Civil service -- Fiction; London (England) -- Fiction
As they made their way to the house in Lombard Street which Mr. M'Ruen
honoured by his account, Charley insisted on knowing how much he was to
have for the bill. Jabesh suggested £3 10s.; Charley swore he would take
nothing less than £8; but by the time they had arrived at the bank, it
had been settled that £5 was to be paid in cash, and that Charley was
to have the three Seasons for the balance whenever he chose to send for
them. When Charley, as he did at first, positively refused to accede
to these terms, Mr. M'Ruen tendered him back the bill, and reminded
him with a plaintive voice that he was so unpunctual, so extremely
unpunctual.
Having reached the bank, which the money-lender insisted on Charley
entering with him, Mr. M'Ruen gave the cheque across the counter, and
wrote on the back of it the form in which he would take the money,
whereupon a note and five sovereigns were handed to him. The cheque
was for £15, and was payable to C. Tudor, Esq., so that proof might be
forthcoming at a future time, if necessary, that he had given to his
customer full value for the bill. Then in the outer hall of the bank,
unseen by the clerks, he put, one after another, slowly and unwillingly,
four sovereigns into Charley's hand.
'The other--where's the other?' said Charley.
Jabesh smiled sweetly and twisted his head.
'Come, give me the other,' said Charley roughly.
'Four is quite enough, quite enough for what you want; and remember my
time, Mr. Tudor; you should remember my time.'
'Give me the other sovereign,' said Charley, taking hold of the front of
his coat.
'Well, well, you shall have ten shillings; but I want the rest for a
purpose.'
'Give me the sovereign,' said Charley, 'or I'll drag you in before them
all in the bank and expose you; give me the other sovereign, I say.'
'Ha, ha, ha!' laughed Mr. M'Ruen; 'I thought you liked a joke, Mr.
Tudor. Well, here it is. And now do be punctual, pray do be punctual,
and I'll do anything I can for you.'
And then they parted, Charley going westward towards his own haunts, and
M'Ruen following his daily pursuits in the city.
Charley had engaged to pull up to Avis's at Putney with Harry Norman,
to dine there, take a country walk, and row back in the cool of the
evening; and he had promised to call at the Weights and Measures with
that object punctually at five.
'You can get away in time for that, I suppose,' said Harry.
'Well, I'll try and manage it,' said Charley, laughing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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