VERY PERPLEXING.
While these young gentlemen were thus enjoying themselves, and taking
such liberties with Mrs. Chapman's favorite servant, Romer entered the
room, and was followed in a few minutes by Gusher. They had again met
unexpectedly, for there was something nervous and hesitating in Gusher's
manner. Romer seemed to be a general favorite with the young men, and
they insisted that he fill his glass and join them in drinking the
health of the family.
"You will pardon me," said Romer, turning to Gusher when they had set
down their glasses; "I took the liberty I did up stairs through
mistake."
"It is no matter, mine friend," returned Gusher, patting Romer on the
shoulder familiarly. "I ac-cept ze ap-pology. You are one gentleman, I
am sure. We shall be very good friends." It was curious to see how quick
Gusher regained his confidence and coolness.
"I mistook you for a gentleman I once met in Havana. I understand you
have been there," resumed Romer, keeping his eyes steadily fixed on
Gusher.
"My farer, he has very large estates in ze Havana. Mine friend, I love
ze Havana." Here Gusher put his hand to his heart, and became exuberant.
"It make me so much joy to zink of ze day when I shall be back in mine
own Havana."
"Knew I had seen you there. You would'nt be likely to remember me,
however. Let us fill our glasses, and drink to the pleasant days we have
spent there--"
"Oh, it is so many years since I was so happy zare," interrupted Gusher,
coolly.
They filled their glasses and drank to the happy days they had spent in
Havana. "At least the wine may quicken your memory as to the time we
met. About the time I refer to," continued Romer, still watching
Gusher's manner carefully, "which was about the time we met, a fellow of
wonderful audacity was flourishing, and so attracting public attention
by his skill in rascality that little else was talked of. Louis Pinto
was his real name; but he regarded names as a matter of no consequence,
and used the names of rich and respectable gentlemen whenever a
necessity demanded."
"You shall give me zat hand," replied Gusher, extending his hand and
taking Romer's, with an air of refreshing coolness. "You bring ze
gentleman to my mind. When I shall speak ze truth I shall say he was one
grand rascal, I remember him just so well as you shall see."
"I am glad," resumed Romer, "that you know him for a grand rascal.
Rascal as he was, I had great admiration for him. He had three
remarkable virtues--impudence, coolness, and audacity. I call these
virtues because a man possessing them may go through the world and have
a history of his own. It was Louis's ambition to do the State some
service one day and ornament society with his presence the next. One day
he relieved a rich old gentleman of his pretty daughter and twelve
thousand ounces, and did both so cleverly that his skill was more
admired than condemned. Carrying off the daughter did not seem to offend
the old gentleman so much; but his grief was so great over the loss of
his ounces that he employed means of recovering them, and with them the
thief, whom he had sent to prison to repent of the sin. Louis was rather
fond of a change, and accepted prison life as a relief from the labor
society required of him, and as a necessary benefit to his health rather
than a punishment. He once relieved me of some diamonds, and in such a
manner as to make me remember him for his skill."
"I tells you, mine friend," interrupted Gusher, "zat grand rascal 'onar
me in ze same way. He gets ze diamond. And I ne-var gets zat diamond
back. He make me so much trouble. I am mistake for him so many times."
Gusher now proposed that they should fill their glasses again, which
they did, the rest of the company joining and drinking to the health of
the family.
"That he is taken for you," resumed Romer, "might be considered a
compliment, as far as looks go. If I remember right the fellow was
exceedingly handsome."
This seemed to excite Gusher's vanity. Laying his hand patronizingly on
Romer's arm, he looked up in his face with a smile of injured innocence.
"I care nosin for myself; it is wiz mine friend he make me so much
trouble."
"You're to be pitied, sir, very much to be pitied. Of course you are not
Pinto, and yet the dashing, handsome fellow will insist in trafficking
on your reputation. How very aggravating to a gentleman of your
position. It requires a genius to do that well. That's what I admired
Pinto for. The fellow had such a number of family histories at his
tongue's end, and could apply any one of them so cleverly to his own
case. In short, he knew exactly how to suit his customer. But you will
remember, Mr. Gusher, the most amusing thing of all was the number of
fathers he had. To-day he had a Spanish father, who had been through all
the wars of Spain; to-morrow his father was a Frenchman who had smelled
powder in all the battles fought by Napoleon. They were generals, too.
There was one bad feature about Louis's fathers. They were all
unfortunate gentlemen, who managed to fight on the wrong side, and got
their estates confiscated and their families left destitute."
Romer paused for a moment, but kept his eyes fixed on Gusher. Still
there was no change in his countenance. The young gentlemen who had been
so merry but a few minutes before, now put down their glasses and
listened with intense interest to the conversation.
"You shall zee, mine friend, (wiz your permizion I shall call you mine
friend,") replied Gusher, still cool and nonchalant, and again giving
Romer's hand a decided shake, "I have hear zat grand rascal tell ze same
story so many times. You shall know zat I meets ze grand rascal on
Broadway--a few days ago--"
"You met him in New York, eh?" resumed Romer, affecting great surprise.
"Looking just as fresh and rosy as ever, I suppose, and as ready to give
himself up to the business of ornamenting society." Romer patted Gusher
on the shoulder familiarly, and smiled.
"If you should meet him again," he resumed, playfully, "and it is more
than likely you will--stop him. He does'nt take offence easily. Keep
your eye on him. Tell him you are a friend of his, and have a lady with
a fortune you would like to introduce him to. That will gain his
confidence. Then slip this card into his hand. It contains my address.
Tell him I am an old friend of his, and have some old and important
business I would like to settle. Don't let your modesty interfere with
your intentions, you know."
