house.
But Mrs. Brough was a bad manager; and, instead of carrying matters
with a high hand, fairly burst into tears before Mrs. Hoggarty, and
went down on her knees and besought her to save dear John. This at
once aroused my aunt's suspicions; and instead of lending the
money, she wrote off to Mr. Smithers instantly to come up to her,
desired me to give her up the 3,000L. scrip shares that I
possessed, called me an atrocious cheat and heartless swindler, and
vowed I had been the cause of her ruin.
How was Mr. Brough to get the money? I will tell you. Being in
his room one day, old Gates the Fulham porter came and brought him
from Mr. Balls, the pawnbroker, a sum of 1,200L. Missus told him,
he said, to carry the plate to Mr. Balls; and having paid the
money, old Gates fumbled a great deal in his pockets, and at last
pulled out a 5L. note, which he said his daughter Jane had just
sent him from service, and begged Mr. B. would let him have another
share in the Company. "He was mortal sure it would go right yet.
And when he heard master crying and cursing as he and missus were
walking in the shrubbery, and saying that for the want of a few
pounds--a few shillings--the finest fortune in Europe was to be
overthrown, why Gates and his woman thought that they should come
for'ard, to be sure, with all they could, to help the kindest
master and missus ever was."
This was the substance of Gates's speech; and Mr. Brough shook his
hand and--took the 5L. "Gates," said he, "that 5L. note shall be
the best outlay you ever made in your life!" and I have no doubt it
was,--but it was in heaven that poor old Gates was to get the
interest of his little mite.
Nor was this the only instance. Mrs. Brough's sister, Miss Dough,
who had been on bad terms with the Director almost ever since he
had risen to be a great man, came to the office with a power of
attorney, and said, "John, Isabella has been with me this morning,
and says you want money, and I have brought you my 4,000L.; it is
all I have, John, and pray God it may do you good--you and my dear
sister, who was the best sister in the world to me--till--till a
little time ago."
And she laid down the paper: I was called up to witness it, and
Brough, with tears in his eyes, told me her words; for he could
trust me, he said. And thus it was that I came to be present at
Gates's interview with his master, which took place only an hour
afterwards. Brave Mrs. Brough! how she was working for her
husband! Good woman, and kind! but YOU had a true heart, and
merited a better fate! Though wherefore say so? The woman, to
this day, thinks her husband an angel, and loves him a thousand
times better for his misfortunes.
On Saturday, Alderman Pash's solicitor was paid by me across the
counter, as I said. "Never mind your aunt's money, Titmarsh my
boy," said Brough: "never mind her having resumed her shares. You
are a true honest fellow; you have never abused me like that pack
of curs downstairs, and I'll make your fortune yet!"
* * *
The next week, as I was sitting with my wife, with Mr. Smithers,
and with Mrs. Hoggarty, taking our tea comfortably, a knock was
heard at the door, and a gentleman desired to speak to me in the
parlour. It was Mr. Aminadab of Chancery Lane, who arrested me as
a shareholder of the Independent West Diddlesex Association, at the
suit of Von Stiltz of Clifford Street, tailor and draper.
I called down Smithers, and told him for Heaven's sake not to tell
Mary.
"Where is Brough?" says Mr. Smithers.
"Why," says Mr. Aminadab, "he's once more of the firm of Brough and
Off, sir--he breakfasted at Calais this morning!"
CHAPTER XI
IN WHICH IT APPEARS THAT A MAN MAY POSSESS A DIAMOND AND YET BE
VERY HARD PRESSED FOR A DINNER
On that fatal Saturday evening, in a hackney-coach, fetched from
the Foundling, was I taken from my comfortable house and my dear
little wife; whom Mr. Smithers was left to console as he might. He
said that I was compelled to take a journey upon business connected
with the office; and my poor Mary made up a little portmanteau of
clothes, and tied a comforter round my neck, and bade my companion
particularly to keep the coach windows shut: which injunction the
grinning wretch promised to obey. Our journey was not long: it
was only a shilling fare to Cursitor Street, Chancery Lane, and
there I was set down.
