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 'SMcTooT 
 
 UBRARY
 
 
 
 WITH TWELVE ILLUSTRATIONS ON STEEL 
 BY JOHN LEECH.
 
 LONDON : 
 I)RADnUl!\' AND KVAXS. PRINTERS, WHITKFRIAP.S.
 
 ^D^ * LIBRARY ':"i 
 
 Vf <K O tiNTVERSITY OF CALIPORl'JIA 1 
 
 J V M3 SANTA BARBARA = 
 
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 • '////• . ^7/// ;/
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 "Mr. Jekicho, when can you let me have some money ? " 
 This cm'ious question was coldlv put by a geiitlewoman in 
 morning uncbess to a man in gown and slippers. The reader, 
 who is always permitted to weai- the old cloak of the old stage 
 mysterj' — the cloak that maketh invisible — must at once perceive 
 the tender relation that lives and flourishes between the interest- 
 ing person who puts this familiar interrogative, and the being 
 who suffers it. They ai-e man and wife. The marriage certificate 
 is legible in every line of ]\Irs. Jericho's face. She asks for 
 money with a placid sense of right ; it may be, strengthened bv 
 the assurance that her debtor camiot escape her. For it is a 
 social truth the reader may not have overlooked, that if a man 
 be under his own roof, he must be at home to his own ■ndfe. 
 
 " I ask again, Mr. Jericho, when can you let me have some 
 money ?" 
 
 Ish. Jericho made no answer. He could not precisely name 
 the time ; and he knew that whatever promise he made, its per- 
 formance would be sternly exacted of him by the female then 
 demanding. Whereupon, Mr. Jericho laid dovni his pen, and 
 resignedly upturned his eyeballs to the ceiUng. 
 
 " When — can — you — let — me — have — some — money ?" 
 There is a terrible sort of tortiu-e, the manner of which is 
 to let fall cold water drop by drop upon the shaven head of
 
 2 A MAX MADE OF MONET. 
 
 the sufferer. We think Mrs. Jericho had never heard of this 
 cnielty ; and we are almost prepared to be bound for her, that 
 she would have suffered herself to be cut into little diamond 
 pieces ere, knowing the mode of torment, she would in any way 
 have imitated it. And upon her incorporate self too — her 
 beloved husband ! Impossible. Nevertheless love, in its very 
 idleness — like a giddy and rejoicing kitten — will sometimes 
 woimd when most playful. The tiny, tender claws will now and 
 then transgress the fur. 
 
 Mrs. Jericho, without at all meaning it, distilled the question, 
 letting it fall, cold syllable by cold syllable, upon the naked 
 ear of her husband. IMr. Jericho bounced up in his chair ; and 
 then, like a spent ball, dropt dumbly down again. He had for 
 a few moments raised himself above the earthy and material 
 query of ]\Irs. Jericho, and with his eyes fixed upon the ceil- 
 ing, was contemplating an antipodean fly that holding on with 
 the rest of his legs, was passing two of them over his head and 
 collar-bone, as flies are accustomed curiously to do. !Mr. Jericho 
 — so rapid is thought, especially when followed by a creditor — 
 Mr. Jericho had already taken refuge in the republic of flies — for 
 that flies, unlike bees, are not monarchical, is plain to any man 
 who contemplates their equality and familiarity in his sugar- 
 basin and other places — and was beginning to envy the condition 
 of that domestic insect that had the run of his house, the use of 
 his very finest furnitiu'e, gratis, — when he, the nominal master, the 
 apparent possessor thereof, had truly no lawful hold thereupon. 
 
 \Miat shall we say of a man of a decent and compact figure, a 
 man of middle height ; who nevertheless wishing to stand two 
 inches taller in the world than fairly beseems him, consents to 
 be stretched by the rack in the hope of walking the higher for 
 the pulling? — Now Mr. Jericho was this foolish man. He 
 wanted to stand higher in the world than his simple means 
 allowed him ; and he had submitted himself to the rack of debt, 
 to be handsomely drawn out. To get appearance upon debt is, 
 no doubt, every bit as comfortable as to get height \ipon the 
 rack. The figure may be expanded ; but how the muscle of 
 the heart, how all the joints are made to crack for it.
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 6 
 
 Mrs. Jericho — wlien last she spoke — di-opt her question in the 
 coldest, and most measured manner. Mr. Jericho, recalled from 
 the land of flies, with ciu'ved lips, looked silently, sternly at the 
 life-tenant of his bosom. And now the syllables fall hotly, 
 heavily, as drops of molten lead. 
 
 " When can I have some money?" and IVIrs. Jericho's figure 
 naturally rose with the question. 
 
 Mr. Jericho jumped from his seat the better to measiu'e 
 himself to his wife's attitude. His first pm'pose was to swear ; 
 the oath was ready ; but some good anatomical genius twitched 
 a muscle, the jaw of Jericho closed, and the unuttered aspick 
 died upon his tongue. He would not swear; he would not 
 enter upon that coward's privilege ; he felt the soreness of great 
 provocation ; felt that the smallest and least offensive oath woidd 
 do him sudden and mysterious good. Nevertheless, he swal- 
 lowed the emotion, striking his breast to keep the passion down. 
 He would be cold as cream. 
 
 Mrs. Jericho, however, having the right of arithmetic upon 
 her side, repeated her question ; asking it with a temble calm- 
 ness, at the same time, as though to make the query stinging, 
 waving her right hand before her husband's face, with a signi- 
 ficant and snaky motion. — "When can I have some money? " 
 
 "Woman!" cried Jericho, vehemently; as though at once 
 and for ever he had emptied his heart of the sex ; and, rushing 
 from the room, he felt himself in the flattering vivacity of the 
 moment a single man. The transient feeling fell from him as 
 he ran up stairs ; and ere he had begun to shave, all his respon- 
 sibilities returned with full weight upon him. " I 'm sure, after 
 all, I do my best to love the woman," thought Jericho, as he 
 lathered his chin, " and yet she will ask for money." 
 
 Mjs. Jericho, baffled but not subdued, half-confessed to her- 
 self that there never was such a man ; and then, beginning a 
 little household song — famihar to families as winter robin — she 
 thought she would go out. She wanted to make a little pur- 
 chase. She had tried it before ; there was nothing like shopping 
 for lowness of spti-its ; and — yes, she remembered — she wanted 
 
 b2
 
 4 A MAN MADE OF MONET. 
 
 many things. She would go forth ; and — as Jericho was in his 
 airs — she would lay out money on both sides of the street. 
 
 i\jid ^Ir. Jericho, as he shaved, quietly built up the scheme 
 of a day's pleasure for himself and three special friends. As 
 his wife was in one of her aggravating tempers, he thought it 
 an opportunity — sinfid to let pass — to have a little quiet diimer 
 somewhere : he could hardly decide upon the place ; but a quiet 
 banquet, at which the human heart would expand in good 
 fellowship, and where the wine was far above a doubt. 
 
 Shopping and a dinner ! Thus was the common purse to 
 bleed in secret, and at both ends. 
 
 Mr. Jericho drest himself with unusual care. He was a man 
 not without his whimsies ; and believed that a good dinner was 
 eaten with better enjoyment, when taken in fidl dress. " I hold 
 it impossible " — he would say — " quite impossible, for a man to 
 really relish turtle in gowTi and slippers. No ; when turtle was 
 created, it was intended to be eaten in state ; eaten by men in 
 robes and golden chains, to a flourish or so of silver trumpets." 
 Airs. Jericho was fully aware of this marital superstition. Thus, 
 when with an eye — a wife's eye — at the bed-room door, she saw 
 her husband slide down stairs as though the bannister was but- 
 tered, she knew from his dress that it was a day out ; and when 
 the disturbed air wafted back the scent of lavender from the 
 linen of her lord, mingled with huile cles roses from his locks, — it 
 ■noil not surprise the student of human nature, when we aver that 
 the heart of the married woman almost sank witliin her. 
 
 Speedily recovering herself, IMrs. Jericho determined upon her 
 best and brightest gown ; her richest shawl ; her most captivating 
 bonnet. These things endued, she took her purse, and as the 
 bank-paper crumpled in her resolute palm, catching a departing 
 look at tlie glass, it was plain to herself that she smiled mischief. 
 
 Mrs. Jericho liad the profoundcst opinion of the powers of her 
 husband : she believed him capable of any amoimt of money. 
 Nevertheless, the man would reject the flattery sometimes \vith 
 argument, sometimes with indignatipn. Again and again the 
 husband assured his wife, he must — and no help for it — die a 
 beggar ; but the woman armed her heart with incredulity — she
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. O 
 
 laughed, and would not believe it. Indeed, it seemed lier one 
 purpose to show and to preach an inextinguishable belief in the 
 pocket of her husband. Everywhere, she made converts. Trades- 
 naen bowed down to her and believed her. On all sides, dealers — 
 cautious, knowing men, made circumspect by wives and chilcben 
 — humbled themselves at the door of her pony phaeton, taking 
 orders. Mi's. Jericho did so possess them with a faith in 
 Jericho, that had she required the doorway to be laid with velvet 
 or cachemu-e, there would have been no scruple of hesitation in 
 the dealer ; the foot-cloth would have been surely opened out, 
 and put down. Moreover, Mrs. Jericho was aided by her two 
 daughters whom, on her second marriage, she had handsomely 
 presented to Mr. Jericho ; further enhancing the gift with a son ; 
 a young gentleman declared by the partiaUty of friends to be 
 born for billiards. 
 
 ]\Ii-. Jericho was forty when he married ; therefore that, in one 
 day, he should find himself the father of tlu-ee children, was taking 
 the best means to make up for the negligence of former years. 
 
 ]\Ii-s. Captain Pennibacker was made a widow at two-and- 
 twenty by an East Indian bullet ; but it was not mitil she had 
 laboured for eight years to become calm about Pennibacker, that 
 she fluttered towards Jericho. And thus, at one blow, she made 
 him her second husband, and the second father of Pennibacker's 
 son and daughters. Offering such treasures to Mr. Solomon 
 Jei-icho, she natm-ally thought he could not make too much of 
 them. And for a season, Mr Jericho showed a proper sense of his 
 good fortune ; yet, though liis wife would never fail to assure 
 him that he possessed a priceless treasure in herself and childi'en, 
 as time wore on, the ungrateful man would now and then look 
 doubtfully at the family jewels. 
 
 Somehow, the Pennibackers failed to see in Mr. Jericho a flesh 
 and blood father-in-law. Prom their earliest introduction to 
 him, they considered him as they would consider a rich plum 
 cake ; to be sliced, openly or by stealth, among them. As they 
 gi-ew up, IVIi-. Jericho merely held in their opinion the situation 
 of the person who paid the bills. It was, we say, the household
 
 6 A MAN MADE OF MONET. 
 
 superstition that Jericlio had an unknown amount of wealth. 
 Hence, he met with little thanks for Avhat he gave ; for the 
 recui-ring thought would still condemn him for what he kept 
 back. He possessed a sea of money ; and yet he was mean 
 enough to ftlter his gold by di-ops. In a word, he never gave 
 anything that he, the donor, did not appear to the son or 
 daughter receiving, the paltriest of human creatm'es. 
 
 And let the truth be said. ]Mr. Jericho was persecuted by 
 the natiual growth of his own falsehood. If at home he sat 
 upon thorns, from his own tongue had dropt the seed that 
 produced the punishment. In early times he had sown broad- 
 cast, notions of his abounding wealth ; and the pleasant lies, 
 as Hes will do, had come up prickles. They grew thick in his 
 daily path. Scarcely could he set foot forth without treading 
 upon them. 
 
 The mdow Pcnuibacker, it will at once be understood, had 
 married Jericho wholly and solely for the sake of her childi*en. 
 It was, at the cost of any personal sacrifice, a duty she owed her 
 infants to provide them with a wealthy father. She, herself — 
 and we seek, we ask no other testimony than her own declara- 
 tion — she would have been only too happy to join the dear 
 deceased. But she had a duty to fulfil — a stern duty that held 
 her to the earth. And she shrank not from its performance. 
 No ; suppressing her higher feelings, she gave her hand to 
 Solomon Jericho, and chastised herself to think with calmness 
 upon Pennibacker in his Indian tomb. She offered up — it was 
 her fre(|uent expression to all her bosom friends — she offered up 
 the feeUngs of the widow to the duties of the mother. For what 
 a man was Pennibacker ! Especially in liis grave. But such 
 indulgent thought softens even asperity towards the departed. 
 A natural and wholesome tenderness. The grave is the true 
 purifier, and in the charity of the living, takes away the blots 
 and stains from the dead. 
 
 When widow Pennibacker was first introduced to Mr. Jericho, 
 he was wliisperingly, confidentially, recommended to her indul- 
 gent notice as — a City Gentleman. Hence, Jericho appeared to
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 7 
 
 the imagination of tlie widow, with an indescribable glory of 
 money about him. She was a woman of naturally a lively fancy ; 
 a quality haply cultivated by her sojourn in the East, where 
 rajahs framed in gold and jewels upon elephants were common 
 pictures : hence, Jericho of the City of London was instan- 
 taneously rendered by the widow a man of prodigious wealth. 
 She gave the freest, the most imaginative translation of the words 
 — City Gentleman. Though not handsome, he was instantly 
 considered to be most precious. Had she looked upon the Idol 
 Ape, Tinum Bug, whose every feature is an imperial jewel set in 
 the thickest skull of gold, and then cast a glance at Jericho, 
 she woidd, we fully beheve it, have chosen the City Gentleman 
 in preference to the idol ; so far, in the dizzied judgment of an 
 impulsive, imaginative woman, did Solomon Jericho outshine 
 Tinum Bug. 
 
 And much, it must be gi*anted, is to be allowed to ]\Irs. 
 Pennibacker as a woman and a mother. A City Gentleman ! 
 Wliat a vision ; what exhalations rise from the ink that, like magic 
 drops fallen from Cii'ce's finger tips, create the radiant animal 
 upon the white sheet before us ! What a picture to the imagina- 
 tion, the — City Gentleman ! Calm, plain, self-assured in the 
 might of his wealth. All the bullion of the Bank of England 
 makes back-ground details ; the India-house dawns in the dis- 
 tance; and a himdred pennants from masts in India Docks 
 tremble in the far-off sky. 
 
 Great odds these, against the simplicity of woman ! The 
 Bank, the India-house, and a hundred ships ! ]\Irs. Pennibacker 
 had huge strength of character ; but she succumbed to the un- 
 known power of visionary wealth ; to the mysterious attributes 
 of the City Gentleman. No man could less look the part, yet 
 Jericho bowed to the widow, a perfect enchanter. 
 
 Again, Jericho was charmed, elevated by the graciousness of 
 the lady. Like an overlooked strawberry, he had remained 
 untn in his own modesty he began to think himself hardly 
 worth the gathering. Therefore, when IVIi's. Pennibacker vouch- 
 safed to stoop to him, he was astonished at her condescension.
 
 8 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 and melted by his own gi-atitude. For Mrs. Pennibacker was a 
 majestic woman. She had brought back nothing of the softness 
 of the East. She was not — she never had been — an oriental toy 
 for the grown child, man. It would have been hard to couple 
 her with thoughts of love-birds, and antelopes and gazelles. 
 No; she rather took her place with those legendary Indian 
 queens who liide their softness under golden bucklers ; whose 
 bows are strung with tiger-gut ; and whose feminine arrows, if 
 parrot-feathered, ai-e fanged with mortal steel. In the picture 
 of an ancient panther-hunt, you would have looked to see such 
 a figm-e as the figure of Mrs. Pennibacker, thrusting a spear 
 with a dread smile of self-approbation in the bowels of the 
 objecting paid. 
 
 And then, Jericho himself had in this case imagination too : 
 indeed, everybody has, when money is the thought, the theme. 
 The common brain will bubble to a golden wand. 
 
 It was whispered, sharply whispered to Jericho, that the widow 
 had many relations, many hopes in India. Immediately, Jericho 
 Hung about the lady all the treasures of the East. Immediately 
 she stood in a shower-bath of diamonds; elephants' teeth lay 
 heaped about her ; and rice and cotton grounds, and fields of 
 opium, many thousands of acres of the prodigal east, stretched 
 out on aU sides of her, and on all sides called her mistress. 
 Yet for all this, Solomon Jericho was ordinarily a didl, matter- 
 of-fixct man. Talk to him of Jacob's ladder, and he would ask 
 the number of the steps. 
 
 All his bfe had Jericho trod upon firm earth ; but widow 
 Pennibacker whipped him off his leaden feet, and carried him 
 away into the fairy ground of Mammon ; and there his eyes 
 twinkled at imaginary wealth, and his ears burned and stood 
 erect at the sound of shaken shadowy money-bags. 
 
 And so, each trusting to each, Solomon Jericho and SabUla 
 Pennibacker wooed and won each other ; and the winning over, 
 each had to count the gains. It was very strange, Jericho 
 himself could not bear to think of the folly, the crime of the 
 omission. Such neglect had never before betrayed lum. Why
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONET. 9 
 
 had he not assured himself of the Avoman's property, ere he 
 made the woman his own ? And then, for his cold comfort, he 
 would remember that he had, on two or three occasions touched 
 a little gravely upon the subject, whereupon Mrs, Pennibacker 
 so opened her large, black, mysterious orbs, that his soul, hke 
 a mouse when startled by Grimalkin's eyes — ran back into its 
 hole. Again and again — it was a Avretched satisfaction for the 
 married man to think it — the question had been upon his 
 tongue ; when some smile of haughty loveliness would curve the 
 widow's lips and — ^how well he recollected the emotion — he felt 
 himself the meanest wretch to doubt her, 
 
 IVIrs. Pennibacker had, on her part, just played about the 
 property of Jericho ; but, with the trustingness of her sex, 
 she was more than satisfied when Jericho, with aU the sim- 
 plicity of real worth, spoke calmly, yet withal hopefully, of the 
 vast increase of profit arising from his platina mines. The 
 word "platina" sent IVIrs. Pennibacker to her Encyclopaedia, 
 which, however, comforted her exceedingly. She had instinctively 
 known it aU along ; but she now felt assured, — Solomon 
 Jericho, the holder of mines, possessed wealth inexhaustible. 
 Being a City Gentleman, of course he sold his platina on the 
 Stock Exchange. 
 
 The wedding was very gorgeous. Very rarely are two people 
 joined together with so much expense. Nevertheless the con- 
 tribution of either party — had the other known it — would have 
 somewhat shaken Hymen ; if, indeed, it had not whoUy frightened 
 him out of the church. Mrs. Pennibacker, when introduced 
 to Jericho, was so deep in debt, that often, let folks try as they 
 would, they could not see her. And Jericho — doubtless from 
 a short supply of platina — was an object of extreme solicitude 
 to a large number of dealers. When, however, it was under- 
 stood that the widow was to be married to a rich man in the 
 City, the lady found the very handsomest outfit for herself 
 and children made delightfully easy. And Jericho, bearing in 
 mind the heavy expense of an intoxicating honeymoon, readily 
 obtained the means, when Jiis circle — and every man has a 
 
 B 3
 
 10 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 circle, thougli of the smallest — rang with the news that he was 
 in imminent likelihood of marrjing the widow of an Indian 
 Nabob ! 
 
 And so bridegroom and bride — with a mutual trust even 
 beyond mutual expectation — walked to the altar, there to be 
 welded into one. They were mai'ried at St. George's Church, — 
 married in the bosom of a few surroundmg friends. The bride's 
 children were present, and cast a mixed interest of pensiveness 
 and pleasure on the ceremony. The bride had told her brides- 
 maids that, " It woidd cost her a struggle, but the dear children 
 should be present ; it was right they shoidd. They ought to 
 have the sacrifice impressed upon then* minds in the most solemn 
 way ; the sacrifice that their poor mother consented to make for 
 them. Nobody but herself knew what a struggle it was ; but, 
 it was her duty, and though her heart was with dear Penni- 
 backer, — yes, she would go through with it. ]\Ir. Jericho had 
 given the dear girls the most beautiful lace frocks ; and to Basil 
 a lovely gold hunt ing- watch ; therefore, they ought and they 
 should, witness the sacrifice." 
 
 And jMiss Pennibacker and Miss Agatha Pennibacker, like 
 little fairies, clothed in muslin and lace from elfin-looms, saw 
 the sacrifice with a vivacity of heart that almost spirted out 
 at the corners of their lips ; and Basil Pennibacker, a gaunt, 
 reedy boy of twelve, did nothing during the ceremony but 
 take out his new gold hunting-watch — open it — snap it to — 
 and returu it again, as though he had already had a glimpse of 
 the preparations for the wedding-breakfast, and with his thoughts 
 upon all the debcacies of the season, was impatient for the 
 sacrifice to be completed. 
 
 And the last "Amen" — the last blow on the rivet — was struck, 
 and Solomon Jericho and SabUla Pennibacker were man and 
 wife. "\Vhere«pon, in a hysteric moment, the bride turning 
 to her children, took the three in one living bunch in her arms, 
 and sweeping them over to Jericho, said — " You are their father 
 now." 
 
 Turning to the chm-ch books of St. Georcre's we find that
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 11 
 
 the date of this interesting deed of gift makes it about eight 
 years to the date of the particular emphatic question with 
 which IVIrs. Jericho, as with a floiuish of a silver trumpet, opened 
 this little history. 
 
 CHAPTEK II. 
 
 It was what we will venture to call a vinous hour of the 
 morning, when Mr. Jericho retui-ned home after the dinner eaten 
 abroad in defiance of his own household gods, we fear sadly 
 despised upon the occasion. For IVIr. Jericho, with accessory 
 boon -fellows, had partaken of a luxmious repast ; little 
 caring that his own stinted lares were served with, at best, 
 metaphoric cold mutton. Mr. Jericho had tested the best 
 resom-ces of the larder and cellar of the Apollo Tavern ; and full 
 of meat and wine, and his brain singing mth fantastic humours, 
 he had surveyed the river Thames with simpering complacency ; 
 had seen big-bellied ships, stowed with India and Africa, di'op 
 silently with the tide towards their haven. It was impossible to 
 enjoy a serener evening or a nobler sight. The setting sun, with 
 a magnificence quite worthy of the west-end, coloured all things 
 gold and ruby; the black huUs of ships glowed darkly and 
 richly ; and their sails were, for the time, from Tyrian looms. 
 The gorgeousness of the hour enriched every common object 
 with glorious beauty. Every cold, mean common-place of the 
 common day seemed suffused in one wide harmonious splendoiu*. 
 And the brain of Jericho, meditating the scene, was expanded 
 and melted into it ; and in that prodigal wealth of colom*, the 
 illusion a little assisted by the swallowed colom-s within him, 
 Jericho felt himself a part and parcel of the absorbing richness. 
 The wine in has heart, a Bacchus' jack-o'-lantern, reflected the 
 rosy, golden light that came upon him. 
 
 Tliis sweet illusion lasted its pleasant time, fading a little 
 when the bill was rung for. Nevertheless, Jericho, by the force
 
 12 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 of the scene and the wine, felt himself in much easier circum- 
 stances than the hard tjTanny of truth, when he was in a cahn 
 condition to respect its dictum, was likely to allow. And so, at 
 that hour when sparrows look down reproachfully from their 
 eaves at the flushed man trying the street-door — at that peni- 
 tential hour, with the hues of the past romantic evening 
 becoming very cold within him — Mr. Jericho stood beneath his 
 own oppressive roof. 
 
 Mrs. .Jericho was gone to bed. 
 
 l\Ir. Jericho breathed a little lighter. Such a load was taken 
 off him, that he momited the stau-case tenderly, as though he 
 trod upon flowers ; as though every wooDon blossom in the 
 carpet from the stair to the bed itself was living heart's-ease ; 
 which it was not. 
 
 Being somewhat ashamed of Mr. Jericho who, as it has been 
 shown, left his \nfe to the solitude of her dinner-table, whilst 
 he, luxurious spendthrift, coidd dine with company abroad, 
 — we should be veiy happy if we could, without any more ado, 
 put him to bed at once, and indignantly tucking him up, and 
 v\ith perhaps an allowed allusion to the sort of head that awaited 
 him in the morning, let the good-for-nothing fellow snore till the 
 cmiain-rings danced again, allowing him only to wake up in 
 time for the next chapter. But this we cannot do. The stem, 
 iron moral it is our wish to impress upon the world — yielding 
 as it always is to such impressions — compels us to steady Mr. 
 Jericho to his bed-side ; and even when there, not for awhile to 
 leave him. 
 
 In the reproachful quietude of his dressing-room, Jericho 
 prepared himself for his couch. Tenderly did his fingers dwell 
 upon and wander about l)uttons. He caught a sight of himself 
 in the looking-glass, and — to dodge his conscience — set himself 
 to feign to whistle : and then it struck him it must be very, 
 very late, his beard had gi-own so much. And the day in a 
 moment seemed to have opened its broad, staring eye ; and the 
 sparrows cried more saucily ; and the reproachful voice of the 
 pigeons perched upon the chimney-top, came down in muffled
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 13 
 
 murmiu' upon Solomon's ear ; and with a very little more he 
 
 would have felt himself a villain. 
 
 The culprit placed his hand upon the handle of the bed-room 
 
 door. Had he been a bm'glar with a felonious intention upon 
 
 Mrs. Jericho's repeater, instead of the man responsible for the 
 
 rent and taxes of the house in which he at that moment stood 
 
 in his shirt and shuddered, — had he, we say, at that point of 
 
 time been an unlawful thief in, posse, in lieu of a lawful husband 
 
 ifi esse, his knees — unless he had been a very young and sensitive 
 
 rogue indeed — could not have so knocked together. With his 
 
 face crumpled into a thousand lines, he opened the door. What 
 
 a blessing ; the hinges did not that time creak, and before they 
 
 always did ! Assured by the omen, Jericho took a little bit of 
 
 heart. The night-light was winking its last. There was not 
 
 a sound. The bed-curtains hung like curtained marble. Jericho 
 
 paused, turning up his ear. Still not a sound. Sabilla did not 
 
 ordinarily sleep so light. The stillness was peculiar — curious — 
 
 very odd. 
 
 " Aud if my Lucy should be dead ! " 
 
 At the moment Solomon Jericho, though he did not know 
 it, was quite as much the author of that line as WiUiam 
 Wordsworth. Still silent? Hush! A gnat drones its tiny 
 trump between the curtains. Vdi JIos, ihi apis. Suddenly 
 Jericho is assm*ed ; and with two long, soft strides, is at his 
 own side of the bed. Sabilla is evidently in a sound, deep, 
 sweet sleep. Untucking the bed, and making himself the 
 thinnest slice of a man, Jericho slides between the sheets. And 
 there he lies, feloniously stiU ; and he thinks to himself — being 
 asleep, she cannot tell how late I came to bed. At all events, 
 it is open to a dispute ; and that is something, 
 
 " Mr. Jericho, when can you let me have some money ? " 
 
 With open eyes, and clearly ringing every word upon the 
 morning aii-, did Mrs. Jericho repeat this primal question. 
 
 And what said Jericho ? With a sudden qualm at the heart, 
 and with thick, stammering tongue, he answered — " Why, my 
 dear, I thought you were sound asleep."
 
 14 A MAN MADE OF MONET. 
 
 " I should be very happy if, like some people, I could sleep, 
 Mr. Jericho. I should be verj' glad indeed if, like some people, 
 I could leave the house and take my pleasure, and run into 
 every sort of extravagance. But no ! I must remain at home. 
 But I tell you this, IMr. Jericho, I have made my mind up. 
 Lying here, and being bitten by the gnats as I have been " — 
 
 " I 'm sure, I 'm very — very sorry " — 
 
 " Not you, indeed. No — no. You don't care how I 'm 
 bitten ; or, for that matter, who bites me. But that is not 
 what I was going to say. What I was going to observe is this — 
 Neither you nor any man in this world shall make a cat's-paw 
 of me." 
 
 " I never thought of it. Never entered my head," said 
 Jericho, screwing his skull into the pUlow. 
 
 " Nothing but a cat's-paw, and I 'm not come to that. I was 
 deceived at the altar," said Mrs. Jericho : " grossly, shamefully 
 played upon ; and I have been deceived ever since." 
 
 "For the matter of that," cried Jericho, a little doggedly, 
 " I was deceived too. Of course, everybody said you 'd money ; 
 and so I was deceived — grossly deceived," cried Jericho, 
 melting a little with a sense of his injury. " I don't want to 
 return to the subject, Mi's. Jericho. But of course I thought 
 you rich." 
 
 " Mercenary wretch ! If the girls were only stirrin^, I'd get 
 up," was the threat. " I 'm sure it 's time." 
 
 " Just as you like, Mrs. Jericho : only be good enough to let 
 me go to sleep. Bed," said Jericho, making himself vigorously 
 up for rest, " bed isn't the place to talk in." 
 
 " I don't wish to talk," replied 'Mis. Jericho, " I don't wish 
 to exchange a word with such a creature as you are. All I want 
 to know is this — When can you let me have some money ? " 
 
 " Money ! " gasped Jericho. 
 
 " Money ! " repeated ^Irs. Jericho, with inexorable resolution. 
 
 " Mrs. Jericho," said the husband, bolting himself upright 
 in bed, and looking aside, down upon the face of his unmoved 
 wife— " will you permit me to sleep, now I 've come to my own
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 15 
 
 bed ? I think it particularly hard when a man has been out all 
 the day as I have been, toiling for his wife and family — I say 
 I think it particularly hard " — 
 
 " I don't want to prevent your sleeping, Mr. Jericho. Sleep 
 as long as the sleeping beauty, and I 'm sure I should be the 
 last person to attempt to wake you. All I want to ask of you 
 is what I asked in the morning. Nothing more. When shall 
 I have some money ? " 
 
 " Zounds, woman ! " — cried Jericho, 
 
 "Don't call me woman — man!" exclaimed Mrs. Jericho. 
 " Major Pennibacker " — 
 
 " He was only a captain," hiccupped Jericho. 
 
 " Major Pennibacker," reiterated his widow, " a soldier and a 
 gentleman, never called me woman yet. Glorious creature ! 
 His sword would rattle in its scabbard if he knew how I was 
 treated." 
 
 " Is this the time," cried Jericho, a little fiercely, " the time 
 to talk of swords and scabbards, with the sun shining in at the 
 windows ? Why can't you let me go to sleep, and talk at the 
 proper hom-s ? After a man has been toiHng aud slaving for his 
 wife and family " — 
 
 " No doubt. And I wonder how many wives — and how 
 many families — that 's it ! " cried ]\Ii-s. Jericho, with a strange, 
 cutting significance, that instantly levelled her husband ; for 
 Solomon desperately stretched himself in the bed ; and lugging 
 the nightcap over his ears, tmnied round, determined upon 
 plucking up sleep, hke poppies, by the roots. 
 
 " I 'm not to be deceived by your indignation, Mr. Jericho. 
 I know everything, or else where could your money go to ? 
 However, as I said, I will no longer be made a cat's-paw of. Por 
 eight years have I been married to you, under what I may call 
 false pretences. People called you the Golden Jericho, or is it 
 likely that I could have forgotten the heroic man who — I feel it 
 — has a slight put upon him in his warrior's grave, by your being 
 in the nightcap you wear at this moment ? However, he forgives 
 me. At least, I trust " — and IVIrs. Jericho spoke with a spasm
 
 16 A MAN MADE OF MON'ET. 
 
 — " I trust he does. It was all for the sake of his precious 
 orphans that I am in the bed I am. Yes, Pennibacker " — and his 
 widow cast up her eyes, as though addressing her first husband, 
 looking down benignly upon her from the tester — " Yes, dear 
 Pennibacker, you know for what I sacrificed the best of wives, and 
 the most disconsolate of widows. I could have wished, like the 
 Hindoo, to be burnt upon the pyre ; I was equal to it ; I could 
 have rejoiced in it. But I re-married, unwillingly re-married, to 
 sacrifice myself for our children. Yes, Pennibacker " — 
 
 " Damn Pennibacker ! " cried Jericho. 
 
 " ]\Ii\ Jericho," said Pennibacker's widow, with her deepest 
 voice, and with thunder brooding at her brows — " ]\Ii". Jericho, 
 will you dare to desecrate the ashes of the dead ? Demon ! 
 Will you?" 
 
 " Well, then," said Jericho, a little appalled, for an impartial 
 cii'cle had called Mrs. Jericho the Siddons of private life, she 
 could so freeze her friends with her fine manner — " Well, then, 
 let me go to sleep. It 's very hard. Mis. Jericho ; very hard, 
 that you will always be throwing your husband's ashes in my 
 face." 
 
 " No levity, sir ; no levity," said Mrs. Jericho, very ponder- 
 ously. " Though unhappily I am your wife, I cannot forget 
 that I am Major Pennibacker's widow." And then Mi's. Jericho 
 drew a sepulclu-al sigh ; and then she hopefully added — " but 
 he forgives me. However, as I believe I have observed once 
 before, Mr. Jericho, I will no longer be made a cat's-paw of." 
 
 " Of course not. Why should you? " said Jericho. " I 'm 
 sure, for my part, I want a wife with as little of the cat as 
 possible." And then Jericho shrank in the bed, as though he 
 had ventured too much. 
 
 Possibly Mrs. Jericho was too imperious to note the coarse 
 aflfront ; for she merely repeated — " Very well, Mr. Jericho : all 
 I want <o know is this — I ask to know no more. When — when 
 will you let me have some money ? " 
 
 As though the bed had been strown with powdered pumice, 
 Jericho shifted and writhed.
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 17 
 
 " I don't wish to annoy you, Mr. Jericho," said the woman, 
 with dread composure. " But you compel me, gracious knows, 
 much against my nature, to ask when — when will you let me 
 have some money ? " 
 
 Jericho shook and gi'oaned. 
 
