I suppose that there are few things more demoralising to an assimilative mind than the association with places of a demoralising tendency. Which I do not intend as a profound remark, but as the fruit of actual experience. At any rate I know that when I first entered the Court, I felt a profound pity for the listless, hopeless, slouching-looking figures I saw haunting its purlieus. But when I went up this morning, for my preliminary examination, I felt as listless, hopeless, and slouching as any of them—I had in the great army of the , and no matter how void of offence my conscience might be, in that I had not or in extravagance any man, the of debt, the virus of unutterable meanness which makes the Chinese commit suicide, bowed my head, rounded my shoulders, and robbed me of my self-respect.
I only had to wait about two hours this morning before my turn came on. When it did, and I was summoned to stand before an inquisitor, I received a sudden shock. For, , the [Pg 236]Rhadamanthus to whom I must unveil my most secret sorrows and troubles was a young man whom I had often seen coming up Victoria Street with a similar individual, and had from the depths of my soul. His was immaculate as regards the latest fashion, his collar as high as human endurance would permit, his trousers in exactly the right line, turned up to exactly the proper height; he slouched at exactly the angle prescribed by his class (or the class to which he wished to appear to belong), and, crowning , he wore a monocle in his left eye. Altogether a "Johnny" of the Johnniest. And he was my inquisitor!
He took several huge sheets of paper (printed forms of course), and began what I saw was a set of questions with a bored air and yet an unpersonal way with him, almost as if he were addressing a penny-in-the-slot machine, which was rather helpful. I was a long time before him, and I answered his questions to the best of my ability, but often I fear with a desire to get the examination over rather than with any keen attention to accuracy. It was a curious business altogether, perfunctory in the extreme, and I had then no idea what my answers would be used for. I learned later.
When released I sought my faithful friend, who advised me to get home with all speed, for that an official would call upon me that afternoon, and it would be well that I should meet him. So I[Pg 237] returned with haste, reaching home a long time before the individual indicated. I must say I awaited him with considerable , for I gathered that he would be of much the same character as several of the same class I had sorrowfully made acquaintance with before.
This is not the least of the sorrows which the poor, the manner in which their goods are distrained upon for a small debt, and furniture honestly worth twenty times the sum due is taken, and I was going to say sold—but it is never sold then, it is given away to a gang of heartless , who make it their business to upon the robbery of the poor within the law. In my case, however, there was no fear that they would take more than I owed. My furniture had cost me well over £100, and the two counters in the shop would easily have sold for £10, but I doubt if the whole of my put together could, even if sold in a shop to the public, have been made to realise more than £30. It was not good furniture when I bought it, and though some of it was not now very old, it stood revealed as what it was, shoddy-built, of unseasoned wood, instead of polished, upholstered with American cloth or , and stuffed with unclassable rubbish.
My visitor arrived at about three o'clock, and to my relief he was quite a respectable and civil man. He quietly announced his errand as if it was a duty he[Pg 238] was sorry to perform, and therefore I hastened to assure him that I could readily dissociate a man from his employment. Thus his work went on very , and was exceedingly soon over. Then he closed his book and turning to me said, "You haven't got much." I smiled , and made no reply for obvious reasons. Then he went on to inform me that although he was an appraiser of the Court his was only taken for the official purpose of checking the accounts of the firm to whom they would presently assign the task of with it. And bade me a good day, leaving me wishing that the whole degrading business was over.
Still I must say in strict justice that so far as it had gone, and remembering the immense number of formalities to be gone through, there had been scarcely any delay, but that I think was largely due to my personal interest in the matter and the energy I put into it. And now I was, all unknowing, come nearly to the end of the business as far as my comfort and relief was concerned. I had one more quiet Sunday at the shop, spent in the usual way, and on Monday morning there arrived a man like a costermonger of the better class out for a holiday—one of those men who are born , whom to look at is to laugh, unless one is so sour or so sad that laughter is an impossibility. My very heart warmed to him, and when I found that he represented the firm of auctioneers, who were to deal with my chattels, I[Pg 239] felt quite relieved, though I could not then have known any reason why I should be.
