morning, noon
He was an altered being ; he had an object now ; and that object was , to show his attachment to the only person -- that person a stranger -- who had treated him , not to say with kindness , but like a human creature . Upon this poor being , all the spleen and ill-humour 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 . Squeers was jealous of the influence which his man had so soon acquired , and his family hated him , and Smike paid for both . Nicholas saw it , and ground his teeth at every repetition of the savage and cowardly attack . He had arranged a few regular lessons for the boys ; and one night , as he paced up and down the dismal schoolroom , his swollen heart almost bursting to think that his protection and countenance should have increased the misery of the wretched being whose peculiar destitution had awakened his pity , he paused mechanically in a dark corner where sat the object of his thoughts .