 "It is much more afflicting to my nature, much greater 
 suffering to me to ask, than it can be for you to hear. Major 
 Pennibacker never had a pocket to himself. He, dear feUow, 
 always came to me. Ha ! how few men can appreciate the true 
 dignity of married hfe. As I always used to say, — one heart 
 and one pocket. However, as it 's quite time for me to get up ; 
 and as I suppose you intend to go to sleep — and as people wiU 
 be here, and I must give them an answer of some sort, — permit 
 me, ]VIi\ Jericho, to ask you — I 'm sure it 's painful enough to 
 my feelings, and T feel degraded by the question — nevertheless, I 
 must and will ask you, — when will you let me have some money ? " 
 
 Jericho — as though a dagger had been suddenly struck up 
 through the bed — bounced bolt upright. There was a super- 
 natural horror in his look : even his own wife, familiar as she 
 was with his violence, almost squealed. However, sdently eyeing 
 him through the small murderous loop-holes of her lace border, 
 !Mrs. Jericho saw her pale-faced husband snatch off his cap, 
 holding it away at arm's length : then, breathing hard and cast- 
 ing back his head, he cried in tones so deep and so unnaturally 
 grating, that the poor woman, like a night-flower, shrank 
 within herself at the first sound, — 
 
 " I WISH TO Heaven I was made of money ! " 
 
 IVIrs. Jericho, considerably relieved that it was no worse, added 
 in a low, deep, earnest voice — " I wish to Heaven you were." 
 
 Foolish and wicked wishes do not fly upwards, but there is no 
 doubt of it, descend below ; where, though they are but bodiless 
 syllables, they are often fashioned by the imps into pins and 
 needles, and straightway returned to the world to torment their 
 begetter. 
 
 And Solomon Jericho, with a silly, sinful wish at his heart —
 
 18 A MAN MADE OP MONET. 
 
 a wish fiu'ther emphasised by the thoughtless amen of his wife 
 — subsided into muddled sleep ; snoring heavily, contemptuously, 
 at the loneUness of his spouse. She, poor woman, lay awliile, 
 silently struggling with her indignation. At length, however, 
 her feeUngs growing too strong for her, she got up the better to 
 wrestle with them. 
 
 And Jericho was left alone — alone in bed ? Not alone. He 
 had desperately fitted his night-cap to his head, and resolute 
 upon sleep, had punched his head deep, deep into his pillow. 
 Mrs. Jericho would have doubted her eyes had she seen the 
 creatures in her house; but standing upon a ridge of her 
 husband's night-cap, and looking wisely down upon her hus- 
 band's dreaming face, were two fleas. An elder and a younger 
 flea. 
 
 Their ancestors had come from the far East, and carried the 
 best royal blood within them. It would be no difficult matter to 
 trace them up to the court of king Croesus, whither they were 
 first brought in the cloak of iEsop. Let it suffice, that from this 
 Lydian stock descended the two fleas, at the time of our story, 
 perched — like ruminating goats upon a ledge of rock — upon the 
 night-cap of Jericho. Their progenitors had not come in, Uke 
 many others, with the Conquest ; but were brought to England 
 in the train of a Persian Ambassador. After a wandering life, 
 the race remained for some forty years comfortably settled in a 
 lodging-house at Margate, bringing up a multitudinous family. 
 Erom this stock came our two fleas, travelling, cosdy enough, to 
 London. How from the ApoUo Tavern, where they flrst put up 
 on their an-ival in the metropolis, they made their way to the 
 home of Jericho, passes our knowledge to declare. Very sure 
 we are, that Mrs. Jericho believed she had no such creatures in 
 her house. 
 
 Well, the two fleas having jumped upon the brow of Jericho, 
 we shall, without any scruple, make use of them. They stand 
 above the brain of the sleeper, and — being descended from the 
 fleas of iEsop — shall, for the nonce, be made to narrate to the 
 reader the vision of the dreaming victim.
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 19 
 
 "Miserable race ! " — said the father flea, with its beautiful bright 
 eye shining pitifully upon Jericho — " Miserable craving race ! 
 You hear, my son ; man, in his greed, never knows when he has 
 wherewithal. He gorges to gluttony, he drinks to drunkenness ; 
 and you heard this wretched fool, who prayed to heaven, to turn 
 him — heart, brain and aU — into a lump of money. Happily, it 
 is otherwise with fleas. We take our wholesome, our sufficient 
 draught, and there an end. With a mountain of enjoyment 
 under our feet, we limit ourselves to tliat golden quantity — 
 enough." 
 
 " Therefore, oh, my su'e, let us not, for our temperance, be 
 gluttonous of self-praise. Seeing that fleas are the crowning 
 work of the world ; seeing that as sheep, and buUocks, and fish 
 and fowl are made for man, and man for us ; let us be charitable 
 towards oiu' labom'ing servant, — poor biped; our cook and 
 butler." 
 
 " My son, true it is, man feeds for us, drinks for us. Man is 
 the labom-ing chemist for the fleas ; for them he turns the richest 
 meats and. spiciest drinks to flea wine. Nevertheless, and I say 
 it with much pain, man is not what he was. He adulterates our 
 tipple most wickedly." 
 
 " I felt it with the last lodgers," said the younger flea. " They 
 drank vile spuits : their blood was turpentine, with, I fear me, a 
 dash of vitriol. How they lived at aU, I know not. I always 
 had the head-ache in the morning. Here, however" — and the 
 juvenile looked steadfastly down upon the plain of flesh, the 
 wide champain beneath him — " here, we have promise of better 
 fare." 
 
 " The soil is woundily hot ; hard, and dry, and hot as a vol- 
 cano ; and — mercy me," cried the elder, " how it throbs and 
 heaves. Hark!" — and the flea inclined its right ear — "the 
 fellow's brain sings like a kettle. Now is he going off into a 
 galloping dream. Our ancestors — some of whom, my son, as 
 I have often told you, lived the bosom friends of conjurors and 
 soothsayers — were, as many of their descendants are at the pre- 
 sent day, to be met with amongst fortune-tellers and gypsies —
 
 20 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 OUT ancestors had the gift of following a dream in all its zig-zag 
 mistiness. And the wisdom of our ancestors " — and here the 
 flea raised itself upon its legs, and looked with a serene pride 
 about it — " the wisdom of our ancestors has come down in its 
 fullness upon myself; to be left, my dear child, whole and 
 unimpaired, and I may add, unimproved to you." 
 
 "\Miat a sight is this," cried the young flea, staring at 
 Jericho's face. " What an earthquake must be tumbling and 
 rumbling in the fellow's heart ; and how his teeth clang together ! 
 Is tliat thunder? No. But did you ever hear such snoring?" 
 
 " In a minute, my son, and he 'U be in the thick of it. Attend ; 
 and I '11 foUow him through the maze ; showing you all the odd 
 things that shower up and down in his brain, just as the golden 
 air-bubbles of yesterday sparkled in his wine-glass. But first, 
 my cliild, let us drink." Sapng this, the elder flea, raising itself 
 pretty well upright, and with its strong claws taking a firm hold 
 of the flesh beneath, for better pui'chase, struck its lance home, 
 and opening its shoulders, drew up, with its sucker, such a hearty 
 draught of drink, that Jericho, the unconscious cup-bearer, gave 
 a sudden twist, so deep and hearty was the pull of the drinker. 
 " Very good ; very good, indeed," said the flea, " There 's a 
 fine delicate bouquet in it." 
 
 " Humph," cried the younger flea, " for my part, I think 
 'twould bear a bttle more body. But, my su'e, as I 've heard 
 you say, there 's no judging truly from the first cup. Here goes 
 again. Why, how the fellow kicks !" 
 
 " Such, my son," said the elder flea, " is man : such his waste- 
 fulness upon himself, such his injustice to what — cocking his 
 nose towards tlie stars — he calls the lower animals. At least, 
 two bottles of wine, a gill or more of brandy, to say nothing of 
 a draught or two of malt, are burning in his arteries, and in hot 
 mist rising to his brain. Now, what work, what watching, what 
 risk of limb and life — what multiplication of toil — to produce 
 the various beverage he has guzzled ! What digging and 
 ploughing of the land ; what vine-dressing ; what sailing upon 
 the stormy seas ; what glass-blowing ; what bottling, before the

 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 21 
 
 liquor, like a melted jewel, shone in his eye, aud trickled down 
 liis throat ! Yet here he lies, and with no conscious labour of 
 his own, is at once the wine-jDress and distiller for the fleas. 
 And when we seek to take our temperate draught — smallest 
 drops ; merest seed-rubies — how the miser kicks, and flounders, 
 and when he has sense enough, what wicked words at times he 
 pitches at us ! But such " — said the elder flea, preparing itself 
 for another stoup — " such is man." And again the flea pierced 
 the wine-skin, and sucked up another draught, and again Jericho 
 plunged, and twisted. 
 
 " The bin improves," said the younger flea, drinking very 
 hard. " And yet, I 'm siu-e there 's burgundy in it. Now, never 
 but twice before have I tasted burgundy ; and then I sufl'ered 
 for it ; just as if the grapes were grown on a soil of sulphur. 
 Nevertheless, 'tis a rare cellar this, after the turpentine and 
 \atrioI of our last lodgings : so, hang the headache, and let 's 
 have t' other bumper." 
 
 " Not another drop," cried the elder flea. " Let the poor 
 wretch beneath us teach us moderation. Consider his face. 
 How dead and stupified it looks ! How it shone above the 
 table last night ; aud what a piece of dirty dough it looks at this 
 moment ! What light was in the lamp, and now what duUness 
 and smoke !" 
 
 " And yet," said the younger flea, " the dough begins again 
 to work. Surely, he 's on with his dream now." 
 
 " Now, he 's fairly off'. A while ago, and the brain was only 
 fluttering — like a bird trying its wings — but now, yes — now it 's 
 oft". Ha ! ha ! A very droU dream, even so far as it goes ;" 
 and the old flea looked very wise. 
 
 " Tell it, father ; tell it. You never told me a dream before : 
 surely," said the young one, " I 'm old enough to learn now." 
 
 " Listen, my son, and be instracted. The sleeping man is at 
 this moment following his heart. The thing has been plucked 
 out of his bosom by a laughing little creature, with painted 
 wings : a strange creatm-e, half-elfin half-angel. The elf, or 
 angel, or whatever it is, hugs the heart in its plump arms, and
 
 22 A MAN MADE OF MOXEY. 
 
 \ 
 
 its eyes twinkle with mischief, and its cheeks are pitted with 
 dimples, and its lips pout as over-full of the fun that will rise to 
 them ; and still away the child carries the heart." 
 
 " And the man ! — Where 's the man that owns it ? Still 
 followint;'? " asked the young Ilea. 
 
 " Still following, and in a pretty pucker about his property. 
 But, my sou, be silent ; and do not interrupt me. The elf, still 
 flying with the heart, is now in the open country. A peaceful, 
 quiet spot. Beautiful meadows, starred with daisies. Ha ! 
 they remind me of a scene of early youth. That green velvet 
 quilt sprinkled with little silver flowers — the quilt of the sweet 
 Princess of Satinskin — that sweet, beautiful quilt in the palace 
 of"— 
 
 " Never mind the palace," said the young flea. " You are 
 now in the open countiy ; keep to the meadow." 
 
 And the elder flea, rebuked, proceeded. " There 's cattle 
 and sheep in the meadows ; and the boy, in sport, flies and 
 flutters above them. And now he jumps from lamb's back 
 to lamb's back, and the man still following, with all his eyes 
 watching his heart, that the little elf, in the wildest fun, tosses 
 up, like a ball in the air, catching it again, and again tosshig it 
 up, and " — 
 
 " I should guess something odd," said the young flea : " for 
 how the fellow here kicks ; and how his face is broken into 
 moving hills and vaUies. How he moans, too, about his heart. 
 Poor devil ! " 
 
 " And now, the little imp trips across a bridge, that leads to a 
 large wooden building — still in the open country. He runs 
 into the building, the fellow following him, as though now he 
 was sure of getting his heart back again. Not a bit. The 
 youngster throws the heart to a strange-looking Avoman ; a sort 
 of Egyptian fortune-teller, — and she, with a sharp glittering 
 knife, begins to cut the heart into little pieces." 
 
 " Oh, ho ! Look at his face," cried the young flea. " And 
 if he doesn't shift and twist like a worm on a hook ! " 
 
 " The woman cuts the heart into small pieces, and the owner
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 23 
 
 of the heart — how his knees twitch up and down, and how his 
 head rolls upon the pillow, at every touch of the knife — at length 
 sits down in a sort of curious despair to see what wiU become of 
 his heart. And now, he looks about him — yes, he knows he is 
 in a paper-mill. And strangely enough appears to him a kind of 
 living history of the rise and progress of paper. He sees the 
 flags of Egypt growing in a ditchy nook — and red Egyptians 
 pulling and peeling it. And here flourishes a field of bamboo, 
 and here a Chinaman, with his side-long almond eyes, cuts and 
 shreds the skin from the bark. And the dreamer seeing his 
 heart in bits tossed into a trough, is suddenly smitten with the 
 sense that his heart, the great machine and blood-pump of his life, 
 is to be made into paper. He tries to protest against the injiuy. 
 He tries to roar out, but not a word will come. He sits strain- 
 ing and gasping, and dumb withal, as a caught fish. And now, 
 he sees the bits of his heart curiously sorted by these hags of 
 women ; gloomy and wild as sybils, — for, my son, I know what 
 sort of folk sybils are fi'om the wisdom of my ancestors ; our 
 great forefathers having been closely entertained by them." 
 
 " Go on, father : I 'm impatient to know what they make of 
 the heart," cried the younger flea. 
 
 " The women, with sharp hooks, pick out the little knots and 
 hard bits from the heart, and then souse the sorted stuff into 
 boUing water ; and then they cut the bits with a turning thing 
 toothed with knives ; cut it and shred it ; and now what was a 
 fine, firm, full-weight heart, labouring in and through life, in the 
 bosom of this wretched tipsiness below us, is soft and Hquid as 
 a dish of batter. Nevertheless, bating a chalky paleness in the 
 fellow's face, he seems to do as well without his heart as with it." 
 
 " But it can't last, father ; it can't last. He must have some- 
 thing of a heart to live," said the young flea. 
 
 "Be patient a minute, and you shall leara. Now, one of the 
 hags scoops the batter edgewise into a little fi-ame and shakes 
 it and — presto ! — all is done : the heart of the di-eamer is worked 
 up into I know not how many sheets — but there seems a lumping 
 lot — a lumping lot of the finest and whitest paper."
 
 24 A MAX MADE OF MONET. 
 
 " Poor devil, I say again. He can't live with that ; he can't 
 go through life with a heart of paper." 
 
 " Don't intermpt me. AVhilst you spoke, everything changed. 
 At this moment, the imp that vanished when he threw the heart 
 to the hags, now carries it in a square bundle upon his head ; 
 laughing and skipping along London streets ; and the man 
 without a heart still following his tormenter. My son, the imp 
 and the man are now going up Ludgate Hill " — 
 
 " Do you know the place ? " asked the younger flea. 
 
 " Perfectly well ; many years ago — for what a vulgar error it 
 is to think fleas short-lived — many years ago, I walked on a 
 Lord Mayor's day." n 
 
 " Walked ! " cried the young flea. 
 
 "Walked ; that is, was carried in the miniver fur of +he alder- 
 man of the Fishmongers' Company ; and upon my life, a very 
 noble sight it was. Yes, my child, I think I ought to remem- 
 ber that show, for it was on that very day, in that very miniver, 
 I first met your poor mother. Ha 1 that was a happy day — and 
 we saw all the fun from the beginning to the end ; for we con- 
 trived to get upon the aldennan, and sitting close and keeping 
 quiet — for that 's an art fleas have to leara, if they would see, 
 and not in the end be seen — sitting close in the nape of the 
 alderman's neck, we were present at the banquet. I shall never 
 forget the beautiful sight we had, when the alderman got upon 
 his legs to make a speech. Well, we were carried home and put 
 to bed with the alderman, and from that time " — 
 
 " Never mind the alderman," cried the pert young flea, " but 
 get on from Ludgate-HUl." 
 
 " While I 've talked, the imp and the man have gone round 
 St. Paul's, and are now crossing into Cheapside. Shall I ever 
 forget how, when we came to Cheapside, the giants — well, I 
 won't think of that now. The imp with the load of paper 
 on his head runs by Bow-Church, and the dreamer here 
 stretches after him. My son, both imp and man," said the flea 
 solemnly, " both imp and man have now entered the Bank of 
 England."
 
 A MAN MADE OF MOXET. 25 
 
 " The Bank of England ! " repeated the young flea, impressed 
 by the sudden seriousness of its parent. 
 
 There was a short pause. The elder flea, a little dry in the 
 mouth with so much talking, again inserted its piercer in the 
 skin beneath it, and di'ew up another glass of flea wine. And 
 in this the son dutifully imitated the father. 
 
 " The imp," continued the elder flea, much refreshed by the 
 draught, " the imp has entered the Bank printing-ofiice. The 
 man without the heart, the poor wretch wTiggliiig and moaning 
 imder our feet, resignedly drops upon a stool. He sits wringing 
 his hands for his lost heart ; and now his veins tingle, for he 
 hears the creaking of presses. Their motion seems, strangely 
 enough, his motion. And now, the imp that had vanished, 
 comes back again, bringing in his arms the poor man's heart." 
 
 " It can't be of any use to him, now," said the younger flea. 
 
 " Of the best use, my child, as he thinks it. The imp jumps 
 upon the man's knee, and the heart — it has lost its red coloui', 
 and its flesh-like look, and as though all the blood had been 
 discharged from it, is white as a rag, save that the veins show 
 through it all black — yes, black as ink ; the heart, nicely fitted 
 by the imp, beats again in its place inside the sleeper. You 
 see ! how he smiles — and how his whole body heaves with the 
 chuckle — as he again feels, the old acquaintance. And now he 
 can't make too much of the imp ; he throws his arms about him, 
 and paws his little cheeks in di'unken fondness. You hear ! 
 You hear, how the laugh gurgles in the fool's throat, — and all 
 because he 's got his heart back agaia." 
 
 " And now, as the di'eam 's over, father — what say you to 
 another drink? " asked the young flea. 
 
 " In a minute, for 'tisn't over yet. No. The place is changed, 
 and the sleeper is carried to see what appears to him Gold's 
 Grand Keview in the Bank cellars." 
 
 " "\Aliat do you mean by Gold's Eeview ? " demanded the 
 junior. 
 
 " The imp and the dreamer are in the Bank Cellars. Here, 
 my son, in mighty bars — in bars that can break even the backs 
 
 c
 
 26 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 of emperors — is gold. The imp takes a new sovereign piece 
 from its bosom, and holds it above its head. Like a small 
 golden sun, it illumines tlie place. "Whereupon, all the bars of 
 gold become pigmy shapes, and all in action. Here we have a 
 whole army — all in gold — marching, wheeling, forming into lines 
 and squares. Here we have little golden ship^\Tig•llts hammering 
 at golden craft ; here, cooks of gold sweating at golden dainties ; 
 here, in the cellar, aU the works and labours, the commands and 
 seiTices of the world, are shown by the imp in action — drawn 
 into life, for a brief space, from what was a moment before bars 
 of inert metal. It is, my son, as if all the world outside of the 
 walls of the Bank, was imitated by the world's masters down in 
 the Bank cellars. I can see the Lord Mayor and Court of 
 Aldermen in little men of gold not bigger than an Alderman's 
 thumb : and here they act in the metal itself what the metal 
 makes acted in the flesh outside." 
 
 "^\jid for what purpose — I don't see the use of it," said the 
 young flea. 
 
 " As a farewell show to our dreamer here. And he is mightily 
 pleased with it, — for he rubs his hands, and then rubs his heart 
 as though he foimd all happiness there." 
 
 " And has he found it, think you ? " asked the youngster. 
 
 " Humph ! That will be seen," said the old one. 
 
 CHAPTER in. 
 
 It was mid-day when Mrs. Jericho next entered her bed-room. 
 She came in, humming a little piece of a song. Whereupon, the 
 culprit between the sheets took courage to observe — " I don't 
 think I ever passed so wretched a night." 
 
 " Considering the night was over when you came home, Mr. 
 Jericho, you of course are the best judge. How should I know 
 anything about it?" Such was the home-thrust relentlessly 
 given by Mrs. Jericho. She would not be mollified. 
 
 " I went, my dear," — began Jericho.
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 27 
 
 The outraged wife would not be insulted. Suddenly twisting 
 round, as tliough stung by the hypocritic tenderness, Mrs. 
 Jericho desired the man to keep his fine words for people 
 out of doors. Her eyes were at length opened ; she had a long 
 time — too long — been fondly blind ; but at last she knew all ; 
 she was satisfied, and — she again repeated it — she would not 
 be insulted. 
 
 Jericho was not to be diverted into a quarrel. Pacific man ! 
 He would struggle to keep the peace. Hence, in tones, felo- 
 niously intended to soften and cajole, he returned to what he 
 called the terrors of the past night. 
 
 " If I were to live a thousand yeai-s, my love" — 
 
 " Love ! " exclaimed ]\Ii*s. Jericho, and this time she turned 
 full upon the offender. For a minute, she stood withering him 
 from between the bed-cm"tains. And Jericho, not wholly lost to 
 shame, di'agged his night-cap over his brow, and shi'inking, rolled 
 himself upon the other side. With liis heavy eye upon the 
 parrots and parroquets perched and flying upon the bed-room 
 paper that adorned the wall — for ]\Irs. Jericho, as she told her 
 bosom friends, would have that paper at any price ; the bii'ds, 
 and the palms, and the savannahs, as she said, so reminding 
 her of past happiness with Pennibacker, — Jericho manfully 
 continued : 
 
 " Yes, a thousand years, I shouldn't forget last night." 
 
 " Very likely not," said Mi-s. Jericho. " I 've no doubt you 
 deserve to remember it. I shoiddn't wonder." 
 
 " You don't know, my dear Sabilla" — IVIrs. Jericho trod the 
 room anew, impatient of such daring familiarity — "you don't 
 know what I 've suffered. Such an extraordinary dream ! I 
 feel it now. It has almost killed me with bile. But it 's the 
 usual case with me. An uncomfortable dream always does. 
 Killed with bile." 
 
 (The wretched hypocrite! With such baited cunning, he angled 
 in the depths of woman's tenderness for unmerited sympathy. 
 But we trust the reader AviU feel a gi'im pleasvire at his dis- 
 appointment ; he took none.) 
 
 c2
 
 28 A MAN- MADE OF MOKET. 
 
 " The dream, my love, the dream has quite scorched me up. 
 I 'm a man — as I believe you '11 give me credit for, dear Sabilla 
 — a man with a mind above such things ; otherwise, I should 
 think something dreadfid, very dreadfid, was going to happen. 
 Could you give me some soda-water?" 
 
 " I am very sure, 'Mi. Jericho, there is not a single drop of 
 soda-water in the house." 
 
 Hereupon the sufferer ventured to make a suggestion. 
 
 " Couldn't you send for some ?" 
 
 '* Certainly not," replied Mrs. Jericho, with instant decision. 
 " If I cannot reclaim you to propriety, at least let me have the 
 satisfaction, for the sake of youi- children, Pennib — Mr. Jericho — 
 for their sake, let me, if possible, hide from an inquisitive world 
 the vices of their father. Let me, at least, have such barren 
 consolation." Jericho was silent. In consequence thereof, 
 'Mrs. Jericho, Avith gushing fluency, continued — " I have no Avish, 
 sir, to busy the idle Avorld with my private wrongs ; none 
 whatever." 
 
 " I don't see, my — my dear" — said Jericho, from under the 
 clothes — " I don't see why you should." 
 
 " And yet you ask me to send the servants for soda-water at 
 this time of the day. But what do you care how the domestics 
 talk ! How your conduct as a husband and a father is made the 
 gossip of the neighboiu-hood ! I can just fancy, at this hour, 
 Edwin asking for soda-water ; and how very cleverly you 'd be 
 iu-ought upon the counter. Of course, servants will talk. No 
 Avages will stop 'em. And — no, !Mr. Jericho, no" — and his wife 
 spoke as though sternly re-assured in her pm'pose — " you may 
 stab my heart if you will ; but at least you shall not — that is, if 
 I can help it — you shall not call about the vulgar and unfeeling 
 world to gaze upon the bleeding womid." And ]\Irs. Jericho 
 sat down. 
 
 " I wouldn't do such a thing, and you know I wouldn't. 
 Sabilla, dear, you know I wouldn't." Mrs. Jericho made no 
 spoken reply; but her foot, tapping the cai-pet, was eloquent 
 of unbelief and wrong.
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 29 
 
 There was no answering this, therefore Jericho adroitly sought 
 to turn the current of discourse. Por several minutes he hunted 
 for a thought, his wife's foot still accompanying him on the 
 search. At last he deemed himself successful, and with the 
 ^avacity of good fortune, said — 
 
 " Can I have a cup of tea? " 
 
 Mi-s. Jericho rose like a sultana, and with a cold dignity, and 
 in deep searching tones, that made Jericho wince in the sheets, 
 said — " Of course, IVIr. Jericho ; you are master in your own 
 house. Of course, you can have a cup of tea." And with this 
 assurance, IVIi-s. Jericho slowly swept from her profaned bed- 
 room. 
 
 "Well, and what does the old felon say? The scaly old 
 griffin ! What 's he got to answer for himself? " 
 
 A young gentleman close upon one of the privileges of legal 
 manhood — the privilege of going to prison for his own debts — 
 put this sudden question to IVIi's. Jericho, on her instant return 
 to the di'awing-room, from the interview narrated above. 
 
 " Come, what is it ? Will he give me the money ? In a 
 word," asked the hui-ried youth, " will he go into the melting- 
 pot like a man and a father? " 
 
 "My dear Basil, you mustn't ask me," replied Mrs. Jericho 
 to her emphatic first-born. 
 
 " Oh, mustn't I, though? " cried Basil. " It 's as little as I 
 can do. Ha ! you don't know the lot of people that 's asking me. 
 Bless you ! they ask a hundred times to my once. Well, wiU 
 old Jericho tip the loyalty? Did you give him my sentiment, 
 mother, eh ? Money — money 's like the air you breathe ; if you 
 have it not you die. Have you brought me the beggarly allow- 
 ance ? — If I don't blush a hole in my cheek to take it ! It 's 
 disgusting. A hundred a year ! Not enough to keep a blind 
 man in dogs." 
 
 "My dear Basil, where do you imbibe such extraordinary 
 parallels ? " asked ]\Irs. Jericho ; and with her eyes feeding upon 
 the knowing, impudent face of the young man, she affectionately
 
 30 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 adjusted his cravat. " What a careless child you are — I 'm sure 
 you don't take care of yourself." 
 
 " First make it worth my while, mother. Care ! What 's the 
 usa of buttoning an empty pocket ? But about this worse half 
 of yours ; this supermunerary father of mine. Only wished I 'd 
 ha' guessed what he 's tui-ned out. Little as I was, I 'd ha' 
 forbid the banns — I would — if I 'd jumped upon a three-legged 
 stool to do it." 
 
 ]\Irs. Jericho drew a deep, deep sigh, and tenderly pressed the 
 hero in her arms. 
 
 "Don't sigh, ma'am," said the youth, "don't sigh; for times 
 are bad, and bobbin 's getting dearer." IVIrs. Jericho tapped the 
 young gentleman on his cheek. " To business, as the sun said 
 when he rose late — to business, my dear madam. What does 
 that ruifian-in-law answer to my just proposal? " 
 
 " Basil, really, my dear Basil, I cannot listen : whatever Mr. 
 Jericho's faults may be, if I can endure them — if I can be silent 
 — at least I may expect my children " — 
 
 " Not at all, my dear lady, not at all. Your children never 
 said a word to the bargain. They only looked on while you 
 were sold. They have all the freedom of English subjects, 
 and may abuse your husband ad lihltum. I do nothing rashly, 
 dear madam ; I 've inquired into the law, and I know it. My 
 allegiance, my dear lady, is due to my own buried father ; and 
 as I 'm told, he was a gentleman " — 
 
 " Basil, don't — pray don't ! You bring him up before me. 
 Ha ! Basil, your father wm a man." 
 
 " No doubt of it, my dear lady ; no doubt of it, my revered 
 mother ;" and the young gentleman, with really a touch of grace, 
 bent his head, and raised his mother's hand to his lips. " Would 
 shoot the fellow, my dear lady, who doubted it. Well, why 
 did you hook-and-eye yourself to the individual up stairs? 
 Why were you iiulnccd to drop upon the golden name of 
 Pcnnibackcr the tin extinguisher of Jericho ? As Hamlet some- 
 where says, why did you leave that Primrose Hill of clover, 
 to go to grass on Wormwood Scrubs ? "
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 31 
 
 " I entreat you, Basil — I supplicate, my dearest boy, that you 
 desist ! You "— 
 
 " All right, my dear lady, aU right, and got the receipt. 
 What I meant to say was this. You sacrificed yourself for the 
 good of your family ? " And Basd Pennibacker, with wrinkled 
 forehead, looked inquii-ingly about, gesticulating as though 
 chewing liis emotion. " Didn't you ? " 
 
 "I did, Basil, I did; but don't grieve for that — I can be 
 resigned ; I have been resigned." 
 
 "Like a tame lamb," said Basil, biu-sting into metaphor, 
 " hke a tame lamb you wreathed your brow with orange flowers, 
 and in the very handsomest manner gave yourself away. Can I 
 forget it ? Ought I to forget it ? Ought my sisters to forget 
 it? Never. You married our destroyer -in-law — pardon my 
 feelings, my dear madam ; as yoiur dutiful son I must caU him 
 so : you married our cannibal-in-law, to make the fortunes of 
 your innocent orphans ? Did you not ? " 
 
 " I did, Basil," said Mrs. Jericho, and she shuddered. " Your 
 father knows I did." 
 
 "In which case, madam, as one of those orphans, it is my 
 first duty to take care that your intentions are honourably 
 carried out. Now, madam, can I see Mr. Jericho ? " 
 
 " My dear chUd," said Mrs. Jericho, " he is not yet up." 
 
 "And nearly one o'clock — what an insidt" — and Basd 
 pointed towards the sun — " what a marked insult to that 
 respectable luminary. Never mind. We 'U hold a little bed of 
 justice in this matter. Tor I do assure you, my dear lady, I 
 tremble for myself; I do indeed. I never was so disloyal in all 
 my life ; never." 
 
 Let not Mr. Basil Pennibacker suffer in the opinion of the 
 faithful subject. That young gentleman — it was his whim, his 
 characteristic mode of speech — adopted the word disloyalty as 
 his synonym of poverty. 
 
 " My good sir," — we give in the way of illustration a speech 
 of BasQ's to an earnest tailor — " my good su-, you know I always 
 desire to respect the constituted authorities. I always like to
 
 32 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 have their images about me. But my good sir, I have not seen 
 the face of the monarch, sir, no not on the smallest piece of 
 silver, for a natural twelvemonth, sir. I never felt myself such 
 a traitor, sir. Look here " — and Basil twitched out his empty 
 purse — " look here ; not a pennyweight of loyalty in it, sir. 
 Ton my life, sir, I've quite forgotten the quarterings of my 
 native land. I 'm a quadruped, sii", and not a gentleman, if 1 
 know whether Britannia holds a trident or a dung-fork. I 'm dis- 
 gusted with life, sii"; for I 've no loyalty — not an ounce of loyalty." 
 
 Thus, Mrs. Jericho — familiar with the figurative style of her 
 son — was in no way alarmed, when he declared he felt himself 
 the greatest traitor on earth ; he had been so long lost to loyalty. 
 
 " I should be very sorry, my dear madam," he added, " for 
 the credit of the family, veiy sorry to be left alone with the 
 crown, a blue bag in my hand, and the door open. I tremble, 
 madam, at the picture. For I know it, my dear madam — I feel 
 it, my affectionate parent — you woidd not like to see the head of 
 your only and erring son upon Tower Hill. I 'm sure, my dear 
 lady, you could not survive that moment. Therefore, to prevent 
 serious consequences, when am I to have an advance of loyalty? " 
 
 " My dear Basil, you are so unpetuous. I have not yet had 
 an opportunity " — 
 
 " Had an opportunity ! Make one, my dear lady. But I see 
 how it is ; you shrink before the tyrant. The ruffian that 
 you have ennobled by consenting to wear his naine, refuses to 
 make the advance. Did you tell him that with three years' 
 allowance down, I 'd throw oft' five per cent, for the ready 
 loyalty ? And he refuses ! Why, my dear lady, it's next to 
 embezzlement. Upon my life, I wish to treat the individual 
 with respect ; nevertheless, it does flash across my mind that it's 
 nowhere written that a man may not tb-ash Jiis own father-in- 
 law." 
 
 " Basil, I will not hear this. I tell you, I will not. AVhat- 
 ever may be the faults of ]\Ir. Jericho — and who should know 
 them better than myself? — I cannot sanction such sentiments. 
 At a proper season " —
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 33 
 
 " My dear maternal lady, money isn't like green peas, coming 
 in with a season ; the proper season for money 's when money's 
 wanted, A season with me, my dear madam, that lasts all the 
 year round, I can assm'e you," and again BasU kissed the hand 
 of his anxious parent. 
 
 " The truth is, Basil, I do believe that Mr. Jericho is very 
 much pressed — very much. And you know he is indulgent to 
 you ; and so, you must not be hard upon him : indeed, my love, 
 you must not. I am very much afraid," — and ]\Irs. Jericho 
 looked at the youth with new affection — " very much afraid 
 that you 're an extravagant child." 
 
