Mr Bailey, Junior—for the sporting character, whilom of general utility at Todgers’s, had now regularly set up in life under that name, without troubling himself to obtain from the legislature a direct licence in the form of a Private Bill, which of all kinds and classes of bills is without exception the most unreasonable2 in its charges—Mr Bailey, Junior, just tall enough to be seen by an inquiring eye, gazing indolently at society from beneath the apron3 of his master’s cab, drove slowly up and down Pall4 Mall, about the hour of noon, in waiting for his ‘Governor.’ The horse of distinguished5 family, who had Capricorn for his nephew, and Cauliflower for his brother, showed himself worthy6 of his high relations by champing at the bit until his chest was white with foam7, and rearing like a horse in heraldry; the plated harness and the patent leather glittered in the sun; pedestrians8 admired; Mr Bailey was complacent9, but unmoved. He seemed to say, ‘A barrow, good people, a mere10 barrow; nothing to what we could do, if we chose!’ and on he went, squaring his short green arms outside the apron, as if he were hooked on to it by his armpits.
Mr Bailey had a great opinion of Brother to Cauliflower, and estimated his powers highly. But he never told him so. On the contrary, it was his practice, in driving that animal, to assail11 him with disrespectful, if not injurious, expressions, as, ‘Ah! would you!’ ‘Did you think it, then?’ ‘Where are you going to now?’ ‘No, you won’t, my lad!’ and similar fragmentary remarks. These being usually accompanied by a jerk of the rein12, or a crack of the whip, led to many trials of strength between them, and to many contentions13 for the upper-hand, terminating, now and then, in china-shops, and other unusual goals, as Mr Bailey had already hinted to his friend Poll Sweedlepipe.
On the present occasion Mr Bailey, being in spirits, was more than commonly hard upon his charge; in consequence of which that fiery14 animal confined himself almost entirely15 to his hind16 legs in displaying his paces, and constantly got himself into positions with reference to the cabriolet that very much amazed the passengers in the street. But Mr Bailey, not at all disturbed, had still a shower of pleasantries to bestow17 on any one who crossed his path; as, calling to a full-grown coal-heaver in a wagon18, who for a moment blocked the way, ‘Now, young ‘un, who trusted you with a cart?’ inquiring of elderly ladies who wanted to cross, and ran back again, ‘Why they didn’t go to the workhouse and get an order to be buried?’ tempting19 boys, with friendly words, to get up behind, and immediately afterwards cutting them down; and the like flashes of a cheerful humour, which he would occasionally relieve by going round St. James’s Square at a hand gallop20, and coming slowly into Pall Mall by another entry, as if, in the interval21, his pace had been a perfect crawl.
It was not until these amusements had been very often repeated, and the apple-stall at the corner had sustained so many miraculous22 escapes as to appear impregnable, that Mr Bailey was summoned to the door of a certain house in Pall Mall, and turning short, obeyed the call and jumped out. It was not until he had held the bridle23 for some minutes longer, every jerk of Cauliflower’s brother’s head, and every twitch24 of Cauliflower’s brother’s nostril25, taking him off his legs in the meanwhile, that two persons entered the vehicle, one of whom took the reins26 and drove rapidly off. Nor was it until Mr Bailey had run after it some hundreds of yards in vain, that he managed to lift his short leg into the iron step, and finally to get his boots upon the little footboard behind. Then, indeed, he became a sight to see; and—standing now on one foot and now upon the other, now trying to look round the cab on this side, now on that, and now endeavouring to peep over the top of it, as it went dashing in among the carts and coaches—was from head to heel Newmarket.
The appearance of Mr Bailey’s governor as he drove along fully27 justified28 that enthusiastic youth’s description of him to the wondering Poll. He had a world of jet-black shining hair upon his head, upon his cheeks, upon his chin, upon his upper lip. His clothes, symmetrically made, were of the newest fashion and the costliest29 kind. Flowers of gold and blue, and green and blushing red, were on his waistcoat; precious chains and jewels sparkled on his breast; his fingers, clogged30 with brilliant rings, were as unwieldly as summer flies but newly rescued from a honey-pot. The daylight mantled31 in his gleaming hat and boots as in a polished glass. And yet, though changed his name, and changed his outward surface, it was Tigg. Though turned and twisted upside down, and inside out, as great men have been sometimes known to be; though no longer Montague Tigg, but Tigg Montague; still it was Tigg; the same Satanic, gallant32, military Tigg. The brass33 was burnished34, lacquered, newly stamped; yet it was the true Tigg metal notwithstanding.
Beside him sat a smiling gentleman, of less pretensions35 and of business looks, whom he addressed as David. Surely not the David of the—how shall it be phrased?—the triumvirate of golden balls? Not David, tapster at the Lombards’ Arms? Yes. The very man.
‘The secretary’s salary, David,’ said Mr Montague, ‘the office being now established, is eight hundred pounds per annum, with his house-rent, coals, and candles free. His five-and-twenty shares he holds, of course. Is that enough?’
David smiled and nodded, and coughed behind a little locked portfolio36 which he carried; with an air that proclaimed him to be the secretary in question.
‘If that’s enough,’ said Montague, ‘I will propose it at the Board to-day, in my capacity as chairman.’
The secretary smiled again; laughed, indeed, this time; and said, rubbing his nose slily with one end of the portfolio:
‘It was a capital thought, wasn’t it?’
‘What was a capital thought, David?’ Mr Montague inquired.
‘The Anglo-Bengalee,’ tittered the secretary.
‘The Anglo-Bengalee Disinterested37 Loan and Life Assurance Company is rather a capital concern, I hope, David,’ said Montague.
‘Capital indeed!’ cried the secretary, with another laugh—’ in one sense.’
‘In the only important one,’ observed the chairman; ‘which is number one, David.’
‘What,’ asked the secretary, bursting into another laugh, ‘what will be the paid up capital, according to the next prospectus38?’
‘A figure of two, and as many oughts after it as the printer can get into the same line,’ replied his friend. ‘Ha, ha!’
At this they both laughed; the secretary so vehemently39, that in kicking up his feet, he kicked the apron open, and nearly started Cauliflower’s brother into an oyster40 shop; not to mention Mr Bailey’s receiving such a sudden swing, that he held on for a moment quite a young Fame, by one strap41 and no legs.
‘Say, genius, David, genius.’
‘Well, upon my soul, you are a genius then,’ said David. ‘I always knew you had the gift of the gab43, of course; but I never believed you were half the man you are. How could I?’
‘I rise with circumstances, David. That’s a point of genius in itself,’ said Tigg. ‘If you were to lose a hundred pound wager44 to me at this minute David, and were to pay it (which is most confoundedly improbable), I should rise, in a mental point of view, directly.’
It is due to Mr Tigg to say that he had really risen with his opportunities; and, peculating45 on a grander scale, he had become a grander man altogether.
‘Ha, ha,’ cried the secretary, laying his hand, with growing familiarity, upon the chairman’s arm. ‘When I look at you, and think of your property in Bengal being—ha, ha, ha!—’
The half-expressed idea seemed no less ludicrous to Mr Tigg than to his friend, for he laughed too, heartily46.
