Whether they were playing the ring and string game or the ruble game or talking as now, Nicholas did not leave Sonya`s side, and gazed at her with quite new eyes. It seemed to him that it was only today, thanks to that burnt-cork mustache, that he had fully learned to know her. And really, that evening, Sonya was brighter, more animated, and prettier than Nicholas had ever seen her before.

‘So it is,’ sobbed Mrs Nickleby. ‘So it is.’