"'I see how it is," said poor Noggs, drawing from his pocket what seemed to be a very old duster, and wiping Kate's eye with it as gently as if she were an infant."</span></a> Chap. XXVIII — Fred Barnard's twenty-sixth illustration for Dickens's "Nicholas Nickleby" (1875)

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"I see how it is," said poor Noggs, drawing from his pocket what seemed to be a very old duster, and wiping Kate's eye with it as gently as if she were an infant.

Head: "Mr. Noggs Goes Through a Little Performance" (189)

Fred Barnard

13.8 x 10.7 cm (5 ½ by 4 inches), vignetted, p. 188. For Chapter 28.

Dickens's Nicholas Nickleby, The Household Edition (1875), p. 188.

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Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

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Passage Illustrated: Newman Noggs acquires a paternal role for Kate

"In the mean time," interrupted Kate, with becoming pride and indignation, "I am to be the scorn of my own sex, and the toy of the other; justly condemned by all women of right feeling, and despised by all honest and honourable men; sunken in my own esteem, and degraded in every eye that looks upon me. No, not if I work my fingers to the bone, not if I am driven to the roughest and hardest labour. Do not mistake me. I will not disgrace your recommendation. I will remain in the house in which it placed me, until I am entitled to leave it by the terms of my engagement; though, mind, I see these men no more. When I quit it, I will hide myself from them and you, and, striving to support my mother by hard service, I will live, at least, in peace, and trust in God to help me."

With these words, she waved her hand, and quitted the room, leaving Ralph Nickleby motionless as a statue.

The surprise with which Kate, as she closed the room-door, beheld, close beside it, Newman Noggs standing bolt upright in a little niche in the wall like some scarecrow or Guy Faux laid up in winter quarters, almost occasioned her to call aloud. But, Newman laying his finger upon his lips, she had the presence of mind to refrain.

"Don’t," said Newman, gliding out of his recess, and accompanying her across the hall. "Don’t cry, don’t cry." Two very large tears, by-the-bye, were running down Newman’s face as he spoke.

"I see how it is," said poor Noggs, drawing from his pocket what seemed to be a very old duster, and wiping Kate’s eyes with it, as gently as if she were an infant. "You’re giving way now. Yes, yes, very good; that’s right, I like that. It was right not to give way before him. Yes, yes! Ha, ha, ha! Oh, yes. Poor thing!"

With these disjointed exclamations, Newman wiped his own eyes with the afore-mentioned duster, and, limping to the street-door, opened it to let her out.

"Don’t cry any more," whispered Newman. "I shall see you soon. Ha! ha! ha! And so shall somebody else, too. Yes, yes. Ho! ho!"

"God bless you," answered Kate, hurrying out, "God bless you." [Chapter XXVIII, "Miss Nickleby, rendered desperate by the Persecution of Sir Mulberry Hawk, and the Complicated Difficulties and Distresses which surround her, appeals, as a last resource, to her Uncle for Protection," 187]

Other Editions' Versions of the Confidential Clerk and This Chapter

Left: Sol Eytinge, Jr.'s portrait of the peculiar clerk who befriends the Nicklebys: Newman Noggs (1867). Centre: C. S. Reinhart's 1875 American Household Editioncomposite woodblock engraving for this same chapter: "Run for Sir Tumley," cried Mr. Wititterley, menacing the page with both fists. Right: Harry Furniss's 1910 lithograph study representing Ralph Nickleby's kindly but quirky clerk: Newman Noggs, in the Charles Dickens Library Edition.

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

Bibliography

Barnard, J. "Fred" (il.). Charles Dickens's Nicholas Nickleby, with fifty-nine illustrations. The Works of Charles Dickens: The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1875. XV. 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 8 August 2021