This morning, the third of June, Mudd, having drawn up his master's blinds and set out his boots and shaving things, vanished and returned with his clothes, brushed and folded, and a jug5[Pg 13] of shaving water which he placed on the wash-handstand.
"The arms will be out of this old coat if you go on wearing it much longer," grumbled6 Mudd, as he placed the things on a chair. "It's been in wear nearly a year and a half; you're heavy on the left elbow—it's the desk does it."
"I'll see," said Simon.
He knew quite well the suggestion that lay in the tone and the words of Mudd, but a visit to his tailors was almost on a par7 with a visit to his dentists, and new clothes were an abhorrence8. It took him a fortnight to get used to a new coat, and as to being shabby, why, a decent shabbiness was part of his personality and, vaguely9 perhaps, of his pride in life. He could afford to be shabby.
Mudd having vanished, Simon rose and began his toilet, tubbing in a tin bath—a flat Victorian tin bath—and shaving with a razor taken from a case of seven, each marked with a day of the week.
This razor was marked "Tuesday."
Having carefully dried "Tuesday" and put it back between "Monday" and "Wednesday," Simon closed the case with the care and precision that marked all his actions, finished[Pg 14] dressing10, and looked out of the window to see what sort of day it was.
A peep of glorious blue sky caught across the roofs of the opposite houses informed him, leaving him unenthusiastic, and then, having wound up his watch, he came downstairs to the Jacobean dining-room, where tea, toast, frizzled bacon, and a well-aired Times were awaiting him.
At a quarter to ten precisely11 Mudd opened the hall door, verified the fact that the brougham was in waiting and informed his master, helped him into his overcoat—a light summer overcoat—and closed the carriage door on him.
A little after ten Simon reached Old Serjeants' Inn and entered his office.
Brownlow, the chief clerk, had just arrived, and Simon, nodding to him, passed into his private room, where his letters were laid out, hung up his hat and coat, and set to business.
It was a sight to watch his face as he read letter after letter, laying each in order under a marble paper-weight. One might have fancied oneself watching Law at work, in seclusion12 and unadorned with robes. He did not need glasses—his eyes were still the eyes of a young man.
Having finished his letters, he rang for his stenographer13 and began dictating14 replies, [Pg 15]sending out now and again for Brownlow to consult upon details; then, this business finished and alone again, he sat resting for a moment, leaning back in his chair and trimming his nails with the little penknife that lay on the table. It was his custom at twelve o'clock precisely to have a glass of old brown sherry. It was a custom of the firm; Andrew Pettigrew had done the same in his day and had handed on the habit to his son. If a favoured client were present the client would be asked to have a glass, and the bottle and two glasses were kept in the John Tann safe in the corner of the room. Ye gods! Fancy in your modern solicitor15's office a wine-bottle in the principal safe and the solicitor asking a client to "have a drink"! Yet the green-seal sherry, famous amidst the cognoscenti, and the safe and the atmosphere of the room and the other-day figure of Simon, all were in keeping, part of a unique and Georgian whole, like the component16 parts of a Toby jug.
The old silver-faced clock on the mantel, having placed its finger on midday, set up its silvery lisp, and Simon, rousing himself from his reverie, rose, drew a bunch of keys from his pocket and opened the safe.
Then he stood looking at what was to be seen inside.
The safe contained two deed-boxes, one on top of the other, on the iron fire-and-burglar-proof floor, and by the deed-boxes stood the sherry bottle and the cut-glass satellite wine-glasses, whilst upon the topmost deed-box reposed17 a black leather wallet.
Simon's eyes were fixed18 on the wallet, the thing seemed to hold him spellbound; one might have fancied him gazing into the devilish-diamond eyes of a coiled snake. The wallet had not been there when he closed the safe last; there had been nothing in the safe but the boxes, the bottle and the glasses, and of the safe there were but two keys, one at the bank, one in his pocket. The manager of Cumber's Bank, a bald-headed magnate with side-whiskers, even if he had means of access to the safe, could not have been the author of this little trick, simply because the key at the bank was out of his reach, being safely locked away in the Pettigrew private deed-chest, and the key of the Pettigrew private deed-chest was on the same bunch as that now hanging from the safe door.
The lock was unpickable.
Yet the look on Simon's face was less that of surprise at the thing found than terror of the thing seen. Brownlow's head on a charger could not have affected19 him much more.
