CHAPTER 2
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Aunt Glegg Learns the Breadth of Bobs ThumbWHILE Maggies life-struggles had lain almost entirely within her own soul, one shadowy army fighting another, and the slain shadows for ever rising again, Tom was engaged in a dustier, noisier warfare, grappling with more substantial obstacles, and gaining more definite quests. So it has been sihe days of Hecuba, and of Hector, Tamer of horses: ihe gates, the women with streaming hair and uplifted hands prayers, watg the worlds bat from afar, filling their loy days with memories and fears: outside, the men in fierce struggle with things divine and human, queng memory irht of purpose, losing the sense of dread and even of wounds in the hurrying ardour of a. From what you have seen of Tom, I think he is not a youth of whom you would prophesy failure in anything he had thhly wished: the wagers are likely to be on his side notwithstanding his small success in the classics. For Tom had never desired success in this field of enterprise: and fetting a fine flourishing growth of stupidity there is nothing like p out on a mind a good amount of subjects in which it feels no i. But now Toms strong will bound together his iy, his pride, his family regrets and his personal ambition, and made them one force, trating his efforts and surmounting discements. His uncle Deane, who watched him closely, soon began to ceive hopes of him, and to be rather proud that he had brought into the employment of the firm a nephew eared to be made of such good ercial stuff. The real kindness of plag him in the warehouse first was soon evident to Tom, in the hints his uncle began to throw out that after a time he might perhaps be trusted to travel at certain seasons, and buy in for the firm various vulgar odities with which I need not shock refined ears in this place; and it was doubtless with a view to this result that Mr Deane, when he expected to take his wine alone, would tell Tom to step in and sit with him an hour, and would pass that hour in much lecturing and catechising ing articles of export and import, with an occasional excursus of more i utility on the relative advao the merts of St Oggs of having goods brought in their own and in fn bottoms - a subje which Mr Deane, as a ship-owner, naturally threw off a few sparks whe warmed with talk and wine. Already, in the sed year, Toms salary was raised; but all except the price of his dinner and clothes went home into the tin box; and he shunned radeship, lest it should lead him into expenses in spite of himself. Not that Tom was moulded on the spooype of the Industrious Apprentice; he had a very strong appetite for pleasure - would have liked to be a Tamer of horses, and to make a distinguished figure in all neighb eyes, dispensing treats and bes to others with well-judged liberality, and being pronounced one of the fi young fellows of those parts; nay, he determio achieve these things sooner or later; but his practical shrewdold him that the means to such achievements could only lie for him i abstinend self-denial: there were certain milestoo be passed and one of the first was the payment of his fathers debts. Having made up his mind on that point, he strode along without swerving, trag some rather saturernness, as a young man is likely to do who has a premature call upon him for self-reliaom felt intehat on cause with his father which springs from family pride, and was bent on being irreproachable as a son; but his growing experience caused him to pass much silent criticism on the rashness and imprudence of his fathers past duct: their dispositions were not in sympathy, and Toms face showed little radiance during his few home hours. Maggie had an awe of him, against which she struggled, as something unfair to her sciousness of wider thoughts and deeper motives; but it was of no use tle. A character at unity with itself - that performs what it<cite>藏书网</cite> intends, subdues every terag impulse and has no visions beyond the distinctly possible, is strong by its very ions.
You may imagihat Toms more and more obvious unlikeo his father was well fitted to ciliate the maternal aunts and uncles; and Mr Deanes favourable reports and predis tlegg ing Toms qualifications for business, began to be discussed amongst them with various acceptance. He was likely, it appeared, to do the family credit, without causing it any expense and trouble. Mrs Pullet has always thought it strange if Toms excellent plexion, so ehat of the Dodsons, did nue a certainty that he would turn out well, his juvenile errors of running down the peacod general disrespect to his aunts only indig a tinge of Tulliver blood which he had doubtless outgrown. Mr Glegg, who had tracted a cautious liking for Tom ever since his spirited and sensible behaviour when the execution was in the house, was now warming into a resolution to further his prospects actively - some time, when an opportunity offered of doing so in a prudent manner, without ultimate loss; but Mrs Glegg observed that she was not given to speak without book, as some people were that those who said least were mostly likely to find their words made good, and that when the right moment came, it would be seen who could do somethier than talk. Uncle Pullet, after sileation for a period of several lozenges, came distinctly to the clusion, that when a young man was likely to do well, it was better not to meddle with him.
