george robinson had been in the very act of coming to an understanding with mr. brown as to the proceeds of the business, when he was interrupted by that terrible affair of mrs. morony. for some days after that the whole establishment was engaged in thinking, talking, and giving evidence about the matter, and it was all that the firm could do to keep the retail trade going across the counter. some of the young men and women gave notice, and went away; and others became so indifferent that it was necessary to get rid of them. for a week it was doubtful whether it would be possible to keep the house open, and during that week mr. brown was so paralyzed by his feelings that he was unable to give any assistance. he sat upstairs moaning, accompanied generally by his two daughters; and he sent a medical certificate to worship street, testifying his inability to appear before the magistrate. from what transpired afterwards we may say that the magistrate would have treated him more leniently than did the young women. they were aware that whatever money yet remained was in his keeping; and now, as at the time of their mother's death, it seemed fitting to them that a division should be made of the spoils.
"george," he said one evening to his junior partner, "i'd like to be laid decent in kensal green! i know it will come to that soon."
robinson hereupon reminded him that care had killed a cat; and promised him all manner of commercial greatness if he could only rouse himself to his work. "the career of a merchant prince is still open to you," said robinson, enthusiastically.
"not along with maryanne and sarah jane, george!"
"sarah jane is a married woman, and sits at another man's hearth. why do you allow her to trouble you?"
"she is my child, george. a man can't deny himself to his child. at least i could not. and i don't want to be a merchant prince. if i could only have a little place of my own, that was my own; and where they wouldn't always be nagging after money when they come to see me."
poor mr. brown! he was asking from the fairies that for which we are all asking,—for which men have ever asked. he merely desired the comforts of the world, without its cares. he wanted his small farm of a few acres, as horace wanted it, and cincinnatus, and thousands of statesmen, soldiers, and merchants, from their days down to ours; his small farm, on which, however, the sun must always shine, and where no weeds should flourish. poor mr. brown! such little farms for the comforts of old age can only be attained by long and unwearied cultivation during the years of youth and manhood.
it was on one occasion such as this, not very long after the affair of mrs. morony, that robinson pressed very eagerly upon mr. brown the special necessity which demanded from the firm at the present moment more than ordinary efforts in the way of advertisement.
"jones has given us a great blow," said robinson.
"i fear he has," said mr. brown.
"and now, if we do not put our best foot forward it will be all up with us. if we flag now, people will see that we are down. but if we go on with audacity, all those reports will die away, and we shall again trick our beams, and flame once more in the morning sky."
it may be presumed that mr. brown did not exactly follow the quotation, but the eloquence of robinson had its desired effect. mr. brown did at last produce a sum of five hundred pounds, with which printers, stationers, and advertising agents were paid or partially paid, and robinson again went to work.
"it's the last," said mr. brown, with a low moan, "and would have been maryanne's!"
robinson, when he heard this, was much struck by the old man's enduring courage. how had he been able to preserve this sum from the young woman's hands, pressed as he had been by her and by brisket? of this robinson said nothing, but he did venture to allude to the fact that the money must, in fact, belong to the firm.
this is here mentioned chiefly as showing the reason why robinson did not for awhile renew the business on which he was engaged when mrs. morony's presence in the shop was announced. he felt that no private matter should be allowed for a time to interfere with his renewed exertions; and he also felt that as mr. brown had responded to his entreaties in that matter of the five hundred pounds, it would not become him to attack the old man again immediately. for three months he applied himself solely to business; and then, when affairs had partially been restored under his guidance, he again resolved, under the further instigation of poppins, to put things at once on a proper footing.
"so you ain't spliced yet," said poppins.
"no, not yet."
"nor won't be,—not to maryanne brown. there was my wife at brisket's, in aldersgate street, yesterday, and we all know what that means."
"what does it mean?" demanded robinson, scowling fearfully. "would you hint to me that she is false?"
"false! no! she's not false that i know of. she's ready enough to have you, if you can put yourself right with the old man. but if you can't,—why, of course, she's not to wait till her hair's grey. she and polly are as thick as thieves, and so polly has been to aldersgate street. polly says that the jones's are getting their money regularly out of the till."
"wait till her hair be grey!" said robinson, when he was left to himself. "do i wish her to wait? would i not stand with her at the altar to-morrow, though my last half-crown should go to the greedy priest who joined us? and she has sent her friend to aldersgate street,—to my rival! there must, at any rate, be an end of this!"
late on that evening, when his work was over, he took a glass of hot brandy-and-water at the "four swans," and then he waited upon mr. brown. he luckily found the senior partner alone. "mr. brown," said he, "i've come to have a little private conversation."
"private, george! well, i'm all alone. maryanne is with mrs. poppins, i think."
with mrs. poppins! yes; and where might she not be with mrs. poppins? robinson felt that he had it within him at that moment to start off for aldersgate street. "but first to business," said he, as he remembered the special object for which he had come.
