CHAPTER VII.
DOMESTIC POLITICS AT THE BREWERY.
In the mean time things were not going on very pleasantly at thebrewery, and Mr. Tappitt was making himself unpleasant in thebosom of his family. A lawsuit will sometimes make a man extremelypleasant company to his wife and children. Even a losing lawsuit willsometimes do so, if he be well backed up in his pugnacity by hislawyer, and if the matter of the battle be one in which he can takea delight to fight. "Ah," a man will say, "though I spend a thousandpounds over it, I'll stick to him like a burr. He shan't shake meoff." And at such times he is almost sure to be in a good humour,and in a generous mood. Then let his wife ask him for money fora dinner-party, and his daughters for new dresses. He has taughthimself for the moment to disregard money, and to think that he cansow five-pound notes broadcast without any inward pangs. But such wasby no means the case with Mr. Tappitt. His lawyer Honyman was notbacking him up; and as cool reflection came upon him he was afraid oftrusting his interests to those other men, Sharpit and Longfite. AndMrs. Tappitt, when cool reflection came on her, had begun to dreadthe ruin which it seemed possible that terrible young man mightinflict upon them. She had learned already, though Mrs. Ray had not,how false had been that report which had declared Luke Rowan tobe frivolous, idle, and in debt. To her it was very manifest thatHonyman was afraid of the young man; and Honyman, though he mightnot be as keen as some others, was at any rate honest. Honyman alsothought that if the brewery were given up to Rowan that thousand ayear which had been promised would be paid regularly; and to thissolution of the difficulty Mrs. Tappitt was gradually bending herselfto submit as the best which an untoward fate offered to them. Honymanhimself had declared to her that Mr. Tappitt, if he were welladvised, would admit Rowan in as a partner, on equal terms asregarded power and ultimate possession, but with that lion's share ofthe immediate concern for himself which Rowan offered. But this sheknew that Tappitt would not endure; and she knew, also, that if hewere brought to endure it for a while, it would ultimately lead toterrible sorrows. "They would be knocking each other about with thepokers, Mr. Honyman," she had said; "and where would the custom bewhen that got into the newspapers?" "If I were Mr. Tappitt, I wouldjust let him have his own way," Honyman had replied. "That shows thatyou don't know Tappitt," had been Mrs. Tappitt's rejoinder. No;--thethousand a year and dignified retirement in a villa had recommendeditself to Mrs. Tappitt's mind. She would use all her influence toattain that position,--if only she could bring herself to feelassured that the thousand a year would be forthcoming.
As to Tappitt himself, he was by no means so anxious to prolong thebattle as he had been at the time of Rowan's departure. His couragefor fighting was not maintained by good backing. Had Honyman clappedhim on the shoulder and bade him put ready money in his purse,telling him that all would come out right eventually, and that Rowanwould be crushed, he would have gone about Baslehurst boastingloudly, and would have been happy. Then Mrs. T. and the girls wouldhave had a merry time of it; and the Tappitts would have come out ofthe contest with four or five hundred a year for life instead of thethousand now offered to them, and nobody would have blamed anybodyfor such a result. But Honyman had not spirit for such backing. Inhis dull, slow, droning way he had shaken his head and said thatthings were looking badly. Then Tappitt had cursed and had sworn, andhad half resolved to go to Sharpit and Longfite. Sharpit and Longfitewould have clapped him on the back readily enough, and have bade himput plenty of money in his purse. But we may suppose that Fate didnot intend the ruin of Tappitt, seeing that she did not make him madenough to seek the counsels of Sharpit and Longfite. Fate only madehim very cross and unpleasant in the bosom of his family. Looking outhimself for some mode of escape from this terrible enemy that hadcome upon him, he preferred the raising of the sum of money whichwould be necessary to buy off Rowan altogether. Rowan had demandedten thousand pounds, but Tappitt still thought that seven, or, at anyrate, eight thousand would do it.
"I don't think he'll take less than ten," said Honyman, "because hisshare is really worth as much as that."
This was very provoking; and who can wonder that Tappitt was notpleasant company in his own house?
On the day after Mrs. Ray's visit to Exeter, Tappitt, as was now hisalmost daily practice, made his way into Mr. Honyman's little backroom, and sat there with his hat on, discussing his affairs.
"I find that Mr. Rowan has bought those cottages of the widow Ray's,"said Honyman.
"Nonsense!" shouted Tappitt, as though such a purchase on Rowan'spart was a new injury done to himself.