Tom, meanwhile, had shown no disposition to rely on any o himself, though, with a natural sensitiveowards all indications of favourable opinion, he was glad to see his uncle Glegg look in on him sometimes in a friendly way during business hours, and glad to be io di his house, though he usually preferred deing on the ground that he was not sure of being punctual. But about a year ago something had occurred whiduced Tom to test his uncle Gleggs friendly disposition.
Bob Jakin, who rarely returned from one of his rounds without seeing Tom and Maggie, awaited him on the bridge as he was ing home from St Oggs one evening, that they might have a little private talk, He took the liberty of asking if Mr Tom had ever thought of making money by trading a bit on his own at. Trading, how? Tom wished to know. Why, by sending out a bit of a cargo tn ports; because Bob had a particular friend who had offered to do a little business for him in that way, in Laceham goods, and would be glad to serve Mr Tom on the same footing. Tom was ied at once, and begged for full explanation; w he had not thought of this plan before. He was so well pleased with the prospect of a speculation that might ge the slow process of addition into multiplication, that he at oermio mentioter to his father a his sent to appropriate some of the savings iin box to the purchase of a small cargo. He would rather not have sulted his father, but he had just paid his last quarters money into the tin box, and there was no other resource. All the savings were there: for Mr Tulliver would not sent to put the money out at i lest he should lose it. Since he had speculated in the purchase of some and had lost by it, he could not be easy without keeping the money under his eye.
Tom approached the subject carefully, as he was seated on the hearth with his father that evening, and Mr Tulliver listened, learning forward in his armchair and looking up in Toms face with a sceptical glance. His first impulse was to give a positive refusal, but he was in some awe of Toms wishes, and since he had had the sense of being an `unlucky father, he had lost some of his old peremptoriness aermination to be master. He took the key of the bureau from his pocket, got out the key of the large chest, ached dowin box - slowly, as if he were trying to defer the moment of a painful parting. Then he seated himself against the table and opehe box with that little padlock-key which he fingered in his waistcoat pocket in all vat moments. There they were, the dingy bank notes and the bright sns, and he ted them out oable - only a hundred and sixteen pounds in two years, after all the ping.
`How much do you want, then? he said, speaking as if the words burnt his lips.
`Suppose I begin with the thirty six pounds, father? said Tom.
Mr Tulliver separated this sum from the rest, and keeping his hand over it, said,
`Its as much as I save out o my pay in a year.
`Yes, father: it is such work - saving out of the little money we get. And in this way we might double our savings.
`Ay, my lad, said the father, keeping his hand on the money, `but you might lose it - you might lose a year o my life - and I havent got many.
Tom was silent.
`And you know I wouldnt pay a dividend with the first hundred, because I wao see it all in a lump - and when I see it, Im sure ont. If you trust to luck, its sure to be against me. Its Old Harrys got the lu his hands. And if I lose one year, I shall never pick it up again - death ull oertake me.
Mr Tullivers voice trembled, and Tom was silent for a few minutes before he said,
`Ill give it up, father, since you object to it sly.
But, unwilling to abandon the scheme altogether, he determio ask his uncle Glegg to vewenty pounds, on dition of receiving five per t of the profits. That was really a very small thing to ask. So when Bob called the day at the Wharf to know the decision, Tom proposed that they should go together to his uncle Gleggs to open the business; for his diffident pride g to him, and made him feel that Bobs tongue would relieve him from some embarrassment.
