"That is a comfort," Mr Tigg rejoined. "Then," he added, shielding his lips with the palm of his hand, and applying them close to Mr Pinch"s ear, "I have come for the letter."
"For the letter," said Tom, aloud. "What letter?"
"The letter," whispered Tigg in the same cautious manner as before, "which my friend Pecksniff addressed to Chevy Slyme, Esquire, and left with you."
"He didn"t leave any letter with me," said Tom.
"Hush!" cried the other. "It"s all the same thing, though not so delicately done by my friend Pecksniff as I could have wished. The money."
"The money!" cried Tom quite scared.
"Exactly so," said Mr Tigg. With which he rapped Tom twice or thrice upon the breast and nodded several times, as though he would say that he saw they understood each other; that it was unnecessary to mention the circ.u.mstance before a third person; and that he would take it as a particular favour if Tom would slip the amount into his hand, as quietly as possible.
Mr Pinch, however, was so very much astounded by this (to him) inexplicable deportment, that he at once openly declared there must be some mistake, and that he had been entrusted with no commission whatever having any reference to Mr Tigg or to his friend, either. Mr Tigg received this declaration with a grave request that Mr Pinch would have the goodness to make it again; and on Tom"s repeating it in a still more emphatic and unmistakable manner, checked it off, sentence for sentence, by nodding his head solemnly at the end of each. When it had come to a close for the second time, Mr Tigg sat himself down in a chair and addressed the young men as follows:
"Then I tell you what it is, gents both. There is at this present moment in this very place, a perfect constellation of talent and genius, who is involved, through what I cannot but designate as the culpable negligence of my friend Pecksniff, in a situation as tremendous, perhaps, as the social intercourse of the nineteenth century will readily admit of. There is actually at this instant, at the Blue Dragon in this village--an ale-house, observe; a common, paltry, low-minded, clodhopping, pipe-smoking ale-house--an individual, of whom it may be said, in the language of the Poet, that n.o.body but himself can in any way come up to him; who is detained there for his bill. Ha! ha! For his bill. I repeat it--for his bill. Now," said Mr Tigg, "we have heard of Fox"s Book of Martyrs, I believe, and we have heard of the Court of Requests, and the Star Chamber; but I fear the contradiction of no man alive or dead, when I a.s.sert that my friend Chevy Slyme being held in p.a.w.n for a bill, beats any amount of c.o.c.kfighting with which I am acquainted."
Martin and Mr Pinch looked, first at each other, and afterwards at Mr Tigg, who with his arms folded on his breast surveyed them, half in despondency and half in bitterness.
"Don"t mistake me, gents both," he said, stretching forth his right hand. "If it had been for anything but a bill, I could have borne it, and could still have looked upon mankind with some feeling of respect; but when such a man as my friend Slyme is detained for a score--a thing in itself essentially mean; a low performance on a slate, or possibly chalked upon the back of a door--I do feel that there is a screw of such magnitude loose somewhere, that the whole framework of society is shaken, and the very first principles of things can no longer be trusted. In short, gents both," said Mr Tigg with a pa.s.sionate flourish of his hands and head, "when a man like Slyme is detained for such a thing as a bill, I reject the superst.i.tions of ages, and believe nothing. I don"t even believe that I DON"T believe, curse me if I do!"
"I am very sorry, I am sure," said Tom after a pause, "but Mr Pecksniff said nothing to me about it, and I couldn"t act without his instructions. Wouldn"t it be better, sir, if you were to go to--to wherever you came from--yourself, and remit the money to your friend?"
"How can that be done, when I am detained also?" said Mr Tigg; "and when moreover, owing to the astounding, and I must add, guilty negligence of my friend Pecksniff, I have no money for coach-hire?"
Tom thought of reminding the gentleman (who, no doubt, in his agitation had forgotten it) that there was a post-office in the land; and that possibly if he wrote to some friend or agent for a remittance it might not be lost upon the road; or at all events that the chance, however desperate, was worth trusting to. But, as his good-nature presently suggested to him certain reasons for abstaining from this hint, he paused again, and then asked:
"Did you say, sir, that you were detained also?"
"Come here," said Mr Tigg, rising. "You have no objection to my opening this window for a moment?"
"Certainly not," said Tom.
"Very good," said Mr Tigg, lifting the sash. "You see a fellow down there in a red neckcloth and no waistcoat?"
"Of course I do," cried Tom. "That"s Mark Tapley."
