IS CHIEFLY DEVOTED TO MATTERS OFBUSINESS, AND THE TEMPORAL ADVANTAGEOF DODSON AND FOGG―Mr. WINKLEREAPPEARS UNDER EXTRAORDINARYCIRCUMSTANCES―Mr. PICKWICK’SBENEVOLENCE PROVES STRONGER THANHIS OBSTINACYob Trotter, abating nothing of his speed, ran up Holborn,sometimes in the middle of the road, sometimes on thepavement, sometimes in the gutter, as the chances of gettingalong varied with the press of men, women, children, and coaches,in each division of the thoroughfare, and, regardless of allobstacles stopped not for an instant until he reached the gate ofGray’s Inn. Notwithstanding all the expedition he had used,however, the gate had been closed a good half-hour when hereached it, and by the time he had discovered Mr. Perker’slaundress, who lived with a married daughter, who had bestowedher hand upon a non-resident waiter, who occupied the one-pairof some number in some street closely adjoining to some brewerysomewhere behind Gray’s Inn Lane, it was within fifteen minutesof closing the prison for the night. Mr. Lowten had still to beferreted out from the back parlour of the Magpie and Stump; andJob had scarcely accomplished this object, and communicatedSam Weller’s message, when the clock struck ten.
‘There,’ said Lowten, ‘it’s too late now. You can’t get in to-night;you’ve got the key of the street, my friend.’
‘Never mind me,’ replied Job. ‘I can sleep anywhere. But won’tit be better to see Mr. Perker to-night, so that we may be there, thefirst thing in the morning?’
‘Why,’ responded Lowten, after a little consideration, ‘if it wasin anybody else’s case, Perker wouldn’t be best pleased at mygoing up to his house; but as it’s Mr. Pickwick’s, I think I mayventure to take a cab and charge it to the office.’ Deciding on thisline of conduct, Mr. Lowten took up his hat, and begging theassembled company to appoint a deputy-chairman during histemporary absence, led the way to the nearest coach-stand.
Summoning the cab of most promising appearance, he directedthe driver to repair to Montague Place, Russell Square.
Mr. Perker had had a dinner-party that day, as was testified bythe appearance of lights in the drawing-room windows, the soundof an improved grand piano, and an improvable cabinet voiceissuing therefrom, and a rather overpowering smell of meat whichpervaded the steps and entry. In fact, a couple of very goodcountry agencies happening to come up to town, at the same time,an agreeable little party had been got together to meet them,comprising Mr. Snicks, the Life Office Secretary, Mr. Prosee, theeminent counsel, three solicitors, one commissioner of bankrupts,a special pleader from the Temple, a small-eyed peremptoryyoung gentleman, his pupil, who had written a lively book aboutthe law of demises, with a vast quantity of marginal notes andreferences; and several other eminent and distinguishedpersonages. From this society, little Mr. Perker detached himself,on his clerk being announced in a whisper; and repairing to thedining-room, there found Mr. Lowten and Job Trotter lookingvery dim and shadowy by the light of a kitchen candle, which thegentleman who condescended to appear in plush shorts andcottons for a quarterly stipend, had, with a becoming contempt forthe clerk and all things appertaining to ‘the office,’ placed uponthe table.
‘Now, Lowten,’ said little Mr. Perker, shutting the door, ‘what’sthe matter? No important letter come in a parcel, is there?’
‘No, sir,’ replied Lowten. ‘This is a messenger from Mr.
Pickwick, sir.’
‘From Pickwick, eh?’ said the little man, turning quickly to Job.
‘Well, what is it?’
‘Dodson and Fogg have taken Mrs. Bardell in execution for hercosts, sir,’ said Job.
‘No!’ exclaimed Perker, putting his hands in his pockets, andreclining against the sideboard.
‘Yes,’ said Job. ‘It seems they got a cognovit out of her, for theamount of ’em, directly after the trial.’
‘By Jove!’ said Perker, taking both hands out of his pockets,and striking the knuckles of his right against the palm of his left,emphatically, ‘those are the cleverest scamps I ever had anythingto do with!’
‘The sharpest practitioners I ever knew, sir,’ observed Lowten.
‘Sharp!’ echoed Perker. ‘There’s no knowing where to havethem.’
