 - as indeed all our family have, and the disappointment was a
dreadful blow. He is a wonderfully accomplished man - most extraordinarily
accomplished - reads - hem - reads every novel that comes out; I mean every
novel that - hem - that has any fashion in it, of course. The fact is, that he
did find so much in the books he read, applicable to his own misfortunes, and
did find himself in every respect so much like the heroes - because of course he
is conscious of his own superiority, as we all are, and very naturally - that he
took to scorning everything, and became a genius; and I am quite sure that he
is, at this very present moment, writing another book.«
    »Another book!« repeated Kate, finding that a pause was left for somebody to
say something.
    »Yes,« said Miss Knag, nodding in great triumph; »another book, in three
volumes post octavo. Of course it's a great advantage to him, in all his little
fashionable descriptions, to have the benefit of my - hem - of my experience,
because, of course, few authors who write about such things can have such
opportunities of knowing them as I have. He's so wrapped up in high life, that
the least allusion to business or worldly matters - like that woman just now,
for instance - quite distracts him; but, as I often say, I think his
disappointment a great thing for him, because if he hadn't been disappointed he
couldn't have written about blighted hopes and all that; and the fact is, if it
hadn't happened as it has, I don't believe his genius would ever have come out
at all.«
    How much more communicative Miss Knag might have become under more
favourable circumstances, it is impossible to divine, but as the gloomy one was
within ear-shot, and the fire wanted making up, her disclosures stopped here. To
judge from all appearances, and the difficulty of making the water warm, the
last servant could not have been much accustomed to any other fire than St.
Anthony's; but a little brandy and water was made at last, and the guests,
having been previously regaled with cold leg of mutton and bread and cheese,
soon afterwards took leave; Kate amusing herself, all the way home, with the
recollection of her last glimpse of Mr. Mortimer Knag deeply abstracted in the
shop; and Mrs. Nickleby by debating within herself whether the dress-making firm
would ultimately become Mantalini,