"for the present it is well that she should be away," he said. "mr. brown, the time has now come at which it is absolutely necessary that i should know where i am."
"where you are, george?"
"yes; on what ground i stand. who i am before the world, and what interest i represent. is it the fact that i am the junior partner in the house of brown, jones, and robinson?"
"why, george, of course you are."
"and is it the fact that by the deed of partnership drawn up between us, i am entitled to receive one quarter of the proceeds of the business?"
"no, george, no; not proceeds."
"what then?"
"profits, george; one quarter of the profits."
"and what is my share for the year now over?"
"you have lived, george; you must always remember that. it is a great thing in itself even to live out of a trade in these days. you have lived; you must acknowledge that."
"mr. brown, i am not a greedy man, nor a suspicious man, nor an idle man, nor a man of pleasure. but i am a man in love."
"and she shall be yours, george."
"ay, sir, that is easily said. she shall be mine, and in order that she may be mine, i must request to know what is accurately the state of our account?"
"george," said mr. brown in a piteous accent, "you and i have always been friends."
"but there are those who will do much for their enemies out of fear, though they will do nothing for their friends out of love. jones has a regular income out of the business."
"only forty shillings or so on every saturday night; nothing more, on my honour. and then they've babbies, you know, and they must live."
"by the terms of our partnership i am entitled to as much as he."
"but then, george, suppose that nobody is entitled to nothing! suppose there is no profits. we all must live, you know, but then it's only hand to mouth; is it?"
how terrible was this statement as to the affairs of the firm, coming, as it did, from the senior partner, who not more than twelve months since entered the business with a sum of four thousand pounds in hard cash! robinson, whose natural spirit in such matters was sanguine and buoyant, felt that even he was depressed. had four thousand pounds gone, and was there no profit? he knew well that the stock on hand would not even pay the debts that were due. the shop had always been full, and the men and women at the counter had always been busy. the books had nominally been kept by himself; but who can keep the books of a concern, if he be left in ignorance as to the outgoings and incomings?
"that comes of attempting to do business on a basis of capital!" he said in a voice of anger.
"it comes of advertising, george. it comes of little silver books, and big wooden stockings, and men in armour, and cats-carrion shirts; that's what it's come from, george."
"never," said robinson, rising from his chair with energetic action. "never. you may as well tell me that the needle does not point to the pole, that the planets have not their appointed courses, that the swelling river does not run to the sea. there are facts as to which the world has ceased to dispute, and this is one of them. advertise, advertise, advertise! it may be that we have fallen short in our duty; but the performance of a duty can never do an injury." in reply to this, old brown merely shook his head. "do you know what barlywig has spent on his physic; barlywig's medean potion? forty thousand a-year for the last ten years, and now barlywig is worth;—i don't know what barlywig is worth; but i know he is in parliament."
"we haven't stuff to go on like that, george." in answer to this, robinson knew not what to urge, but he did know that his system was right.
at this moment the door was opened, and maryanne brown entered the room. "father," she said, as soon as her foot was over the threshold of the door; but then seeing that mr. brown was not alone, she stopped herself. there was an angry spot on her cheeks, and it was manifest from the tone of her voice that she was about to address her father in anger. "oh, george; so you are there, are you? i suppose you came, because you knew i was out."
"i came, maryanne," said he, putting out his hand to her, "i came—to settle our wedding day."
"my children, my children!" said mr. brown.
"that's all very fine," said maryanne; "but i've heard so much about wedding days, that i'm sick of it, and don't mean to have none."
"what; you will never be a bride?"
"no; i won't. what's the use?"
"you shall be my bride;—to-morrow if you will."
"i'll tell you what it is, george robinson; my belief of you is, that you are that soft, a man might steal away your toes without your feet missing 'em."
"you have stolen away my heart, and my body is all the lighter."
"it's light enough; there's no doubt of that, and so is your head. your heels too were, once, but you've given up that."
"yes, maryanne. when a man commences the stern realities of life, that must be abandoned. but now i am anxious to commence a reality which is not stern,—that reality which is for me to soften all the hardness of this hardworking world. maryanne, when shall be our wedding day?"
for a while the fair beauty was coy, and would give no decisive answer; but at length under the united pressure of her father and lover, a day was named. a day was named, and mr. brown's consent to that day was obtained; but this arrangement was not made till he had undertaken to give up the rooms in which he at present lived, and to go into lodgings in the neighbourhood.
"george," said she, in a confidential whisper, before the evening was over, "if you don't manage about the cash now, and have it all your own way, you must be soft." under the influence of gratified love, he promised her that he would manage it.
"bless you, my children, bless you," said mr. brown, as they parted for the night. "bless you, and may your loves be lasting, and your children obedient."
