The three merchants, stimulated at the same moment by the same impulse of joy, laid hold of the good widow, and whirled her like a top round the room, snapping their fingers the while, and exhibiting other perfectly innocent demonstrations of gladness.
"The most extraordinary method of proselytising," said the spinster, "that I, who have carried on the trade of mending the species for many years, have ever yet seen."
"It is all beyond my poor wits together," added the wife.
And beyond her poor wits the creditors allowed it to remain; for they immediately went forth upon their intended mission. In some hours afterwards, accordingly, there was a secret meeting in the "White Horse," not less dangerous to Mr Samuel Thriven than was that held in the Trojan one to old Troy.
CHAP. VI.--THE PAYMENT.
Now all this time, while Mr Thriven"s creditors were in the "White Horse," he himself was in heaven; for Sharp and he having found all right at c.o.c.kenzie, returned, and sat down to finish the claret which had been forestalled by the attorney before setting out. They resolved upon consigning Mrs Grizel M"Whirter to the cold earth a day sooner than custom might have warranted; and the reason for this especial care was simply that Mr Samuel wished, with all the ardour inspired by the Bordeaux waters, to make a grand and glorious display of his honesty, by calling all his creditors together, and paying them princ.i.p.al and interest--twenty shillings in the pound. They even, at this early period, set about making a draft of the circular letter which was to announce the thrilling intelligence.
"Heavens! what a commotion this will produce among the trade!" said Samuel, as he threw himself back in his chair, and fixed his enchanted eye on Sharp"s copy. "It will electrify them; and, sir, the editors of the newspapers are bound, as patrons of public virtue, to set it forth as an example to others, to induce them to do the same in time coming.
And now, since we have discussed so much business and claret, we will retire to our beds; I to enjoy the satisfaction of having resolved on a n.o.ble action, and you the hope of making a few six-and-eightpences by the death of Grizel M"Whirter of c.o.c.kenzie."
"_A few!_" cried Sharp, in an attorney"s heroics. "You will see, when you count them, I am not less honest or generous than yourself."
The friends thereupon separated, to enjoy in their beds the two pleasures incident to their peculiar situations.
At the end of the period--less by one day than the customary time of corpses being allowed to remain on the face of the earth--Mrs Grizel M"Whirter was buried; and as her will contained a specific a.s.signation to the greater part of her money, the same was in a day or two afterwards got hold of by Mr Thriven, and out went the round of circulars to the creditors, announcing that on the following Thursday, Mr Thriven would be seated in his house, ready to pay all his creditors their debts, and requesting them to attend and bring with them their receipts. Among these circulars was one to Miss Angelina M"Falzen--the very woman he had promised, before he succeeded to Mrs Grizel M"Whirter"s fortune, to make a wife of; a pretty plain proof that now, when he had become rich, he intended to shake off the devout spinster who had attempted to reform him by lending him the allegory of the Tinker of Elstow. The eventful day at length arrived, when Mr Thriven was to enjoy the great triumph he had panted for--namely to pay the creditors in full every farthing, with their own money; and at the hour appointed a considerable number arrived at his house, among whom not a few knew, as well as they did the contents of their own Bibles, the nefarious device of the haberdasher. When the creditors were seated--
"It ill becomes a man," said Mr Thriven, affecting a comely modesty--"it ill becomes one who resolves merely to do an act of ordinary justice, to take credit to himself for the possession of uncommon honesty.
Therefore, I say, away with all egotistical a.s.sumption of principles, which ought to belong to a man, merely (as we say in trade), as part and parcel of humanity; for, were it a miracle to be honest, why should we not tolerate dishonesty, which yet is, by the voice of all good men, condemned and put down. The debts due to you I incurred, why then should I not pay them? It makes not a _nail_ of difference that I lost three-fourths of the amount thereof by fire; because, what had you to do with the fire? _You_ were not the incendiaries. No; the fault lay with me; I should have insured my stock, in grat.i.tude for the credit with which you honoured me. It is for these reasons that I now disdain to take any credit to myself for coming thus cleverly forward to do you an act of justice, which the will of Heaven has put in my power, by the demise of that lamented woman, Mrs Grizel M"Whirter, and which you could by law have forced me to do, though, probably, not so soon as I now propose to do of my own free will and accord."
