1947 version
Nicholas: I went away on one condition; that you would care for my mother and Kate. I left them to you, and this is how you treat them?!
Ralph: Young girls like to imagine things. Kate is no exception.
Nicholas: Kate imagined nothing! She told me nothing of her trouble. Your loose-tongued friends made it clear enough. You broke your promise, and one day you'll pay for it!
Ralph: I see. An I.O.U. of some kind, due on some indefinite date.
Nicholas: You can sneer if you want to. I may be young. I may have no money and no experience, but I know the difference between good and evil, and I know how people of your type come to an end! From the very first, you took advantage of my helplessness. I should have known better than to trust you a second...
Ralph: I'VE HEARD ENOUGH! As for your mother and sister, from now on, you can care for them!
Nicholas: I fully intend to! You'll never make use of my sister again for your business schemes!
Ralph: Of course, they'll have to leave the home I provided.
Nicholas: They've already left it! They never want to see it again... or you. (throws key down on table and storms out.)
Ralph: Young girls like to imagine things. Kate is no exception.
Nicholas: Kate imagined nothing! She told me nothing of her trouble. Your loose-tongued friends made it clear enough. You broke your promise, and one day you'll pay for it!
Ralph: I see. An I.O.U. of some kind, due on some indefinite date.
Nicholas: You can sneer if you want to. I may be young. I may have no money and no experience, but I know the difference between good and evil, and I know how people of your type come to an end! From the very first, you took advantage of my helplessness. I should have known better than to trust you a second...
Ralph: I'VE HEARD ENOUGH! As for your mother and sister, from now on, you can care for them!
Nicholas: I fully intend to! You'll never make use of my sister again for your business schemes!
Ralph: Of course, they'll have to leave the home I provided.
Nicholas: They've already left it! They never want to see it again... or you. (throws key down on table and storms out.)
— Nicholas confronting Ralph the day after his altercation with Sir Mulberry Hawk.
Ralph: Noggs. Take down this letter. "To Mr. Squeers, the Saracen's head, snow hill. I have decided to finance any legal action you may care to take against my nephew."
Newman: Ho ho! Ho! He isn't there.
Ralph: Who isn't?
Newman: Mr. Squeers. He's at Bow Street Police Station!
Ralph: You're lying.
Newman: Ohhh no, I'm not. And Mr Squeers hasn't been lying either. Mr Squeers has confessed to conspiracy with regard to a birth certificate and certain letters purporting to prove that Mr Snawley was the father!
Ralph: I don't know what you're talking about.
Newman: Don't you? Mr Squeers says otherwise. So does Mr Snawley. So do the police.
Ralph: HOLD YOUR TONGUE, YOU TREACHEROUS, SNEAKING...!
Newman: I've held my tongue for 15 years! Stood by helpless while you've ruined many another as once you ruined me.
Ralph: You ruined yourself. You'd sell your soul if you had one, for a little gin!
Newman: But I wouldn't sell my own flesh and blood. And it's not only little Kate I'm thinking of. I've seen the boy, Smike, the living image of his mother, of your wife!
Ralph: My wife?!
Newman: Didn't know I knew that, did you, that you had a son? Your wife died but the child lived, and you had to keep his birth a secret or the money would have gone to him. You put him out with a poor family, didn't you, to bring him up as their own? You paid them well for it, haven't you, ever since? Well, they didn't keep the boy!
Ralph: It isn't true.
Newman: They put him to school in Yorkshire. They put him in Dotheboys Hall!
Ralph: They cheated me!
Newman: Yes. They cheated you, just as you've cheated hundreds of others!
Ralph: I'll seat them in the gutter for this! And I'll deal with you too!
Newman: Will you? Will you? I've waited all these years for a chance to settle our account. And now, at last, it's come. The police have been here, and I've told them everything. There'll be another charge against you now; Depriving your own son of his birthright, robbing him of a fortune! They'll transport you for that, you know! Hahahahahaha! They'll confiscate every penny you've got! Hahahahahaha! You can't escape now! It doesn't matter where you go! Off to see a lawyer, is that it?! See if he can help you! Or are you going to bring the boy home?! Own him as your own son, give him back the money?! No use! No good! Nothing can help you now, money or lawyers! It doesn't matter where you go! YOU'RE TOO LATE!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! TOO LATE!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Newman: Ho ho! Ho! He isn't there.
Ralph: Who isn't?
Newman: Mr. Squeers. He's at Bow Street Police Station!
Ralph: You're lying.
Newman: Ohhh no, I'm not. And Mr Squeers hasn't been lying either. Mr Squeers has confessed to conspiracy with regard to a birth certificate and certain letters purporting to prove that Mr Snawley was the father!
Ralph: I don't know what you're talking about.
Newman: Don't you? Mr Squeers says otherwise. So does Mr Snawley. So do the police.
Ralph: HOLD YOUR TONGUE, YOU TREACHEROUS, SNEAKING...!
Newman: I've held my tongue for 15 years! Stood by helpless while you've ruined many another as once you ruined me.
