The Professor Read online

  CHAPTER II.

  A FINE October morning succeeded to the foggy evening that had witnessedmy first introduction to Crimsworth Hall. I was early up and walking inthe large park-like meadow surrounding the house. The autumn sun, risingover the ----shire hills, disclosed a pleasant country; woods brown andmellow varied the fields from which the harvest had been lately carried;a river, gliding between the woods, caught on its surface the somewhatcold gleam of the October sun and sky; at frequent intervals along thebanks of the river, tall, cylindrical chimneys, almost like slenderround towers, indicated the factories which the trees half concealed;here and there mansions, similar to Crimsworth Hall, occupied agreeablesites on the hill-side; the country wore, on the whole, a cheerful,active, fertile look. Steam, trade, machinery had long banished fromit all romance and seclusion. At a distance of five miles, a valley,opening between the low hills, held in its cups the great town of X----.A dense, permanent vapour brooded over this locality--there lay Edward's"Concern."

  I forced my eye to scrutinize this prospect, I forced my mind to dwellon it for a time, and when I found that it communicated no pleasurableemotion to my heart--that it stirred in me none of the hopes a man oughtto feel, when he sees laid before him the scene of his life's career--Isaid to myself, "William, you are a rebel against circumstances; you area fool, and know not what you want; you have chosen trade and you shallbe a tradesman. Look!" I continued mentally--"Look at the sooty smoke inthat hollow, and know that there is your post! There you cannot dream,you cannot speculate and theorize--there you shall out and work!"

  Thus self-schooled, I returned to the house. My brother was in thebreakfast-room. I met him collectedly--I could not meet him cheerfully;he was standing on the rug, his back to the fire--how much did I read inthe expression of his eye as my glance encountered his, when I advancedto bid him good morning; how much that was contradictory to my nature!He said "Good morning" abruptly and nodded, and then he snatched, ratherthan took, a newspaper from the table, and began to read it with the airof a master who seizes a pretext to escape the bore of conversing withan underling. It was well I had taken a resolution to endure for a time,or his manner would have gone far to render insupportable the disgustI had just been endeavouring to subdue. I looked at him: I measured hisrobust frame and powerful proportions; I saw my own reflection in themirror over the mantel-piece; I amused myself with comparing the twopictures. In face I resembled him, though I was not so handsome; myfeatures were less regular; I had a darker eye, and a broader brow--inform I was greatly inferior--thinner, slighter, not so tall. As ananimal, Edward excelled me far; should he prove as paramount in mindas in person I must be a slave--for I must expect from him no lion-likegenerosity to one weaker than himself; his cold, avaricious eye, hisstern, forbidding manner told me he would not spare. Had I then force ofmind to cope with him? I did not know; I had never been tried.

  Mrs. Crimsworth's entrance diverted my thoughts for a moment. She lookedwell, dressed in white, her face and her attire shining in morningand bridal freshness. I addressed her with the degree of ease her lastnight's careless gaiety seemed to warrant, but she replied with coolnessand restraint: her husband had tutored her; she was not to be toofamiliar with his clerk.

  As soon as breakfast was over Mr. Crimsworth intimated to me that theywere bringing the gig round to the door, and that in five minutes heshould expect me to be ready to go down with him to X----. I did notkeep him waiting; we were soon dashing at a rapid rate along theroad. The horse he drove was the same vicious animal about which Mrs.Crimsworth had expressed her fears the night before. Once or twiceJack seemed disposed to turn restive, but a vigorous and determinedapplication of the whip from the ruthless hand of his master sooncompelled him to submission, and Edward's dilated nostril expressed histriumph in the result of the contest; he scarcely spoke to me during thewhole of the brief drive, only opening his lips at intervals to damn hishorse.

  X---- was all stir and bustle when we entered it; we left the cleanstreets where there were dwelling-houses and shops, churches, and publicbuildings; we left all these, and turned down to a region of mills andwarehouses; thence we passed through two massive gates into a greatpaved yard, and we were in Bigben Close, and the mill was before us,vomiting soot from its long chimney, and quivering through its thickbrick walls with the commotion of its iron bowels. Workpeople werepassing to and fro; a waggon was being laden with pieces. Mr. Crimsworthlooked from side to side, and seemed at one glance to comprehend allthat was going on he alighted, and leaving his horse and gig to thecare of a man who hastened to take the reins from his hand, he bid mefollow him to the counting-house. We entered it; a very different placefrom the parlours of Crimsworth Hall--a place for business, with a bare,planked floor, a safe, two high desks and stools, and some chairs. Aperson was seated at one of the desks, who took off his square cap whenMr. Crimsworth entered, and in an instant was again absorbed in hisoccupation of writing or calculating--I know not which.

  Mr. Crimsworth, having removed his mackintosh, sat down by the fire. Iremained standing near the hearth; he said presently--

  "Steighton, you may leave the room; I have some business to transactwith this gentleman. Come back when you hear the bell."

  The individual at the desk rose and departed, closing the door as hewent out. Mr. Crimsworth stirred the fire, then folded his arms, and sata moment thinking, his lips compressed, his brow knit. I had nothing todo but to watch him--how well his features were cut! what a handsome manhe was! Whence, then, came that air of contraction--that narrow and hardaspect on his forehead, in all his lineaments?

