Every morning Mr Clinton left his house in Camberwell in time to catch
the eight-fifty-five train for the city. He made his way up Ludgate
Hill, walking sideways, with a projection of the left part of his body,
a habit he had acquired from constantly slipping past and between people
who walked less rapidly than himself. Such persons always annoyed him;
if they were not in a hurry he was, and they had no right to obstruct
the way; and it was improper for a city man to loiter in the
morning--the luncheon-hour was the time for loitering, no one was then
in haste; but in the morning and at night on the way back to the
station, one ought to walk at the same pace as everybody else. If Mr
Clinton had been head of a firm, he would never have had in his office a
man who sauntered in the morning. If a man wanted to loiter, let him go
to the West-end; there he could lounge about all day. But the city was
meant for business, and there wasn't time for West-end airs in the city.
Mr Clinton reached his office at a quarter to ten, except when the
train, by some mistake, arrived up to time, when he arrived at
nine-thirty precisely. On these occasions he would sit in his room with
the door open, awaiting the coming of the office-boy, who used to arrive
two minutes before Mr Clinton and was naturally much annoyed when the
punctuality of the train prepared him a reprimand.
'Is that you, Dick?' called Mr Clinton, when he heard a footstep.
'Yes, sir,' answered the boy, appearing.
Mr Clinton looked up from his nails, which he was paring with a pair of
pocket scissors.
'What is the meaning of this? You don't call this 'alf-past nine, do
you?'
'Very sorry,' said the boy; 'it wasn't my fault, sir; train was late.'
'It's not the first time I've 'ad to speak to you about this, Dick; you
know quite well that the company is always unpunctual; you should come
by an earlier train.'
The office-boy looked sulky and did not answer. Mr Clinton proceeded, 'I
'ad to open the office myself. As assistant-manager, you know quite well
that it is not my duty to open the office. You receive sixteen shillings
a week to be 'ere at 'alf-past nine, and if you don't feel yourself
capable of performing the duties for which you was engaged, you should
give notice.... Don't let it occur again.'
But usually, on arriving, Mr Clinton took off his tail-coat and put on a
jacket, manufactured from the office paper a pair of false cuffs to keep
his own clean, and having examined the nibs in both his penholders and
sharpened his pencil, set to work. From then till one o'clock he
remained at his desk, solemnly poring over figures, casting accounts,
comparing balance-sheets, writing letters, occasionally going for some
purpose or another into the clerks' office or into the room of one of
the partners. At one he went to luncheon, taking with him the portion
of his _Daily Telegraph_ which he was in the habit of reading during
that meal. He went to an A. B. C. shop and ordered a roll and butter, a
cup of chocolate and a scone. He divided his pat of butter into two, one
half being for the roll and the other for the scone; he drank one moiety
of the cup of chocolate after eating the roll, and the other after
eating the scone. Meanwhile he read pages three and four of the _Daily
Telegraph_. At a quarter to two he folded the paper, put down sixpence
in payment, and slowly walked back to the office. He returned to his
desk and there spent the afternoon solemnly poring over figures, casting
accounts, comparing balance-sheets, writing letters, occasionally going
for some purpose or another into the clerks' office or into the room of
one of the partners. At ten minutes to six he wiped his pens and put
them back in the tray, tidied his desk and locked his drawer. He took
off his paper cuffs, washed his hands, wiped his face, brushed his hair,
arranging the long whisps over the occipital baldness, and combed his
whiskers. At six he left the office, caught the six-seventeen train from
Ludgate Hill, and thus made his way back to Camberwell and the bosom of
his family.