About six o’clock in the afternoon
There was a mighty bustle that night , and a vast quantity of preparation for the expected visitor , and a very large nosegay was brought from a gardener 's hard by , and cut up into a number of very small ones , with which Mrs. Nickleby would have garnished the little sitting-room , in a style that certainly could not have failed to attract anybody 's attention , if Kate had not offered to spare her the trouble , and arranged them in the prettiest and neatest manner possible . If the cottage ever looked pretty , it must have been on such a bright and sunshiny day as the next day was . But Smike 's pride in the garden , or Mrs. Nickleby 's in the condition of the furniture , or Kate 's in everything , was nothing to the pride with which Nicholas looked at Kate herself ; and surely the costliest mansion in all England might have found in her beautiful face and graceful form its most exquisite and peerless ornament . About six o'clock in the afternoon Mrs. Nickleby was thrown into a great flutter of spirits by the long-expected knock at the door , nor was this flutter at all composed by the audible tread of two pair of boots in the passage , which Mrs. Nickleby augured , in a breathless state , must be ` the two Mr. Cheerybles ; ' as it certainly was , though not the two Mrs. Nickleby expected , because it was Mr. Charles Cheeryble , and his nephew , Mr. Frank , who made a thousand apologies for his intrusion , which Mrs. Nickleby -LRB- having tea-spoons enough and to spare for all -RRB- most graciously received . Nor did the appearance of this unexpected visitor occasion the least embarrassment , -LRB- save in Kate , and that only to the extent of a blush or two at first , -RRB- for the old gentleman was so kind and cordial , and the young gentleman imitated him in this respect so well , that the usual stiffness and formality of a first meeting showed no signs of appearing , and Kate really more than once detected herself in the very act of wondering when it was going to begin . At the tea-table there was plenty of conversation on a great variety of subjects , nor were there wanting jocose matters of discussion , such as they were ; for young Mr. Cheeryble 's recent stay in Germany happening to be alluded to , old Mr. Cheeryble informed the company that the aforesaid young Mr. Cheeryble was suspected to have fallen deeply in love with the daughter of a certain German burgomaster . This accusation young Mr. Cheeryble most indignantly repelled , upon which Mrs. Nickleby slyly remarked , that she suspected , from the very warmth of the denial , there must be something in it .