CHAPTER II.
THE EARLY HISTORY OF OUR MR. BROWN, WITH SOME FEW WORDS OF MR. JONES.
O Commerce, how wonderful are thy ways, how vast thy power, howinvisible thy dominion! Who can restrain thee and forbid thy furtherprogress? Kings are but as infants in thy hands, and emperors,despotic in all else, are bound to obey thee! Thou civilizest, hastcivilized, and wilt civilize. Civilization is thy mission, and man'swelfare thine appointed charge. The nation that most warmly fostersthee shall ever be the greatest in the earth; and without thee nonation shall endure for a day. Thou art our Alpha and our Omega, ourbeginning and our end; the marrow of our bones, the salt of our life,the sap of our branches, the corner-stone of our temple, the rock ofour foundation. We are built on thee, and for thee, and with thee. Toworship thee should be man's chiefest care, to know thy hidden wayshis chosen study.
One maxim hast thou, O Commerce, great and true and profitable aboveall others;--one law which thy votaries should never transgress. "Buyin the cheapest market and sell in the dearest." May those divinewords be ever found engraved on the hearts of Brown, Jones, andRobinson!
Of Mr. Brown, the senior member of our firm, it is expedient thatsome short memoir should be given. At the time at which we signedour articles in 185--, Mr. Brown had just retired from the butterbusiness. It does not appear that in his early youth he ever had theadvantage of an apprenticeship, and he seems to have been employedin various branches of trade in the position, if one may say so,of an out-door messenger. In this capacity he entered the serviceof Mr. McCockerell, a retail butter dealer in Smithfield. When Mr.McCockerell died our Mr. Brown married his widow, and thus foundhimself elevated at once to the full-blown dignity of a tradesman. Heand his wife lived together for thirty years, and it is believed thatin the temper of his lady he found some alloy to the prosperity whichhe had achieved. The widow McCockerell, in bestowing her person uponMr. Brown, had not intended to endow him also with entire dominionover her shop and chattels. She loved to be supreme over her buttertubs, and she loved also to be supreme over her till. Brown's viewson the rights of women were more in accordance with the law of theland as laid down in the statutes. He opined that a _femme couverte_could own no property, not even a butter tub;--and hence quarrelsarose.
After thirty years of contests such as these Mr. Brown found himselfvictorious, made so not by the power of arguments, nor by that ofhis own right arm, but by the demise of Mrs. Brown. That amiablelady died, leaving two daughters to lament their loss, and a seriesof family quarrels, by which she did whatever lay in her power toembarrass her husband, but by which she could not prevent him frombecoming absolute owner of the butter business, and of the stock intrade.
The two young ladies had not been brought up to the ways of thecounter; and as Mr. Brown was not himself especially expert at thatparticular business in which his money was embarked, he prudentlythought it expedient to dispose of the shop and goodwill. This hedid to advantage; and thus at the age of fifty-five he found himselfagain on the world with 4,000_l_. in his pocket.
At this period one of his daughters was no longer under his owncharge. Sarah Jane, the eldest of the two, was already Mrs. Jones.She had been captivated by the black hair and silk waistcoat of Mr.Jones, and had gone off with him in opposition to the wishes of bothparents. This, she was aware, was not matter of much moment, forthe opposition of one was sure to bring about a reconciliation withthe other. And such was soon the case. Mrs. Brown would not see herdaughter, or allow Jones to put his foot inside the butter-shop. Mr.Brown consequently took lodgings for them in the neighbourhood, andhence a close alliance sprung up between the future partners.
At this crisis Maryanne devoted herself to her mother. It wasadmitted by all who knew her that Maryanne Brown had charms. At thattime she was about twenty-four years of age, and was certainly a fineyoung woman. She was, like her mother, a little too much inclined tocorpulence, and there may be those who would not allow that her hairwas auburn. Mr. Robinson, however, who was then devotedly attached toher, was of that opinion, and was ready to maintain his views againstany man who would dare to say that it was red.
There was a dash about Maryanne Brown at that period which endearedher greatly to Mr. Robinson. She was quite above anything mean, andwhen her papa was left a widower in possession of four thousandpounds, she was one of those who were most anxious to induce himto go to work with spirit in a new business. She was all foradvertising; that must be confessed of her, though her subsequentconduct was not all that it should have been. Maryanne Brown, whentried in the furnace, did not come out pure gold; but this, at anyrate, shall be confessed in her behalf, that she had a dash abouther, and understood more of the tricks of trade than any other of herfamily.
