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TOPPLETON'S CLIENT
OR
_A SPIRIT IN EXILE_
BY JOHN KENDRICK BANGS
NEW YORK
CHARLES L. WEBSTER & COMPANY
1893
TO
F. D. S.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
INTRODUCING MR. HOPKINS TOPPLETON 1
CHAPTER II.
MR. HOPKINS TOPPLETON LEASES AN OFFICE 13
CHAPTER III.
MR. HOPKINS TOPPLETON ENCOUNTERS A WEARY SPIRIT 25
CHAPTER IV.
THE WEARY SPIRIT GIVES SOME ACCOUNT OF HIMSELF 39
CHAPTER V.
HOPKINS BECOMES BETTER ACQUAINTED WITH THE WEARY
SPIRIT 55
CHAPTER VI.
THE SPIRIT UNFOLDS A HORRID TALE 73
CHAPTER VII.
A CHAPTER OF PROFIT AND LOSS 90
CHAPTER VIII.
FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS IN THE MAKING OF A NAME 107
CHAPTER IX.
THE CROWNING ACT OF INFAMY 124
CHAPTER X.
THE SPIRIT'S STORY IS CONCLUDED 149
CHAPTER XI.
TOPPLETON CONSULTS THE LAW AND FORMS AN OPINION 167
CHAPTER XII.
TOPPLETON MAKES A FAIR START 184
CHAPTER XIII.
AT BARNCASTLE HALL 201
CHAPTER XIV.
THE DINNER AND ITS RESULT 218
CHAPTER XV.
BARNCASTLE CONFIDES IN HOPKINS 233
CHAPTER XVI.
MR. HOPKINS TOPPLETON MAKES A DISCOVERY 251
CHAPTER XVII.
EPILOGUE 268
TOPPLETON'S CLIENT.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCING MR. HOPKINS TOPPLETON.
MR. HOPKINS TOPPLETON, Barrister of London and New York, was considered
by his intimates a most fortunate young man. He was accounted the happy
possessor of an income of something over fifty thousand dollars a year,
derived from investments which time had shown to be as far removed from
instability, and as little influenced by the fluctuations of the stock
market, as the pyramids of Egypt themselves. Better than this, however,
better even than personal beauty, with which he was plentifully endowed,
Mr. Hopkins Toppleton was blessed with a great name, which he had
received ready-made from his illustrious father, late head of the legal
firm of Toppleton, Morley, Harkins, Perkins, Mawson, Bronson, Smithers
and Hicks. The value of the name to Hopkins was unquestionable, since it
enabled him, at his father's death, to enter that famous aggregation of
legal talent as a special partner, although his knowledge of law was
scant, receiving a share of the profits of the concern for the use of
his patronymic, which, owing to his father's pre-eminent success at the
Bar, Messrs. Morley, Harkins, _et al._, were anxious to retain. This
desire of Mr. Toppleton's late associates was most natural, for such was
the tremendous force exerted by the name he bore, that plaintiffs when
they perceived it arrayed in opposition to their claims, not
infrequently withdrew their suits, or offered terms upon which any
defendant of sense might be induced to compromise. On the other hand,
when a defendant found himself confronted with the fact that Hopkins
Toppleton, Sen., had joined forces with the plaintiff, he usually either
settled the claim against him in full or placed himself beyond the
jurisdiction of the courts.
When Toppleton, Sen., died, it was very generally believed that the
firm, whose name has already been mentioned at some length, lost not
only its head, but also a very large proportion of its brains,--a
situation quite as logical as it was unfortunate for the gentlemen with
whom Mr. Toppleton had been associated. Nor was this feeling, that with
the departure of Toppleton, the illustrious, for other worlds the firm
was deprived of a most considerable portion of its claims to high
standing, confined to cavilling outsiders. No one recognized the unhappy
state of affairs at the busy office on Broadway more quickly than did
Messrs. Morley, Harkins, Perkins, Mawson, Bronson, Smithers, and Hicks
themselves, and at the first meeting of the firm, after the funeral of
their dead partner, these gentlemen unanimously resolved that something
must be done.
It was at this meeting that Mr. Hicks suggested that the only course
left for the bereaved firm to pursue, if it desired to remain an
aggressive force in its chosen profession, was to retain the name of
Toppleton at the mast-head, and, as Mr. Mawson put it, "to bluff it
out." Mr. Perkins agreed with Mr. Hicks, and suggested that the only
honest way to do this was to induce Mr. Toppleton's only son, known to
all--even to the clerks in the office--as Hoppy, to enter the firm as a
full partner.
"I do not think," Mr. Perkins said, "that it is quite proper for us to
assume a virtue that we do not possess, and while Hoppy--I should say
Hopkins--has never studied law, I think he could be induced to do so, in
which event he could be taken in here, and we should have a perfectly
equitable claim to all the business which the name of Toppleton would
certainly bring to us."