"Oh, but he has," said Honyman. "There's not a doubt in life aboutit. If he does mean to build a new brewery, it wouldn't be a badplace. You see it's out of the thoroughfare of the town, and yet, asone may say, within a stone's throw of the High Street."
I will not repeat Mr. Tappitt's exclamation as he listened to thesesuggestions of his lawyer, but it was of a nature to show that he hadnot heard the news with indifference.
"You see he's such a fellow that you don't know where to have him,"continued Honyman. "It's not only that he don't mind ruining you, buthe don't mind ruining himself either."
"I don't believe he's got anything to lose."
"Ah! that's where you're wrong. He has paid ready money for this bitof land to begin with, or Goodall would never have let him have it.Goodall knows what he's about as well as any man."
"And do you mean to tell me that he's going to put up buildings thereat once?" And Tappitt's face as he asked the question would havesoftened the heart of any ordinary lawyer. But Honyman was one whomnothing could harden and nothing soften.
"I don't know what he's going to put up, Mr. Tappitt, and I don'tknow when. But I know this well enough; that when a man buys littlebits of property about a place it shows that he means to do somethingthere."
"If he had twenty thousand pounds, he'd lose it all."
"That's very likely; but the question is, how would you fare in themean time? If he hadn't this claim upon you, of course you'd let himbuild what he liked, and only laugh at him." Then Mr. Tappitt utteredanother exclamation, and pulling his hat tighter on to his head,walked out of the lawyer's office and returned to the brewery.
They dined at three o'clock at the brewery, and during dinner onthis day the father of the family made himself very disagreeable. Hescolded the maid-servant till the poor girl didn't know the spoonsfrom the forks. He abused the cook's performances till that valuableold retainer declared that if "master got so rampageous he mightsuit hisself, the sooner the better; she didn't care how soon; she'dcooked victuals for his betters and would again." He snarled athis daughters till they perked up their faces and came silently toa mutual agreement that they would not condescend to notice himfurther while he held on in his present mood. And he replied to hiswife's questions,--questions intended to be soothing and kindlyconjugal,--in such a tone that she determined to have it out with himbefore she allowed him to go to bed. "She knew her duty," she said toherself, "and she could stand a good deal. But there were some thingsshe couldn't stand and some things that weren't her duty." Afterdinner Tappitt took himself out at once to his office in the brewery,and then, for the first time, saw the "Baslehurst Gazette andTotnes Chronicle" for that week. The "Baslehurst Gazette and TotnesChronicle" was an enterprising weekly newspaper, which had beenoriginally intended to convey on Sunday mornings to the inhabitantsof South Devonshire the news of the past week, and the paper stillbore the dates of successive Sundays. But it had gradually pusheditself out into the light of its own world before its own date,gaining first a night and then a day, till now, at the period ofwhich I am speaking, it was published on the Friday morning.
"You ought just to look at this," a burly old foreman had said,handing him the paper in question, with his broad thumb placed upona certain column. This foreman had known Bungall, and though herespected Tappitt, he did not fear him. "You should just look atthis. Of course it don't amount to nothing; but it's as well tosee what folks say." And he hand
ed the paper to his master, almostmaking a hole in it by screwing his thumb on to the spot he wished toindicate.
Tappitt read the article, and his spirit was very bitter withinhim. It was a criticism on his own beer written in no friendly tone."There is no reason," said the article, "why Baslehurst should beflooded with a liquor which no Christian ought to be asked to drink.Baslehurst is as capable of judging good beer from bad as any town inthe British empire. Let Mr. Tappitt look to it, or some young rivalwill spring up beneath his feet and seize from his brow the hop-leafwreath which Bungall won and wore." This attack was the more cruelbecause the paper had originally been established by Bungall'smoney, and had, in old days, been altogether devoted to the Bungallinterest. That this paper should turn against him was very hard. Butwhat else had he a right to expect? It was known that he had promisedhis vote to the Jew candidate, and the paper in question supportedthe Cornbury interest. A man that lives in a glass house should throwno stones. The brewer who brews bad beer should vote for nobody.
But Tappitt would not regard this attack upon him in its properpolitical light. Every evil at present falling upon him wassupposed to come from his present enemy. "It's that dirty underhandblackguard," he said to the foreman.
"I don't think so, Mr. Tappitt," said the foreman. "I don't think soindeed."
"But I tell you it is," said Tappitt, "and I don't care what youthink."