The house before which the coach stopped seemed to be only one of
half-a-dozen in that street which were used for the same purpose.
No man, be he ever so rich, can pass by those dismal houses, I
think, without a shudder. The front windows are barred, and on the
dingy pillar of the door was a shining brass-plate, setting forth
that "Aminadab, Officer to the Sheriff of Middlesex," lived
therein. A little red-haired Israelite opened the first door as
our coach drove up, and received me and my baggage.
As soon as we entered the door, he barred it, and I found myself in
the face of another huge door, which was strongly locked; and, at
last, passing through that, we entered the lobby of the house.
There is no need to describe it. It is very like ten thousand
other houses in our dark City of London. There was a dirty passage
and a dirty stair, and from the passage two dirty doors let into
two filthy rooms, which had strong bars at the windows, and yet
withal an air of horrible finery that makes me uncomfortable to
think of even yet. On the walls hung all sorts of trumpery
pictures in tawdry frames (how different from those capital
performances of my cousin Michael Angelo!); on the mantelpiece huge
French clocks, vases, and candlesticks; on the sideboards, enormous
trays of Birmingham plated ware: for Mr. Aminadab not only
arrested those who could not pay money, but lent it to those who
could; and had already, in the way of trade, sold and bought these
articles many times over.
I agreed to take the back-parlour for the night, and while a Hebrew
damsel was arranging a little dusky sofa-bedstead (woe betide him
who has to sleep on it!) I was invited into the front parlour,
where Mr. Aminadab, bidding me take heart, told me I should have a
dinner for nothing with a party who had just arrived. I did not
want for dinner, but I was glad not to be alone--not alone, even
till Gus came; for whom I despatched a messenger to his lodgings
hard by.
I found there, in the front parlour, at eight o'clock in the
evening, four gentlemen, just about to sit down to dinner.
Surprising! there was Mr. B., a gentleman of fashion, who had only
within half-an-hour arrived in a post-chaise with his companion,
Mr. Lock, an officer of Horsham gaol. Mr. B. was arrested in this
wise:- He was a careless good-humoured gentleman, and had indorsed
bills to a large amount for a friend; who, a man of high family and
unquestionable honour, had pledged the latter, along wi
th a number
of the most solemn oaths, for the payment of the bills in question.
Having indorsed the notes, young Mr. B., with a proper
thoughtlessness, forgot all about them, and so, by some chance, did
the friend whom he obliged; for, instead of being in London with
the money for the payment of his obligations, this latter gentleman
was travelling abroad, and never hinted one word to Mr. B. that the
notes would fall upon him. The young gentleman was at Brighton
lying sick of a fever; was taken from his bed by a bailiff, and
carried, on a rainy day, to Horsham gaol; had a relapse of his
complaint, and when sufficiently recovered, was brought up to
London to the house of Mr. Aminadab; where I found him--a pale,
thin, good-humoured, LOST young man: he was lying on a sofa, and
had given orders for the dinner to which I was invited. The lad's
face gave one pain to look at; it was impossible not to see that
his hours were numbered.
Now Mr. B. has not anything to do with my humble story; but I can't
help mentioning him, as I saw him. He sent for his lawyer and his
doctor; the former settled speedily his accounts with the bailiff,
and the latter arranged all his earthly accounts: for after he
went from the spunging-house he never recovered from the shock of
the arrest, and in a few weeks he DIED. And though this
circumstance took place many years ago, I can't forget it to my
dying day; and often see the author of Mr. B.'s death,--a
prosperous gentleman, riding a fine horse in the Park, lounging at
the window of a club; with many friends, no doubt, and a good
reputation. I wonder whether the man sleeps easily and eats with a
good appetite? I wonder whether he has paid Mr. B.'s heirs the sum
which that gentleman paid, and DIED FOR?
If Mr. B.'s history has nothing to do with mine, and is only
inserted here for the sake of a moral, what business have I to
mention particulars of the dinner to which I was treated by that
gentleman, in the spunging-house in Cursitor Street? Why, for the
moral too; and therefore the public must be told of what really and
truly that dinner consisted.