Mr Glegg, at the pleasant hour of four iernoon of a hot August day, was naturally ting his wall-fruit to assure himself that the sum total had not varied since yesterday. To him eom, in peared tlegg very questionable panionship - that of a man with a pa his back - for Bob was equipped for a new journey - and of a huge brindled bull-terrier, who walked with a slow swaying movement from side to side, and glanced from under his eyelids with a surly indifference which might after all be a cover to the most offensive designs. Mr Gleggs spectacles, which had been assisting him in ting the fruit, made these suspicious details alarmingly evident to him.
`Heigh! Heigh! Keep that dog back, will you, he shouted, snatg up a stake and holding it before him as a shield when the visitors were within three yards of him.
`Get out wi you, Mumps, said Bob, with a kick. `Hes as quiet as a lamb, sir, - an observation which Mumps corroborated by a low growl as he retreated behind his masters legs.
`Why, whatever does this mean, Tom? said Mr Glegg. `Have yht information about the sdrels as cut my trees? If Bob came in the character of `information, Mr Glegg saw reasons for tolerating some irregularity.
`No, sir, said Tom. `I came to speak to you about a little matter of business of my own.
`Ay - well - but what has this dog got to do with it? said the old gentlemaing mild again.
`Its my dog, sir, said the ready Bob. `An its me as put Mr Tom up to the bit o business, for Mr Toms been a friend o mine iver since I wor little chap - fust thing iver I did was frightenin the birds for th old master. An if a bit o luck turns up, Im allays thinkin if I let Mr Tom have a pull at it. An its a dht roarin shame, as when hes got the aking a bit o money wi sending goods out - ten or twelve per zent clear whe an issions paid - as he shouldnt lay hold o the ce for want o money. Aheres the Laceham goods - lors, theyre made o purpose for folks as want to send out a little carguy - light, an take up no room; you may pack twenty pound so as you t see the passill - an theyre manifacturs as please fools, so I re they arent like to want a market. An Id go to Laceham an buy in the goods for Mr Tom along wi my own; an theres the shupercargo o the bit of a vessel as is goin to take em out - I know him particlar; hes a solid man, an got a family i the town here: - Salt his name is - an a briny chap he is, too - an if you dont believe me, I take you to him.
Uncle Glegg stood open-mouthed with astonishment at this unembarrassed loquacity, with which his uanding could hardly keep pace. He looked at Bob first over his spectacles, then through them, thehem again; while Tom, doubtful of his uncles impression, began to wish he had nht this singular Aaron or mouthpiece: Bobs talk appeared less seemly now some one besides himself was listening to it.
`You seem to be a knowing fellow, said Mr Glegg, at last.
`Ay, sir, you say true, returned Bob, nodding his head aside, `I think my heads all alive inside like an old cheese, for Im so full o plans, one knocks another over. If I hadnt Mumps to talk to, I should get top-heavy an tumble in a fit. I suppose its because I niver went to such. Thats what I jaw my old mother for - I says, "you should ha seo school a bit more - " I says - "an then I could ha read i the books like fun, an kep my head cool ay." Lors, shes fine an forble now, my old mother is - she ates here baked meat an taters as often as she likes. For Im gettin so full o money, I must hev a wife to spend it for me - but its botherin a wife is and Mumps mightnt like her.
Uncle Glegg, wharded himself as a joan since he had retired from business, who beginning to find Bob amusing, but he had still a disapproving observation to make, which kept his face serious.
`Ah, he said, `I should think youre at a loss for ways ospending your money, else you wouldhat big dog, to eat as much as two Christians. Its shameful - shameful! But he spoke more in sorrow than in anger, and quickly added,
`But, e now, lets hear more about this business, Tom. I suppose you want a little sum to make a veh. But wheres all your own money? - You dont spend it all, eh?
`No, sir, said Tom, c. `But my father is unwilling to risk it, and I dont like to press him. If I could get twenty or thirty pounds to begin with I could pay five per t for it, and then I could gradually make a little capital of my own, and do without a loan.
