gride and so free
her father. At length, in despair, because she thought it her duty to
her heartless father, Madeline consented to do so.

Nicholas might never have known of this till after the wedding, but
luckily Noggs, the clerk, had overheard the old skinflint make the
bargain with Ralph, and when one day Nicholas confessed that he was in
love with Madeline, the good-hearted clerk told him all that he had
found out.

Nicholas was in great trouble, for he loved Madeline very dearly. He
went to her and begged her not to marry Gride, but she thought it her
duty. He went to Gride, to