Mr Thriven paused, for a burst of applause; and Mr Bairnsfather, with a smile on his face, stood up.
"It is all very well," said he, glancing to his friends, "for Mr Thriven to pretend that no merit attaches to one who acts in the n.o.ble and generous way he has resolved to follow on this occasion. Every honest act deserves applause, were it for nothing else in the world than to keep up the credit of honesty. No doubt we might have compelled Mr Thriven to pay us out of the money to which he has succeeded, and to this extent we may admit his plea of no merit; but the readiness, if not precipitancy, he has exhibited on the measure, is not only in itself worthy of high commendation, but, by a reflex effect, it satisfies us all of that of which we probably were not very sceptical, that his failure was an honest one, and that he is not now making a display of paying us out of any other money than his own."
"Shall we not accord to these sentiments of our brother creditor?" said Mr Wrench, rising with great seriousness. "How seldom is it, in the ordinary affairs of life, that we find the true Mr Greatheart of the "Pilgrim"s Progress!" But when we do find him, shall we not say to him, let him have his reward--and what shall that reward be? Empty praise?
No! Mr Thriven needs not that, because he has the voice of conscience sounding within him--far more musical, I deem, to the ear of honesty than the hollow notes of external applause. A piece of plate? Very good for praise-devouring politicians to place on the table when the clique is carousing and settling the affairs of the state, but altogether unsuitable for the gratification of meek, self-denied, retiring honesty.
A book of morals? What say ye to that, friends? I throw it out merely as a hint."
"And I second the suggestion," said Mr Horner, "with the amendment, that there shall be an _inscription on a blank leaf_, setting forth in detail the merits of the individual; and where could we find a better than the allegory of the progress of the pilgrim, written by the tinker of Elstow?"
A round of applause, fully suitable to the appet.i.te of Mr Samuel, followed Mr Horner"s amendment. The process of payment commenced, and was completed to the satisfaction of all parties; and when the creditors went away, Mr Thriven sat down to consider the position in which he stood. He had got applause; but he did not well understand it. Above all, he could not comprehend the allusion to the book written by John Bunyan.
"Well," he said, as he took up the "Mercury," "it is beyond my comprehension; and, after all, the good people may only mean to present me with some suitable gift, in consideration of the act of justice I have this day done them. Let me see if there be any news." And he fell back in his chair in that delightful _langueur d"esprit_ to which a newspaper of all things is the most acceptable. "Why," he continued, as he still searched for some racy bit, "did not Sharp undertake to get a notice inserted, by way of an editor"s advertis.e.m.e.nt of three lines, to immortalise me, and pave my way to the hand of Miss Clarinda Pott?" And he wrung the muscles of his face as if they had been a dish-clout filled with the humour of his bile. At length his eye stood in his head, his mouth opened, and he became what artists would call "a living picture."
The part of the paper which produced this strange effect consisted of merely a few lines, to this import:--
"_New Light._--The matter which the fire in ----- Street failed to illumine has, we understand, been ill.u.s.trated by no less an individual than John Bunyan, Tinker at Elstow. Everything may be reduced to an allegory; the world itself is an allegory; and this sc.r.a.p of ours is nothing but an allegory."
Samuel laid down the paper.
"What can this mean?" said he. "If this be not an allegory, I know not what is."
"Ah, sir, you are a man this day to be envied," said Miss M"Falzen, who now entered. "You have proved yourself to be an honest man. I was sure of it; and you know, Samuel, when all deserted you, I stuck fast by you, and even gave the--the--excuse me, sir--the consent you asked of me, while you had no prospect before you in this bad world other than beggary."
"What consent, ma"am?" replied Mr Thriven, with a face that displayed no more curiosity than it did love.
"Bless me, Mr Thriven, do you forget?--Is it possible that you can have forgotten so _interesting_ an occasion?"
"I believe, by the by, ma"am, you have called for your debts," said Mr Thriven.
"Debt!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the devout spinster. "Why should there be any debt between two people situated as we are. Why should not all claims be extinguished by the mixture of what Mr Sharp calls _the goods in communion_. If I take this money from you to-day, won"t I be giving it back after the ceremony. True, my small fortune is now nothing to yours; yet I will remember with pleasure, and you will never surely forget, that all I had was at your service when you had lost all you had in the world; so, you see, my dear Samuel, if you have this day proved yourself to have a n.o.ble spirit, I am not behind you."