Ralph: You ruined yourself. You'd sell your soul if you had one, for a little gin!
Newman: But I wouldn't sell my own flesh and blood. And it's not only little Kate I'm thinking of. I've seen the boy, Smike, the living image of his mother, of your wife!
Ralph: My wife?!
Newman: Didn't know I knew that, did you, that you had a son? Your wife died but the child lived, and you had to keep his birth a secret or the money would have gone to him. You put him out with a poor family, didn't you, to bring him up as their own? You paid them well for it, haven't you, ever since? Well, they didn't keep the boy!
Ralph: It isn't true.
Newman: They put him to school in Yorkshire. They put him in Dotheboys Hall!
Ralph: They cheated me!
Newman: Yes. They cheated you, just as you've cheated hundreds of others!
Ralph: I'll seat them in the gutter for this! And I'll deal with you too!
Newman: Will you? Will you? I've waited all these years for a chance to settle our account. And now, at last, it's come. The police have been here, and I've told them everything. There'll be another charge against you now; Depriving your own son of his birthright, robbing him of a fortune! They'll transport you for that, you know! Hahahahahaha! They'll confiscate every penny you've got! Hahahahahaha! You can't escape now! It doesn't matter where you go! Off to see a lawyer, is that it?! See if he can help you! Or are you going to bring the boy home?! Own him as your own son, give him back the money?! No use! No good! Nothing can help you now, money or lawyers! It doesn't matter where you go! YOU'RE TOO LATE!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! TOO LATE!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
— Newman Noggs' confrontation with Ralph
2002 version
Nicholas: Were you not once married?
Ralph: What...? [flashback to Ralph's wife in church] ...There's no crime in that.
Nicholas: But you desired the marriage to be kept secret, for if your wife's father had known, he would have changed his will and denied you his fortune. Mr. Brooker also tells us your wife had a child. Your child. Because the marriage was secret, this, too, had to be kept secret and you sent her away. So, the child was put out to nurse far away. His mother never saw him, and she grew tired of the deception. So, she eloped with another man. Soon thereafter, she came into her money.
Brooker: You naturally pursued her, leaving me in charge of the boy. I was told to bring him here, which I did, keeping him in the garret.
Nicholas: Neglect made him sickly. Mr. Brooker consulted a doctor, who said he must be removed from the city for a change of air, or he would die.
Ralph: But he... he did die. I know that.
Brooker: At last I can say it. I told you that the boy had died, but he had not. I had heard, like most men, of Yorkshire Schools. So, I took the child to one kept by Squeers. I was able to pay the fees myself at first, but then my troubles took over and I was sent away out of this country. When I returned nearly eight years later, I sought you out, but you repulsed me. So, I found out your clerk and showed him there were good reasons for communicating with me. I told him my story. But just to be sure that the boy I was thinking of was the same boy, I went to Devonshire and knew at once that it was.
Ralph: Did Squeers... know who the child was?
Brooker: No. I told him his name was Smike.
Ralph: [in heartbreaking realization] Then the crippled boy... is my son.
Nicholas: [sympathetically] Was your son. That boy, whose loving cheerfulness and sweetness of heart could have been the life-saving comfort you need, as all your fortune falls away, that boy now sleeps in the ground... by my father.
Ralph: What...? [flashback to Ralph's wife in church] ...There's no crime in that.
Nicholas: But you desired the marriage to be kept secret, for if your wife's father had known, he would have changed his will and denied you his fortune. Mr. Brooker also tells us your wife had a child. Your child. Because the marriage was secret, this, too, had to be kept secret and you sent her away. So, the child was put out to nurse far away. His mother never saw him, and she grew tired of the deception. So, she eloped with another man. Soon thereafter, she came into her money.
Brooker: You naturally pursued her, leaving me in charge of the boy. I was told to bring him here, which I did, keeping him in the garret.
Nicholas: Neglect made him sickly. Mr. Brooker consulted a doctor, who said he must be removed from the city for a change of air, or he would die.
Ralph: But he... he did die. I know that.
Brooker: At last I can say it. I told you that the boy had died, but he had not. I had heard, like most men, of Yorkshire Schools. So, I took the child to one kept by Squeers. I was able to pay the fees myself at first, but then my troubles took over and I was sent away out of this country. When I returned nearly eight years later, I sought you out, but you repulsed me. So, I found out your clerk and showed him there were good reasons for communicating with me. I told him my story. But just to be sure that the boy I was thinking of was the same boy, I went to Devonshire and knew at once that it was.
Ralph: Did Squeers... know who the child was?
Brooker: No. I told him his name was Smike.
Ralph: [in heartbreaking realization] Then the crippled boy... is my son.
Nicholas: [sympathetically] Was your son. That boy, whose loving cheerfulness and sweetness of heart could have been the life-saving comfort you need, as all your fortune falls away, that boy now sleeps in the ground... by my father.
— Nicholas and Brooker reveal Ralph's secret
