A MEETING.
It was a constant saying of old Mr Brammel, that if his time were to
come over again, he would adopt a very different plan from that which
he had pursued in the education of his son. Now, a different plan it
might have been; but one leading to a more satisfactory result, I must
take the liberty to deny. Of what use is experience to one who, with
sixty years of life in him, still feels and thinks, reasons and acts,
like a child? Who but a child would have thought of paying the
wholesale demands of that dissolute, incorrigible youth, with the
notion of effecting by such subtle means his lasting reformation: who
but a child would have made the concealment of his name a condition of
the act? As may be guessed, the success of this scheme was equal to
its wisdom. Augustus Theodore, too grateful for the facilities
afforded him, showed no disposition to abridge his pleasures, or to
hasten his return. In the regular and faithful discharge of his
drafts, his vulgar soul rejoiced to detect a fear of offending, and an
eagerness to conciliate, on the part of his partner, Michael Allcraft.
He would see and acknowledge nothing else. And the idea once fixed in
his mind, he was not likely to rest contented with half the glory of
his victory. "No.--He would punish the fellow.--He would make him
smart; he would teach him to come all the way to France on purpose to
bully him. He hadn't done with the gentleman yet. Master Allcraft
should cry loud enough before he had. He'd sicken him." Still the
hopeful youth pursued his travels--still he transmitted his _orders at
sight_--still they were honoured punctually--still Augustus Theodore
chuckled with stupid delight over what he considered the pitiful
submission of his partner, who had not courage to reject his drafts,
and dared not utter now one brief expostulatory word. Mr Brammel,
junior, like the rest of the firm, lived in his own delusions. The
fourth year dawned, and Mr Brammel suddenly appeared amongst his
friends. He and his lady had travelled over Europe; they had seen the
world--the world had seen them; they were sick of wandering--they
desired to settle. A noble villa, with parks and paddocks, was
quickly taken and sumptuously furnished; hunters were got from
Tattersall's--nursery-maids from France--an establishment worthy of
the name rose like magic, almost within sight of Michael's humble
dwelling, taking the neighbourhood by surprise, startling and
affrighting Allcraft. Again the latter visited the fond old
man--remonstrated, complained; and once more the father entreated on
behalf of his son, begged for time and patience, and undertook to
satisfy the prodigal's extravagance. He gave his money as before,
willingly and eagerly, and stipulated only, with unmeaning
earnestness, for secrecy and silence. And the fourth year closed as
drearily as it had opened. The promises of Bellamy and Planner were as
far from fulfilment as ever; their performance as vigorous and
disastrous as at first. The landed proprietor still redeemed, day
after day, portions of his involved estate. The schemer, disappointed
in his expectations of a purchaser, returned to his speculation with
redoubled ardour, and with fresh supplies of gold. His only chance of
ultimate recovery was to push boldly forward, and to betray no fear of
failure. One retrograde or timid step would open the eyes of men, and
bring down ruin on the _Pantamorphica_. Planner became conscious of
all this to his dismay, and he had nothing to do in the very extremity
of his distress, but to proceed in his venture with the best spirits
he could command, and to trust himself fairly to the swelling
tide.--Allcraft looked on and trembled.
It is wonderful how long a withered leaf will sometimes cling to its
branch. It will hold tenaciously there, the last of its race, days
after the decay of its greener and more healthy-looking mates. "A
creaking door," the proverb has it, "hangs long upon its hinges;" and
many a wheezing, parchment-looking gentleman, as we all know, who
ought to have died every year of his life since he was born, draws his
difficult breath through threescore years and ten; whilst the young,
the hardy, and the sound are smitten in their pride, and fall in heaps
about him. It is no less strange that a house of business like that of
our friend Mr Allcraft, should assert its existence for years, rotten
as it was, during the whole of the time, at its very heart's core. And
yet such is the case. Eight years elapsed, and found it still in the
land of the living: yes, and to the eye external, as proper and as
good a house of business as any you shall name. Its vitals were
going--were gone, before the smallest indications of mischief appeared
upon the surface. Life must have been well nourished to maintain
itself so long. And was it not? Answer, thou kind physician, gentle
Margaret! Answer, thou balm and life's elixir--Margaret's _gold_!