"What is the exact amount of your claim, Miss M"Falzen?" said Mr Thriven, with a determination to distance sentiment.
"And would you really pay it, cruel, cruel man?" said she, somewhat alarmed.
"Certainly, ma"am," replied he, dryly.
"Are you serious?" said she again, looking him full and searchingly in the face.
"Yes," answered he, more dryly than ever.
"Can it be possible that your sentiments towards me have undergone a change, Mr Thriven?" rejoined she. "Ah! I forgot. You are now a man of ten thousand pounds, and I have only one. The film is falling off my eyes. O deluded Angelina!"
"Then you will see the better to count the money I am to pay you," said he, attempting to laugh. "Fifty pounds, ma"am. Here it is; I will thank you for Mr Mercer"s bill."
"Well, sir, since it has come to this, I will none of the money. Alas!
this is the effect of John Bunyan"s famous book. Good-day--good-day, Mr Samuel;" and the spinster, covering her face with her handkerchief, rushed out of the room.
CHAP. VII.--THE DENOUEMENT.
"Thus have I got quit of the spinster," said Mr Thriven, "and thus have I too got quit of my creditors. But how comes this? She also talks of Bunyan; everybody talks of Bunyan. But this paper? No, spite--spite--let them present me with an inscription on a blank leaf. It will do as well as a piece of plate. I will get the words of praise inserted in another newspaper, and then begin to act the gentleman in earnest on my ten thousand. I shall instantly engage a buggy with a bright bay; and a man-servant, with a stripe of silver lace round his hat, shall sit on my sinister side. Let them stare and point at me. They can only say, there rides an honest man, who failed, and paid his creditors twenty shillings the pound. Ho! here comes Sharp."
"What is the meaning of this?" said he, holding out the paper. "Some wretched joke of an editor who would take from me the honour intended for me by my creditors. I see by your face that you smell an action of damages."
"Joke!" echoed Sharp. "That copy of Bunyan which Miss M"Falzen was lending to Mrs Bairnsfather that day when we went to c.o.c.kenzie, is now in the hands of the procurator-fiscal."
"Oh, the devout maiden lends it to everybody," replied Samuel. "She will be to get the fiscal to reclaim sinners by it, rather than to punish them by the arm of the law."
"Is it possible, Mr Thriven, that you can thus make light of an affair that involves banishment?" said Sharp. "Did you really write on a blank leaf of that book the details of the profit you were to make of the burning?"
Samuel jumped at least three feet from the floor; and when he came down again, he muttered strange things, and did strange things, which no pen could describe, because they were unique, had no appropriate symbols in language, had never been muttered or done before since the beginning of the world, and, probably, will never be again. It might, however, have been gathered from his ravings, that he _had_ some recollection of having scribbled something about his failure, but that he thought it was in the blank leaf of a pocket-book, the which book he grasped and examined, but all was a dead blank. He then threw himself on a chair, and twisted himself into all possible shapes, cursing Miss Angelina M"Falzen, himself, his creditors, every one who had the smallest share in this tremendous revolution from wealth, hopes of a high match, buggy, servant with silver lace, even to disgrace, confiscation, and banishment.
"You are renowned for the quickness, loopiness, subtleness, of thy profession. Can you not a.s.sist me, Sharp? A man"s scrawls are not evidence of themselves."
"But, with the testimony of Clossmuns, who has returned from Liverpool, they will be conclusive," replied the attorney, whose game now lay in Mr Samuel"s misfortunes. "Such evidence never went before a jury since the time of the _regiam majestatem_.
"What then is to be done?" inquired Samuel.
"Fly! fly! and leave me a power of attorney to collect your moneys.
There is two thousand of Grizel M"Whirter"s fortune still to uplift--your stock in trade is to be disposed of--I will manage it beautifully for you, and, in spite of an outlawry, get the proceeds sent to you wheresoever you go."
"Dreadful relief!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the other, "to fly one"s country, and leave one"s affairs in the hands of an attorney!"
"Better than banishment," replied Sharp, grinding his teeth as if sharp set for the quarry that lay before him. "What do you resolve on? Shall I write out the power of attorney, or will you wait till the officers are on you?" muttering to himself, in conclusion, "A few six-and-eight-pences! I"faith I have him now!"