Nicholas Nickleby, Chapter 37 summary

What happens

1. Nicholas studies accounting for two weeks and earns Tim Linkinwater’s enthusiastic approval when he enters the business books.
2. The Cheeryble brothers give Tim a valuable birthday present and invite Nicholas to the celebration.
3. During dinner, the brothers honor their dead mother, and the servants join a toast to Tim.
4. Tim privately admits that his former courtship ends when the woman marries someone else.
5. Mrs. Nickleby tells Nicholas that their neighbor sends vegetables over the wall and proposes marriage and elopement.
6. Nicholas advises firm rejection, but his mother privately defends the admirer and notices another possible vegetable gift at dawn.

In this chapter

What to notice

Nicholas challenges his mother’s interpretation of the gifts. Her subsequent report of an explicit proposal strengthens her account without removing his objections.

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