Poor Mrs Hallett was, no doubt, a great sufferer; and as I grow older
and knew her better, the annoyance I used to feel at her unreasonable
ways dropped aside to make room for pity.
One thing always struck me, and that was, that though she was constantly
murmuring about Stephen's wasting time over his schemes, and the
wretched way in which he was constantly plodding on, instead of
ambitiously trying to rise to some profession, it was dangerous for
anyone else to speak of such a thing.
At the appointed time I called upon Mr Jabez, and he accompanied me to
Great Ormond Street, looking brighter and younger than I had ever seen
him look before. His snuff-box was in constant use, and he on the way,
after vainly trying to stand treat, as he called it, by stopping at the
various grocers' windows, and wanting to buy me a box of candied fruits
or French plums, went on tatting about Miss Carr.
"Antony Grace," he exclaimed; "that fellow will wake up some day."
"What fellow?"
"Lister. The fool! the idiot! the ass! Why, an earthly heaven was open
to him, and he turned his back upon it. There's a life of repentance
for him."
"I can't understand it," I said.
"Humph! No," he continued; and he kept glancing at me curiously, as if
eager to say something--to ask me some question; but he refrained.
"I'm glad you liked Miss Carr," I said at last.
"Liked her, boy?" he exclaimed enthusiastically; and he stopped in the
centre of the pavement. "There, I suppose I'm growing into an old fool,
but that's no business of anybody. That young lady, sir, can command
Jabez Rowle from this moment. Here, come along; the people are looking
at you."
I thought they were looking at Mr Jabez, but I said nothing, only kept
step with him, as he thrust his arm through mine and hurried me on.
"Of course, what I say to you is in confidence, Antony Grace," he
continued.
"Of course," I replied warmly; "and let me beg of you, Mr Rowle, to be
very careful. Pray don't let Hallett have any suspicion of how your
interest has come about; and, above all, he must not think that I have
talked to you about his model."
"Hold your tongue, tomtit," he exclaimed merrily, "trying to teach a
croaking old raven, getting on towards a hundred. You leave it to me.
But look here, boy, I'm not blind. This is all in confidence, of
course. I can see as far into a mill-stone as most, people. Have
Hallett and Miss--Bah, what am I saying?" he muttered, checking himself
suddenly. "It's all in confidence, and I shall be as close as an
oyster. I've got my part by heart, and you shall see what you shall
see."
He gave my arm a tight nip, and soon after we reached the door, which I
opened with my latchkey, and took him into my rooms, with which the old
man seemed much pleased.
"Why, you reckless young hypocrite, this is the way you live, is it?
Books, eh? And what are these wheels for?" he continued, picking up a
couple from the chimney-piece.
"The model," I said quietly. "Now, what shall we do? Ask Hallett to
come down here, or go up?"
"Send up word that you have an old friend with you, and ask if you may
bring him up."
I took the hint, and Mary came back in a few minutes to say that Mr
Hallett would be only too glad to see us.
We went up, and I saw at once that Hallett had come down from the attic.
Mrs Hallett was asleep, and Linny, looking very pale and thin, but
still restful and better, was in an easy-chair with a book.
"Ah, Hallett, how do?" said the old gentleman, in his abrupt way. "Your
servant, ma'am," he added, with a profound bow.
Hallett looked stern and displeased, and his greeting was cold.
"My sister, Mr Rowle," he said. "She has been ill."
"So I see," he replied. "I hope you are getting better, my dear child.
You must take plenty of fresh air. I came to see my young friend,
Antony Grace here, and he suggested that as we were under the same roof,
I should come and see you. Sorry you ever left us, Mr Hallett."
Hallett bowed.
"Ah," he continued, taking the chair coldly offered, "lots of changes
since. I suppose you know the partnership's dissolved?"
"Yes, I had heard so," replied Hallett, glancing uneasily at Linny.
"I stick on with the senior branch," the old man continued, as his eyes
wandered about the room, for he was evidently at a loss, and I did not
know how to help him, so crossed over to sit down by and talk to Linny.
But fate favoured us, for in his hurried descent Hallett had brought
with him a portion of the mechanism of the model.