 " Ton my Kfe, my dear madam, when I see what other young 
 fellows do, I feel myself a mean man ; sometimes despise myself. 
 You don't know how I struggle to keep down the miser in me. 
 1 've a dreadfid idea sometimes, of what my end wdl be." 
 
 " My dear Basil! " cried the mother, in tender alarm. 
 
 " Sometimes, dear lady, I look into the middle of next cen- 
 tury, and see myself a wretched being. Long beard, nads like 
 fish-hooks, one shirt a year, and dinners of periwinkles. Unless 
 I exert all my strength of mind, I shall go off in mildew — die a 
 miser. 'He denied himself the common necessaries of Ufe' — 
 that 's what I sometimes fear will be my history — ' and thus, it is 
 believed, hastened his wretched and untimely end.' " 
 
 " Basil ! How can you ! " 
 
 " That 's my fate, I fear. ' On his room being searched, bank- 
 notes to a large amount were found in an old tinder-box, and 
 a hundred and fifty guineas of the time of George the Second, 
 secreted in a German flute ! ' Sometimes, when I 'm melancholy 
 and disloyal, I think that's my fate ; but I'll struggle against the 
 feeling," said Basil with filial emphasis — " I will struggle, my 
 dear lady." 
 
 Whereupon ]\Irs. Jericho, haply comforted by his moral 
 heroism, assm'ed her boy that she would not let Mr. Jericho rest 
 until he gave a definitive answer to liis son-in-law's moderate 
 proposition. 
 
 " That is all I want to know, my dear lady. "Whether I 'm 
 o3
 
 34 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 to stop short at sudden ruin, or to go on. I 'm disgusted with 
 life at present, but I 'm open to any arrangement that shall 
 make me change my opinion. Hallo ! Aggy, why you 're come 
 out of a rainbow." 
 
 This sudden salutation was addressed to ]\Liss Agatha Penni- 
 backer who, fine and gauze-like as a di'agonfly, floated into the 
 room, and settled upon a sofa. " I have told you twenty 
 times," said the young lady with face severely set, " I will not 
 be called Aggy. It 's hideous." 
 
 •' Then why don't you change it ? I say, mother, when are you 
 going to consign these girls to India ? INIarket 's fuU here. 
 Bless you, such a glut of wedding-rings, I 'm told they hang 
 mackerel on 'em." And BasQ laughed saucily at Agatha ; and 
 Agatha pouted contemptuously. 
 
 " My dear Basil, I thought I heard yom- voice. Where have 
 you been, you naughty child ? I 'm sure your poor sisters " — it 
 was Monica Pcnnibacker who spoke as she entered — " your poor 
 sisters might as well be wdthout a brother." 
 
 " That 's theii- opinion Nic," and the youth was about to 
 chuck Monica's chin, when Monica drew herself Like a pouter 
 pigeon above the familiarity. 
 
 "When you can address yoar elder sister as you ought, Basil" — 
 
 " Come, if you 're going to act domestic tragedy I shall leave 
 the house, and not take a check to come back," said Basil. 
 " What 's the matter with you both ? Why, you 're as stiff as 
 if you slept in sheet ii'on and boarded on wiialebone. What 's 
 the matter? Just wish you'd some of my troubles. Only 
 yesterday, I lost Scrub my terrier ; a love of a tiling that would 
 kill rats as fast as he could see 'em. Turn out a hundred rats, 
 and in a twinkling he 'd make 'em feel as if the eyes of Europe 
 were on 'em. And that dog's dead. Yet look at me," and 
 Basil passed his fingers through his hair, and with much forti- 
 tude, wiped an imaginary tear from his eye. " Scrub 's departed, 
 yet I consent to breathe." 
 
 " Scrub ! Bringing terriers before ladies," said Monica ; 
 " do not be so vul<i:ai-."
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 35 
 
 " Indeed Basil," chii-rupped young Agatha, "you get so low, 
 your sisters must disown you." 
 
 " Poor little kittens," cried Basil, and he dropped astride a 
 chair, and shook his head at the young ladies, and sighed. — 
 " Well, 'pon my life, I do wish you were out of this world ! " 
 
 " Basil ! " exclaimed the sisters, with a slight hysteric scream. 
 
 " Basil ! " said ]Mi"s. Jericho in deep, reproving thunder. 
 
 " You 're too good for this earth, you are, indeed, girls. 
 Take it in the lump, and see what a lot of it 's beneath your 
 notice. What a little of it 's really respectable. If it wasn't 
 unmanly. I could weep to think that my superfine sisters lived 
 in the same wicked vulgar world that makes black-puddings and 
 sells cat's-meat." 
 
 •' My dear Basil," said Mrs. Jericho in a tone of tender 
 remonstrance, " do not be so extravagant. And you hurt your 
 sisters ; you do, indeed. A man " — and Mrs. Jericho took 
 breath for a great utterance — " a man never so beautifully shows 
 liis own strength, as when he respects our softness." 
 
 " No, indeed; " said the young ladies, speaking and shaking 
 theii- heads in sjTnpathy. " No ! " 
 
 "I've a whole bank of respect in me, ma'am " — and Basil 
 spread his fingers over his breast — " but I don't pay a 
 penn'orth of it to forged drafts. Now, softness is one thing ; 
 and — my dear parent I am quite prepared to prove what I say — 
 and gammon is another." 
 
 " If you allude to me, sir," — said Monica, who had evidently 
 made up her mind for an apothegm — " permit me once and for 
 all to observe, that I don't know what you mean." 
 
 " That 's exactly my feelings on the subject, Monica dear," 
 cried Agatha. 
 
 " Now, children, I cannot endure this. It distresses me. 
 These little quarrels lacerate me. You know, as I have often 
 said, girls, I gave up everything for my childi-en. Had I con- 
 sulted my own feelings, I shoidd have glided a solitary thing 
 to — to your father. Therefore," — here ]\Irs. Jericho drew forth 
 her pocket-handkerchief; and both the girls, with a precision
 
 36 A MAX MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 quite military, imitated the movement — "therefore, kiss one 
 another and be friends." 
 
 " "\A'ith all my heart, and all my mouth," said Basil. " Come 
 along, girls " — and he folded his arms — " come along ; I won't 
 bite." 
 
 " What a creature you are ! " cried Monica, wiping her eyes, 
 as her mother moved her towards Basil. 
 
 " I dare say," said the young Agatha, lifting herself upon her 
 toes, to Basil, " I dare say, now, you don't kiss Bessy Carraways 
 in that manner." 
 
 "Bessy CaiTaways," said Basil, and the blood ran all over his 
 face, his mother silently smiling at the emotion — " Bessy Carra- 
 ways is a — a — " Basil stammered, then laughed — "a flower." 
 
 " No doubt, dear Basil," said Monica. "So are all young 
 ladies of Bessy's age ; all flowers." 
 
 " But I mean," said Basil, " the natiu-al thing. You see, my 
 beloved sisters, there are two sorts of flowers. Now, Bessy 
 isn't too fine, or too good for this world. No ; she 's a flesh 
 and blood flower, growing upon the earth, and not tliinking it 
 too dirty for her : a flower that gives out the sweetness of her 
 own natural self, and doesn't think it too good for other people : 
 and why, because she thinks no more about it, than a rose or a 
 lily, or any other blossom that 's delicious and doesn't know it." 
 
 " Upon my word, Basil," cried Mrs. Jericho, with joyous 
 emphasis, "you are quite a poet." 
 
 " Should be very sorry, ma'am, for the respectability of the 
 family," said Basil. 
 
 " Oh, quite a bard," exclaimed Monica, with a sai'casm so 
 very fine, it was unfelt by its object. " Now, you have given 
 us one sort of female flower, what — dear boy — what is the 
 other?" 
 
 "Certainly, Nic," and Basil took his sister's . hand between 
 his own. " The other flower doesn't root in the world at aU : 
 earth 's too vulgar for it, dearest maid. It 's a flower so fine, 
 it 's grown out of silk or velvet, and stands upon a wire stalk. 
 "Whatever scent it has, it isn't its own : it doesn't come out of
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONET. 37 
 
 itself, sweet girl, but out of the fashion. Very fine flowers ; 
 very bright, and very sweet, and very wax-like, — but stiU, my 
 darling virgin, they are flowers, sown in silk, cultivated by the 
 scissors, and perched upon stifiiiess. Not at all the sort of 
 flower for my button-hole, I can tell you." 
 
 " Dear no ! Of course not," cried the wicked Agatha, clapping 
 her hands. " Bessy is* of course, your heart's-ease," 
 
 " My dear little puss," said Basil, " I like Bessy, as I said, 
 because she doesn't tliink herself too good for other people : for 
 all that, I 'm not good enough for her. No, my little tortoise- 
 shell, I shall always study humility, it 's safest — shall always 
 think myself not good enough for any woman in the world. 
 When I die, this is the epitaph I shall have grown over me : — 
 ' He was so htimhle of sp'mt, he never lifted his thoughts to 
 marriage. Reader, go and do liketvise.' " 
 
 " My dear, strange Basil ! " said IVIrs. Jericho, with an incre- 
 didous laugh. 
 
 " Shall endeavour to leave five pounds a-year, to have that 
 epitaph grown over me in mustard and cress. Five pounds 
 a-year, ma'am, to the sexton, to keep my memory green." 
 
 " I wonder what IVIiss Carraways w'ould say if she heard you. 
 But I know better," said Monica. " I think, Agatha, we had 
 better bespeak our posts as bridesmaids." 
 
 "Woiddn't suffer it, my darhng girls," said Basil. "If ever 
 I was to marry — not that I ever shall ; no, no, — I shall walk 
 through the world with the mustard-and-cress steadily in my eye 
 — ^you shouldn't come near my wife. No, no ; you 're too good, 
 too fine, too embroidered, for the plain work of matrimony. 
 Bless your little filagTee hearts, before you marry you ought to 
 perform quarantine in cotton, and serve seven years to pies and 
 puddings." 
 
 "Now, my dear, dear Basil" — 
 
 But Edwin, entering with a letter, destroyed IMrs. Jericho's 
 sentence in its early syllables. 
 
 " How curious ! " cried Mrs, Jericho. " A letter from Mrs. 
 Carraways. I know her dear hand from all my friends : there is
 
 38 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 such a flow of the lady about it. Ha ! the party. * Mr. aitd 
 Mrs. Carraicai/s request the honour of — ' yes ; we are all imited. 
 This is to be the gi-eat fete of the season. Jogtrot Lodge will 
 be burningly brilliant. The richest people will be there, and I 
 have heard," and Mrs. Jericho lowered her voice, " I have 
 heard, some of the nobility." 
 
 "No doubt," said Basil ; "just a lord or two, to keep 'em 
 sweet." 
 
 " Eeally, Basil, you ought to go and live in a cave, upon wild 
 elder-ben-ies ; you ought," said Monica ; and then she turned 
 to her parent, mth a look of touching helplessness. " But, my 
 dear mamma ; how are we to go ? " 
 
 "Yes, mamma," said the forlorn Agatha, "how are we 
 to go ? " 
 
 IMrs. Jericho was looking about her for an answer, when 
 Basil observed — " I see ; got no gownis. Ask a woman to a 
 tea-party in the Garden of Eden, and she 'd be sure to draw up 
 her eyeUds, and scream — ' I can't go without a gown.' " 
 
 " I tliink, Basil " — said !Miss Monica, a little majestically, — 
 "you had better confine yourself to terriers, and thmgs that, 
 perhaps, you understand. "What do you know about gowns ? " 
 
 "Very true, my eider-duck, very tnie. And, mother, as I 
 am to show at the Lodge, I must really have a supply of 
 loyalty : for I quite sympathise with the gii-ls ; feel it qmte 
 impossible, my honoured lady, to appear at the same table twice 
 m the same toothpick." 
 
 Mrs. Jericho, tapping her palm with the missive from Jogtrot 
 Lodge, was descending deep into meditation. Who shall say 
 what visions rose before her ? It had always been her ambition 
 that her girls should — in her own nervous words — "make a 
 blow in marriage." And she felt — felt as a mother — that, 
 perhaps, the time was come. The girls should go armed at all 
 points for conquest. " It shall be so," said Mrs. Jericho, self- 
 communing ; and then she serenely smiled upon all her children. 
 
 "Proud to take your word for it, my revered lady," said 
 Basil. " So as I 've got to look at another dog at Chambers, —
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 39 
 
 thougli Scrub 's a first-love I shall never get over ; yes, that 
 dog 's a bruised place here, I can tell you " — and the mourner 
 pointed his fore-finger to liis heart — " I '11 be back in a couple 
 of hours, I suppose, gu'ls, you '11 go to this fete, like the rest 
 of 'em, in your vt^ar-paint ? " (The young ladies could not tell 
 what he meant.) "Therefore, for the honour of the family, I 
 must start a new tooth-pick. So, the loyalty I must have, my 
 dear madam — the loyalty, my honoiu'ed parent, or in two hours 
 I 'm cutting my name \vith a shilling pen-knife in the Tower of 
 London. Good morning," and Basil, with his best grace, 
 saluted the hand of his mother, filliped a kiss to both the girls, 
 and strode from the room. 
 
 " Well, he is a handsome fellow," said Monica. 
 
 " Handsome ! he 's beautiful," cried Agatha. 
 
 " Beautifol ! " — exclaimed the mother, sighing — " he 's his 
 own father, when I first met him. Yes ; every look, and every 
 tone a Pennibacker." 
 
 "Ml", Jericho 's in his room, ma'am," said Edwin the page. 
 
 " Oh ! " said IVIi-s. Jericho. 
 
 CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 Mu. Jericho sat in his study ; and still his dream sat astride 
 his spirit. Much of the fii-st distinctness of the vision had faded 
 in the morning light ; nevertheless, he could piece out sulficient 
 from its mistiness to make him dull and dumpish. He was not 
 a superstitious man — certamly not. He would despise himself 
 to be troubled by a dream ; and then he shifted in his seat, and 
 took up the newspaper and laid it down again. And then he 
 thought all dreams were to be read backwards : and thus, his 
 vision of the Bank Cellars was to be mockingly realised by the 
 (iueen's Bench. And then he looked about him and took heart. 
 Pooh! dreams were playthiugs for conjurors and gypsies; quite 
 beneath the thought of a reasonable, a respectable man. He 
 had often dreamt he had been hanged, and what had come of it?
 
 40 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 Nothing; good or bad. I\Ir. Jericho again took up the news- 
 paper, and was endeavouring to interest himself in the affairs of 
 his holiness the Pope, when the door opened. He winced, for 
 he knew the feminine turn of the handle ; he winced, we say, 
 but nevertheless manfully with the paper before his eyes tried to 
 keep his soul apart — far away at the Court of Home. He heai'd 
 the well-known rustling of the well-known skirts, and shivered 
 just a little at the sound. Three or four of the softest footsteps 
 told distinctly on the silence ; and then — he knew it, though he 
 saw it not — ]\Irs. Jericho in her morning muslin, subsided upon 
 the opposite chair like a summer wave. 
 
 Ml-. Jericho, almost without knowing it, had shifted himself 
 to the Tyrol, and was trying to wonder at the next move of the 
 Emperor of Austria, when ]\Ii's. Jericho slightly coughed. Upon 
 tliis, Jericho, a little agitated, found himself among the list. of 
 bauki'upts ; then he took flight to the House of Commons ; 
 where he became intensely absorbed by the Sugar Question, 
 in which he would have been happy to be busied all the morn- 
 ing, when the wife of his bosom observed, — 
 
 " Mr. Jericho "- 
 
 " My dear, just now it is impossible," said Jericho, shifting. 
 
 "What is impossible, Mr. Jericho?" asked the lady, with 
 cold wonder. 
 
 "Why, just now — I — I cannot let you have any money," 
 said Jericho ; and he wiped his brow. 
 
 " Did I ask for money, Mr. Jericho ? " inquii'ed the wife, 
 wounded by the imputation. 
 
 " Eh ! Why — humph ! Didn't you ? " cried Jericho, some- 
 what incredulous. 
 
 " Will you oblige me, Mr. Jericho, by looking at that ? " and 
 Mrs. Jericho handed in the Carraways' letter. 
 
 " Oh ! Ha ! " cried Jericho — " An invitation to their grand 
 party. Yery kind of 'em. People who ought to be cultivated. 
 Considering the money they have, they don't hold their head 
 quite high enough, to be sure ; nevertheless, very good people ; 
 very rich people. Wc shall go, my dear, of course."
 
 A MAX MADE OF MONET. 41 
 
 Mrs. Jericho folded her hands together, dropt them gently 
 into her lap, then turned her very placid face fuU in the face of 
 her husband, and slowly, and very anxiously put to him these 
 words — " And how are we to go, Mi*. Jericho ? " 
 
 " How, my dear ! " cried Jericho, in the darkest ignorance — 
 " How would you go ? " 
 
 " As your family, Mr. Jericho ; as your wife and daughters " 
 — said the lady, " we ought to go drest." 
 
 " Why, yes, my dear " — said Jericho — " 'twould look very 
 particular, if you didn't. He ! he 1" 
 
 " I admire wit, true wit, Mr. Jericho,'"" said the lady, with a 
 pitying smile ; " but no real gentleman ever descends to humour. 
 Major Pennibacker never — but that is not the question. In a 
 word, Mr. Jericho, your wife and daughters have no clothes to 
 go in. Therefore, as you have decided to accept the invitation, 
 may I ask, when can you let me have some money ? " 
 
 Jericho dropt the paper, pushed himself from the table, and 
 groaned. 
 
 "Oh, very well, very well" — said M[rs. Jericho, with cutting 
 vivacity — " I can write a refusal : of coui'se ; we are ill, or are 
 going out of town, or have a better engagement ; anything 
 will do." 
 
 " Now, my dear creature, will you be reasonable ? " cried 
 Jericho, intreatingly, " What do you want ? " 
 
 Mi-s. Jericho replied with admii-able brevity. " Want ! 
 Everything." 
 
 " Impossible," said Jericho. 
 
 "If we cannot go like your wife and daughters, we had 
 better — far better for yoiu* credit — stay at home. Well, I did 
 not think it would come to this " — said Mrs. Jericho, a little 
 aflected — " I did not think when I consented to marry you, that 
 you would suffer my dear girls to want the necessaries of Ufe." 
 
 " Why, you don't call fine extravagant clothes the necessaries 
 of life ? " cried Jericho. 
 
 " Yes, I do, su- ; for such a party as that of Carraways ; 
 and for girls that are marriageable. Why all the world — that
 
 42 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 is, tbe richest people in the world — wUl be at the fete. And 
 are the poor things, the deai* girls, to remain always at home — 
 kept in the dark, like jewels in boxes — for nobody to see them ? 
 VHiy, Mr. Jericho, you're a king Herod to the dear children, 
 and nothing better. Indeed to kill them outright, would be 
 more merciful." 
 
 " My dear creature " — Mrs. Jericho snatched an angry look 
 at the word — "my dear SabQla, what would you have me do? 
 I 'm sure I don't want to keep the girls at home. I 'm sure — " 
 Jericho spoke with increasing earnestness — " I 'm sure I 
 should be delighted to see them married. Why, you must 
 confess, my dear; you must own, my love, that it was only 
 a fortnight ago, I gave you fifty pounds, for " — 
 
 "And what's fifty pounds among three women?" asked 
 Mrs. Jericho. 
 
 Jericho, with early habits of clerkship, quickly replied — 
 " Sixteen pounds, thirteen and fourpence a piece." 
 
 " I have told you, ]\Ir. Jericho, that I admire wdt — but no 
 low humour. As much wit as you please, sir, but no buffoonery. 
 Very well" — and ]\Irs. Jericho rose — "I'll ^\Tite and decline 
 the engagement." 
 
 "You know best, my deai-, of course. I'll leave it all to 
 you ; " and Jericho resumed the paper. A brief pause ; and 
 then he added, — " I 'm sure I only wish I was made of wealth ; 
 but, I can't make money, you know; I wish I could. The 
 expenses of this family " — 
 
 " No, no, ]\ri*. Jericho ; not of this family," and IMrs. Jericho 
 hissed on the pronoun : " not this." 
 
 "My good woman," cried Jericho, falling back in his seat 
 with a hopeless stare, " what do you mean ? " 
 
 "You know very well what I mean; and — no, no, Mr. 
 Jericho — I am not to be deceived by such hypocrisy. I have 
 tried to smother the dark thought as it rose ; I have struggled 
 to crush the scorpion suspicion that preys upon my peace ; I 
 have wrestled with myself to hide my sorrow from the world, 
 that my wound" —
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 43 
 
 " Wound ! " cried Jericho, striking the table ; " in heaven's 
 name, woman, what wound?" 
 
 " That my wound might bleed inwardly" — continued the wife 
 — " but it is impossible for me to consent to be quite a fool: no, 
 indeed, you ask too much. Not quite a fool, Mr. Jericho." 
 
 Let us at once explain. Let us possess the reader with the 
 dark thought that, fitfidly, woidd shadow the clear day of ]\Irs. 
 Jericho's hfe; let us at once produce upon the page the scorpion 
 complained of. 
 
 Mrs. Jericho was so convinced that her household expenses 
 were of such petty amoimt ; was so assured that the family, in 
 its various outlay, cost the head of the house next to nothing, — 
 that when Mr. Jericho pleaded lack of means, the scorpion 
 aforesaid, with the malice of its kind, would insinuate the cruel- 
 lest, the falsest suspicion of the truth and constancy of the 
 husband. Not, however, that IMrs. Jericho believed it : let us 
 do her so much justice. Hence, when — to the first horror of 
 Jericho — she hazarded an opinion that " there must be another 
 Avife and family out of doors, or where could the money go to ?" 
 — when to Jericho's contempt, astonishment, and wrath, his 
 honoured wife implied so withering an accusation, the good 
 woman herself had really no belief in the treason. It was the 
 very waj'wardness of affection ; it was love-in-idleness frolicking 
 now with a thorn, and now a nettle. This, however, was in earlier 
 days. As time wore on, ISIrs. Jericho would press the thorn, 
 would flourish the nettle, with greater force and pui'pose, and 
 possibly for this reason ; she had found the instruments of unex- 
 pected value. Jericho, to escape them, would make the reqvured 
 concession, would consent to the expense demanded. Briefly, 
 IVIrs. Jericho had only to caU up the shadowy wife and famdy 
 out-of-doors, to compel Jericho to concede to any request for 
 the Uving spouse and children beneath his roof. So useful, so 
 valuable were these shadows found by Mrs. Jericho, that it is 
 not to be wondered at that the good woman, without even con- 
 fessing it to herself, shoidd, as time wore on, believe them to be 
 something more than shades ; and yet not real things ; on the
 
 44 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 other hand, not altogether ideal mist. Having explained this 
 much, the reader will take the taunts of Mrs. Jericho at their 
 real worth ; wdl value them as so much thistle-down that, blown 
 about by idle air, nevertheless contains in its floating lightness 
 the seed of thistles. 
 
 Mrs. Jericho remained the undisputed possessor of the last 
 word. With a despairing twitch, Jericho had again seized the 
 newspaper. " Well, then" — said the wife — " it is no use my 
 wasting my time ; I will write to the Carraways that we shan't 
 come." 
 
 " You will do just as you please, I am sure, my dear. You 
 always do," said Jericho. 
 
 " Not I indeed ; oh dear no. But, I dare say, your wife out 
 of doors does as she Ukes ; I have no doubt of thsft. I am sure, 
 again and again have I wished I had been a Hindoo wife ; then 
 I had sacrificed myself upon the pyre and been happy — but 1 am 
 rightly served." Jericho, resolutely, held fast by the newspaper, 
 determining to forego his allowed share of the conversation in 
 favour of his wife : she should have all the talk ; he would not 
 deprive her of a single syllable. " And, Mr. Jericho, you have 
 decided ? We are not to go to Jogtrot Lodge '? We are to 
 miss — what I consider, thinking of my poor dear girls — miss 
 one of the greatest opportunities of the season ! And this 
 because you spend out of doors what should go to yom- own 
 family. I dare say, if I could only see — and I will, if I live, 
 that I am determined upon — if I could only see how other 
 people are di'est ; if I could only know the jewellery that 's 
 lavished upon them ; if I could only know what they cost, 
 it would be pretty plain why we are debarred the common 
 decencies of life. Once, I was foolish, weak enough to believe 
 that your wife and family — I mean the wife and family under 
 this roof — bad all your money, and all your thoughts ; but I 
 have lived to find the bitter contrary." StUl Jericho held man- 
 fully by the newspaper ; and with his blood burning and bubbUng 
 in his ears, would not make reply — not one word. " And you 
 are resolved that the dear girls shall not go ? You have made
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 45 
 
 youi' mind up to blight theii" future prospects ? You are deter- 
 mined to keep us all here like nuns, that other people — I said 
 other people, ]\Ir. Jericho — should run riot in what lawfully 
 belongs to your own family ? And yoiu* excuse is — ^you havn't 
 the means ! But I know better." 
 
 And here Jericho, with a wan look, laid down the newspaper; 
 then ventiu*ed to glance appealingly in the face of MJrs. Jericho, 
 and sighed. 
 
 Mrs. Jericho was not to be moved. She was there to fulfil a 
 great purpose. She had, or thought she had, some solemn 
 warning in her breast that the approaching festival at Jogtrot 
 Lodge portended greatness to one, haply to both her daugh- 
 tei-s : and the children should make a seemly preparation for 
 their destiny. . They should be drest and adorned for the best 
 luck that coidd befal them. "With whatever state it might please 
 fortune to smile upon them, they should be worthy of her most 
 affectionate notice. This determination every moment grew 
 stronger in the heart of the mother, who dropt her cold regards 
 upon the newspaper, and then slowly raised it in her hand. A 
 cruel, cutting smile of irony sharpened her lips. " Oh yes," she 
 said, " I see what has engaged you in this paper. It's very plain ! " 
 " What 's plain ? " asked Jericho. 
 
 " Oh, the advertisement here. 'Pon my word, I think the 
 press of the country has come to something, when it brings 
 morning vipers into the bosom of a family." 
 
 " Morning vipers ! l^Tiat is the woman after ? " 
 •' The liberty of the press ! The libertinism, Mr. Jericho, that 's 
 the word. Now, do you suppose that I can be so darkened, 
 not to see that this advertisement is addressed to you ? " and 
 Mrs. Jericho pointed her finger like a dagger to the top of a 
 column. 
 
 " Is the woman mad ? " asked Jericho. 
 
 " No, su" ; and it 's the wonder of all my fi'iends — all who 
 know your conduct — that I am not. For this — this is enough to 
 make me mad," and Mrs. Jericho read from the top column 
 these mysterious words : —
 
 46 A MAK MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 gARBAEA. ***** is anxious to hear from J. The last 
 
 Bank-note was received. Darling S. is quite well ; but prattles con- 
 tinually about J. 
 
 " And seated before me you can read this ! Why, of course, 
 that 's where your money goes," and ^Ii-s. Jericho, to be pre- 
 pared, twitched forth her pocket-handkerchief. 
 
 Jericho groaned and shook his head ; silent, helpless, hopeless. 
 
 The wife interpreted ever\'thing vdth. astonishing readiness. 
 " Of course ; " she said, as though pleased with the discovery, 
 " Barbara writes to J. And who can J. be, but Jericho ! And 
 their darling S. who prattles so, is Solomon ; — of course, there can 
 be no doubt of it. Mrs. Barbara Slars and your own * Solomon.' 
 It 's now all clear ; and now I 'm sure of it ; now I know where 
 your money goes." 
 
 It was very strange. At this moment, a smile suddenly broke 
 over Jericho's face, and he looked straight at Ms wife. Mrs. 
 Jericho quickly drew up at the pleasant aspect of her lord. 
 There was something so queer, so odd in the man. Clmte 
 a new look of satisfaction gleamed from his eyes, and his mouth 
 had such a smile of compliance ! What coidd ail him ! 
 
 " Jericho,-' cried the wife, suddenly familiar. 
 
 " My dear — my love," answered Jericho, the words dropping 
 melted from his heart. 
 
 " "VMiat — why — that is — I mean, what do you smile at ? What 
 makes you look so very, very odd?" 
 
 " ReaUy, my love," said Jericho, with deepening tenderness, 
 " I can't tell ; but upon my word I don't know how it is. I 
 should think there was a gi'cat lump of luck going to fall upon 
 us. I — somehow, I — never felt in such a pleasant humour in 
 all my days. Upon my life, it is strange ! But everything 
 about me seems to have a new glow — a strange look of freshness 
 in it. As true as I 'm alive, Sabilla, ypu don't look above five- 
 and-twenty. Never saw you look so young in all my life." 
 
 " There 's nothing so very — so particularly strange in that, 
 Mr. Jericho. But what is the matter with you ? Anything in 
 the paper that" —
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONET. 47 
 
 " Not at all ; nothing — not a word. Ha ! lia ! well it is very 
 odd ; but I somehow feel as if I could take everybody in the 
 world — that is every respectable person of course — take 'em all 
 in my arms and embrace 'em." 
 
 " I trust, Mr Jericho," said the wife — " I trust you have not 
 been eating opiiun ? I have seen horrible examples iij the East, 
 and — no, you have not been eating opium, Jericho?" 
 
 " Pooh ! Opium ! No drug in the world could make a man 
 feel so happy as I am now," and Jericho snapt his fingers, and 
 cut a caper. " Why, it 's a bit of paradise." 
 
 " He doesn't look mad," thought IVIrs. Jericho, a little 
 anxious. 
 
 " I feel as if I had got new blood, new flesh, new bones, new 
 brain! 'Wonderfid. ! " Jericho trod up and down the room, 
 and snapt his fingers ; now suddenly stopt at IMrs. Jericho, and 
 — startled woman ! she herself could hardly believe it — and put 
 his hand tenderly beneath her chin, and inflicted upon her lips a 
 vigorous kiss. 
 
 " Jericho ! Well, this is stranger than everything," said the 
 astonished wife. 
 
 "You cannot think, SabOla, how happy I do feel," and 
 Jericho threw liimself in his chair, and rubbed his hands, and 
 still looked joyously about him. "Something's going to happen." 
 
 "Perhaps a new vein in the mines?" suggested Mrs. Jericho. 
 
 " Perhaps," said Jericho, a little dubiously. 
 
 " And now, my dear, about this party to Jogtrot Hall. Ai-e 
 we to go ?" 
 
 " Go ! Of com-se," said Jericho. " Let the dear girls go. 
 I should be a monster to refuse them. Besides, it 's only right 
 they should go. And Basil, too. A noble youth ; a little too 
 fond of rats and dogs, — but a noble young fellow. Some day, 
 no doubt, he'll be an honour to the bench. Pal lal de ral, lal, lal," 
 and Jericho's full spirit overflowed in song. 
 
 " It will not take a gi'eat deal of money, after aU," said IVIrs. 
 Jericho. 
 
 " How much?" asked her husband, with a blithe carelessness.
 
 48 A MAN MADE OF MOXEY. 
 
 " I think a hundred pounds — because I want the girls on such 
 an occasion to make a blow — I do almost tliink, yes I am nearly 
 sure that a hundred pounds, for we must have a few trinkets, will 
 do pretty well." 
 
 " A hundred pounds, after all, isn't much," said Jericho, airily. 
 
 " Not with a great, a vital object in view," responded his wife. 
 
 " And as the world goes," said Jericho, " people who would 
 be somebody must make an appearance." 
 
 " It is the compulsion of our artificial state of life : I wish it 
 were otherwise. But as it is so, my dear, — you wiU let me have 
 the money?" 
 
 At this question a strangely pleasm^able thrill passed through 
 the breast of Jericho ; his heart glowed and expanded as it had 
 never done before ; and he felt his hand drawn — as though 
 some fairy pulled at either finger end — to his bosom. His bare 
 hand pressed Ids heart, that, at the pressure, gave a sudden and 
 dehcious flutter. 
 
 " You will let me ha\ e the money ? " repeated IMrs. Jericho. 
 
 Jericho answered not a word, but withdrew his hand from his 
 breast : between his finger and his thumb he held, in silver 
 purity, a virgin Bank of England note ! 
 
 " TMiat a dear, good creature you are, Jericho" — said his wife 
 — " to surprise me in this manner ! To bring a note for the 
 exact amount with you ! Just a hundred ! Well, you are a 
 love," and hastily pressing him roimd the neck, ]Mi-s. Jericho ran 
 from the room, as though embarrassed by the freedom. 
 
 And Jericho sat, with his heart beating the faster. Again, 
 he placed his hand to his breast ; again drew forth another 
 Bank note. He jumped to his feet ; tore away his dress, and 
 running to a min-or, saw therein reflected, not human flesh ; but 
 over the region of his heart a loose skin of Bank paper, veined 
 with marks of ink. He touched it ; and still in his hand there 
 lay another note ! 
 
 His thoiightlcss wish had been wrought into reality. Solomon 
 Jericho was, in very truth, a Man made of Money.
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 49 
 
 CHAPTEE Y. 
 
 Jogtrot Hall was the one central grandeur, the boast and the 
 comfort of Marigolds ; a callage, it may be, overlooked, unknown 
 to tlie town reader, although so near to London, that on soft, 
 calm nights, with the light wind setting from the east, it is 
 said the late villager has heard the bell of St. Paul's hum- 
 ming of the huge city in the deep quietude of starlit fields. 
 As yet, the iron arms of the rail had not clipped Marigolds close 
 to London. As yet, it lay some two hours' distant — reckoning 
 the time by coach-horses. Therefore, it was a day of wondrous 
 promise to the villagers, when Squire Carraways threw open the 
 HaU to his London friends. All Marigolds glowed with satis- 
 faction, for the Hall was as the heart of the village ; its influence 
 felt, acknowledged at the farthest extremity. In fact. Squire 
 Carraways was the feudal sovereign (he had, without knowing it, 
 so crowned himself) of the people of Marigolds. He lorded it 
 over every fireside ; with the like power, if not with the like 
 means, of the good old blade-and-buckler generations. 
 
