Presently the old man turned round and whispered, "I know your face. I have seen you before--but I forget where. Are you in trade? Have you got a shop?"
"No. I have no shop,"
"You come from the country? No? A bankrupt, perhaps? No? Going to make him your attorney?" He shook his head with some vehemence and pointed to the door with his pen. "Fly," he said. "There is still time."
"I am not going to make him or anyone else my attorney,"
"You come to borrow money? If so"--again he pointed to the door with the feathery end of the quill. "Fly! There is still time."
"Then you owe him money. Young man--there is still time. Buy a stone at the pavior"s--spend your last penny upon it; then tie it round your neck and drop into the river. Ah! It is too late--too late--" For just then Mr. Probus rang a bell. "Follow me, Sir. Follow me. Ah! That paving stone!"
Mr. Probus sat at a table covered with papers. He did not rise when I appeared, but pointed to a chair.
"You wish to see me, Mr. William," he began. "May I ask with what object?"
"I come in reply to your letter, Mr. Probus,"
"My letter? My letter?" He pretended to have forgotten the letter. "I write so many, and sometimes--ay--ay--surely. The letter about the trifling debt due to the estate of David Camlet Deceased. Yes--yes, I am administering the worthy man"s estate. One of many--very many--who have honoured me with their confidence."
"That letter, Mr. Probus, is the reason why I have called."
"You are come to discharge your obligation. It is what I expected. You are not looking well, Mr. William. I am sorry to observe marks--are they of privation?--on your face. Our worthy cousin, on the other hand, has a frame of iron. He will live, I verily believe, to ninety."
"Never mind my cousin, Mr. Probus. He will live as long as the Lord permits."
"When last I saw you Sir, you foolishly rejected a most liberal offer.
Well: youth is ignorant. We live and learn. Some day, too late, you will be sorry. Now, Sir, for this debt. Fifty-five pounds. Ay.
Fifty-five pounds. And my costs, which are trifling."
"I have come to tell you, Mr. Probus, that your letter was written under a misapprehension."
"Truly? Under a misapprehension? Of what kind, pray?"
The harpsichord was a gift made by Mr. David Camlet. I did not buy it."
Mr. Probus lifted his eyebrows. "A gift? Really? You have proof, no doubt, of this a.s.sertion?"
"Certainly."
"Well, produce your proofs. If you have proofs, as you say, I shall be the first to withdraw my client"s claim. But makers of musical instruments do not usually give away their wares. What are your proofs, Sir?"
"My word, first."
"Ta--ta--ta. Your word. By such proof every debtor would clear himself.
What next?"
"The word of my wife who with me received the instrument from Mr.
Camlet."
"Receiving the instrument does not clear you of liability--what else?"
"The fact that Mr. Camlet never asked me for the money."
"An oversight. Had he, in a word, intended the instrument for a gift, he would have said so. Now, Sir, what other proofs have you?"
I was silent. I had no other proof.
He turned again to the book he had before consulted. It was the ledger, and there, in Mr. Camlet"s own handwriting, firm and square, was an entry:
"To Will Halliday--a Harpsichord, 55.
In another book was an entry to the office that the instrument had been delivered.
Of course, I understand now what the old man meant by the entry. He wanted to note the gift and the value: and unfortunately he entered it as if it was a business transaction.
"Well, Sir?" asked Mr. Probus.
I said nothing. My heart felt as heavy as lead. I was indeed in the power of this man.
"There are such things as conspiracy," he went on, severely. "You have told me, for instance, that you and your wife are prepared to swear that the instrument was a gift. I might have indicted you both for a conspiracy, in which case Tyburn would have been your lot. For the sake of your excellent cousin and the worthy Mr. Peter, your uncle, Sir, I refrain from the indictment, though I fear I might be charged with compounding a felony. But mercy before all things: charity, mercy, and long suffering. These are the things that chiefly nourish the human soul, not guineas."
I remained still silent, not knowing what to do or to say, and seeing this abyss yawning before me.
"Come Sir," he said with changed voice, "you owe fifty pounds and costs.
If it were to myself I would give you time: I would treat you tenderly: but an Attorney must protect his clients. Therefore I must have that money at once."
"Give me time to consult my friends." Alas! All my friends could not raise fifty pounds between them.
"You have none. You have lost your friends. Pay me fifty pounds and costs."
"Let me see the executors. Perhaps they will hear reason."
"For what purpose? They must have their own. The long and the short of it, Mr. William Halliday, is that you must pay me this money."
"Man! I have not got so much money in the world."
He smiled--he could not disguise his satisfaction.
"Then, Mr. William Halliday"--he shut the ledger with a slam--"I fear that my clients must adopt--most unwillingly, I am sure--the measures sanctioned by the law." His eyes gleamed with a malicious satisfaction.
"I only trust that the steps we shall have to take will not disturb the mind of my much-respected client, your cousin. You will have to choose your prison, and you will remain in the--the Paradise of your choice until this money, with costs, is paid. As for your choice, the situation of the Fleet is more central: that of the Bench is more rural: beyond the new Prison there are green fields. The smell of the hay perhaps comes over the wall. Should you find a lengthened residence necessary, I believe that the rooms, though small, are comfortable. Ah! how useful would have been that three thousand pounds which you refused--at such a juncture as this."
"If there is nothing more to be said----" I got up, not knowing what I said, and bewildered with the prospect before me.
"Heaven forbid, Sir," he continued sweetly, "that I should press you unduly. I will even, considering the tender heart of your cousin, extend to you the term. I will grant you twenty-four hours in which to find the money."
"You may as well give me five minutes. I have no means of raising the sum."
"I am sorry to hear that for the sake of my clients. However, I can only hope"--he pushed back the papers and rose with a horrible grin of malice on his face--"that you will find the air of the Prison salubrious. There have been cases of infectious fever--gaol fever, lately: perhaps the King"s Bench and the Fleet are equal in this respect. Small-pox, also, is prevalent in one: but I forget which. Many persons live for years in a Prison. I hope, I am sure, that you will pa.s.s--many--many--happy years in that seclusion."