IN WHICH OUR HERO RETURNS TO HIS FORMER EMPLOYMENT, BUT ON A GRANDER
SCALE OF OPERATION.
Our hero had received from Mary the name and address of Mrs Phillips's
brother, and, on inquiry, found that he was known by everybody. Joey
dressed himself in his best suit, and presented himself at the door
about ten o'clock in the morning, as Joseph O'Donahue, the name which he
had taken when he went to Gravesend, and by which name he had been known
to Mrs Phillips and her daughter Emma, when he made occasional visits
to their house. He was admitted, and found himself once more in company
with his friend Emma, who was now fast growing up into womanhood. After
the first congratulations and inquiries, he stated his intentions in
coming down to Portsmouth, and their assistance was immediately
promised. They then requested a detail of his adventures since he
quitted Gravesend, of which Joey told everything that he safely could;
passing over his meeting with Furness, by simply stating that, while he
was asleep, his knife-grinder's wheel had been stolen by two men, and
that when he awoke he dared not offer an opposition. Mrs Phillips and
her daughter both knew that there was some mystery about our hero, which
had induced him to come to, and also to leave Gravesend; but, being
assured by Mary and himself; that he was not to blame, they did not
press him to say more than he wished; and, as soon as he finished his
history, they proposed introducing him to Mr Small, the brother of Mrs
Phillips, in whose house they were then residing, and who was then in
his office.
"But, perhaps, mamma, it will be better to wait till tomorrow, and in
the meantime you will be able to tell my uncle all about Joey," observed
Emma.
"I think it will be better, my dear," replied Mrs Phillips; "but there
is Marianne's tap at the door, for the second time; she wants me
downstairs, so I must leave you for a little while; but you need not go
away, O'Donahue; I will be back soon."
Mrs Phillips left the room, and our hero found himself alone with Emma.
"You have grown very much, Joey," said Emma; "and so have I, too, they
tell me."
"Yes, you have indeed," replied Joey; "you are no longer the little girl
who comforted me when I was so unhappy. Do you recollect that day?"
"Yes, indeed I do, as if it were but yesterday. But you have never told
me why you lead so wandering a life; you won't trust me."
"I would trust you with anything but that which is not mine to trust, as
I told you four years ago; it is not my secret; as soon as I can I will
tell you everything; but I hope not to lead a wandering life any longer,
for I have come down here to settle, if I can."
"What made you think of coming down here?" asked Emma.
"Because you were here; Mary told me so. I have not yet thanked you for
your present, but I have not forgotten your kindness in thinking of a
poor boy like me, when he was far away; here it is," continued Joey,
taking out the pencil-case, "and I have loved it dearly," added he,
kissing it, "ever since I have had it in my possession. I very often
have taken it out and thought of you."
"Now you are so rich a man, you should give me something to keep for
your sake," replied Emma; "and I will be very careful of it, for old
acquaintance' sake."
"What can I offer to you? you are a young lady; I would give you all I
had in the world, if I dared, but--"
"When I first saw you," rejoined Emma, "you were dressed as a young
gentleman."
"Yes, I was," replied Joey, with a sigh; and as the observation of Emma
recalled to his mind the kindness of the McShanes, he passed his hand
across his eyes to brush away a tear or two that started.
"I did not mean to make you unhappy," said Emma, taking our hero's hand.
"I am sure you did not," replied Joey, smiling. "Yes, I was then as you
say; but recollect that lately I have been a knife-grinder."
"Well, you know, your friend said, that it was the nearest thing to a
gentleman; and now I hope you will be quite a gentleman again."
"Not a gentleman, for I must turn to some business or another," replied
Joey.
"I did not mean an idle gentleman; I meant a respectable profession,"
said Emma. "My uncle is a very odd man, but very good-hearted; you must
not mind his way towards you. He is very fond of mamma and me, and I
have no doubt will interest himself about you, and see that your money
is not thrown away. Perhaps you would like to set up a bumboat on your
own account?" added Emma, laughing.
