In his character of gentleman, Mr. Effingham felt that his costume was scarcely so correct as it might have been; in fact, that in the mere8 quality of being weather-tight it was lamentably9 deficient10. So his first proceeding11 was to visit an outfitter's, and then and there to procure12 what he termed "a rig-out" of the peculiar13 kind most in accordance with his resonant14 taste. The trousers were of such an enormous check pattern that, as the Jew tailor humorously remarked, "it would take two men to show it;" the hat shone like a bad looking-glass; the coat, though somewhat baggy15 in the back, was glossy16, and had a cotton-velvet collar; and the Lowther-Arcade jewelry17 glistened18 in the midst of a bird's-eye scarf of portentous19 height and stiffness.
His outer man satisfied, Mr. Effingham thought it time to attend to his inner; and accordingly turned into a City chop-house of renown21, where his elegant appearance made an immense impression on the young stockbroking22 gents and the junior clerks from the banks and Mincing-Lane houses, who commented, in no measured tones, and with a great deal of biting sarcasm23, on the various portions of his costume. Either not hearing or not heeding24 this banter25, Mr. Effingham ordered a point steak and potatoes and a pint26 of stout27; all of which he devoured28 with an appearance of intense relish29. An old gentleman sitting in the same box opposite to him had a steaming glass of fragrant30 punch, the aroma31 of which ascended32 gratefully into Mr. Effingham's nostrils33 and almost impelled34 him to order a similar jorum; but prudence35 stepped in, and he paid his bill and departed, Not that he did not intend to indulge in that after-dinner grog, which was customary with him whenever he had the money to pay for it himself, or the luck to get anybody to pay for it for him; but he wished to combine business with pleasure; and so started off for another tavern36 nearer the West End, where he knew the combination could be accomplished37.
The chosen place of Mr. Effingham's resort, though properly designated the Brown Bear, was known to all its frequenters as "Johnson's," from its proprietor's name. It was a commonplace public-house enough, in a street leading out of the Strand38, and sufficiently39 near the large theatres and newspaper offices for its parlour to be the resort of actors and press-men of an inferior grade. The more eminent40 in both professions "used" the Rougepot in Salad Yard, a famous old place that had been a house of call for actors, wits, and men-of-letters for generations, and where strangers seldom penetrated41. The habitués of "Johnson's" were mostly young men just affiliated42 to their professions, and not particularly careful as to their associates; so that you frequently found in Johnson's parlour a sprinkling of questionable43 characters, men who hung on to the selvage of theatrical44 life, betting-book keepers, and card-sharpers. The regular frequenters did not actually favour these men, but they tacitly allowed their presence, and occasionally would join in and listen to their conversation, from which they gleaned45 new notions of life.
When Mr. Effingham pushed open the parlour-door and looked into the room on the afternoon in which he had conducted his banking operation with such signal success, the place was almost deserted46. The large corner-boxes by the fire, where the professional gentlemen usually congregated47, were empty; but at a table in the far end of the room were seated two men, at sight of whom Mr. Effingham's face brightened. They were flashily-dressed, raffish-looking men, smoking rank cigars, and busily engaged in comparing betting-books.
"Hollo!" said one of them, looking up at the noise made by the opening of the door; "I'm blessed if here ain't D'Ossay Butler! And the regular D'Ossay cut too--sprucer than ever; might pass for the Count himself, D'Ossay!"
"What's happened to the little cove48 now, I wonder?" said the other, a thin man with a shaved face and a tall hat, which he had great difficulty in keeping on his head; "what's happened to him now? Has he stood-in on a steeple-chase, or robbed a bank? Look at his togs! What a slap-up swell49 he is!"
Mr. Effingham received these compliments with great equanimity50, sat down by his friends, and seeing their glasses empty, said: "Any lap? I'm game to stand anything you like to put a name to;" rang the bell for the waiter, and ordered three nines of brandy hot.
"What an out-and-out little cove it is!" repeated the first man with great admiration51. "Well, tell us, D'Ossay, all about it. How did it come off? What was it?"