‘—Being,’ resumed David, ‘being amenable47—your property in Bengal being amenable—to all claims upon the company; when I look at you and think of that, you might tickle48 me into fits by waving the feather of a pen at me. Upon my soul you might!’
‘It a devilish fine property,’ said Tigg Montague, ‘to be amenable to any claims. The preserve of tigers alone is worth a mint of money, David.’
David could only reply in the intervals49 of his laughter, ‘Oh, what a chap you are!’ and so continued to laugh, and hold his sides, and wipe his eyes, for some time, without offering any other observation.
‘A capital idea?’ said Tigg, returning after a time to his companion’s first remark; ‘no doubt it was a capital idea. It was my idea.’
‘No, no. It was my idea,’ said David. ‘Hang it, let a man have some credit. Didn’t I say to you that I’d saved a few pounds?—’
‘You said! Didn’t I say to you,’ interposed Tigg, ‘that I had come into a few pounds?’
‘Certainly you did,’ returned David, warmly, ‘but that’s not the idea. Who said, that if we put the money together we could furnish an office, and make a show?’
‘And who said,’ retorted Mr Tigg, ‘that, provided we did it on a sufficiently50 large scale, we could furnish an office and make a show, without any money at all? Be rational, and just, and calm, and tell me whose idea was that.’
‘Why, there,’ David was obliged to confess, ‘you had the advantage of me, I admit. But I don’t put myself on a level with you. I only want a little credit in the business.’
‘All the credit you deserve to have,’ said Tigg.
‘The plain work of the company, David—figures, books, circulars, advertisements, pen, ink, and paper, sealing-wax and wafers—is admirably done by you. You are a first-rate groveller51. I don’t dispute it. But the ornamental52 department, David; the inventive and poetical53 department—’
‘Is entirely yours,’ said his friend. ‘No question of it. But with such a swell54 turnout as this, and all the handsome things you’ve got about you, and the life you lead, I mean to say it’s a precious comfortable department too.’
‘Does it gain the purpose? Is it Anglo-Bengalee?’ asked Tigg.
‘Yes,’ said David.
‘Could you undertake it yourself?’ demanded Tigg.
‘No,’ said David.
‘Ha, ha!’ laughed Tigg. ‘Then be contented55 with your station and your profits, David, my fine fellow, and bless the day that made us acquainted across the counter of our common uncle, for it was a golden day to you.’
It will have been already gathered from the conversation of these worthies56, that they were embarked57 in an enterprise of some magnitude, in which they addressed the public in general from the strong position of having everything to gain and nothing at all to lose; and which, based upon this great principle, was thriving pretty comfortably.
The Anglo-Bengalee Disinterested Loan and Life Assurance Company started into existence one morning, not an Infant Institution, but a Grown-up Company running alone at a great pace, and doing business right and left: with a ‘branch’ in a first floor over a tailor’s at the west-end of the town, and main offices in a new street in the City, comprising the upper part of a spacious58 house resplendent in stucco and plate-glass, with wire-blinds in all the windows, and ‘Anglo-Bengalee’ worked into the pattern of every one of them. On the doorpost was painted again in large letters, ‘offices of the Anglo-Bengalee Disinterested Loan and Life Assurance Company,’ and on the door was a large brass plate with the same inscription59; always kept very bright, as courting inquiry60; staring the City out of countenance61 after office hours on working days, and all day long on Sundays; and looking bolder than the Bank. Within, the offices were newly plastered, newly painted, newly papered, newly countered, newly floor-clothed, newly tabled, newly chaired, newly fitted up in every way, with goods that were substantial and expensive, and designed (like the company) to last. Business! Look at the green ledgers62 with red backs, like strong cricket-balls beaten flat; the court-guides directories, day-books, almanacks, letter-boxes, weighing-machines for letters, rows of fire-buckets for dashing out a conflagration63 in its first spark, and saving the immense wealth in notes and bonds belonging to the company; look at the iron safes, the clock, the office seal—in its capacious self, security for anything. Solidity! Look at the massive blocks of marble in the chimney-pieces, and the gorgeous parapet on the top of the house! Publicity64! Why, Anglo-Bengalee Disinterested Loan and Life Assurance company is painted on the very coal-scuttles. It is repeated at every turn until the eyes are dazzled with it, and the head is giddy. It is engraved65 upon the top of all the letter paper, and it makes a scroll-work round the seal, and it shines out of the porter’s buttons, and it is repeated twenty times in every circular and public notice wherein one David Crimple, Esquire, Secretary and resident Director, takes the liberty of inviting66 your attention to the accompanying statement of the advantages offered by the Anglo-Bengalee Disinterested Loan and Life Assurance Company; and fully proves to you that any connection on your part with that establishment must result in a perpetual Christmas Box and constantly increasing Bonus to yourself, and that nobody can run any risk by the transaction except the office, which, in its great liberality is pretty sure to lose. And this, David Crimple, Esquire, submits to you (and the odds67 are heavy you believe him), is the best guarantee that can reasonably be suggested by the Board of Management for its permanence and stability.
This gentleman’s name, by the way, had been originally Crimp; but as the word was susceptible68 of an awkward construction and might be misrepresented, he had altered it to Crimple.
Lest with all these proofs and confirmations69, any man should be suspicious of the Anglo-Bengalee Disinterested Loan and Life Assurance company; should doubt in tiger, cab, or person, Tigg Montague, Esquire, (of Pall Mall and Bengal), or any other name in the imaginative List of Directors; there was a porter on the premises—a wonderful creature, in a vast red waistcoat and a short-tailed pepper-and-salt coat—who carried more conviction to the minds of sceptics than the whole establishment without him. No confidences existed between him and the Directorship; nobody knew where he had served last; no character or explanation had been given or required. No questions had been asked on either side. This mysterious being, relying solely70 on his figure, had applied71 for the situation, and had been instantly engaged on his own terms. They were high; but he knew, doubtless, that no man could carry such an extent of waistcoat as himself, and felt the full value of his capacity to such an institution. When he sat upon a seat erected72 for him in a corner of the office, with his glazed73 hat hanging on a peg74 over his head, it was impossible to doubt the respectability of the concern. It went on doubling itself with every square inch of his red waistcoat until, like the problem of the nails in the horse’s shoes, the total became enormous. People had been known to apply to effect an insurance on their lives for a thousand pounds, and looking at him, to beg, before the form of proposal was filled up, that it might be made two. And yet he was not a giant. His coat was rather small than otherwise. The whole charm was in his waistcoat. Respectability, competence75, property in Bengal or anywhere else, responsibility to any amount on the part of the company that employed him, were all expressed in that one garment.
Rival offices had endeavoured to lure76 him away; Lombard Street itself had beckoned77 to him; rich companies had whispered ‘Be a Beadle!’ but he still continued faithful to the Anglo-Bengalee. Whether he was a deep rogue78, or a stately simpleton, it was impossible to make out, but he appeared to believe in the Anglo-Bengalee. He was grave with imaginary cares of office; and having nothing whatever to do, and something less to take care of, would look as if the pressure of his numerous duties, and a sense of the treasure in the company’s strong-room, made him a solemn and a thoughtful man.