"I am afraid," Mr. Bronson put in at this point, "I am very much afraid
that such a course would require the entire reorganization of the firm's
machinery. It would never do for the member whose name stands at the
head of our partnership designation, to be on such terms of intimacy
with the office boys, for instance, as to permit of his being addressed
by them as Hoppy; nor would it conduce toward good discipline, I am
convinced, for the nominal head of the concern to be engaged in making
pools on baseball games with our book-keepers and clerks, which, during
his lamented father's life, I understand was one of the lad's most
cherished customs. Now, while I agree with my friend Perkins that it is
desirable that the firm should have an unassailable basis for its
retention of the name of Toppleton, I do not agree with him that young
Hopkins should be taken in here if we are to retain our present highly
efficient force of subordinates. They would be utterly demoralized in
less than a month."
"But what do you suggest as an alternative?" inquired Mr. Morley.
"I believe that we should make Hopkins a special partner in the firm,
and have him travel abroad for his health," returned Mr. Bronson after a
moment's reflection.
"I regret to say," objected Mr. Hicks, "that Hoppy's health is
distressingly good. Your point in regard to the probable demoralization
of our office force, however, is well taken. Hopkins must go abroad if
he becomes one of us; but I suggest that instead of sending him for his
health, we establish a London branch office, and put him in charge on a
salary of, say, 10,000 dollars. We have no business interests outside of
this country, so that such a course, in view of his absolute ignorance
of law, would be perfectly safe, and we could give Hoppy to understand
in the event of his acceptance of our proposition that he shall be free
to take a vacation whenever he pleases, for as long a period of time as
he pleases, and the oftener the better."
"That's the best plan, I think," said Mr. Mawson. "In fact, if Hoppy
declines that responsible office, I wouldn't mind taking it myself."
And so it happened. The proposition was made to Hopkins, and he accepted
it with alacrity. He did not care for the practice of the law, but he
had no objection to receiving an extra ten thousand dollars a year as a
silent partner in a flourishing concern with headquarters in London,
particularly when his sole duties were to remain away from the office on
a perpetual vacation.
"I was born with a love of rest," Hoppy once said in talking over his
prospects with his friends some time before the proposition of his
father's partners had been submitted to him. "Even as a baby I was fond
of it. I remember my mother saying that I slept for nearly the whole of
my first year of existence, and when I came to my school days my
reputation with my teachers was, that in the enjoyment of recess and in
assiduous devotion to all that pertained to a life of elegant leisure,
there was not a boy in school who could approach me."
The young man never railed at fate for compelling him to lead a life
which would have filled others of robuster ideas with ennui, but he did
on occasions find fault with the powers for having condemned him to
birth in a country like the United States, where the man of leisure is
regarded with less of reverence than of derision.
"It is a no harder fate for the soul of an artist to dwell in the body
of a pork-packer," he had said only the night before the plan outlined
by Mr. Hicks was brought to his attention, "than for a man of my restful
tendencies to be at home in a land where the hustler alone inspires
respect. What the fates should have done in my case was clearly to have
had me born a rich duke or a prince, whose chief duty it would be to
lead the fashionable world and to set styles of dress for others to
follow. I'd have made a magnificent member of the House of Lords, or
proprietor of a rich estate somewhere in England, with nothing to do but
to spend my income and open horse shows; but in New York there is no
leisure class of recognized standing, excepting, of course, the
messenger-boys and the plumbers, and even they do not command the
respect which foreign do-nothings inspire. It's hard luck. The only
redeeming feature of the case is that owing to a high tariff I can spend
my money with less effort here than I could abroad."
Then came the proposition from the firm, and in it Hoppy recognized the
ingredients of the ideal life--a life of rest in a country capable of
understanding the value to society of the drones, a life free from
responsibility, yet possessing a semblance of dignity bound to impress
those unacquainted with the real state of affairs. Added to this was the
encouragement which an extra ten thousand a year must invariably bring
to the man appointed to receive it.
"It's just what I needed," he said to Mr. Hicks, "to make my income
what it ought to be. Fifty thousand dollars is, of course, a handsome
return from investments, but it is an awkward sum to spend. It doesn't
divide up well. But sixty thousand a year is simply ideal. Twelve goes
into sixty five times, and none over--five thousand a month means
something, and doesn't complicate accounts. Besides, the increase will
pay the interest on a yacht nicely."
"You are a great boy, Hoppy," said Mr. Hicks, when the young man had
thus unbosomed himself, "but I doubt if you will ever be a great man."