Eight weary years have passed, and we have reached a miserable day in
the month of November. The wind is howling, and the rain is pelting
against the parlour windows of the Banking-house, whose blinds are
drawn close down. The partners are all assembled. Michael, whose hair
is as grey as his father's on the day of his death, and whom care and
misery have made haggard and old, sits at a table, with a heap of
papers before him, and a pen in his hand--engaged, as it appears, in
casting up accounts. Mr Bellamy, who looks remarkably well--very
glossy and very fat--sits at the table likewise, perusing leisurely
the county newspapers through golden eyeglasses. He holds them with
the air of a gentleman, comfortable and at ease in all respects,
mentally and bodily. Augustus Theodore swings on a chair before the
fire, which he keeps at work for his own especial consolation. His
feet stretch along the fender--his amusement is the poker. He has
grown insufferably vain, is dressed many degrees above the highest
fashionable point, and looks a dissipated, hopeless blackguard.
Planner, very subdued, very pale, and therefore very unlike himself,
stands behind the chair of Allcraft; and ever and anon he casts a
rueful glance over the shoulder of his friend, upon the papers which
his friend is busy with. No one speaks. At intervals Mr Bellamy coughs
extensively and loudly, just to show his dignity and independence, and
to assure the company that _his_ conscience is very tranquil on the
occasion--that his firm "withers are unwrung;" and Mr Brammel
struggles like an ill-taught bullfinch, to produce a whistle, and
fails in the attempt. With these exceptions, we have a silent room. A
quarter of an hour passes. Michael finishes his work. He spends one
moment in reflection, and then he speaks:--
"Now, gentlemen," he begins with a deep sigh, that seems to carry from
his heart a load of care--"Now, if you please"--
The paper and the poker are abandoned, chairs are drawn towards the
baize-covered table. The partners sit and look at one another, face to
face.
"Gentlemen," said Michael, at first slowly and seriously, and in a
tone which none might hear beyond their walls--"you do not, I am sure,
require me to advert to _all_ the causes which have rendered this
meeting necessary. I have no desire to use reproaches, and I shall
refer as little as I may to the past. I ask you all to do me justice.
Have I not laboured like a slave for the common good? Have I not
toiled in order to avoid the evil hour that has come upon us? Have I
not given every thing--have I not robbed another in order to prop up
our house and keep its name from infamy?"
"Be calm, be calm," interposed Mr Bellamy gently, remarking that
Allcraft slightly raised his voice at the concluding words.
"Calm! calm, Mr Bellamy!" exclaimed the unhappy speaker, renouncing
without hesitation all attempts at the _suaviter in modo_, and yet
fearful of showing his indignation and of being overheard--"Calm! It
is well for you to talk so. Had I been less calm, less easy; had I
done my duty--had I been determined seven years ago, this cruel day
would never have arrived. You are my witness that it never would."
Mr Bellamy rose with much formality from his seat.
"Gentlemen," he said, "I cannot submit to dark and plebeian
innuendoes. I have come here to-day, at great personal inconvenience,
and I am prepared to listen respectfully to any thing which Mr
Allcraft thinks it his duty to bring before us. But I must have you
remember that a gentleman and a man of honour cannot brook an insult."
"I ask your pardon, sir," added Allcraft, in a tone of bitterness--"I
meant no insult. Pray be seated. I have the honour to present you with
a statement of our affairs. We have claims upon us, amounting to
several thousand pounds, which must be met within a week. A third of
the sum required will not be at our command. How is it to be obtained?
and, if obtained, how is it to repair the inroads which, year after
year, have been made upon the house, and how secure it from further
spoliation? It is useless and absurd to hide from ourselves any longer
the glaring fact that we are on the actual verge of bankruptcy."
"Well! I have had nothing to do with that. You can't say it's me,"
ejaculated Mr Brammel. "You have had the management in your own hands,
and so you have nobody but yourself to thank for it. I thought from
the beginning how the concern would turn out!"
"_Your_ share, sir, in furthering the interests of the bank we will
speak of shortly," said Michael, turning to the speaker with contempt.
"We have little time for recrimination now."
"As for recrimination, Mr Allcraft," interposed Mr Bellamy, "I must be
allowed to say, that you betray a very improper spirit in this
business--very--very. You are far from being temperate."
"Temperate!"
"Yes; I said so."
"Mr Bellamy," said Allcraft, bursting with rage, "I have been your
partner for eight years. I have not for a moment deserted my post, or
slackened in my duty. I have given my strength, my health, my peace of
mind, to the house. I have drawn less than your clerk from its
resources; but I have added to them, wrongfully, cruelly, and
unpardonably, from means not my own, which, in common honesty, I ought
never to have touched--which"--
"Really, really, Mr Allcraft," said Bellamy, interrupting him, "you
have told us every word of this before."
