THE EARLY HISTORY OF OUR MR. BROWN, WITH SOME FEW WORDS OF MR. JONES.
O Commerce, how wonderful are thy ways, how vast thy power, how
invisible thy dominion! Who can restrain thee and forbid thy further
progress? Kings are but as infants in thy hands, and emperors,
despotic in all else, are bound to obey thee! Thou civilizest, hast
civilized, and wilt civilize. Civilization is thy mission, and man's
welfare thine appointed charge. The nation that most warmly fosters
thee shall ever be the greatest in the earth; and without thee no
nation shall endure for a day. Thou art our Alpha and our Omega, our
beginning and our end; the marrow of our bones, the salt of our life,
the sap of our branches, the corner-stone of our temple, the rock of
our foundation. We are built on thee, and for thee, and with thee. To
worship thee should be man's chiefest care, to know thy hidden ways
his chosen study.
One maxim hast thou, O Commerce, great and true and profitable above
all others;--one law which thy votaries should never transgress. "Buy
in the cheapest market and sell in the dearest." May those divine
words be ever found engraved on the hearts of Brown, Jones, and
Robinson!
Of Mr. Brown, the senior member of our firm, it is expedient that
some short memoir should be given. At the time at which we signed
our articles in 185--, Mr. Brown had just retired from the butter
business. It does not appear that in his early youth he ever had the
advantage of an apprenticeship, and he seems to have been employed
in various branches of trade in the position, if one may say so,
of an out-door messenger. In this capacity he entered the service
of Mr. McCockerell, a retail butter dealer in Smithfield. When Mr.
McCockerell died our Mr. Brown married his widow, and thus found
himself elevated at once to the full-blown dignity of a tradesman. He
and his wife lived together for thirty years, and it is believed that
in the temper of his lady he found some alloy to the prosperity which
he had achieved. The widow McCockerell, in bestowing her person upon
Mr. Brown, had not intended to endow him also with entire dominion
over her shop and chattels. She loved to be supreme over her butter
tubs, and she loved also to be supreme over her till. Brown's views
on the rights of women were more in accordance with the law of the
land as laid down in the statutes. He opined that a _femme couverte_
could own no property, not even a butter tub;--and hence quarrels
arose.
After thirty years of contests such as these Mr. Brown found himself
victorious, made so not by the power of arguments, nor by that of
his own right arm, but by the demise of Mrs. Brown. That amiable
lady died, leaving two daughters to lament their loss, and a series
of family quarrels, by which she did whatever lay in her power to
embarrass her husband, but by which she could not prevent him from
becoming absolute owner of the butter business, and of the stock in
trade.
The two young ladies had not been brought up to the ways of the
counter; and as Mr. Brown was not himself especially expert at that
particular business in which his money was embarked, he prudently
thought it expedient to dispose of the shop and goodwill. This he
did to advantage; and thus at the age of fifty-five he found himself
again on the world with 4,000_l_. in his pocket.
At this period one of his daughters was no longer under his own
charge. Sarah Jane, the eldest of the two, was already Mrs. Jones.
She had been captivated by the black hair and silk waistcoat of Mr.
Jones, and had gone off with him in opposition to the wishes of both
parents. This, she was aware, was not matter of much moment, for
the opposition of one was sure to bring about a reconciliation with
the other. And such was soon the case. Mrs. Brown would not see her
daughter, or allow Jones to put his foot inside the butter-shop. Mr.
Brown consequently took lodgings for them in the neighbourhood, and
hence a close alliance sprung up between the future partners.
At this crisis Maryanne devoted herself to her mother. It was
admitted by all who knew her that Maryanne Brown had charms. At that
time she was about twenty-four years of age, and was certainly a fine
young woman. She was, like her mother, a little too much inclined to
corpulence, and there may be those who would not allow that her hair
was auburn. Mr. Robinson, however, who was then devotedly attached to
her, was of that opinion, and was ready to maintain his views against
any man who would dare to say that it was red.
There was a dash about Maryanne Brown at that period which endeared
her greatly to Mr. Robinson. She was quite above anything mean, and
when her papa was left a widower in possession of four thousand
pounds, she was one of those who were most anxious to induce him
to go to work with spirit in a new business. She was all for
advertising; that must be confessed of her, though her subsequent
conduct was not all that it should have been. Maryanne Brown, when
tried in the furnace, did not come out pure gold; but this, at any
rate, shall be confessed in her behalf, that she had a dash about
her, and understood more of the tricks of trade than any other of her
family.
Mrs. McCockerell died about six months after her eldest daughter's
marriage. She was generally called Mrs. McCockerell in the
neighbourhood of Smithfield, though so many years had passed since
she had lost her right to that name. Indeed, she generally preferred
being so styled, as Mr. Brown was peculiarly averse to it. The name
was wormwood to him, and this was quite sufficient to give it melody
in her ears.