 Conceive Jogtrot Hall to be the awful castle of the domain ; 
 though, to say the truth, there was not a frown to be got from 
 it, see it as you would. Por the architects, in their various tasks 
 undertaken from time to time, had made the Hall a sort of 
 brick-and-mortar joke ; a violation and a burlesque of all build- 
 ing. The Hall was a huge jumble ; here adorned with large 
 beauty spots of lichen ; there with ivy ; here with jasmine and 
 roses ; and, to be short, with a very numerous family of flowering 
 parasites, sticking and clinging, and creeping everywhere about 
 it. The Hall seemed to have been built bit by bit as its owners 
 got the wherewithal : as though, only when fortune had made a 
 good venture, the owner permitted himself to send out for addi- 
 tional bricks and mortar. The Hall covered, or to speak better, 
 sprawled over half an acre of ground. And as it lay tumbled 
 on the greensward, dressed with all coloured plants and flowers ; 
 
 D
 
 50 A MAN MADE OF MOXEY, 
 
 as its fifty windows stared, and peeped, and looked archly at 
 you, it puzzled you which room to choose wherein to set your 
 easy chair, and, with the fitting accessaries, therein to take a 
 long, deep pull of blessed leisure. 
 
 And the lord of the Hall — Gilbert Carraways, merchant — 
 had a high and dignified sense of his station. He had, perhaps, 
 his own notions of feudality ; but such as they were, he vindi- 
 cated and worked them out with a truly Saxon energy. In the 
 first place, he hated a beggar : he had, it would almost seem, an 
 inborn horror of a destitute man : therefore, he never permitted 
 any misery soever — we mean the misery of want — to find harbour- 
 age in Marigolds. If, in his walks, he met with a strange starv- 
 ing vagrant, crawling his way to hungry death, he would 
 immediately take up the oftcnder, and giving strictest orders 
 that the vagabond should be weU looked after, that is fed — and 
 with amended covering, and a shilling in his pocket, be sent 
 forth rebuked upon his journey. As for the vassals, or villagers, 
 the Lord of the Hall knew every man, woman, and child ; 
 and at certain times, would call them to strict account. He 
 would so cany it even in their homes, that he knew — as wdnter 
 came — how many blankets were in every cottage, what logs 
 of wood, and what store of coals. He would moreover busy 
 himself with the meanest circumstances of the meanest mor- 
 tality ; for example, in such mishaps as the death of a cow, 
 a horse, nay, even pigs, when the property of a labouring 
 villager. He wovUd thereupon resolve himself into a jury of 
 inquiry ; and satisfied with the evidence, would replace the cow, 
 give another horse, send a pig or two from his own store. 
 Moreover, this lord in the deep vaults of his Hall had captives 
 buried from the light for ten and twenty years : and these at 
 Christmas and at holiday times he would set free for the especial 
 merriment of the folk of Marigolds. 
 
 Jogtrot Hall was partly surrounded by an advance guard of 
 magnificent elms: huge, sturdy timber, with the wrinkles of some 
 two hundred years in their bark ; but green and flourishing, and 
 alive and noisy with a colony of rooks, the descendants of a long
 
 A MAK MADE OF MONEY. 51 
 
 flight of undisturbed ancestry. Between the elms, and lifted on 
 a gentle rise of ground, Jogtrot Hall looked down with smiling, 
 hospitable face. There was no rampant Hon over the gates ; no 
 eagle, ready to swoop upon the new-comer. You approached 
 the door thi'ough a double hedge of hoUy, winding up the 
 slope ; a double line of green-liveried guards bristling and 
 berried. Two peacocks cut in yew — the bird crest of former 
 occupants — were perched at the upper end on either side. Theii* 
 condition, in the midst of flourishing beauty, gave warning of its 
 fleetness. They were fast withering. One bird was dying from the 
 head; the other from the tail; they looked forlorn and blighted; 
 an eyesore amidst health and freshness. Nevertheless, Carraways 
 would not suffer them to be cut down. " In the tu'st place," he 
 would say, " it woidd be a mean act towards those who had lived 
 there before him : to the original owners of the peacocks. And 
 secondly, in the sunniest seasons the dying birds preached a 
 sermon, nothing the less solemn because to a rustling, fine-dressed 
 congregation of leaves and flowers." 
 
 Now, whatever discom'se the peacocks may have held to the 
 master of the domain, we have no belief that the dying preachers 
 wlU obtain a moment's attention from the crowd of visitors 
 now on their way from London, to eat and drink, and dance 
 and sing, and to act love and to make enmity, to embrace one 
 another, and to pick one another to pieces, for half-a-day's 
 happiness at Jogtrot Hall. Pamily parties, gatherings of friends 
 and acquaintances came with every week to the house ; brt this 
 was a day special — a day set apart for the reception of a multi- 
 tude. Never, since Carraways had come down to the village, 
 had Marigolds been so roused. The day was, we say, a general 
 festival. All the folks were in their best ; and the schoolmaster 
 and schoobnistress — both functionaries paid from the privy purse 
 of Jogtrot Hall — gave their boys and girls a holiday, that, in 
 their cleanest attire, and with big nosegays stuck in their 
 bosoms and held in their hands, they might, as small retainers 
 of the Lord of the Hall, do honour to him and pleasm-e to 
 themselves. 
 
 D 2
 
 52 A MAX MADE OF MOXEY. 
 
 For tlu-ee hours at least the chUdreu and the younger viUagers 
 had been prepared, arranged m seemly rows, to confront the 
 fine, the awful folks from Loudon. " They 're coming now, 
 Jenny," said a young fellow, " take care of yoiu'self ;" and fami- 
 liarly pressing the arm of a fail', slim, country girl, who stood in 
 the doorway of "White, the schoolmaster — a place where she had 
 the best claim to be, for in truth she was the schoolmaster's 
 daughter — the earnest adviser, Eobert Topps by name, ran at 
 his best speed back to the Ilall. And now, on one side of the 
 road, the boys' school, with old "White at their head, and his 
 daughter at the threshold, with her fair pink face a little 
 flustered by expectation, and, perhaps, by the counsel of Bob 
 Topps, — on one side, the boys' school, with flowers and green 
 boughs, is on tiptoe with the first cheer; and immediately 
 opposite, the girls' school of Marigolds, under the firm and 
 temperate direction of Mrs. Blanket, schoolmistress, duly pre- 
 pared with a flovirish of handkerchiefs ; one or two of the more 
 impulsive threatening to shout and flom-ish very much out of 
 season. 
 
 At this turn of the road, reader, — this one whereby the 
 carriages must sweep to the Hall, receiving, as they pass, the 
 fire of either scholarhood — we have an excellent view of the 
 guests. How the ladies — spick and span from the mint of 
 fashion — bring in then- caps, and bonnets, and hoods, and gowns, 
 the most delightful wonders to the folks of Marigolds ! It is 
 London splendour, in all its mystery, brought to their doorways. 
 If hats and caps were new stars, they would not be stared at 
 with half so much wonderment. And now — there is a very 
 narrow turning further up the road — the carriages go so slowly, 
 that the young scholars, boys as well as girls, feel abashed to 
 cheer in the fixed presence of the fine people. It is only when 
 the line loosens, and the carriages roll quicklier on, that the 
 cliildren take new courage and shout and pipe their welcome. 
 
 We do not propose to introduce every guest to the reader, — 
 merely two or three of the folks ; and for this reason. As the 
 reader will never again meet with the great body of the gather-
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 53 
 
 ing, we shall suffer whole clouds of lace and muslin to drive on, 
 like the lovely clouds over our head, with passing admiration, 
 but with no hope of further knowledge of their lustre. The few 
 persons whom we propose to make known will form part of the 
 acquaintance of the traveller tlirough this book, should he gird 
 his loins to journey to the end. 
 
 That lady ripening in the sun beneath a pink parasol, is the 
 Hon. ]\Iiss Candituft. You will be kind enough to look very 
 attentively, yet withal deferentially, at that lady ; and for this 
 reason : it is to her enlarged knowledge of the true elements of 
 society — as she has been known to call them — that you are 
 indebted for the condescending attendance of the distinguished 
 people who will this day eat, drink, and make merry at Jogtrot 
 Hall. It was the good fortune of Miss Carraways to meet 
 Miss Candituft abroad, travelling with her brother, the Hon. 
 Cesar Candituft, whose baggage — with a large sum of money — 
 had been secretly cut from his vehicle by the guilty hands of a 
 demoralized banditti ! The Carraways were then making a 
 tour ; they were very serviceable to the Candituft?, and a friend- 
 ship began between the two young women that grew fast and 
 close as ivy. Miss Candituft is called a fine woman ; has been 
 so called for some years. Her face, you perceive, is large and 
 classical ; very pale, and very full of intellect. There is only 
 one reason why she is not married — the men are afraid of her. 
 We think it only right to give this fact the widest publicity : to 
 proclaim it with the most significant emphasis ; it is so frequent 
 a calamity, and yet so unsuspected by the principal sufferers. 
 They know not — they who have eaten so much, of the tree, 
 of knowledge, swallowing fruit, pips, leaves, twigs, bark and 
 all — they know not how terrible they make themselves to a 
 bachelor man. He may be six feet high, with shoulders broad as 
 a table, and yet — we have known it — before such a woman his 
 heart has melted into water. He has held his hand to her, with 
 all the old feeling that he held forth his palm to the school 
 ferula. Let Minerva take this axiom to her cool crystal breast 
 — If she would condescend to marry, she must consent to leave
 
 54 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 her owl at home. Now, Miss Candituft would always carry the 
 pet to parties with her ; and, we have given the result ; the men 
 — poor birds ! — were alarmed, and iluttered away from her. 
 Nevertheless, she had a fine look : a very white skin, a large 
 — a little icy, perhaps — fidl, blue eye ; a close, controlled mouth ; 
 a well-cut, very hig-h-bred nose ; and large long twists of amber- 
 coloured ringlets, dancing in her lap, like burnished snakes. For 
 all this, men walked about her as though her very beauties were 
 combustible — destructive. And knowing their fears, at length 
 she never spared them. 
 
 The Hon. Cesar Candituft sits beside his sister. Could we 
 get behind those scenes that every man carries in his brain — 
 (acting, with his tongue and eyes, just so much of the play as 
 seems fit to him) — it is not improbable that we should behold 
 the gentleman levelling this hedge — widening this road — puUing 
 down that scrubby row of cottages — and making many other 
 improvements, by anticipation, in his property of Marigolds. 
 His property, when he shall marry Bessy Carraways ; and her 
 father — finally put aside from the mildew of the city — shall 
 sleep in the village church beneath a substantial covering of 
 very handsome marble. With the hopes, nay the certainty of 
 marrying old Carraways' heii-ess, it was not Mr. Candituft's 
 fault if these very natural thoughts would present themselves. 
 Certainly not. Who can control thought ? Who can dismiss it, 
 like an insolent servant ? Who, too, can prophesy, what thought 
 the dial finger on the next minute will bring liim ? We are thus 
 earnest in common-place, that we may attempt to excuse Cesar 
 Candituft ; of all men — all men say it of him — the most kind, 
 the most obliging ; nay, the most forgiving. Let Candituft have 
 an. enemy seeking him with a drawn sword ; and Candituft, with 
 no more than a rose in his hand, wiU strike away the blade ; and 
 in a quarter of an hour make the wicked fellow ashamed of him- 
 self, that he could feel a moment's anger against so good, 
 so calm, so generous a creature as Candituft. Good, noble, 
 sagacious Candituft ! They who know him best, call him the 
 Man-Tamer.
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONET. 55 
 
 That old tall man, witli a very big head on a thin stalk of 
 neck, is Colonel Bones. He goes everywhere. He looks vulgar 
 and grubby ; yet is he accounted as costly clay among a certain 
 number of very worthy Christians ; as precious as is Jerusalem 
 earth to exiled Hebrews. He gives himself out as prodigiously 
 poor; but people, in these times, are not to be gulled. The 
 world — (that is, the kernel of the world — for the world is as a 
 cocoa-nut ; there is the vulgar outside fibre, to be made into 
 door-mats and ropes ; the hard shell, good for beer-cups ; and 
 the white, delicate kernel, the real worth, food for the gods) — ^the 
 world knows the secret of Colonel Bones. Ingenuous old soul ! 
 He believes the world wiU take him at his word ; will receive 
 him as the pauper he declares himself. Sly Colonel ! The 
 world knows better. The world, in its winding sagacity, lias 
 worked out the truth; and therefore, with a good-tempered 
 smile, gives a very pleasant reason for all the oddities of the 
 good, dear, old Colonel. He will not afford himself the luxury 
 of a carriage ; therefore, a carriage is always sent for him. He 
 will not take care of himself at his own table ; and therefore he 
 must always dine with, one of his best friends. Wliy, it was 
 only last winter that, having bound himself by previous promise 
 to grant the request of a petitioner, he consented to become god- 
 father, with the enforced proviso that he should not give his godson 
 a single ounce of plate. Up to this moment, the child — Bones 
 Mizzlemist, eldest son of Mizzlemist of Doctors' Commons — is 
 without a mug. Colonel Bones — he served somewhere in some 
 regiment at some date in the militia — Colonel Bones insists 
 upon playing the pauper on an annuity of fifty pounds, and the 
 world lets the poor old fellow have his feeble whim, his little 
 joke. Very right ; an old man, and to be humoui-ed. 
 
 That slight young man, with the handsome face of blank 
 meaning (a fine lamp with no Light in it) is Sir Arthur 
 Hodmadod, He is scarcely cool in his baronetcy, having only 
 succeeded to the title in the spring. He bows to Miss Candituft 
 a little timidly ; for even yet he does not feel himself altogether 
 safe. He looks at her as thoudi he still beheld in lier the
 
 5Q A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 dread possibility of Lady Hodmadod. However, he takes heart, 
 and rides up to the carringe. — Only hear him. 
 
 " That's a nice thing there ;" and Hodmadod points towards 
 Jenny "White, the schoolmaster's daughter. 
 
 ""VMiere?" asks !Miss Candituft, opening her eyes to take in 
 everj'body. 
 
 " There ; that thing with the — what is it ? — the silver bee ; 
 isn't it a bee ? buttoning the black riband at her tlu-oat." 
 
 " Yes, it is a bee," says Miss Candituft, using her glass ; 
 and then staring at the baronet, "It is a bee. Ha, Sir 
 Arthm- ! "What an aquiline eye you have ! Not even a bee 
 escapes you ! Well, it is a bee." 
 
 "Keally, a beautiful thing. So white, and pink, and smooth; 
 so like Dresden china, you might put the wench upon a manfel- 
 piece. Eh?" and Hodmadod looks for the lady's opinion. 
 
 ]\Iiss Candituft stares at Sir Arthur ; she did not expect to 
 be appealed to npon so domestic an arrangement. And then, 
 without Aviuking, and with a fixed wondering face. Miss 
 Candituft says, " I don't know." 
 
 "Charming thing!" And the uneasy Hodmadod turns in his 
 saddle to look at Jenny. "A child of nature !" 
 
 "You think so?" asks INIiss Candituft, with a searching 
 emphasis, that somehow goes through the baronet. 
 
 Hodmadod finds himself put upon his proofs ; and in his 
 usual logical manner, hastily sets his meaning in its clearest, 
 strongest light. " Quite a child of nature. That is, you know, 
 when I say a child of nature, why I mean, of course, a — a 
 perfect kitten." 
 
 " Of course ; that is evident," says Miss Candituft, with her 
 large, cold eyes in the brain of the baronet. Defenceless 
 man ! He feels his exposed condition — and touching his hat, 
 speeds past the carriage. "VVcll, we do not yet think him safe. 
 !Miss Candituft pursues him with such a look that, even now, 
 we would not insure him from the life-long consequences of her 
 resolution. However, let him flutter his horn* while he may. 
 "Wc shall see.
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 57 
 
 On eifher side boys and gii-ls set up so loud, so shrill a 
 welcome, it is plain they have caught sight of some bit of 
 bravery — some splendoiu* that hitherto is the chief glory of the 
 show. Quick and perceptive is the wit of childhood; and — 
 they know it — the little ones have not spent their best cheer 
 without good judgment. For look at that magnificent equipage. 
 Pour glorious horses, wearing the most superb caparison, with 
 — it would seem — a full sense of its costliness, for everywhere 
 it is set and bossed with precious silver — four horses, dancing 
 — as though, like immortal steeds, they pawed the empyrean, 
 not the Queen's highway — draw a sky-blue phaeton. There is 
 another shout, as the veliicle turns the corner ; and horses, and 
 postilions, and carriage and company, are revealed at full. The 
 horses seem to toss their heads, as with a sense of beauty, 
 coquetting with the pubhc approbation; and the postilions, in 
 their gold-coloured satin jackets, have an assured and knowing 
 look, and very proud of their horse-flesh, pat the beasts, as 
 though blood was immortal, and there was not a dog in the 
 world. And who are the company who sit in the phaeton, 
 drinking in, as at every pore of the skin, the looks of wonder 
 and admiration that from all sides are cast upon them? It is 
 difficult — we feel the task — very difficult to obtain belief for 
 the assertion; nevertheless, as faithful chroniclers, we must 
 at any peril make it. The ladies are Mi-s. Jericho and her two 
 daughters, IVIiss Monica and ^liss Agatha Pennibacker; the 
 gentleman is Mr. Solomon Jericho. 
 
 No, sir; we are not abashed at your look of incredulity; 
 we expected it. "We had no thought that, at the word, yon 
 would take our avowal for the truth ; the folks are, every one 
 of them, so changed ; so refined, and yet withal so enlarged. 
 ]\Irs. Jericho was always a woman of commanding presence; 
 she could not, even when she most desired to unbend, she 
 could not without very much ado, subside into the familiarity of 
 gentleness. But now, she looks as though she had been 
 passing a visit with Queen Juno, and had brought home 
 the last large manners from Olympus. Albeit she only 
 
 D 3
 
 oS A MAX MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 shares the phaeton with three others, she seems as though 
 she filled, nay overflowed it; manner, manner does so 
 much. The nasty children scream, and the horrid bumpkins 
 shout ; yet it is gratifying, very pleasant, indeed, that the 
 phaeton (lier taste,) and the postboys' jackets (her taste,) are 
 not lost upon the creatures. Nevertheless, ]Mi-s. Jericho will 
 not bow ; no, not wink an eyelid in recognition of the applause ; 
 she will receive the homage as the fealty born to. And the 
 young ladies are worthy of their majestic mother. They are 
 wondrously changed. They have, with all the elasticity of the 
 female character, so sympathized with fortune in her sudden good- 
 nature, that already she seems to them a life-long acquaintance. 
 
 Solomon Jericho is only fom-teen days older since he and the 
 reader were last together. Fourteen days only have been 
 liltered into the sea of the past since Solomon Jericho — with a 
 strange musical tingling of every nerve of his body ; with a 
 lively, melodious flourish to Plutus — entered upon the mysterious 
 cares of wealth. "Whenever it pleased Solomon, he could lay 
 his hand upon his heart, and find a hundred pounds of ready 
 money there. Yes ; we say it. When Solomon wanted real hap- 
 piness, he had only to place his hand upon his heart, and he 
 touched the ready felicity. He was mightily stirred by the first 
 knowledge of the secret. The reader may haply remember, that 
 ere Jericho — to his vast astonishment — drew forth the first note ; 
 ere the property of his bosom, like a dried autumn leaf, came off 
 into his palm, he was raised to a state of ecstasy. He felt, 
 without knowing the cause, aU the blessedness of the triumph 
 that makes man, by force of a golden sceptre, one of the kings 
 of the world. Earth, Avith all its delights, was suddenly made 
 to him little other than one huge market, whereat he might pur- 
 chase whatever took his choice. Without knowing it, he cele- 
 brated his coming of age ; the unexpected birth-day of a full- 
 grown heir. Now this emotion passed almost as soon as Jericho 
 was assured of possession. He himself could not have believed 
 in the easiness of his self-accommodation to the boundlessness 
 of money. Nevertheless, next morning he woke to fortune, as
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 59 
 
 though she had alwaj's shared his pillow. Even Mrs. Jericho 
 was astonished at the equanimity with which her husband re- 
 ceived the gifts of luck, as vouchsafed to him from discovered 
 veins of platina ; for no, not even to the partner of his bosom, 
 had Jericho revealed his bosom's wealth. Little, indeed, did Mrs. 
 Jericho know the value of the heart that beat — did it really 
 beat ? — beside her. It Avas, in truth, the one great secret of his 
 breast that Jericho held undiscovered from the nominal mistress 
 of that region. 
 
 Fourteen days only has Solomon Jericho been new-made; 
 that is, made of money; and wondrous in the new-made man is 
 the new change ! Once was he an easy, slipshod sort of fellow, 
 with a high relish for a joke ; or when the joke itself was not to 
 be had, with anything that at a short notice could be supplied in 
 its place. Frequently was it the painful duty of his wife to 
 rebuke him for his humour ; humour being, Mrs. Jericho would 
 ever insist, beneath a gentleman. Now only foiu'teen days, and 
 what an improvement ! " Money has its duties, IVIr. Jericho," the 
 wife observed ; " duties that are above a joke." And to her 
 great satisfaction, she acknowledged that Jericho in his new 
 dull dignity solemnly carried out her own conviction. She was 
 almost delighted with the man; he was such an improvement 
 upon himself. She confessed it to him. — " He had greatly 
 improved : now he never laughed ; he never joked ; he never 
 talked of people below his own station ; he had given up buf- 
 foonery, and philanthropy, and vulgar notions of all kinds ; and, 
 really she must say it, he showed himself worthy of the good 
 fortune that had fallen upon him. Moreover, she always knew — 
 she always felt — a presentiment of what the mines would produce ; 
 hence she had borne the privations of former years without 
 word, without a tear. She had always loved him ; and it had 
 often caused her a struggle to disguise her affection : neverthe- 
 less, she did not think she could love him as she did ; and for 
 this reason — she could not deny it — she had not believed in the 
 moral dignity liis wealth had developed in him. She would 
 say it— ^she was proud of him ! "
 
 CO A MAX MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 " Lovely weather, madam," says Basil Peunibacker, prancing 
 up to tlie pliacton. " But, my dear lady, may I be permitted to 
 ask your unprejudiced opinion of tlie dust ? " 
 
 "A slight drawback; very slight, my love," says Mrs. Jericho, 
 heroically. "But what a heavenly sky ! " 
 
 " Over-head unexceptionable ; the other extremity detestable. 
 And with such distress as there is, old Carraways might have 
 hired all the workhouse cheap, to weep in the highway. Such 
 very queer dust, too ! " and Basil smacks his lips. " Not at all 
 the Eotten Eow flavour. Full of sand ! Agatha, duck, keep your 
 mouth shut ; or you '11 be turned into an hour-glass." 
 
 " There, now, Basil, set your spiu's to your gallant steed like 
 a good boy, and run away," says Monica. • 
 
 "A wonderful animal, sir," observes Basil confidentially to 
 Mr. Jericho. " Hallo ! not well, sir ? " 
 
 " Well? Admu-able ! Never so well," says Jericho, in a cold 
 voice, and with a dim smile. 
 
 " 'Pon my life, you look so wire-drawn and so thin ! Blessed 
 if you don't look as if you 'd been locked out last night, and 
 dragged to bed through the keyhole." 
 
 " Basil ! My child ! " cries IVIrs. Jericho ; and Jericho smiles;, 
 but dimmer than before, 
 
 " Extraordinary animal, su','' says Basil, thinking it best to 
 retui'n to the horse. " Only three hundred. I 'm satisfied, and 
 shall buy him. Only three hundred. Cheap, my honourable sir 
 — cheap for a water-cart. Look at him, sir. None of your 
 horses, put together with skewers for a day out, to tumble to 
 the dogs as soon as they get home : shall, certainly, lay down 
 the loyalty for him. Take care of yourself, my good sir ; men 
 like you can't be spared. Good bye, we shall meet on the daisies." 
 
 " Bye, bye," says Agatha. " Don't forget Bessy." 
 
 " Upon my life, you gMs look too nice, — you do, indeed ; — 
 too nice," says Basil, holding in his horse. 
 
 " Oh ! " cry the young ladies, laughing and shaking their 
 heads. " Oh ! " 
 
 " Ycu do, indeed. Too nice to marrv, and not nice enough
 
 A MAX MADE OF MONEY. 61 
 
 to eat ;" and Basil gives liis horse liis head, and bounds forward, 
 followed by a groom, mounted worthy of the new master he 
 attends. ]Mrs. Jericho smiles proudly, and looks at her husband ; 
 who industriously tries, and at length succeeds, to smile in return. 
 And now the great crowd of guests is set down at the Hall; 
 and now, we invite the reader to enter the house, to stray 
 among the grounds, and to enjoy the large hospitality that from 
 every nook and corner of the place cries — "Eat, drink, and be 
 merrv." 
 
 CHAPTER TI. 
 
 The Hon. IMi*. Candituft had a genius for society. In the 
 marks of a man's face, he could, he thought, generally interpret 
 the marks of a man's bank-book. With an unbounded benevo- 
 lence for aU the world, he nevertheless — though he would not 
 avow the instinct — best liked the acquaintance of that portion 
 of society that, raised far above tlie cares of money, could do 
 the fullest justice to the moral and spmtual and, he would add, 
 the tasteful and elegant man. He looked upon all mankind 
 as brethren; but, still, preferred the elder brethren of the 
 richest branches. And why? Possibly, because it was the 
 condition of humanity to forego so miTch of its original bloom 
 and goodness in the vulgar pursuit of the vulgar means of life. 
 Not that he did not honour even the homy hand of sordid 
 labour. To be sure ; and has been known, on more than one 
 festive occasion, to take the said hand in his own naked palm, 
 at the same time passing a high eulogium on the original 
 profession of Adam. Still, it must be owned, that of the two 
 conditions of Adam, he much preferred the landlord of Eden to 
 the labourer outside. 
 
 ■ " Introduce you, my dear sir ? To be sm^e — not that there 's 
 any need of introduction at Jogtrot Hall; think it a family 
 party, sir ; a family party." Such was the cordial outspeaking 
 of the host, Gilbert Carraways, esquii'e ; a tine, simple, hearty, 
 old gentleman ; with a bright grey eye ; and white, thin, silky
 
 62 A MAX MADE OF MONEY, 
 
 hail". Time had used liim like au old frieud, kindly, consider- 
 ately. At three score, Squire Carraways — for such was his 
 dignity throughout Marigolds — carried Ixis years, as a lusty reaper 
 carries a sheaf ; with ruddy face and unbent back. " I say to 
 you again, my good frieud," cried the host to Candituft, " think 
 it a family party." 
 
 " My dear sir," said the lion. Cesar Candituft, catching the 
 hand of his host, and looking almost pathetically into his face, 
 " my dear sir, would that we all had your benevolence ! Would 
 that all the world could be brought to think all the world a 
 family party ! Look at that man, sir ; that very browu man, 
 sir," — and Candituft pointed to an Indian juggler, who, hired 
 for the day, Avas crossing the grounds to begin the shew, — 
 "look at that deep-dyed individual, sir; why, I can consider 
 him my brother." 
 
 " Very kind of you," said Carraways ; who, hooking his 
 thumbs into his waistcoat pockets, looked a little shly at the 
 philanthropist. " You never come into the City ? Humph ! 
 you 'd be di'eadfiiUy shocked to see so many of your relations 
 with brooms." 
 
 " Of course," said Candituft, as the best thing he could say. 
 " But, my dear sir — here he is — introduce me." 
 
 At this moment, Jericho, between his wife and eldest 
 daughter, marched slowly up. 
 
 " Mr. Jericho, :Mi-. Candituft— the lion. Mr. Candituft," 
 said Carraways : and, turning from the newly-known brethren, 
 the host took Mrs. Jericho and Monica under his charge. 
 
 " You '11 find us somewhere, Jericho," said the wife. "We 
 must join dear !Mrs. Carraways." 
 
 "And sweet Bessy," cried the emphatic Monica. 
 
 " Eeally, ]\Irs. Jericho, I should like to see your husband 
 look somewhat stouter. Isn't he a — a little thin?" asked 
 Carraways. 
 
 " Oh, dear, no ! not at all," answered Mrs. Jericho, quite 
 eagerly. " By no means." 
 
 " Papa, you know, was always thin," said Miss Peimibacker,
 
 A MAX MADE OF MONEY. 63 
 
 EG very confidently, that Carraways felt lie ought to be mistakea. 
 It was clear — Jericho was always thin. " Well, well, it 's my 
 blunder; yet, I thought, perhaps, the shock of sudden property. 
 By the way, I 'm glad to hear such w^onders of the mines." 
 
 " Very kind of you, dear Mr. Carraways. But " — added 
 Mrs. Jericho, philosophically and sonorously — " after all, what is 
 money ? Money cannot bestow happiness." 
 
 " Why, perhaps not," said the merchant host ; " nevertheless, 
 it often supplies a good imitation of the article. Come, come, 
 you mustn't abuse money, Mrs. Jericho. That's the rightfid 
 privilege of people who can't get it." 
 
 " Dear Mrs. Carraways 1 Well, this is lovely ! Quite oriental ! 
 Superb 1 " cried IVIi's. Jericho, with deepening emphasis greeting 
 the lady of the place. " I vow, it takes one quite back to the 
 Persian poets." 
 
 " Very good company, no doubt," said Carraways, laugh- 
 ing; "but, after all, I rather prefer this to any gardens on 
 foolscap. Better company, too " — and the old gentleman bent 
 gallantly to Mrs. Jericho and Monica — " much better company 
 than the best of people, made of the best of ink. My dear," said 
 Carraways to his wife, " where 's Bessy ? " 
 
 " Oh yes ! Where is dear Bessy ? " cried Monica, with 
 tremulous anxiety. Mrs. Carraways nodded towards a party of 
 dancers, where was Bessy Carraways — a girl, whose best beauty 
 was the open goodness of her face — dancing with Sir Arthur Hod- 
 madod ; Miss Candituft apart smiling — as the Spartan young 
 gentleman smiled with the fox that fed upon him — and follow- 
 ing Bessy with speaking eyes, and shaking her golden tresses, 
 and beating her silver foot in blithe accompaniment of the 
 measure. 
 
 " How beautifid is Bessy to-day 1 " said ]\Iis3 Candituft, join- 
 ing Bessy's father and mother. 
 
 " Quite delicious," cried Miss Pennibacker to Bessy's mother ; 
 and Miss Candituft swerved her fair neck, and opened her cold 
 eyes at Monica, as though resenting any admiration of so inte- 
 resting a subject as a trespass upon her own monopoly of love.
 
 64 A MAN' MADE OF MOXET. 
 
 And then she said, with new supply of fervour — " She 
 carries all hearts with her."' 
 
 "She is so beautiful," again interposed Monica. — Again 
 !Miss Candituft stared. 
 
 " Why, as for that, she 's very good — and very like her 
 mother," said Cai-raways, and then he laughed at his wife, and 
 added — "and so we won't talk so much about the beauty. 
 However, perhaps I 'm grown too old to judge ;" and the 
 father looked towards his child, and his face glowed with pride 
 and pleasure as she nodded to him, and wove in and out the 
 dance, young, healthful, and happy as a nymph. 
 
 " Ugh ! ^Ii'. Carraways, — this is too good ; too fine ; too 
 gi-and for poor folks. It 's cruel of you — sheer barbarity, sir ; 
 hard-hearted pride of purse, nothing better. Cruel, sir ; cruel," 
 gasped Colonel Bones, offering his hand to the hostess, then to 
 the host, and then making a courteous sweeping bow to the 
 ladies ; for Bones was gallant to the last. 
 
 " "What, then. Colonel " — cried IMiss Candituft — " you don't 
 enjoy this elysium ? You don't like to tread upon asphodel ? '* 
 
 " An insult to poverty, Miss Candituft — an insult ; " and 
 Colonel Bones smiled a hard smile, and his dark, deep sunk 
 eyes twinkled from behind his ragged eyebrows. "Too bad 
 of our host to diTg a beggar like me here : really too bad. 
 TjTannous, tyrannous to scourge poverty with golden rods. 
 Humph? " And the Colonel looked around. 
 
 " I dare say you can bear it, Colonel," answered Miss Candi- 
 tuft, staring at him, and reading in the human antiquity the 
 hidden mystery of wealth. Before the eyes of the far-seeing 
 spinster the heart of Colonel Bones lay all revealed ; open, dis- 
 covered, like the valley of diamonds. "You can bear it ;" and 
 saj-ing this, the smiling lady di-ew the very best flower from her 
 bouquet, and threaded it in the Colonel's button-hole. 
 
 " Ugh ! " said Colonel Bones, with a grim smile looking 
 down upon the operation. " Ugh ! Winter, winter adorned by 
 spring. Oh dear ! Why will you take such pains to spoil a 
 beggar ? Eh ? Humph ? " ended the Colonel, with his usual 
 spasm of interrogation.
 
 A MAX MADE OF MONEY. 65 
 
 At this moment Candituft and Jericho advanced to the party. 
 Colonel Bones, with a sudden jerk, was moving oflf, when Candi- 
 tuft stept forward, with open hand. 
 
 " Ugh ! No, sir ; I can't do it — I won't do it. The fact is, 
 sir, — though this is not the place to name it — the fact is, 
 it was I, Colonel Bones, who on Saturday last black-balled 
 you at the Cut-and-come." Thus spoke Bones, and somewhat 
 defyingly. 
 