Mrs. McCockerell died about six months after her eldest daughter'smarriage. She was generally called Mrs. McCockerell in theneighbourhood of Smithfield, though so many years had passed sinceshe had lost her right to that name. Indeed, she generally preferredbeing so styled, as Mr. Brown was peculiarly averse to it. The namewas wormwood to him, and this was quite sufficient to give it melodyin her ears.
The good lady died about six months after her daughter's marriage.She was struck with apoplexy, and at that time had not beenreconciled to her married daughter. Sarah Jane, nevertheless, whenshe heard what had occurred, came over to Smithfield. Her husband wasthen in employment as shopman at the large haberdashery house on SnowHill, and lived with his wife in lodgings in Cowcross Street. Theywere supported nearly entirely by Mr. Brown, and therefore owed tohim at this crisis not only obedience, but dutiful affection.
When, however, Sarah Jane first heard of her mother's illness, sheseemed to think that she couldn't quarrel with her father fastenough. Jones had an idea that the old lady's money must go to herdaughters, that she had the power of putting it altogether out of thehands of her husband, and that having the power she would certainlyexercise it. On this speculation he had married; and as he and hiswife fully concurred in their financial views, it was consideredexpedient by them to lose no time in asserting their right. This theydid as soon as the breath was out of the old lady's body.
Jones had married Sarah Jane solely with this view; and, indeed,it was highly improbable that he should have done so on any otherconsideration. Sarah Jane was certainly not a handsome girl. Her neckwas scraggy, her arms lean, and her lips thin; and she resembledneither her father nor her mother. Her light brown, sandy hair, whichalways looked as though it were too thin and too short to adaptitself to any feminine usage, was also not of her family; but herdisposition was a compound of the paternal and maternal qualities.She had all her father's painful hesitating timidity, and with it allher mother's grasping spirit. If there ever was an eye that lookedsharp after the pence, that could weigh the ounces of a servant'smeal at a glance, and foresee and prevent the expenditure of afarthing, it was the eye of Sarah Jane Brown. They say that it isas easy to save a fortune as to make one; and in this way, if in noother, Jones may be said to have got a fortune with his wife.
As soon as the breath was out of Mrs. McCockerell's body, Sarah Janewas there, taking inventory of the stock. At that moment poor Mr.Brown was very much to be pitied. He was a man of feeling, and evenif his heart was not touched by his late loss, he knew what was dueto decency. It behoved him now as a widower to forget the deceasedlady's faults, and to put her under the ground with solemnity. Thiswas done with the strictest propriety; and although he must, ofcourse, have been thinking a good deal at that time as to whether hewas to be a beggar or a rich man, nevertheless he conducted himselftill after the funeral as though he hadn't a care on his mind, exceptthe loss of Mrs. B.
Maryanne was as much on the alert as her sister. She had been for thelast six months her mother's pet, as Sarah Jane had been her father'sdarling. There was some excuse, therefore, for Maryanne when sheendeavoured to get what she could in the scramble. Sarah Jane playedthe part of Goneril to the life, and would have denied her father thebarest necessaries of existence, had it not
ultimately turned outthat the property was his own.
Maryanne was not well pleased to see her sister returning to thehouse at such a moment. She, at least, had been dutiful to hermother, or, if undutiful, not openly so. If Mrs. McCockerell had thepower of leaving her property to whom she pleased, it would be onlynatural that she should leave it to the daughter who had obeyed her,and not to the daughter who had added to personal disobedience theworse fault of having been on friendly terms with her father.
This, one would have thought, would have been clear at any rate toJones, if not to Sarah Jane; but they both seemed at this time tohave imagined that the eldest child had some right to the inheritanceas being the eldest. It will be observed by this and by many othertraits in his character that Mr. Jones had never enjoyed theadvantages of an education.
Mrs. McCockerell never spoke after the fit first struck her. Shenever moved an eye, or stirred a limb, or uttered a word. It was awretched household at that time. The good lady died on a Wednesday,and was gathered to her fathers at Kensal Green Cemetery on theTuesday following. During the intervening days Mr. Jones and SarahJane took on themselves as though they were owners of everything.Maryanne did try to prevent the inventory, not wishing it to appearthat Mrs. Jones had any right to meddle; but the task was toocongenial to Sarah Jane's spirit to allow of her giving it over. Sherevelled in the work. It was a delight to her to search out hiddenstores of useless wealth,--to bring forth to the light forgottenhoards of cups and saucers, and to catalogue every rag on thepremises.
The house at this time was not a pleasant one. Mr. Brown, findingthat Jones, in whom he had trusted, had turned against him, puthimself very much into the hands of a young friend of his, namedGeorge Robinson. Who and what George Robinson was will be told in thenext chapter.
"There are three questions," said Robinson, "to be asked andanswered.--Had Mrs. B. the power to make a will? If so, did she makea will? And if so, what was the will she made?"
