On this page

• Text (1)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    Untitled Article

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Untitled Article

    clasped his arms around that of his daughter , hid his face in her bosom , and fairly wept aloud . The first sign of self-possession in the man was shown in bis solicitude lest the girl had hurt her broken arm . But no harm had been done . With her other arm round his shapeless form , Margaret sustained her father , called in her mother and sister , and ordered dinner to be brought ; and they all submitted in willing obedience . They were glad of a compulsion which restored them from calamity to the comfortable trivialities of life . Existence again went on ; and by the help of a little wine , I induced Johnson to confront his fate . It was evidently the meeting in the evening that he dreaded ; but somehow , without any great expenditure of intellectual devices , we managed to get over the day till that evening , and I undertook to stand by him in his adversity . I shall not attempt to describe that meeting to you , nor the anomalous position which I filled there . The meeting was held in his own countinghouse ; some fifteen or twenty men present—all his principal creditors . Some few looked more stricken down than he was ; one or two perhaps because his calamity pressed still more heavily upon themselves . When any man falls in English trade , he carries more with him , and often those who are poorer than himself . The others were of a craven sort , to whom any adversity was a terror and a scourge . Some came in rubbing their hands , pleased with activity in any " matter of business ; " one or two were elaborately considerate ; some others bluntly impertinent . They sat round the table , lounged in chairs , made themselves quite at home and proceeded to anatomise , not only his books , not only his private circumstances , or his personal expenditure , but his character , his moral motives ; the conduct of his household , the wardrobe of his daughters , and every petty detail that could be made to assume a pecuniary significance . With some it was the sport of open amusement ; others were seized by the spirit of hunting , and grew heated in the process of ferreting out " improper" charges ; others greedily searched through the figures in the hope of finding a few more pence for themselves . One or two were evidently actuated by sheer malignity , with a desire to damn the man who had disappointed them of some profit . Johnson himself cut a better figure than he had during the day . He was great at figures , and felt his confidence . If he had failed , others had done so before , and he knew the precedents ; which he cited with aplomb . He admitted that his expenditure had been unguarded in trade ; but it was only in trade . His domestic expenditure had not been unreasonable . The assembly admitted that ; but the recent fitting-up of his shop—what warrant had he for so much under that head ? " Competition in trade , " he said . " His neighbours , " and he looked with peculiar bitterness at Rogers , " had been making a great show ; and lie was obliged to do the same to keep his customers . " The argument was held to be good . Brass bars , gilt letters , and handsome glass bottles , do attract people who come for half ounces of tea and pennyworths of ginger , or the tradesmen suppose that they do so . Still Rogers insisted that the expenditure Avas excessive . " It is not more than yours , " replied Johnson . " But I have not called my creditors yet , Mr . Johnson , " was the answer . The retort silenced the discomfited tradesman ; and the company felt that he was , as it were , commercially executed . No morejj was said . Glances indeed were occasionally cast to a tall young man who stood apart , with his long legs outstretched before the fire ; and at last when the arrangements were made for putting the Bankrupt ' s affairs into formal training , those glances were repeated in search of a higher sanction . The young man did little more than nod , as if it were not worth while to take much trouble ; and the company broke up , leaving him behind . lie was a silent man , very tall and comely ; with a most self-possessed aspect , and a peculiar grave smile that looked like mockery . What part he had in the affair I < lid not at first understand , still less why he remained , and sat talking with the Johnsons in their own room after the rest had gone juviiv . But they cultivated his good will with the utmost assiduity , seenied much relieved by the affability of his silent presence ; and when he went , . Johnson , who had quite recovered his circulation and looked once ; more himself , asked me " to follow Mr . Markhani , and say a few words for him . " The tall man waited for me as he was going out . Margaret , I noticed , had already gone ; so without , hesitation 1 took leave of the family and followed my new acquaintance . We walked together lor some little way with a very fragmentary conversation on various topics , chiefly the state of Kuropc at large ; ; in which I found my new friend to be well versed . But I observed that all the opinions came from my aide : Ins share of the conversation was analysis and scepticism . I suffered him to lead the way , and we stopped before a house of goodly size ; the < loor of which was opened by a footman . We walked through a hall well lighted and well appointed , into a room that looked like the play room of a bachelor ' s house . Cloaks and hats lay about , or hung from the walls ; a pair of foils had been left carelessly upon the table , with the gloves anil one mask , the other on a . chair ; single-sticks were repo . sin" - in the corner ; a handsome . side-saddle lay on another table . 41 Now you'll suppose me a married man , said Markham , " and expect to find things in graceful order ; but that is a freak of mine . " " I do not know , " 1 answered , " that a side-saddle would be evidence of matrimony in a court of law . " " Married , or worse then ? . Hut 1 have no women about me ; at least—You will find the house without an empress . " "Do you use ; I hut yourself then V " JNot exactly . I got it for u raco to which u girl has challenged me .

