He might have been five or six year old at that time--not more.' 'What more do you know about him ?' demanded Ralph.
'Devilish little, I'm sorry to say,' replied Squeers.

'The money was paid for some six or eight year, and then it stopped.

He had given an address in London, had this chap; but when it came to the point, of course nobody knowed anything about him.

So I kept the lad out of--out of--' 'Charity ?' suggested Ralph drily.
'Charity, to be sure,' returned Squeers, rubbing his knees, 'and when he begins to be useful in a certain sort of way, this young scoundrel of a Nickleby comes and carries him off.

But the most vexatious and aggeravating part of the whole affair is,' said Squeers, dropping his voice, and drawing his chair still closer to Ralph, 'that some questions have been asked about him at last--not of me, but, in a roundabout kind of way, of people in our village.