"No, I thank you; I had enough of that. Poor Mrs Chopper! what a kind
creature she was! I'm sure I ought to be very grateful to her for
thinking of me as she did."
"I believe," said Emma, "that she was a very good woman, and so does
mamma. Recollect Joey, when you speak to my uncle, you must not
contradict him."
"I am sure I shall not," replied Joey; "why should I contradict a person
so far my superior in years and everything else?"
"Certainly not; and as he is fond of argument, you had better give up to
him at once; and, indeed," continued Emma, laughing, "everybody else
does in the end. I hope you will find a nice situation, and that we
shall see a great deal of you."
"I am sure I do," replied Joey, "for I have no friends that I may see,
except you. How I wish that you did know everything!"
A silence ensued between the young people, which was not interrupted
until by the appearance of Mrs Phillips, who had seen Mr Small, and
had made an engagement for our hero to present himself at nine o'clock
on the following morning, after which communication our hero took his
leave. He amused himself during the remainder of that day in walking
over the town, which at that time presented a most bustling appearance,
as an expedition was fitting out; the streets were crowded with officers
of the army, navy, and marines, in their uniforms; soldiers and sailors,
more or less tipsy; flaunting ribbons and gaudy colours, and every
variety of noise was to be heard that could be well imagined, from the
quacking of a duck, with its head out of the basket in which it was
confined to be taken on board, to the martial music, the rolling of the
drums, and the occasional salutes of artillery, to let the world know
that some great man had put his foot on board of a ship, or had again
deigned to tread upon _terra firma_. All was bustle and excitement,
hurrying, jostling, cursing, and swearing; and Joey found himself, by
the manner in which he was shoved about right and left, to be in the way
of everybody.
At the time appointed our hero made his appearance at the door, and,
having given his name, was asked into the counting-house of the
establishment, where sat Mr Small and his factotum, Mr Sleek. It may
be as well here to describe the persons and peculiarities of these two
gentlemen.
Mr Small certainly did not accord with his name, for he was a man full
six feet high, and stout in proportion; he was in face extremely plain,
with a turned-up nose; but, at the same time, there was a lurking
good-humour in his countenance, and a twinkle in his eye, which
immediately prepossessed you, and in a few minutes you forgot that he
was not well-favoured. Mr Small was very fond of an argument and a
joke, and he had such a forcible way of maintaining his argument when he
happened to be near you, that, as Emma had told our hero, few people
after a time ventured to contradict him. This mode of argument was
nothing more than digging the hard knuckles of his large hand into the
ribs of his opponent--we should rather say gradually gimleting, as it
were, a hole in your side--as he heated in his illustrations. He was
the last person in the world in his disposition to inflict pain, even
upon an insect--and yet, from this habit, no one perhaps gave more, or
appeared to do so with more malice, as his countenance was radiant with
good-humour, at the very time when his knuckles were taking away your
breath. What made it worse, was, that he had a knack of seizing the
coat lappet with the other hand, so that escape was difficult; and when
he had exhausted all his reasoning, he would follow it up with a
pressure of his knuckles under the fifth rib, saying, "Now you feel the
force of my argument, don't you?" Everybody did, and no one would
oppose him unless the table was between them. It was much the same with
his jokes: he would utter them, and then with a loud laugh, and the
insidious insertion of his knuckles, say, "Do you take that, eh?" Mr
Sleek had also his peculiarity, and was not an agreeable person to argue
with, for he had learnt to argue from his many years' constant
companionship with the head of the firm. Mr Sleek was a spare man,
deeply pock-marked in the face, and with a very large mouth; and, when
speaking, he sputtered to such a degree, that a quarter of an hour's
conversation with him was as good as a shower-bath. At long range Mr
Sleek could heat his superior out of the field; but if Mr Small
approached once to close quarters, Mr Sleek gave in immediately. The
captains of the navy used to assert that this fibbing enforcement of his
_truths_, on the part of Small, was quite contrary to all the rules of
modern warfare, and never would stand it, unless they required an
advance of money; and then, by submitting to a certain quantity of digs
in the ribs in proportion to the unreasonableness of their demand, they
usually obtained their object; as they said he "knuckled down" in the
end. As for Mr Sleek, although the best man in the world, he was their
abhorrence; he was nothing but a watering-pot, and they were not plants
which required his aid to add to their vigour. Mr Sleek, even in the
largest company, invariably found himself alone, and could never imagine
why. Still he was an important personage; and when stock is to be got
on board in a hurry, officers in his Majesty's service do not care about
a little spray.