The good lady died about six months after her daughter's marriage.
She was struck with apoplexy, and at that time had not been
reconciled to her married daughter. Sarah Jane, nevertheless, when
she heard what had occurred, came over to Smithfield. Her husband was
then in employment as shopman at the large haberdashery house on Snow
Hill, and lived with his wife in lodgings in Cowcross Street. They
were supported nearly entirely by Mr. Brown, and therefore owed to
him at this crisis not only obedience, but dutiful affection.
When, however, Sarah Jane first heard of her mother's illness, she
seemed to think that she couldn't quarrel with her father fast
enough. Jones had an idea that the old lady's money must go to her
daughters, that she had the power of putting it altogether out of the
hands of her husband, and that having the power she would certainly
exercise it. On this speculation he had married; and as he and his
wife fully concurred in their financial views, it was considered
expedient by them to lose no time in asserting their right. This they
did as soon as the breath was out of the old lady's body.
Jones had married Sarah Jane solely with this view; and, indeed,
it was highly improbable that he should have done so on any other
consideration. Sarah Jane was certainly not a handsome girl. Her neck
was scraggy, her arms lean, and her lips thin; and she resembled
neither her father nor her mother. Her light brown, sandy hair, which
always looked as though it were too thin and too short to adapt
itself to any feminine usage, was also not of her family; but her
disposition was a compound of the paternal and maternal qualities.
She had all her father's painful hesitating timidity, and with it all
her mother's grasping spirit. If there ever was an eye that looked
sharp after the pence, that could weigh the ounces of a servant's
meal at a glance, and foresee and prevent the expenditure of a
farthing, it was the eye of Sarah Jane Brown. They say that it is
as easy to save a fortune as to make one; and in this way, if in no
other, Jones may be said to have got a fortune with his wife.
As soon as the breath was out of Mrs. McCockerell's body, Sarah Jane
was there, taking inventory of the stock. At that moment poor Mr.
Brown was very much to be pitied. He was a man of feeling, and even
if his heart was not touched by his late loss, he knew what was due
to decency. It behoved him now as a widower to forget the deceased
lady's faults, and to put her under the ground with solemnity. This
was done with the strictest propriety; and although he must, of
course, have been thinking a good deal at that time as to whether he
was to be a beggar or a rich man, nevertheless he conducted himself
till after the funeral as though he hadn't a care on his mind, except
the loss of Mrs. B.
Maryanne was as much on the alert as her sister. She had been for the
last six months her mother's pet, as Sarah Jane had been her father's
darling. There was some excuse, therefore, for Maryanne when she
endeavoured to get what she could in the scramble. Sarah Jane played
the part of Goneril to the life, and would have denied her father the
barest necessaries of existence, had it not ultimately turned out
that the property was his own.
Maryanne was not well pleased to see her sister returning to the
house at such a moment. She, at least, had been dutiful to her
mother, or, if undutiful, not openly so. If Mrs. McCockerell had the
power of leaving her property to whom she pleased, it would be only
natural that she should leave it to the daughter who had obeyed her,
and not to the daughter who had added to personal disobedience the
worse fault of having been on friendly terms with her father.
This, one would have thought, would have been clear at any rate to
Jones, if not to Sarah Jane; but they both seemed at this time to
have imagined that the eldest child had some right to the inheritance
as being the eldest. It will be observed by this and by many other
traits in his character that Mr. Jones had never enjoyed the
advantages of an education.
Mrs. McCockerell never spoke after the fit first struck her. She
never moved an eye, or stirred a limb, or uttered a word. It was a
wretched household at that time. The good lady died on a Wednesday,
and was gathered to her fathers at Kensal Green Cemetery on the
Tuesday following. During the intervening days Mr. Jones and Sarah
Jane took on themselves as though they were owners of everything.
Maryanne did try to prevent the inventory, not wishing it to appear
that Mrs. Jones had any right to meddle; but the task was too
congenial to Sarah Jane's spirit to allow of her giving it over. She
revelled in the work. It was a delight to her to search out hidden
stores of useless wealth,--to bring forth to the light forgotten
hoards of cups and saucers, and to catalogue every rag on the
premises.
The house at this time was not a pleasant one. Mr. Brown, finding
that Jones, in whom he had trusted, had turned against him, put
himself very much into the hands of a young friend of his, named
George Robinson. Who and what George Robinson was will be told in the
next chapter.
"There are three questions," said Robinson, "to be asked and
answered.--Had Mrs. B. the power to make a will? If so, did she make
a will? And if so, what was the will she made?"