    But no woman can equal a man at nding—unless she sits across . Nor even then . But come up stairs . " I entered a handsome room , well lighted , with a magnificent fire , and a handsome array of books all round the walls . Markham did not at once follow me ; and I had time to scan a really well chosen collection of books in every language that we usually see in print West of the Red Sea ; with plenty about more Eastern lands . I was stopped in my survey by the entrance of the owner , who dashed into new topics ; this time the polities of America , which he had traversed in all directions . I soon found , indeed that his travels had embraced the greater part of the globe , extending from Cincinnati and Lima to St . Petersburg and to Hong Kong .

    It all the more puzzled me to divine what had made him evidentl y the chief in that council at Johnson ' s . However , he had " taken tome "; and I resolved to lose no opportunity of serving Margaret ' s father . The door being opened by a servant , with a pleasant ring of glasses and plates , Markham said to me carelessly , — " You don't mind having something to eat in here—it will be warmer than the dining room . " " I do not care , " I said , " what is my table , what my seat , so that the food be good . *' Half the library table was covered by the expanded petticoat of the tray . The bearer of the tray was attended by another , a woman , who directed the evolutions . This second was worth notice : tall , handsome , and , to a

    certain extent , refined in bearing , self possessed , conscious of her meritorious aspect , she courted , rather than avoided observation ; and told her master that the supper was ready , with a tone , irreproachably respectful , but tinged , I thought , with a certain familiarity , which implied an assertion of herself to me as well as to him . Woman ' s pride never dies while her beauty lasts . My eyes critically followed , as she withdrew , the most complete article of furniture in the bachelor ' s house . We approached the table . I found a medley of tea , coffee , two or three wines , some Moldavian beef , and a dish of pickled ortolans . Markham did not sit , but drank his coffee standing , then a glass or two of wine ; occasionally dangling an ortolan into his upraised mouth . He ate , as he talked , with an air of mockery ; as if he were not in earnest in anything that he did , but knew something better worth while to do if he cared to take the trouble . All I said he received frankly , like an old friend ; he

    entered into each object with a powerful and cultivated intellect ; but smiled at my most earnest remarks with a manner , at once of doubt , and of amusement at any sign of belief or earnestness . " What a strange set I found you amongst ! " he cried , suddenly , turning from the gaieties of Florence : " How the devil did you come there ?" I told him freely ; and , in response to his own manner , I challenged him to use his evident influence in favour of Johnson . " You are not a commercial man ? " he asked . " You know I am not ; but I am a man , and so are you . " " No , I did not know . But what makes you take a brief from Johnson ?

    Are you going to marry his daughter ? " No ; why do you ask ? I plead because he suffers . " " It is a waste of time , my dear fellow . He has met his fate , and he deserves it . He is a rascal ; and , what is worse , he is a fool ; and we are exterminating the fools as fast as we can ; though it is up-hill work . That girl was liis daughter , was she not ?" " Which ?"

    " The tall dark young girl . But I remember , she called him her father . Though that proves little ; and , as the mother shows no signs of being the substantive originator of that lovely devil , I should rather suspect that the registrar has been cheated . Well , Johnson would only deserve that as well as the rest . " " I think I can vouch— " but I stopped short , a sudden doubt coming over me , that Markham ' s theory was probable , ami that the perusal o Mason on Self Knowledge looked as much like the pride of penitence as anything else . It was difficult to imagine that poor Mrs . Johnson had ever

    been capable of any collateral sally ; and yet where could Margarei obtained that countenance ? (( . - ^ Markham laughed out loud at my abrupt silence ; and continued- — - useless , my dear fellow ; it is not worth the trouble to set Johnson on ^ ^ legs . lie has shown that he cannot stand , and he is as great a rascu ^ any of us . Do you know what he really has done amongst Ins countrymen . 1 looked the request to be enlightened on that point . " Well , then , he has done his best to ruin everybody all round , am ¦ - for

    stone lias only fallen on liis own bead . I do not . speak <> g ^ . 1 might be prejudiced for him ; but 1 speak of everybody- No , » ^ except his landlord . Why , sir , the fellow was trying to draw away V "" ^ from his schoolfellow , 1 'ilhuoiv , round the coiner ; he was doing »* ~ to out-do and backbite every man of liis own trade within car ' ^^ But that m not nil : no sooner was a new shop set up in the neigh ><»» ' with goods at " only" so much , than he sent his miserable vvo " ^ heaven , 1 beg that Olympian girl ' s pardon ! - to deal with the in ^^ ^ meaning to bring down all prices where he was a purchaser . " ' ml . of beat down his rent ; he did beat down his wages . You know tim ¦ ^ his daughters lately—had an accident : well , he frig htened the in ^ ^ is to be—a softhearted young fellow , without brains enough , J » « ^^ ^ thought , to convince any one , even a girl , only their own inu V . ^ poor dcvilw !—Johnson frightened that father of his own gram ^ ^ taking le « a wages , by threatening " a diacloaure ; " winch Jolmsoi

    Untitled Article

    1048 THE LEADER . CSatujelda * ,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 30, 1852, page 1048, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1958/page/20/