The Three Clerks Part 15

'Up and down, Mr. Scott; every dog has his day; these Mary Janes will be going the same way some of them days. We're all mortal;'

and with this moral comparison between the uncertainty of human life and the vicissitudes of the shares in which he trafficked, Mr. Manylodes proceeded to put some more sugar and brandy into his tumbler.

'True, true--we are all mortal--Manylodes and Mary Janes; old friends.h.i.+ps and New Friends.h.i.+ps: while they last we must make the most we can of them; buy them cheap and sell them dear; and above all things get a good percentage.'

'That's the game, Mr. Scott; and I will say no man understands it better than yourself--keep the ball a-running--that's your maxim.

Are you going it deep in Mary Jane, Mr. Scott?'

'Who? I! O no--she's a cut above me now, I fear. The shares are worth any money now, I suppose.'

'Worth any money! I think they are, Mr. Scott, but I believe----'

and then bringing his chair close up to that of his aristocratic friend, resting his hands, one on Mr. Scott's knee, and the other on his elbow, and breathing brandy into his ear, he whispered to him words of great significance.

'I'll leave you, Scott,' said Alaric, who did not enjoy the society of Mr. Manylodes, and to whom the nature of the conversation was, in his present position, extremely irksome; 'I must be back at the Bedford early.'

'Early--why early? surely our honest friend can get himself to bed without your interference. Come, you don't like the brandy toddy, nor I either. We'll see what sort of a hand they are at making a bowl of bishop.'

'Not for me, Scott.'

'Yes, for you, man; surely you are not tied to that fellow's ap.r.o.n-strings,' he said, removing himself from the close contiguity of Mr. Manylodes, and speaking under his voice; 'take my advice; if you once let that man think you fear him, you'll never get the better of him.'

Alaric allowed himself to be persuaded and stayed.

'I have just ten words of business to say to this fellow,'

continued Scott, 'and then we will be alone.'

It was a lovely autumn evening, early in September, and Alaric sat himself at an open window, looking out from the back of the hotel on to the Brentor, with its singular parish church, built on its highest apex, while Undy held deep council with his friend of the mines. But from time to time, some word of moment found its way to Alaric's ears, and made him also unconsciously fix his mind on the _irritamenta malorum_, which are dug from the bowels of the earth in those western regions.

'Minting money, sir; it's just minting money. There's been no chance like it in my days. 4 12s. 6d. paid up; and they'll be at 25 in Truro before sun sets on Sat.u.r.day, Lord love you, Mr.

Scott, now's your time. If, as I hear, they--' and then there was a very low whisper, and Alaric, who could not keep his eye altogether from Mr. Manylodes' countenance, saw plainly that that worthy gentleman was talking of himself; and in spite of his better instincts, a desire came over him to know more of what they were discussing, and he could not keep from thinking that shares bought at 4 12s. 6d., and realizing 25, must be very nice property.

'Well, I'll manage it,' said Scott, still in a sort of whisper, but audibly enough for Alaric to hear. 'Forty, you say? I'll take them at 5 1s. 1d.--very well;' and he took out his pocket-book and made a memorandum. 'Come, Tudor, here's the bishop. We have done our business, so now we'll enjoy ourselves. What, Manylodes, are you off?'

'Lord love you, Mr. Scott, I've a deal to do before I get to my downy; and I don't like those doctored tipples. Good night, Mr.

Scott. I wishes you good night, sir;' and making another slight reference to his hat, which had not been removed from his head during the whole interview, Mr. Manylodes took himself off.

'There, now, is a specimen of a species of the _genus h.o.m.o_, cla.s.s Englishman, which is, I believe, known nowhere but in Cornwall.'

'Cornwall and Devons.h.i.+re, I suppose,' said Alaric.

'No; he is out of his true element here. If you want to see him in all the glory of his native county you should go west of Truro. From Truro to Hayle is the land of the Manylodes. And a singular species it is. But, Tudor, you'll be surprised, I suppose, if I tell you that I have made a purchase for you.'

'A purchase for me!'

'Yes; I could not very well consult you before that fellow, and yet as the chance came in my way, I did not like to lose it.

