why does the man that takes Smike to Dotheboys Hall, tell Nickleby that he is dead. he says near the ending, "now i can finally say it, he was not dead" why did he say he was dead..he had to pay for the schooling all by himself that way.
shareI think it was because he knew what type of person that Ralph (Smike's father) really was and wanted Smike to be free of him, but things went wrong.
shareHe wanted to "resurrect" Smike later then blackmail Ralph for money but got arrested and shipped to Australia in the meantime and couldn't carry out his plan. When he finished his sentence and came back to England it was too late.
shareYeah, I would just add to what the others have said, that remember that Smike's father put him in that awful room with the trap door and the doctors said Smike was ill from "neglect." So I don't think he wanted to risk the father trying to take Smike back (and right, he never expected to shipped off to prison).
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