Part 2, Act 2, Scenes 1-4 Summary

Scene 1. At the tavern, Nicholas meets with John and Tilda with three purposes in mind. He wants to thank John for rescuing Smike, to congratulate John and Tilda on getting married - but before he can get to the third purpose, their conversation is interrupted by an altercation spilling in from the street. A young man is attacking an angry man for being disrespectful to a young woman, whom the young man didn't even know. As Nicholas (for obvious reasons) seems to side with him, the young man calms down and suggests that both he and the angry man calm down and reconsider their situation tomorrow. The angry man leaves, and Nicholas and the young man exchange cards, which is when Nicholas discovers that the young man is another Cheeryble - Frank Cheeryble, to be exact, who...