Henty Morgan.

CHAPTER II.

THE FAMILY OF HENTY SUFFER A REVERSE OF FORTUNE.

19

Thus gaily fleeted by my boyish years, and I should now soon have arrived at an age to make my appearance in the bank, for the purpose of commencing my probation in an under clerkship; when circumstances occurred which made a great change in the aspect of my fortunes.

It happened, about this time, that one of those commercial epidemics, since called panics, which periodically afflict the money-dealing part of the community, began to make its appearance. Public credit was getting very nervous, and there were symptoms of its speedily becoming paralysed altogether. My father, who unfortunately had papered half the county with his twenty-shilling imitation patterns, began to have his articles returned on hand, as no longer affording satisfaction to his customers; and he therefore found himself compelled to contract the sphere of his liberality. All this, I was old enough to know and understand; and no sooner was it perceived in the neighbourhood, than I heard of large sums being withdrawn from the bank, under various pretences. One person found himself suddenly in great want of his money, to invest it in an advantageous mortgage that had just offered itself to his notice; another desired to buy shares in a new gas company; a third thought of purchasing a swamp and forest in North America; whilst a fourth, a most careful man, was seized with a mania for sinking his capital in a shaft, or, in other words, sacrificing his cash in a mining speculation. The carpenters, builders, architects, and other speculators in brick and mortar, who had often realized, by means of my father's paper, the visions they had sketched on their own, finding no longer the same ready accommodation on a Saturday night, next joined the disaffected. Gradually the mistrust and discontent spread deeper and wider. The veteran one-pound notes, that had been literally worn out in the service, began to be looked upon with as much ingratitude as other veterans frequently are. The haberdasher demurred at receiving such ragged remuneration for his silks and satins, and the grocer ignominiously refused them credit for tea and sugar. In short, they were totally discomfited; and, in deplorable plight, they continually kept returning as invalids, in little detachments of threes, fives, and tens, all seeking to be superseded. But their final disgrace was yet to be achieved, and soon enough it happened.

Early on the morning of one market day, the banking-house was beset by a crowd, like that at the door of one of our great

Metropolitan play-houses during the run of any great theatrical attraction. This motley assemblage of farmers, shopkeepers, mechanics, market-women, clerks, labourers, butchers' boys, millers and blacksmiths, was increased every moment by fresh reinforcements from all parts of the neighbourhood. The deep buzz of so many anxious individuals, was at first interrupted only now and then by a squabble for a place near the door, or a shout of impatience for the work of ruination to begin. But the tumult gradually increased. "Open the door, and pay your debts"" take back your dirty rags "-" no whitey-brown paper" such cries as these, mingled with curses, expressed the ill feelings of the multitude; whilst a pack of mischievous little tatter demallions, who had just sense enough to comprehend the cause of this unusual assemblage, and enough of human nature, not to be very much distressed at their neighbour's misfortunes, danced and capered round the throng in huge glee, singing to the tune of the Russian dance, a vulgar old song, of which the appropriate burden was, "I'd sooner have a guinea, than a one pound note." The mob itself, however, had hitherto discovered little inclination to exercise their risible faculties; yet one fellow, an Irish reaper, I think, did succeed in making them laugh. Holding up one of the tattered dingy one-pound notes, that had been in circulation for years, he thus apostrophized it, as it fluttered between his finger and thumb in the wind:-" Bad luck to 'ye, ye dirty ragamuffin; if its your master's like ye, divel burn the whitewashing 'll do him a bit o' harm." This sally put his audience in good humour for a few moments; but they soon became more clamorous than ever; and had not the bank opened immediately as the market clock struck ten, I really believe that our creditors would have committed burglary. With tremendous uproar they pressed on, almost overpowering the resistance of two able-bodied constables, who surprised them inside the door, and who had been engaged for our protection. Here the firm were all found drawn up behind the counter ready to receive then, whilst I sat up at a high desk in a corner to witness the scene of our ruin. Painful as it was to us, to an indifferent spectator it might have afforded amusement to notice the various displays of character that it elicited. One rushed in in the highest state of nervous excitement, in the most violent trepidation for fear of being too late. He could hardly lay down or take up his money for the trembling of his hands; and he pushed, squeezed, and hurried off, as though he apprehended that we should take it away again, if he did not make haste. Another stalked in slow and silent, with a look of malicious triumph. Now and then an honest countryman, on receiving his exchange, would say,