As the cabriolet drove up to the door, this officer appeared bare-headed on the pavement, crying aloud ‘Room for the chairman, room for the chairman, if you please!’ much to the admiration79 of the bystanders, who, it is needless to say, had their attention directed to the Anglo-Bengalee Company thenceforth, by that means. Mr Tigg leaped gracefully81 out, followed by the Managing Director (who was by this time very distant and respectful), and ascended82 the stairs, still preceded by the porter, who cried as he went, ‘By your leave there! by your leave! The Chairman of the Board, Gentle—men! In like manner, but in a still more stentorian83 voice, he ushered84 the chairman through the public office, where some humble85 clients were transacting86 business, into an awful chamber87, labelled Board-room; the door of which sanctuary88 immediately closed, and screened the great capitalist from vulgar eyes.
The board-room had a Turkey carpet in it, a sideboard, a portrait of Tigg Montague, Esquire, as chairman; a very imposing89 chair of office, garnished90 with an ivory hammer and a little hand-bell; and a long table, set out at intervals with sheets of blotting-paper, foolscap, clean pens, and inkstands. The chairman having taken his seat with great solemnity, the secretary supported him on his right hand, and the porter stood bolt upright behind them, forming a warm background of waistcoat. This was the board: everything else being a light-hearted little fiction.
‘Bullamy!’ said Mr Tigg.
‘Sir!’ replied the porter.
‘Let the Medical Officer know, with my compliments, that I wish to see him.’
Bullamy cleared his throat, and bustled91 out into the office, crying ‘The Chairman of the Board wishes to see the Medical Officer. By your leave there! By your leave!’ He soon returned with the gentleman in question; and at both openings of the board-room door—at his coming in and at his going out—simple clients were seen to stretch their necks and stand upon their toes, thirsting to catch the slightest glimpse of that mysterious chamber.
‘Jobling, my dear friend!’ said Mr Tigg, ‘how are you? Bullamy, wait outside. Crimple, don’t leave us. Jobling, my good fellow, I am glad to see you.’
‘And how are you, Mr Montague, eh?’ said the Medical Officer, throwing himself luxuriously92 into an easy-chair (they were all easy-chairs in the board-room), and taking a handsome gold snuff-box from the pocket of his black satin waistcoat. ‘How are you? A little worn with business, eh? If so, rest. A little feverish93 from wine, humph? If so, water. Nothing at all the matter, and quite comfortable? Then take some lunch. A very wholesome94 thing at this time of day to strengthen the gastric95 juices with lunch, Mr Montague.’
The Medical Officer (he was the same medical officer who had followed poor old Anthony Chuzzlewit to the grave, and who had attended Mrs Gamp’s patient at the Bull) smiled in saying these words; and casually96 added, as he brushed some grains of snuff from his shirt-frill, ‘I always take it myself about this time of day, do you know!’
‘Bullamy!’ said the Chairman, ringing the little bell.
‘Sir!’
‘Lunch.’
‘Not on my account, I hope?’ said the doctor. ‘You are very good. Thank you. I’m quite ashamed. Ha, ha! if I had been a sharp practitioner97, Mr Montague, I shouldn’t have mentioned it without a fee; for you may depend upon it, my dear sir, that if you don’t make a point of taking lunch, you’ll very soon come under my hands. Allow me to illustrate98 this. In Mr Crimple’s leg—’
The resident Director gave an involuntary start, for the doctor, in the heat of his demonstration99, caught it up and laid it across his own, as if he were going to take it off, then and there.
‘In Mr Crimple’s leg, you’ll observe,’ pursued the doctor, turning back his cuffs100 and spanning the limb with both hands, ‘where Mr Crimple’s knee fits into the socket101, here, there is—that is to say, between the bone and the socket—a certain quantity of animal oil.’
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‘What do you pick my leg out for?’ said Mr Crimple, looking with something of an anxious expression at his limb. ‘It’s the same with other legs, ain’t it?’
‘Never you mind, my good sir,’ returned the doctor, shaking his head, ‘whether it is the same with other legs, or not the same.’
‘But I do mind,’ said David.
‘I take a particular case, Mr Montague,’ returned the doctor, ‘as illustrating102 my remark, you observe. In this portion of Mr Crimple’s leg, sir, there is a certain amount of animal oil. In every one of Mr Crimple’s joints103, sir, there is more or less of the same deposit. Very good. If Mr Crimple neglects his meals, or fails to take his proper quantity of rest, that oil wanes104, and becomes exhausted105. What is the consequence? Mr Crimple’s bones sink down into their sockets106, sir, and Mr Crimple becomes a weazen, puny107, stunted108, miserable109 man!’
The doctor let Mr Crimple’s leg fall suddenly, as if he were already in that agreeable condition; turned down his wristbands again, and looked triumphantly110 at the chairman.
‘We know a few secrets of nature in our profession, sir,’ said the doctor. ‘Of course we do. We study for that; we pass the Hall and the College for that; and we take our station in society by that. It’s extraordinary how little is known on these subjects generally. Where do you suppose, now’—the doctor closed one eye, as he leaned back smilingly in his chair, and formed a triangle with his hands, of which his two thumbs composed the base—‘where do you suppose Mr Crimple’s stomach is?’
‘Not at all,’ cried the doctor; ‘not at all. Quite a popular mistake! My good sir, you’re altogether deceived.’
‘I feel it there, when it’s out of order; that’s all I know,’ said Crimple.
‘You think you do,’ replied the doctor; ‘but science knows better. There was a patient of mine once,’ touching112 one of the many mourning rings upon his fingers, and slightly bowing his head, ‘a gentleman who did me the honour to make a very handsome mention of me in his will—“in testimony,” as he was pleased to say, “of the unremitting zeal113, talent, and attention of my friend and medical attendant, John Jobling, Esquire, M.R.C.S.,”—who was so overcome by the idea of having all his life laboured under an erroneous view of the locality of this important organ, that when I assured him on my professional reputation, he was mistaken, he burst into tears, put out his hand, and said, “Jobling, God bless you!” Immediately afterwards he became speechless, and was ultimately buried at Brixton.’
‘By your leave there!’ cried Bullamy, without. ‘By your leave! Refreshment114 for the Board-room!’
‘Ha!’ said the doctor, jocularly, as he rubbed his hands, and drew his chair nearer to the table. ‘The true Life Assurance, Mr Montague. The best Policy in the world, my dear sir. We should be provident115, and eat and drink whenever we can. Eh, Mr Crimple?’
The resident Director acquiesced116 rather sulkily, as if the gratification of replenishing his stomach had been impaired117 by the unsettlement of his preconceived opinions in reference to its situation. But the appearance of the porter and under-porter with a tray covered with a snow-white cloth, which, being thrown back, displayed a pair of cold roast fowls118, flanked by some potted meats and a cool salad, quickly restored his good humour. It was enhanced still further by the arrival of a bottle of excellent madeira, and another of champagne119; and he soon attacked the repast with an appetite scarcely inferior to that of the medical officer.
The lunch was handsomely served, with a profusion120 of rich glass plate, and china; which seemed to denote that eating and drinking on a showy scale formed no unimportant item in the business of the Anglo-Bengalee Directorship. As it proceeded, the Medical Officer grew more and more joyous121 and red-faced, insomuch that every mouthful he ate, and every drop of wine he swallowed, seemed to impart new lustre122 to his eyes, and to light up new sparks in his nose and forehead.
