Nicholas Nickleby: Chapter 28 Summary & Analysis

After meeting Mulberry at the play, Kate cries through the night and is still distressed the next day. Meanwhile, her mother (Mrs. Nickleby) writes Kate a letter voicing her approval for choosing Mulberry as a suitor. She writes that Mulberry is exactly the type of man she would have chosen herself for a son-in-law. When Kate receives the letter, she becomes even more upset. Kate reads a book to Mrs. Wititterly, who tells Kate that she extended an invitation to the fine gentlemen she met the night before to visit. Kate asks if she’s expecting them that day. Just as Kate asks the question, she hears knocking at the door.

Frederick, Mulberry, Pluck, and Pyke are at the Wititterlys’ door. Kate attempts to excuse herself, but Mrs. Wititterly calls her back. During the visit, Mulberry fixes all of his attention on Kate, which makes Mrs. Wititterly jealous. She begins to wonder if Mulberry is as charming as she initially supposed. Mulberry is convinced that he will be able to seduce Kate, which, he believes, will raise his reputation among the licentious group of people he calls his friends.

For a fortnight, Frederick, Mulberry, Pluck, and Pyke visit the Wititterly house each day. Every time they come, Kate is subjected to Mulberry’s crudeness and coarseness. Kate cannot bear it. Mrs. Wititterly seems to grow increasingly jealous of the attention Kate gets. When the men are gone, Mrs. Wititterly takes out her frustration on Kate by treating her poorly. To Kate, the situation seems impossible, and she has no time to herself for relief. After that fortnight, Mrs. Wititterly confronts Kate. She says she’s upset by how forward Kate is around the men who visit. Kate can’t believe what she’s hearing. She tells Mrs. Wititterly that she doesn’t understand how a woman can watch how those men act and think that Kate is somehow to blame. She says that Mrs. Wititterly’s accusations are unfounded.

Mrs. Wititterly becomes more and more agitated as Kate responds to her. Eventually, Mrs. Wititterly falls onto the couch and begins screaming. Mr. Wititterly comes out and asks Kate what she has done to his wife. He says that it’s her soul rearing up again. After that outburst, Kate doesn’t know where to turn. Her mother and the Wititterlys are convinced by the men’s charade. Only Ralph knows that Mulberry, Frederick, Pluck, and Pyke are reprehensible, so Kate goes to see him.

Kate rushes into Ralph’s office. She says shame on him for acquainting her with Mulberry and Frederick, subjecting her to their advances at his party, and failing to prevent them from continuing to see her. Ralph responds that Kate has a temper and must have some of her brother Nicholas in her. Kate says she hopes she does. She implores Ralph, as one of her only friends in the world, to intervene to stop the men from antagonizing and demeaning her. She says perhaps Ralph could speak to them. Ralph says he can’t risk offending people he’s in business with.

Kate is appalled. She says she won’t tarnish Ralph’s reputation by quitting her job early, but as soon as her contract allows her to leave, she will. And after that, she’ll hide herself from Ralph and Mulberry, Frederick, Pluck, and Pyke. She’ll do any work she has to, even grueling manual labor, to be free from all of them. She leaves Ralph’s office. As she leaves, she runs into Newman, who commends her for confronting Ralph. Though Ralph declined to act on Kate’s behalf, once she leaves, he feels rage toward Mulberry, Frederick, Pluck, and Pyke. He says to himself that they’ll pay for what they’ve done. Meanwhile, in a different room, Newman punches the air over and over, imagining that he is beating Ralph to within an inch of his life.