"Just as you please, Mr. Tappitt," said the foreman, who thereuponretired from the office, leaving his master to meditate over thenewspaper in solitude.
It was a very bitter time for the poor brewer. He was one of thosemen whose spirit is not wanting to them while the noise and tumultof contest are around them, but who cannot hold on by their ownconvictions in the quiet hours. He could storm, and talk loud, andinsist on his own way while men stood around him listening andperhaps admiring; but he was cowed when left by himself to think ofthings which seemed to be adverse. What could he do, if those aroundhim, who had known him all his life as those newspaper people hadknown him,--what could he do if they turned against him, and talkedof bad beer as Rowan had talked? He was not man enough to stand upand face this new enemy unless he were backed by his old friends.Honyman had told him that he would be beaten. How would it fare withhim and his family if he were beaten? As he sat in his little office,with his hat low down over his eyes, balancing himself on the hindlegs of his chair, he abused Honyman roundly. Had Honyman beenpossessed of wit, of skill, of professional craft,--had he been themaster of any invention, all might have been well. But the attorneywas a fool, an ass, a coward. Might it not be that he was a knave?But luckily for Honyman, and luckily also for Mr. Tappitt himself,this abuse did not pass beyond the precincts of Tappitt's own breast.We all know how delightful is the privilege of abusing our nearestfriends after this fashion; but we generally satisfy ourselves withthat limited audience to which Mr. Tappitt addressed himself on thepresent occasion.
In the mean time Mrs. Tappitt was sitting up-stairs in the brewerydrawing-room with her daughters, and she also was not happy in hermind. She had been snubbed, and almost browbeaten, at dinner time,and she also had had a little conversation in private with Mr.Honyman. She had been snubbed, and, if she did not look well abouther, she was going to be ruined. "You mustn't let him go on with thislawsuit," Mr. Honyman had said. "He'll certainly get the worst of itif he does, and then he'll have to pay double." She disliked Rowanquite as keenly as did her husband, but she was fully alive to thefolly of spiting Rowan by doing an injury to her own face. She wouldspeak to Tappitt that night very seriously, and in the mean timeshe turned the Rowan controversy over in her own mind, endeavouringto look at it from all sides. It had never been her custom to makecritical remarks on their father's conduct to any of the girls exceptMartha; but on the present great occasion she waived that rule, anddiscussed the family affairs in full female family conclave. "I don'tknow what's come over your papa," she began by saying. "He seemsquite beside himself to-day."
"I think he is troubled about Mr. Rowan and this lawsuit," said thesagacious Martha.
"Nasty man! I wish he'd never come near the place," said Augusta.
"I don't know that he's very nasty either," said Cherry. "We allliked him when he was staying here."
"But to be so false to papa!" said Augusta. "I call it swindling,downright swindling."
"One should know and understand all about it before one speaks inthat way," said Martha. "I dare say it is very vexatious to papa; butafter all perhaps Mr. Rowan may have some right on his side."
"I don't know about right," said Mrs. Tappitt. "I don't think he canhave any right to come and set himself up here in opposition, as onemay say, to the very ghost of his own uncle. I agree with Augusta,and think it is a very dirty thing to do."
"Quite shameful," said Augusta, indignantly.
"But if he has got the law on his side," continued Mrs. Tappitt,"it's no good your papa trying to go against that. Where should we beif we were to lose everything and be told to pay more money than yourpapa has got? It wouldn't be very pleasant to be turned out of thehouse."
"I don't think he'd ever do it," said Cherry.
"I declare, Cherry, I think you are in love with the man," saidAugusta.
"If I ain't I know who was," said Cherry.
"As for love," said Mrs. Tappitt, "we all know who is in love withhim,--nasty little sly minx! In the whole matter nothing makes me soangry as to think that she should have come here to our dance."
"That was Cherry's doing," said Augusta. This remark Cherry noticedonly by a grimace addressed specially to her sister. A battle inRachel's favour under present circumstances would have been so losingan affair that Cherry had not pluck enough to adventure it on herfriend's behalf.
"But the question is,--what are we to do about the lawsuit?" saidMrs. Tappitt. "It is easy to see from your papa's manner that heis very much harassed. He won't admit him as a partner;--that'scertain."
"Oh dear! I should hope not," said Augusta.
"That's all very well," said Martha; "but if the young man can provehis right, he must have it. Mamma, do you know what Mr. Honyman saysabout it?"