He was exceedingly and swift in all his movements, so that before I had realised that he had been through one room, he was me into the shop with a comic and an air of mystery. When I came up to him smiling in spite of myself, he said in a whisper, "Now, look y'ere, Guvnor, 'ow much yer goin' ter bid fer this little lot?" and he his brows upon me in a funny frown. I stared at him blankly, and then out, "I—I don't know what you mean." "Ow, you don't, don't yer. Well, I'll 'splaint yer. If I sen's one of our vans daown 'ere, and clears your sticks aht, we cawn't tike the trouble t' sell'em orf bit by bit. 'Taint likely. Theyn't worf it. Nah, wot we sh'll do is ter sen rahnd t'one of ahr small Jew 'angers on, an' sye, 'Nah then, Moses or Abrams or Jyecob, as the kise mye be, wot yer givin' t' clear aht this little lot.' An' it's six ter four that we tikes 'is fust orfer, 'cause it don't matter t' us a bit on a little job like that, we gets the same commishun. Now, I mean that ter prevent that there kerlamity 'appenin' t'yer, you mike a bid for 'em yerself, an' you tike it strite from me that if your bid is anythin' over rubbish price ahr Guvnor 'll jump at it, syevin the trouble er tikin' it awye too an' all."
My brain, working furiously, had absorbed his whole meaning and every possible avenue of raising any more money by the time he had done[Pg 240] speaking. And I shook my head, sadly murmuring, "It's no use. I'm most grateful to you for giving me this opportunity of saving my poor bits of goods, but I exhausted all my friend's means raising the money for the Court fees. I don't believe I could raise another sovereign to save my life." "P'raps not," returned he drily. "An' yet you might ter syve yer sticks. Nah once more, 'cause I got ter be movin', got arf dozen jobs on ter dye, you jist dig out like all ter dye. Say you will 'ave a bit a ter sive that there poor little 'ome from bein' broke up, an' bring it, wotever it is, up t' th' orfice termorrow mornin' ten o'clock. I sh'll be there, an' I promise yer thet if it's anywheres near the mark the Guvnor 'll tike it. G'mornin,' keep yer chivvy up," and he was gone, whistling like a thrush, bless him.
While I stood there dazed, who should burst in, as was his custom, but my chum Bob from next door. I have said little of him lately, but indeed nothing could exceed the comfort that his cheery presence and sympathy had been all through this trying time. With money he could not help me, for he had but a very small salary, every penny of which he needed for the maintenance of his mother and himself; but he did what was even better at this time, he gave me himself, gave up such recreations as he had after his long day's to come and talk over my affairs, and try to devise ways of bettering them. Now he came up to me with a rush, saying,[Pg 241] "Hullo, old boy, how's things? you look as if you'd had a knock."
Gratefully I turned to him, and in a few minutes he was in possession of the situation. He considered deeply for a little, and then said , "I think I see a light. How many pictures have you got ready for sale? I gave him the number," showed him the best of them, and he went on: "Will you let me try and sell 'em for you to-night, getting what I can for 'em?" Of course I gladly , as drowning men catch at straws, and salved my conscience for the dishonesty by the reflection that the transaction was really far more beneficial to my , to say nothing of myself, than the clearing of them out by the Jew spoken of by my late visitor could possibly be.
"That's all right then," he said; "now you get 'em all ready, an' as soon as I can get off, I'll 'em round." He secured leave from his duties, and began a circuit of his friends, and after making several visits to the shop for more pictures he came in at last about ten o'clock tired but , and slapped down £5. 19s. on the table. I felt so glad I had a bit of supper ready for him, as I had nothing to do but cook, for he was almost with hunger. With great glee, he recounted his experiences, how he had , cajoled, , his friends into buying the pictures they had so long seen in my shop window, taking large discounts for ready money, but he did not tell[Pg 242] me, nor did I discover until long afterwards, that he had borrowed nearly £2. 10s. of the money, and bought three pictures himself, for my sake, which he didn't want, and certainly could not afford. But then that was his idea of being a chum.
It was only now that I permitted myself to realise how wretched would have been my lot had it not been for those avenues of escape, illegal as they were. To have been stripped of every article of furniture, and turned with my young family into an empty house, with no credit, and without as far as I could see at present more than sufficient money than would buy the most necessary articles of food allowed me out of the wages I was earning, cannot be regarded in any other light than that of a severe penalty for being a bad business man. Yet such was the law, and it was only by or . There can, I think, be no doubt of the badness of the law which crushes those who obey it honestly, but permits itself to be rendered with the utmost ease and by any who are dishonest. , more, which tacitly invites and fosters dishonesty and falsehood to such an extent that I am sure no decent man can ever go through the process of being made a bankrupt without having deep scars left in his soul.
But although my present relief was great, and I consequently felt much happier, I was by no means upon secure ground as yet. Therefore, I was exceedingly impatient when morning came to be off to the city with my precious little . I was outside the office some time before the clock struck, and at the earliest possible moment I was inside, much to the disgust of the first arrivals, who resented my punctuality. My friend of the previous day was there, cutting jokes with all and except me, whom he seemed to regard as a piece of furniture which had accidentally got left in the office, by which I gathered correctly that he did not want to be recognised by me.
Presently a clerk came towards me and said with a lowering face, "Who di............