the joy in bolsover terrace was intense when mrs. carroll returned home. "we are all to have three hundred and fifty pound fortunes when we get husbands!" said georgina, anticipating at once the pleasures of matrimony.
"i am to have four hundred and fifty," said amelia. "i do think he might have made it five hundred pounds. if i had it to give away, i never would show the cloven foot about the last fifty pounds!"
"but he's only to have four hundred pounds," said sophia. "your things are to be bought with the other fifty pounds."
"i never can do it for fifty pounds," said amelia. "i did not expect that i was to find my own trousseau out of my own fortune."
"girls, how can you be so ungrateful?" said their mother.
"i'm not ungrateful, mamma," said potsey. "i shall be very much obliged when i get my three hundred and fifty pounds. how long will it be?"
"you've got to find the young man first, potsey. i don't think you'll ever do that," said georgina, who was rather proud of her own good looks.
this took place on the evening of the day on which mrs. carroll had gone to london, where mr. carroll was about attending to some of those duties of conviviality in the performance of which he was so indefatigable. on the following morning at twelve o'clock he was still in bed. it was a well-known fact in the family that on such an occasion he would lie in bed, and that before twelve o'clock he would have managed to extract from his wife's little hoardings at any rate two bottles of soda-water and two glasses of some alcoholic mixture which was generally called brandy. "i'll have a gin-and-potash, sophie," he had said on this occasion, with reference to the second dose, "and do make haste. i wish you'd go yourself, because that girl always drinks some of the sperrits."
"what! go to the gin-shop?"
"it's a most respectable publican's,—just round the corner."
"indeed, i shall do nothing of the kind. you've no feeling about your daughters at all!" but sophie went on her errand, and in order to protect her father's small modicum of "sperrits" she slipped on her cloak and walked out so as to be able to watch the girl. still, i think that the maiden managed to get a sip as she left the bar. the father, in the mean-time with his head between his hands, was ruminating on the "cocked-up way which girls have who can't do a turn for their father."
but with the gin-and-potash, and with sophie, mr. juniper made his appearance. he was a well-featured, tall man, but he looked the stable and he smelled of it. his clothes, no doubt, were decent, but they were made by some tailor who must surely work for horsey men and no others. there is a class of men who always choose to show by their outward appearance that they belong to horses, and they succeed. mr. juniper was one of them. though good-looking he was anything but young, verging by appearance on fifty years.
"so he has been at it again, miss sophie," said juniper. sophie, who did not like being detected in the performance of her filial duties, led the way in silence into the house, and disappeared up-stairs with the gin-and-potash. mr. juniper turned into the parlor, where was mrs. carroll with the other girls. she was still angry, as angry as she could be, with her husband, who on being informed that morning of what his wife had done had called her brother "a beastly, stingy old beau," because he had cut amelia off with four hundred and fifty instead of five hundred pounds. mr. carroll probably knew that mr. juniper would not take his daughter without the entirety of the sum stipulated, and would allow no portion of it to be expended on wedding-dresses.
"oh, dick, is this you?" said amelia. "i suppose you've come for your news." (mr. juniper's christian-name was richard.) on this occasion he showed no affectionate desire to embrace his betrothed.
"yes, it's me," he said, and then gave his hand all round, first to mrs. carroll and then to the girls.
"i've seen mr. grey," said mrs. carroll. but dick juniper held his tongue and sat down and twiddled his hat.
"where have you come from?" asked georgina.
"from the brompton road. i come down on a 'bus."
"you've come from tattersall's, young man!" said amelia.
"then i just didn't!" but to tell the truth he had come from tattersall's, and it might be difficult to follow up the workings of his mind and find out why he had told the lie. of course it was known that when in london much of his business was done at tattersall's. but the horsey man is generally on the alert to take care that no secret of his trade escapes from him unawares. and it may be that he was thus prepared for a gratuitous lie.
"uncle's gone a deal farther than ever i expected," said amelia.