In certain quarters of the City and its neighbourhood, Mr Jobling was, as we have already seen in some measure, a very popular character. He had a portentously123 sagacious chin, and a pompous124 voice, with a rich huskiness in some of its tones that went directly to the heart, like a ray of light shining through the ruddy medium of choice old burgundy. His neckerchief and shirt-frill were ever of the whitest, his clothes of the blackest and sleekest125, his gold watch-chain of the heaviest, and his seals of the largest. His boots, which were always of the brightest, creaked as he walked. Perhaps he could shake his head, rub his hands, or warm himself before a fire, better than any man alive; and he had a peculiar126 way of smacking127 his lips and saying, ‘Ah!’ at intervals while patients detailed128 their symptoms, which inspired great confidence. It seemed to express, ‘I know what you’re going to say better than you do; but go on, go on.’ As he talked on all occasions whether he had anything to say or not, it was unanimously observed of him that he was ‘full of anecdote;’ and his experience and profit from it were considered, for the same reason, to be something much too extensive for description. His female patients could never praise him too highly; and the coldest of his male admirers would always say this for him to their friends, ‘that whatever Jobling’s professional skill might be (and it could not be denied that he had a very high reputation), he was one of the most comfortable fellows you ever saw in your life!’
Jobling was for many reasons, and not last in the list because his connection lay principally among tradesmen and their families, exactly the sort of person whom the Anglo-Bengalee Company wanted for a medical officer. But Jobling was far too knowing to connect himself with the company in any closer ties than as a paid (and well paid) functionary129, or to allow his connection to be misunderstood abroad, if he could help it. Hence he always stated the case to an inquiring patient, after this manner:
‘Why, my dear sir, with regard to the Anglo-Bengalee, my information, you see, is limited; very limited. I am the medical officer, in consideration of a certain monthly payment. The labourer is worthy of his hire; bis dat qui cito dat’—(‘classical scholar, Jobling!’ thinks the patient, ‘well-read man!’)—‘and I receive it regularly. Therefore I am bound, so far as my own knowledge goes, to speak well of the establishment.’ (‘Nothing can be fairer than Jobling’s conduct,’ thinks the patient, who has just paid Jobling’s bill himself.) ‘If you put any question to me, my dear friend,’ says the doctor, ‘touching the responsibility or capital of the company, there I am at fault; for I have no head for figures, and not being a shareholder130, am delicate of showing any curiosity whatever on the subject. Delicacy—your amiable131 lady will agree with me I am sure—should be one of the first characteristics of a medical man.’ (‘Nothing can be finer or more gentlemanly than Jobling’s feeling,’ thinks the patient.) ‘Very good, my dear sir, so the matter stands. You don’t know Mr Montague? I’m sorry for it. A remarkably132 handsome man, and quite the gentleman in every respect. Property, I am told, in India. House and everything belonging to him, beautiful. Costly133 furniture on the most elegant and lavish134 scale. And pictures, which, even in an anatomical point of view, are perfection. In case you should ever think of doing anything with the company, I’ll pass you, you may depend upon it. I can conscientiously135 report you a healthy subject. If I understand any man’s constitution, it is yours; and this little indisposition has done him more good, ma’am,’ says the doctor, turning to the patient’s wife, ‘than if he had swallowed the contents of half the nonsensical bottles in my surgery. For they are nonsense—to tell the honest truth, one half of them are nonsense—compared with such a constitution as his!’ (‘Jobling is the most friendly creature I ever met with in my life,’ thinks the patient; ‘and upon my word and honour, I’ll consider of it!’)
‘Commission to you, doctor, on four new policies, and a loan this morning, eh?’ said Crimple, looking, when they had finished lunch, over some papers brought in by the porter. ‘Well done!’
‘Jobling, my dear friend,’ said Tigg, ‘long life to you.’
‘No, no. Nonsense. Upon my word I’ve no right to draw the commission,’ said the doctor, ‘I haven’t really. It’s picking your pocket. I don’t recommend anybody here. I only say what I know. My patients ask me what I know, and I tell ‘em what I know. Nothing else. Caution is my weak side, that’s the truth; and always was from a boy. That is,’ said the doctor, filling his glass, ‘caution in behalf of other people. Whether I would repose136 confidence in this company myself, if I had not been paying money elsewhere for many years—that’s quite another question.’
He tried to look as if there were no doubt about it; but feeling that he did it but indifferently, changed the theme and praised the wine.
‘Talking of wine,’ said the doctor, ‘reminds me of one of the finest glasses of light old port I ever drank in my life; and that was at a funeral. You have not seen anything of—of that party, Mr Montague, have you?’ handing him a card.
‘He is not buried, I hope?’ said Tigg, as he took it. ‘The honour of his company is not requested if he is.’
‘Ha, ha!’ laughed the doctor. ‘No; not quite. He was honourably137 connected with that very occasion though.’
‘Oh!’ said Tigg, smoothing his moustache, as he cast his eyes upon the name. ‘I recollect138. No. He has not been here.’
The words were on his lips, when Bullamy entered, and presented a card to the Medical Officer.
‘Talk of the what’s his name—’ observed the doctor rising.
‘And he’s sure to appear, eh?’ said Tigg.
‘Why, no, Mr Montague, no,’ returned the doctor. ‘We will not say that in the present case, for this gentleman is very far from it.’
‘So much the better,’ retorted Tigg. ‘So much the more adaptable139 to the Anglo-Bengalee. Bullamy, clear the table and take the things out by the other door. Mr Crimple, business.’
‘Shall I introduce him?’ asked Jobling.
‘I shall be eternally delighted,’ answered Tigg, kissing his hand and smiling sweetly.
The doctor disappeared into the outer office, and immediately returned with Jonas Chuzzlewit.
‘Mr Montague,’ said Jobling. ‘Allow me. My friend Mr Chuzzlewit. My dear friend—our chairman. Now do you know,’ he added checking himself with infinite policy, and looking round with a smile; ‘that’s a very singular instance of the force of example. It really is a very remarkable140 instance of the force of example. I say our chairman. Why do I say our chairman? Because he is not my chairman, you know. I have no connection with the company, farther than giving them, for a certain fee and reward, my poor opinion as a medical man, precisely141 as I may give it any day to Jack142 Noakes or Tom Styles. Then why do I say our chairman? Simply because I hear the phrase constantly repeated about me. Such is the involuntary operation of the mental faculty143 in the imitative biped man. Mr Crimple, I believe you never take snuff? Injudicious. You should.’
Pending144 these remarks on the part of the doctor, and the lengthened145 and sonorous146 pinch with which he followed them up, Jonas took a seat at the board; as ungainly a man as ever he has been within the reader’s knowledge. It is too common with all of us, but it is especially in the nature of a mean mind, to be overawed by fine clothes and fine furniture. They had a very decided147 influence on Jonas.
