thus ended george robinson's dream of love. never again will he attempt that phase of life. beauty to him in future shall be a thing on which the eye may rest with satisfaction, as it may on the sculptor's chiselled marble, or on the varied landscape. it shall be a thing to look at,—possibly to possess. but for the future george robinson's heart shall be his own. george robinson is now wedded, and he will admit of no second wife. on that same tuesday which was to have seen him made the legal master of maryanne's charms, he vowed to himself that commerce should be his bride; and, as in the dead of night he stood on the top of the hill of ludgate, he himself, as high-priest, performed the ceremony. "yes," said he on that occasion, "o goddess, here i devote myself to thy embraces, to thine and thine only. to live for thee shall satisfy both my heart and my ambition. if thou wilt be kind, no softer loveliness shall be desired by me. george robinson has never been untrue to his vows, nor shalt thou, o my chosen one, find him so now. for thee will i labour, straining every nerve to satisfy thy wishes. woman shall henceforward be to me a doll for the adornment of whose back it will be my business to sell costly ornaments. in no other light will i regard the loveliness of her form. o sweet commerce, teach me thy lessons! let me ever buy in the cheapest market and sell in the dearest. let me know thy hidden ways, and if it be that i am destined for future greatness, and may choose the path by which it shall be reached, it is not great wealth at which i chiefly aim. let it rather be said of me that i taught the modern world of trade the science of advertisement."
thus did he address his new celestial bride, and as he spoke a passing cloud rolled itself away from before the moon's face, and the great luminary of the night shone down upon his upturned face. "i accept the omen," said robinson, with lightened heart; and from that moment his great hopes never again altogether failed him, though he was doomed to pass through scorching fires of commercial disappointment.
but it must not be supposed that he was able to throw off his passion for maryanne brown without a great inward struggle. up to that moment, in which he found brisket in mr. brown's room, and, as he stood for a moment on the landing-place, heard that inquiry made as to the use of his name, he had believed that maryanne would at last be true to him. poppins, indeed, had hinted his suspicions, but in the way of prophecy poppins was a cassandra. poppins saw a good deal with those twinkling eyes of his, but robinson did not trust to the wisdom of poppins. up to that hour he had believed in maryanne, and then in the short flash of an instant the truth had come upon him. she had again promised herself to brisket, if brisket would only take her. let brisket have her if he would. a minute's thought was sufficient to bring him to this resolve. but hours of scorching torment must be endured ere he could again enjoy the calm working of a sound mind in a sound body.
it has been told how in the ecstasy of his misery he poured out the sorrows of his bleeding heart before his brethren at the debating club. they, with that ready sympathy which they always evince for the success or failure of any celebrated brother, at once adjourned themselves; and robinson walked out, followed at a distance by the faithful poppins.
"george, old fellow!" said the latter, touching his friend on the shoulder, at the corner of bridge street.
"leave me!" exclaimed robinson. "do not pry into sorrows which you cannot understand. i would be alone with myself this night."
"you'd be better if you'd come to the 'mitre,' and smoke a pipe," said poppins.
"pipe me no pipes," said robinson.
"oh, come. you'd better quit that, and take it easy. after all, isn't it better so, than you should find her out when it was too late? there's many would be glad to have your chance."
"man!" shouted robinson, and as he did so he turned round upon his friend and seized him by the collar of his coat. "i loved that woman. forty thousand poppinses could not, with all their quantity of love, make up my sum."
"very likely not," said poppins.
"would'st thou drink up esil? would'st thou eat a crocodile?"
"heaven forbid," said poppins.
"i'll do it. and if thou prate of mountains—"
"but i didn't."
"no, poppins, no. that's true. though i should be hamlet, yet art not thou la?rtes. but poppins, thou art horatio."
"i'm thomas poppins, old fellow; and i mean to stick to you till i see you safe in bed."
"thou art horatio, for i've found thee honest. there are more things in heaven and earth, horatio, than are dreamed of in our philosophy."
"come, old fellow."
"poppins, give me that man that is not passion's slave, and i will wear him in my heart's core; ay, in my heart of hearts;—as i do thee." and then, falling on poppins' neck, george robinson embraced him.
"you'll be better after that," said poppins. "come, let's have a little chat over a drop of something hot, and then we'll go to bed. i'll stand sammy."
"something hot!" said robinson. "i tell you, poppins, that everything is hot to me. here, here i'm hot." and then he struck his breast. "and yet i'm very cold. 'tis cold to be alone; cold to have lost one's all. poppins, i've loved a harpy."
"i believe you're about right there," said poppins.
"a harpy! her nails will grow to talons, and on her feet are hoofs. within she is horn all over. there's not a drop of blood about her heart. oh, poppins!"
"you're very well out of it, george. but yet i'm sorry for you. i am, indeed."
"and now, good-night. this way is mine; yours there."
"what! to the bridge? no; i'm blessed if you do; at any rate not alone."