`Ay... Ay, said Mr Glegg, in an approving tohats not a bad notion, and I wont say as I wouldnt be your man. But itll be as well for me to see this Salt, as you talk on. And then... heres this friend o yours offers to buy the goods for you. Perhaps youve got somebody to stand surety for you, if the moneys put into your hands? added the cautious old gentleman, looking over his spectacles at Bob.
`I dont think thats necessary, uncle, said Tom. `At least, I mean it would not be necessary for me, because I know Bob well; but perhaps it would be right for you to have some security.
`You get your per-tage out o the purchase, I suppose? said Mr Glegg, looking at Bob.
`No, sir, said Bob, rather indignantly, `I didnt offer to get a apple for Mr Tom, o purpose to hev a bite out of it myself. When I play folks tricks therell be more fun in em nor that.
`Well, but its nothing but right you should have a small per-tage, said Mr Glegg. `Ive no opinion o transas where folks do things for nothing. It allays looks bad.
`Well, then, said Bob, whose keenness saw at once what was implied, `Ill tell you what I get byt, an its money in my pocket in the end. I make myself look big, wi makin a bigger purchase. Thats what Im thinking on. Lors, Im a cute chap, I am.
`Mr Glegg, Mr Glegg, said a severe voice from the open parlour window, `pray are you ing in to tea? - or are you going to stand talking with pa till you get murdered in th open daylight?
`Murdered? said Mr Glegg; `whats the woman talking of? Heres your nevvy Tom e about a bit o business.
`Murdered - yes - it isnt many sizes ago, since a pa murdered a young woman in a lone plad stole her thimble and threw here body into a ditch.
`Nay, nay, said Mr Glegg, soothingly, `youre thinking o the man wi no legs, as drove a dog-cart.
`Well, its the same thing, Mr Glegg - only youre found o tradig what I say. And if my nevvys e about business, it ud be more fitting if youd bring him into the house, a his aunt know about it, instead o whispering in ers, in that plotting, underminding way.
`Well, well, said Mr Glegg, `well e in now.
`You stay here, said the lady to Bob, in a loud voice, adapted to the moral not the physical distaween them. `We dont want anything. I dont deal wi pa. Mind you shut the gate after you.
`Stop a bit; not so fast, said Mr Glegg: `I havent doh this young ma. e in, Tom, e in, he added, stepping in at the Fre<u></u>nch window.
`Mr Glegg, said Mrs G. in a fatal tone. `If yoing to let that man and his dog in on my carpet before my very face, be so good as to let me know. A wifes got a right to ask that, I hope.
`Dont you be uneasy, mum, said Bob, toug his cap. He saw at ohat Mrs Glegg was a bit of game worth running down, and loo be at the sport. `Well stay out upo the gravel here, Mumps and me will. Mumps knows his pany - he does. I might hish at him by th hether before hed fly at a real gentlewoman like you. Its wonderful how he knows which is the good-looking ladies - ands particlar fond of em when theyve good shapes. Lors, added Bob, laying down his pa the gravel, `its a thousand pities such a lady as you shouldnt deal with a pa, istead o goin into these newfangled shops where theres half a dozen fis wi their s propped up wi a stiff stock, a-looking like bottles wi oral stoppers, an all got to get their dinner out of a bit o calico - it stans to reason you mun pay three times the price you pay a pa, as is the natral way o gettin goods - an pays , an isnt forced to throttle himself till the lies are squeezed out on him, whether he will or no. But lors, mum, you know what it is better nor I do - you see through them shopmen, Ill be bound.
`Yes, I re I , and through the pa too, observed Mrs Glegg, intending to imply that Bobs flattery had produo effe her; while her husband standing behind her with his hands in his pockets and legs apart, winked and smiled with jugal delight at the probability of his wifes being circumvented.
`Ay, to be sure, mum, said Bob. `Why, you must ha dealt wi no end o pa when you war a young lass - before the master here had the luck to set eyes on you. I know where you lived, I do - seen th house many a time - close upon Squire Darleighs - a stone house wi steps...
`Ah, that it had, said Mrs Glegg, p out the tea. `You know something o my family then... are you akin to that pa with a squint in his eye, as used t th Irish linen?
