Whether or no Ben's landlords made a special point of being on the
premises at the hour of her arrival I can't say, but certain it is
that they were always there to wish her good morning, and an element
of rivalry as to which would wish it first was not absent. It is also
certain that they esteemed highly the privilege of having such an
agreeable tenant.
Every one has a favorite snatch of song, which can be sung
unconsciously and bears no relation whatever to the mental status of
the singer. This was Jack's, droned to an Irish melody:--
Good morning, O'Reilly,
You are looking well.
Are you the O'Reilly
Who keeps this hotel?
Are you the O'Reilly
They speak of so highly?
Good morning, O'Reilly,
You _are_ looking well.
At quiet intervals all day this ditty reached Ben's ears from the
ground floor, until it became the _motif_ of her employment, and she
caught herself at all kinds of odd moments murmuring it too. In fact,
"Good morning, O'Reilly, you _are_ looking well," was the password
between Mr. Harford and herself. Mr. St. Quentin was less frivolous:
his humour was of the sardonic variety; but he too had snatches of
song, which also passed into Ben's repertory, chief of which was that
sweet but mournful Scottish lullaby:--
My Bonnie lies over the ocean,
My Bonnie lies over the sea,
My Bonnie lies over the ocean,
Oh, bring back my Bonnie to me.
As book sellers the two friends seemed to Ben to lack method and even
knowledge, but she hesitated to judge them because she knew so little
herself, and she could not but be conscious that her own business was
an unprofessional affair. In fact, they were all amateurs.
Her suspicions as to her neighbours were first aroused by a visit from
Mr. Harford one morning. He was carrying a volume, and his normally
careless countenance registered perplexity if not despair.
"Please help me, Miss Staveley," he said. "Patrick's out and I've no
notion what this book is worth. It isn't marked. There's a blighter
after it downstairs, and he looks as if he might be a dealer himself,
in which case it's probably valuable."
"It's no use asking me," said Ben. "You might as well ask your dog."
"But you're so clever," said Mr. Harford. "Tell me how it strikes you
as a stranger. Hold it in your hand."
"No," said Ben. "I shan't even guess. Why don't you tell him it was on
the shelves by mistake and isn't for sale?"
Mr. Harford looked at her with admiration.
"By Jingo!" he said, "that's brilliant!
You _are_ the O'Reilly
They speak of so highly
and I don't wonder."
On another occasion Mr. St. Quentin was heard laboriously ascending the
stairs, impeded by his poor wooden leg. He had begun with a wonderful
artificial limb, fitted with springs and other contrivances, but, like
so many other mutilated men, had given that up for a simple stump.
"Look here, Miss Staveley," he said, "I'm in a deuce of a fix. There's
a poor devil downstairs who's brought in a bundle of books worth ten
pounds, and he asks if I'll give ten shillings for them. What am I to
do?"
"Behave like a gentleman," said Ben. "I should say, behave like
yourself."
"Yes," said Patrick, "I want to. But I'm a book seller as well. I hope
I'm not the sort of man to take advantage of ignorance, especially when
it's mixed up with destitution; but, after all, business is business
and one can't be buyer and seller too."
"I think that's rubbish," said Ben. "Of course you can. Every dealer
is, but that's always the excuse. It makes me blush."
Patrick looked at her as though in the hope that he might miss none of
the heightened colour when it came.
"All the same," he said, "the other day when I wasn't in, Jack gave a
fellow a fiver for a book which was only worth sixpence, owing to some
missing pages which he didn't detect."
"I don't see that that has anything to do with the present matter,"
said Ben. "Surely each transaction is separate."
"Yes," said Patrick, resignedly. "You're right. I'm a swine. How I
hate business! None the less," he went on, "this business is only half
mine; half is Jack's. I've got to do the best I can for both of us. Of
course, I shan't give only a measly ten bob; but the point is, how much
more ought I to give?"
"What could you get for the books?" Ben asked.
"They ought to fetch fifteen pounds," said Patrick.
"How soon can you sell them?" Ben asked.
"One never knows," said Patrick. "It might be to-morrow, it might be
next year."
"That's rather important," said Ben, automatically using words that she
didn't know she possessed; "because it might mean locking up capital. I
think you ought to give him something between their value to you if you
could sell at once and their value if you have to keep them in stock
for a year. Say seven pounds ten."
"Good heavens!" exclaimed Patrick. "You're the Queen of Sheba." And he
plodded down again.
"I don't pretend to be able to advise you, Miss Staveley," said Patrick
that evening. "I'm not clever enough. But whenever you're in any
difficulty, come into the shop and we'll try the 'Sortes Virgilianæ.'
It can be very comforting, and it always succeeds."
"Sortes Virgi----" Ben asked. "I suppose that's Latin, and I don't know
any. I've had a rotten education."
"Oh, no," said Patrick, "I don't suppose you have. I expect you know
lots of things that good classical scholars are utterly ignorant of.
You can read and play music at sight, I'm sure?"
Ben admitted it.
"I knew you could. I call that the most miraculous thing in the
world--putting one's fingers down on the notes accurately without
any practice whatever. I'm sure Porson couldn't do that, even if
he did drink ink. Jack can do it too, confound him! It's the one
accomplishment I have always longed for, and I could never even
whistle. But the 'Sortes Virgilianæ'--that was a game of chance and an
appeal for guidance--every copy of Virgil an oracle, you know. It was
like this. You were in a hole. Very well, you opened your Virgil at
random and you took the first words that caught your eye as an inspired
message. But nowadays people don't confine themselves to Virgil: they
take any book. Let's try it. What is your perplexity at the moment?"
"Well," said Ben, "I suppose it would have something to do with getting
clients, being able to be of any use to them when I did get them, and
being able to pay you your rent."
"We'll try," said Patrick, taking a book at random from the shelf
behind him, without turning round, and opening it. He looked at the
page and laughed. "There you are," he said, pointing to the passage.
The book was "The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám" and the page was that on
which was the quatrain containing the line:--
So take the cash and let the credit go.
"But there isn't any cash to take," said Ben.
"No," said Patrick, "but how does it go on?
Nor heed the rumble of a distant drum.
That is the answer of the oracle. In other words, don't worry, take
long views and if anyone has to suffer, let it be us and not you."
"But what is the drum?" she asked.
"The drum is Jack and me," said Patrick. "Your horrible, avaricious
landlords."