Mr. Brown couldn't remember whether or no there had been any signing
of papers at his marriage. A good deal of rum and water, he said, had
been drunk; and there might have been signing too,--but he didn't
remember it.
Then there was the search for the will. This was supposed to be in
the hands of one Brisket, a butcher, for whom it was known Mrs.
McCockerell had destined the hand of her younger daughter. Mr.
Brisket had been a great favourite with the old lady, and she had
often been heard to declare that he should have the wife and money,
or the money without the wife. This she said to coerce Maryanne into
the match.
But Brisket, when questioned, declared that he had no will in his
possession. At this time he kept aloof from the house and showed no
disposition to meddle with the affairs of the family. Indeed, all
through these trying days he behaved honestly, if not with high
feeling. In recounting the doings of Brown, Jones, and Robinson, it
will sometimes be necessary to refer to Mr. Brisket. He shall always
be spoken of as an honest man. He did all that in him lay to mar the
bright hopes of one who was perhaps not the most insignificant of
that firm. He destroyed the matrimonial hopes of Mr. Robinson, and
left him to wither like a blighted trunk on a lone waste. But he was,
nevertheless, an honest man, and so much shall be said of him. Let us
never forget that "An honest man is the noblest work of God."
Brisket, when asked, said that he had no will, and that he knew of
none. In fact there was no will forthcoming, and there is no doubt
that the old woman was cut off before she had made one. It may also
be premised that had she made one it would have been invalid, seeing
that Mr. Brown, as husband, was, in fact, the owner of the whole
affair.
Sarah Jane and Maryanne, when they found that no document was
forthcoming, immediately gave out that they intended to take on
themselves the duties of joint heiresses, and an alliance, offensive
and defensive, was sworn between them. At this time Mr. Brown
employed a lawyer, and the heiresses, together with Jones, employed
another. There could be no possible doubt as to Mr. Brown being the
owner of the property, however infatuated on such a subject Jones and
his wife may have been. No lawyer in London could have thought that
the young women had a leg to stand upon. Nevertheless, the case was
undertaken, and Brown found himself in the middle of a lawsuit. Sarah
Jane and Maryanne both remained in the house in Smithfield to guard
the property on their own behalf. Mr. Brown also remained to guard it
on his behalf. The business for a time was closed. This was done in
opposition both to Mr. Brown and Maryanne; but Mrs. Jones could not
bring herself to permit the purchase of a firkin of butter, unless
the transaction could be made absolutely under her own eyes; and,
even then, she would insist on superintending the retail herself and
selling every pound, short weight. It was the custom of the trade,
she said; and to depart from it would ruin them.
Things were in this condition, going from bad to worse, when Jones
came over one evening, and begged an interview with Mr. Brown. That
interview was the commencement of the partnership. From such small
matters do great events arise.
At that interview Mr. Robinson was present. Mr. Brown indeed declared
that he would have no conversation with Jones on business affairs,
unless in the presence of a third party. Jones represented that if
they went on as they were now doing, the property would soon be
swallowed up by the lawyers. To this Mr. Brown, whose forte was not
eloquence, tacitly assented with a deep groan.
"Then," said Jones, "let us divide it into three portions. You shall
have one; Sarah Jane a second; and I will manage the third on behalf
of my sister-in-law, Maryanne. If we arrange it well, the lawyers
will never get a shilling."
The idea of a compromise appeared to Mr. Brown to be not
uncommendable; but a compromise on such terms as those could not of
course be listened to. Robinson strongly counselled him to nail his
colours to the mast, and kick Mr. Jones downstairs. But Mr. Brown had
not spirit for this.
"One's children is one's children," said he to Robinson, when they
went apart into the shop to talk the matter over. "The fruit of one's
loins, and the prop of one's age."
Robinson could not help thinking that Sarah Jane was about as bad a
prop as any that ever a man leant on; but he was too generous to say
so. The matter was ended at last by a compromise. "Go on with the
business together," said Robinson; "Mr. Brown keeping, of course, a
preponderating share in his own hands."
"I don't like butter," said Jones. "Nothing great can be done in
butter."
"It is a very safe line," said Mr. Brown, "if the connection is
good."
"The connection must have been a good deal damaged," said Robinson,
"seeing that the shop has been closed for a fortnight. Besides, it's
a woman's business;--and you have no woman to manage it," added he,
fearing that Mrs. Jones might be brought in, to the detriment of all
concerned.
Jones suggested haberdashery; Robinson, guided by a strong idea
that there is a more absolute opening for the advertising line in
haberdashery than in any other business, assented.
"Then let it be haberdashery," said Mr. Brown, with a sigh. And so
that was settled.