"Hullo!" exclaimed Mr Jabez sharply; "what have you got there? Have
you, too, turned engineer?"
"Oh, no," said Hallett, who was annoyed. "I--that is--it is a portion
of a little contrivance of mine."
"Oho!" exclaimed Mr Jabez, "I've found you out, have I, Master Hallett!
Why, you were always making sketches of machinery at the office."
"How do you know that?" said Hallett sharply, while my heart sank, for I
felt that our attempt would be a failure.
"Old Grim told me. That young scoundrel, Jem Smith, used to carry him
scraps of paper upon which you had been drawing."
Hallett's brow grew more cloudy, but he brightened up directly, saying
frankly:
"Well, yes, Mr Rowle, I am engaged upon a little invention."
"That's right," said the old man warmly; "that's right; I wish I had
begun something of the kind when I was young. It takes the mind away
from the daily mill-horse work. But somehow, Hallett, I never could
drag my mind away from it, but used to amuse myself reading proofs at
home. Grace," he continued, turning to me, "why don't you take to
something? You being an engineer, now, you ought to do something, say,
in our line. There's plenty of chances there. I know one man," he
said, taking up his thin leg and nursing it, "who has been trying for
years to perfect a machine."
"Oh, Mr Jabez," I thought, "you have spoiled all!" for Hallett darted a
quick glance at me.
"The idea occurred to him," continued Mr Jabez, tapping his snuff-box
thoughtfully, as if it contained the machine, "that he could make a
contrivance that would do away with the necessity for setting type."
"Indeed?" said Hallett, who drew a long breath of relief.
"Yes, sir," said Mr Jabez; "his idea was to get the type set up in long
pipes above a keyboard, like a piano, and every time a key was touched
with the finger, it pushed out a letter, which ran down an inclined
plane to an opening, where a tiny hammer gave it a tap and drove it
along a channel in which the letters formed one long line, which was
afterwards made into pages and justified."
"And did it answer?" said Hallett eagerly.
"No," said the old man, taking a pinch of snuff, as Linny and I now
listened to him attentively. "The idea was clever, but it was too
crude. He set up his stick full, Antony Grace, and neglected to read it
afterwards. He failed at first."
"But you said it was a good idea, Mr Jabez," I exclaimed.
"A capital idea," said the old man, "but it was full of faults."
"Faults?" said Hallett dreamily.
"Yes, sir," said the old man, growing animated. "For instance, he would
only have been able to set one kind of type--one size. He couldn't use
italic. He wanted a clever, sensible woman or man to work the keys,
another to make the type up into lines. And he was obliged to have a
boy to work the little hammer, or beater, to drive the letters along.
Then the type would get stuck if the letters were not sent down exactly
to the time; for two would meet in a lane, and then there was no end of
confusion, and, after all, the type had to be distributed, and
afterwards set up in sticks to fill the machine."
"Exactly," said Hallett, with animation, for the ice was broken. "I had
thought of something similar."
"But you did not do it."
"No; oh no! Composition always seemed to me to require the mind of
man--the brain to guide it. It seemed to me that invention should be
applied to something of a more mechanical nature."
"Exactly," said Mr Jabez. "You couldn't make a machine to read and
correct proofs, or revise a slip."
"Of course not," said Hallett.
"Of course not," said Mr Jabez. "But, mind you, I'm not one of those
idiots who rise up in arms against machinery, and I don't say but what
our friend might not have gone on and greatly improved his machine. For
instance, he might have contrived another, to do away with the
distribution and re-setting up of the type."
"Yes," said Hallett thoughtfully; "it might have been recast and
replaced by mechanism."
"And always have new type," said Mr Jabez eagerly. "To be sure: a
capital idea; but I don't know, Hallett, I don't know. They say you can
buy gold too dearly. In the same way, you can make a time-saving
process too expensive."
"Certainly," said Hallett thoughtfully; and I was glad to see now that
he was pleased to meet the old man.
"It seems to me," said Mr Jabez, passing his snuff-box, which Hallett
received, and, to humour his visitor, partook of a pinch, "that an
inventor ought to devote his attention to making machinery for doing
away with a great deal more of our labouring mechanical work, and not
the careful processes that require thought."