‘Very true, sir, there is not,’ replied Lowten; and then, bothmaster and man pondered for a few seconds, with animatedcountenances, as if they were reflecting upon one of the mostbeautiful and ingenious discoveries that the intellect of man hadever made. When they had in some measure recovered from theirtrance of admiration, Job Trotter discharged himself of the rest ofhis commission. Perker nodded his head thoughtfully, and pulledout his watch.
‘At ten precisely, I will be there,’ said the little man. ‘Sam isquite right. Tell him so. Will you take a glass of wine, Lowten?’
‘No, thank you, sir.’
‘You mean yes, I think,’ said the little man, turning to thesideboard for a decanter and glasses.
As Lowten did mean yes, he said no more on the subject, butinquired of Job, in an audible whisper, whether the portrait ofPerker, which hung opposite the fireplace, wasn’t a wonderfullikeness, to which Job of course replied that it was. The wine beingby this time poured out, Lowten drank to Mrs. Perker and thechildren, and Job to Perker. The gentleman in the plush shortsand cottons considering it no part of his duty to show the peoplefrom the office out, consistently declined to answer the bell, andthey showed themselves out. The attorney betook himself to hisdrawing-room, the clerk to the Magpie and Stump, and Job toCovent Garden Market to spend the night in a vegetable basket.
Punctually at the appointed hour next morning, the good-humoured little attorney tapped at Mr. Pickwick’s door, which wasopened with great alacrity by Sam Weller.
‘Mr. Perker, sir,’ said Sam, announcing the visitor to Mr.
Pickwick, who was sitting at the window in a thoughtful attitude.
‘Wery glad you’ve looked in accidentally, sir. I rather think thegov’nor wants to have a word and a half with you, sir.’
Perker bestowed a look of intelligence on Sam, intimating thathe understood he was not to say he had been sent for; andbeckoning him to approach, whispered briefly in his ear.
‘You don’t mean that ’ere, sir?’ said Sam, starting back inexcessive surprise.
Perker nodded and smiled.
Mr. Samuel Weller looked at the little lawyer, then at Mr.
Pickwick, then at the ceiling, then at Perker again; grinned,laughed outright, and finally, catching up his hat from the carpet,without further explanation, disappeared.
‘What does this mean?’ inquired Mr. Pickwick, looking atPerker with astonishment. ‘What has put Sam into thisextraordinary state?’
‘Oh, nothing, nothing,’ replied Perker. ‘Come, my dear sir, drawup your chair to the table. I have a good deal to say to you.’
‘What papers are those?’ inquired Mr. Pickwick, as the littleman deposited on the table a small bundle of documents tied withred tape.
‘The papers in Bardell and Pickwick,’ replied Perker, undoingthe knot with his teeth.
Mr. Pickwick grated the legs of his chair against the ground;and throwing himself into it, folded his hands and looked sternly―if Mr. Pickwick ever could look sternly―at his legal friend.
‘You don’t like to hear the name of the cause?’ said the littleman, still busying himself with the knot.
‘No, I do not indeed,’ replied Mr. Pickwick.
‘Sorry for that,’ resumed Perker, ‘because it will form thesubject of our conversation.’
‘I would rather that the subject should be never mentionedbetween us, Perker,’ interposed Mr. Pickwick hastily.
‘Pooh, pooh, my dear sir,’ said the little man, untying the bundle, and glancing eagerly at Mr. Pickwick out of the corners ofhis eyes. ‘It must be mentioned. I have come here on purpose.
Now, are you ready to hear what I have to say, my dear sir? Nohurry; if you are not, I can wait. I have this morning’s paper here.
Your time shall be mine. There!’ Hereupon, the little man threwone leg over the other, and made a show of beginning to read withgreat composure and application.
‘Well, well,’ said Mr. Pickwick, with a sigh, but softening into asmile at the same time. ‘Say what you have to say; it’s the oldstory, I suppose?’
‘With a difference, my dear sir; with a difference,’ rejoinedPerker, deliberately folding up the paper and putting it into hispocket again. ‘Mrs. Bardell, the plaintiff in the action, is withinthese walls, sir.’
‘I know it,’ was Mr. Pickwick’s reply,‘Very good,’ retorted Perker. ‘And you know how she comeshere, I suppose; I mean on what grounds, and at whose suit?’