 '•■ My good Colonel," said Candituft very meekly, " I know it. 
 What then ? It was a mistake." 
 
 "No mistake at all, sir ; not a bit; I'd do it again to-mor- 
 row. Wouldn't I ? Humph ? " 
 
 " Because, my dear Colonel, you don't know me. Ignorance 
 causes all the family quarrels of the brotherhood of man. 
 I lament your error ; but I have no malice. And what is human 
 life, — what is moral dignity, if it can't live down these small 
 mistakes ? The brotherhood of man, my dear sir." 
 
 " Eh ? What ? There you are, at it again, Candituft ! The 
 brotherhood of man ! When you come out to enjoy yourself, 
 why the devil can't you leave all your poor relations at 
 home ? " 
 
 " Ha ! Commissioner, glad to see you. Why, you look as 
 flourishing and as bountiful as one of your own bread-trees. It's 
 food and lodging to behold you." This was tlie ready, flattering 
 reply of Candituft to a short thick, very black, and very red man, 
 who had the look of having been dried like pepper, hard and 
 hot, in a fiery climate ; though there were people who, when 
 Commissioner Thrush talked of his travels in Siam, stared very 
 doubtingly upon the boastful rover. Be such doubts just or 
 unjust, the Commissioner made a very good use of the king of 
 Siam ; putting oft' upon the royal whim, or royal wisdom, his 
 own jest. Thus, Avhen Commissioner Thrush wanted to shoot 
 at impertinence or folly, he woidd very modestly shoot with the 
 king of Siam's proper long-bow. 
 
 " \Miy, my dear good Thrush, wiU you so speak of human 
 nature ? " asked the indomitable Cfindituft. " Wliy will you
 
 66 A MAX MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 take such pains to hide that noble heart of yours ? That heart 
 enlarged by travel — softened by experience — purified by" 
 
 " AVell, it 's wonderful," said the Commissioner, scrutinizing 
 the cheek of the Man-Tamer — " wonderful how^ you can do it. 
 But you talk of hearts and homes, and keep your face like a 
 figm-e-head. It 's a good thing, Candituft, you ar'n't in Siam. 
 They'd put you in petticoats ; they would, sir ; for life — without 
 hope of pardon, sii", for the term of yoiu* natural life. In petti- 
 coats." 
 
 "Ugh!" cried Colonel Bones with a sneering grin, " shouldn't 
 a bit wonder. What for ? Humph ? " 
 
 " You see. Colonel, it is the custom of the king of Siam — or 
 was, when I knew him, for let me be particular — it was his Ma- 
 jesty's custom, when any of his ministers, or judges, or generals, 
 or people of that sort of kidney persisted in doing or talking 
 of matters they didn't understand — not that I insinuate any- 
 thing of the sort against our friend Candituft — by no means ; 
 don't mistake me — it was the king's custom, I say, to make his 
 ministers, for the rest of their days, wear nothing else but the 
 cast-off clothes of the oldest women in his dominions. When 
 I left Siam, which is now — how time flies ! a good while ago — 
 there were three prime ministers, one chancellor of the exche- 
 quer, a chief justice, and two field marshals, all in old women's 
 petticoats, sir. And for life ! What do you think of that ? " 
 
 " For my part," said Carraways, " I must think the old 
 ladies much scandalised by the practice. But, Jericho, I want 
 you"— 
 
 "Why, it isn't Jericho!" cried Thrush, rushing up to our 
 Man of Money, and laying hold of his coat with both hands — 
 " It can't be Jericho ! Only a dividend of him. As I 'm alive, 
 you don't look a shilling in the pound of yourself." 
 
 " Looks, sir — looks," — said Jericho, with a dignity that did 
 his wife's heart good — " are the cheats of the simple. If, how- 
 ever, I do look thin, be assured I 've my own private reasons 
 for it. May I have the pleasure, madam ? " — and Jericho offered 
 his arm to Miss Candituft, her brother having introduced
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 67 
 
 Jericlio, and being with his sister introduced to Jericho's wife 
 and daughter in honourable return, Jericho made for a distant 
 crowd, gathered about the juggler. " Very odd, madam, that 
 people can't keep their foolish opinions under their own hats," 
 said Jericho : and Miss Candituft — forewarned by a significant 
 look, an emphatic whisper from her brother — jumped instantly to 
 the like conclusion. Indeed Miss Candituft had very quickly 
 gathered the Jericho family to her bunch of treasured friends : 
 adding them readily as new flowers to chosen blossoms. 
 
 "Well, Mr. Jericlio is certainly not so stout as he was," said 
 IMrs. Carraways to Jericho's wife, "but then I think he looks 
 a great deal better. He was a little too stout," suggested the 
 good-natured hostess. 
 
 " Decidedly too stout," said Mrs. Jericho. " He wanted 
 activity of mind and body. I have prevailed upon him of late 
 to take exercise, and he is a great deal better. But, really, it 
 would seem as if there was a general conspiracy to frighten the 
 poor man out of the world. Absolutely a wicked design to throw 
 me into the despair of widowhood." And then, as tearing herself 
 with a wi'ench from the idea, Mrs. Jericho blandly suggested — 
 " Let us follow the world, and go to the juggler." 
 
 Candituft, Colonel Bones, and Commissioner Thrush slowly 
 trod the greensward. " Why," said Thi'ush, " money seems to 
 have taken all the colour out of him. He was a jolly fellow, 
 red and ripe as a peach ; and now — I wonder if he 's made his 
 A\all, Depend upon it, he won't live long." 
 
 " Don't say that ! Dear feUow — I mean, poor creature 1 
 Dreadful times for such people to die, when by living" — and 
 Candituft, with finger at his cheek, shook his head — "they could 
 do so much good to the family of man. Eeally, Mr. Jericho 
 ought to have the best advice." 
 
 " Ugh ! If he 's so very rich, Candituft, you '11 bestow advice 
 gratis," grinned Bones. " You 'U feel his pulse, — I 'm sure of 
 that. Now a beggar like me — a pensioner upon a crust — can't 
 hope for such a doctor. Humph ? " 
 
 " Ha, Colonel ! Ton know you may say anything. You
 
 GS A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 know you may use yoiu- friends as you please ; you can't offend 
 'em. They know your heart," — said Candituft — " and what 
 matters the rest ? " 
 
 " I say, Colonel, you '11 remember Candituft in yoiU' will for 
 all this ? " said Thrush. 
 
 " My will ! Ugh ! " cried Colonel Bones. " When I die, I 
 shall leave — I shall leave — the world." 
 
 " Talking of wills," said Thrush, returning to his self-laid 
 trap, "talking of wills, there was an odd thing happened in 
 Siam." 
 
 " No doubt. Odd if there hadn't," cried Candituft, smiling 
 with coufideuce on the unmoved Bones. 
 
 " You '11 like to hear it, Candituft. Very odd. There was an 
 old muckthrift died, and left to the dear friend that had best 
 flattered him a curious bequest. You '11 never guess it — it was 
 a jar of treacle, mixed with caterpillars." 
 
 " Disgusting ! " cried Candituft. 
 
 " Good ! devUish good ! " laughed Colonel Bones. 
 
 " And so it became a saying in Siam. Whenever," said Thrush, 
 with a leer at the Man-Tamer — " whenever a man coaxed and 
 flattered another for his own ends, folks would say — ' He's laying 
 on the treacle, and may come in for the caterpillars.' And this, 
 I assure you, was in Siam." 
 
 " Charming! excellent! quite a delicious apologue!" said Candi- 
 tuft, wath a smile that declared him invulnerable. " You are a 
 happy fellow. Thrush. When you are most bitter, you are most 
 wholesome. It's impossible not to relish you. After a talk 
 with you, I feel my morals braced, toned I may say, for a month. 
 Capital fellow !" and Candituft laid his outspread hand affec- 
 tionately on Thrush's shoulder. 
 
 "Hallo! Basil, boy, how d'ye do?" said Thrush to young 
 Pennibacker, who, looking anxiously about him, ran upon the 
 party. " Ton my word, you haven 't done growing yet. Why, 
 how you 've shot up this last month !" 
 
 " No doubt, my dear sir ; climb like a honeysuckle. But the 
 truth is, we talk of the degeneracy of the age. I 've found out
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 69 
 
 the cause, sir ; it 's straps. They hold dowu the free-born 
 Briton, sir ; they dwarf a giant race, su\ Every man, if he likes, 
 has his discovery ; straps is mine." 
 
 " Admii'able ! " cried Candituft, with convulsive laughter ; for 
 Basil had already been shown to the Man-Tamer as the son-in- 
 law of the gorgeous Jericho. " Most ingenious ; and yet most 
 simple discovery ! Ha ! ha ! " 
 
 " That 's it, sir," said BasU, taking quick measure of Can- 
 dituft — " that 's it. We look abroad for causes, when the 
 thing is under om' foot. What has lowered the standard of the 
 British army? — straps. Why, in these days, sir, have we no 
 high drama, sir — no high art? Straps, sir; straps. Men are 
 tied to their boots, and can't reach it. Why have we no pohtical 
 greatness, sii* ? Why does an unprincipled minister every night 
 of his parliamentary existence violate the spotless constitution?" 
 
 "Ugh! Hear! Hear! Humph?" cried Colonel Bones, and 
 he rubbed his big, raw hands. 
 
 " Why have we no public spirit left, sir ? Why do we not 
 rise against tyranny, and taxation, and free trade, and the Pope ? 
 The disgrace and the answer, gentlemen, are in one crushing 
 syllable — straps !" 
 
 "Hear! hear! hear! Loud cheers!" cried Candituft. At 
 this moment Bessy, under the protection of Miss Candituft, 
 w-as crossing the lawn, when Basil, without further word, imme- 
 diately broke from his audience. Candituft, however, with some 
 sudden and violent commendation of Basil's vivaciou-s talent, 
 instantly followed. 
 
 " My dear lady," said Basil, sweeping off his hat, and redden- 
 ing and stammering somewhat — " may I now beg the goodness 
 of your promise ? These little work-people of yours" • 
 
 "Eeally, Mr. Pennibacker, you'll not care about them," said 
 Bessy, in a voice made sweeter by her simple, affectionate looks. 
 
 " But if you really wish to see them" 
 
 " Yes, yes ; that 's right, Bessy. It 's a sight that may do 
 the young men of our day good," said old Carraways, coming up 
 with a host of visitors, Mrs. Jericho and Monica being of the
 
 70 - A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 number. " It will be a change, too, from the juggler. By the 
 way — that poor brother of yours, Mr. Candituft" 
 
 "Brother, Mr. Carraways!" cried Candituft; and then he 
 recollected the human relationship, and warmly smiled, and 
 said — " Oh yes ! very true ; to be sure." 
 
 " He earns his daily mutton hard enough. I never knew 
 such tricks. Ha ! ha ! Stock Exchange is nothing to it," said 
 Carraways, and he led the way between high laurel hedges — 
 winding and winding — until he came into a small garden. Here 
 the company heard clamorous shouts of laughter. The quiet, 
 well-bred mirth of the party seemed to have migrated hither to 
 break loose into the largest enjoyment. A few paces, and a 
 happy scene revealed itself. The garden was skirted by a hay- 
 field. A heavy second crop had blessed the land. Some 
 thii'ty or forty of the youngest and sprightliest of the visitors 
 were making hay ; and — one or two or three in a violent spirit 
 of romps — were pitching the hay at one another. " Ha ! ha ! 
 ha ! I like this," cried Carraways. " Well, I do think that 
 young folks never look so happy or so handsome as when they 're 
 making hay. What say you, Mrs. Jericho ?" 
 
 " I was ever of that sentiment," said Mrs. Jericho, with one 
 of her fullest smiles. " 'Tis so pastoral — so innocent ; so far 
 away from the fastidious conventionalities of life." And then 
 Mrs. Jericho darkly frowned, and suddenly squeezing her 
 daughter Monica by the arm, and whispering anxiously between' 
 her maternal teeth, cried — " That never can be your sister, 
 Agatha ! " But it Avas ; and the flushed delinquent — with a 
 sharp, chirping laugh — was at the moment throwing a wisp 
 of hay at Sir Arthur Hodraadod, who had evidently made up 
 his mind to receive it as the largest of blessings. 
 
 " It ?■« Agatha," said Monica, sharing more than her mother's 
 trouble at the exposure ; for she much wondered that her 
 younger sister could take such freedom with a baronet. 
 
 "Don't mind Sir Arthur," said Miss Candituft in her own 
 sympathetic way, to the anxious parent. " Nobody minds him. 
 He hasn't the genius to be even dangerous." Mrs. Jericho
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 71 
 
 stared, and then smiled and jerked her head, at once acknow- 
 ledging and despising the information. 
 
 In a minute the disturbed merry-makers, as suddenly grave 
 as they might be, joined the party, Carraways laughing and 
 gi^dng them heartiest praise for their romps. " That 's it ! 
 I love to see people not ashamed to enjoy themselves after their 
 own hearts. Tor my part, I never see a haycock that I don't 
 wish to go plump head over heels into it. I think, somehow, 
 it 's an instinct of the natural family of man, eh, Mr. Candituft ? " 
 
 " No doubt, my dear sir," said Candituft ; " not the least 
 doubt — a remnant of Eden that still sweetens the fall." 
 
 "Agatha, I am ashamed of you," whispered IVIi's. Jericho to her 
 red-faced daughter as she sidled up. The next moment Sir Arthur 
 Hodmadod, with a gay confident look, proifered to the rebuked 
 Agatha an arm of the baronetage. The motion was not lost 
 upon the scrupulous Monica ; who — to comfort her mother — 
 immediately whispered — "And I'm ashamed of her, too, ma." 
 
 " Here we are," cried Carraways, halting at an apiary of the 
 trimmest and prettiest order. " Here 's Bessy's work-people. 
 And I can tell you, charming it is to see them coming in and 
 going out ; and delightful to meet 'em in the fields — for upon 
 my life, I sometimes think they know us — as they go bouncing, 
 buzzing by." 
 
 " I 'm sure they know me, papa," said Bessy ; and then she 
 modestly added — "at least I think so." 
 
 " Ugh ! They must know you," said Colonel Bones ; " bees, 
 bees must be the best judges of flowers. Humph ? " 
 
 "Delicious! A sweet thought, Colonel," said Candituft. 
 " Excellent ! " 
 
 " It is very pretty," cried Hodmadod, surveying the apiary. 
 " So nicely thatched, too ; so very snug. I call it " — said the 
 baronet with authority — " I call it quite a bijou." 
 
 "Do you, indeed ? " asked Agatha, all smiles. 
 
 " I do," said Sir Arthur ; " that is, when I say a bijou, I mean 
 — of course — a picture." 
 
 " The inference is so plain," said Miss Candituft, and she
 
 72 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 looked in that wild moment at the flashed Agatha as though she 
 could have bitten her bold, red cheek. 
 
 " "Wonderful creatures, bees ! " cried Hodmadod. " Only to 
 think that such little tilings should make all the wax candles ! " 
 There was a pause, when the modest baronet asked — " They do 
 make all the wax candles, eh ? don't they ? " 
 
 " Make eveiythiug in wax," said Basil. "Wonderfully arranged, 
 sir. The white bees make wax ; and the black bees — the nigger 
 bees — make pitch." 
 
 " Very well ; very good ; but no — I can't quite believe that. 
 Still, it is wonderful. And Miss Carrawavs, permit me to ask " 
 — said Hodmadod — " do yoiu' labourers here work all the year 
 round ? " 
 
 " Not all the year, Sir Arthur," answered the smiling Bessy. 
 
 " Ha ! I see ; the bees have a recess. Ha ! ha ! They 're like 
 us in Parliament," said Hodmadod. " Ha ! ha ! " 
 
 " Oh, very like you in Parliament," cried the cool, cutting 
 Miss Candituft. 
 
 " That is. when I say that bees are like members of Parliament, I 
 don't mean " — explained the logical Hodmadod — " I don't mean 
 that members of Parliament make wax candles, you know." 
 
 " No, no, no," cried Carraways with a laugh ; and the com- 
 pany, to be relieved, would see a joke, and laughed most heartily j 
 Hodmadod stiU laughing loudest. 
 
 "But we are not the only bee-keepers," said 'Mis. Carraways. 
 "We have what we call our honey-feasts. And you should 
 only see Bessy's silver bees." 
 
 "Silver bees! Well, that is strange. Now I call it curious" — 
 cried Hodmadod — "but on the road, I did see a silver bee 
 settled — when I say settled, of course I mean buckled — on the 
 throat of a nice little girl. Wasn't she, Miss Candituft ? " 
 
 " A very pretty, fair thing with flaxen haii-," remarked Miss 
 Candituft. 
 
 " That 's Jenny White. She 's the silver bee of this year ; 
 you see, it 's a whim of our Bessy's " — Mrs. Carraways would 
 talk, regardless of Bessy's looks — " to give prizes every year to
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 73 
 
 tlie folks hereabout whose hives weigh most honey. Besides 
 these prizes, there 's a silver, bee to be worn on hoUdays." 
 
 " 'Pon my word," said Hodmadod, " I think I shall take a 
 cottage here, and enter myself for the stakes. When I say 
 myself, of course I mean my bees, because I couldn't very well 
 go into a lily, — eh ? " 
 
 " Not in boots," said Basil with a knowing clench. 
 
 Here Topps winding his way round the company, with impor- 
 tance in his looks, made up to his master. " This way," cried 
 Carraways, giving his arm to Mrs. Jericho. " I think I know 
 where we can light upon the merry-thouglit of a chicken." 
 
 In a very few minutes, the host was seated at the head of 
 the table under a long, wide tent. On the table were the 
 most delicious proofs of the earth's goodness ; with every 
 kitchen mystery. And these vanished and were replaced, and 
 guests came and went, and came and went ; and so the hours 
 flew, eating, drinking, laughing and dancing by ; until the stars 
 came out, and the music played more noisily, and the merriment 
 grew louder and louder. 
 
 Some twenty or thirty were seated together. Mr. Jericho, 
 taciturn and dignified, graced the board. Candituft sat next 
 him ; and with others, among whom were Commissioner Thrush, 
 and the miserljr Colonel Bones, clubbed their share of mirth. An 
 elderly gentleman, pock-marked, with a pink nose, had been 
 particularly silent ; admiring, when and where requu'ed, with 
 soberest discretion. And now, for the past half hour, he had 
 been seized with a passion to drink everybody's health. This 
 vinous philanthropist was Doctor IVIizzlemist of Doctors' 
 Commons. He had at last discovered the great duty of 
 life ; and was resolved to perform it. For the third time, he 
 rose to give " the health of Solomon Jericho, Esquire ; an 
 honour to his country." For the third time, the Doctor dwelt 
 upon the hidden virtues of his excellent toast, emphasizing 
 them with a dessert fork, which never failed in its downward 
 descent to make three marks upon the table. Finally wrought 
 into enthusiasm by a contemplation of his subject. Doctor 
 
 E
 
 74 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 Mizzlemist delivered himself with such energy, that at the 
 same time he struck the fork between the bones of Jericho's 
 right hand, pinning it where it la3^ The planted weapon 
 trembled in tlie mahogany. Mr. Jericho's head was at the 
 moment turned aside. A shout from the company proclaimed 
 some calamity. Mr. Jericho slowly turning, saw the fork still 
 quivering in his flesh. He calmly withdrew the weapon from 
 the wood, laid it down, passed his palm over his bloodless hand, 
 and wnth a smile said — " It 's nothing." 
 
 " "What wonderful forbearance ! " " What extraordinary 
 firmness ! " thought the company, and still they looked strangely, 
 curiously at the serene, the philosophic Jericho. 
 
 The fireworks died in darkness — the lamps twinkled fainter 
 and fainter — and at some hour in the morning the last vehicle 
 rolled from the gate of Jogtrot Lodge. — Perhaps, some four 
 hours before the postman delivered his letters at the house of 
 Carraways in the City. 
 
 CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 " Six inches less round the body, as I 'm a sinner ! Six inches 
 less, Mr. Jericho, and I last took your measure only six weeks 
 ago." Thus spoke Breeks, the tailor, holding his strip of parch- 
 ment to the eye of the attenuated Jericho. " I never did know 
 such a shrink." 
 
 " I 'm glad of it," said Jericho with dignity. " I was fast 
 losing my figure, Breeks." 
 
 " Oh dear, no ! " said Breeks. " A little stout, to be sure ; 
 but noways out of character. Some people 's only made to be 
 stout, and nothing else. And now in six weeks six inches ! 
 Why, in a twelvemonth, do you know what that '11 come to? 
 Eh?" 
 
 " You will measure me without observation, Mr. Breeks," said 
 Jericho, " or not measure me at all."
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONET. 75 
 
 The faintest, briefest " Oh ! " rounded the mouth of Breeks, 
 and with tenderest touch he proceeded in his task. It is at least 
 one of the humanising beauties of credit that it begets familiarity. 
 Debt despises the distance of ceremony. Now Breeks had for 
 many years made for Jericho ; and Jericho was never above tbe 
 tailor's joke. There might be a reason for this. Breeks was 
 never in a hurry to push. His bills were like oak-leaves ; new 
 ones always grew under the old. (A pretty thought this ; and 
 quite at the service of all tailorhood.) 
 
 Breeks took his measures in silence. He knew that Jericho 
 was become rich, and therefore felt that he, the rich man's tailor, 
 must become dull and respectful. Ready money was, after all, 
 better than a ready laugh. " Shall I allow anything, sir, for" — 
 and Breeks held the body of Jericho as in a parcliment bridle — 
 " anything for stoutness ? It may come, sii-, when you least 
 expect it ? " 
 
 " A Little, just a little, Breeks. Though. I don't think I 'm a 
 bit tbinuer than — than many people ? " 
 
 " Not a bit, sir : and then, sir, where natiu*' leaves us, we can 
 always lay hold upon art. Flesh " — said Breeks, waving his 
 arm — " flesh may fall away, but paddin 's contin'ally with us." 
 
 " Just so ! and therefore, Breeks, you may give a little puff — 
 just the smallest roundness " — 
 
 " I know, sir; just an ounce or two more flesh in the waist- 
 coast. It shall be done, sir. I wish you a humble good morning, 
 sir," and Breeks bowed in excess of homage. 
 
 " Breeks," — a thought had come upon Jericho, — " Breeks, 
 are you married ? " Breeks stared : for how many times, years 
 gone by, had Mrs. Breeks herself opened the door to Mr. Jericho ! 
 
 Breeks delicately resented tliis forgetfulness of the man of 
 money. With a low bow, tlie tailor repUed — " I am not yet a 
 widower, Mr. Jericho." 
 
 " Ha ! To be sure. Humph " — mused Jericho — " then it 's 
 out of the question; otherwise, Breeks, I might have served 
 you." 
 
 "jMi-s. Breeks, IVIr. Jericho," — repUed the tailor, — "is too 
 E 2
 
 , b A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 dootiful a wife to stand iu the light of her husband. Whatever 
 it is, may I be so bold as to say, mention it ? " 
 
 " Not now — no matter — another time. Go," said Jericho ; 
 and the tailor, with an awe of the sudden dignity of money — an 
 awe he would not confess to — shrank from the dressing-room. 
 
 " Here 's a change ! After all, there 's no such paddin' for 
 human natur' as Bank-notes ! " Now this is what Breeks 
 declared to himself outside the door ; and again and again 
 repeated as he stept onward from Jericho's house. Indeed, so 
 intent was he upon the felicitous thought that — with a strange 
 self-delusion — he avowed to his wife, delighted by her husband's 
 wit and courage, that he flung the words — hard and hot like a 
 thunderbolt — " in Jericho's face." Ajid the elevated tailor almost 
 thought as much. Nevertheless, for Jericho's face, truth meekly 
 supplies Jericho's knocker. 
 
 The waistcoat that six weeks ago had wrapt Jericho, lay on 
 the gi-ound. How wide and large it looked ! An expanded 
 cere-cloth of perished flesh ! How much of him — of him, Jericho 
 — was once iu that waistcoat that Avas now — where ? It could 
 not be possible that the bank in his bosom was supplied at the 
 cost of his fleshly substance ? He was not paying himself away 
 transmuted into paper ? Pooh ! Nonsense ! He never felt 
 better ; never felt so hard and firm. Nevertheless, he looked 
 upon the waistcoat as upon an opened book, written with mortal 
 meanings. And then again he felt assured his fleshly store did 
 7ioi sujiply his money, and then — he determined to measure his 
 waist, and in exactest balance — unknown to all men — to weigh 
 himself every morning. The first part of the discipline he would 
 immediately commence. "VYliereupon, with a silken lace he 
 encompassed his chest, snipping close where both ends joined. 
 Scarcely had he finished the operation, when light, yet peremp- 
 tory fingers, tapped at the door. "May I come in, love? " It 
 was the voice of i\Irs. Jericho. 
 
 "Certainly," said Jericho; "what do you want, Sabilla, my 
 dear?" 
 
 Let us endeavour to exjDlain this mutual familiarity. The
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 77 
 
 truth, is, in a very soft moment Jericho had murmured to his 
 wife this honey-sweet intelligence — He knew no bounds to his 
 wealth ! Whereupon, witli a responsive burst of sympathy, 
 Mi's. Jericho declared that, in such case, she saw no end to his 
 greatness. We have said that Mrs. Jericho was a woman of 
 great imagination. Instantaneously she beheld herself upon the 
 topmost peak of the Mountains of Millions ; whose altitude is 
 just ten thousand thousand times higher than the Mountains of 
 the Moon. So high that the biggest pearls in the very oldest 
 coronets appeared to Mrs. Jericho no bigger than mustard-seed. 
 With boundless riches she instantly felt boundless ambition. 
 Mrs. Jericho had ever made her best cm'tsey to the power of 
 wealth : but with the unexpected Plutus as her guest, she was 
 suddenly rapt, sublimated. The Lady Macbeth of a money-box. 
 
 " Solomon," — never until his day of riches had even his own 
 wife called him Solomon — " make haste : you are wanted. 
 Something very particular — a great proposal — vital to us — all 
 we could wish." 
 
 " Who is it, my dear ? What 's it about ? " asked Jericho with 
 dull composui'e. 
 
 " I have already told you," — said Mrs. Jericho in a deep, 
 organ note — " that you may fill the world. You shall fill it." 
 Jericho rubbed his chin ; then — he could not help it — looked 
 askance upon the all-wide, cast-oiF waistcoat. " Make haste^ 
 and meet me in the drawing-room." Saying this, Mrs. Jericho, 
 in all her natural pomp, departed. 
 
 Whilst Jericho finishes his toilette, making really the most of 
 himself, let us proceed to the drawing-room. Miss Agatha 
 Pennibacker never looked prettier : she is neatly, gracefully 
 attired in morning muslin web ; and stands for the moment 
 looking down with full eyes upon the cup of a flower, into which, 
 with pouting lips, she idly blows. And who could think that 
 that little flower should reflect such a rosy flush upon the face of 
 Agatha ? Perhaps, however, it is not all the flower : it may be, 
 that the presence of Sir Arthur Hodmadod, who stands some 
 way apart, half twirling a chair in the hollow of one hand, and
 
 78 A MAN MAOK OF MONEY. 
 
 with a smile showing all his line teeth to the simple Agatha, — 
 perhaps, the baronet has at least a share of the blush with the 
 scarlet anemone. 
 
 " I am (lelightetl to hear, my (h-i»' madam, that you suffered 
 no fatigue — took no cold," very tenderly observes the baronet — 
 '- beauty is a jewel — when I say a jewel, of course I moan a flower 
 — that sometimes suffers from the night." 
 
 " But, Sir Arthur — it was so fine, you recollect ! Do you not 
 remember the brilliancy of the moon that, you observed, looked 
 like a new nun that had just taken the veil ; and surely — can 
 you forget" — asks the emphatic Agatha — "the beautiful com- 
 pliment you paid to the stars ? " 
 
 " I assure you, now, that 's jiist like nic — I do," replies the 
 modest man. " Haven't a notion." 
 
 " Oh, you said — I recollect it so well," says the earnest 
 creature, raising her liquid eyes — -"you said that the stars were 
 the diamonds of the poor." 
 
 " That 's very like me : but I am so liable to forget. Still, I 
 shoulil have sworn to the thought anywhere." 
 
 Thus may man conunit unconscious perjury. For, be it at 
 once known that it was Candituft who, in his large benevolence, 
 gave the stars to the poor man for his jewels : a sort of liberality 
 Candituft was very prone to, for it in no way impoverished 
 himself. 
 
 " You arc aware, dear madam," said Sir Arthur, a little 
 abruptly, " that in the days of chivalry, it was the custom for 
 ladies to be leeches. You know, when I say leeches, I don't of 
 course mean the nasty things in ponds, but surgeons. Then every 
 lady-love dressed her own knight. Of course, 1 mean his wound." 
 
 "To be sure ; I 've read it all very often. Yes" — and Agatha 
 looked suddenly devoted — " in those dear olden times women 
 fulfdled their mission, and were leeches. "VVe shall never see 
 those days again ! " 
 
 " Suppose we try," said Ilodmadod, handing a chair to 
 Agatha, dropping into one himself, and drawing close to the 
 fluttered young lady, whose timid eye now and then turned to
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 79 
 
 the door. " What do you think of that hand, dearest Miss 
 Agatha?" and Sir Arthur gracefully presented his open palm. 
 
 "Oh! gracious!" cried the young lady, flinging away the 
 anemone, clasping her hands, and looking piteous sorrow. 
 Wherefore ? The hand had been blistered ; and a little wound — 
 Miss Agatha might have covered it with a guinea, if she had 
 had the coin and the thought about her — lay in the palm. 
 
 " Yom* candid opinion, sweet girl ? In its present wounded 
 state — when I say wounded, of course I mean it's quite as good 
 as ever — I couldn't offer the hand to a lady? " 
 
 "Dear me!" cried Agatha, "what a question! How should 
 I know? But how did it happen?" 
 
 "Why, you see, not used to the sort of thing, it was the 
 hay-fork; when I say a hay-fork, I think I may venture to 
 observe" — and here the handsome baronet looked in the glow- 
 ing face of Agatha, and smiled with all his might — " the dart of 
 Cupid." 
 
 "Dear me!" and Agatha looked at the hurt, with evidently 
 no thought of the figurative weapon that had caused it — " dear 
 me ! it must give you dreadful pain." 
 
 " Dreadfid ! that is, of course, great pleasure. Now, dear 
 young lady, I want you to be my leech." 
 
 "La! Sir Arthur; we don't live in such times, you know;" 
 and Agatha was delighted. 
 
 " As I am determined to offer this hand with all my heart 
 in it — when I say all my heart I mean my title — to a young 
 lady whom you know, and I believe very much respect — as upon 
 that resolution I am a perfect rock — when I say a rock, I mean 
 I am hard upon being happy — why then — '' 
 
 " I see exactly what you mean, Sir Arthur," said Agatha, to 
 the rescue. 
 
 "That's delightful. That's a true woman who, when a man 
 has only half a meaning, supplies the other half. It 's that that 
 makes the fuU circle of the wedding-ring. When I say the 
 wedding-ring, of course I mean " — 
 
 " I know," cried Agatha quickly.
 
 80 A MAX MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 " Well, dear ^liss Pennibacker, will yo^i undertake the cure, 
 for the lady you are best acquainted with? " 
 
 " I 'm sure I — I 'd do anything in such a case to serve any 
 lady. But hadn't I better call mamma? She's a beautiful 
 surgeon ! Oh, what a leech she 'd have been in those sweet old 
 times. Yes, I 'd better call mamma ; " and, like a startled 
 antelope, the maiden bounded from the room. 
 
 Sir Arthur Ilodmadod, left to himself, incontinently walked 
 up to a mirror. It was, at the worst, his old resource. To him- 
 a looking-glass was capital company. It always brought J^efore 
 him the subject he loved best; a subject he never grew tired of; 
 a subject that, contemplate it as he woidd, like every other truly 
 great work, revealed some hitherto undiscovered excellence. 
 Thus, in a very few seconds. Sir Arthur was so intently fixed 
 upon the well-known, yet ever new production before him ; was 
 so profoundly satisfied with the many merits appealing to his 
 impartial judgment, that he heard not the door open ; heard not 
 the soft footsteps of two ladies. — Sir Ai'thur, in the intensity of 
 his study, was wholly unconscious of the approach of Miss 
 Monica Pennibacker and her very recent, and very fast friend, 
 !Miss Candituft. Monica was about to break in upon the grate- 
 ful meditation of the baronet, when IMiss Candituft raised her 
 eloquent forefinger. This gesture was followed by nods and 
 smiles ; and Monica, with sudden knowledge of their mysterious 
 import, jerked her head, and laughed in answer ; and without a 
 word, but with a huge enjoyment of the jest, quitted the ground. 
 
 Sir Arthur is stiU at the glass, and Miss Candituft sinks upon 
 a sofa. The cold, calm face of the lady very nearly approached 
 the face of the gentleman in the mirror ; nevertheless, so fixed 
 was he upon his subject, that the intrusion failed to rouse him. 
 Miss Candituft caught tlic reflected features of the l)aronet ; and 
 though she felt all the force of their vacancy; though she thought 
 she despised that handsome mask of man more than ever ; she 
 felt stir within her remorseless thoughts of vengeance. In that 
 stern moment, she fixed the laaronet's fate. He, poor victim 1 
 with all his soul on tiptoe walking the outline of his right
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 81 
 
 whisker, he knew not what awaited him. — He knew not that 
 behind him, sat a weak woman who had determined to snatch 
 him from himself; to carry him away, whether he would or not ; 
 to hurry him to a venerable edifice ; and then and there rivet on 
 him a chain for life. And this, it is oiu* faith, is a sentence often 
 passed in silence on the unsuspecting sufferer : a sentence pro- 
 nounced in self-confidence in play-house boxes, in ball-room 
 corners ; possibly, even in cathedral pews. The judge, all out- 
 ward smiles and tenderness, has thoughts of a life-long sentence 
 at heart. How beautiful that it should be so ! To our imagina- 
 tion how much more delicious the simple, balmy flower, when we 
 know that it smiles so sweetly, and to all appearance so xmcon- 
 sciously of the wedding-ring gold, so very deep below. 
 