`Look you there now! said Bob evasively. `Didnt I know as youd remember the best bargains yever made in your life was made wi pa? Why, you see, even a squintin pas better nor a shopman as see straight. Lors, if Id had the luck to call at the stone house wi my pack as lies here, - stooping and thumping the bundle emphatically with his fist - `an th handsome young lasses all stannin out ooeps, it ud ha been summat like openin a pack - that would. Its ony the poor houses now as a pa calls on, if it isnt for the sake o the sarvant-maids. Theyre paltry times, there are. Why, mum, look at the printed cottons now, an what they was when you wore em - why, you wouldnt put such a thing on now, I see. It must be first-rate quality - the manifactur as youd buy - summat as ud wear as well as your own faitures.
`Yes, better quality nor any youre like to carry: youve got nothing first-rate but brazenness, Ill be bound, said Mrs Glegg, with a triumphant sense of her insurmountable sagacity. `Mr Glegg, are you going ever to sit down to your tea? Tom, theres a cup for you.
`You speak true there, mum, said Bob. `My pack isnt for ladies like you. The times gone by for that. Bargains picked up dirt cheap - a bit o damage here an there, as be cut out or else niver seen i the wearin; but not fit to offer to rich folks as pay for the look o things as nobody sees. Im not the man as ud offer t open my pack to you, mum: no, no; Im imperent chap, as you say - these times makes folks imperent - but Im not to put the mark o that.
`Why, what goods to you carry in your pack? said Mrs Glegg. `Fine-coloured things, I suppose, shawls an that.
`All sorts, mum, all sorts, said Bob, thumping his bundle, `but let us say no more about that, if you please. Im here upo Mr Toms business an Im not the man to take up the time wi my own.
`And pray, what is this business as is to be kept from me? said Mrs Glegg, who, solicited by a double curiosity, was obliged to let the one half wait.
`A little plan o nevvy Toms here, said good-natured Mr Glegg; `and not altogether a bad un, I think. A little plan for making mohats the right sort o plan for young folks as have got their fortin to make, eh, Jane?
`But I hope it isnt a plan where he expects iverything to be done for him by his friends - thats what the young folks think of mostly nowadays. And pray, what has this pack-man got to do wi what goes on in our family? t you speak for yourself Tom, a your aunt know things, as a nevvy should?
`This is Bob Jakin, aunt, said Tom, bridling the irritation that aunt Gleggs voice alroduced. `Ive known him ever since we were little boys. Hes a very good fellow, and always ready to do me a kindness. And he has had some experien sending goods out - a small part of a cargo as a<s>9９ｌｉｂ?</s> private speculation; ahinks if I could begin to do a little in the same way, I might make some money. A large i is got in that way.
`Large i? said aunt Glegg, with eagerness, `and what do you call large i?
`Ten or twelve per t, Bob says, `after expenses are paid.
`Then why wasnt I let to know o such things before, Mr Glegg? said Mrs Glegg, turning to her husband, with a deep grating tone of reproach. `Havent you allays told me as there was ing more nor five per t.
`Pooh, pooh, nonsense, my good woman, said Mr Glegg. `You couldnt go into trade, could you? You t get more than five per t with security.
`But I turn a bit o money for you, an wele, mum, said Bob, `if youd like to risk it - not as theres any risk to speak on. But if youd a mind to lend a bit o moo Mr Tom, hed pay you six or seven per zent a a trifle for himself as well an a good-naturd lady like you ud like the feel o the money better if your nevvy took part on it.
`What do you say, Mrs G.? said Mr Glegg. `Ive a notion, when Ive made a bit more inquiry, as I shall perhaps start Tom here with a bit of a -egg - hell pay me i, you know - an if youve got some little sums lyin idle twisted up in a sto toe, or that...
`Mr Glegg, its beyond iverything! Youll go and give information to the tramps , as they may e and rob me.