"Wait, sir," continued the other. "I am _intemperate_, and you shall
have my excuse for being so. _You_, Mr Bellamy, have never devoted one
moment of your life to the interests of the house; no, not a moment.
You have, year after year, without the slightest hesitation or
remorse, sucked its life-blood from it. You have borrowed, as these
accounts will show, thousands of pounds, and paid them back with
promises and words. You engaged to produce your fair proportion of
capital; you have given nothing. You made grand professions of adding
strength and stability to the firm; you have been its stumblingblock
and hinderance."
"Mr Allcraft," said Bellamy coolly, "you are still a very young man."
"Have I told the truth?"
"Pshaw, man! Speak to the point. Speak to the point, sir. We have
heavy payments due next week. Are we prepared to meet them?"
"No--nor shall we be."
"That's unfortunate," added Mr Bellamy, very quietly. "You are sure of
that? You cannot help us--with another loan, for instance?"
Michael answered, with determination--"No."
"Very well. No violence, Mr Allcraft, pray. Such being the case, I
shall decline, at present, giving any answer to the unjust, inhuman
observations which you have made upon my conduct. Painful as it is to
pass this barbarous treatment over for the present, still my own
private affairs shall be as nothing in comparison with the general
good. This provided for, I will protect myself from future insult,
depend upon it. You are wrong, Mr Allcraft--very wrong. You shall
acknowledge it. You will be sorry for the expressions which you have
cast upon a gentleman, your senior in years, and [here a very loud
cough] let me add--in social station. Now, sir, let me beg a word or
two in private."
It was very unfortunate that the whole establishment stood in
unaffected awe of the redoubted Mr Bellamy. Allcraft, notwithstanding
his knowledge of the man, and his previous attack upon his character,
was not, at this moment, free from the fascination; and at the
eleventh hour he found it difficult to withdraw entirely his
confidence in Mr Bellamy's ultimate desire and capability to deal
honorably and justly by him. Much of the Mogul's power was
unquestionably derived from his massive _physique_; but his
chief excellence lay in that peculiar off-hand, patronizing,
take-it-for-granted air, which he made it a point to assume towards
every individual with whom he came in contact. He had scarcely
requested a few minutes' private conversation with Allcraft, before
Planner and Brammel jumped involuntarily from their seats, as if in
obedience to a word of command, and edged towards the door.
"If you please," continued Mr Bellamy, nodding to them very
graciously; and they departed. In the course of ten minutes they were
recalled by the autocrat himself. The gentlemen resumed their seats,
and this time, Mr Bellamy addressed them.
"You see, my dear sirs," he began with, for him, peculiar gentleness,
"it is absolutely necessary to provide against the immediate exigency,
and to postpone all discussion on the past, until this is met, and
satisfactorily disposed of."
"Certainly!" said Augustus Brammel, who, for his part, never wished to
talk or think about the past again. "Certainly. Hear, hear! I agree to
that"--
"I knew you would, dear Mr Brammel--a gentleman of your discretion
would not fail to do so."
Augustus looked up at Mr Bellamy to find if he were jeering him; but
he saw no reason to believe it.
"Such being the case," continued the worthy speaker; "it behoves us
now to look about for some assistance. Our friend, Mr Allcraft, I am
sorry to say, does not feel disposed to help us once more through the
pressure. I am very sorry to say so. Perhaps he will think better of
it, (Allcraft shook his head.) Ah; just so. He desponds a little now.
He takes the dark side of things. For my own part, I prefer the
bright. He believes, as you have heard, that we are on the verge of
bankruptcy. Upon my honour as a gentleman, I really can believe in no
such thing. There is a general gloom over the mercantile world; it
will break off in time; and we, with the rest of mankind, shall pass
into the sunshine."
"Hear, hear!" exclaimed Augustus Brammel; "that's the way to look at
things!"
"Taking it for granted, then--which, positively, I an not inclined to
do; for really, Mr Allcraft, it is against your interest not to help
us in this emergency--but, however, taking it, I say, for granted,
that our friend here will not succour us--it appears to me, that only
one legitimate course is open to us. If we are refused at home, let us
apply for aid as near our home as possible. There are our London
friends"--
"Ah, yes, to be sure--so there are," cried Theodore Augustus.
"We surely cannot hesitate to apply to them. Our name stands--and
deservedly so--very high. They will be glad to accommodate us with a
temporary loan. We will avail ourselves of it--say for three months.
