Three persons were seated at a table to receive them: Michael in the midst, Gideon Forsyth on his right hand, on his left an ancient gentleman with spectacles and silver hair. ‘By Jingo, it’s Uncle Joe!’ cried John.
But Morris approached his uncle with a pale countenance5 and glittering eyes.
‘I’ll tell you what you did!’ he cried. ‘You absconded6!’
‘Good morning, Morris Finsbury,’ returned Joseph, with no less asperity7; ‘you are looking seriously ill.’
‘No use making trouble now,’ remarked Michael. ‘Look the facts in the face. Your uncle, as you see, was not so much as shaken in the accident; a man of your humane8 disposition9 ought to be delighted.’
‘Then, if that’s so,’ Morris broke forth10, ‘how about the body? You don’t mean to insinuate11 that thing I schemed and sweated for, and colported with my own hands, was the body of a total stranger?’
‘O no, we can’t go as far as that,’ said Michael soothingly12; ‘you may have met him at the club.’
Morris fell into a chair. ‘I would have found it out if it had come to the house,’ he complained. ‘And why didn’t it? why did it go to Pitman? what right had Pitman to open it?’
‘If you come to that, Morris, what have you done with the colossal13 Hercules?’ asked Michael.
‘He went through it with the meat-axe,’ said John. ‘It’s all in spillikins in the back garden.’
‘Well, there’s one thing,’ snapped Morris; ‘there’s my uncle again, my fraudulent trustee. He’s mine, anyway. And the tontine too. I claim the tontine; I claim it now. I believe Uncle Masterman’s dead.’
‘I must put a stop to this nonsense,’ said Michael, ‘and that for ever. You say too near the truth. In one sense your uncle is dead, and has been so long; but not in the sense of the tontine, which it is even on the cards he may yet live to win. Uncle Joseph saw him this morning; he will tell you he still lives, but his mind is in abeyance14.’
‘He did not know me,’ said Joseph; to do him justice, not without emotion.
‘So you’re out again there, Morris,’ said John. ‘My eye! what a fool you’ve made of yourself!’
‘And that was why you wouldn’t compromise,’ said Morris.
‘As for the absurd position in which you and Uncle Joseph have been making yourselves an exhibition,’ resumed Michael, ‘it is more than time it came to an end. I have prepared a proper discharge in full, which you shall sign as a preliminary.’
‘What?’ cried Morris, ‘and lose my seven thousand eight hundred pounds, and the leather business, and the contingent15 interest, and get nothing? Thank you.’
‘It’s like you to feel gratitude16, Morris,’ began Michael.
‘O, I know it’s no good appealing to you, you sneering17 devil!’ cried Morris. ‘But there’s a stranger present, I can’t think why, and I appeal to him. I was robbed of that money when I was an orphan18, a mere19 child, at a commercial academy. Since then, I’ve never had a wish but to get back my own. You may hear a lot of stuff about me; and there’s no doubt at times I have been ill-advised. But it’s the pathos20 of my situation; that’s what I want to show you.’
‘Morris,’ interrupted Michael, ‘I do wish you would let me add one point, for I think it will affect your judgement. It’s pathetic too since that’s your taste in literature.’
‘Well, what is it?’ said Morris.
‘It’s only the name of one of the persons who’s to witness your signature, Morris,’ replied Michael. ‘His name’s Moss21, my dear.’
There was a long silence. ‘I might have been sure it was you!’ cried Morris.
‘You’ll sign, won’t you?’ said Michael.
‘Do you know what you’re doing?’ cried Morris. ‘You’re compounding a felony.’
‘Very well, then, we won’t compound it, Morris,’ returned Michael. ‘See how little I understood the sterling22 integrity of your character! I thought you would prefer it so.’
‘Look here, Michael,’ said John, ‘this is all very fine and large; but how about me? Morris is gone up, I see that; but I’m not. And I was robbed, too, mind you; and just as much an orphan, and at the blessed same academy as himself’
‘Johnny,’ said Michael, ‘don’t you think you’d better leave it to me?’
