Oh, very well, very well, said Mr. Brown, pocketing the paper, and seeming perfectly unconcerned at the termination of his proposals; perhaps I can serve you in some other way?
In none, I thank you, replied Linden.
Just consider, sir!you will want lodgings; I can find them for you cheaper than you can yourself; or perhaps you would prefer going into a nice, quiet, genteel family where you can have both board and lodging, and be treated in every way as the pet child of the master?
A thought crossed Lindens mind. He was going to stay in town some time; he was ignorant of its ways; he had neither friends nor relations, at least none whom he could visit and consult; moreover, hotels, he knew, were expensive; lodgings, though cheaper, might, if tolerably comfortable, greatly exceed the sum prudence would allow him to expend would not this plan proposed by Mr. Brown, of going into a nice quiet genteel family, he the most advisable one he could adopt? The generous benefactor of the late and ever-to-be-remembered Lady Waddilove perceived his advantage, and making the most of Clarences hesitation, continued,
I know of a charming little abode, sir, situated in the suburbs of London, quite rus in urbe, as the scholars say; you can have a delightful little back parlour, looking out upon the garden, and all to yourself, I dare say.
And pray, Mr. Brown, interrupted Linden, what price do you think would be demanded for such enviable accommodation? If you offer me them as a present, I shall have nothing to say to them.
Oh, sir, answered Mr. Brown, the price will be a trifle,a mere trifle; but I will inquire, and let you know the exact sum in the course of the day: all they want is a respectable gentlemanlike lodger; and I am sure so near a relation of Mrs. Minden will upon my recommendation be received with avidity. Then you wont have any of these valuable articles, sir? Youll repent it, sir; take my word for ithem!
Since, replied Clarence, dryly, your word appears of so much more value than your articles, pardon me, if I prefer taking the former instead of the latter.
Mr. Brown forced a smile,Well, sir, very well, very well indeed. You will not go out before two oclock? and at that time I shall call upon you respecting the commission you have favoured me with.
I will await you, said Clarence; and he bowed Mr. Brown out of the room.
Now, really, said Linden to himself, as he paced the narrow limits of his apartment, I do not see what better plan I can pursue; but let me well consider what is my ultimate object. A high step in the worlds ladder! how is this to be obtained? First, by the regular method of professions; but what profession should I adopt? The Church is incompatible with my object, the army and navy with my means. Next come the irregular methods of adventure and enterprise, such as marriage with a fortune,here he paused and looked at the glass,the speculation of a political pamphlet, or an ode to the minister; attendance on some dying miser of my own name, without a relation in the world; or, in short, any other mode of making money that may decently offer itself. Now, situated as I am, without a friend in this great city, I might as well purchase my experience at as cheap a rate and in as brief a time as possible, nor do I see any plan of doing so more promising than that proposed by Mr. Brown.
These and such like reflections, joined to the inspiriting pages of the Newgate Calendar and The Covent Garden Magazine, two works which Clarence dragged from their concealment under a black tea-tray, afforded him ample occupation till the hour of two, punctual to which time Mr. Morris Brown returned.
Well, sir, said Clarence, what is your report?
The friend of the late Lady W. wiped his brow and gave three long sighs before he replied: A long walk, sira very long walk I have had; but I have succeeded. No thanks, sir,no thanks,the lady, a most charming, delightful, amiable woman, will receive you with pleasure; you will have the use of a back parlour (as I said) all the morning, and a beautiful little bedroom entirely to yourself; think of that, sir. You will have an egg for breakfast, and you will dine with the family at three oclock: quite fashionable hours you see, sir.
And the terms? said Linden, impatiently.
Why, sir, replied Mr. Brown, the lady was too genteel to talk to me about them; you had better walk with me to her house and see if you cannot yourself agree with her.
I will, said Clarence. Will you wait here till I have dressed?
Mr. Brown bowed his assent.
I might as well, thought Clarence, as he ascended to his bedroom, inquire into the character of this gentleman to whose good offices I am so rashly intrusting myself. He rang his bell; the chambermaid appeared, and was dismissed for the waiter. The character was soon asked, and soon given. For our readers sake we will somewhat enlarge upon it.
Mr. Morris Brown originally came into the world with the simple appellation of Moses, a name which his fatherhonest manhad, as the Minories can still testify, honourably borne before him. Scarcely, however, had the little Moses attained the age of five, when his father, for causes best known to himself, became a Christian. Somehow or other there is a most potent connection between the purse and the conscience, and accordingly the blessings of Heaven descended in golden showers upon the proselyte. I shall die worth a plum, said Moses the elder (who had taken unto himself the Christian cognomen of Brown); I shall die worth a plum, repeated he, as he went one fine morning to speculate at the Exchange. A change of news, sharp and unexpected as a change of wind, lowered the stocks and blighted the plum. Mr. Brown was in the Gazette that week, and his wife in weeds for him the next. He left behind him, besides the said wife, several debts and his son Moses. Beggared by the former, our widow took a small shop in Wardour Street to support the latter. Patient, but enterprisingcautious of risking pounds, indefatigable in raising pencethe little Moses inherited the propensities of his Hebrew ancestors; and though not so capable as his immediate progenitor of making a fortune, he was at least far less likely to lose one. In spite, however, of all the industry both of mother and son, the gains of the shop were but scanty; to increase them capital was required, and all Mr. Moses Browns capital lay in his brain. It is a bad foundation, said the mother, with a sigh. Not at all! said the son, and leaving the shop, he turned broker. Now a broker is a man who makes an income out of other peoples funds,a gleaner of stray extravagances; and by doing the public the honour of living upon them may fairly be termed a little sort of state minister in his way. What with haunting sales, hawking china, selling the curiosities of one old lady and purchasing the same for another, Mr. Brown managed to enjoy a very comfortable existence. Great pains and small gains will at last invert their antithesis, and make little trouble and great profit; so that by the time Mr. Brown had attained his fortieth year, the petty shop had become a large warehouse; and, if the worthy Moses, now christianized into Morris, was not so sanguine as his father in the gathering of plums, he had been at least as fortunate in the collecting of windfalls. To say truth, the abigail of the defunct Lady Waddilove had been no unprofitable helpmate to our broker. As ingenious as benevolent, she was the owner of certain rooms of great resort in the neighbourhood of St. Jamess,rooms where caps and appointments were made better than anywhere else, and where credit was given and character lost upon terms equally advantageous to the accommodating Mrs. Brown.