‘Yes; at least I have heard Sam’s account of the matter,’ saidMr. Pickwick, with affected carelessness.
‘Sam’s account of the matter,’ replied Perker, ‘is, I will ventureto say, a perfectly correct one. Well now, my dear sir, the firstquestion I have to ask, is, whether this woman is to remain here?’
‘To remain here!’ echoed Mr. Pickwick.
‘To remain here, my dear sir,’ rejoined Perker, leaning back inhis chair and looking steadily at his client.
‘How can you ask me?’ said that gentleman. ‘It rests withDodson and Fogg; you know that very well.’
‘I know nothing of the kind,’ retorted Perker firmly. ‘It does notrest with Dodson and Fogg; you know the men, my dear sir, aswell as I do. It rests solely, wholly, and entirely with you.’
‘With me!’ ejaculated Mr. Pickwick, rising nervously from hischair, and reseating himself directly afterwards.
The little man gave a double-knock on the lid of his snuff-box,opened it, took a great pinch, shut it up again, and repeated thewords, ‘With you.’
‘I say, my dear sir,’ resumed the little man, who seemed togather confidence from the snuff―‘I say, that her speedyliberation or perpetual imprisonment rests with you, and with youalone. Hear me out, my dear sir, if you please, and do not be sovery energetic, for it will only put you into a perspiration and dono good whatever. I say,’ continued Perker, checking off eachposition on a different finger, as he laid it down―‘I say thatnobody but you can rescue her from this den of wretchedness; andthat you can only do that, by paying the costs of this suit―both ofplaintive and defendant―into the hands of these Freeman Courtsharks. Now pray be quiet, my dear sir.’
Mr. Pickwick, whose face had been undergoing most surprisingchanges during this speech, and was evidently on the verge of astrong burst of indignation, calmed his wrath as well as he could.
Perker, strengthening his argumentative powers with anotherpinch of snuff, proceeded―‘I have seen the woman, this morning. By paying the costs, youcan obtain a full release and discharge from the damages; andfurther―this I know is a far greater object of consideration withyou, my dear sir―a voluntary statement, under her hand, in theform of a letter to me, that this business was, from the very first,fomented, and encouraged, and brought about, by these men,Dodson and Fogg; that she deeply regrets ever having been theinstrument of annoyance or injury to you; and that she entreatsme to intercede with you, and implore your pardon.’
‘If I pay her costs for her,’ said Mr. Pickwick indignantly. ‘Avaluable document, indeed!’
‘No “if” in the case, my dear sir,’ said Perker triumphantly.
‘There is the very letter I speak of. Brought to my office by anotherwoman at nine o’clock this morning, before I had set foot in thisplace, or held any communication with Mrs. Bardell, upon myhonour.’ Selecting the letter from the bundle, the little lawyer laidit at Mr. Pickwick’s elbow, and took snuff for two consecutiveminutes, without winking.
‘Is this all you have to say to me?’ inquired Mr. Pickwick mildly.
‘Not quite,’ replied Perker. ‘I cannot undertake to say, at thismoment, whether the wording of the cognovit, the nature of theostensible consideration, and the proof we can get together aboutthe whole conduct of the suit, will be sufficient to justify anindictment for conspiracy. I fear not, my dear sir; they are tooclever for that, I doubt. I do mean to say, however, that the wholefacts, taken together, will be sufficient to justify you, in the mindsof all reasonable men. And now, my dear sir, I put it to you. Thisone hundred and fifty pounds, or whatever it may be―take it inround numbers―is nothing to you. A jury had decided againstyou; well, their verdict is wrong, but still they decided as theythought right, and it is against you. You have now an opportunity,on easy terms, of placing yourself in a much higher position thanyou ever could, by remaining here; which would only be imputed,by people who didn’t know you, to sheer dogged, wrongheaded,brutal obstinacy; nothing else, my dear sir, believe me. Can youhesitate to avail yourself of it, when it restores you to your friends,your old pursuits, your health and amusements; when it liberatesyour faithful and attached servant, whom you otherwise doom toimprisonment for the whole of your life; and above all, when itenables you to take the very magnanimous revenge―which Iknow, my dear sir, is one after your own heart―of releasing thiswo............