"Oh, I don't know," said Hoppy; "there's no telling what may develop. Of
course, Mr. Hicks, I shall go into the study of the law very seriously;
I couldn't think of accepting your offer without making some effort to
show that I deserved it. I shall give up the reading of my irresponsible
days, and take to reading law. I shall stop my subscription to the
sporting papers, and take the _Daily Register_ and _Court Calendar_
instead, and if you think it would be worth while I might also subscribe
to the _Albany Law Journal_, with which interesting periodical I am
already tolerably familiar, having kept my father's files in order for
some years."
"No, Hoppy," said Mr. Hicks, with a smile, "I don't think you'd better
give up the sporting papers; 'all work and no play makes Jack a dull
boy.'"
"Perhaps you are right," said Hopkins, in reply to this. "But I _shall_
read Blackstone, and accumulate a library on legal subjects, Mr. Hicks.
In that I am firm. I am a good deal of a book-lover anyhow, and since
law is to be my profession I might as well suit my books to my needs.
I'll order a first edition of Blackstone at once."
"You'd better get the comic Blackstone," said Mr. Hicks, gravely. "You
will find it a very interesting book."
"Very well, Mr. Hicks," returned the amiable head-partner-elect of the
famous legal firm, "I'll make a note of that. I will also purchase the
'Newgate Calendar,' and any other books you may choose to
recommend,--and I tell you what, Mr. Hicks, when my collection gets
going it will be the talk of the town. I'll have 'em all in absolute
firsts, and as for the bindings, your old yellow-backed tomes at the
office will be cast utterly in the shade by my full crushed levant
morocco books in rich reds and blues. Just think of the hundred or more
volumes of New York reports in Russia leather, Mr. Hicks!"
"It takes my breath away, Hoppy," returned the lawyer. "Every one of the
volumes will be absolutely uncut, I suppose, eh?"
"Never you mind about that," retorted Hopkins; "you think I'm joking,
but you'll find your mistake some day. I'm serious in this business,
though I think I'll begin my labours by taking a winter at Nice."
"That is wise," said Mr. Hicks, approvingly; "and then you might put in
the summer in Norway, devoting the spring and autumn to rest and quiet."
"I'll think about that," Hopkins answered; "but the first step to take,
really, is to pack up my things here, and sail for London and secure an
office."
"A very proper sentiment, my dear boy," returned Mr. Hicks; "but let me
advise you, do not be rash about plunging into the professional vortex.
Remember that at present your knowledge of the law is limited entirely
to your theories as to what it ought to be, and law is seldom that; nor
must you forget that in asking you to represent us in London, it is not
our desire to inflict upon you any really active work. We simply desire
you to live in an atmosphere that, to one of your tastes, is necessarily
broadening, and if you find it advisable to pursue intellectual breadth
across the continent of Europe to the uttermost parts of the earth, you
will find that the firm stands ready to furnish you with material
assistance, and to remove all obstacles from your path."
"Thanks for your kindness, Mr. Hicks," said Hopkins. "I shall endeavour
to prove myself worthy of it."
"I have no doubt of it, my boy," rejoined Mr. Hicks, rising. "And, in
parting with you, let me impress upon you the importance, both to you
and to ourselves in the present stage of your legal development, of the
maxim, that to a young lawyer not sure of his law, and devoid of
experience, there is nothing quite so dangerous as a client. Avoid
clients, Hoppy, as you would dangerous explosives. Many a young lawyer
has seemed great until fate has thrown a client athwart his path."
With these words, designed quite as much for the protection of the firm,
as for the edification of that concern's new head, Mr. Hicks withdrew,
and Hopkins turned his attention to preparations for departure; paying
his bills, laying in a stock of cigars, and instructing his valet as to
the disposition of his lares and penates. Four weeks later he sailed for
London, arriving there in good shape early in June, ready for all the
delights of the season, then at its height.
It was not until Hopkins had been four days at sea, that the firm of
Toppleton, Morley, Harkins, Perkins, Mawson, Bronson, Smithers, and
Hicks learned that the new partner had presided at a Coney Island
banquet, given by himself to the office-boys, clerks, book-keepers, and
stenographers of the firm, on the Saturday half-holiday previous to his
departure. It is doubtful if this appalling fact would have come to
light even then, had not Mr. Mawson, in endeavouring to discharge one of
the office-boys for insubordination, been informed by the delinquent
that he defied him; the senior member of the firm, the departed Hoppy,
having promised to retain the youth in his employ at increased wages,
until he was old enough to go to London, and assist him in looking after
the interests of his clients abroad. An investigation, which followed,
showed that Hopkins had celebrated his departure in the manner
indicated, and also divulged the interesting fact that the running
expenses of the office, according to the new partner's promises, were
immediately to be increased at least twenty-five per cent. per annum in
salaries.