"he's been most generous to all the girls," said mrs. carroll, moved nearly to tears.
mr. juniper did not care very much about "all the girls," thinking that the uncle's affection at the present moment should be shown to the one girl who had found a husband, and thinking also that if the husband was to be secured, the proper way of doing so would be by liberality to him. amelia had said that her uncle had gone farther than she expected. mr. juniper concluded from this that he had not gone as far as he had been asked, and boldly resolved, at the spur of the moment, to stand by his demand. "five hundred pounds ain't much," he said.
"dick, don't make a beast of yourself!" said amelia. upon this dick only smiled.
he continually twiddled his hat for three or four minutes, and then rose up straight. "i suppose," said he, "i had better go up-stairs and talk to the old man. i seed miss sophie taking a pick-up to him, so i suppose he'll be able to talk."
"why shouldn't he talk?" said mrs. carroll. but she quite understood what mr. juniper's words were intended to imply.
"it don't always follow," said juniper, as he walked out of the room.
"now there'll be a row in the house;—you see if there isn't!" said amelia. but mrs. carroll expressed her opinion that the man must be the most ungrateful of creatures if he kicked up a row on the present occasion. "i don't know so much about that, mamma," said amelia.
mr. juniper walked up-stairs with heavy, slow steps, and knocked at the door of the marital chamber. there are men who can't walk up-stairs as though to do so were an affair of ordinary life. they perform the task as though they walked up-stairs once in three years. it is to be presumed that such men always sleep on the ground-floor, though where they find their bed-rooms it is hard to say. mr. juniper was admitted by sophie, who stepped out as he went in. "well, old fellow! b.—and—s., and plenty of it. that's the ticket, eh?"
"i did have a little headache this morning. i think it was the cigars."
"very like,—and the stuff as washed 'em down. you haven't got any more of the same, have you?"
"i'm uncommonly sorry," said the sick man, rising up on his elbow, "but i'm afraid there is not. to tell the truth, i had the deuce of a job to get this from the old woman."
"it don't matter," said the impassive mr. juniper, "only i have been down among the 'orses at the yard till my throat is full of dust. so your lady has been and seen her brother?"
"yes; she's done that."
"well?"
"he ain't altogether a bad un—isn't old grey. of course he's an attorney."
"i never think much of them chaps."
"there's good and bad, juniper. no doubt my brother-in-law has made a little money."
"a pot of it,—if all they say's true."
"but all they say isn't true. all they say never is true."
"i suppose he's got something?"
"yes, he's got something."
"and how is it to be?"
"he's given the girl four hundred pounds on the nail,"—upon this mr. juniper turned up his nose,—"and fifty pounds for her wedding-clothes."
"he'd better let me have that."
"girls think so much of it,"—mr. juniper only shook his head,—"and, upon my word, it's more than she had a right to expect."
"it ain't what she had a right to expect; but i,"—here mr. carroll shook his head,—"i said five hundred pounds out, and i means to hold by it. that's about it. if he wants to get the girl married, why—he must open his pocket. it isn't very much that i'm asking. i'm that sort of a fellow that, if i didn't want it, i'd take her without a shilling."
"but you are that sort of fellow that always does want it."
"i wants it now. it's better to speak out, ain't it? i must have the five hundred pounds before i put my neck into the noose, and there must be no paring off for petticoats and pelisses."
"and mr. grey says that he must make inquiries into character," said carroll.
"into what?"
"into character. he isn't going to give his money without knowing something about the man."
"i'm all straight at newmarket. i ain't going to stand any inquiries into me, you know. i can stand inquiries better than some people. he's got a partner named barry, ain't he?"
"there is such a gentleman. i don't know much about the business ways of my respected brother-in-law. mr. barry is, i believe, a good sort of a man."
"it's he as is acting for captain scarborough."