That will give us time to turn about us, and to prepare ourselves
against similar unpleasant casualties. See what we want, Mr Allcraft:
let the sum be raised in London without delay, and let us look forward
with the hearts of men."
"Capital, capital," continued Brammel; "I second that motion."
"Thank you, sir," said Mr Bellamy, with a gracious smile. "There
remains then to consider only who shall be the favoured individual
deputed to this important business. One of us must certainly go to
London, and I do think it due to our youngest member, Brammel, to
concede to him the honour of representing us in the metropolis. No
offence will, I trust, be taken by our other friends, and I hope that
in my zeal for Mr Brammel, I shall not be suspected of betraying an
undue preference."
Mr Bellamy turned towards Augustus Theodore with an almost
affectionate expression of countenance, as he spoke these words; but
perceived, to his mortification, that the latter, instead of being
pleasantly affected by his address, wriggled in his chair most
impatiently, and assumed the complexion and aspect of a man with whom
something has suddenly and violently disagreed.
"No--no--no!" he bellowed out, as soon as he could; "none of that
soft-soap, Mr Bellamy; make up your mind at once--I sha'n't go. I
can't borrow money. I do not know how to do it. I don't want the
honour, thank you. It's very good of you, and I am much obliged to
you--that's a fact. But you'll look out for some body else, if you
please. I beg to say I decline--pos"--
Mr Bellamy cast upon Theodore one of his natural and annihilating
glances, and said deliberately,
"Mr Brammel, for the first time in your life you are honoured by being
made a useful individual. You are to go to London.--Go you shall"--
"Go, I sha'n't," answered Brammel, in his accustomed easy style and
manner.
"Very well. You are aware, Mr Brammel, that your respected parent has
yet to be made acquainted with sundry lively doings of your own, which
you would rather, I believe, keep from his ears at present; you
likewise are aware that if any thing happens to the serious injury of
the bank through your imprudence--your inheritance from that respected
parent would be dearly purchased for a shilling. I shall be sorry to
hurt your feelings, or your pocket. I have no wish to do it; but
depend upon me, sir, your father shall be a wiser man to-night, if you
are obstinate and disobedient."
"I can't borrow money--I can't--I don't know how to do it," said
Brammel peevishly.
"And who reproaches you for your inability, my dear sir," said Bellamy
coaxingly. "No one, I am sure. You shall be taught. Every thing shall
be made easy and agreeable. You will carry your credentials from the
house, and your simple task shall be beforehand well explained to
you."
"I am not used to it."
"And you never will be, Mr Brammel, if you don't begin to practise.
Come, I am sure you don't wish me to see your father to-day. I am
certain you are not anxious to part with your patrimony. You are too
sensible a man. Pray let us have no delay, Mr Allcraft. See what we
want. Mr Brammel will go to London to-morrow. We must take time by the
forelock. Let us meet these heavy payments, and then we can think, and
breathe, and talk. Till then it is idle to wrangle, and to lose one's
temper. Very well: then there's little more, I imagine, to be done at
present."
Augustus Theodore still opposed his nomination, like an irritable
child; but a fly kicking against a stone wall, was as likely to move
it, as Brammel to break down the resolution of such a personage as Mr
Bellamy. After an hour's insane remonstrance, he gave in to his own
alarm, rather than to the persuasion of his partner. He was fearfully
in debt; his only hope of getting out of it rested in the speedy
decease of his unfortunate parent, whom he had not seen for months,
and who, he had reason to believe, had vowed to make him pay with his
whole fortune for any calamity that might happen to the bank through
his misconduct or extravagance. It was not from the lips of Mr Bellamy
that he heard this threat for the first time. What he should do, if it
were carried out, heaven only knows. He consented to go to London on
this disgusting mission, and he could have bitten his tongue out for
speaking his acquiescence, so enraged was he with himself, and all the
world, at his defeat. He did not affect to conceal his anger; and yet,
strange to say, it was not visible to Mr Bellamy. On the contrary, he
thanked Mr Brammel for the cheerful and excellent spirit in which he
had met his partners' wishes, and expressed himself delighted at the
opportunity which now presented itself for introducing their young
friend to life. Then, turning to Michael Allcraft, he begged him to
prepare their deputation for his work immediately, and to place no
obstacle in the way of his departure. Then he moved the adjournment of
the meeting until the return of Mr Brammel; and then he finished by
inviting all his partners to dine with him at the hall that day, and
to join him in drinking success and happiness to their young
adventurer. The invitation was accepted; and Mr. Bellamy's grand
carriage drew up immediately with splash and clatter to the door.