"Printing, for instance?"
"Ye-es," said Mr Jabez; "but that ground has been pretty well taken up.
We have some good machines now, that do a lot of work by steam. Why,
when I was a boy we used to have the clumsiest old presses possible to
conceive. I don't think they had been much improved since the days of
Caxton."
"And yet there is great room for improvement," cried Hallett, with
animation. "Mr Rowle, we saw very little of each other beyond business
encounters, but I believe, sir, that I may place trust in your word?"
"Thank you, Mr Hallett, I hope so. I'm sure I always placed confidence
in yours. I am proud to say, Miss Hallett, that if your brother
promised me a slip by a certain time, my mind was always easy, for I
knew it would be done."
"Oh, nonsense, nonsense," said Hallett, smiling. "Look here, Mr Rowle,
I feel that you will not betray my confidence, and I ask you as a favour
to keep private what you see here to-night."
"What I see here?" said Mr Jabez, looking around with an assumed look
of puzzle, while I felt the colour coming in my face as I thought of the
part I was playing.
"I mean what I am about to show you, Mr Rowle," said Hallett, smiling.
"Trust me? Oh yes, of course, yes--of course," said the old man warmly;
"here is my hand."
"Thank you," said Hallett, taking it. "Linny, my dear, you will not
mind being left alone?"
"Oh no," she said, smiling; and lighting another lamp, Hallett led the
way up to the attic, Mr Jabez finding an opportunity to give me a
solemn wink before we stood by Hallett's bench.
"I have spent so much thought and labour over this model," said Hallett,
"that, you must not be surprised at the jealousy with which I watch it."
"Oh no," said Mr Jabez, who proceeded, snuff-box in hand, to examine
carefully every point in the invention.
"Well," said Hallett, at last, "do you think it will answer?"
In place of replying, Mr Jabez went all over it again, his interest
growing fast, and being, I was glad to see, evidently sincere.
"I tell you what," he exclaimed at last, taking a tremendous pinch of
snuff, "that thing would be splendid if you got it right."
"You like it, then?" said Hallett.
"Like it? I think it's grand. Why, man, it would make quite a
revolution in the news business. You must get on--get it perfect."
Mr Hallett shook his head.
"It takes time and money," he said sadly. "It is slow work."
"Yes, but--hang it all, sir! you should get help. With such an
important thing in hand you should work on."
"I do not know yet that it would answer," said Hallett sadly.
"But it must answer, sir," said the old man sharply. "If that machine
did not answer, it would not be the fault or the principle, but of some
blunder in the mechanism."
"Do you think so?" cried Hallett, whose eyes lighted up with pleasure.
"No, sir: I am sure so," said the old man. "The principle is as grand
as it is simple; and what I like in the invention is this--you have
taken up a part of the trade where it is all hand-labour--all
mechanical. You are not trying to do away with brainpower."
"I am very glad you like my idea, Mr Rowle," said Hallett, proceeding
to cover his model, which, when set in motion, ran easily and well.
"I am delighted with it," said Mr Jabez, poking him in the chest with
his snuff-box. "Now, then, go ahead, and have the thing made on a
workable scale."
"But I have not perfected it yet," replied Hallett.
"Never mind; perfect it as you go on. You are sure to find some weak
spots. If I were you, sir, I should set a good firm of engineers to
work on that at once."
Hallett smiled sadly.
"You are proposing impossibilities, Mr Rowle. This has been one of my
great troubles, sir: how I was to carry on my project when I had
completed my model. During the past few days I have been thinking of
trying to sell the idea for what it is worth."
"What I and let some fellow without half an ounce of brains in his skull
reap all the profit? Don't you do anything of the kind. There's a
fortune in that contrivance, Mr Hallett. Sir, it is a great
invention."
"What would you do, then?" said Hallett, smiling.
"Do, sir? I'd--I'd--"
Mr Jabez paused, and took a pinch of snuff.
"Do, sir, I'd--I'd--I'll tell you what I'd do. I'd take a partner who
had money."