`Well, well, as I was sayin, if you like to join me wi twenty pounds, you - Ill make it fifty. Thatll be a pretty good -egg - eh, Tom?
`Youre not ting on me, Mr Glegg, I hope, said his wife. `You could do fihings wi my money, I dont doubt. `Very well, said Mr Glegg, rather snappishly, `then well do without you. I shall go with you to see this Salt, he added, turning to Bob.
`And now, I suppose, youll go all the other way, Mr Glegg, said Mrs G., `and want to shu o my own nevvys business. I never said I wouldnt put money into it - I dont say as it shall be twenty pounds, though youre so ready to say it for me - but hell see some day as his aunts in the right not to risk the money shes saved for him till its proved as it wont be lost.
`Ay, thats a pleasant sort o risk, that is, said Mr Glegg, indiscreetly winking at Tom, who couldnt avoid smiling. But Bob stemmed the injured ladys outburst.
`Ay, mum, he said, admiringly, `you know whats what, you do. An its nothing but fair. You see how the first bit of a job answers, an then youll e down handsome. Lors, its a fihing to hev good kin. I got my bit of a -egg as the master calls it, all by my own sharpness - ten suvreigns it was - wi dousing the fire at Torrys mill, an its growed an growed by a bit an a bit, till In got a matter o thirty pound to lay out, besides makin my mother forble. I should get more, ony Im such a soft wi the women - I t help lettin em hev such good bargains. Theres this bundle, now (thumping it lustily), `any other chap ud make a pretty penny out on it. But me!... lors, I shall sell em for pretty near what I paid for em.
`Have you got a bit of good , now? said Mrs Glegg, in a patronising tone, moving from the tea-table, and folding her napkin.
`Eh, mum, not what youd think it worth your while to look at. Id s to show it you. It ud be an insult to you.
`But let me see, said Mrs Glegg, still patronising. `If theyre damaged goods, theyre like enough to be a bit the better quality.
`No, mum. I know my place, said Bob, lifting up his pad shouldering it. `Im not going t expose the lowness o my trade to a lady like you. Packs is e down i the world: it ud cut you to th heart to see the difference. Im at your service, sir, when youve a mind to go an see Salt.
`All in good time, said Mr Glegg, really unwilling to cut short the dialogue. `Are you wa the wharf, Tom?
`No, sir; I left Stowe in my place.
`e, put down you pack, a me see, said Mrs Glegg, drawing a chair to the window, aing herself with much dignity.
`Dont you ask it, mum, said Bob, eingly.
`Make no more words, said Mrs Glegg, severely, `but do as I tell you.
`Eh, mum, Im loth - that I am, said Bob, slowly depositing his pa the step, and beginning to u with unwilling fingers. `But what you order shall be done (much fumbling in pauses between the sentences). `Its not as youll buy a sihing on me... Id be sorry for you to do it... for think o them poor women up i the villages there, as ir a hundred yards from home... it ud be a pity for anybody to buy up their bargains. Lors, its as good as a juing to em when they see me wi my pack... an I shall niver pick up such bargains for em agai ways, Ive no time now, for Im off to Laceham. See here, now, Bob went on, being rapid again, and holding up a scarlet woollen kerchief with an embroidered wreath in the er - `Heres a thing to make a lasss mouth water, an ony two shillin - an why? Why, cause theres a bit of a moth-hole i this plain end. Lors, I think the moths an the mildew was sent by Providence o purpose to cheapen the goods a bit for the good lookin women as hant got much money. If it hadnt been for the moths, now, every hankicher on em ud ha goo the rich handsome ladies like you, mum, at five shillin apiece - not a farthin less - but what does the moth do? Why, it nibbles off three shillin o the price i no time, an then a pa like me carryt to the poor lasses as live uhe dark thack, to make a bit of a blaze for em. Lors, its as good as a fire, to look at such a hankicher!
Bob held at a distance for admiration, but Mrs Glegg said sharply,
`Yes, but nobody wants a fire this time o year. Put these coloured things by - let me look at your s, if youve got em.