"is it, now? it may be, for anything i know."
then there came a long conversation, during which mr. juniper told some details of his former life, and expressed himself very freely upon certain points. it appeared that in the event of mr. scarborough having died, as was expected, in the course of the early summer, and of captain scarborough succeeding to the property in the accustomed manner, mr. juniper would have been one of those who would have come forward with a small claim upon the estate. he had lent, he said, a certain sum of money to help the captain in his embarrassment, and expected to get it back again. now, latterly inquiries had been made very disagreeable in their nature to mr. juniper; but mr. juniper, seeing how the the land lay,—to use his own phrase,—consented only to accept so much as he had advanced. "it don't make much difference to me," he had said. "let me have the three hundred and fifty pounds which the captain got in hard money." then the inquiries were made by mr. barry,—that very mr. barry to whom subsequent inquiries were committed,—and mr. barry could not satisfy himself as to the three hundred and fifty pounds which the captain was said to have got in hard money. there had been words spoken which seemed to mr. juniper to make it very inexpedient,—and we may say very unfair,—that these farther inquiries into his character as a husband should be intrusted to the same person. he regarded mr. barry as an enemy to the human race, from whom, in the general confusion of things, no plunder was to be extracted. mr barry had asked for the check by which the three hundred and fifty pounds had been paid to captain scarborough in hard cash. there had been no check, mr. juniper had said. such a small sum as that had been paid in notes at newmarket. he said that he could not, or, rather, that he would not, produce any evidence as to the money. mr. barry had suggested that even so small a sum as three hundred and fifty pounds could not have come and could not have gone without leaving some trace. mr. juniper very indignantly had referred to an acknowledgment on a bill-stamp for six hundred pounds which he had filled in, and which the captain had undoubtedly signed. "it's not worth the paper it's written on," mr. barry had said.
"we'll see about that," said mr. juniper. "as soon as the breath is out of the old squire's body we'll see whether his son is to repudiate his debts in that way. ain't that the captain's signature?" and he slapped the bill with his hand.
the old ceremony was gone through of explaining that the captain had no right to a shilling of the property. it had become an old ceremony now. "mr. augustus scarborough is going to pay out of his own good will only those sums of the advance of which he has indisputable testimony."
"ain't he my testimony of this?" said mr. juniper.
"this bill is for six hundred pounds."
"in course it is."
"why don't you say you advanced him five hundred and fifty pounds instead of three hundred and fifty pounds?"
"because i didn't."
"why do you say three hundred and fifty pounds instead of one hundred and fifty pounds?"
"because i did."
"then we have only your bare word. we are not going to pay any one a shilling on such a testimony." then mr. juniper had sworn an awful oath that he would have every man bearing the name of scarborough hanged. but mr. barry's firm did not care much for any law proceedings which might be taken by mr. juniper alone. no law proceedings would be taken. the sum to be regained would not be worth the while of any lawyer to insure the hopeless expense of fighting such a battle. it would be shown in court, on mr. barry's side, that the existing owner of the estate, out of his own generosity, had repaid all sums of money as to which evidence existed that they had been advanced to the unfortunate illegitimate captain. they would appear with clean hands; but poor mr. juniper would receive the sympathy of none. of this mr. juniper had by degrees become aware, and was already looking on his claim on the scarborough property as lost. and now, on this other little affair of his, on this matrimonial venture, it was very hard that inquiries as to his character should be referred to the same mr. barry.
"i'm d—— if i stand it!" he said, thumping his fist down on mr. carroll's bed, on which he was sitting.
"it isn't any of my doing. i'm on the square with you."
"i don't know so much about that."
"what have i done? didn't i send her to the girl's uncle, and didn't she get from him a very liberal promise?"
"promises! why didn't he stump up the rhino? what's the good of promises? there's as much to do about a beggarly five hundred pounds as though it were fifty thousand pounds. inquiries!" of course he knew very well what that meant. "it's a most ungentlemanlike thing for one gentleman to take upon himself to make inquiries about another. he is not the girl's father. what right has he to make inquiries?"