"Mark Tapley is it?" said the gentleman. "Then Mark Tapley had not only the great politeness to follow me to this house, but is waiting now, to see me home again. And for that attention, sir," added Mr Tigg, stroking his moustache, "I can tell you, that Mark Tapley had better in his infancy have been fed to suffocation by Mrs Tapley, than preserved to this time."
Mr Pinch was not so dismayed by this terrible threat, but that he had voice enough to call to Mark to come in, and upstairs; a summons which he so speedily obeyed, that almost as soon as Tom and Mr Tigg had drawn in their heads and closed the window again, he, the denounced, appeared before them.
"Come here, Mark!" said Mr Pinch. "Good gracious me! what"s the matter between Mrs Lupin and this gentleman?"
"What gentleman, sir?" said Mark. "I don"t see no gentleman here sir, excepting you and the new gentleman," to whom he made a rough kind of bow--"and there"s nothing wrong between Mrs Lupin and either of you, Mr Pinch, I am sure."
"Nonsense, Mark!" cried Tom. "You see Mr--"
"Tigg," interposed that gentleman. "Wait a bit. I shall crush him soon.
All in good time!"
"Oh HIM!" rejoined Mark, with an air of careless defiance. "Yes, I see HIM. I could see him a little better, if he"d shave himself, and get his hair cut."
Mr Tigg shook his head with a ferocious look, and smote himself once upon the breast.
"It"s no use," said Mark. "If you knock ever so much in that quarter, you"ll get no answer. I know better. There"s nothing there but padding; and a greasy sort it is."
"Nay, Mark," urged Mr Pinch, interposing to prevent hostilities, "tell me what I ask you. You"re not out of temper, I hope?"
"Out of temper, sir!" cried Mark, with a grin; "why no, sir. There"s a little credit--not much--in being jolly, when such fellows as him is a-going about like roaring lions; if there is any breed of lions, at least, as is all roar and mane. What is there between him and Mrs Lupin, sir? Why, there"s a score between him and Mrs Lupin. And I think Mrs Lupin lets him and his friend off very easy in not charging "em double prices for being a disgrace to the Dragon. That"s my opinion. I wouldn"t have any such Peter the Wild Boy as him in my house, sir, not if I was paid race-week prices for it. He"s enough to turn the very beer in the casks sour with his looks; he is! So he would, if it had judgment enough."
"You"re not answering my question, you know, Mark," observed Mr Pinch.
"Well, sir," said Mark, "I don"t know as there"s much to answer further than that. Him and his friend goes and stops at the Moon and Stars till they"ve run a bill there; and then comes and stops with us and does the same. The running of bills is common enough Mr Pinch; it an"t that as we object to; it"s the ways of this chap. Nothing"s good enough for him; all the women is dying for him he thinks, and is overpaid if he winks at "em; and all the men was made to be ordered about by him. This not being aggravation enough, he says this morning to me, in his usual captivating way, "We"re going to-night, my man." "Are you, sir?" says I. "Perhaps you"d like the bill got ready, sir?" "Oh no, my man," he says; "you needn"t mind that. I"ll give Pecksniff orders to see to that." In reply to which, the Dragon makes answer, "Thankee, sir, you"re very kind to honour us so far, but as we don"t know any particular good of you, and you don"t travel with luggage, and Mr Pecksniff an"t at home (which perhaps you mayn"t happen to be aware of, sir), we should prefer something more satisfactory;" and that"s where the matter stands. And I ask," said Mr Tapley, pointing, in conclusion, to Mr Tigg, with his hat, "any lady or gentleman, possessing ordinary strength of mind, to say whether he"s a disagreeable-looking chap or not!"
"Let me inquire," said Martin, interposing between this candid speech and the delivery of some blighting anathema by Mr Tigg, "what the amount of this debt may be?"
"In point of money, sir, very little," answered Mark. "Only just turned of three pounds. But it an"t that; it"s the--"
"Yes, yes, you told us so before," said Martin. "Pinch, a word with you."
"What is it?" asked Tom, retiring with him to a corner of the room.
"Why, simply--I am ashamed to say--that this Mr Slyme is a relation of mine, of whom I never heard anything pleasant; and that I don"t want him here just now, and think he would be cheaply got rid of, perhaps, for three or four pounds. You haven"t enough money to pay this bill, I suppose?"
Tom shook his head to an extent that left no doubt of his entire sincerity.
