Upon this poor being all the spleen and ill-humor that could not be vented on Nicholas were unceasingly bestowed. Drudgery would have been nothing--Smike was well used to that. Buffetings inflicted without cause would have been equally a matter of course; for to them also he had served a long and weary apprenticeship; but it was no sooner observed that he had become attached to Nicholas, than stripes and blows, stripes and blows, morning, noon, and night, were his only portion. Nicholas saw it, and ground his teeth at every repetition of the savage and cowardly attack. But at present he saw no way to aid the boy, for a protest would mean his own dismissal, and the lot of Smike and the others would become that much harder.
One day, after especially harsh treatment, the boy sat huddled in a dark corner by himself, sobbing as though his heart would break. The room was dark and deserted, when Nicholas entered, but he heard the sound of weeping and went over and laid his hand on the drudge's head.
"Do not, for God's sake!" said Nicholas, in an agitated voice; "I cannot bear to see you."
"They are more hard with me than ever," sobbed the boy.
"I know it," rejoined Nicholas. "They are."
"But for you," said the outcast, "I should die. They would kill me, they would; I know they would."
"You will do better, poor fellow," replied Nicholas, shaking his head mournfully, "when I am gone."
"Gone!" cried the other, looking intently in his face.
"Are you going?" demanded the boy, in an earnest whisper.
"I cannot say," replied Nicholas. "I was speaking more to my own thoughts than to you."
"Tell me," said the boy, imploringly, "oh, do tell me, _will_ you go--_will_ you?"
"I shall be driven to that at last!" said Nicholas. "The world is before me, after all."
"Tell me," urged Smike, "is the world as bad and dismal as this place?"
"Heaven forbid," replied Nicholas, pursuing the train of his own thoughts; "its hardest, coarsest toil were happiness to this."
"Should I ever meet you there?" demanded the boy, speaking with unusual wildness.
"Yes," replied Nicholas, willing to soothe him.
"No, no!" said the other, clasping him by the hand. "Should I--should I--tell me that again! Say I should be sure to find you!"