‘I’m your man,’ said John. ‘You wouldn’t deceive a poor orphan, I’ll take my oath. Morris, you sign that document, or I’ll start in and astonish your weak mind.’
With a sudden alacrity23, Morris proffered24 his willingness. Clerks were brought in, the discharge was executed, and there was Joseph a free man once more.
‘And now,’ said Michael, ‘hear what I propose to do. Here, John and Morris, is the leather business made over to the pair of you in partnership25. I have valued it at the lowest possible figure, Pogram and Jarris’s. And here is a cheque for the balance of your fortune. Now, you see, Morris, you start fresh from the commercial academy; and, as you said yourself the leather business was looking up, I suppose you’ll probably marry before long. Here’s your marriage present — from a Mr Moss.’
Morris bounded on his cheque with a crimsoned26 countenance.
‘I don’t understand the performance,’ remarked John. ‘It seems too good to be true.’
‘It’s simply a readjustment,’ Michael explained. ‘I take up Uncle Joseph’s liabilities; and if he gets the tontine, it’s to be mine; if my father gets it, it’s mine anyway, you see. So that I’m rather advantageously placed.’
‘Morris, my unconverted friend, you’ve got left,’ was John’s comment.
‘And now, Mr Forsyth,’ resumed Michael, turning to his silent guest, ‘here are all the criminals before you, except Pitman. I really didn’t like to interrupt his scholastic27 career; but you can have him arrested at the seminary — I know his hours. Here we are then; we’re not pretty to look at: what do you propose to do with us?’
‘Nothing in the world, Mr Finsbury,’ returned Gideon. ‘I seem to understand that this gentleman’—-indicating Morris —‘is the fons et origo of the trouble; and, from what I gather, he has already paid through the nose. And really, to be quite frank, I do not see who is to gain by any scandal; not me, at least. And besides, I have to thank you for that brief.’
Michael blushed. ‘It was the least I could do to let you have some business,’ he said. ‘But there’s one thing more. I don’t want you to misjudge poor Pitman, who is the most harmless being upon earth. I wish you would dine with me tonight, and see the creature on his native heath — say at Verrey’s?’
‘I have no engagement, Mr Finsbury,’ replied Gideon. ‘I shall be delighted. But subject to your judgement, can we do nothing for the man in the cart? I have qualms28 of conscience.’
‘Nothing but sympathize,’ said Michael.
The End
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1
ushered
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| v.引，领，陪同( usher的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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exhaustion
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| n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述 | |
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slipper
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| n.拖鞋 | |
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positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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5
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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6
absconded
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| v.（尤指逃避逮捕）潜逃，逃跑( abscond的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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7
asperity
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| n.粗鲁，艰苦 | |
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8
humane
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| adj.人道的，富有同情心的 | |
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disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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10
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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11
insinuate
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| vt.含沙射影地说，暗示 | |
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12
soothingly
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| adv.抚慰地，安慰地；镇痛地 | |
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13
colossal
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| adj.异常的，庞大的 | |
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14
abeyance
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| n.搁置，缓办，中止，产权未定 | |
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15
contingent
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| adj.视条件而定的；n.一组，代表团，分遣队 | |
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16
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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17
sneering
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| 嘲笑的，轻蔑的 | |
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18
orphan
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| n.孤儿；adj.无父母的 | |
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19
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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pathos
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| n.哀婉，悲怆 | |
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moss
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| n.苔，藓，地衣 | |
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sterling
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| adj.英币的(纯粹的，货真价实的)；n.英国货币(英镑) | |
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23
alacrity
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| n.敏捷，轻快，乐意 | |
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24
proffered
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| v.提供，贡献，提出( proffer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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25
partnership
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| n.合作关系，伙伴关系 | |
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26
crimsoned
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| 变为深红色（crimson的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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27
scholastic
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| adj.学校的，学院的，学术上的 | |
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qualms
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| n.不安；内疚 | |
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