`Eh, mum, I told you how it ud be, said Bob, flinging aside the coloured things with an air of desperation. `I k ud turn again you to look at such paltry articles as I carry. Heres a piece o figured muslim now - whats the use o your lookin at it? You might as well look at poor folkss victual, mum - it ud ony take away your appetite. Theres a yard i the middle ont, as the patterns all missed - lors, why its a muslin as the Princess Victoree might ha wore - but, added Bob, flinging it behind him on to the turf, as if to save Mrs Gleggs eyes, `itll be bought up by th hucksters wife at Fibbs End - thats where itll go - ten shillin for the whole lot - ten yards, tin the damaged un - five-ay shillin ud ha been the price - not a penny less. But Ill say no more, mum, its nothing to you - a pieuslim like that - you afford to pay three times the money for a thing as isnt half so good. Its s you talked on - well, Ive got a piece as ull serve you to make fun on...
`Brihat muslin, said Mrs Glegg, `its a buff - Im partial to buff.
`Eh, but a damaged thing, said Bob, in a tone of depreg disgust. `Youd do nothing with it, mum - youd give it to the cook, I know you would - an it ud be a pity - shed look too much like a lady in it - its unbeing for sarvants.
`Fetch it a me see you measure it, said Mrs Glegg, authoritatively.
Bob obeyed with ostentatious reluce.
`See what there is over measure! he said, holding forth the extra half yard, while Mrs Glegg was busy examining the damaged yard and throwing her head back to see how far the fault would be lost on a distant view.
`Ill give you six shilling for it, she said, throwing it down with the air of a person who mentions an ultimatum.
`Didnt I tell you, now, mum, as it ud hurt your feelings to look at my pack? That damaged bits turned your stomaow, I see it has, said Bob, ing the muslim up with the utmost quiess, and apparently about to fasten up his pack. `Youre used to seein a different sort o article carried by pa, when you lived at the Stone House. Packs is e down i the world, I told you that: my goods are for on folks. Mrs Pepper ull give me ten shillin for that muslin, an be sorry as I didnt ask her more. Such articles answer i the wearin - they keep their colour till the threads melt away i the wash-tub, an that wont be while Im a young un.
`Well, seven shilling, said Mrs Glegg.
`Put it out o your mind, mum, now do, said Bob. `Heres a bit o hen, for you to look at before I tie my pack: just for you to see what my trades e to: spotted and sprigged, you see, beautiful, but yallow--s been lyin by an got the wrong colour. I could niver ha bought suet, if it hadnt been yallow. Lors, its took me a deal o study to know the vally o such articles: when I begun to carry a pack I was as ignirant as a pig - or calico was all the same to me. I thought them things the most vally as was the thickest. I was took in dreadful - for Im a strait-forrard chap - up to no tricks, mum. I ony say my nose is my own, for if I went beyond, I should lose myself pretty quick. An I gev five apence for that piece o - if I was to tell y anything else I should be tellin you fibs: an five apence I shall ask for it - not a penny more - for its a womans article, an I like to odate the women. Five apence for six yards - as cheap as if it was only the dirt on it aid for.
`I dont mind having three yards of it, said Mrs Glegg.
`Why, theres but six altogether, said Bob - `no, mum, it isnt worth your while: you go to the shop tomorrow ahe same pattern ready whitened. Its ony three times the money - whats that to a lady like you? He gave an emphatic tie to his bundle.
`e, lay me out that muslin, said Mrs Glegg. `Heres eight shilling for it.
`You will be jokin, mum, said Bob, looking up with a laughing face. `I seed you leasant lady, when I fust e to the winder.
`Well, put it me out, said Mrs Glegg, peremptorily.
`But if I let you have it for ten shillin, mum, youll be so good as not tell nobody. I should be a laughin-stock - the trade, ud hoot me, if they k. Im obliged to make believe as I ask more nor I do for my goods, else theyd find out I war a flat. Im glad you dont insist upo buyi, for then I should ha lost my two best bargains for Mrs Pepper o Fibbs End - an shes a rare er.