‘Now you two gentlemen have business to discuss, I know,’ said the doctor, ‘and your time is precious. So is mine; for several lives are waiting for me in the next room, and I have a round of visits to make after—after I have taken ‘em. Having had the happiness to introduce you to each other, I may go about my business. Good-bye. But allow me, Mr Montague, before I go, to say this of my friend who sits beside you: That gentleman has done more, sir,’ rapping his snuff-box solemnly, ‘to reconcile me to human nature, than any man alive or dead. Good-bye!’
With these words Jobling bolted abruptly148 out of the room, and proceeded in his own official department, to impress the lives in waiting with a sense of his keen conscientiousness149 in the discharge of his duty, and the great difficulty of getting into the Anglo-Bengalee; by feeling their pulses, looking at their tongues, listening at their ribs150, poking151 them in the chest, and so forth80; though, if he didn’t well know beforehand that whatever kind of lives they were, the Anglo-Bengalee would accept them readily, he was far from being the Jobling that his friend considered him; and was not the original Jobling, but a spurious imitation.
Mr Crimple also departed on the business of the morning; and Jonas Chuzzlewit and Tigg were left alone.
‘I learn from our friend,’ said Tigg, drawing his chair towards Jonas with a winning ease of manner, ‘that you have been thinking—’
‘Oh! Ecod then he’d no right to say so,’ cried Jonas, interrupting. ‘I didn’t tell him my thoughts. If he took it into his head that I was coming here for such or such a purpose, why, that’s his lookout152. I don’t stand committed by that.’
Jonas said this offensively enough; for over and above the habitual153 distrust of his character, it was in his nature to seek to revenge himself on the fine clothes and the fine furniture, in exact proportion as he had been unable to withstand their influence.
‘If I come here to ask a question or two, and get a document or two to consider of, I don’t bind154 myself to anything. Let’s understand that, you know,’ said Jonas.
‘My dear fellow!’ cried Tigg, clapping him on the shoulder, ‘I applaud your frankness. If men like you and I speak openly at first, all possible misunderstanding is avoided. Why should I disguise what you know so well, but what the crowd never dream of? We companies are all birds of prey155; mere birds of prey. The only question is, whether in serving our own turn, we can serve yours too; whether in double-lining our own nest, we can put a single living into yours. Oh, you’re in our secret. You’re behind the scenes. We’ll make a merit of dealing156 plainly with you, when we know we can’t help it.’
It was remarked, on the first introduction of Mr Jonas into these pages, that there is a simplicity157 of cunning no less than a simplicity of innocence158, and that in all matters involving a faith in knavery159, he was the most credulous160 of men. If Mr Tigg had preferred any claim to high and honourable161 dealing, Jonas would have suspected him though he had been a very model of probity162; but when he gave utterance163 to Jonas’s own thoughts of everything and everybody, Jonas began to feel that he was a pleasant fellow, and one to be talked to freely.
He changed his position in the chair, not for a less awkward, but for a more boastful attitude; and smiling in his miserable conceit164 rejoined:
‘You an’t a bad man of business, Mr Montague. You know how to set about it, I will say.’
‘Tut, tut,’ said Tigg, nodding confidentially165, and showing his white teeth; ‘we are not children, Mr Chuzzlewit; we are grown men, I hope.’
Jonas assented166, and said after a short silence, first spreading out his legs, and sticking one arm akimbo to show how perfectly167 at home he was,
‘The truth is—’
Greatly charmed by this, Jonas began again.
‘The long and the short of it is—’
‘Better,’ muttered Tigg. ‘Much better!’
‘—That I didn’t consider myself very well used by one or two of the old companies in some negotiations169 I have had with ‘em—once had, I mean. They started objections they had no right to start, and put questions they had no right to put, and carried things much too high for my taste.’
As he made these observations he cast down his eyes, and looked curiously170 at the carpet. Mr Tigg looked curiously at him.
He made so long a pause, that Tigg came to the rescue, and said, in his pleasantest manner:
‘Take a glass of wine.’
‘No, no,’ returned Jonas, with a cunning shake of the head; ‘none of that, thankee. No wine over business. All very well for you, but it wouldn’t do for me.’
‘What an old hand you are, Mr Chuzzlewit!’ said Tigg, leaning back in his chair, and leering at him through his half-shut eyes.
‘Not such an old hand, either, but that I’ve been and got married. That’s rather green, you’ll say. Perhaps it is, especially as she’s young. But one never knows what may happen to these women, so I’m thinking of insuring her life. It is but fair, you know, that a man should secure some consolation172 in case of meeting with such a loss.’
‘If anything can console him under such heart-breaking circumstances,’ murmured Tigg, with his eyes shut up as before.
‘Exactly,’ returned Jonas; ‘if anything can. Now, supposing I did it here, I should do it cheap, I know, and easy, without bothering her about it; which I’d much rather not do, for it’s just in a woman’s way to take it into her head, if you talk to her about such things, that she’s going to die directly.’
‘So it is,’ cried Tigg, kissing his hand in honour of the sex. ‘You’re quite right. Sweet, silly, fluttering little simpletons!’
‘Well,’ said Jonas, ‘on that account, you know, and because offence has been given me in other quarters, I wouldn’t mind patronizing this Company. But I want to know what sort of security there is for the Company’s going on. That’s the—’
‘Not the truth?’ cried Tigg, holding up his jewelled hand. ‘Don’t use that Sunday School expression, please!’
‘The long and the short of it,’ said Jonas. ‘The long and the short of it is, what’s the security?’
‘The paid-up capital, my dear sir,’ said Tigg, referring to some papers on the table, ‘is, at this present moment—’
‘Oh! I understand all about paid-up capitals, you know,’ said Jonas.
‘You do?’ cried Tigg, stopping short.
‘I should hope so.’
He turned the papers down again, and moving nearer to him, said in his ear:
‘I know you do. I know you do. Look at me!’
It was not much in Jonas’s way to look straight at anybody; but thus requested, he made shift to take a tolerable survey of the chairman’s features. The chairman fell back a little, to give him the better opportunity.
‘Why, I thought I remembered your face when I first came in,’ said Jonas, gazing at it; ‘but I couldn’t call to mind where I had seen it. No. I don’t remember, even now. Was it in the street?’
‘Was it in Pecksniff’s parlour?’ said Tigg
‘In Pecksniff’s parlour!’ echoed Jonas, fetching a long breath. ‘You don’t mean when—’
‘Yes,’ cried Tigg, ‘when there was a very charming and delightful174 little family party, at which yourself and your respected father assisted.’
‘Well, never mind him,’ said Jonas. ‘He’s dead, and there’s no help for it.’
‘Dead, is he!’ cried Tigg, ‘Venerable old gentleman, is he dead! You’re very like him.’
Jonas received this compliment with anything but a good grace, perhaps because of his own private sentiments in reference to the personal appearance of his deceased parent; perhaps because he was not best pleased to find that Montague and Tigg were one. That gentleman perceived it, and tapping him familiarly on the sleeve, beckoned him to the window. From this moment, Mr Montague’s jocularity and flow of spirits were remarkable.
‘Do you find me at all changed since that time?’ he asked. ‘Speak plainly.’
Jonas looked hard at his waistcoat and jewels; and said ‘Rather, ecod!’
‘Was I at all seedy in those days?’ asked Montague.
‘Precious seedy,’ said Jonas.
‘Neat; perhaps dashing. Do you know whose it is?’
