CHAPTER XX.
SHOWING HOW MR. BRISKET DIDN'T SEE HIS WAY.
Then two months passed by, and the summer was over. Early inSeptember Mr. Brown had been taken ill, and he went to Margate fora fortnight with his unmarried daughter. This had been the means ofkeeping Brisket quiet for a while with reference to that sum of moneywhich he was to receive, and had given a reason why the marriagewith him should not be performed at once. On Mr. Brown's return, thematter was discussed, and Brisket became impatient. But the middleof October had come before any steps were taken to which it will benecessary to allude in the annals of the firm.
At that time Brisket, on two successive days, was closeted with hisproposed father-in-law, and it was evident to Robinson that aftereach of these interviews Mr. Brown was left in an unhappy frameof mind. At this time the affairs of the shop were not absolutelyruinous,--or would not have been so had there been a proper watchkept on the cash taken over the counter. The heaviest amounts duewere to the stationer, printer, and advertising agents. This waswrong, for such people of course press for their money; and whateverhitch or stoppage there may be in trade, there should, at any rate,be no hitch or stoppage in the capability for advertising. For thegoods disposed of by the house payments had been made, if not withabsolute punctuality on every side, at any rate so fairly that somesupply was always forthcoming. The account at the bank had alwaysbeen low; and, though a few small bills had been discounted, nothinglike a mercantile system of credit had been established. All thiswas wrong, and had already betrayed the fact that Brown, Jones, andRobinson were little people, trading in a little way. It is uselessto conceal the fact now, and these memoirs would fail to render tocommerce that service which is expected from them, were the truth onthis matter kept back from the public. Brown, Jones, and Robinson hadnot soared upwards into the empyrean vault of commercial greatnesson eagle's wings. There are bodies so ponderous in their nature,that for them no eagle's wings can be found. The firm had commencedtheir pecuniary transactions on a footing altogether weak andunsubstantial. They had shown their own timidity, and had confessed,by the nature of their fiscal transactions, that they knew themselvesto be small. To their advertising agents they should never have beenbehindhand in their payments for one day; but they should have beenbold in demanding credit from their bank, and should have given theirorders to the wholesale houses without any of that hesitation orreserve which so clearly indicates feebleness of purpose.
But in spite of this acknowledged weakness, a brisk trade over thecounter had been produced; and though the firm had never owned alarge stock, an unremitting sale was maintained of small goods,such as ribbons, stockings, handkerchiefs, and cotton gloves. TheKatakarion shirts also had been successful, and now there was a hopethat, during the coming winter, something might be done in Africanmonkey muffs. At that time, therefore, the bill of the house at threemonths, though not to be regarded as a bank-note, was not absolutelywaste paper. How far Brisket's eyes were open on this matter cannotnow be said; but he still expressed himself willing to take onehundred pounds in cash, and the remainder of Maryanne's fortune inthe bill of the firm at three months.
And then Mr. Brisket made a third visit to Bishopsgate Street. On allthese occasions he passed by the door of the little room in whichRobinson sat, and well did his late rival know his ponderous step.His late rival;--for Brisket was now welcome to come and go. "Mr.Brown!" said he, on one occasion, "I have come here to have asettlement about this thing at once."
"I've been ill, Brisket; very ill, you know," said Mr. Brown,pleadingly, "and I'm not strong now."
"But that can't make no difference about the money. Maryanne iswilling, and me also. When Christmas is coming on, it's a busy timein our trade, and I can't be minding that sort of thing then. Ifyou've got the cash ready, and that bit of paper, we'll have it offnext week."
"I've never spoken to him about the paper;" and Mr. Brown, as heuttered these words, pointed down towards the room in which Robinsonwas sitting.
"Then you'd better," said Brisket. "For I shan't come here againafter to-day. I'll see it out now one way or the other, and so I'vetold Maryanne."
Mr. Brown's sigh, when he heard these words, was prolonged and deep."You heard what he said that night," continued Brisket. "You ask him.He's game for anything of that sort."
All these words Robinson had overheard, for the doors of the tworooms were close together, and neither of them had been absolutelyclosed. Now was the moment in which it behoved him to act. No falsedelicacy as to the nature of the conversation between his partner andthat partner's proposed son-in-law withheld him; but rising from hisseat, he walked straight into the upper room.
"Here he is, by jingo," said Brisket. "Talk of the--"
"Speak of an angel and behold his wings," said Robinson, with a faintsmile. "I come on a visit which might befit an angel. Mr. Brown, Iconsent that your daughter's dowry shall be paid from the funds ofthe firm."
But Mr. Brown, instead of expressing his thankful gratitude, as wasexpected, winked at his partner. The dull Brisket did not perceiveit; but Robinson at once knew that this act of munificence on hispart was not at the moment pleasing to the lady's father.
"You're a trump," said Brisket; "and when we're settled at home like,Maryanne and I that is, I hope you'll let bygones be bygones, andcome and take pot luck with us sometimes. If there's a tender bit ofsteak about the place it shall be sent to the kitchen fire when youshow your face."