"Thank 'ye kindly, gennlemen," adding in a tone of real concern," I be uncommon sorry, Mr. Morgan; be, upon my soul;" but he took his money for all that; whilst a churl of a farmer would, at the same time, gather up his notes and cash, and stuff them into his greasy canvas bag, with the sullen air of a man who has received a mortal affront. During all this the head of the firm, endeavouring in appearance to pass it all off as quite an easy matter, stood bowing, smiling, but silent all the while, and, like Midas, turning all he touched to gold. The clerks were even more collected. They were used to such things; for though they had never been ruined themselves, they had seen many who had. With an affectation of mighty promtitude, they flung their hands over the counter to receive the checks and notes presented to them, though they availed themselves of every justifiable delay, by scrutinizing the signatures, holding them up to the light, and carefully smoothing them down, before they told out the money in return. In doing this, they sometimes had their revenge on the presenters, for at the time I am speaking of, the coinage was in such a state that it was impossible to take up a pound's worth of change in a hurry without cutting your fingers. But even thus, it could not last for ever. The next day the same scene was enacted; the same rush; fresh bands of harpies. No succours arrived, and at two o'clock the shutters were put up, the door forcibly closed against the press, and the bank declared to have stopped payment. This announcement was received by the greedy throng without with a yell of consternation. Cries, curses, groans and hisses, mingled in terrific discord, and the threats of pulling down the house were followed by a volley of stones, which did such execution on the windows, as but a week before would have made the town glazier's heart leap for joy. My father, who had screwed up his nerves to the last, was at length overpowered by the exertions he had used. He was conveyed to his bed, where he was attacked by a nervous fever; during which my mother, with that tenderness, heroism, and fortitude, which so often distinguish individuals of her sex, nursed him in his sick room, met his creditors elsewhere, and, taking upon herself the arrangemont of all the melancholy business that follows such a catastrophe as that which we had just experienced, disposed of every valuable in her possession to satisfy the legal claimants. In the meantime, the agents of the law had been equally active; so that when my father at length became able to move, after his lingering illness, it was to discover that, with the exception of his family, these worthy gentry had left him little else than the house, which was too heavy to carry away.

THE FAMILY CHANGE THEIR RESIDENCE, AND OF THE ASSISTANCE THEY RECEIVED ON THAT OCCASION.

Behold us now, in vulgar phrase, "done up." There was, however, much comfort in my father's recovery, that is to say, as far as mere bodily health was concerned; but when he shewed himself abroad after his illness, we found that, in consequence of the shock he had received, so great an alteration had taken place in his appearance, that the very best of his former friends failed to recognize him. The consequences of infection had extended to others also; for no one seemed to know me or my mother either. Thinking, therefore, that it would be a great pity to remain in a place where we should be continually liable to the uncomfortable delusion of accosting, as familiar acquaintances, persons, who, by their own shewing, were utter strangers to us, my parents thought it best to take the earliest opportunity of quitting our present residence entirely, and endeavouring to gain an humble livelihood elsewhere.

On calculating our resources, it was found, that with the strictest frugality, we might subsist on a small income secured to my mother, but which would expire at her decease; and that, with the wrecks of my father's property, a sufficient stock might be purchased to commence a small business. Accordingly, we began to seek, among the numerous eligible offers that presented themselves in the newspapers, for something that might suit us. Whenever we read of "desirable premises, advantageously situated in the heart of a populous neighbourhood, and now doing a capital stroke of business, quitted solely on account of ill health;" or of "a capital opportunity afforded to an industrious couple to lay out their money to advantage," thitherward we bent our inquiries. At last we fixed upon a decent shop, for to nothing more could our fortunes now aspire, in an obscure street in the west end of London, and there we established ourselves.

Our heartiest and most useful assistant, on this occasion, was the honest German, who had in better days instructed me in music, and who had received some benefits from my father, which his grateful heart had never forgotten. His present situation as a musician in the band of one of the household regiments, as well as an engagement also at one of the great theatres, made London his residence. On our first arrival, we paid him a visit in his little lodgings, where we found him, in full uniform, tenderly feeding his youngest born infant on his knee. We immediately discerned from his countenance that he was acquainted with the altered position of our affairs; and when my father,

taking his hand, said, half gaily, half sorrowfully, "Well, Mr. Schuster, I suppose you have heard that I am not so rich a man as I was;" he replied in his very best English, "Yes, Meister Morecan, I heerd off, but I hoped as it no drue ware ;" and as he said this, the kind, honest fellow, squeezed my father's hand, and pressed me affectionately to his side, while a tear slowly trickled down his cheek. Nor did he confine his sympathy to mere demonstrations of good feeling. He volunteered his personal exertions to aid us and save us expense; and, indeed, in fixing ourselves, as the Americans say, we were very sensible of the value of such services as were afforded by an able-bodied fellow labourer, who stood six feet two without his shoes, and was stout in proportion. Whilst my mother was busied in arranging and settling for our future frugal mode of living, for there were no discount birds now; and whilst my father, assisted by me, prepared for opening shop, words which mortified my pride excessively, our friend Schuster worked, as they say, like a Turk, or rather, if travellers tell truth, considerably better. He unloaded packages with the strength of a porter, put up our beds, and nailed cur shelves, with the skill of a carpenter; and, had not my mother stoutly insisted to the contrary, would, with his own hands, have whitewashed the kitchen ceiling, and painted the

street door.

CHAPTER IV.

HENTY'S IDLENESS: A SITUATION PRESENTS ITSELF HIS FIRST INTERVIEW WITH HIS EMPLOYER.

Our new business succeeded but poorly; and we lived in solitary guise amongst our nearest neighbours. My father, long accustomed to travel in somewhat dashing style along the high road to fortune, hesitated now at every step he was obliged to make in the dirty little bye-paths, along which the petty dealers around him grubbed on without either check or delicacy. At the same time our spirits were not yet brought down to the level of our station, and our reminiscences were anything but likely to reconcile us to intimate association with persons, who, both from education and pursuits, were imbued with opinions and habits most uncongenial with our own. For myself, in particular, want of books precluded me from prosecuting any of my former studies, and want of customers in sufficient number rendered my assistance in business superfluous; and, therefore, at this period, my life was, I fear, a sad idle one. It is true, that with the assistance of our good friend Schuster,