 "Well, I do look well — devilish well to-day," said Sir Ai-thur 
 to the bai'onet in the glass. " I don't tliink I ever saw myself 
 look better. Handsome — when I say handsome, I mean quite a 
 butcher. IVIiss Candituft," cried Sir Arthur, suddenly startled 
 by the vision. 
 
 " I didn't speak ! I didn't say a word — did I ? " cried 
 Hodmadod. " I don't tliink I spoke. Eh ? " 
 
 "Not a word," answered the lady ; "not a syllable; it was 
 only ' the mind, the music breathing from his face.' What a 
 shame it is you should be so handsome. Sir Artluu*. Keally, 
 you go in great danger. You 'U be carried off by some band of 
 desperate women, and afterwards raffled for ; you '11 be married 
 some day in spite of your screams. By the way. Sir Arthui*," — 
 and Caroline fixed the baronet with her cold, full look — " What 
 brings you here ? " 
 
 " Oh, friendsliip. That is, when I say friendship, I " — 
 
 " Yes ; the old meaning. Well, you always had an admirable 
 taste, Sir Ai'thur. I must say that ; an admirable taste, even 
 before your looking-glass. Dear me ! " — and she suddenly rose 
 and crossed to the window — " quite a garden here. Well, I 
 have often wondered what fools flowers were, to gi'ow in London : 
 I mean — but Sir Arthur, of course, you know what I mean." 
 And saying this. Miss Candituft stept \ipon the verandah ; and
 
 82 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 for a time, there is no doubt of it, divided, her admiration 
 between flowers and music; the geraniums about her, and a 
 barrel organ below her. 
 
 The next minute, and Agatha returned with even a deeper flush 
 in her face — with a more vivacious sparkle in her eye — with a 
 quicker tremor in her voice. To be made love to by a baronet ! 
 For the suspicion had, dm-ing her long absence, strengthened into 
 assm-ance. Great had been her growth of heart, large her 
 addition of knowledge, in the few minutes employed to pass to 
 her room, and to bring together every kind of imaginable 
 anodyne ; every sort of balsamic remedy. 
 
 " My dear Miss Agatha," cried Hodmadod pretty loudly, 
 that ^liss Candituft might have the fullest benefit of his into- 
 nation ; " my dear lady, I blush for this trouble : when I say, I 
 blush I — I really don't know what to say." 
 
 " Don't name it. Sir Ai'thur. I couldn't disturb mamma ; 
 still I — I wish I had, for upon my word and honour, I don't 
 know what to do. Oh dear ! it is very bad," and again 
 Agatha glanced at the baronet's abraded hand. 
 
 " Dear me ! This is the thing — the very thing," and Hod- 
 madod took up a card of court-plaister ; a healing substance so 
 very rare, and requiring such nice wisdom to prescribe it, that 
 of course the baronet had never thought of the remedy until 
 produced by the anxious maid before him. 
 
 " Well, Sir Arthur, I thought that possibly might do : dear 
 me ! why didn't you think of it before ? What you must have 
 suffered ! " said Agatha with thoughts of pain distressing her 
 pretty face. 
 
 " The fact is, I had the misfortime, that is the delight to 
 leceive the wound " — !Miss Candituft unconsciously tore a 
 camellia to bits as she listened — "in the most beautiful society ; 
 iiud in that society I said to myself, it shall be healed. When 
 I say healed " — 
 
 " It will be quite well to-morrow," said Agatha very earnestly ; 
 and now she cast an eye at the wound, measuring its smallness, 
 and with a pair of scissors cut the plaister to the diameter of the
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 83 
 
 hurt. When she had delicately rounded a piece the size of 
 a shilling ; trimming and trimming it as though it was to her 
 impossible to make too nice an adjustment ; she gently laid it on 
 the fingers of the baronet, at the same time, with the prettiest 
 grace and himiUity, di'opping a curtsey. 
 
 Sir Arthur Hodmadod looked smilingly at Agatha, and then 
 at the round black patch lying on his fingers. — " My dear 
 madam, you must breathe upon it." 
 
 " Oh dear no ! Not at aU ! Certainly not," cried Agatha. 
 
 Sir Aithur, holding the little patch by the extreme edges of 
 his finger and thumb-nail, presented it to the lips of Agatha. 
 " Breathe, my dear madam ; when I say breathe, I mean waft 
 a— a—" 
 
 " I couldn't think of such a thing," cried Agatha, retreating. 
 
 " The whole charm — the spell — when I say the charm, I mean 
 the medicine — is in the breath that warms it. My dear Agatha," 
 and Sir Arthur attempted to encncle the timid creature's waist. 
 
 " How very foolish! " cried Agatha, stiU shrinking. "How very 
 foohsh ! " And then she made her little mouth into the smallest 
 bud, and blew quickly twice or thrice. " How very foolish ! " 
 
 " Now, I may call the cm'e almost complete," said Sir Arthui', 
 and he placed the patch upon the wound. " Upon my life ! 
 Beautiful ! Delicious ! " and he cast his eyes rapturously towards 
 the ceiling. 
 
 " Has it done you so much good already, Sir Arthur ? I 'm 
 so glad ! Such a simple thing, too." 
 
 " My dearest girl, it is the delightful magic of your breath. I 
 feel it — from this little patch, it goes through and through all 
 my blood. I 'm diinking champagne all over," cried the 
 impassioned patient. 
 
 " La ! Sir Arthm-, how can you? " cried Agatha. 
 
 " When I say champagne, I mean nectar 's nothing to it. 
 What a beautiful surgeon ! " and Sir Arthur took Agatha's hand, 
 and pressed it in his wounded palm, — pressing the patch to 
 make the operation perfect. " Dear me ! " and the gentleman 
 feigned sudden siu'prise, " that I should be near forgetting it ! "
 
 84: A MAX HADE OF MOXEY. 
 
 " Forgetting what, Sii- Artliur ? " asked tlie ingenuous maid, 
 
 "The fee, sweet girl; the fee," and Sir Arthur, quite ere tlie 
 young lady was aware of liis intention, pressed his lips to her 
 hand — to the hand that was rapidly snatched away as from the 
 touch of a nettle. " And now, my dear little leech — when I say 
 leech, I mean my blooming cherub — wheii do you think the hand 
 will be fit to go to church ? " 
 
 " I shoidd say, Sh- Ai'thur, that the lady herself, whoever she 
 may be, could best answer such a strange question." Here 
 Agatha tried to trill a careless note or two. 
 
 Sn- Arthur very much enjoyed the pretty confusion of Agatha, 
 and was highly delighted by the torment that, in the courage new 
 to himself, he had, he was sure of it, inflicted upon !Miss Candi- 
 tuft. It was reaUy capital recreation, excellent sport, at one 
 and the same time to play with the hearts of two women. And 
 one such a pretty little simpleton — the other such a high-topping 
 task-mistress ! The baronet felt proud of himself. And then 
 he thought of his face, his figiu'e ; and took the incident as a 
 matter of course. How could it be otherwise ? 
 
 " You can't predict the time ? " and SiriVrthur gaily returned 
 to the question. 
 
 " Haven't an idea," said Agatha ; " no, not an idea." 
 
 " At all events, then, you will see the patient every day ? " 
 Whereupon the baronet vrould look as though he had all his heart 
 in his eyes. 
 
 " Why, really. Sir Arthur, upon such a subject I feel — I mean 
 — you must ask my mamma. Ha ! " — and Agatha snatched her 
 hand away, for the door opened, and Mrs. Jericho, most sump- 
 tuously caparisoned, flowed into the room — " And here is 
 mamma," said the confused maiden. 
 
 Mrs. Jericho had a mother's eyes, and would not then and 
 there see the blushes of her daughter. As though Agatha had 
 not been in the room, ]Mi-3. Jericho, all smiles and presence of 
 mind, received and returned the compliments of the baronet. 
 
 "Agatha, my child," observed Mrs. Jericho in the softest 
 voice, '•' I thought the Hon. Mi'. Candituft — "
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 85 
 
 " Oil, Cesar is talking to Monica," said Miss Candituft, step- 
 ping from the balcony, whilst Agatha felt it was impossible that 
 she could do otherwise than faint to behold her. " Really you 
 have a charming prospect from this window. I 've been quite 
 fixed by it — quite. Did not expect to see anything like what I 
 have seen," said Miss Candituft ; and Agatha shuddered. The 
 next moment Monica joined the party, informing her mamma 
 that the Hon. Mr. Candituft had been removed into the study by 
 Mr. Jericho. Thither let us follow them. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Mr. Candituft still grasps the hand of his excellent new 
 friend. " Upon my honour, my dear sir, the sight of you 
 looking so well lifts a mountain from my mind. I wouldn't 
 have had the feelings of Dr. Mizzlemist for the honours of the 
 earth." Mr. Jericho feebly smiles, lifting his shoulders in 
 deprecation of fiuiher sympathy. " Surely this — this is the 
 hand the fork went through, yet not so much as a scar." 
 
 " It was nothing : I 'm happily formed, INIr. Candituft ; that 
 is, my flesh heals directly. It all arises from a wonderful 
 pmity of blood no doubt, but nothing hurts me," said Jericho, 
 '• nothing." 
 
 " A common person, Mr. Jericho — now the danger 's past 
 I don't mind saying it — a common man from such a wound 
 must have had lockjaw." Here Candituft put his hand before 
 his eyes, to shut out the horror of the picture. Recovering 
 himself, he proceeded, with a gay, playful look — " And lockjaw, 
 Mr. Jericho, would not have served your turn in the House of 
 Commons." 
 
 "My good sir," answered Jericho, with an air of instruction, 
 " I am not in the House of Commons." 
 
 "iSTot taken the oaths and seat, certainly, but 'tis good as 
 done. My dear sir, you are reserved for great things : the 
 whole brotherhood of man will one day feel disposed to bless
 
 86 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 you. And, my dear sir, permit me to congratulate you ou youi- 
 heroic helpmate, Mrs. Jericho." 
 
 " She 's a — a fine woman," said Jericho : he could say no less. 
 
 " A woman of far-seeing ambition. She already beholds you 
 on the top of the tree, sir ; on the top of the tree," and Candituft 
 shook Jericho's hand till he shook him into smiles. 
 
 " Why, sir, I am not backward — goodness forbid ! — ^not back- 
 ward to acknowledge the responsibility. Money is the support 
 of the world : the pillar of the social edifice. Without money, 
 man is little above the brute." 
 
 " A great political truth," cried the astonished Candituft, " a 
 very great political truth." 
 
 " Let us look through the animal world, Mr. Candituft. 
 ^Miat makes the elephant powerful ? — his trunk and tusks. 
 What makes the lion dangerous ? — his teeth and claws. And, 
 what tusks and teeth are to the lower creatiu'es, money is to man. 
 Is it not so ? " asked Jericho, confidently. 
 
 Candituft suddenly folded his arms, and looking downward, as 
 though speaking to the carpet, said very vehemently — " It is." 
 
 " I think," continued Jericho, " I think it is the great Lord 
 Bacon who somewhere observes — ' Knowledge, turned into ready 
 money, is power.' I am of his lordship's opinion." 
 
 " Of course, ]\Ii-. Jericho. It was to be expected of you. 
 And now, my dear, dear sii*, to business. IMrs. Jericho informed 
 me, at Jogtrot Lodge, that you burn to get into Parliament. 
 You are righi,. That is your sphere." 
 
 " I don't think I could make a speech — don't think I could 
 say a dozen words," urged the modest Jericho, " miless, I had 
 the decanters before me." 
 
 " We don't look for long speeches from men of wealth, sir. 
 We've plenty of speakers whose only bank is the English 
 language; and tremendously they draw upon it. What we 
 want — what we can't have too much of — is the substantial, 
 unmistakeable power of property. '\Mien a man rises with a 
 million of money in his pocket, people think it 's his wealth that 
 talks and not he. Therefore, boggle as he may, he is sure to
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 87 
 
 say something worth listening to. The world is charitable, sir, 
 and tolerates the man for the metal." 
 
 •' Of com'se ; very right. I don't know," said Jericho, re- 
 assured, " that I ought to fear Parliament — much." 
 
 " Fear ! Yom' party would embrace you ! You 'd be the pet 
 of the — by the way, what are youi* politics ? " asked Candituft. 
 
 "The politics of — of the human heart," answered Jericho, 
 " of course, nothing less." 
 
 " I thought so : our side ! My dear sir, you will find it 
 will be impossible for us to make too much of you. And now to 
 the question that has brought me here. The borough of Toads- 
 ham is at your service. You needn't even show yourself ; all 
 you have to say is — yes ; and take your seat. You can't imagine 
 how your dear, your noble wife has jumped at the notion." 
 
 " Well, ' yes ' is soon said," observed Jericho. 
 
 " And you '11 say it ? I knew you would," and Candituft 
 shook Jericho by the hand. " Ha, sir ! what a career is open to 
 you. With your boundless wealth " — 
 
 " Pooh ! pooh ! no such thing, ]Mr. Candituft. What could 
 have put it into yom' head? " 
 
 " With your boundless wealth, sir, after serving your country 
 with your patriotic votes in the Commons, you '11 be gathered 
 to the House of Lords in yom- green old age. Think of that, 
 sii'. In yom* very green old age. Eank, title, honom's ! Why, 
 who shall say that the little ermine destined to trim your robe, are 
 not at this minute playing somewhere in the Ural Mountains ? 
 Who shall say that the silk-worms that shall spin the silk for 
 your blue riband, are not at this moment in the egg ? " 
 
 Jericho thought he felt his heart warm with the fancy. He 
 flattered himself that the organ absolutely fluttered. He observed 
 — " What will be the price — the lowest price of Toadsham ? " 
 
 "Not more than ten thousand," answered Candituft, very 
 bhthely. 
 
 " That is a large sum, Mr. Candituft," cried Jericho. 
 
 " Well, now, you do surprise me ! I cannot disguise it ; you 
 do astonish me. I did think you 'd wonder at the cheapness.
 
 88 • A MAN MADE OF MOXEY. 
 
 Ten thousand pounds for a seat in Parliament ! After all — with 
 your enlarged views — what is it but so much money put out to 
 the interest of your country and yourself? You must recollect, 
 sir, we live in revolutionary times. Xow, there is such a cry 
 for purity of election, as it 's called, that the selling price — when 
 a pennyworth is to be had — mmt go up. It 's in the nature of 
 human things, Mr. Jericho. In its time, sir, I give you my 
 honour, Toadsham has brought double the money. Double the 
 money, sir," averred Candituft. 
 
 " ^Vhen can the business be arranged ? AVhen can I go in?'' 
 asked Jericho, 
 
 " When the usual forms are over — and in your case, they are 
 only forms — du'ectly, my dear sir." 
 
 " Well, as it wUl please my wife, and — as you observe, Mr, 
 Candituft — property ought to prop the nation, I don't thiuk I 
 shall refuse. No : you may book me for Toadsham." 
 
 At this moment Mrs. Jericho entered the room. " Permit me, 
 madam, to congratulate you on the admirable resolution of Mr. 
 Jericho. He has consented " — said Candituft, as though 
 relieved of great anxiety — " he has consented to stand by the 
 country. He will sit for Toadsham." 
 
 "Of course, my dear sir. These are not times" — said Mrs. 
 Jericho — " for property to desert its post. No, su-, we must stand 
 by om* institutions. Ar'n't they beautiful, my dear Solomon ? " 
 
 " The pride of surrounding nations," answered Jericho, with- 
 out moving an eyelid. 
 
 *' A fiddlestick ! I mean the diamonds," and Mxs. Jericho 
 exhibited a magnificent suite of jewels. 
 
 " They look very bright," said Jericho. 
 
 " Bright, my clear ! Why, as Miss Candituft observed, they are 
 positively scintillations of the sun. Bright! Why" — and ]\Irs. 
 Jericho waved the jewels to and fro — "there's no looking at them." 
 
 "What Anil be the use of wearing 'em, then?" asked the 
 apathetic Jericho. 
 
 " My dear, how very literal you are. Why, I thought you 'd 
 be delighted to see them," said JIi-s. Jericho.
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 89 
 
 "I am ; very much delighted," and Jericho looked at the 
 gems with as much light in his eye as would have been reflected 
 therein from so many pewter buttons. " Very fine ; whose are 
 they?" 
 
 " Whose are they ! " cried ]\Irs. Jericho. " What a question ! 
 Why, whose should they be ? " 
 
 " I 'm the worst of all men at a riddle," said Jericho. " I can't 
 guess." 
 
 "Why, Mr. Jericho, they are your wife's — of course," cried 
 the majestic owner, with proud emphasis. 
 
 " How did you get 'em? " inquired the frigid husband. 
 
 " What a question to ask a woman in London ! My dear 
 Jericho — ha ! ha! — why, my good man, what is the matter with 
 you ? I thought you 'd be delighted with my taste. Any other 
 man would be proud of his wife, with such a choice. Eh, ]\Ii', 
 Candituft?" 
 
 " And so is Mr. Jericho. Only he's a philosopher ; he won't 
 show the rapture that swells his heart." No winter-tortoise 
 ever slept sounder in its shell, than did the heart of Jericho in 
 his bosom. 
 
 " You know, my dear," — said Mrs. Jericho, in her sweetest, 
 most convincing voice — " you know 'twould be impossible to go 
 to court without diamonds. One isn't drest without diamonds." 
 
 " Court ! " Jericho opened his eyes; and a wan smile broke 
 on his thin, blank cheek. " Are you going to court ? " 
 
 " Why, of course. Are we not, dear 'Mx. Canditixft ? " The 
 Man-Tamer placed his hand upon his heart, and smiled assent, 
 " What would be thought of us, if we did not pay our homage 
 to"— 
 
 " To be sure ; very right ; I shall only be too happy," said 
 Jericho ; "it's expected of us, no doubt." 
 
 " And 'twill not be my fault, my dear, if we do not go Uke our- 
 selves. The dear girls are quite delighted with their pearls " — 
 
 " Pearls ! " groaned Jericho. 
 
 " Pearls," repeated Mrs. Jericho very vivaciously — " quite 
 delimited and " —
 
 90 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 The sentence was broken by the sudden appearance of Monica 
 and Agatha, each bearing a jewel-case ; and looking radiant with 
 the possession. 
 
 " Thank you, dear papa," said Monica, curtseying and smiling 
 her best to Jericho. 
 
 " They 're beautiful ! Thank you — dear, dearest papa " — 
 cried the more impulsive Agatha, and — thoughtless of the 
 presence of Candituft — she threw her arms about Jericho's neck. 
 
 " And the pair of you have pearls, eh ? " asked Jericho, very 
 hopelessly. 
 
 " Look," said Monica, and she exhibited her treasure. 
 
 " Look," cried Agatha, and she half-dropt upon one knee, on 
 the other side, to show Iter jewels. 
 
 " Beautiful ! " cried Candituft. " Pray ladies, don't stu-." — 
 The girls, with pretty wonder in their faces, kept theu* positions 
 on either side of Jericho. " My dear Madam " — and Candituft 
 appealed to Mrs. Jericho — '' Is not this a dehghtful group ? An 
 exquisite family picture? It ought to be painted. On either 
 side beauty lustrous with thankfulness, and for the centre figure, 
 benevolence unconscious of its worth. Positively it must go to 
 the Academy." 
 
 " Milton and his Daughters quite common-place to it," averred 
 Miss Candituft, joining the party : for the interesting group 
 above had been suddenly scattered by the arrival of the jeweUer. 
 Hence, Sir Arthur Hodmadod shortly afterwards edged himself 
 into the circle, contributing his admiration in his own nervous 
 style. Ere, however, his praises could call forth a response, 
 there was an addition to the party in the flushed and hurried 
 person of Basil Pcnnibackcr. 
 
 " Beg your pardon. Like a cannon-ball, you see, bring my 
 own apology with me," cried Basil. 
 
 " My dear child," said Mrs. Jericho. " What is the matter ? 
 Why are you always in such a hurry ? " 
 
 " Credit's long, ma'am, life is short, as the latin tailor says," 
 and Basil bowed to the guests. 
 
 " Look at mamma's diamonds and om* pearls," cried Agatha.
 
 •^a. 
 
 ^ 
 
 (S^V//^
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 91 
 
 " Why, my honoured madam, you are not going to wear these 
 diamonds ? You are ? When ? " cried Basil. 
 
 " Oh, at the drawing-room, on Thursday," said Mrs. Jericho. 
 
 " Well, then, my revered lady, let me embrace you ; I shall 
 never see you again. Never," said the despairing son. 
 
 "What do you mean, you foolish boy ? " and the fond mother 
 smiled at her child, and shook her head. 
 
 " You'll be carried off, ma'am, stolen beyond the hope of all 
 Hue-and-Cry. You must go to St. James's with two policemen 
 in your carriage ; two with blunderbusses, or the property 's lost. 
 Eh ? What 's here ? " — and Basil loolced at the treasures of his 
 sisters. " Pearls, eh ? Why what a lot ! — there 's the lining 
 of a hundred beds of oysters." 
 
 " Basil, how can you !" cried Agatha. 
 
 " Cost a pretty penny, eh ? Take the oysters at eight-pence a 
 dozen, and say two dozen subscribe one pearl, how much will the 
 pair of you be worth, when you 're both drest ? Eh, sir ! 
 That 's a nice bit of arithmetic," said Basil, turning to Jericho. 
 " How much, sir ? " 
 
 " I don't know, young man " — said Jericho with dignity. 
 " What is more — I don't want to know." 
 
 " No, sir ; but it 's odd how folks will force disagreeable know- 
 ledge upon us ; crab-apples, sir, that we must eat, and defy the 
 stomach-ache," 
 
 " Basd ! " exclaimed Mrs. Jericho, in her very deepest voice. 
 
 " I suppose," said the unchecked Basd, *' you 've not heard^ 
 no, I 'm sure you haven't, by the holiday looks of you all. I 'm 
 certain. Mi-. Candituft, you've heard nothing disagreeable, other- 
 wise you 'd have been alarming to look at." 
 
 "Dear Mr. Pennibacker" — and Candituft clasped his hands, 
 " what has happened? " 
 
 " Ha ! you 've something like a heart, you have ; so fresh, 
 and so full now. Some people's hearts are shrunk in them like 
 dried nuts. 'Pon my life, you can hear 'em rattle as they walk." 
 
 " Mr. Pennibacker ! " said Jericho solemnly. 
 
 " Sii- ! " said Basil, folding his arms, and drawing himself up.
 
 92 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 " You will keep these similes for your associates. There are 
 ladies and gentlemen here," said Jericho. 
 
 " Very good, sir; I'm easy of belief; wasn't made for a 
 martyr. No, sir," said Basil, " warranted not to bui-n." 
 
 " My dear Basil, for all this levity," said Mrs. Jericho, " I can 
 see there 's something wrong. What is it ? " 
 
 " Well then, here it is." Basil cleared his throat, yet his 
 eyes moistened, and his mouth twitched as he spoke. " Well 
 then, to begin ; your friend Carraways is ruined." 
 
 " Euined ! " echoed all. 
 
 " That fine old man — that noble gentleman — that capital chap 
 crowned in his cradle the king of good fellows — that man that 
 was as free of the loyalty as the skies are free of rain — well, he's 
 ruined ! A blank — &. s. d. scratched clean out of him— in one 
 word, the vital spark of money has left him, and in the city he 's 
 Avorse than a dead man." 
 
 " Poor fellow ! Poor — dear — fellow ! " said Candituft grieved, 
 but very placid. 
 
 " It 's quite impossible ! " cried Mrs. Jericho ; " so sudden ! 
 How could it have happened ? " 
 
 " Easily enough. House gone in India. Nothing safe there. 
 For my part, I hardly believe in India at all. I think India's a 
 magnificent illusion, like a grand sunset. Somehow or the other 
 every fortune in India has an earthquake wrapt iip in it. Any 
 way, Carraways is swallowed;" and Basil bit his lip. 
 
 " Well, I am sorry," said ]\Iiss Candituft. " I must say I am 
 very sorry." 
 
 "Very good of you, madam. And of you too, sir;" and 
 Basil looked gloomily in the unconcerned countenance of Candi- 
 tuft. " I 'm sure your heart is broken. I can see the pieces in 
 your face." 
 
 " The fact is, dear sir," said Candituft, and he spoke truly, 
 " I was a little prepared for the intelligence. Still I feel deeply 
 for my friend." 
 
 "And poor Mrs. Carraways ! Poor dear soul ! What will she 
 do ? I feel for her," said IVIi's. Jericho,
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONET. ^ 93 
 
 " And sweet Bessy ! It will be a dreadful blow ! Sucli a 
 gentle creature," said Monica, glancing at her pearls. 
 
 "Why, she can't come to positive want, you know," said 
 Hodmadod ; and then, looking about him in his wise way, he 
 added—" I don't think she '11 come to want, do you ? She 's 
 accomplished, you know, and when I say accomplished " — 
 
 " I know," said Basil bitterly, his eye flashing. " I know ; 
 turn governess — an upper housemaid, with privilege to go 
 without caps. Teach children to gargle their little throats 
 with the gamut. Of com-se, she can 't starve. But I beg your 
 pardon, IMr. Candituft, people did say you were in love with 
 Bessy." 
 
 " I always admired Miss Carraways, but love — iiever, sir, 
 never/' said Candituft with solemn emphasis ; and Monica again 
 looked at her pearls, and serenely smiled. 
 
 " Well, I only wish she 'd have me," said BasU. " I never 
 did think I should go the way of most flesh — but as matters have 
 tiu'ned out, I 'd marry Bessy myself." 
 
 Mr. Jericho rose with great dignity from his seat. He looked 
 about him, as though bespeaking all attention for the coming 
 utterance. When he deemed the company sufficiently toned 
 down to appreciate the value of his words, he looked sternly at 
 Basil, and said — " I cannot consent to remain in the room and 
 listen to such folly— such headlong folly." With this, our Man 
 made of Money majestically retired. 
 
 " Better not drive me desperate," said the youth ; " better not, 
 or I '11 marry her, and — to get a bit of honest bread — disgrace 
 the family. Shouldn't at all mind sweeping a crossing in 
 diamond studs, mahogany stick and lavender broom. Elegance 
 in distress. Must melt a discerning public. Ha ! ha ! " and 
 the young man laughed very savagely. 
 
 ■" Basil, I must say it — your conduct is most extravagant," 
 cried Mrs. Jericho. " Marry, indeed ! " 
 
 " Why not ? As Bessy can make satin pincushions, and I can 
 sell 'em, my wife will serve the family cheap, my dear lady, if 
 only for old acquaintance. Ha ! ha ! "
 
 94 . A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 "Don't be foolish, Basil. For my own part," said Mrs. 
 Jericho, " I would make any sacrifice for the poor things." 
 
 " And so would I, mamma," said Monica. 
 
 "And gracious goodness knows," cried Agatha, " so would I." 
 
 " And you mean it ? Well, I begin to be proud of you," 
 said BasU, " And it isn't friendship made easy ? Oh no ; 
 certaiidy not. Capital little girls you are ! Let us have 
 a good stare at these sons of oysters," and Basil took the 
 pearls from his sisters ; whilst Mrs. Jericho with important 
 looks moved silently from the room. " I suppose " — and Basil 
 waved the jewels in the light — " I suppose they 're warranted 
 real natives ? " 
 
 " What do you mean, Basil ? " cried Monica. 
 
 " Beautiful jewels," and Basil still admired the pearls. "But 
 what a jewel is true friendship, eh ? Nothing like that jewel for 
 the time-piece of life to go upon ; is there, Sir Ai-thur ? " 
 
 " Certainly not," answered the baronet. " When I say cer- 
 tainly not, I mean — it 's quite a matter of opinion." 
 
 " How very handsome you '11 look with these upon you ! 
 'Pon my word, girls, they '11 think you 're mermaids come to 
 court ; come, with the family pearls from the Indian seas. They 
 viill" cried Basil, earnestly. " You '11 look beautiful with them ; 
 but, if you '11 take my advice, much more lovely without 'em." 
 
 " Without 'em ! Go to court without jewels ! Foolish boy ! 
 What would you have us wear ? " asked Monica. 
 
 " Friendship, my pretty one. It is such a jewel, and I 'U 
 teU you how you may best display it." 
 
 Whdst Basil describes to impatient cars a very uninteresting 
 operation, we will follow Mrs. Jericho. She has just entered 
 !Mr. Jericho's study. " My dear," she observes, "you must let 
 me have some money." 
 
 Mr. Jericho did not rouse himself at the sound. He sat in 
 his arm-chair, pale and thin, and melancholy. 
 
 " What is the matter, Solomon ? Surely you are not ill ? " 
 said Mrs. Jericho. 
 
 " Certainly not ; do I look ill ? " asked the Man of Money.
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 95 
 
 " Why, — no. Nevertheless, my dear, you don't seem to have 
 that zest for life that — with such a prospect opening upon us — 
 you ought to have. In a few weeks you 're in Parhament : a 
 peerage must follow in proper time : we can command that. 
 Our money must make us one of the bulwarks of the consti- 
 tution. Why, you don't attend to me, my love : one of the 
 bulwarks," repeated IVIrs. Jericho. 
 
 " To be sure ; of course," said the listless peer in embryo. 
 " And now " — said Mrs. Jericho, in her most cordial manner 
 — " now, let me have a thousand pounds." 
 
 " A thousand pounds ! What for ? " cried Jericho. 
 " To pay the jeweller. The man — I'm determined never to 
 lay out another shilling at the house — the man has orders not to 
 leave the jewels without the money. He little knows Avhom he 
 insults," said Mrs. Jericho ; twisting her neck to strangle her 
 indignation. 
 
 " He won't leave the jewels without the money?" said Jericho. 
 " Then let him take them back — we won't have 'em." 
 
 " Why," answered the wife, " 'twould be only what the fellow 
 deserves ; but the truth is, I 'm very much taken with them. 
 Besides, to reject them we — we might be misunderstood." 
 
 Jericho had, in truth, no mind to lay out a thousand pounds. 
 A terrible suspicion of the nature of his money made him pause. 
 He woidd therefore turn to his own account the caution of the 
 tradesman. "I '11 not be insulted, Mrs. Jericho. The man has 
 refused to leave the goods without the money ; very weU — let 
 him take them back." 
 
 " Mamma ! " cried the weeping Monica, running into the room. 
 " Dear mamma ! " sobbed Agatha, following in larger grief. 
 ''Why, what's the matter? Tears! What can have hap- 
 pened ? " asked their mother. 
 
 " Is the parrot dead ? " was the cold query of Jericho. 
 " That Basil has run away with my pearls," cried Monica. 
 " And mine ! " sobbed Agatha. 
 
 " Put them in his pocket in the most shameful manner, and 
 said he 'd turn them into — into — " Monica could get no farther
 
 OG A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 for lier tears; whereupon Agatha vigorously wiped her eyes, 
 checked her sorrow, and indignantly continued — 
 
 " Into friendship for Bessy Carraways. Because we said we 'd 
 show our friendship in any way, he told us a fine story about a 
 better — better — better jewel — and — and — and pearls in his 
 pocket — gone away," sobbed Agatha, incapable of unbroken 
 speech. 
 
 !Mis. Jericho knitted her brow in deep black lines ; then smiled 
 and said — " 'Tis only Basil's jest ; but certainly a very foolish 
 one. Now, Mr. Jericho, the money must be paid ; Ave have not 
 the jewels to return. Now, we have no other alternative." Jericho 
 groaned. " I will send the man to you." 
 
 " When I ring the bell," said the haggard Jericho. 
 
 " Come, girls, 'tis only Basil's frolic, but certainly a very — very 
 foolish one." And Mrs. Jericho, with an arm about the neck 
 of either daughter, led her weeping offspring from the room. 
 
 " The thousand pounds must be paid," thought Jericho. "They 
 shall be paid ; and at once I '11 be resolved." A few minutes the 
 ]\Ian made of Money sat in a maze of thought : he then drew a 
 thousand pounds^ten notes^froni his mysterious bank ; he 
 rang the bell ; the jeweller was shown in, and laid the receipt 
 before his customer. Jericho, with offended dignity, cold and 
 silent, pointed to the ten bank notes. The jeweller took them 
 up — counted them. As they rustled, Jericho felt as though his 
 heart was compressed within a cold' iron hand. ' 
 
 " A thousand pounds — very much obliged to you, sir," said 
 the jeweller, and took his leave. 
 
 For some minutes Jericho sat motionless — all but breathless. 
 He would, however, know his fate. He took out the silk lace with 
 which an hour ago he had measured his chest. Again he passed 
 it round his body, lie had drawn upon the bank, and he had 
 shrunk an inch. 
 
 Truly he was a !Man made of IMoney. Money was the prin- 
 ciple of his being ; for with every note he paid away a portion of 
 his life.
 
 A MAN MADE OF MOXEY. 97 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 In due season, Mr. Jericlio — on the authority of his wife — was 
 a pillar and an ark ; a staff and a sword ; a flambeau and a pair 
 of scales ; a buckler and a British liou. For, in the metaphoric 
 mind of Mrs. Jericho all these things were contained in a mem- 
 ber of Parliament ; even as a variety of spoons may be held in 
 a single cherry-stone. 
 