"poppins, tell me this; was hamlet mad, or did he feign so?"
"faith, very likely the latter. many do that now. there are better rations in bedlam, than in any of the gaols;—let alone the workhouses."
"ay; go mad for rations! there's no feigning there, poppins. the world is doing that. but, poppins, hamlet feigned; and so do i. let the wind blow as it may, i know a hawk from a handsaw. therefore you need not fear me."
"i don't; but i won't let you go on to that bridge alone. you'll be singing that song of a suicide, till you're as low as low. come and drink a drop of something, and wish brisket joy with his wife."
"i will," said robinson. and so the two went to the "mitre;" and there, comforted by the truth and honesty of his friend, robinson resolved that he would be weak no longer, but, returning at once to his work, would still struggle on to rescue the house of brown, jones, and robinson from that bourne of bankruptcy to which it was being hurried by the incompetency of his partners.
the following day was sunday, and he rose at twelve with a racking headache. he had promised to take a chop with his friend at two, and at that hour he presented himself, with difficulty, at mrs. poppins's room. she was busy laying the cloth as he entered, but his friend was seated, half-dressed, unshorn, pale, and drooping, in an old arm-chair near the window.
"it's a shame for you, george robinson," said the lady, as he entered, "so it is. look at that, for a father of a family,—coming home at three o'clock in the morning, and not able to make his way upstairs till i went down and fetched him!"
"i told her that we were obliged to sit out the debate," said poppins, winking eagerly at his friend.
"debate, indeed! a parcel of geese as you call yourself! only geese go to bed betimes, and never get beastly drunk as you was, poppins."
"i took a bit of stewed cheese, which always disagrees with me."
"stewed cheese never disagrees with you when i'm with you. i'll tell you what it is, poppins; if you ain't at home and in bed by eleven o'clock next saturday, i'll go down to the 'goose and gridiron,' and i'll have that old grandy out of his chair. that's what i will. i suppose you're so bad you can't eat a bit of nothing?" in answer to which, robinson said that he did not feel himself to be very hungry.
"it's a blessing to maryanne to have lost you; that's what it is."
"stop, woman," said robinson.
"don't you woman me any womans. i know what stuff you're made off. it's a blessing for her not to have to do with a man who comes home roaring drunk, like a dead log, at three o'clock in the morning."
"now, polly,—" began poor poppins.
"oh, ah, polly! yes. polly's very well. but it was a bad day for polly when she first sat eyes on you. there was sergeant macnash never took a drop too much in his life. and you're worse than robinson ten times. he's got no children at home, and no wife. if he kills hisself with tobacco and gin, nobody will be much the worse. i know one who's got well out of it, anyway. and now, if either of you are able to eat, you can come." robinson did not much enjoy his afternoon, but the scenes, as they passed, served to reconcile him to that lonely life which must, henceforward, be his fate. what was there to enjoy in the fate of poppins, and what in the proposed happiness of brisket? could not a man be sufficient for himself alone? was there aught of pleasantness in that grinding tongue of his friend's wife? should not one's own flesh,—the bone of one's bone,—bind up one's bruises, pouring in balm with a gentle hand? poppins was wounded sorely about the head and stomach, and of what nature was the balm which his wife administered? he, robinson, had longed for married bliss, but now he longed no longer.
on the following monday and tuesday he went silently about his work, speaking hardly a word to anybody. mr. brown greeted him with an apologetic sigh, and jones with a triumphant sneer; but he responded to neither of them. he once met maryanne in the passage, and bowed to her with a low salute, but he did not speak to her. he did not speak to her, but he saw the colour in her cheek, and watched her downcast eye. he was still weak as water, and had she clung to him even then, he would even then have forgiven her! but she passed on, and, as she left the house, she slammed the door behind her.
a little incident happened on that day, which is mentioned to show that, even in his present frame of mind, robinson was able to take advantage of the smallest incident on behalf of his firm. a slight crowd had been collected round the door in the afternoon, for there had been a quarrel between mr. jones and one of the young men, in which loud words had reached the street, and a baby, which a woman held in her arms, had been somewhat pressed and hurt. as soon as the tidings reached robinson's ears he was instantly at his desk, and before the trifling accident was two hours passed, the following bill was in the printer's hands;—
caution to mothers!—mothers, beware!
three suckling infants were yesterday pressed to death in their mothers' arms by the crowd which had congregated before the house of brown, jones, and robinson, at nine times nine, bishopsgate street, in their attempts to be among the first purchasers of that wonderful lot of cheap but yet excellent flannels, which b., j., and r. have just imported. such flannels, at such a price, were never before offered to the british public. the sale, at the figures quoted below, will continue for three days more.
magenta house.
and then followed the list.
it had chanced that mr. brown had picked up a lot of remnants from a wholesale house in houndsditch, and the genius of robinson immediately combined that fact with the little accident above mentioned.