  Turning to me he began abruptly:

  "You are come down to ----shire to learn to be a tradesman?"

  "Yes, I am."

  "Have you made up your mind on the point? Let me know that at once."

  "Yes."

  "Well, I am not bound to help you, but I have a place here vacant, ifyou are qualified for it. I will take you on trial. What can you do? Doyou know anything besides that useless trash of college learning--Greek,Latin, and so forth?"

  "I have studied mathematics."

  "Stuff! I dare say you have."

  "I can read and write French and German."

  "Hum!" He reflected a moment, then opening a drawer in a desk near himtook out a letter, and gave it to me.

  "Can you read that?" he asked.

  It was a German commercial letter; I translated it; I could not tellwhether he was gratified or not--his countenance remained fixed.

  "It is well," he said, after a pause, "that you are acquainted withsomething useful, something that may enable you to earn your board andlodging: since you know French and German, I will take you as secondclerk to manage the foreign correspondence of the house. I shall giveyou a good salary--90l. a year--and now," he continued, raising hisvoice, "hear once for all what I have to say about our relationship, andall that sort of humbug! I must have no nonsense on that point; itwould never suit me. I shall excuse you nothing on the plea of being mybrother; if I find you stupid, negligent, dissipated, idle, or possessedof any faults detrimental to the interests of the house, I shall dismissyou as I would any other clerk. Ninety pounds a year are good wages, andI expect to have the full value of my money out of you; remember,too, that things are on a practical footing in myestablishment--business-like habits, feelings, and ideas, suit me best.Do you understand?"

  "Partly," I replied. "I suppose you mean that I am to do my work for mywages; not to expect favour from you, and not to depend on you for anyhelp but what I earn; that suits me exactly, and on these terms I willconsent to be your clerk."

  I turned on my heel, and walked to the window; this time I did notconsult his face to learn his opinion: what it was I do not know, nordid I then care. After a silence of some minutes he recommenced:--

  "You perhaps expect to be accommodated with apartments at CrimsworthHall, and to go and come with me in the gig. I wish you, however, to beaware that such an arrangement would be quite inconvenient
to me. Ilike to have the seat in my gig at liberty for any gentleman whom forbusiness reasons I may wish to take down to the hall for a night or so.You will seek out lodgings in X----."

  Quitting the window, I walked back to the hearth.

  "Of course I shall seek out lodgings in X----," I answered. "It wouldnot suit me either to lodge at Crimsworth Hall."

  My tone was quiet. I always speak quietly. Yet Mr. Crimsworth's blue eyebecame incensed; he took his revenge rather oddly. Turning to me he saidbluntly--

  "You are poor enough, I suppose; how do you expect to live till yourquarter's salary becomes due?"

  "I shall get on," said I.

  "How do you expect to live?" he repeated in a louder voice.

  "As I can, Mr. Crimsworth."

  "Get into debt at your peril! that's all," he answered. "For aught Iknow you may have extravagant aristocratic habits: if you have, dropthem; I tolerate nothing of the sort here, and I will never give you ashilling extra, whatever liabilities you may incur--mind that."

  "Yes, Mr. Crimsworth, you will find I have a good memory."

  I said no more. I did not think the time was come for much parley. Ihad an instinctive feeling that it would be folly to let one's tempereffervesce often with such a man as Edward. I said to myself, "I willplace my cup under this continual dropping; it shall stand there stilland steady; when full, it will run over of itself--meantime patience.Two things are certain. I am capable of performing the work Mr.Crimsworth has set me; I can earn my wages conscientiously, and thosewages are sufficient to enable me to live. As to the fact of my brotherassuming towards me the bearing of a proud, harsh master, the fault ishis, not mine; and shall his injustice, his bad feeling, turn me at onceaside from the path I have chosen? No; at least, ere I deviate, I willadvance far enough to see whither my career tends. As yet I am onlypressing in at the entrance--a strait gate enough; it ought to have agood terminus." While I thus reasoned, Mr. Crimsworth rang a bell; hisfirst clerk, the individual dismissed previously to our conference,re-entered.

  "Mr. Steighton," said he, "show Mr. William the letters from Voss,Brothers, and give him English copies of the answers; he will translatethem."

  Mr. Steighton, a man of about thirty-five, with a face at once sly andheavy, hastened to execute this order; he laid the letters on thedesk, and I was soon seated at it, and engaged in rendering the Englishanswers into German. A sentiment of keen pleasure accompanied this firsteffort to earn my own living--a sentiment neither poisoned nor weakenedby the presence of the taskmaster, who stood and watched me for sometime as I wrote. I thought he was trying to read my character, but Ifelt as secure against his scrutiny as if I had had on a casque with thevisor down--or rather I showed him my countenance with the confidencethat one would show an unlearned man a letter written in Greek; he mightsee lines, and trace characters, but he could make nothing of them; mynature was not his nature, and its signs were to him like the words ofan unknown tongue. Ere long he turned away abruptly, as if baffled, andleft the counting-house; he returned to it but twice in the course ofthat day; each time he mixed and swallowed a glass of brandy-and-water,the materials for making which he extracted from a cupboard on one sideof the fireplace; having glanced at my translations--he could read bothFrench and German--he went out again in silence.