Hallett shook his head sadly.
"Who would advance money to such a dreamer as I am?" he said sadly.
"Lots of people, as soon as they saw money in it."
Hallett shook his head.
"You take a very sanguine view of the matter, Mr Rowle."
"Not half so sanguine as you, sir. Why, you must have spent years of
labour, and a great deal of money, over that model."
"I have," said Hallett sadly.
"Then don't call me sanguine," cried Mr Jabez, flying to his snuff-box
again. "I ask, here, Hallett, how much would it take to produce that
thing, patent it, and the rest of it?"
"I cannot say," replied Hallett quietly, and with the same sad smile
upon his face. "It is one of those things which keen on crying, `More!
more!' I dare say it would require 300 pounds or 400 pounds to produce
the first machine, and then I have no doubt more would have to be spent
in perfecting it."
"Yes, I dare say," said Mr Jabez coolly, as he uncovered and once more
began to examine the model; "I tell you what, Hallett, I think I know
your man."
"What, a capitalist?"
"No, sir; a man with a selfish desire to share in the child of your
brains."
"Indeed!"
"Yes; he hasn't much money, but I'll be bound to say that he would find
enough to carry out your plans for, say, one-third of the profits."
"Mr Rowle, are you serious?" said Hallett earnestly.
"I never joke about business matters, Mr Hallett. As I said before,
sir, that's a great invention; and if you'll let me, I'll find the money
for carrying it on, conditionally that I take one-third of the profits
the invention makes."
"You will! Mr Rowle!" cried Hallett incredulously.
"I will, sir; and there's my hand upon it."
"But do you understand the magnitude of the affair, sir?" cried Hallett,
whose face flushed and eyes glittered with excitement.
"Quite so," replied the old gentleman, diving again into his snuff-box.
"The first thing is, sir, to draw out a proper document between us--we
can do that without the lawyers. Then proper drawings must be made,
with description, and the thing must be patented."
"But that will take nearly a hundred pounds!" cried Hallett, panting;
while I sat there hugging myself with delight.
"You can have my cheque for a hundred pounds, Mr Hallett, as soon as we
have settled the preliminaries; and I bind myself to go on finding the
necessary cash for construction as you go on. And now, sir, it's pretty
well my bed-time, and I want to be off. Do nothing rashly. This day
week I'll come here again for your answer, which I hope will be _yes_;
for I think it will be a good stroke of business for both of us. Now
good-night. Antony Grace, will you show me the way down to the door?"
They shook hands, and I saw the old gentleman to the street.
"There, my boy, wasn't that done well?" he chuckled. "But look here,
Antony Grace," he added seriously; "I'd have done it without Miss Carr,
that I would, for I believe in that machine. Good-night, boy, I'll come
on next week and--hang it, look at that fellow who just passed. He's as
like John Lister as two peas."
The old man went off, and I returned to my room, where I found Hallett
waiting for me in a state of intense excitement.
"Antony," he exclaimed, "it is too good to be true. It is fortune at
last--success. Good heavens! it makes me turn giddy. Mother--Linny,"
he cried, in a low passionate wail, "at last there is sunshine breaking
through the clouds."
"I pray Heaven there may be, Hallett," I exclaimed; "but I have
something to say to you."
"What is it?" he cried. "Has the old man repented?"
"Oh, no; you may be sure of him, Hallett. He is delighted at the
opportunity, and thinks it will lead to fortune."
"What do you mean, then?"
"John Lister is hanging about this street."
"Why? How? what makes you say that?"
"I saw him pass the door, just now."
His brow darkened, and involuntarily he uttered his sister's name.
"No," I said; "I don't believe it of her. He is only trying to meet
with her once more. I am sure Linny does not know it."
"You are right, Antony; she cannot know it. We can trust her now. Let
us go and sit upstairs."
As we entered the room, Linny raised her eyes from the book which she
was reading, and her calm ingenuous look was sufficient to disarm
suspicion; but, all the same, Hallett and I both felt that the wolf was
prowling about the fold, and that it behoved us to see that he had no
further chance of carrying off our lamb.