Nicholas Nickleby

Mr. Squeers tracks down Peg and befriends her. He convinces her to burn the evidence of her robbery. Together, they go to her room and start destroying the documents she stole from Arthur. They’re so excited that they don’t notice Newman Noggs and Frank Cheeryble enter. When Mr. Squeers finds the deed in Madeline’s name, he puts it in his coat pocket, and Newman and Frank descend upon him.

Nicholas brings Smike to Nicholas’s hometown in Yorkshire. Despite the sadness of their journey, Nicholas is happy to show Smike where he played as a boy and promises to bury him under Nicholas’s favorite tree. Smike admits that he’s in love with Kate and then dies in peace, with Nicholas by his side.

Ralph is deeply bothered by his recent failures. He can’t find Newman Noggs and is unpleasantly surprised by a visit from Charles Cheeryble, with whom he refuses to talk. Ralph also can’t find Mr. Squeers, so he goes to the Cheeryble business house to meet with the brothers. There, they reveal Newman Noggs, who accuses Ralph of taking advantage of his poverty and forcing him to do bad things. The Cheerybles reveal that they know of Ralph’s plan and already have a confession from Mr. Snawley. A judge sent Mr. Squeers to jail for a week when he couldn’t explain why he had Madeline’s deed. They warn Ralph that it is likely he will also be apprehended, but Ralph refuses to be intimidated.

Ralph visits Mr. Squeers at the jail. Mr. Squeers blames Ralph for the trouble he is in and regrets getting involved with him. He vows to pin the blame for his crime on Ralph. Ralph tries to bribe him into secrecy, but Mr. Squeers is too angry to accept.

Later that evening, Tim finds Ralph at home and urgently ushers him to the Cheerybles’. There, they inform him that someone has died; at first, Ralph worries it’s Kate and then hopes it’s Nicholas. When he finds out it’s Smike, he laughs it off. Mr. Brooker steps out from the shadows. Mr. Brooker reveals that Smike was Ralph’s son. A long time ago, Ralph married a woman in secret; if her brother knew she had married without his permission, he would have disinherited her. The two had a child who was likewise raised in secret, far away from Ralph. When Ralph’s wife left him for another man, Mr. Brooker was tasked with getting Smike into Ralph’s custody, but he distrusted Ralph so much that he gave Smike up to Mr. Squeers’s school and told Ralph that his son had died. The story horrifies everyone, including Mr. Brooker, who feels guilty. Ralph disappears from the room.

Nicholas returns home after Smike’s death, which has devastated everyone. Kate admits to Nicholas that she’s in love with Frank but rejected his marriage proposal. Both Kate and Nicholas are worried that the Cheerybles will see their respective romances as attempts to better their socioeconomic station. Nicholas and Kate are heartbroken but vow to stand by each other forever. Nicholas admits his feelings for Madeline and Kate’s feelings for Frank to Charles. He asks that Charles find a new home for Madeline to spare Nicholas the pain of constantly seeing someone he cannot have.

Ralph passes a graveyard on his way home and contemplates death. He is upset by the story of Smike, his long-lost son, now dead. He is most upset that Nicholas was the one who helped Smike and held him as he died. Ralph “seem[s] to remember a time when he was not quite so rough and obdurate” (1225). Ralph is wracked with guilt and dies by suicide.

The Cheeryble brothers invite the Nicklebys, Tim, and Miss La Creevy to their house for dinner. They reveal that Madeline’s deed is actually a will from her grandfather awarding her the small fortune of 12,000 pounds. They express their happiness that Madeline is in love with Nicholas and declare that Nicholas should share in her fortune. They also give their blessing for Frank to marry Kate. Tim proposes marriage to Miss La Creevy, who accepts.

Nicholas has never forgotten John Browdie’s kindness and wants to share his new fortune with him in person. He rides to the countryside to tell John the good news about his engagement to Madeline. He also tells John about the legal trouble Mr. Squeers has gotten into, which includes an investigation into Dotheboys Hall. John goes to the school, which has received word of Mr. Squeers’s arrest. The boys are revolting against Mrs. Squeers, her son, and her daughter. John stops the boys from hurting the Squeers family, and the boys jubilantly run away from the school. John and Tilda help as many boys as they can, but many become vagrants because they have no other home to return to.

Nicholas marries Madeline, Kate marries Frank, and Miss La Creevy marries Tim. Nicholas invests in the Cheeryble firm and becomes a partner in the business. Though Kate and Nicholas could have claimed Ralph’s inheritance after his death, they didn’t want to benefit from his death, so his fortune goes to the state. Arthur Gride is arrested for unlawful possession of Madeline’s will but doesn’t serve time; later, he is murdered in a robbery. Sir Mulberry eventually goes to a debtors’ prison. Mr. Brooker dies impoverished, and no one hears from Peg again.

Nicholas, now a wealthy man, buys his childhood home and revitalizes it. Kate and Nicholas have children, and Mrs. Nickleby spends happy days helping raise them. Nicholas employs Newman to aid him with his business affairs. Smike’s grave is well taken care of and doted over.