‘No.’
‘Mine. Do you like this room?’
‘It must have cost a lot of money,’ said Jonas.
‘You’re right. Mine too. Why don’t you’—he whispered this, and nudged him in the side with his elbow—‘why don’t you take premiums177, instead of paying ‘em? That’s what a man like you should do. Join us!’
‘Is that a crowded street?’ asked Montague, calling his attention to the multitude without.
‘Very,’ said Jonas, only glancing at it, and immediately afterwards looking at him again.
‘There are printed calculations,’ said his companion, ‘which will tell you pretty nearly how many people will pass up and down that thoroughfare in the course of a day. I can tell you how many of ‘em will come in here, merely because they find this office here; knowing no more about it than they do of the Pyramids. Ha, ha! Join us. You shall come in cheap.’
Jonas looked at him harder and harder.
‘I can tell you,’ said Tigg in his ear, ‘how many of ‘em will buy annuities179, effect insurances, bring us their money in a hundred shapes and ways, force it upon us, trust us as if we were the Mint; yet know no more about us than you do of that crossing-sweeper at the corner. Not so much. Ha, ha!’
Jonas gradually broke into a smile.
‘Yah!’ said Montague, giving him a pleasant thrust in the breast; ‘you’re too deep for us, you dog, or I wouldn’t have told you. Dine with me to-morrow, in Pall Mall!’
‘I will’ said Jonas.
‘Done!’ cried Montague. ‘Wait a bit. Take these papers with you and look ‘em over. See,’ he said, snatching some printed forms from the table. ‘B is a little tradesman, clerk, parson, artist, author, any common thing you like.’
‘Yes,’ said Jonas, looking greedily over his shoulder. ‘Well!’
‘B wants a loan. Say fifty or a hundred pound; perhaps more; no matter. B proposes self and two securities. B is accepted. Two securities give a bond. B assures his own life for double the amount, and brings two friends’ lives also—just to patronize the office. Ha ha, ha! Is that a good notion?’
‘Ecod, that’s a capital notion!’ cried Jonas. ‘But does he really do it?’
‘Do it!’ repeated the chairman. ‘B’s hard up, my good fellow, and will do anything. Don’t you see? It’s my idea.’
‘It does you honour. I’m blest if it don’t,’ said Jonas.
‘I think it does,’ replied the chairman, ‘and I’m proud to hear you say so. B pays the highest lawful180 interest—’
‘That an’t much,’ interrupted Jonas.
‘Right! quite right!’ retorted Tigg. ‘And hard it is upon the part of the law that it should be so confoundedly down upon us unfortunate victims; when it takes such amazing good interest for itself from all its clients. But charity begins at home, and justice begins next door. Well! The law being hard upon us, we’re not exactly soft upon B; for besides charging B the regular interest, we get B’s premium176, and B’s friends’ premiums, and we charge B for the bond, and, whether we accept him or not, we charge B for “inquiries181” (we keep a man, at a pound a week, to make ‘em), and we charge B a trifle for the secretary; and in short, my good fellow, we stick it into B, up hill and down dale, and make a devilish comfortable little property out of him. Ha, ha, ha! I drive B, in point of fact,’ said Tigg, pointing to the cabriolet, ‘and a thoroughbred horse he is. Ha, ha, ha!’
‘Then,’ said Tigg Montague, ‘we grant annuities on the very lowest and most advantageous183 terms known in the money market; and the old ladies and gentlemen down in the country buy ‘em. Ha, ha, ha! And we pay ‘em too—perhaps. Ha, ha, ha!’
‘But there’s responsibility in that,’ said Jonas, looking doubtful.
‘I take it all myself,’ said Tigg Montague. ‘Here I am responsible for everything. The only responsible person in the establishment! Ha, ha, ha! Then there are the Life Assurances without loans; the common policies. Very profitable, very comfortable. Money down, you know; repeated every year; capital fun!’
‘But when they begin to fall in,’ observed Jonas. ‘It’s all very well, while the office is young, but when the policies begin to die—that’s what I am thinking of.’
‘At the first start, my dear fellow,’ said Montague, ‘to show you how correct your judgment184 is, we had a couple of unlucky deaths that brought us down to a grand piano.’
‘Brought you down where?’ cried Jonas.
‘I give you my sacred word of honour,’ said Tigg Montague, ‘that I raised money on every other individual piece of property, and was left alone in the world with a grand piano. And it was an upright-grand too, so that I couldn’t even sit upon it. But, my dear fellow, we got over it. We granted a great many new policies that week (liberal allowance to solicitors185, by the bye), and got over it in no time. Whenever they should chance to fall in heavily, as you very justly observe they may, one of these days; then—’ he finished the sentence in so low a whisper, that only one disconnected word was audible, and that imperfectly. But it sounded like ‘Bolt.’
‘Why, you’re as bold as brass!’ said Jonas, in the utmost admiration.
‘A man can well afford to be as bold as brass, my good fellow, when he gets gold in exchange!’ cried the chairman, with a laugh that shook him from head to foot. ‘You’ll dine with me to-morrow?’
‘At what time?’ asked Jonas.
‘Seven. Here’s my card. Take the documents. I see you’ll join us!’
‘I don’t know about that,’ said Jonas. ‘There’s a good deal to be looked into first.’
‘You shall look,’ said Montague, slapping him on the back, ‘into anything and everything you please. But you’ll join us, I am convinced. You were made for it. Bullamy!’
Obedient to the summons and the little bell, the waistcoat appeared. Being charged to show Jonas out, it went before; and the voice within it cried, as usual, ‘By your leave there, by your leave! Gentleman from the board-room, by your leave!’
Mr Montague being left alone, pondered for some moments, and then said, raising his voice:
‘Is Nadgett in the office there?’
‘Here he is, sir.’ And he promptly186 entered; shutting the board-room door after him, as carefully as if he were about to plot a murder.
He was the man at a pound a week who made the inquiries. It was no virtue187 or merit in Nadgett that he transacted188 all his Anglo-Bengalee business secretly and in the closest confidence; for he was born to be a secret. He was a short, dried-up, withered189 old man, who seemed to have secreted190 his very blood; for nobody would have given him credit for the possession of six ounces of it in his whole body. How he lived was a secret; where he lived was a secret; and even what he was, was a secret. In his musty old pocket-book he carried contradictory191 cards, in some of which he called himself a coal-merchant, in others a wine-merchant, in others a commission-agent, in others a collector, in others an accountant; as if he really didn’t know the secret himself. He was always keeping appointments in the City, and the other man never seemed to come. He would sit on ‘Change for hours, looking at everybody who walked in and out, and would do the like at Garraway’s, and in other business coffee-rooms, in some of which he would be occasionally seen drying a very damp pocket-handkerchief before the fire, and still looking over his shoulder for the man who never appeared. He was mildewed192, threadbare, shabby; always had flue upon his legs and back; and kept his linen193 so secretly buttoning up and wrapping over, that he might have had none—perhaps he hadn’t. He carried one stained beaver194 glove, which he dangled195 before him by the forefinger196 as he walked or sat; but even its fellow was a secret. Some people said he had been a bankrupt, others that he had gone an infant into an ancient Chancery suit which was still depending, but it was all a secret. He carried bits of sealing-wax and a hieroglyphical197 old copper198 seal in his pocket, and often secretly indited199 letters in corner boxes of the trysting-places before mentioned; but they never appeared to go to anybody, for he would put them into a secret place in his coat, and deliver them to himself weeks afterwards, very much to his own surprise, quite yellow. He was that sort of man that if he had died worth a million of money, or had died worth twopence halfpenny, everybody would have been perfectly satisfied, and would have said it was just as they expected. And yet he belonged to a class; a race peculiar to the City; who are secrets as profound to one another, as they are to the rest of mankind.
