"Kate walked sadly back to their lodgings in the Strand" — Fred Barnard's eleventh illustration for Dickens's "Nicholas Nickleby" (1875)

Kate walked sadly back to their lodgings in the Strand, in the Household Edition, illustrated by Fred Barnard. Chapter 10, page 68, 10.8 x 13.9 cm (4 ¼ by 5 ⅜ inches), framed. Running head: "Kate is Engaged by Madame Mantalini" (65). [Click on the images to enlarge them.]

Passage Illustrated: Kate Despondently Walks Home

"There!" said Ralph when they got into the street; "now you’re provided for."

Kate was about to thank him again, but he stopped her.

"I had some idea," he said, "of providing for your mother in a pleasant part of the country — (he had a presentation to some almshouses on the borders of Cornwall, which had occurred to him more than once) — but as you want to be together, I must do something else for her. She has a little money?"

"A very little," replied Kate.

"A little will go a long way if it’s used sparingly," said Ralph. ‘She must see how long she can make it last, living rent free. You leave your lodgings on Saturday?"

"You told us to do so, uncle."

"Yes; there is a house empty that belongs to me, which I can put you into till it is let, and then, if nothing else turns up, perhaps I shall have another. You must live there."

"Is it far from here, sir?" inquired Kate.

"Pretty well," said Ralph; "in another quarter of the town — at the East end; but I’ll send my clerk down to you, at five o’clock on Saturday, to take you there. Goodbye. You know your way? Straight on."

Coldly shaking his niece’s hand, Ralph left her at the top of Regent Street, and turned down a by-thoroughfare, intent on schemes of money-getting. Kate walked sadly back to their lodgings in the Strand. [Chapter X, "How Mr. Ralph Nickleby provided for his Niece and Sister-in-Law," 65]

Commentary: Kate's labouring future

C. S. Reinhart's American Household Edition illustration for this same chapter depicts Kate and her uncle with the Mantalinis: "He shall be horsewhipped till he cries out demnably" (1875).

The Household Edition illustrations for the tenth chapter transport readers back to London from the Yorkshire scenes of the previous chapters. Reinhard in the Harper and Brothers volume focuses on the Mantalinis, who have agreed to Ralph Nickleby's proposition that his niece come to work for them as an apprentice milliner, decidedly a step down socially for a young man from an upper-middle-class family. Barnard in the Chapman and Hall volume directs readers to consider Kate's plight as she is now without her brother's protection and has seen the dilapidated Thames-side house in which her uncle intends to install her mother and herself.

Mrs. Nickleby's initial reaction to Ralph's vocational plans for Kate is dismay. However, she is mollified by Ralph's assurance that such a career could lead to the accumulation of considerable wealth for a young woman with a talent for design and needlecraft. While Ralph and his niece are walking towards Mrs. Matalini's establishment, she expresses her gratitude towards her uncle, and then, recalling her father's recent death and her brother's departure for Greta Bridge, she breaks down. However, Ralph reassures her that, although she will be working long hours, she will be able to continue to live with her mother, but of course no longer as Miss LaCreevy's respectable tenant.

No sooner have they arrived at their destination than Kate encounters a licentious, leering Italian — none other than the Mayfair dressmaker's womanizing husband, Signor Alfredo Mantalini, a lazy ne'er-do-well who lives off his wife's industriousness. His wife attempts to persuade Kate that her husband merely enjoys looking at attractive young women and talking to them, and that Kate should not construe his manners and language as disrespectful or lascivious (but Kate is not entirely convinced). And now for her dress-making position: Kate will be working twelve hours a day (9:00 A. M. to 9:00 P. M.), and may even have to put in paid overtime. The employer will provide both tea and dinner. Mrs. Mantalini's rates of pay (five to seven pounds annually) are about standard for the era: Kate will receive wages at the upper end of the scale if she proves herself adept and productive. She is to start on Monday. As she walks home, Kate despondently contemplates her much-changed circumstances as she and her mother must, Ralph has told her, move on Saturday to his run-down investment property on the river.

Related material, including front matter and sketches, by other illustrators

Scanned image, colour correction, sizing, caption, and commentary by Philip V. Allingham. [You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose, as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image, and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]

Bibliography

Barnard, J. "Fred" (il.). Charles Dickens's Nicholas Nickleby, with fifty-eight illustrations. The Works of Charles Dickens: The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1875. Volume 15. Rpt. 1890.

Bentley, Nicolas, Michael Slater, and Nina Burgis. The Dickens Index. Oxford and New York: Oxford U. P., 1988.

Davis, Paul. Charles Dickens A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Facts On File, 1998.

Dickens, Charles. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. With fifty-two illustrations by C. S. Reinhart. The Household Edition. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1872. I.

__________. Nicholas Nickleby. With 39 illustrations by Hablot K. Browne ("Phiz"). London: Chapman & Hall, 1839.

__________. Nicholas Nickleby. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. 18 vols. London: Educational Book, 1910. Vol. 4.

__________. "Nicholas Nickleby." Scenes and Characters from the Works of Charles Dickens, being eight hundred and sixty-six drawings by Fred Barnard et al.. Household Edition. London: Chapman and Hall, 1908.

Created 11 April 2021