"Come off!" said Mr. Effingham; "what do you mean? Nothing's come off that I know of; at least nothing particular. You know that gentleman in the City that I told you of, Griffiths?" he asked, with a private wink6 at the man in the high hat.
"I know him fast enough," replied that worthy52 with a nod, partly confirmatory, partly to keep the tall hat on his head. "Did he pull through in that matter?"
"Pull through!" said Mr. Effingham; "he won a lot of money; and as I'd given him the office, and put him on a good thing, he said he'd behave handsome; and he didn't do amiss, considerin.'"
"What did he part with?" asked the first man.
"A tenner."
The first man's eyes glistened, and he instantly made up his mind to borrow half-a-sovereign if he could get it---five shillings if he could not---of Effingham before they parted.
"Ah, and so you went and rigged yourself out in these swell togs, D'Ossay, did you, at once? You always had the notions of a gentleman, and the sperrit of a gentleman, that's more. I wish you'd put me on to something of that kind; but, there, it wants the way to carry it out; and I haven't got that, I know well enough."
While this speech was in progress, Mr. Effingham had caught the eye of the tall man, and winking53 towards their friend, pointed54 over his shoulder at the door. The tall man repeated the nod that did the double duty, and after looking up at the clock, said, "You'd better be off Jim; you'll be just in time to catch that party down at Peter Crawley's, if you look sharp."
Jim, thus admonished55, finished his grog and took his leave, asking Mr. Effingham if he could have "half a word" with him outside; which half-word resulted in the extraction of a half-sovereign, as Jim had predetermined.
"Now for it," said Griffiths, as soon as Effingham returned, "I'm death to hear all that's happened, only that fool wouldn't go. Wanted something, of course, outside, eh? Ah, thought so. What did you square him for?"
"Half-a-couter."
"You appear to be making the shiners spin, Master D'Ossay; that swell at the West End must have bled pretty handsome. Tell us all about it. What did he stand?"
"Well, I won't try and gammon you. He stood fifty."
"What, on the mere gab56? without your showing him the stiff, and only telling him you knew about it? Fifty quid! that's a cow that'll give milk for many a long year, Master D'Ossay, if only properly handled. Come, hand us over what you promised for putting you on. By George!" he added, as Effingham drew a bundle of notes from his pocket, "how nice and crisp they sound!"
"There's your termer," said Effingham, selecting a note from the roll and handing it to his friend; "I'm always as good as my word. That squares us up so far."
"No fakement about it, is there?" said Mr. Griffiths, first holding the note up to the light, then spreading it flat on the table, and going carefully over it back and front. "I've been dropped in the hole too often by flimsies not to be precious careful about 'em. No. Matthew Marshall--all them coily things in the water-mark and that; all right. I think you ought to make it a little more; I do, indeed."
"Make it a little more! I like that. Why, what the devil could you have done without me? It's true you first heard of the coppered stiff from Tony; but you didn't trouble a bit about it. Who set all the boys to hunt up this cove? who found him at last? and who walked in as bold as brass57 this morning, and checked him out of fifty quid without a stitch of evidence? Why, you daredn't have gone to his crib, to start with; and if you had, he'd never have seen you; the flunkey would have kicked you out for an area-sneak or a gonoph. Why, even I had some bother to get in; so what would have become of you?"
Mr. Effingham was only a little man, but he swelled58 so with self-importance as, in the eyes of his companion, to look very big indeed. He bounced and swaggered and spoke59 so loud as quite to quell60 the unfortunate Griffiths, who began, with due submission61, to apologize for his own shortcomings and deprecate his friend's wrath62.
"Well, I know all that fast enough, and I only just hinted; but you're down upon a cove so. However, it's a fine thing for us both, ain't it? He'll be as good as a bank to us for years to come, will this swell."
"I'm not so sure of that," said Mr. Effingham thoughtfully.
"How do you mean, not so sure of that?" asked Griffiths.
"Well, you see, he's a long way off being a fool; he's not half so soft as Tony led us to believe. He downed on me once or twice as quick as lightning; and I think it was only my way of putting it, and his being taken sudden on the hop20, that made him shell out."
"You think that after he's thought the matter over he'll fancy he's been a flat?"
