John Leech, His Life and Work. Vol. 1 [of 2]Frith, William Powell
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John Leech, His Life and Work. Vol. 1 [of 2]
Frith, William Powell
Leech, John, 1817-1864
"The man of money looked at Candytuft with a contemptuous sneer, and
with a wrench twisted his hand away. He then dropped into a chair, and a
strange, diabolical scowl possessed his countenance. The man of money
looked like a devil.
"'And where--where do you think this money is to come from? Where?'
asked Jericho, and he rose from his chair, and it seemed as though the
demon possessing him would compel the wretch to talk--would compel him
to make terrible revelations. Each word he uttered was born of agony.
But there he stood, forced to give utterances that tortured him. 'I will
tell you,' roared Jericho, 'what this money is. Look about you! What do
you see?--fine pictures, fine everything. Why, you see me--tortured,
torn, worked up, changed. The walls are hung with my flesh--my flesh you
walk upon. I am worn piecemeal by a hundred thieves, but I'll be shared
among them no longer.'"
By this time the girls and Sir Arthur Homadod, alarmed by the cries of
Jericho, had entered the room.
"'And you had a fine feast, had you not?' cried the possessed man of
money, writhing with misery and howling his confession. 'And what did
you eat?--my flesh. What did you drink?--my blood!'"
It would be impossible to imagine a more satisfactory realization of
this powerful scene than Leech's rendering of it. The shrinking figure
of Candytuft as he retreats before the fury of the moneyed man; the
awful passion of the shrivelled Jericho; above all, the vacuous
expression of Sir Arthur, all are done to perfection and without
exaggeration. Beyond the endeavour to make the meaning of the
illustrations in the "Man made of Money" clear to my readers, I have
little or nothing to do with the story. I may note, however, that young
Basil Pennibacker falls in love with Bessy, the pretty daughter of the
ruined merchant Carraway, and that bold bankrupt, who is about to seek a
new fortune at the Antipodes, calls upon Jericho to ask his consent to
his stepson's marriage. How the announcement of the engagement was
received may be imagined, or if my reader be not satisfied with his idea
of what may have taken place, he can read in Mr. Jerrold's book how Mr.
Carraway was met by his old friend. He will also find an illustration of
an interview between "The Pauper and the Man of Money," but as I do not
think it quite worthy of Leech, I do not reproduce it. I may as well add
that Basil--who turns out to be a very good fellow--does marry Bessy,
and the happy pair, with the parent pair of Carraways, depart for
Australia in the good ship _Halcyon_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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