 In addition to this, ]\Ii\ Jericho, on the like conjugal assurance, 
 found himself to his passing pleasure, one of the trees of the 
 constitution. He wanly smiled when he learned that, with his 
 giant arms, he was to shelter the altar and the throne. He was 
 a little flattered in his self-love, when he heard that the weary 
 would seek for comfort in his shadow, and the midtitude feed 
 with thankfulness upon liis fruit. 
 
 As the cedar of Lebanon, without conscious eff'ort of its own, 
 represents the property of timber ; so did Solomon Jericho 
 represent the property of Parliament. And cedar and man — we 
 have it upon the faith of Mrs. Jericho — are noble presences to 
 contemplate. What — observed that intellectual woman — what 
 would the little birds of the air, the robin-redbreasts and all the 
 family of finches, do — were there no cedars with hospitable 
 boughs and twigs to house and roost them ? And what would 
 become of the poor and the weak, were there no Jerichos to 
 protect and comfort them ? Mr. Jericho was, doubtless, much 
 delighted as he pondered the question. 
 
 It must be owned that the genius of money has a liking for 
 fair play. Now and then, it takes pleasm*e in equity. If, at 
 times, it brings trouble upon men, as men are too apt in their 
 excess of sincerity to declare, — it must be allowed that tlie 
 trouble it saves them is to the full as great as the perplexity it 
 inflicts. In the old poetic time the same fairy that would lead 
 men astray for the sake of the mischief; would, by way of 
 recompense, churn the butter and trim up the house, while the 
 
 F
 
 98 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 household snored. Now, money is the j^rose fairy of our 
 mechanical generation. If now and then it leads simpletons 
 into a Fleet Ditch ; on the other hand, as deftly as ever imp or 
 brownie laboured, it works even for the slumbering. Solomon 
 .Tericho, by the labouring means of ten thousand pounds, became 
 member for Toadsham. lie ate, drank, and slept ; and, without 
 sense of the great change working in him by workman money, 
 became a legislator. Even as the olden fairies churned butter, 
 it may be stamping the lumps with their own elfin impress ; so 
 had ten thousand ministers silently transformed Jericho into a 
 legislator, stamping him with M.P. There is no such Puck as 
 the Puck of the Mint. ■ 
 
 Solomon had paid the money for his saet ; every farthing of 
 the sum had been deposited in the hand of the Hon. Cesar 
 Candituft, who, whilst he was ever congratulating the country 
 upon the acquired patriotism of Jericho, could not, much as he 
 tried, be insensible of the shrunken and still shrinking anatomy 
 of the new legislator. " 'Tis anxiety, my dear madam ; no 
 doubt, anxiety," said Candituft, a little puzzled, to Mrs. Jericho. 
 
 "A nervous apprehensiveness," said the wife. "He flunks 
 too much of the responsibility. I tell him 'tis nothing ; am 
 continually assimng him that, with his property, he may expect 
 every indulgence ; nevertheless, it is plain, dear sir, that the 
 thoughts of Parliament wear him to a shadow. But he '11 get 
 the better of it : at least I hope — I must hope " — said the 
 resigned woman — "that he'll get the better of it. Without 
 such hope, I shoidd be forlorn indeed. For, I have other 
 troubles, dear sir. That sweet, I mean, that foolish boy of 
 mine " — 
 
 " A delightful study, madam ; what I call a delicious study. 
 It is so cheering, so sustaining to contemplate the generosity of 
 youthful emotions, when the ardent heart beats towards the 
 entire human race ; that is to the whole family of man. 
 Delightful 1 " and Candituft upturned his eyes. 
 
 Mrs. Jericho civilly acknowledged the general truth delivered 
 by the philanthropist ; nevertheless she felt a mother's anxiety, a
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 99 
 
 mother's grief, that her boy Basil would select from the human 
 family one particular individual as the depositary of an aifectiou 
 that, for a time at least, might be expended tipon the world at 
 large. Had matters remained as they were, the union of Basil 
 and Bessy would have been at once natural and advantageous ; 
 but that Carraways should be turned into rags at the very time 
 that Jericho Avas sublimated into money, rendered the idea of 
 such a marriage quite preposterous. It was plain that Basil as 
 the son of the wife of a man of boundless wealth, might marry 
 whom he would; might, improving on the manner of the sultan, 
 throw a wedding-ring at whomsoever he pleased. Therefore, to 
 unite himself to the child of a pauper, was to fly in the face of 
 fortune. It was wicked, presumptuous. ]\Ii's. Jericho was not 
 a superstitious woman ; nevertheless, she could do no otherwise 
 than tremble to think of it. 
 
 Some six weeks had passed since the festival at Jogtrot Lodge ; 
 and Mr. and Mrs. Jericho, with the two young ladies seated in 
 their barouche, again travelled the road. The Hon. Mr. Candi- 
 tuft and Sir Arthur Hodmadod, all grace and goodness, rode on 
 either side of the carriage. 
 
 " My dear Jericho, I do think this is the most lovely country ! 
 Quite an Eden; — is it not?" asked Mrs. Jericho; and the 
 Man made of ]\Ioney looked upon God's glorious work, as 
 though he stared at so much whity-brown paper. " Quite 
 a Paradise ! " Jericho grunted. " Don't you recollect these 
 beautiful swelling fields?" 
 
 "Like a green velvet bed," cried Hodmadod. "That is, 
 when I say a bed, I mean to be sure a — a bed in Paradise ; of 
 course. All beds green there, Candituft? I think they're 
 green, eh?" 
 
 " No doubt," said Candituft. " Green with heartsease 
 borders." 
 
 " You recollect these fields, eh, Solomon? " and Mrs, Jericho 
 looked in her husband's eyes. 
 
 " To be sure ; of course ; green fields. One field 's pretty 
 well like another," answered the listless Jericho. 
 
 F 3
 
 100 A MAX MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 "And there, upon the hill; that noble clump of oaks?" said 
 lyirs. Jericho. " Well, I do love oaks ! " 
 
 " AVonderful trees, oaks," said Hodraadod. " Extraordinary. 
 I tell you what happened to me." 
 
 " Oh do" said Agatha, gently closing her hands in attitude 
 of meekest entreaty. 
 
 '■' Only last autumn, I saw all the Channel Fleet. All with 
 their sails set ; all like so many clouds : when I say clouds, of 
 course I mean canvas. Well, said I, this is wonderfid. To 
 tliiuk, said I — for it never struck me before — to think that all 
 these three-deckers should come out of little acorns." Then the 
 baronet paused a second ; then rapidly asked, " They do come 
 out of acorns, don't they ? " 
 
 " Oh, undoubtedly," cried Agatha, with most assuring em- 
 phasis. " Most certainly." 
 
 Mrs. Jericho employed her thoughts solely upon the shifting 
 beauties of the scene. " What a lovely mass of wood, is that, 
 rising up as it were to meet us, as we mount the hill. Quite a 
 retreat for Druids, — don't you think so, dearest? That wood, 
 there," and Mrs. Jericho appealed to her husband. 
 
 " Humph ! " said Jericho ; " it must be damp — devilish damp. 
 I 'm very fond of woods ; very ; but it 's when they 're turned 
 into comfortable houses." 
 
 "You hav'n't an eye for the picturesque, Mr. Jericho," said 
 the hasty Tlodmadod. 
 
 " Sir," cried Jericho ; at the same time shutting his brow 
 in such a deep tiglit fold that had a fly been at the time upon his 
 forehead, it must have been crushed to bits in the sudden wrinkle. 
 — " Sir ! " 
 
 " ^^ lion I say the picturesque, I mean you don 't like houses 
 in trees ; that is, houses in the raw material ? Houses, 
 without carpenters, you know? They are without carpenters, 
 —eh ? " 
 
 A very few weeks ago, and had Sir- Arthur Hodmadod, Bart., 
 dropt a single syllable to Jericho, lie would have treasured it 
 even as a syllable of the girl, whose biggest words were the
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. iGl 
 
 largest jewels. And now, in contemptuous silence, he looked 
 upon the baronet wdth a grim, sharp face ; keen, inexorable ; the 
 aspect of an axe. Possibly, the imaginative baronet regarded it 
 as such ; for he seemed irrepressibly to pass his hand round the 
 back of his neck ; at the same time urging on his steed, as 
 though pricked by sudden peril. 
 
 " Why, my dear Jericho," said Sabilla, " what a love you had 
 for the country." 
 
 " I 've grown out of green food, madam ; can't abide it," said 
 Jericho. 
 
 " Never tell me, Solomon, I know you love it still. And how 
 delicious, after your work in the Commons — how delicious when 
 you can, to come to such a place as this. A place that must 
 give you new strength, new ideas, new freshness," said Ishs. 
 Jericho. " Every man with such an amouut of national work 
 must be the better for the country." 
 
 •' It 's like going to grass, you know," said Hodmadod, again 
 dropping back. 
 
 " Quite," said Candituft. " The country is the natural abode 
 of man. Nothing like the fruits of rustic thought. Give nie 
 an Act of Parliament that smells of the green earth." 
 
 "Delicious," said Hodmadod. "An Act of Parliament that 
 smells like a nosegay. When I say a nosegay, of course I 
 mean, smells of the landed interest. Nothing like the country 
 for a statute. Without the country, you know, we should have 
 no laws against poachers. Should we ? " There was no spoken 
 answer ; none : but Agatha always eloquently replied, for she 
 always smiled. 
 
 " Certainly the loveliest village, I ever saw," cried Mrs. Jericho 
 as the carriage — according to orders — rolled slowly through a 
 double line of cottages. " Delightful, is it not ? The first time I 
 saw it, I thought to myself, — well, here I could gather mystU" 
 up to repose for life." 
 
 "Like a cat on a cushion," cried the too impulsive Hodmadod. 
 Instantly, he felt his face shot clean through by the eye-balls of 
 Mrs. Jericho. Whereupon, he stammered, — "When I say a cat
 
 102 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 on a cushion, I mean of course a lady — a lady in lier own house, 
 you know." 
 
 " ]\Iy dear Jericho," said the wife to the dullard made of money, 
 "you don't seem to recollect where you are." 
 
 " Where ? " asked Jericho, holding his cheek on edge. 
 "Where?" 
 
 " TMiy, at Marigolds. Don't you remember those cottages, 
 where the children stood, and where " — 
 
 Jericho growled, and no more. Possibly, he had the fullest 
 recoUectioif of the scene ; and cared not to own it. Never- 
 theless, the place seemed bhghted, changed. The two opposite 
 schoolrooms where infant voices woidd answer voices, were 
 empty, silent. There were knots of children playing at the door- 
 ways ; here and there a straggler sprawling in the road : but the 
 room of Schoolmaster White was tongueless ; alike silent, and 
 soon to be deserted, the school of Widow Blanket. Squire 
 Carraways, who had fed these little rills of learning, was a 
 fountain dried up, and the rills had sunk with the source. A 
 few of the folks of Marigolds looked from doors and peeped out 
 at casements as the carriage ceremoniously rolled along the road ; 
 and there was an air, a look of curiosity in the people ; but 
 nothing frank, nothing hearty in their manner. The party must 
 have felt that they entered the village as conquerors, rather than 
 as future householders and patrons. 
 
 " Eh ! ^^Tiy, here we are at Jogtrot Hall," cried Jericho as 
 the carriage rolled through the gates and wound up the sweep. 
 
 "Dear me, how dull everything looks!" said I\Ii's. Jericho, 
 as she stept from the carriage. DuU indeed. The life of the 
 HaU was gone — it seemed only the carcase of the house. All 
 the furniture was removed ; and vacancy stared through every 
 M'indow, 
 
 "Well, I don't know," said Hodmadod a little gravely. 
 " Seems quite the ghost of bricks and mortar. Makes one low 
 — very low. When 1 say low, I mean quite a woman. No ; I 
 dont mean that — I " — 
 
 " The emotion, my dear Sir Ai-thur," said Candituft, " does
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 103 
 
 honour to yoiu" nature. There 's hardly a piece of the house 
 that doesn 't seem to mourn the absence of the dear people who 
 gave it warmth and life. I 'm sure the family seem to come all 
 about me; but — there is such a chiU, such a loneliness — they 
 come like ghosts." 
 
 " I didn't think," said Agatha, and two tears peeped into her 
 eyes, " I didn't think there could be such a — a sort of feeling in 
 an empty house. I 'm sure there 's something quite — quite 
 religious about it." 
 
 " MissPennibacker ! " cried Jericho, with a repreheasive frown, 
 " Keligious ! For shame ! " 
 
 " It seems to me, as if dear — dear Bessy " — cried Monica — 
 " would glide into the room every moment." 
 
 " It is wonderftd, Mr. Jericho " — said Candituft, as the party 
 lounged on, and then paused, looking from the lawn into the 
 dining-room — " it is wonderful, how the imagination wiU people 
 space." 
 
 Jericho rubbed his chin, and said — " Wonderful !" 
 
 " Ha, sir ! what a family was here ! There, sir, as perhaps 
 you may recollect " — said Candituft, — " w^as the head of the 
 table ; there sat dear Mrs. Carraways ; and there the master's 
 chair. And there Bessy's place ; she always sat beside the old 
 man." 
 
 "Sweet girl!" — cried Hodmadod — "clung to him like a 
 honeysuckle ; when I say a honeysuckle, I mean of course, a — a 
 devilish afi'ectionate thing." 
 
 " Ha ! Mr. Jericho," said Candituft, " I have passed many 
 delightful dinners here, sir. I spent, I think — ^yes, I did — I 
 spent last Chi'istmas here. And — pray pardon me — it is impos- 
 sible to think of that room unmoved. There, sir, as I 've said, 
 was Mrs. Carraways ; a kind, soft, beaming, hearty woman — plain 
 to be sure, in her manners ; in fact, very plain — but well mean- 
 ing, poor soul ! very weU meaning, in spite of her bad French. 
 — And there was Carraways himself. A good man — I 'm pretty 
 sure, a good man ; though perhaps a little sanguine : at least, 
 they accuse huu of it in the City. But when people have a
 
 10-i A MAX MADE OF MOXEY, 
 
 tumble, the world always gives a good-natured reason for tlie 
 slip. That, sir, I have remarked — always. There he sat, 
 with his face lighted with the best of hearts, the best of wiue, 
 and the best of good spirits ; his eyes swimming in jollity, and 
 looking and talking as though he could have received all the 
 brotherhood of man at his Christmas mahogany." 
 
 " ]\Ir. Carraways was always very kind" — observed !Mrs. Jericho 
 — " I don't think any body can deny it." 
 
 " And there sat Eessy " — continued Candituft, warming as 
 he went on — "there she sat; and though not a beauty — cer- 
 tainlv, not a beauty — still, very well she looked. And next 
 her was — I forget his name — but he w\ns an amazingly rich 
 person, and a very pleasant man. And there, opposite, was 
 an Indian friend of Carraways — a Brahmin banker or something 
 — very curious about English Christmas, I recollect ; a man of 
 most liberal sentiments — above national prejudice. Took mince- 
 pie and burnt brandy in a manner that quite warmed one's 
 heart. — Beside him I recollect was the last year's Lady Mayoress ; 
 very fine, very interesting woman ; I well remember her ; she 
 never spoke a syllable. And on that side again, was a very- 
 very distinguished traveller. He had hunted a unicorn some- 
 where, and was asked to a round of dinners to i?ell all about the 
 sport. — And opposite to him was the ricli" — 
 
 "You're not going to string off the whole set, are you?" — 
 growled Jericho. 
 
 " A thousand pardons. I was carried away by the magic 
 force of old associations. Still, I must say, it was a beautifully 
 mixed party ; that is, an equal share of wealth and wit. Poor 
 dear Carraways ! He certainly did keep up Christmas. I believe 
 there was absolutely a plum-pudding boiled, and put out cold 
 for the robin-redbreasts." 
 
 " Bgor little things," cried Hodmadod, " how they '11 miss it ! " 
 
 " Possibly not," said Mrs. Jericho with a proud look. " There 
 may be others here. Sir Arthur, equally hospitable to robins." 
 
 " Yes, Su- Arthur," exclaimed Agatha. " Eatlier than they 
 sh.ould go without, I 'd make the pudding myself."
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 105 
 
 " Bravo ! Beautiful ! " cried Candituft. " Should you ever be 
 lost in a wood, be sure of it, dear youug lady — the robins will 
 remember your goodness." 
 
 " Faugli ! " said Jericho, at the same time looking a fierce 
 rebuke at Candituft ; who with the magic of his self-possession 
 turned the censure into a jest. " Let us go in." 
 
 An old woman stood behind the opened door. An old, calm, 
 sorrowful face looked timidly at the new-comers. Once or twice 
 she sighed heavily ; and then looked angrily as though, in her 
 way, resenting the ill-manners — as they seemed to her — of the 
 visitors. 
 
 "You needn't follow us — we know the house well" — said 
 ^Irs. Jericho to the old dame. 
 
 " I know you do," said the old woman. " And so being, I 
 hope you '11 use it tenderly — poor thing." 
 
 "Tenderly! Why" — cried Monica — "the old woman ialks' 
 as if the house was alive." 
 
 Mrs. Jericho raised her finger ; forbidding any remark upon 
 any probable meaning of such a person. And the old woman 
 dropt herself upon a stair and, heedless of hearers — as though 
 she' eased her heart with the utterance — she answered, while 
 the tears ran down her face — " Alive ! Aye, and it be alive, 
 more alive than some flesh and blood. Dear ! dear ! dear ! An' 
 I 've seen them folks look at the squire, as though it was bread 
 and meat to 'em ; and cosset and coax him, as if they could ha' 
 put their necks under his shoe-leather : and now to stand afore 
 the Hall — in the trouble it 's in — and to grin and to make game — 
 eh, dear ! dear ! — it 's like laughing iu the face of a corpse." 
 And Widow Blanket — for it was the old village school-damc, 
 removed from her seat of learning to dwell awhile in the Hall, 
 before her final removal to the Poor-house — Widow Blanket 
 sighed heavily; and as though to comfort her sorrovv', sccnicd to 
 fold it in her arms, and rock it to and fro. 
 
 The tread of the visitors — echoed loudly by the empty walls — 
 sounded hollowly, heavily above. At the sound the old woman 
 shivered a sigh, raised her eyes, and then continued to swing 
 
 F 3
 
 106 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 backwards and forwards, as though she would hear nothing 
 more. Will the reader — for two or three minutes — moimt the 
 staircase ? 
 
 "A very noble house," said Jericho, his eye sweeping the 
 reception-rooms. 
 
 " And what a lovely prospect," said Mrs. Jericho, approaching 
 a window. " What an undulation of hiU and meadow ! What a 
 prospect ! " 
 
 " This, Mrs. Jericho," said the Monied Man, " is my prospect. 
 This I can make my own ; this is property : in its essence, I may 
 say, property. But where 's the property in what you call a 
 lovely prospect ; that any beggar may look at as well as I ? Any 
 vagji.bond tinker — or poet or any ragamuffin of that sort — 
 may pitch his tent, and boil his kettle, and smoke his pipe, and 
 take his pleasure of the prospect, quite as if it was his own — upon 
 lawful parchment, his own. This, 1 own it — this interferes with 
 luy righteous sense of property. What belongs to a man, belongs 
 to him. If the sun goes down upon my property, I 've a clear 
 title to that sunset ; if the clouds over my land are remarkably 
 line, they are my clouds ; and it 's a sort of moral larceny — 
 though unhappily there 's no law for it — but a moral larceny it 
 is to all intents and purposes — for any beggar at his pleasure to 
 enjoy what is over my land; to have — as the term is — the 
 usufruct of that sunset — of those clouds." 
 
 I\Iv. Candituft pulled up to his face a look of strong conviction. 
 ■" The question, my dear sir, in its whole breadth and depth, 
 never struck me before. There is great primitive truth in what 
 you say." 
 
 " A law could meet it," cried Hodmadod. " Couldn't a law 
 meet it ? At all events, if you can't seciu-e the clouds and sun- 
 sets, of course the landlord has a clear right to all the thunder- 
 bolts." 
 
 " Ass ! " was at the lips of Mr. Jericho ; but he swallowed the 
 word, possibly to treasure it for another time. Stalking through 
 the apartments, and looking about him, he flowed in speech ; 
 and Mrs. Jericho was too wise to stay the stream. "A verv
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 107 
 
 fine house — very fine ; but it wants a great deal — a very great 
 deal done." 
 
 " How fortunate, Solomon ! " at length observed Mrs. Jericho. 
 " Were it otherwise, there would be no opportunity for the 
 development of your taste." 
 
 After a due examination of the upper house, the party 
 descended the stall's, Dame Blanket slowly rising from her seat 
 to make them way. " There is one room that is locked. Have 
 you the key ? " asked Mrs. Jericho. 
 
 '* That room be Miss Bessy's," said the old woman. 
 
 " Yes ; I know it, very well. You have the key ? " said the 
 lady. 
 
 " Yes, ma'am," answered Dame Blanket, a little creakingly. 
 
 " Give it me," said Mrs. Jericho. 
 
 " No, ma'am," said Dame Blanket, straightening her back. 
 
 "Were you desired to retain that key ? " asked Monica 
 sharply. 
 
 " No, I warn't bid to keep it ; but I warn't bid to give it," 
 cried the Dame, her voice rising. " And as it 's as much one as 
 t'other, I shall do one and not t'other." 
 
 " I call that logic in petticoats," said Candituft. 
 
 "I call it damned impertinence," cried Jericho — " whether in 
 petticoats or in " — 
 
 " My dear Jericho," said his wife, with deprecating tender- 
 ness, "don't, love." Then, turning round to the dame. 
 " Woman, give me the key ; I teU you, I know Miss Carraways." 
 
 " Fou know her, ma'am ! " cried the dame with a doubting 
 smile. "La, bless 'ee, ma'am, I put on her first things." And 
 Widow Blanket thought she had closed the conversation as with 
 an iron spring. 
 
 " You are not aware, woman, Avho may become the master 
 of this house," said Mrs. Jericho, " you are not aware what you 
 may want, and then " — 
 
 "La, ma'am! I'm sure to get what I want," said the 
 Dame smiling. "Sartin. I shall soon want nothin' but a 
 coffin ; and folks must give me that for their own sakes."
 
 lOS A MAN \lAm; OV MDNKV. 
 
 " Wliiil lit' V'li lliiiik of thai?" iislvcil .Icrichi). " Von \ny 
 life! llit"S(" poiiplo tiilk 1)1' rolliiM as iftlicv M a rii;lit lo 'cir. — lis 
 iftlii'V caiiio iiilo llic world willi a fiilurc properly in coHiiis." 
 
 " \l your years," .said Monica, vculinin!:,- a rcllcelioii, " you 
 ('ii:;lil lo l)c asliaiiu'd lo lalk in tlial niaiiucr. I.ikr an n!;cd 
 licatlicn -- as if you'd no fear ol'dcatli." 
 
 " I'l'ar, Miss! (Mi dear! Oh dear ' Wlial a world wotdil llils 
 he, special lo folks like I, - if Micro was no death ! \> lial a crnel 
 prison, Miss! And now, al'ler wlial 1 'vc seen, and wlial 1 *vo 
 lioriic, wlial ;i comlorl, il is- like salilialh aflcr work whal a 
 eonilorl il is, lo think of rest m the ehnrcliyard. Ay " — 
 said the old woinaii, raisin;^' her shakiii!', hand, and sinilinu; na 
 she Manned the j'jciillcrolks altoiit her " Ay, whal a coinforl lo 
 Ihiiikol'thal loniv, swecl Salnrday nlj'.hl in the I'ravi'." 
 
 "She /,v (|iiilc a heathen," said ilodinadod. "When I say a 
 liealhen, I nuan a verv slraii;',c old woman.'' 
 
 CilAl'ldd; \. 
 
 Ml!, and Mrs. .le.richo, arni-aiid-arin and in clo.sest coininiiniou 
 of soul, for some lialf-lionr lon};t>r \\\\\\'^ ahonl Iho ifronml. The 
 yonnii; hulies with Caudilufl and llodmadod loitered win re liiey 
 would; loo well occupied lo break. Ity word or niDticn, upon 
 llie privacy of iii;in ;ind wife, .lerieho iislcnci! very co'iiiilaceiilly 
 Id the mai^uiliccnl desi;;ns of his hclpm.ilc. She had made her 
 mind up Ihal. he sluuihl lill the world. She could never die 
 happy if he did not lill il. .lo;i,trcit. Hall, for one eonnlry scat lo 
 l)ej;in with, was iiidispciisalile to his |;rcaluess. " 1 am assured, 
 love, by Mi/./.lcniisI " — l)ej.!;an Mrs. .lerieho 
 
 " llumiih! Where is he? Vnii s.iid il was an en|;a;',cnii'ui.. 
 'I'o 1)0 sure. lie was lo nieel le; lu re, ' iulerrnpled .lerieho, 
 telehily. 
 
 " 'livo (Mij^ngemcul. was provisional ; il. was, iiideiil, love ; and 
 lie inav come yet. Well, Solomon, Ihc Doctor tells me that the
 
 A MAN MADi; Ol' MONICV. 109 
 
 \vli(»!(', ('H(,iil(! iiiiiy lio had ("or lliirly llioiisaiid pounds," and 
 TMi'H. .)(!ri(;li() at the nionicnt lookid an artless, us innocent, as 
 tlionj^li hIk; liad said thirty thousand pence. There arc people 
 who make even a million a very Hniall matter, merely by the con- 
 dcHccndiii^i; way ol' spcikinf^- of it. Mrs. Jericho had the art in 
 pcrfcclioii. "()nly thirty thousand " — • 
 
 "()iily thirty thousand!" cried Jericho, — " |)o you know 
 where the money comes IVoin ?" 
 
 " Why, wh(!rc should it come from," said the wife, with a 
 sparklin;;' smile, and tappiiif^' Jericho's check, — " wlicre, but from 
 where it ^rows ?" 
 
 .Icricho'a jaw fell. Had his wife discovered liis secret? " And 
 where," he asked (rrimly, — "where is that?" 
 
 " Why, my dear, in our mine, of course. Did you not say 
 'twas inexhanslilile ? ami, lo l)e sure, I asked no furlhcr. Besides, 
 I "ve a j^rcal faith in nalurc; nature's a pattern maid-of-all-work, 
 and does best when hast meddled with. So you'll buy the 
 estate P You ninsl : \our position in rarliaiucut rccpiircs it. 
 All statesmen love; the eounlry." 
 
 *• Mr. i'ilt lived ill \\ indiledcni," said Jericho, willinji; to 
 be won, 
 
 "()f course," said Mrs. Jericho. And in a very i'vw miuulcs 
 lh(" member lor Toadslunn cons<>nled to live at Mari^old.-i ; 
 and lo beconw I he scpiirt- and ])atr(ni of the villap;c. Yet as he 
 promised, he winced; lor helhoui'hl of his wastinjj,- bank. Such 
 was his lilc ; nr'j.'cd by Ihi- de\il cx|)(>nsc npon one hand, and 
 plucked by Ihe devil remorse on the other. Never mind, lie 
 had a way to win back all. lie would sto]) (he waste ; and once 
 again grow plump and fal : lli(nit!,h he was never better ; never 
 stronger, '^lill, people wondered lo see him willuM-. Moreover, 
 lliey looked oddly al him ; and h<; had heard tlicni drop si range, 
 mystiir words. Only twice nior(> ; only twice would he «lra\v 
 upon his bosimi bank. 
 
 Mrs. .Icricho, as she turned with her lord to nicct her 
 daughters, in the prettiest nianiu>r 1 witched a slip of lanrel 
 from a shrub, and waved it over Jericho's head. " 1 have
 
 110 A MAX MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 conquered" — said Mi's. Jericho — "here is the lord for life of 
 Jogtrot Hall." 
 
 " Oh, mamma ! you uill change the horrid name, I hope ? " 
 said Monica. 
 
 "And take away those dreadfid peacocks?" cried Agatha, 
 " They make one shiver." 
 
 " Magna Charta House would be a good name," said Hod- 
 madod ; " that is, when I say Magna Charta, I mean Eunny- 
 mede Cottage. Of course, my dear sii', you '11 ask all Parlia- 
 ment, lords and commons, to the house-warming ? " 
 
 " Couldn't we make it a fancy ball, and have 'em in his- 
 torical dresses ? " cried Agatha, jumping up and down, tipsy 
 with happiness. 
 
 Candituft, with a sudden, serious look, took Jericho aside. 
 "It has just struck me," he said, ""and I must out with it, 
 though it is abrupt." He then took Jericho by the right hand, 
 squeezed it, looked tenderly in his face, and with a voice of 
 emotion, like one compelled to suggest a sharp surgical operation, 
 asked — " How should you like to be made a baronet ? " 
 
 Jericho twitched his shoidders ; drew himself up ; and put his 
 hand in his bosom. " I have not the least ambition of the kind. 
 But it might please my wife. Title is a straw that tickles 
 women ; so, for the sake of Mrs. Jericho, I might not resist." 
 
 Candituft looked relieved. It was plain a leaden weight of 
 doubt was removed from his soul. He smiled, and again squeezed 
 Jericho's hand, saying as he squeezed — " Good creature ! Bless 
 you ! " 
 
 ]\Ir. Jericho retmiied to the party ; and again and again he 
 was hailed by all as the lord of the domain. " Hurrah ! " cried 
 the impulsive Agatha, jumping up, and hitching a wreath of 
 honeysuckle about the head of Jericho, " hurrah for the king of 
 Marigolds ! " The next moment Jericho stepped under an apple- 
 tree ; and the next, a shower of apples fcU bouncing about him. 
 
 " The devil ! " cried Jericho, running ; and the ladies screamed. 
 
 " May it please your majesty," said a voice from the apple-tree, 
 and immediately Basil Pennibacker's earnest face stared down
 
 Q 

 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. Ill 
 
 through the boughs — " may it please your m;ijesty, when a king 
 is crowned, it is always customary to let fall a shower of golden 
 pippins." 
 
 "Why, Basil, ray love — you strange boy! — how came you in 
 that tree?" cried Mrs. Jericho. 
 
 " Wonderful escape, my anxious madam, but calm your fears. 
 You '11 not believe my story. Never mind ; in this world truth 
 can wait : she 's used to it," aiid in another moment Basil 
 descended from the tree. 
 
 " Why, you were not here a few minutes ago, Basil," said 
 Monica: "how did you get into the tree?" 
 
 " The fact is," said Basil, " I went up in a balloon, had a 
 
 quarrel, and dropt my company. Quite in luck to fall among 
 
 you, wasn't I ? Now the hard truth is, I came here on business." 
 
 " On some labour of love, no doubt," said Candituft, winking 
 
 with all his might. 
 
 " My dear sir," cried Basil, " I never see you that I don't wish 
 I was a bulrush, to do nothing but bow. May I say one word, 
 my re-vered sir?" and Basil turned to Jericho, who coldly assented, 
 walking apart. " Now, sir, did you receive my letter ? " 
 " I did," said Jericho. 
 
 " And you did not answer it? Because, don't let me blame the 
 postman," said Basil. 
 
 " I did not answer it, young man," cried Jericho with his best 
 emphasis. " Where nothing is to be said, I take it, silence is the 
 best reply. In a word, I will not advance a single farthing." 
 "Not to assist your old friend Carraways?" cried Basil. 
 "He was never any friend of mine; a mere acquaintance," 
 said Jericho impatiently. 
 
 " To be sure ; friendship in ill-luck turns to mere acquaintance. 
 The wine of life — as I 've heard it called — goes into vinegar ; 
 and folks that hugged the bottle, shirk the cruet." 
 
 " I have nothing more to say, young man," said Jericho, 
 turning from Basil. 
 
 " Well, I 'm not sorry for it," answered Basil waspishly, " for 
 the sample I have had, doesn't encourage me to go on." Basil
 
 113 A MAX MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 strove to dasli aside his anger, and returned gaily to the party. 
 " And so you 've taken the Lodge, eh ? " 
 
 " Yes, Basil," cried Monica, " and we shall have such a rout 
 to begin with." 
 
 " Then, of coiuse you '11 want your jewels," said BasU, 
 wickedly. " The butcher brought 'em back, I hope ? " 
 
 " The butcher ! "What do you naean ? " cried Agatha. 
 " Butcher I " 
 
 "There, girls — never mind him," cried Mrs. Jericho. 
 
 " I sent 'em back by the butcher." A mode of conveyance 
 hitherto disguised to the young ladies. " I met him coming to 
 the house, and on second thoughts I " — 
 
 " You foolish boy," cried Mrs. Jericho, anxious to set aside 
 the subject ; " come and tell me what really brought you here. 
 AVho could have expected you ! " 
 
 " Arn't you delighted, dear boy," said the appeased Monica, 
 " that we 're coming to live here ?" 
 
 " Live here ! why none of you will ever be able to sleep for the 
 gliosts," cried Basd. 
 
 " Ghosts ! " exclaimed the ladies. 
 
 " Yes : the ghosts of the feasts you 've had at the cost of good 
 old Carraways. At twelve o'clock every night" — 
 
 "Now, don't be foolish, Basil," exclaimed Monica. 
 
 " I won't hear you," said Agatha, putting her fingers in her 
 cars, and tripping backwards. 
 
 "At twelve o'clock at night every saucepan will be haunted : 
 every mug, every tankard, every goblet, and every custard-cup 
 will go banging, clanging, ringing, tinkling, with the ghosts of 
 the dinners and the suppers you 've had in this house. You won't 
 air your bed of nights, that there sha'n't be a red-hot ghost in 
 the warming-pan." 
 