‘Mr Nadgett,’ said Montague, copying Jonas Chuzzlewit’s address upon a piece of paper, from the card which was still lying on the table, ‘any information about this name, I shall be glad to have myself. Don’t you mind what it is. Any you can scrape together, bring me. Bring it to me, Mr Nadgett.’
Nadgett put on his spectacles, and read the name attentively200; then looked at the chairman over his glasses, and bowed; then took them off, and put them in their case; and then put the case in his pocket. When he had done so, he looked, without his spectacles, at the paper as it lay before him, and at the same time produced his pocket-book from somewhere about the middle of his spine201. Large as it was, it was very full of documents, but he found a place for this one; and having clasped it carefully, passed it by a kind of solemn legerdemain202 into the same region as before.
He withdrew with another bow and without a word; opening the door no wider than was sufficient for his passage out; and shutting it as carefully as before. The chairman of the board employed the rest of the morning in affixing203 his sign-manual of gracious acceptance to various new proposals of annuity-purchase and assurance. The Company was looking up, for they flowed in gayly.
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1
prone
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| adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的 | |
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unreasonable
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| adj.不讲道理的，不合情理的，过度的 | |
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apron
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| n.围裙；工作裙 | |
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pall
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| v.覆盖，使平淡无味；n.柩衣，棺罩；棺材；帷幕 | |
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distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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foam
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| v./n.泡沫，起泡沫 | |
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pedestrians
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| n.步行者( pedestrian的名词复数 ) | |
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complacent
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| adj.自满的；自鸣得意的 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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assail
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| v.猛烈攻击，抨击，痛斥 | |
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rein
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| n.疆绳，统治，支配；vt.以僵绳控制，统治 | |
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contentions
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| n.竞争( contention的名词复数 )；争夺；争论；论点 | |
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fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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hind
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| adj.后面的，后部的 | |
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bestow
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| v.把…赠与，把…授予；花费 | |
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wagon
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| n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车 | |
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tempting
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| a.诱人的, 吸引人的 | |
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gallop
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| v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔；飞速发展 | |
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interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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miraculous
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| adj.像奇迹一样的，不可思议的 | |
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bridle
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| n.笼头，束缚；vt.抑制，约束；动怒 | |
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twitch
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| v.急拉，抽动，痉挛，抽搐；n.扯，阵痛，痉挛 | |
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nostril
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reins
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| 感情，激情； 缰( rein的名词复数 )； 控制手段； 掌管； （成人带着幼儿走路以防其走失时用的）保护带 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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costliest
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| adj.昂贵的( costly的最高级 )；代价高的；引起困难的；造成损失的 | |
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clogged
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| （使）阻碍( clog的过去式和过去分词 )； 淤滞 | |
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mantled
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gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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burnished
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| adj.抛光的，光亮的v.擦亮（金属等），磨光( burnish的过去式和过去分词 )；被擦亮，磨光 | |
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pretensions
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| 自称( pretension的名词复数 )； 自命不凡； 要求； 权力 | |
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portfolio
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| n.公事包；文件夹；大臣及部长职位 | |
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disinterested
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| adj.不关心的，不感兴趣的 | |
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prospectus
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| n.计划书；说明书；慕股书 | |
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vehemently
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oyster
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| n.牡蛎；沉默寡言的人 | |
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strap
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| n.皮带，带子；v.用带扣住，束牢；用绷带包扎 | |
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subsided
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| v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的过去式和过去分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
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gab
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| v.空谈，唠叨，瞎扯；n.饶舌，多嘴，爱说话 | |
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wager
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| n.赌注；vt.押注，打赌 | |
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peculating
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| v.盗用，挪用（钱财）( peculate的现在分词 ) | |
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heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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amenable
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| adj.经得起检验的；顺从的；对负有义务的 | |
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tickle
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| v.搔痒，胳肢；使高兴；发痒；n.搔痒，发痒 | |
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49
intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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groveller
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52
ornamental
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| adj.装饰的；作装饰用的；n.装饰品；观赏植物 | |
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53
poetical
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| adj.似诗人的；诗一般的；韵文的；富有诗意的 | |
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54
swell
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| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
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55
contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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worthies
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| 应得某事物( worthy的名词复数 )； 值得做某事； 可尊敬的； 有（某人或事物）的典型特征 | |
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57
embarked
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| 乘船( embark的过去式和过去分词 )； 装载； 从事 | |
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58
spacious
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| adj.广阔的，宽敞的 | |
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59
inscription
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| n.（尤指石块上的）刻印文字，铭文，碑文 | |
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60
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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61
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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62
ledgers
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| n.分类账( ledger的名词复数 ) | |
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63
conflagration
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| n.建筑物或森林大火 | |
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64
publicity
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| n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告 | |
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65
engraved
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| v.在（硬物）上雕刻（字，画等）( engrave的过去式和过去分词 )；将某事物深深印在（记忆或头脑中） | |
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66
inviting
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| adj.诱人的，引人注目的 | |
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67
odds
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| n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别 | |
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68
susceptible
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| adj.过敏的，敏感的；易动感情的，易受感动的 | |
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69
confirmations
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| 证实( confirmation的名词复数 )； 证据； 确认； （基督教中的）坚信礼 | |
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70
solely
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| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
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71
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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72
ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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73
glazed
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| adj.光滑的，像玻璃的；上过釉的；呆滞无神的v.装玻璃( glaze的过去式)；上釉于，上光；（目光）变得呆滞无神 | |
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74
peg
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| n.木栓，木钉；vt.用木钉钉，用短桩固定 | |
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75
competence
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| n.能力，胜任，称职 | |
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76
lure
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| n.吸引人的东西，诱惑物；vt.引诱，吸引 | |
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77
beckoned
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| v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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78
rogue
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| n.流氓；v.游手好闲 | |
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79
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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80
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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81
gracefully
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| ad.大大方方地；优美地 | |
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82
ascended
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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83
stentorian
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| adj.大声的，响亮的 | |
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84
ushered
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| v.引，领，陪同( usher的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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85
humble
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|
| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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86
transacting
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| v.办理（业务等）( transact的现在分词 )；交易，谈判 | |
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87
chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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88
sanctuary
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| n.圣所，圣堂，寺庙；禁猎区，保护区 | |
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89
imposing
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| adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的 | |
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90
garnished
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| v.给（上餐桌的食物）加装饰( garnish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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91
bustled
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| 闹哄哄地忙乱，奔忙( bustle的过去式和过去分词 )； 催促 | |
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92
luxuriously
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| adv.奢侈地，豪华地 | |
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93
feverish
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| adj.发烧的，狂热的，兴奋的 | |
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94
wholesome
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| adj.适合；卫生的；有益健康的；显示身心健康的 | |
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95
gastric
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| adj.胃的 | |
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96
casually
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| adv.漠不关心地，无动于衷地，不负责任地 | |
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97
practitioner
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| n.实践者，从事者；(医生或律师等)开业者 | |
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98
illustrate
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| v.举例说明，阐明；图解，加插图 | |
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99
demonstration
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| n.表明，示范，论证，示威 | |
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100
cuffs
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| n.袖口( cuff的名词复数 )v.掌打，拳打( cuff的第三人称单数 ) | |
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101
socket
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| n.窝，穴，孔，插座，插口 | |
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102
illustrating
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| 给…加插图( illustrate的现在分词 )； 说明； 表明； （用示例、图画等）说明 | |