Gusher took the card, and after affecting to read the name placed it in
his pocket, without exhibiting the slightest change of countenance. "You
shall zee I shall do myself ze 'onar of being your diplomat," said he,
bowing himself formally out of the room.
"Romer, old fellow, what's up?" enquired one of the young men. "A spoon,
ain't he, Romer?"
"Not so much of a spoon, I take it," said another. "Considers himself a
planet illuminating the social hemisphere of the Chapman family."
"You must pardon me, gentlemen," said Romer, "for introducing a
conversation so strange to you. It refers to a matter which concerns the
gentleman and myself, which he perfectly understands, and you may hear
more of soon--not now."
Another, and very different scene from that described above, but which
forms an essential part of this history, was being enacted just outside.
While the sound of the music was reverberating over Bowling Green, and
mingling curiously with the sea-wail; while the dance went on, and all
seemed gay and festive within, two old men, bent with age and poorly
clad, were seen in front of Chapman's house, one of them leaning on a
staff. They were the two shadowy figures seen on the Battery in the
early part of the evening, looking anxiously out in the direction of a
ship at anchor in the stream.
Their manner indicated that they were strangers in the city, uncertain
of the location they were in. They would move slowly up and down in
front of the house, then pause and listen to the music, the tripping of
feet, and the sound of merry voices. The shadowy figures seen flitting
through the curtains seemed to bewilder them. Then, after consulting
together for a few minutes, and as if armed with some new resolution,
they would ascend two or three steps, as if intent on seeking admission
to the house. Then their resolution would seem to fail them, they would
hesitate, and return slowly and reluctantly to the sidewalk.
Then he of the staff stood in the shadow of the street lamp, and as he
did so his kindly but wrinkled face, his white, flowing beard and hair,
reflected in the dim light, formed a striking picture of age made
touching by sorrow. Then his eyes brightened and his lips quivered, and
after looking sorrowfully up at the scene before him for several
minutes, he motioned his companion to him, laid his trembling hand on
his arm, and said:
"Tar pees no shustice in dis. He prings shorrow hinto mine house, unt
shust now his house pees full of peeples what rejoices. I gits mine
preat mit t' sweet of mine prow, so ven I ties I ties mit mine
conscience so clear as I shays t' mine Got, ven I meets mine Got, dar
pees no tirt on mine hands. If I only gits some news from mine poor
Tite, Critchel, some shoy comes t' mine poor heart." And he shook his
head as he said this, and leaned on his staff, and tears coursed down
his wrinkled face.
The old man was overcome, and had no power to restrain his emotions. It
was several minutes before he regained control of his feelings. Then he
raised his head, and wiping his wet, dripping beard, he pointed with the
fore-finger of his right hand upward, and resumed: "Critchel!" said he,
in a tone as decided as it was touching, "Critchel! if tar pees un shust
Got, un I knows in mine heart as tar pees un shust Got, He come to mine
aid, unt He shows he pees angry mit t' man vat shays he pees mine
friend t'tay un prings shorrow into mine house to-morrow."
"God will make a just reckoning with us all--depend on that, Hanz,"
replied the other. "But it will do no good to stand here. We must wait
until to-morrow." And the two old men proceeded up Broadway and were
shut from sight in the mist. It will hardly be necessary to tell the
reader that one was Hanz Toodleburg, the other Doctor Critchel.
Two days before the sheriff of the county had seriously disturbed the
peace of Hanz's little house by walking in and making service of a legal
document of immense length--Topman and Gusher vs. Hanz Toodleburg--and
in which the names were recapitulated so many times, and in so many
different ways, as to bewilder Hanz's mind and send him into a state of
deep distress. In short, Topman and Gusher, (Chapman's name was not
mentioned, and for reasons which any sharp gentleman of the legal
profession will understand,) had entered suit against Hanz, charging him
with having made certain contracts he had not fulfilled, of procuring
money and certain other property for the sale of secrets he did not
possess, and indeed of having deceived and defrauded the plaintiffs, and
of committing crimes enough to have sent at least a dozen men to the
penitentiary. And all this to the serious damage, as well in reputation
as pocket, of the highly enterprising and rapidly advancing firm of
Topman and Gusher. And the plaintiffs prayed, as virtuous gentlemen are
known to pray in such cases, that the defendant's property might be
attached, and such damages decreed as in the discretion of the court
justice demanded.
The great Kidd Discovery Company was bearing bitter fruit for Hanz.
Never before had a sheriff darkened his door, for it had been the aim
of his life to owe no man a shilling, and never to quarrel with a
neighbor. But here he was with law enough for a life-time, and all for
doing a kindness for people he thought honest. He saw Chapman's finger
at the bottom of the transaction, but the more he pondered over his
troubles the more his mind got bewildered. He knew that before a court
his simple story would weigh as nothing against the proof they could
bring that he had been associated in some suspicious way with all the
circumstances which led to the formation of the great Kidd Discovery
Company. There, too, was a paper, bearing his own signature, and indeed
a confession of guilt.
In the midst of his grief it occurred to Hanz that a man who had
invented so many religions must be something of a Christian, so he
resolved to see him face to face, and have an honest talk with him. To
that end he persuaded Critchel, who was his friend and adviser always,
to bear him company into the city. He forgot that there were religions,
based on what are called advanced ideas, and invented so plentifully in
certain portions of New England, having little of either heart or soul
in them, and which are in truth a cheap commodity, used more to advance
commercial than spiritual purposes.
There was still another reason why these two old men were found in the
city on that night. Nothing had been heard from Tite, or indeed the ship
on which he sailed, for more than a year, and great anxiety was felt for
her safety. A report, however, had reached Nyack that day that one of
the Hudson Company's ships had arrived at New York, and the hope that
she might bring some tidings of the ship Pacific quickened his actions.