There were five guests, and three silver tureens of soup: viz.,
mock-turtle soup, ox-tail soup, and giblet soup. Next came a great
piece of salmon, likewise on a silver dish, a roast goose, a roast
saddle of mutton, roast game, and all sorts of adjuncts. In this
way can a gentleman live in a spunging-house if he be inclined; and
over this repast (which, in truth, I could not touch, for, let
alone having dined, my heart was full of care)--over this meal my
friend Gus Hoskins found me, when he received the letter that I had
despatched to him.
Gus, who had never been in a prison before, and whose heart failed
him as the red-headed young Moses opened and shut for him the
numerous iron outer doors, was struck dumb to see me behind a
bottle of claret, in a room blazing with gilt lamps; the curtains
were down too, and you could not see the bars at the windows; and
Mr. B., Mr. Lock the Brighton officer, Mr. Aminadab, and another
rich gentleman of his trade and religious persuasion, were chirping
as merrily, and looked as respectably, as any noblemen in the land.
"Have him in," said Mr. B., "if he's a friend of Mr. Titmarsh's;
for, cuss me, I like to see a rogue: and run me through, Titmarsh,
but I think you are one of the best in London. You beat Brough;
you do, by Jove! for he looks like a rogue--anybody would swear to
him; but you! by Jove, you look the very picture of honesty!"
"A deep file," said Aminadab, winking and pointing me out to his
friend Mr. Jehoshaphat.
"A good one," says Jehoshaphat.
"In for three hundred thousand pound," says Aminadab: "Brough's
right-hand man, and only three-and-twenty."
"Mr. Titmarsh, sir, your 'ealth, sir," says Mr. Lock, in an ecstasy
of admiration. "Your very good 'earth, sir, and better luck to you
next time."
"Pooh, pooh! HE'S all right," says Aminadab; "let HIM alone."
"In for WHAT?" shouted I, quite amazed. "Why, sir, you arrested me
for 90L."
"Yes, but you are in for half a million,--you know you are. THEM
debts I don't count--them paltry tradesmen's accounts. I mean
Brough's business. It's an ugly one; but you'll get through it.
We all know you; and I lay my life that when you come through the
court, Mrs. Titmarsh has got a handsome thing laid by."
"Mrs. Titmarsh has a small property," says I. "What then?"
The three gentlemen burst into a loud laugh, said I was a "rum
chap"--a "downy cove," and made other remarks which I could not
understand then; but the meaning of which I have since
comprehended, for they took me to be a great rascal, I am sorry to
say, and supposed that I had robbed the I. W. D. Association, and,
in order to make my money secure, settled it on my wife.
It was in the midst of this conversation that, as I said, Gus came
in; and whew! when he saw what was going on, he gave SUCH a
whistle!
"Herr von Joel, by Jove!" says Aminadab. At which all laughed.
"Sit down," says Mr. B.,--"sit down, and wet your whistle, my
piper! I say, egad! you're the piper that played before Moses!
Had you there, Dab. Dab, get a fresh bottle of Burgundy for Mr.
Hoskins." And before he knew where he was, there was Gus for the
first time in his life drinking Clos-Vougeot. Gus said he had
never tasted Bergamy before, at which the bailiff sneered, and told
him the name of the wine.
"OLD CLO! What?" says Gus; and we laughed: but the Hebrew gents
did not this time.
"Come, come, sir!" says Mr. Aminadab's friend, "ve're all
shentlemen here, and shentlemen never makish reflexunsh upon other
gentlemen'sh pershuashunsh."
After this feast was concluded, Gus and I retired to my room to
consult about my affairs. With regard to the responsibility
incurred as a shareholder in the West Diddlesex, I was not uneasy;
for though the matter might cause me a little trouble at first, I
knew I was not a shareholder; that the shares were scrip shares,
making the dividend payable to the bearer; and my aunt had called
back her shares, and consequently I was free. But it was very
unpleasant to me to consider that I was in debt nearly a hundred
pounds to tradesmen, chiefly of Mrs. Hoggarty's recommendation; and
as she had promised to be answerable for their bills, I determined
to send her a letter reminding her of her promise, and begging her
at the same time to relieve me from Mr. Von Stiltz's debt, for
which I was arrested: and which was incurred not certainly at her
desire, but at Mr. Brough's; and would never have been incurred by
me but at the absolute demand of that gentleman.
