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'I have taken such a fancy to your daughter, Mrs Nickleby, you can't think, said Miss Knag, after she had proceeded a little distance in dignified silence. 'I am delighted to hear it, said Mrs Nickleby; 'though it is nothing new to me, that even strangers should like Kate. 'Hem! cried Miss Knag. 'You will like her better when you know how good she is, said Mrs Nickleby.
Thank God, said Miss Knag, stamping first her right foot and then her left with remarkable energy, 'I have never in all that time, till now, been exposed to the arts, the vile arts, of a creature, who disgraces us with all her proceedings, and makes proper people blush for themselves. But I feel it, I do feel it, although I am disgusted.
'Well, I never did know anybody like you, Madame Mantalini, rejoined Miss Knag most complacently, 'and that's the fact, for you know what one's going to say, before it has time to rise to one's lips. Oh, very good! Ha, ha, ha!
'Well now, that is so like you, returned Miss Knag, 'Ha! ha! ha! Of club feet! Oh very good!
To which end, the accidental discovery by Miss Knag of some tender correspondence, in which Madame Mantalini was described as 'old' and 'ordinary, had most providentially contributed.
'Upon my word! said Miss Knag, as the satellites flocked round, to relieve her of her bonnet and shawl; 'I should have thought some people would have had spirit enough to stop away altogether, when they know what an incumbrance their presence is to right-minded persons. But it's a queer world; oh! it's a queer world!
'For myself, observed Madame Mantalini, glancing with affected carelessness at her assistant, and laughing heartily in her sleeve, 'I consider Miss Nickleby the most awkward girl I ever saw in my life. 'Poor dear thing, said Miss Knag, 'it's not her fault.
Kate would willingly have excused herself from this flattering companionship; but Miss Knag having adjusted her bonnet to her entire satisfaction, took her arm with an air which plainly showed how much she felt the compliment she was conferring, and they were in the street before she could say another word. 'I fear, said Kate, hesitating, 'that mama my mother, I mean is waiting for me.
Having quoted this extraordinary and most disinterested testimony to her daughter's excellence, Mrs Nickleby stopped to breathe; and Miss Knag, finding that the discourse was turning upon family greatness, lost no time in striking in, with a small reminiscence on her own account. 'Don't talk of lending money, Mrs Nickleby, said Miss Knag, 'or you'll drive me crazy, perfectly crazy.
You are in mourning for some near relation? 'For my father, answered Kate. 'For what relation, Miss Simmonds? asked Miss Knag, in an audible voice. 'Her father, replied the other softly. 'Her father, eh? said Miss Knag, without the slightest depression of her voice. 'Ah! A long illness, Miss Simmonds? 'Hush, replied the girl; 'I don't know.
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