"Well, not exactly that. You see the higher a fellow climbs the worse it is when he falls. This Mitford wouldn't have cared a cuss for this thing in the old days; he'd have stood the racket of it easy. But it's different now; he's a big swell; its 'Sir Charles' and 'my Lady,' pony-phe-aton and 'orses and grooms63, nice wife, and all that. He'd come an awful smasher if anything was to trip him up just now, and he knows it. That's our hold upon him."
"And that's what will make it easy for us to squeeze him."
"No, not entirely64. That very fear of being blown upon, of having to bolt or stand a trial--my eye! how blue he turned when I mentioned Norfolk Island to him!--that very fear will make him most anxious to get rid of every chance of coming to grief, to prevent any one being able to lay hold of him."
"There's only one way for him to do that, and that's to burn the bill."
"Yes; but he must get it first, and that's what he'll want, you may take your oath. The next time I go to him, it'll be, 'Where is it? let me see it! name your outside price, and let me have it!' That's what he'll say."
"Likely enough; and what'll you say then?"
"Cussed if I know!" said Mr. Effingham ruefully. "If I say I haven't got it, he'll stop the supplies until I bring it; if I say I can't get it, not another mag from him."
"You must fall back on the bounce, like you did to-day, and tell him you know of there bein' such a thing, and that you won't keep your mouth shut unless you're paid for it."
"Oh, you're a leery cove, Griffiths, you are!" said Mr. Effingham with great disgust. "You never heard of attemptin' to extort65 money, did you? You don't think he'd ring the bell and send for a bobby, do you?"
"No, I don't. He wouldn't have the pluck."
"Oh, but I do though; and as you see it's me that the bobby would lay hold of, I'm rather pertickler about it. Besides, it's not such a pleasant thing finding yourself at Bow Street; for even if one could square this Mitford and get him not to prosecute66, there'd be heaps of bobbies there to prove previous convictions. Clark of the G's getting up: 'Known as D'Ossay Butler, your worship. I had him for passing base coin in '43;' and all that kind of game. No, no, Griffiths! bounce won't do, my boy; won't do a bit."
"What will do, then? what shall we try? Shall we shy up the sponge and think ourselves lucky to have got this fifty, and never try him any more? That seems hard lines with such a chance."
"It would be; and we won't do it. No; there's only one thing to be done--we must go the whole hog67; we must have the bill."
"Ah! and we must have lamb and green peas in Febooary; and a patent shofle cab to ride in, so as not to tire ourselves; and pockets full of 'alf-bulls to toss with! We must; but you see we 'aven't, D'Ossay, my boy! And as for getting' that bill, we're done at the very first step: we don't know who's got it."
"You fool! if we did know who'd got it we'd have it, fast enough. There ain't many of 'em that could keep it away from me!"
"You are a plucked 'un!" said Griffiths, regarding him with admiration; "I can't help sayin' so, though you do lose your temper and call your friends ugly names. No; I don't think there is many as could keep you off it if you knew where it was. But how we're ever to find that I can't tell."
"Let's go over the business all again," said Effingham. "It was Tony that always had a fancy for that bit of stiff. He stuck to it when it wasn't worth more than the stamp and the paper it was wrote on; but he always thought something would come of this Mitford, and then it would be a first-class screw to put on him, and make him do as Tony liked. But you see he died before anything turned up; and though he told you about the stiff, he didn't say where it was."
"He wouldn't. I asked him scores of times; but he always said 'Time enough for that,' he says, or 'That'll keep;' he says. He was a mistrustful cove was Tony,--always suspecting people."
"Ah, he'd seen a good deal of the world, Griffiths. What an infernal nuisance I hadn't got back from Yankeeland before he popped off! I'd have had it out of him. Who took his traps after his death?"
"Well, old Lyons had 'em, I think. There wasn't much; two or three boxes and a little dressin'-case,--for Tony, though not such a swell as you, D'Ossay, was always natty68 and spruce,--and a walkin'-stick or two. Old Lyons had lent Tony money, and stood in with him generally; and after he stepped it, old Lyons cleared off the things."
"Do you know where to find old Lyons?"
"Reethur! Why?"
