"Yes," answered Sturdy, in a matter-of-fact tone, "she was a very good craft, and was in the West India trade. I saw considerable of her, being as how I got acquainted with Tom Seagrove, one of the men on board."
"Oh, yes, I see what you mean," said Charlie; "but I don't mean a ship, I mean a story of the same name."
"No, I never heard of it. Named after the ship, like enough."
Charlie thought it more probable that the vessel was named after the story, but as this was a point of little importance to the present occasion, he passed it by, and continued, "Well, Bill, it's a very interesting story, and as I remember that about as well as anything I ever read, I believe I will tell you part of it."
"Heave ahead, my lad."
"You must know that this Nicholas Nickleby was a young man whose father died when he was about nineteen, leaving him very little money, but a mother and sister to provide for. He had an old uncle Ralph, who was very rich, but an old rascal, who didn't trouble himself about his poor relations."
"That's the way with a good many rich people," said Bill. "They leave the smaller craft to shift for themselves."
"However, on being applied to, he did manage to get the sister a place in a millinery establishment, and, as for Nicholas, he got him a place as assistant teacher in a country boarding-school."
"He was a sort of first mate in the school, wasn't he?"