"Yes, my dear, I do." Mrs. Tappitt's manner became very solemn, andthe girls listened with all their ears. "Yes, my dear, I do. Mr.Honyman thinks your father should give way."
"And take him in as a partner?" said Augusta. "Papa has got thatspirit that he couldn't do it."
"It doesn't follow that your papa should take Mr. Rowan in as apartner because he gives up the lawsuit. He might pay him the moneythat he asks."
"But has he got it?" demanded Martha.
"Besides, it's such a deal; isn't it?" said Augusta.
"Or," continued Mrs. Tappitt, "your papa might accept his offer byretiring with a very handsome income for us all. Your papa has beenin business for a great many years, working like a galley-slave.Nobody knows how he has toiled and moiled, except me. It isn't anyjoke being a brewer,--and having it all on himself as he has had. Andif young Rowan ever begins it, I wish him joy of it."
"But would he pay the income?" Martha asked.
"Mr. Honyman says that he would; and if he did not, there would bethe property to fall back upon."
"And where should we live?" said Cherry.
"That can't be settled quite yet. It must be somewhere near, so thatyour papa might keep an eye on the concern, and know that it wasgoing all right. Perhaps Torquay would be the best place."
"Torquay would be delicious," said Cherry.
"And would that man come and live at the brewery?" said Augusta.
"Of course he would, if he pleased," said Martha.
"And bring Rachel Ray with him as his wife?" said Cherry.
"He'll never do that," said Mrs. Tappitt with energy.
"Never; never!" said Augusta,--with more energy.
In this way the large and influential feminine majority of the familyat the brewery was brought round to look at one of the propositionsmade by Rowan without disfavour. It was no
t that that young man'ssins had been in any degree forgiven, but that they all perceived,with female prudence, that it would be injudicious to ruin themselvesbecause they hated him. And then to what lady living in a dingy brickhouse, close adjoining to the smoke and smells of beer-brewing,would not the idea of a marine villa at Torquay be delicious? Noneof the family, not even Mrs. Tappitt herself, had ever known whatannual profit had accrued to Mr. T. as the reward of his life's work.But they had been required to live in a modest, homely way,--asthough that annual profit had not been great. Under the alteredcircumstances, as now proposed, they would all know that papa hada thousand a year to spend;--and what might not be done at Torquaywith a thousand a year? Before Mr. Tappitt came home for theevening,--which he did not do on that day till past ten, having beendetained, by business, in the bar of the Dragon Inn,--they had allresolved that the combined ease and dignity of a thousand a yearshould be accepted.
Mr. Tappitt was still perturbed in spirit when he took himself to themarital chamber. What had been the nature of the business which haddetained him at the bar of the Dragon he did not condescend to say,but it seemed to have been of a nature not well adapted to smooth histemper. Mrs. Tappitt perhaps guessed what that business had been; butif so, she said nothing of the subject in direct words. One littleremark she did make, which may perhaps have had allusion to thatbusiness.
"Bah!" she exclaimed, as Mr. Tappitt came near her; "if you mustsmoke at all, I wish to goodness you'd smoke good tobacco."
"So I do," said Tappitt, turning round at her sharply. "It's bestmixed bird's-eye. As if you could know the difference, indeed!"
"So I do, T. I know the difference very well. It's all poison tome,--absolute poison,--as you're very well aware. But that filthystrong stuff that you've taken to lately, is enough to kill anybody."
"I haven't taken to any filthy strong stuff," said Tappitt.
This was the beginning of that evening's conversation. I am inclinedto think that Mrs. Tappitt had made her calculations, and hadconcluded that she could put forth her coming observations moreefficaciously by having her husband in bad humour, than she could,if she succeeded in coaxing him into a good humour. I think that shemade the above remarks, not solely because the fumes of tobacco weredistasteful to her, but because the possession of a grievance mightgive her an opportunity of commencing the forthcoming debate withsome better amount of justified indignation on her own side. It wasnot often that she begrudged Tappitt his pipe, or made ill-naturedremarks about his gin and water.
"T.," she said, when Tappitt had torn off his coat in some anger atthe allusion to "filthy strong stuff,"--"T., what do you mean to doabout this lawsuit?"
"I don't mean to do anything."
"That's nonsense, T.; you must do something, you know. What does Mr.Honyman say?"
"Honyman is a fool."
