, cruel, creature,« said Madame Mantalini, sobbing at the
dreadful picture.
    »She calls me cruel - me - me - who for her sake will become a demd, damp,
moist, unpleasant body!« exclaimed Mr. Mantalini.
    »You know it almost breaks my heart, even to hear you talk of such a thing,«
replied Madame Mantalini.
    »Can I live to be mistrusted?« cried her husband. »Have I cut my heart into
a demd extraordinary number of little pieces, and given them all away, one after
another, to the same little engrossing demnition captivater, and can I live to
be suspected by her! Demmit, no I can't.«
    »Ask Mr. Nickleby whether the sum I have mentioned is not a proper one,«
reasoned Madame Mantalini.
    »I don't want any sum,« replied her disconsolate husband; »I shall require
no demd allowance. I will be a body.«
    On this repetition of Mr. Mantalini's fatal threat, Madame Mantalini wrung
her hands, and implored the interference of Ralph Nickleby; and after a great
quantity of tears and talking, and several attempts on the part of Mr. Mantalini
to reach the door, preparatory to straightway committing violence upon himself,
that gentleman was prevailed upon, with difficulty, to promise that he wouldn't
be a body. This great point attained, Madame Mantalini argued the question of
the allowance, and Mr. Mantalini did the same, taking occasion to show that he
could live with uncommon satisfaction upon bread and water, and go clad in rags,
but that he could not support existence with the additional burden of being
mistrusted by the object of his most devoted and disinterested affection. This
brought fresh tears into Madame Mantalini's eyes, which having just begun to
open to some few of the demerits of Mr. Mantalini, were only open a very little
way, and could be easily closed again. The result was, that without quite giving
up the allowance question, Madame Mantalini postponed its further consideration;
and Ralph saw, clearly enough, that Mr. Mantalini had gained a fresh lease of
his easy life, and that, for some time longer at all events, his degradation and
downfall were postponed.
    »But it will come soon enough,« thought Ralph; »all love - bah! that I
should use the cant of boys and girls - is fleeting enough; though that which
has its sole root in the admiration of a whiskered face like that of yonder
baboon, perhaps lasts the longest, as it originates
