Mr. Squeers gets a drink and leaves Nicholas with the boys when they reach their last stop. Later, a pony-chaise and a cart come around. The boys get into the cart with the luggage, and Mr. Squeers and Nickleby get into the chaise.
Squeers informs Nicholas that the school, which is given the fancy name of Dotheboys Hall to impress Londoners, is not really a Hall at all. It is a one-storey house with several outbuildings, a barn, and a stable.
Squeers is angry at Smike, one of the boys at the school, when he doesn't come promptly. Smike tells him that the missus allowed him to warm himself by the kitchen fire, and he fell asleep. Squeers denounces the missus as a fool, saying the boy would have been wide awake if he had stayed in the cold. He orders that the pony is not to be given any co