Mr. Brown couldn't remember whether or no there had been any signingof papers at his marriage. A good deal of rum and water, he said, hadbeen drunk; and there might have been signing too,--but he didn'tremember it.
Then there was the search for the will. This was supposed to be inthe hands of one Brisket, a butcher, for whom it was known Mrs.McCockerell had destined the hand of her younger daughter. Mr.Brisket had been a great favourite with the old lady, and she hadoften been heard to declare that he should have the wife and money,or the money without the wife. This she said to coerce Maryanne intothe match.
But Brisket, when questioned, declared that he had no will in hispossession. At this time he kept aloof from the house and showed nodisposition to meddle with the affairs of the family. Indeed, allthrough these trying days he behaved honestly, if not with highfeeling. In recounting the doings of Brown, Jones, and Robinson, itwill sometimes be necessary to refer to Mr. Brisket. He shall alwaysbe spoken of as an honest man. He did all that in him lay to mar thebright hopes of one who was perhaps not the most insignificant ofthat firm. He destroyed the matrimonial hopes of Mr. Robinson, andleft him to wither like a blighted trunk on a lone waste. But he was,nevertheless, an honest man, and so much shall be said of him. Let usnever forget that "An honest man is the noblest work of God."
Brisket, when asked, said that he had no will, and that he knew ofnone. In fact there was no will forthcoming, and there is no doubtthat the old woman was cut off before she had made one. It may alsobe premised that had she made one it would have been invalid, seeingthat Mr. Brown, as husband, was, in fact, the owner of the wholeaffair.
Sarah Jane and Maryanne, when they found that no document wasforthcoming, immediately gave out that they intended to take onthemselves the duties of joint heiresses, and an alliance, offensiveand defensive, was sworn between them. At this time Mr. Brownemployed a lawyer, and the heiresses, together with Jones, employedanother. There could be no possible doubt as to Mr. Brown being theowner of the property, however infatuated on such a subject Jones andhis wife may have been. No lawyer in London could have thought thatthe young women had a leg to stand upon. Nevertheless, the case wasundertaken, and Brown found himself in the middle of a lawsuit. SarahJane and Maryanne both remained in the house in Smithfield to guardthe property on their own behalf. Mr. Brown also remained to guard iton his behalf. The business for a time was closed. This was done inopposition both to Mr. Brown and Maryanne; but Mrs. Jones could notbring herself to permit the purchase of a firkin of butter, unlessthe transaction could be made absolutely under her own eyes; and,even then, she would insist on superintending the retail herself andselling every pound, short weight. It was the custom of the trade,she said; and to depart from it would ruin them.
Things were in this condition, going from bad to worse, when Jonescame over one evening, and begged an interview with Mr. Brown. Thatinterview was the commencement of the partnership. From such smallmatters do great events arise.
At that interview Mr. Robinson was present. Mr. Brown indeed declaredthat he would have no conversation with Jones on business affairs,unless in the presence of a third party. Jones represented that ifthey went on as they were now doing, the property would soon beswallowed up by the lawyers. To this Mr. Brown, whose forte was noteloquence, tacitly assented with a deep groan.
"Then," said Jones, "let us divide it into three portions. You shallhave one; Sarah Jane a second; and I will manage the third on behalfof my sister-in-law, Maryanne. If we arrange it well, the lawyerswill never get a shilling."
The idea of a compromise appeared to Mr. Brown to be notuncommendable; but a compromise on such terms as those could not ofcourse be listened to. Robinson strongly counselled him to nail hiscolours to the mast, and kick Mr. Jones downstairs. But Mr. Brown hadnot spirit for this.
"One's children is one's children," said he to Robinson, when theywent apart into the shop to talk the matter over. "The fruit of one'sloins, and the prop of one's age."
Robinson could not help thinking that Sarah Jane was about as bad aprop as any that ever a man leant on; but he was too generous to sayso. The matter was ended at last by a compromise. "Go on with thebusiness together," said Robinson; "Mr. Brown keeping, of course, apreponderating share in his own hands."
"I don't like butter," said Jones. "Nothing great can be done inbutter."
"It is a very safe line," said Mr. Brown, "if the connection isgood."
"The connection must have been a good deal damaged," said Robinson,"seeing that the shop has been closed for a fortnight. Besides, it'sa woman's business;--and you have no woman to manage it," added he,fearing that Mrs. Jones might be brought in, to the detriment of allconcerned.
Jones suggested haberdashery; Robinson, guided by a strong ideathat there is a more absolute opening for the advertising line inhaberdashery than in any other business, assented.
"Then let it be haberdashery," said Mr. Brown, with a sigh. And sothat was settled.