"That"s unfortunate, for I am poor too; and in case you had had it, I"d have borrowed it of you. But if we told this landlady we would see her paid, I suppose that would answer the same purpose?"
"Oh dear, yes!" said Tom. "She knows me, bless you!"
"Then let us go down at once and tell her so; for the sooner we are rid of their company the better. As you have conducted the conversation with this gentleman hitherto, perhaps you"ll tell him what we purpose doing; will you?"
Mr Pinch, complying, at once imparted the intelligence to Mr Tigg, who shook him warmly by the hand in return, a.s.suring him that his faith in anything and everything was again restored. It was not so much, he said, for the temporary relief of this a.s.sistance that he prized it, as for its vindication of the high principle that Nature"s n.o.bs felt with Nature"s n.o.bs, and that true greatness of soul sympathized with true greatness of soul, all the world over. It proved to him, he said, that like him they admired genius, even when it was coupled with the alloy occasionally visible in the metal of his friend Slyme; and on behalf of that friend, he thanked them; as warmly and heartily as if the cause were his own. Being cut short in these speeches by a general move towards the stairs, he took possession at the street door of the lapel of Mr Pinch"s coat, as a security against further interruption; and entertained that gentleman with some highly improving discourse until they reached the Dragon, whither they were closely followed by Mark and the new pupil.
The rosy hostess scarcely needed Mr Pinch"s word as a preliminary to the release of her two visitors, of whom she was glad to be rid on any terms; indeed, their brief detention had originated mainly with Mr Tapley, who entertained a const.i.tutional dislike to gentleman out-at-elbows who flourished on false pretences; and had conceived a particular aversion to Mr Tigg and his friend, as choice specimens of the species. The business in hand thus easily settled, Mr Pinch and Martin would have withdrawn immediately, but for the urgent entreaties of Mr Tigg that they would allow him the honour of presenting them to his friend Slyme, which were so very difficult of resistance that, yielding partly to these persuasions and partly to their own curiosity, they suffered themselves to be ushered into the presence of that distinguished gentleman.
He was brooding over the remains of yesterday"s decanter of brandy, and was engaged in the thoughtful occupation of making a chain of rings on the top of the table with the wet foot of his drinking-gla.s.s. Wretched and forlorn as he looked, Mr Slyme had once been in his way, the choicest of swaggerers; putting forth his pretensions boldly, as a man of infinite taste and most undoubted promise. The stock-in-trade requisite to set up an amateur in this department of business is very slight, and easily got together; a trick of the nose and a curl of the lip sufficient to compound a tolerable sneer, being ample provision for any exigency. But, in an evil hour, this off-shoot of the Chuzzlewit trunk, being lazy, and ill qualified for any regular pursuit and having dissipated such means as he ever possessed, had formally established himself as a professor of Taste for a livelihood; and finding, too late, that something more than his old amount of qualifications was necessary to sustain him in this calling, had quickly fallen to his present level, where he retained nothing of his old self but his boastfulness and his bile, and seemed to have no existence separate or apart from his friend Tigg. And now so abject and so pitiful was he--at once so maudlin, insolent, beggarly, and proud--that even his friend and parasite, standing erect beside him, swelled into a Man by contrast.
"Chiv," said Mr Tigg, clapping him on the back, "my friend Pecksniff not being at home, I have arranged our trifling piece of business with Mr Pinch and friend. Mr Pinch and friend, Mr Chevy Slyme! Chiv, Mr Pinch and friend!"
"These are agreeable circ.u.mstances in which to be introduced to strangers," said Chevy Slyme, turning his bloodshot eyes towards Tom Pinch. "I am the most miserable man in the world, I believe!"
Tom begged he wouldn"t mention it; and finding him in this condition, retired, after an awkward pause, followed by Martin. But Mr Tigg so urgently conjured them, by coughs and signs, to remain in the shadow of the door, that they stopped there.
"I swear," cried Mr Slyme, giving the table an imbecile blow with his fist, and then feebly leaning his head upon his hand, while some drunken drops oozed from his eyes, "that I am the wretchedest creature on record. Society is in a conspiracy against me. I"m the most literary man alive. I"m full of scholarship. I"m full of genius; I"m full of information; I"m full of novel views on every subject; yet look at my condition! I"m at this moment obliged to two strangers for a tavern bill!"
Mr Tigg replenished his friend"s gla.s.s, pressed it into his hand, and nodded an intimation to the visitors that they would see him in a better aspect immediately.