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103
joints
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| 接头( joint的名词复数 )； 关节； 公共场所（尤指价格低廉的饮食和娱乐场所） （非正式）； 一块烤肉 （英式英语） | |
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104
wanes
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| v.衰落( wane的第三人称单数 )；（月）亏；变小；变暗淡 | |
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105
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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106
sockets
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| n.套接字，使应用程序能够读写与收发通讯协定(protocol)与资料的程序( Socket的名词复数 )；孔( socket的名词复数 )；（电器上的）插口；托座；凹穴 | |
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107
puny
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| adj.微不足道的，弱小的 | |
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108
stunted
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| adj.矮小的；发育迟缓的 | |
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109
miserable
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|
| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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110
triumphantly
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| ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地 | |
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111
agitated
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| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
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112
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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113
zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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114
refreshment
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| n.恢复，精神爽快，提神之事物；（复数）refreshments:点心，茶点 | |
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115
provident
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| adj.为将来做准备的，有先见之明的 | |
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116
acquiesced
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| v.默认，默许( acquiesce的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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117
impaired
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|
| adj.受损的；出毛病的；有（身体或智力）缺陷的v.损害，削弱( impair的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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118
fowls
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| 鸟( fowl的名词复数 )； 禽肉； 既不是这； 非驴非马 | |
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119
champagne
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| n.香槟酒；微黄色 | |
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120
profusion
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| n.挥霍；丰富 | |
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121
joyous
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| adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的 | |
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122
lustre
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| n.光亮，光泽；荣誉 | |
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123
portentously
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124
pompous
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| adj.傲慢的，自大的；夸大的；豪华的 | |
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125
sleekest
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| 时髦的( sleek的最高级 )； 光滑而有光泽的； 保养得很好的； 线条流畅的 | |
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126
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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127
smacking
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| 活泼的，发出响声的，精力充沛的 | |
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128
detailed
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| adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的 | |
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129
functionary
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| n.官员；公职人员 | |
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130
shareholder
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| n.股东，股票持有人 | |
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131
amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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132
remarkably
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| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
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133
costly
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| adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的 | |
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134
lavish
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| adj.无节制的；浪费的；vt.慷慨地给予，挥霍 | |
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135
conscientiously
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| adv.凭良心地；认真地，负责尽职地；老老实实 | |
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136
repose
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| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
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137
honourably
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| adv.可尊敬地，光荣地，体面地 | |
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138
recollect
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| v.回忆，想起，记起，忆起，记得 | |
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139
adaptable
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| adj.能适应的，适应性强的，可改编的 | |
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140
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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141
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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142
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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143
faculty
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| n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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144
pending
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| prep.直到，等待…期间；adj.待定的；迫近的 | |
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145
lengthened
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| （时间或空间）延长，伸长( lengthen的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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146
sonorous
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| adj.响亮的，回响的；adv.圆润低沉地；感人地；n.感人，堂皇 | |
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147
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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148
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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149
conscientiousness
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| 责任心 | |
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150
ribs
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| n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 )；（船或屋顶等的）肋拱；肋骨状的东西；（织物的）凸条花纹 | |
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151
poking
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|
| n. 刺，戳，袋 vt. 拨开，刺，戳 vi. 戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢 | |
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152
lookout
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| n.注意，前途，瞭望台 | |
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153
habitual
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| adj.习惯性的；通常的，惯常的 | |
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154
bind
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| vt.捆，包扎；装订；约束；使凝固；vi.变硬 | |
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155
prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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156
dealing
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| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
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157
simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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158
innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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159
knavery
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| n.恶行，欺诈的行为 | |
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160
credulous
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| adj.轻信的，易信的 | |
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161
honourable
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| adj.可敬的；荣誉的，光荣的 | |
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162
probity
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| n.刚直；廉洁，正直 | |
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163
utterance
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| n.用言语表达，话语，言语 | |
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164
conceit
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| n.自负，自高自大 | |
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165
confidentially
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| ad.秘密地，悄悄地 | |
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166
assented
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| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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167
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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168
humbug
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| n.花招，谎话，欺骗 | |
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169
negotiations
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| 协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过 | |
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170
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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171
jocosely
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| adv.说玩笑地，诙谐地 | |
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172
consolation
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| n.安慰，慰问 | |
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173
eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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174
delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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175
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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176
premium
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| n.加付款；赠品；adj.高级的；售价高的 | |
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177
premiums
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| n.费用( premium的名词复数 )；保险费；额外费用；（商品定价、贷款利息等以外的）加价 | |
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178
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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179
annuities
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| n.养老金；年金( annuity的名词复数 )；（每年的）养老金；年金保险；年金保险投资 | |
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180
lawful
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| adj.法律许可的，守法的，合法的 | |
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181
inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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182
vein
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| n.血管，静脉；叶脉，纹理；情绪；vt.使成脉络 | |
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183
advantageous
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| adj.有利的；有帮助的 | |
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184
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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185
solicitors
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| 初级律师( solicitor的名词复数 ) | |
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186
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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187
virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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188
transacted
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| v.办理（业务等）( transact的过去式和过去分词 )；交易，谈判 | |
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189
withered
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| adj. 枯萎的，干瘪的，（人身体的部分器官）因病萎缩的或未发育良好的 动词wither的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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190
secreted
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| v.（尤指动物或植物器官）分泌( secrete的过去式和过去分词 )；隐匿，隐藏 | |
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191
contradictory
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| adj.反驳的，反对的，抗辩的；n.正反对，矛盾对立 | |
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192
mildewed
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| adj.发了霉的，陈腐的，长了霉花的v.（使）发霉，（使）长霉( mildew的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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193
linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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194
beaver
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| n.海狸，河狸 | |
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195
dangled
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| 悬吊着( dangle的过去式和过去分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口 | |
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196
forefinger
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| n.食指 | |
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197
hieroglyphical
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| n.象形文字，象形文字的文章 | |
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198
copper
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| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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199
indited
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| v.写（文章，信等）创作，赋诗，创作( indite的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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200
attentively
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| adv.聚精会神地；周到地；谛；凝神 | |
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201
spine
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| n.脊柱，脊椎；(动植物的)刺；书脊 | |
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202
legerdemain
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| n.戏法，诈术 | |
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203
affixing
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| v.附加( affix的现在分词 )；粘贴；加以；盖（印章） | |
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