"i didn't put it into his head," said carroll, almost sobbing.
"he must be a low-bred, pettifogging lawyer."
"he is a lawyer," said carroll, on whose mind the memory of the great benefit he had received had made some impression. "i have admitted that."
"pshaw!"
"but i don't think he's pettifogging; not mr. grey. four hundred pounds down, with fifty pounds for dress, and the same, or most the same, to all the girls, isn't pettifogging. if you ever comes to have a family, juniper—"
"i ain't in the way."
"but when you are, and there comes six of 'em, you won't find an uncle pettifogging when he speaks out like mr. grey."
the conversation was carried on for some time farther, and then mr. juniper left the house without again visiting the ladies. his last word was that if inquiries were made into him they might all go to—bath! if the money were forthcoming, they would know where to find him; but it must be five hundred pounds "square," with no parings made from it on behalf of petticoats and pelisses. with this last word mr. juniper stamped down the stairs and out of the house.
"he's a brute, after all!" said sophie.
"no, he isn't. what do you know about brutes? of course a gentleman has to make the best fight he can for his money." this was what amelia said at the moment; but in the seclusion of their own room she wept bitterly. "why didn't he come in to see me and just give me one word? i hadn't done anything amiss. it wasn't my fault if uncle john is stingy."
"and he isn't so very stingy, after all," said sophie.
"of course papa hasn't got anything, and wouldn't have anything, though you were to pour golden rivers into his lap."
"there are worse than papa," said sophie.
"but he knows all that, and that our uncle isn't any more than an uncle. and why should he be so particular just about a hundred pounds? i do think gentlemen are the meanest creatures when they are looking after money! ladies ain't half so bad. he'd no business to expect five hundred pounds all out."
this was very melancholy, and the house was kept in a state of silent sorrow for four or five days, till the result of the inquiries had come. then there was weeping and gnashing of teeth. mr. barry came to bolsover terrace to communicate the result of the inquiry, and was shut up for half an hour with poor mrs. carroll. he was afraid that he could not recommend the match. "oh, i'm sorry for that,—very sorry!" said mrs. carroll. "the young lady will be—disappointed." and her handkerchief went up to her eyes. then there was silence for awhile, till she asked why an opinion so strongly condemnatory had been expressed.
"the gentleman, ma'am,—is not what a gentleman should be. you may take my word for it. i must ask you not to repeat what i say to him."
"oh dear, no."
"but perhaps the least said the soonest mended. he is not what a gentleman should be."
"you mean a—fine gentleman."
"he is not what a man should be. i cannot say more than that. it would not be for the young lady's happiness that she should select such a partner for her life."
"she is very much attached to him."
"i am sorry that it should be so. but it will be better that she should—live it down. at any rate, i am bound to communicate to you mr. grey's decision. though he does not at all mean to withhold his bounty in regard to any other proposed marriage, he cannot bring himself to pay money to mr. juniper."
"nothing at all?" asked mrs. carroll.
"he will make no payment that will go into the pocket of mr. juniper."
then mr. barry went, and there was weeping and wailing in the house in bolsover terrace. so cruel an uncle as mr. grey had never been heard of in history, or even in romance. "i know it's that old cat, dolly," said amelia. "because she hasn't managed to get a husband for herself, she doesn't want any one else to get one."
"my poor child," said mr. carroll, in a maudlin condition, "i pity thee from the bottom of my heart!"
"i wish that mr. barry may be made to marry a hideous old maid past forty," said georgina.
"i shouldn't care what they said, but would take him straight off," said sophie.
upon this mrs. carroll shook her head. "i don't suppose that he is quite all that he ought to be."
"who is, i should like to know?" said amelia.
"but my brother has to give his money according to his judgment." as she said this the poor woman thought of those other five who in process of time might become claimants. but here the whole family attacked her, and almost drove her to confess that her brother was a stingy old curmudgeon.