Come, the bishop ain't so bad, is it, though it is doctored tipple?' and he refilled Alaric's gla.s.s.

'But what have you purchased for me, Scott?'

'Forty shares in the Mary Jane.'

'Then you may undo the bargain again, for I don't want them, and shall not take them.'

'You need not be a bit uneasy, my dear fellow. I've bought them at a little over 5, and they'll be saleable to-morrow at double the money--or at any rate to-morrow week. But what's your objection to them?'

'In the first place, I've got no money to buy shares.'

'That's just the reason why you should buy them; having no money, you can't but want some; and here's your way to make it. You can have no difficulty in raising 200.'

'And in the next place, I should not think of buying mining shares, and more especially these, while I am engaged as I now am.'

'Fal de ral, de ral, de ral! That's all very fine, Mr.

Commissioner; only you mistake your man; you think you are talking to Mr. Neverbend.'

'Well, Scott, I shan't have them.'

'Just as you please, my dear fellow; there's no compulsion. Only mark this; the ball is at your foot now, but it won't remain there. 'There is a tide in the affairs of men'--you know the rest; and you know also that 'tide and time wait for no man.' If you are contented with your two or three hundred a year in the Weights and Measures, G.o.d forbid that I should tempt you to higher thoughts--only in that case I have mistaken my man.'

'I must be contented with it, if I can get nothing better,' said Tudor, weakly.

'Exactly; you must be contented--or rather you must put up with it--if you can get nothing better. That's the meaning of contentment all the world over. You argue in a circle. You must be a mere clerk if you cannot do better than other mere clerks.

But the fact of your having such an offer as that I now make you, is proof that you can do better than others; proves, in fact, that you need not be a mere clerk, unless you choose to remain so.'

'Buying these shares might lose me all that I have got, and could not do more than put a hundred pounds or so in my pocket.'

'Gammon--'

'Could I go back and tell Sir Gregory openly that I had bought them?'

'Why, Tudor, you are the youngest fish I ever met, sent out to swim alone in this wicked world of ours. Who the deuce talks openly of his speculations? Will Sir Gregory tell you what shares he buys? Is not every member of the House, every man in the Government, every barrister, parson, and doctor, that can collect a hundred pounds, are not all of them at the work? And do they talk openly of the matter? Does the bishop put it into his charge, or the parson into his sermon?'

'But they would not be ashamed to tell their friends.'

'Would not they? Oh! the Rev. Mr. Pickabit, of St. Judas Without, would not be ashamed to tell his bishop! But the long and the short of the thing is this; most men circ.u.mstanced as you are have no chance of doing anything good till they are forty or fifty, and then their energies are worn out. You have had tact enough to push yourself up early, and yet it seems you have not pluck enough to take the goods the G.o.ds provide you.'

'The G.o.ds!--you mean the devils rather,' said Alaric, who sat listening and drinking, almost unconsciously, his doctored tipple.

'Call them what you will for me. Fortune has generally been esteemed a G.o.ddess, but misfortune a very devil. But, Tudor, you don't know the world. Here is a chance in your way. Of course that keg of brandy who went out just now understands very well who you are. He wants to be civil to me, and he thinks it wise to be civil to you also. He has a hat full of these shares, and he tells me that, knowing my weakness, and presuming that you have the same, he bought a few extra this morning, thinking we might like them. Now, I have no hesitation in saying there is not a single man whom the Government could send down here, from Sir Gregory downwards, who could refuse the chance.'

'I am quite sure that Neverbend----'

'Oh! for Heaven's sake don't choke me with Neverbend; the fools are fools, and will be so; they are used for their folly. I speak of men with brains. How do you think that such men as Hardlines, Vigil, and Mr. Estimate have got up in the world? Would they be where they are now, had they been contented with their salaries?'

'They had private fortunes.'

'Very private they must have been--I never heard of them. No; what fortunes they have they made. Two of them are in Parliament, and the other has a Government situation of 2,000 a year, with little or nothing to do. But they began life early, and never lost a chance.'

'It is quite clear that that blackguard who was here just now thinks that he can influence my opinion by inducing me to have an interest in the matter.'