"Nonsense, T.; he's not a fool. Or if he is, why have you let himmanage your affairs so long? But I don't believe he's a fool at all.I believe he knows what he's talking about, quite as well as someothers, who pretend to be so clever. As to your going to Sharpit andLongfite, it's quite out of the question."
"Who's talking of going to them?"
"You did talk of it."
"No I didn't. You heard me mention their names; but I never said thatI should go to them at all. I almost wish I had."
"Now, T., don't talk in that way, or you'll really put me besidemyself."
"I don't want to talk of it at all. I only want to go to bed."
"But we must talk of it, T. It's all very well for you to say youdon't want to talk of things; but what is to become of me and mygirls if everything goes astray at the brewery? You can't expect meto sit by quiet and see you ruined."
"Who talks about my being ruined?"
"Well, I believe all Baslehurst pretty well is talking about it. Ifa man will go on with a lawsuit when his own lawyer says he oughtn't,what else can come to him but ruin?"
"You don't know anything about it. I wish you'd hold your tongue, andlet me go to bed."
"I do know something about it, Mr. Tappitt; and I won't hold mytongue. It's all very well for you to bid me hold my tongue; but amI to sit by and see you ruined, and the girls left without a bit toeat or a thing to wear? Goodness knows I've never thought much aboutmyself. Nobody will ever say that of me. But it has come to this, T.;that something must be settled about Rowan's claim. If he hasn't gotjustice, he's got law on his side; and he seems to be one of thosewho don't care much as long as he's got that. If you ask me, T.--"
"But I didn't ask you," said Tappitt.
Tappitt never actually succumbed in these matrimonial encounters, andwould always maintain courage for a sharp word, even to the last.
"No, I know you didn't;--and more shame to you, not to consult thewife of your bosom and the mother of your children, when such anaffair as this has to be settled. But if you think I'm going to holdmy tongue, you're mistaken. I know very well how things are going.You must either let this young man come in as a partner--"
"I'll be ----"
Tappitt would not have disgraced himself by such an exclamation inhis wife's bedroom as he then used if his business in the bar of theDragon had been legitimate.
"Very well, sir. I say nothing about the coarseness of your languageon the present occasion, though I might say a great deal if Ipleased. But if you don't choose to have him for a partner,--why thenyou must do something else."
"Of course I must."
"Exactly;--and therefore the only thing is for you to take the offerof a thousand a year that he has made. Now, T., don't begin cursingand swearing again, because you know that can't do any good. Honymansays that he'll pay the income;--and if he don't,--if he gets intoarrear with it, then you can come down upon him and turn him out.Think how you'd like that! You've only just to keep a little readymoney by you, so that you'll have something for six months or so, ifhe should get into arrear."
"And I'm to give up everything myself?"
"No, T.; you would not give up anything; quite the other way. Youwould have every comfort round you that any man can possibly want.You can't go on at it always, toiling and moiling as you're doingnow. It's quite dreadful for a man never to have a moment to himselfat your time of life, and of course it must tell on any constitutionif it's kept up too long. You're not the man you were, T.; and ofcourse you couldn't expect it."
"Oh, bother!"
"That's all very well; but it's my duty to see these things, andto think of them, and to speak of them too. Where should I be, andthe girls, if you was hurried into your grave by working too hard?"Mrs. Tappitt's voice, as this terrible suggestion fell from her, wasalmost poetic, through the depth of its solemnity. "Do you think Idon't know what it is that takes you to the Dragon so late at night?"
"I don't go to the Dragon late at night."
"I'm not finding fault, T.; and you needn't answer me so sharp. It'sonly natural you should want something to sustain you after suchslavery as you have to go through. I'm not unreasonable. I know verywell what a man is, and what it is he can do, and what he can't. Itwould be all very well your going on if you had a partner you couldtrust."
"Nothing on earth shall induce me to carry on with that fellow."
"And therefore you ought to take him at his word and retire. It wouldbe the gentlemanlike thing to do. Of course you'd have the power ofgoing over and seeing that things was straight. And if we was livingcomfortable at some genteel place, such as Torquay or the like, ofcourse you wouldn't want to be going out to Dragons every eveningthen. I shouldn't wonder if, in two or three years, you didn't findyourself as strong as ever again."
Tappitt, beneath the clothes, insisted that he was strong; and madesome virile remark in answer to that further allusion to the Dragon.He by no means gave way to his wife, or uttered any word of assent;but the lady's scheme had been made known to him; the ice had beenbroken; and Mrs. Tappitt, when she put out the candle, felt that shehad done a good evening's work.