"We'll go there next week when I come back to town. You may take your oath he's got the bill; and if he's heard nothing about Mitford's fortune, we may get it for next to nothing."
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1
exultation
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| n.狂喜，得意 | |
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2
banking
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| n.银行业，银行学，金融业 | |
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3
eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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4
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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5
winked
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| v.使眼色( wink的过去式和过去分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
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6
wink
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| n.眨眼，使眼色，瞬间；v.眨眼，使眼色，闪烁 | |
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7
molest
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| vt.骚扰，干扰，调戏 | |
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8
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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9
lamentably
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| adv.哀伤地，拙劣地 | |
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10
deficient
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| adj.不足的，不充份的，有缺陷的 | |
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11
proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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12
procure
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| vt.获得，取得，促成；vi.拉皮条 | |
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13
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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14
resonant
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| adj.(声音)洪亮的，共鸣的 | |
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15
baggy
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| adj.膨胀如袋的，宽松下垂的 | |
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16
glossy
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| adj.平滑的；有光泽的 | |
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17
jewelry
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| n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝 | |
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18
glistened
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| v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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19
portentous
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| adj.不祥的，可怕的，装腔作势的 | |
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20
hop
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| n.单脚跳，跳跃；vi.单脚跳，跳跃；着手做某事；vt.跳跃，跃过 | |
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21
renown
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| n.声誉，名望 | |
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stockbroking
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| n.炒股 | |
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23
sarcasm
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| n.讥讽，讽刺，嘲弄，反话 （adj.sarcastic） | |
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24
heeding
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| v.听某人的劝告，听从( heed的现在分词 ) | |
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banter
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| n.嘲弄，戏谑；v.取笑，逗弄，开玩笑 | |
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pint
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| n.品脱 | |
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28
devoured
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| 吞没( devour的过去式和过去分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
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29
relish
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| n.滋味，享受，爱好，调味品；vt.加调味料，享受，品味；vi.有滋味 | |
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30
fragrant
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| adj.芬香的，馥郁的，愉快的 | |
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aroma
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| n.香气，芬芳，芳香 | |
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32
ascended
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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33
nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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34
impelled
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| v.推动、推进或敦促某人做某事( impel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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35
prudence
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| n.谨慎，精明，节俭 | |
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36
tavern
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| n.小旅馆，客栈；小酒店 | |
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37
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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strand
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| vt.使（船）搁浅，使（某人）困于（某地） | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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eminent
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| adj.显赫的，杰出的，有名的，优良的 | |
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41
penetrated
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| adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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42
affiliated
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| adj. 附属的, 有关连的 | |
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43
questionable
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| adj.可疑的，有问题的 | |
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44
theatrical
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| adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的 | |
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45
gleaned
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| v.一点点地收集（资料、事实）( glean的过去式和过去分词 )；（收割后）拾穗 | |
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46
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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47
congregated
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| （使）集合，聚集( congregate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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48
cove
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| n.小海湾，小峡谷 | |
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49
swell
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| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
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50
equanimity
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| n.沉着，镇定 | |
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51
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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52
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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53
winking
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| n.瞬眼，目语v.使眼色( wink的现在分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
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54
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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55
admonished
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| v.劝告( admonish的过去式和过去分词 )；训诫；（温和地）责备；轻责 | |
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56
gab
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| v.空谈，唠叨，瞎扯；n.饶舌，多嘴，爱说话 | |
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57
brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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58
swelled
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| 增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情） | |
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59
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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60
quell
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| v.压制，平息，减轻 | |
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61
submission
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| n.服从，投降；温顺，谦虚；提出 | |
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62
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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63
grooms
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| n.新郎( groom的名词复数 )；马夫v.照料或梳洗（马等）( groom的第三人称单数 )；使做好准备；训练；（给动物）擦洗 | |
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64
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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65
extort
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| v.勒索，敲诈，强要 | |
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66
prosecute
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| vt.告发；进行；vi.告发，起诉，作检察官 | |
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67
hog
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| n.猪；馋嘴贪吃的人；vt.把…占为己有，独占 | |
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68
natty
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| adj.整洁的，漂亮的 | |
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