Then, stretching out his hand, he took the wallet, brought it to the table and opened it.
It contained bank-notes, beautiful, new, crisp Bank of England notes; but the joy of the ordinary man in discovering a great unexpected wad of bank-notes was not apparent in the face of Simon, unless beads20 of perspiration21 are indications of joy. He turned to the sherry-bottle, filled two glasses with a shaky hand and drained them; then he turned again to the notes.
He sat down and, pushing the wallet aside, began to count them. Began to count them feverishly22, as though the result of the tally23 were a matter of vast importance. There were four notes of a thousand, the rest were hundreds and a few tens. Ten thousand pounds, that was the total.
He put the notes back in the case, buckled24 it, jumped up like a released spring, flung the wallet on top of the deed-box and closed the safe with a snap.
Then he stood, hands in pockets, examining the pattern of the Turkey carpet.
At this moment a knock came to the door and a junior clerk appeared.
"What the devil do you want?" asked Simon.
The clerk stated his case. A Mr. Smith had called, craving25 an interview.
"Ask Mr. Brownlow to see him," replied Simon; "but ask Mr. Brownlow to step in here first."
In a moment Brownlow appeared.
"Brownlow," said Simon, "look up Dr. Oppenshaw's telephone number and ask him can he give me ten minutes' interview before luncheon26. Say it is most urgently important. 110A, Harley Street, is his address—and, see here, have a taxicab called—that's all."
Whilst Brownlow was away on his mission Simon put on his overcoat, put on his hat, blew his nose lustily in the red bandanna27 handkerchief that was part of his personality, opened the safe and took another peep at the wallet, as if to make sure that the fairy hand that had placed it there had not spirited it away again, and was in the act of locking the safe when the senior clerk entered to say that Dr. Oppenshaw would be visible at a quarter to one, and that Morgan, the office-boy, had procured28 the cab.
Brownlow, though he managed to conceal29 his feelings, was disturbed by the manner of his chief and by the telephone message to the doctor; by the whole affair, in fact, for Simon never left the office till the stroke of one, when[Pg 19] the brougham called to take him to Simpson's in the Strand30 for luncheon.
Was Simon ill? He ventured to put the question and nearly had his head snapped off.
Ill! No, of course he wasn't ill, never better in his life; what on earth put that idea into Brownlow's head?
Then the testy31 one departed in search of the taxi, and Brownlow returned to his room and his duties.
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1
factotum
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| n.杂役；听差 | |
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2
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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3
verging
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| 接近，逼近（verge的现在分词形式） | |
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conjugal
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| adj.婚姻的，婚姻性的 | |
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5
jug
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| n.(有柄，小口，可盛水等的)大壶，罐，盂 | |
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6
grumbled
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| 抱怨( grumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 发牢骚； 咕哝； 发哼声 | |
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par
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| n.标准，票面价值，平均数量；adj.票面的，平常的，标准的 | |
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8
abhorrence
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| n.憎恶；可憎恶的事 | |
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vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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10
dressing
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| n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料 | |
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11
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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12
seclusion
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| n.隐遁，隔离 | |
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13
stenographer
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| n.速记员 | |
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14
dictating
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| v.大声讲或读( dictate的现在分词 )；口授；支配；摆布 | |
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15
solicitor
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| n.初级律师，事务律师 | |
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16
component
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| n.组成部分，成分，元件；adj.组成的，合成的 | |
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17
reposed
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| v.将（手臂等）靠在某人（某物）上( repose的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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18
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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20
beads
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| n.（空心）小珠子( bead的名词复数 )；水珠；珠子项链 | |
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perspiration
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| n.汗水；出汗 | |
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feverishly
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| adv. 兴奋地 | |
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23
tally
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| n.计数器，记分，一致，测量；vt.计算，记录，使一致；vi.计算，记分，一致 | |
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24
buckled
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| a. 有带扣的 | |
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craving
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| n.渴望,热望 | |
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26
luncheon
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| n.午宴，午餐，便宴 | |
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27
bandanna
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| n.大手帕 | |
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28
procured
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| v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的过去式和过去分词 )；拉皮条 | |
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29
conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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30
strand
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| vt.使（船）搁浅，使（某人）困于（某地） | |
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testy
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| adj.易怒的；暴躁的 | |
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