I wrote to her, therefore, begging her to pay all these debts, and
promised myself on Monday morning again to be with my dear wife.
Gus carried off the letter, and promised to deliver it in Bernhard
Street after church-time; taking ca
re that Mary should know nothing
at all of the painful situation in which I was placed. It was near
midnight when we parted, and I tried to sleep as well as I could in
the dirty little sofa-bedstead of Mr. Aminadab's back-parlour.
That morning was fine and sunshiny, and I heard all the bells
ringing cheerfully for church, and longed to be walking to the
Foundling with my wife: but there were the three iron doors
between me and liberty, and I had nothing for it but to read my
prayers in my own room, and walk up and down afterwards in the
court at the back of the house. Would you believe it? This very
court was like a cage! Great iron bars covered it in from one end
to another; and here it was that Mr. Aminadab's gaol-birds took the
air.
They had seen me reading out of the prayer-book at the back-parlour
window, and all burst into a yell of laughter when I came to walk
in the cage. One of them shouted out "Amen!" when I appeared;
another called me a muff (which means, in the slang language, a
very silly fellow); a third wondered that I took to my prayer-book
YET.
"When do you mean, sir?" says I to the fellow--a rough man, a
horse-dealer.
"Why, when you are going TO BE HANGED, you young hypocrite!" says
the man. "But that is always the way with Brough's people,"
continued he. "I had four greys once for him--a great bargain, but
he would not go to look at them at Tattersall's, nor speak a word
of business about them, because it was a Sunday."
"Because there are hypocrites," sir, says I, "religion is not to be
considered a bad thing; and if Mr. Brough would not deal with you
on a Sunday, he certainly did his duty."
The men only laughed the more at this rebuke, and evidently
considered me a great criminal. I was glad to be released from
their society by the appearance of Gus and Mr. Smithers. Both wore
very long faces. They were ushered into my room, and, without any
orders of mine, a bottle of wine and biscuits were brought in by
Mr. Aminadab; which I really thought was very kind of him.
"Drink a glass of wine, Mr. Titmarsh," says Smithers, "and read
this letter. A pretty note was that which you sent to your aunt
this morning, and here you have an answer to it."
I drank the wine, and trembled rather as I read as follows:-
"Sir,--If, because you knew I had desined to leave you my proparty,
you wished to murdar me, and so stepp into it, you are
dissapointed. Your VILLIANY and INGRATITUDE WOULD have murdard me,
had I not, by Heaven's grace, been inabled to look for consalation
ELSEWHERE.
"For nearly a year I have been a MARTAR to you. I gave up
everything,--my happy home in the country, where all respected the
name of Hoggarty; my valuble furnitur and wines; my plate, glass,
and crockry; I brought all--all to make your home happy and
rispectable. I put up with the AIRS AND IMPERTANENCIES of Mrs.
Titmarsh; I loaded her and you with presents and bennafits. I
sacrafised myself; I gave up the best sociaty in the land, to witch
I have been accustomed, in order to be a gardian and compannion to
you, and prevent, if possible, that WAIST AND IXTRAVYGANCE which I
PROPHYCIED would be your ruin. Such waist and ixtravygance never,
never, never did I see. Buttar waisted as if it had been dirt,
coles flung away, candles burnt AT BOTH ENDS, tea and meat the
same. The butcher's bill in this house was enough to support six
famalies.
"And now you have the audassaty, being placed in prison justly for
your crimes,--for cheating me of 3,000L., for robbing your mother
of an insignificient summ, which to her, poor thing, was everything
(though she will not feel her loss as I do, being all her life next
door to a beggar), for incurring detts which you cannot pay,
wherein you knew that your miserable income was quite unable to