`Let me look at the again, said Mrs Glegg, yearning after the cheap spots and sprigs now they were vanishing.
`Well, I t deny you, mum, said Bob, handing it out. `Eh see what a pattern now! Real Laceham goods. Now, this is the sort o article Im reendin Mr Tom to send out. Lors, its a fihing for anybody as has got a bit o money - these Laceham goods ud make it breed like maggits. If I was a lady wi a bit o money! - why, I know one as put thirty pound into them goods - a lady wi a cork leg, but as sharp - you wouldnt catch her runnin her head into a sack: shed see her way clear out o anything afore shed be in a hurry to start. Well, she let out thirty pound to a young man in the drapering line, and he laid it out i Laceham goods, an a shupery aetanot Salt) took em out, a her eight per zent fust go off - an now you t hold her but she must be sendin out carguies wi every ship, till shes gettin as rich as a Jew. Bucks her name is - she doesnt live i this town. Now, then, mum, if youll please to give me the ...
`Heres fifteen shilling, then, for the two, said Mrs Glegg. `But its a shameful price.
`Nay, mum, youll niver say that when youre upo your knees i church i five years time. Im makin you a present o th articles - I am, ihat eightpence shaves off my profit as as a razor. Now then, sir, tinued Bob, shouldering his pack, `if you please, Ill be glad to go and see<u></u> about makin Mr Toms fortin. Eh, I wish Id got awenty pound to lay out for mysen: I shouldnt stay to say my Catechism afore I knowd what to do wit.
`Stop a bit, Mr Glegg, said the lady, as her husband took his hat, `you never will give me the ce o speaking. Youll go away now, and finish everything about this business, and e bad tell me its too late for me to speak. As if I wasnt my nevvys own aunt, and th head o the family on his mothers side! and laid by guineas, all full weight for him - as hell know who to respect when Im laid in my coffin.
`Well, Mrs G., say what you mean, said Mr G. hastily.
`Well, then, I desire as nothing may be dohout my knowing. I dont say as I shaure twenty pounds, if you make out as everythings right and safe. And if I do, Tom, cluded Mrs Glegg, turning impressively to her nephew, `I hope youll allays bear it in mind and be grateful for su aunt - I mean you to pay me i, you know - I dont approve o giving: we niver looked for that in my family.
`Thank you, aunt, said Tom, rather proudly. `I prefer having the money only lent to me.
`Very well: thats the Dodso, said Mrs Glegg, rising to get her knitting with the sehat any further remark after this would be bathos.
Salt - that emily `briny chap - having been discovered in a cloud of tobaoke at the Anchor Tavern, Mr Glegg enced inquiries which turned out satisfactorily enough to warrant the advance of the `-egg, to which aunt Glegg tributed twenty pounds; and in this modest beginning you see the ground of a fact which might otherwise surprise you, namely, Toms accumulation of a fund, unknown to his father, that promised in no very long time to meet the more tardy process of saving and quite cover the deficit. When once his attention had been turo this source of gain, Tom determio make the most of it, and lost no opportunity of obtaining information aending his small enterprises. In not telling his father, he was influenced by that strange mixture of opposite feelings which often gives equal truth to those who blame an a and those who admire it: partly, it was that disination to fidence which is seeween near kindred - that family repulsion which spoils the most sacred relations of our lives; partly, it was the desire to surprise his father with a great joy. He did not see that it would have beeer to soothe the interval with a new hope, and prevent the delirium of a too suddeion.
At the time of Maggies first meeting with Philip, Tom had already nearly a hundred and fifty pounds of his oital, and while they were walking by the evening light in the Red Deeps, he, by t<s>藏书网</s>he same evening light, was riding into Laceham, proud of being on his first journey on behalf of Guest and Co., and revolving in his mind all the ces that by the end of another year he should have doubled his gains, lifted off the obloquy of debt from his fathers name, and perhaps - for he should be twenty-one - have got a art for himself, on a higher platform of employment. Did he not deserve it? He was quite sure that he did.
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