Introduction
Towards the close of Dickens’s ‘Nicholas Nickleby,’ young Frank Cheeryble has proposed to Kate Nickleby, and Kate’s brother Nicholas has proposed to Madeleine Bray. The atmosphere in the offices of the Cheeryble Brothers in London is heady with romance; and that old lion Tim Linkinwater, the company clerk, admits to Miss La Creevy, ‘a young lady of fifty,’ that the mood is infectious.
‘IT’S almost enough to make us get married after all, isn’t it?’ said Tim.
Oh, nonsense!’ replied Miss La Creevy, laughing. ‘We are too old.’
‘Not a bit,’ said Tim; ‘we are too old to be single. Why shouldn’t we both be married, instead of sitting through the long winter evenings by our solitary firesides? Why shouldn’t we make one fireside of it, and marry each other?’
‘Oh, Mr Linkinwater, you’re joking!’
‘No, no, I’m not. I’m not indeed,’ said Tim. ‘I will, if you will. Do, my dear!’
‘It would make people laugh so.’
‘Let ’em laugh,’ cried Tim stoutly; ‘we have good tempers I know, and we’ll laugh too. Why, what hearty laughs we have had since we’ve known each other!’
‘So we have,’ cried Miss La Creevy — giving way a little, as Tim thought.
‘It has been the happiest time in all my life; at least, away from the counting-house and Cheeryble Brothers,’ said Tim. ‘Do, my dear! Now say you will.’
‘No, no, we mustn’t think of it,’ returned Miss La Creevy. ‘What would the brothers say?’*
* Ned and Charles Cheeryble, Tim’s employers. They were reputedly based on William and Daniel Grant of Ramsbottom near Manchester in Lancashire. See ‘Come in and Know Me Better’. Tim’s counterpart in ‘The Square,’ from 1821 to 1866 the beating heart of the Grants’ industrial portfolio in Ramsbottom, was book-keeper Thomas Richardson.
Précis
Carried away by the announcement of two weddings in the offices of the Cheeryble Brothers, the brothers’ clerk Tim Linkinwater is minded to follow suit. Miss La Creevy is surprised that Tim should be marrying at his age, and flustered to find that he is thinking of marrying her; but her only anxiety is what Tim’s employers will say. (59 / 60 words)
Carried away by the announcement of two weddings in the offices of the Cheeryble Brothers, the brothers’ clerk Tim Linkinwater is minded to follow suit. Miss La Creevy is surprised that Tim should be marrying at his age, and flustered to find that he is thinking of marrying her; but her only anxiety is what Tim’s employers will say.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: besides, despite, may, not, otherwise, since, unless, who.
Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
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