"Brisket," said Robinson, "there's my hand. I've loved her. I don'tdeny it. But you're welcome to her. No woman shall ever sit at thehearth of George Robinson;--but at her hearth George Robinson willnever sit."
"You shall be as welcome as if you did," said Brisket; "and a mancan't say no fairer."
But in the meantime Mr. Brown still continued to wink, and Robinsonunderstood that his consent to that bill transaction was not intruth desired. "Perhaps, Mr. Brisket," said he, "as this is a matterof business, I and my partner had better discuss it for a momenttogether. We can go down into my room, Mr. Brown."
"With all my heart," said Brisket. "But remember this, both of you:if I don't see my way before I leave the house, I don't come here anymore. I know my way pretty well from Aldersgate Street, and I'm sickof the road. I've been true to my word all along, and I'll be trueto the end. But if I don't see my way before I leave this house,remember I'm off."
"You shouldn't have said that," whispered Brown to his partner assoon as the two were together.
"Why not?"
"The money won't be there at the end of three months, not if we paythem other things. And where's the hundred pounds of ready to comefrom?"
"That's your look-out."
"I haven't got it, George. Jones has it, I know; but I can't get itout of him."
"Jones got a hundred pounds! And where should Jones have gotten it?"
"I know we have been wrong, George; I know we have. But you can'twonder at me, George; can you? I did bring four thousand pounds intoit; didn't I?"
"And now you haven't got a hundred pounds!"
"If I have it's as much as I can say. But Jones has it, and ever somuch more. If Brisket will wait, we can frighten it out of Jones."
"If I know anything of human nature," said Robinson, "Brisket willnot wait."
"He would, if you hadn't spoke to him that way. He'd say he wouldn't,and go away, and Maryanne would blow up; but I should have worked themoney out of Jones at last, and then Brisket would have waited."
When Mr. Brown had made this disclosure, whispering all the time ashe leaned his head and shoulder on Robinson's upright desk, they bothremained silent for a while. "We have been wrong," he had said; "Iknow we have." And Robinson, as he heard the words, perceived thatfrom the beginning to the end he had been a victim. No wonder thatthe business should not have answered, when such confessions as thesewere wrung from the senior partner! But the fact alleged by Mr. Brownin his own excuse was allowed its due weight by Robinson, even atthat moment. Mr. Brown had possessed
money,--money which might havemade his old age comfortable and respectable in obscurity. It was notsurprising that he should be anxious to keep in his own hand somesmall remnant of his own property. But as for Jones! What excusecould be made for Jones! Jones had been a thief; and worse thanordinary thieves, for his thefts were committed on his own friends.
"And he has got the money," said Robinson.
"Oh, yes!" said Mr. Brown, "there's no doubt in life about that."
"Then, by the heaven above us, he shall refund it to the firm fromwhich he has stolen it," shouted Robinson, striking the desk with hisfist as he did so.
"Whish, George, whish; Brisket will hear you."
"Who cares? I have been robbed on every side till I care for nothing!What is Brisket to me, or what is your daughter? What is anything?"
"But, George--"
"Is there no honesty left in the world, Mr. Brown? That there is nolove I had already learned. Ah me, what an age is this in which welive! Deceit, deceit, deceit;--it is all deceit!"
"The heart of a man is very deceitful," said Mr. Brown. "And awoman's especially."
"Delilah would have been a true wife now-a-days. But never mind. Thatman is still there, and he must be answered. I have no hundred poundsto give him."
"No, George; no; we're sure of that."
"When this business is broken up, as broken up it soon will be--"
"Oh, George, don't say so."
"Ay, but it will. Then I shall walk out from Magenta House with emptypockets and with clean hands."
"But think of me, George. I had four thousand pounds when we began.Hadn't I, now?"
"I do think of you, and I forgive you. Now go up to Brisket, for hewill want his answer. I can assist you no further. My name is stillleft to me, and of that you may avail yourself. But as for money,George Robinson has none."
About half an hour after that, Mr. Brisket again descended the stairswith his usual ponderous and slow step, and went forth into thestreet, shaking the dust from his feet as he did so. He was soreoffended, and vowed in his heart that he would never enter thathouse again. He had pressed Mr. Brown home about the money; and thatgentleman had suggested to him, first, that it should be given to himon the day after the marriage, and then that it should be included inthe bill. "You offered to take it all in one bill before, you know,"said Mr. Brown. Hereupon Brisket began to think that he did not seehis way at all, and finally left the house in great anger.
He went direct from thence to Mrs. Poppins' lodgings, where he knewthat he would find Miss Brown. Poppins himself was, of course, at hiswork, and the two ladies were together.
"I've come to wish you good-by," he said, as he walked into the room.
"Laws, Mr. Brisket!" exclaimed Mrs. Poppins.
"It's all up about this marriage, and so I thought it right tocome and tell you. I began straightforward, and I mean to endstraightforward."
"You mean to say you're not going to have her," said Mrs. Poppins.
"Polly, don't make a fool of yourself," said Maryanne. "Do you thinkI want the man. Let him go." And then he did go, and Miss Brown wasleft without a suitor.