Mr Small was, as we have observed, a navy agent--that is to say, he was
a general provider of the officers and captains of his Majesty's
service. He obtained their agency on any captures which they might send
in, or he cashed their bills, advanced them money, supplied them with
their wine, and every variety of stock which might be required; and in
consequence was reported to be accumulating a fortune. As is usually
the case, he kept open house for the captains who were his clients, and
occasionally invited the junior officers to the hospitalities of his
table, so that Mrs Phillips and Emma were of great use to him, and had
quite sufficient to do in superintending such an establishment. Having
thus made our readers better acquainted with our new characters, we
shall proceed.
"Well, young man, I've heard all about you from my sister. So you wish
to leave off vagabondising, do you?"
"Yes, sir," replied Joey.
"How old are you? can you keep books?"
"I am seventeen, and have kept books," replied our hero, in innocence;
for he considered Mrs Chopper's day-books to come under that
denomination.
"And you have some money--how much?"
Joey replied that he had so much of his own, and that his sister had so
much more.
"Seven hundred pounds; eh, youngster? I began business with 100 pounds
less; and here I am. Money breeds money; do you understand that?" and
here Joey received a knuckle in his ribs, which almost took his breath
away, but which he bore without flinching, as he presumed it was a mark
of good will.
"What can we do with this lad, Sleek?" said Mr Small; "and what can we
do with his money?"
"Let him stay in the counting-house here for a week," replied Mr Sleek,
"and we shall see what he can do; and, as for his money, it will be as
safe here as in a country bank, until we know how to employ it, and we
can allow five per cent for it." All this was said in a shower of
spray, which induced Joey to wipe his face with his pocket-handkerchief.
"Yes, I think that will do for the present," rejoined Mr Small; "but
you observe, Sleek, that this young lad has very powerful interest, and
we shall be expected to do something for him, or we shall have the worst
of it. You understand that?" continued he, giving Joey a knuckle again.
"The ladies! no standing against them!"
Joey thought there was no standing such digs in the ribs, but he said
nothing.
"I leave him to you, Sleek. I must be off to call upon Captain James.
See to the lad's food and lodging. There's an order from the gun-room
of the _Hecate_." So saying, Mr Small departed.
Mr Sleek asked our hero where he was stopping; recommended him another
lodging close to the house, with directions how to proceed, and what
arrangements to make; told him to haste as much as he could, and then
come back to the counting-house.
In a couple of hours our hero was back again.
"Look on this list; do you understand it?" said Mr Sleek to Joey; "it
is sea-stock for the _Hecate_ which sails in a day or two. If I send a
porter with you to the people we deal with, would you be able to get all
these things which are marked with a cross? the wine and the others we
have here."
Joey looked over it, and was quite at home; it was only bumboating on a
large scale. "O, yes; and I know the prices of all these things,"
replied he; "I have been used to the supplying of ships at Gravesend."
"Why then," said Mr Sleek, "you are the very person I want; for I have
no time to attend to out-door work now."
The porter was sent for, and our hero soon executed his task, not only
with a precision but with a rapidity that was highly satisfactory to Mr
Sleek. As soon as the articles were all collected, Joey asked whether
he should take them on board--"I understand the work, Mr Sleek, and not
even an egg shall be broke, I promise you." The second part of the
commission was executed with the same precision by our hero, who
returned with a receipt of every article having been delivered safe and
in good condition. Mr Sleek was delighted with our hero, and told Mr
Small so when they met in the evening. Mr Sleek's opinion was given in
the presence of Mrs Phillips and Emma, who exchanged glances of
satisfaction at Joey's fortunate _debut_.