 " Then, I fear, Basil, we may not count upon you as a visitor, 
 unless indeed you defy apparitions? " said !Mrs. Jericho. 
 
 " No, my dear madam, I shall never rent a spare bed here, I 
 assure you. Moreover, pray don't summon me to King Jericho'3 
 banquet, for I shall be sure to have other business. By the
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 113 
 
 way, as you've entered upon your dominion, permit me" — 
 said Basil, taking off his hat and approaching his father-in-law — 
 "permit me, your majesty, to give you seizin of it." 
 
 " What does the boy mean?" cried Mrs. Jericho. " Seizin ! " 
 
 " Quite right, my dear madam. Seizin's the word. You 've 
 no notion of the amount of law I know. In another fortnight 
 I 'm called, and then — upon my life when I thiuk of some people, 
 they fire me with ambition. They do. I 'U get upon the bench, 
 if it's only to hang 'em." 
 
 "Not you, my dear sir," said Candituft — "you don't know 
 your own heart. We do." 
 
 " I haven't your charity ; I wish I had : only a little — you 've 
 too much. You waste it. 'Pon my life, you are so good, you 'd 
 pour rose-water over a toad," and Basil leered at the Man 
 Tamer. Then, stooping, Basil picked up an apple, and holding 
 it between his finger and thumb, with ceremonious gravity 
 addressed the ireful Man of Money. — " Permit me, sir, in this 
 little apple to give you seizin of the land. And, sir, this little 
 apple is wondrously appropriate to the interesting occasion. 
 It is golden, and smiling, and like yourself." 
 
 " Beautiful, Basil ! and so true," said Agatha. 
 
 " During your many visits, you were here when this apple was 
 a blossom. No doubt of it, gorgeous sir, that when this apple 
 was a pretty pink and white flower, you were here, rosy, and 
 light, and glad ; and looking full of pleasant promise to jolly old 
 Carraways. Times are changed, sii- ; you 're very rich : the 
 blossom 's grown into fruit. A flower you were, and " — and 
 Basil threw the apple up, catcliing it — " and a golden pippin you 
 are. Therefore, sir, take the apple as seizin ; 'tis so like you. 
 Oh, very like ! See, a golden promise " — Basil bit the apple in 
 half — " a sour and bitter inside ; and to make the thing com- 
 plete—look, sir — a maggot at the heart." And Basil dropt the 
 fruit with the sentence. 
 
 There was general consternation at the boldness, the wicked- 
 ness (as Candituft whispered) of the simile. IVIi's. Jericho, witli 
 all the fears of woman, moved between her husband and Basil.
 
 114 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 The young man bowed to his mother, turned upon his heel, and 
 went his way. There was a dead pause. At length, Mr. Jericho 
 solemnly proclaimed to his wife : " Mrs. Jericho, I will no 
 longer encourage that viper. Either you give up your son, or 
 give up me." Mi's. Jericho made no answer; it was not a 
 genial moment for reply. She silently placed her arm in 
 Jericho's, and led the way to the carriage. They would make a 
 Little cii-cuit of the country, ere they returned to town. 
 
 A very few words will account for the sudden appearance of 
 Basil in the apple-tree. Bob Topps, the old serving-man of 
 Carraways — we may say old, for he had grown from mere child- 
 hood to the matiu'ity of seven-and-twenty in the Squire's house — 
 had, within the past week, married Jenny White, honoured, it 
 may be remembered, in a former page, by the praise of Sir Arthur 
 Hodmadod. Mrs. Topps had removed with her husband to 
 London, where Bob had started as an independent cabman, 
 driving his own vehicle — certainly, the verj^ neatest on the stand; 
 for the which neatness there was this reason : the cab had been 
 the property of Carraways : one of the chattels of the HaU, 
 knocked down, dispersed by the hammer — at times more terrible, 
 more crushing, more causeful of blood and tears than the hammer 
 of Thor — the hammer of the broker. Topps with liis savings 
 bought the carriage. " It might faU into worse hands," he said. 
 " Now, he felt almost a love for it, for the sake of them as had 
 ridden in it." Again ; he said " he shouldn 't like to go into 
 any other service. A cabman's life was, after all, an independent 
 thing. He could sit upon his box, and — beholden to nobody — 
 coidd see how the world wagged about him." True it is that 
 Mrs. Topps had a first objection to the brass badge, an objection 
 that had more than its inherent force, for it was made in the 
 honeymoon. Still, as it was the honeymoon, she the more 
 readily smiled and, as Bob said, " listened to reason." " I tell 
 you what, Jenny," said Bob, " the noblest sight on earth is a 
 man talking reason, and his wife sittin at the fireside listening to 
 him." Everybody wore a badge of some. sort, ran the philosophy 
 of Bob. Brass or gold, the thing was the same, it was only
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 115 
 
 the metal tliat was different. Whereupon Mrs. Topps was 
 thoroughly convinced, and we verily believe was rather proud of 
 her husband's badge than otherwise. 
 
 A very natural incident had thrown Basil and Bob together. 
 The night before, Basil had supped some three miles from his 
 chambers. Bob by chance was hailed, and drove young Penni- 
 backer to his student's home. " What have I to pay ? " asked 
 Basil. " Why, sir," said the neophyte, " I hope you won't 
 think eighteenpence too much." " What ! " cried Basil, in 
 thrilling surprise. " Well, then, sir, say sixteenpence," said the 
 shrinking cabman. Basil, laying hold of the man's coUar and cry- 
 ing — "A vehicidar phenomenon ! I must have a portrait of you," 
 pulled him under a lamp ; and thereupon took place what Basil 
 called a tremendous recognition. In few words, Bob told of his 
 marriage, and his prospects ; and moreover, that he was going to 
 Marigolds the next day. lie was going to drive his wife there — 
 he had borroived a cab, and lent his own for the day ; for he 
 hoped he knew himself better than to take what had been Squii-e 
 Carravvays' to the village. Miss Bessy wanted a few trifles that 
 Jenny knew best about ; and Jenny herself had not brought aU 
 her things from Marigolds : indeed, she seemed as if there wcidd 
 be no end to her moving ; it seemed as if the things grew she 
 had left behind her. In few words, Basil made an appointment 
 with Bob for the journey. " I should like to see the Hall once 
 more myself," said Basil, " and I should like to go qiuetly ; so I 
 teU you what. I'll take the cab for the day ; and out of my 
 abounding generosity shall be happy to present Mrs. Topps with 
 a lift." "You 're very kind, sir," said Bob, delighted. " She 
 can ride on the box close aside me." And Basil came, a visitor 
 to the HaU. When he learned that his famdly were there, in the 
 idleness of his high spirits, he moimted a tree in the hope of a 
 joke ; and, such as the joke was in the apple-shower, he had it, 
 Mrs. Topps very soon despatched her errand at the Hall, where 
 poor Mrs. Blanket duly wept over her as " one she had nursed 
 from a baby, and one who was going back, a wife, to London." 
 
 Basil, we must observe, did not, as he had appointed, arrive at
 
 116 A MAX MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 the village in the cab of Topps. In the morning he somehow 
 thought horseback would be a more fitting, a more expeditious 
 mode of transit. !Mrs. Topps herself was very soon reconciled to 
 the new arrangement. She could not but reflect that she would 
 then have all the inside of the vehicle for a few of the things she 
 had left behind. As the Jerichos drove through the village, they 
 looked curiously at a London cab at a cottage-door, with baskets, 
 and shrubs, and flowers in pots standing about it ; and with " that 
 young woman that wore the silver bee" kissing a score of children 
 one after the other, duly setting aside every child when finished. 
 It was,indeed, a very busy, a very exciting afternoon in Marigolds, 
 when Mrs. Topps returned, just for an hour or two, from Loudon. 
 She brought an importance with, her, that the people could not but 
 feel, though they could not explain. She had seen all the sights 
 of London ; and she was stfired at as though some of their glory 
 hung still about her. There was Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's, 
 the Queen's Palace, the 'Waxwork, and all the playhouses in some 
 odd way mixed up witli Jenny Topps. (It would be hard for 
 some of us to look at a man fresh from the Chinese court, and not 
 think of long almond eyes, white clay faces, pigtails, and peacocks' 
 feathers.) Jenny had, from bubyhood, been a favourite with all 
 the village. She was so good-natured, so cheerful, and what 
 was an especial virtue, in the words of a female eulogist, " she 
 never seemed to think nothing of her good looks." Clever 
 Jenny ! Twenty times had she been asked how she liked 
 London, and how she liked her husband ? Whether she was 
 as happy as when at home — and whether — and here the querists 
 hugely laughed — and whether she would not like to come 
 back again. To all these inquiries Jenny with a sweet gravity — for 
 they were gi-ave questions to her — made due reply. *' She had 
 no notion, though she had been there twice before, that there 
 had been such a place as London in this world ; and she never 
 thought anybody could be so happy as she was, out of London." 
 And then she dwelt upon a fear that did now and then possess her. 
 It was, that her husband would some day quite lose himself — it 
 was so hard for him in his business to learn the ways of town.
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 117 
 
 Basil, in a dull, dreamy mood, turned his horse towards 
 London. He had seen the Hall for the last time. Had taken, 
 as he then believed, a long farewell of its new possessors. In 
 his indignation at the selfishness of Jericho, he felt a new 
 strength in himself. He felt a spirit of independence. He 
 would not owe the benefit of another shilling to such a man, 
 upon whom fortune seemed to have fallen like a disease, 
 withering and corrupting him. And there was a mystery 
 in the means of the man, so suddenly rich, that, he was sure 
 of it, would burst in some terrible catastrophe. Of course, 
 Basil had no suspicion of the supernatural source of Jericho's 
 wealth : the young man's imagination was insufficient to such a 
 thought ; again, even in the days of Jericho, the foolish old faith 
 in faii'y-works, and compacts Avith the devil, ensuring ready profit 
 for future perdition, — was dead and scorned. If men came by 
 strange modes to sudden, mysterious wealth, it could not be by 
 conjuration ; but by dull, prosaic craft. The wizard's circle was 
 of no more avail ; the devil no longer rose in the infernal ring 
 to barter wealth for souls. Nothing was left but the mere hocus- 
 pocus of unromantic knavery. Hence, in the conviction of 
 Basil, father-in-law Jericho had juggled with the dark spirits of 
 fraud to possess himself of sudden substance. There could 
 be no doubt of the horrid truth ; and the wasted, and wasting con- 
 dition of the rich man, proclaimed the ravages of his conscience ; 
 of the worm in his brain he could not kill. And then Basil 
 suddenly thought of Jericho's ghastly look, as the apple fell at 
 his foot. And the next thought imparted to the young man a 
 vigour of mind, a hopefulness of heart, he had hitlierto unknown. 
 As he rode on, the cloud cleared away. He had seemed to himself 
 shut in, narrowed, dwarfed, whilst depending upon the aid of 
 another. And now in his very contempt for the man — so 
 strangely, so monstrously rich — the future stretched brightly 
 before him. He would stand up, and fight the world in his own 
 strength, and take no condescending help from any man. Armed 
 and assured by this blithe determination, Basil, some ten miles 
 still from home, and the evening closing in, spurred his horse.
 
 118 A MAN MADE OF MONET, 
 
 It would not be too late even that very evening — at least he 
 would not suffer himself to think so — to call upon Bessy's 
 father. Yes : he would at once put his new faith in practice ; 
 he would not sleep without taking the first — and that the most 
 important, most anxious step, — in the bright, open path that 
 he would hereafter journey. 
 
 " Hey, hallo ! Why, Basil — Mr. Pcnnibacker," cried Doctor 
 Mizzlemist, leaning far out of the first-floor window of the Silver 
 Lion, the glad half-way house twixt IMarigolds and London. 
 " Hallo ! ^Vhy so fast ? If you knew what was in the cellar, 
 you 'd draw bridle, I take it." 
 
 " That he would ; humph ? " cried Colonel Bones ; who had 
 joined ]\Iizzlemist ; both, it appeared upon evidence, then and 
 there in the Silver Lion, enjoying what the Doctor in his meek- 
 ness was wont to call his glass of wine and his nut. 
 
 " Yon haven't seen anything of Mr. Jericho and the ladies ? " 
 asked Mizzlemist. " They must have gone the other road ; and 
 so we 've missed. Very provoking; but we're trying to comfort 
 ourselves. Won't you join us ? " 
 
 " So you had an appointment with my honoured father, eh. 
 Doctor ? " asked Basil. 
 
 " Why, that is, rather an appointment. Not exactly a fixed 
 thing, but come in ; you haven't dined," said Mizzlemist. 
 After a minute's thought Basil turned about, and dismounted at 
 the door. Instantly he stood in the best room of the Silver 
 Lion, with both his hands pressed and shaken by Mizzlemist. 
 " I suppose you 've been to the Hall, eh ? Been to pick out 
 your own corner, I take it ? Noble fabric, my dear young sir. 
 Noble fabric ! The very look of it is an honour to the hospitality 
 of the country ! Wasn't I saying as much, Colonel? A palace 
 for the king of good fellows ? " 
 
 "What do I know of palaces?" cried Bones. " A beggar 
 like me ! I only wish you'd let me keep quiet in my own corner 
 cupboard. With my own mutton chop and my pint of small 
 ale," and Bones poured out the wine, looked at it with an 
 unctuous tremor of the lip, and threw it off.
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 119 
 
 " Biit you 've not dined," cried Mizzlemist to Basil. " What 
 Avill you have ? Country fare, you know." 
 
 " Nothing. The fact is, I picked a bit with the gypsies ; 
 always dine with the gjqosies when I come into the country ; 
 always," said Basil with a laugh. 
 
 " With gypsies ! Bless me — can't be true — I mean, very 
 odd company, INIr. Pennibacker. Very," and Mizzlemist rubbed 
 his hands, looking doubtfully askaunce at Basil. 
 
 " Most polite people on earth," cried Basil. " And for 
 poultry, I assui'e you, quite by themselves. True, upon my life ; 
 I can eat nobody's ducks but the gyj)sies'. Ha, sii* ! Gypsy 
 life is the real life, sir. Nothing to do with parchment. Doctor." 
 "Why, no, young gentleman," said Mizzlemist with dignity, 
 " save, perhaps, when they go sheep-stealing." 
 
 "No house-rent; no taxes; no rates; no infernal respect- 
 ability," cried Basil, bent upon his humour. 
 
 "Ha! ha! very good. Beggars all. Humph?" cried Bones. 
 " Capital state, when people have no respectability. Ugh ! it 
 eats a beggar like me out of house and home." 
 
 " Well, I didn't imagine that. Colonel, said Basil. " I thought 
 you always put out your respectability to board on other people." 
 " Capital ! Very good ! The fact is, my dear young su* — 
 come, take a glass of wine — people won't let me alone. They 
 will carry me about with them ; no doubt, to show their 
 humility. I tell them I 'm a beggar : what then ? they will 
 have the pauper with them — they will. Here 's the Doctor — 
 would drag me out to-day, to come and look at old Carraways' 
 Lodge " — and again Bones emptied his glass. 
 
 "Of course," said Mizzlemist : "if your friends didn't look 
 after you, Colonel, you 'd never stir. You 'd take no exercise. 
 You 'd sit in that arm-chair of yours till the sexton came for 
 you. And the fact is " — and the Doctor archly smiled — " we 're 
 not going to lose you in that way. No : it 's om* duty as feUow- 
 creatui'es and Christians to take care of you, and we will do it ; " 
 and Mizzlemist's kindly emphasis almost brought the tears into 
 his eyes. " Poor lone creature ! You never knew what it was
 
 120 A MAX MADE OF MONEY, 
 
 to have the tenderness of a wife. You haven't a dear soul, 
 growing all the kinder and tenderer for age, haunting your fire- 
 side ; and so we must take care of you — and we will, old fellow." 
 
 "All too good, much too good to a beggar," cried Bones, 
 with his fore-finger scratching the nape of his neck. 
 
 " Come, sir, take a glass of wiue," and Mizzlemist xu'ged Basil. 
 Then dropping back in liis chair, he gazed at the young gentle- 
 man in all the fulness of after-dinner admiration. " Ila, sir 1 
 it is something delightful — nay, very delightful, indeed, only to 
 look at you." 
 
 " Indeed," cried Basil, " glad to hear it. Easy way of getting 
 a living. Shilling a-head for grown fools, six-pence for children. 
 Come sir, down with your money." 
 
 " In your connection with ]\Ir. Jericho, you have a grand field 
 before you," said the unoffended Mizzlemist. 
 
 "Humph! Can you tell me if the field's in crop? And 
 what it is?" asked Basil. 
 
 " Whatever you like, sir. I am afraid, Mr. Pennibackcr " — 
 and Mizzlemist became very serious — " I am afraid you do not 
 sufficiently estimate the position of Mr. Jericho. See what he 
 has done already. Is he not in Parliament ? Is he not in the 
 very highest society? Next Tuesday — yes, absolutely next 
 Tuesday — he dines with the Duke St. George, at Eed Dragon 
 House ; and with his inestimable lady and daughters will, at once, 
 be dipped in the Pactolean vortex — if I 've not forgot my Christ- 
 church classics — in the Pactolean vortex of fashionable existence." 
 
 " Well, and what will Mr. Jericho pay ? What, for self, wife 
 and daughters ?" asked Basil, " what will be the price of admis- 
 sion to the lied Dragon mahogany ? " 
 
 " Price, Mr. Pennibackcr ! " cried Mizzlemist. 
 
 " Price. Why, you can 't tell ; neither can Jericho himself. 
 More than that, I 'vc my doubts, if even the Duke of St. George 
 has made up his mind to the exact sura to be borrowed of the 
 !Man of Money. It must be for a loan, or do folks think money, 
 like the measles, catching ? The Duke St. (ieorge, of Bed Dragon 
 House 1 Why, he 's a very river of royal blood. Prom the
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 121 
 
 heptarchy downwards, there 's been a prince or a princess, or a 
 royal bishop, or something of the sort, cut into the stream — and 
 he contains in himself the very best blood, laid on from twenty 
 crowned houses. And to think that he should shake hands with 
 Jericho — that he should invite such a piece of clay — why it must 
 be for the gilding." 
 
 " My dear young gentleman," said INIizzlemist, with a gravity 
 almost affectionate, " disabuse your mmd of such vulgar cant. 
 Be above it, sir. Don 't think that money can do anything and 
 everything — it can't. There must be inward worth. The gold 
 candlestick — if I may be so bold as to use a figure — the gold 
 candlestick may be prized I grant ; but its magnificence is only 
 subservient to its use ; the gold is very well : but after all, it is 
 the light we look to." And Mizzlemist believed he had clenched 
 the question. 
 
 " Yes," said Basil ; " so that the candlestick has gold enough, 
 I take it, it may burn anything — mutton fat 's as good as wax." 
 
 " 1 say again, don't think it. Mr. Jericho, independent of his 
 wealth, is a man of talent. I assm-e you " — now Mizzlemist was 
 never more serious — " I assure you, I forget them, but some of 
 his admirable bits of wit are now going about. I forget them, 
 but I pledge myself, they are allowed to be very brilliant." 
 
 "All 's one for that," and Basil emptied his glass. 
 
 " But as I was observing, Mr. Pennibacker, you have all the 
 world before you," said Mizzlemist. 
 
 " I quite feel that, sir, in the new profession that within this 
 half-hour I have determined to adopt." 
 
 " Why, sir, when you go to the bar " — ^began Mizzlemist. 
 
 "No, I've abandoned the thought. The bar's too full. 
 Bench can't be lengthened to hold a thousandth part of us : and 
 mustn't sit in each other's laps. So many, nine-tenths must die 
 like spiders with nothing to spin. I thought of the army. But 
 that 's going, sir ; going, soon to be gone. Bless you, laurels 
 are fast sinking from the camp to the kitchen. In a very little 
 while, sir, and the cook wiU rob Coesar of his wreath to flavour 
 a custard."
 
 122 A MAX MADE OF MOXEY. 
 
 " Ha ! lia ! very good. Wait a little though, — humph ? " 
 cried Colonel Bones, 
 
 " I do not very fully grapple with your position," — said Miz- 
 zlemist, hesitating. 
 
 " Don 't tiy, then, sir," said Basil, " 'twill only strain your 
 intellect. Therefore, as I see all the usual avenues shut up — 
 ' no thoroughfare ' writ over 'em — I shall strike out a road for 
 myself. !Meet a want, or make a want, that 's the motto, sir, 
 for a new business ? " 
 
 " Well, there really is something in that," said Mizzlemist. 
 
 " Now, I intend to meet a want — a very cra\4ng want," said 
 Basil. " And with such benevolent determination, I purpose to 
 start in life as a Comic Undertaker." 
 
 " Good, devilish good ! " and Bones rubbed his hands ; and 
 Mizzlemist stared. 
 
 " It win be my lasting reputation," said Basil, " to meet the 
 grand desire of the age. For do you not perceive, sir, the great 
 tendency of our time is to sink the serious, and to save the droll ? 
 Folks who have an eagle in their coat-of-arms begin to be 
 ashamed of it, and paint it out for the laugliing goose. In a 
 very Uttle while and we shall put a horse-coUar round about the 
 the world, expressly for all the world to grin through it." 
 
 " You know best, Mr. Basil," said Mizzlemist, " but surely 
 'twill be a great stop to business." 
 
 " Now, in pursuit of the comic," said Basil, " I think we might 
 very successfully carry fun into the churchyard. A man of tnie 
 humour, sir, and such a man every morning when I rise I am in 
 the habit of considering — himself may put a capital joke into an 
 epitaph, and get a broad grin from a skeleton. I think I see my 
 board and card — ' Basil Pennibacker, the Original Comic Under- 
 taker.. Funerals acted in the happiest vein of humour. Mutes 
 of every drollery.' I think that will do, sii'." 
 
 " It will never be permitted, sir ; never," said the literal 
 Mizzlemist. " The legislature, sir, will not permit it. I like a 
 joke, sir ; I think I may say I like a joke, but when the ashes 
 of"—
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 123 
 
 " What ! Ell ? Why here comes Mr. Jericho, pelting along. 
 Humph? " cried Colonel Bones, who had run to the window. 
 
 " Then I 'm off," said Basil, and instantly he ran down to the 
 door, jumped in his saddle, and was speedily far away in a cloud 
 of dust. 
 
 Mizzlemist approached the window. Jericho's equipage came 
 rattling down the hill, Hodmadod and Candituft galloping a little 
 in advance. The carnage pulled up at the door of the Silver 
 Lion. Mizzlemist had descended, and approached Mr. Jericho. 
 " I am very sorry, sir, that I should have missed you," said the 
 Doctor. ' ' I brought out the Colonel for a ride, and thought 
 we should all meet at the Lodge. I thought you 'd have stopt " — 
 
 " I don't stop. Doctor Mizzlemist," said Jericho coldly, whilst 
 Mizzlemist stept back in astonishment — " I don't stop for any- 
 body. Who are you, sir — whom do you take me for?" bellowed 
 Jericho, whilst Mizzlemist stared, and his jaw fell in mute wonder. 
 Here, Colonel Bones, benevolently thought he might come to the 
 rescue of his friend. Whereupon bending his iron face into a 
 very severe smile, he began — 
 
 " I do assure you, Jericho, that " — 
 
 " Jericho ! " exclaimed the IVIan of Money, with an oath that 
 passed upon the Colonel a very hot and very summary sentence, 
 •' Who asked you to speak ? A toad-eater ! A bone-picking 
 pauper ! Drive on ! " and Jericho sank back like an exhausted 
 savage ; the coach and cavaliers flew forward, and Mizzlemist 
 confounded, groped his way back to the Colonel, whom he found 
 seated, foaming at the mouth, and violently cutting the air about 
 him with a knife he had taken from the table, inarticulately 
 spluttering — " Toad-eater ! Majesty's officer ! Bone-picker ! 
 Blood— blood— blood ! " 
 
 After a time, Mizzlemist took the knife from the Colonel, and 
 entreated him to be calm. He was immediately obedient. He 
 filled a bumper, glanced at his friend, and in a soft but very 
 decided voice, as though making himself a solemn promise of 
 some especial treat, said — " I'll have his blood, sir, his blood." 
 
 G 3
 
 12-i A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 CHAPTEK XT. 
 
 "We have again to introduce the reader to Gilbert Carraways. 
 The circumstances under Avhich the reader and he last met were 
 so very different, so opposite to the present condition of the 
 worthy gentleman, — that we may be justified in treating the old. 
 man with something of the deference due to a stranger. In one 
 of the Primrose Places to be found selvaging London — for we 
 care not to be a whit more definite in the whereabout — Carra- 
 ways, his wife and daughter, had taken refuge from the storm 
 that had broken over their heads ; a storm that had made clear 
 work of every stick of their property. No hurricane could 
 more completely sweep away a field of sugar-cane. In a small, 
 neat, comfortable room sat the ruined family. The old man was 
 reading, or thought he read. In a few weeks, the snow had 
 come down upon liis head with a heavy fall. In a few weeks, 
 his cheeks were lined and lengthened. He had been held — so 
 ruthlessly held — face to face with misery, that his smile, that 
 was constant as the red in his check, had well nigh vanished. 
 Now and then, as he exchanged looks with his daughter, it 
 glimmered a little ; played about his mouth, to leave it oidy in 
 litter blankness. Still he went on reading ; still he turned page 
 after page ; and believed that he was laying in a stock of 
 knowledge for his future life. For he had again — he would tell 
 his daughter with a bright look — he had again to begin the 
 world. Hard beginning ! Dreary voyage, with neither youth to 
 fight the storm ; nor the hope of youth to wile away the long, 
 dark, dreary, watch — to sing the daylight in. But this he would 
 not think of. At least he thought he woidd not. He felt him- 
 self as strong as ever ; yes, even stronger. He could not have 
 hoped to have borne the blow so well. He was never better ; 
 never. His glorious health was left him ; and therefore, 
 why despair ? In this way will the brain of the stout man. 
 cheat itself. It will feel whole, and strong ; and for the viler
 
 A MAX MADE OF MONEY. 125 
 
 cracks and flaws, they are no', to be lieeded. Mere trifles. And 
 then some day, some calm and sunny time, that peace has seemed 
 to choose for itself, for a soft, sweet pause — with the tyrant brain 
 secure and all vain-glorious, — the trifle kills. In this way do 
 strong men die upwards. 
 
 Gilbert Carraways was, at our first meeting, set about by all 
 the creature delights of life. He was the lord of abundance. 
 The man who had nothing to do witli want and misery, but to 
 exercise the noblest prerogative of happy humanity — namely, to 
 destroy them wheresoever he found them preying upon his 
 fellows. "Wealth was gone. He was a beggar; but in his 
 poverty were thoughts that might glorify his fireside. He had 
 used his means for good ; and, at least, might feel enriched by 
 the harvest of his recollections. With his face anxious, lengthened, 
 and dim, there was a dignity in the old man that we do not 
 think we ever recognised at the Hall. For he had to bear a load 
 of miseiy; and he sat erect, and with his spii'it conquering, 
 looked serenely about him. 
 
 Bessy and her mother sat at work, and to see them for the 
 first time, they seemed as though they had never had a finer room 
 to sit in. Ah'eady were they so self-accommodated to the place. 
 In their days of fortune, ]\Irs. Carraways — good, kind creature 
 ever ! — ^nevertheless loved to show to folks the finest outside. 
 She confessed to a pride in exhibiting to the world the best 
 holiday proofs of worldly prosperity. Her husband would call 
 her his old butterfly. And, in a few weeks, she had cast all 
 such thoughts, even as the butterfly its wings, never again to be 
 enjoyed, or dreamt of. She looked the good wife of one of 
 Carraways' late clerks, at some hundi-ed and fifty pounds a year ; 
 with those sixty shillings a week — to provide home and food, 
 and raiment ; the worldly all-in-all. And if at times she was 
 a little, just a little wayward, in the fidl blaze of fortune — as the 
 best-tempered folks are sometimes apt to be tetchy in over-warm 
 weather — now, she sat in the shade all gentleness, and smiles, 
 and patience ; as though she, perhaps, remembered those Little 
 breaks of temper, to be afforded when at ease with the world,
 
 126 A MAX MADE OF MONET. 
 
 but all too serious, too wiKul an extravagance for a poor man's 
 home. 
 
 Bessy was at first astonished, broken-hearted that she had 
 never seen, scarcely heard, and that coldly, ceremoniously, of 
 many of her friends. She could not for a long time comprehend 
 the cause. Aaid then, she speedily agreed with her mother that, 
 possibly, an extreme sense of delicacy kept them absent — silent. 
 "They may not Hkc to intrude upon our misfortune," said 
 Mrs. Carraways very sadly. Bessy at once acknowledged it 
 must be so with Miss Candituft. She recollected that with that 
 young lady it was a favoui-ite phi-ase — "the sacredness of 
 adversity." And then Bessy could not but think — " She might 
 have written more than once." But Bessy was young and 
 hopeful. The tempest had blown over her ; and once passed, 
 she was again smiling and erect. A lily after a thunder-storm. 
 
 Such the group at the fireside. There is, however, a person 
 at the street-door weU-known to the reader. We have tried, with 
 all his faults, to make him a sort of favom'ite. This outside 
 person is Basil Pennibacker. He has galloped to London, and 
 straightway taken the road to Primrose Eow. He has hardly 
 shaped his thoughts into the roughest form of speech ; but he 
 feels that he has something to say : nay, his heart is full of it — 
 and it shall out before he sleeps. And with this brave determi- 
 nation, he marches to the door ; feeling, nevertheless, as though 
 with all his courage, he was walking up to a cannon. He stops 
 short at the step. The next moment he mounts it, and the next 
 he raises the knocker. And the next, as softly, tenderly as ever 
 human fingers touched a human wound, he lays the knocker 
 down. He is much relieved, and gently descends the step. 
 It is too late — much too late to call. Hush ! The clock of 
 St. Asphodel's strikes nine — it is unreasonable, unmannerly to 
 think of it. Basil crosses the road, and much comforts himself 
 looking at an upper window. There is a light ; and now a 
 female figure moves to and fro. It is Bessy ! Her light, active 
 form ; the turn of her head, so like a wood-nymph's ! Now, she 
 comes to the window ; and now the light is gone and the room is
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 127 
 
 dark. For a moment, the hope of Basil is quenched — dead. 
 And the next instant, raising his hat, and gazing at the window, 
 he cries — " God bless you 1" and takes to his heels, as though he 
 had done something wrong, unmannerly. 
 
 Now, as it must be evident to the well-meaning few who read 
 these pages, that we propose to set down nothing but truth, let 
 us clear up as we go. It was not Bessy, as believed by Basil. 
 It was a solitary, pale young thing — one of the cloud of genteel 
 phantoms that flit across our daily path — who compliment life, 
 by endeavouring to live by needle and thread. It was not Bessy, 
 upon whom Basil called down a benison. But let it rest upon 
 the stranger's head. Who so spiritually rich as not to need it ? 
 
 " And do you think, Bessy " — said her father, for having dis- 
 posed of Basil for the night, we return to the fireside — " and do 
 you think, my wench, that you 'U make a good sailor ?" 
 
 " I don't know," said Bessy, " but I '11 try." 
 
 " Well said. It 's the most we can promise against sea-sickness. 
 A long voyage, wench," said Carraways. 
 
 " My dear Gilbert," said the wife with anxious looks. " Are 
 you resolved — are you really resolved?" 
 
 " I have looked at it every way, lass : I have turned the 
 matter on every side. Weighed the risks with the good chances. 
 And I am resolute." A deep sigh escaped the wife. " Why, 
 what's the matter?" asked her husband. 
 
 " Nothing. I meant nothing— at least, nothing, if you are 
 resolved. And yet, Gilbert, we are old " — 
 
 " Aye, that 's it ; old to move. But, my good dame, what wiU 
 our years bring us if we stop ? I tell you, I can't bear to think 
 of it. I should die a thousand deaths here in London. I 
 could 'nt go into the City — and somehow, I know myself, I 
 should be sure to be going there if I was near it — I coiddn't go 
 there, that every other face wouldn't seem to stab me. Oh ! I 
 have seen the sight myself, — and I won't provide the show." 
 
 "What sight, father?" asked Bessy, almost heedless of the 
 question. 
 
 "The sight of a ruined man. An old man broken to bits,
 
 128 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 Avith no hope, no chance of patching. A piece of utter ruin 
 with gi-cy hairs upon it. The ghost of one who was ' a good 
 man.' I 've seeu it. And I know what follows. I should pasa 
 people, and hear 'em talk — yes, feel 'em point at me. ' There, 
 sir ' — says one to a country friend — ' do you see that old man ? 
 Once one of the proudest fellows in the City, sir. One who held 
 his head above every body. One who was as high as Lucifer' " — 
 
 " Oh, father ! they never, never, could say that of you," cried 
 Bessy, and her face coloured, and her eyes filled with tears. 
 
 " Ha ! ten to one but they would say it though. 'Tis hard 
 for a man to tumble, and not get dirt about him, deserve it or 
 not. ' As proud as Lucifer ' they 'd say ; ' and now look at him 
 — poor fellow ! ' Yes they 'd call me — ' poor fellow ; not a 
 penny, sir ; not a farthing.' Now, I won 't endure this. I 've 
 talked to myself. I 've had a little conversation with this GUbert 
 Carraways — old fellow ! — he and I were not such intimate 
 acquaintance as we ought to have been in fair weather times — 
 but I 've talked to him since we 've been in trouble, and the end 
 of it is, wife, he won't suffer it. He won't," and Carraways 
 struck the table. 
 
 •' ]\Iy dear Gilbert, do as you will — go where you will. Any- 
 where " — said the wife, and at length her heart loosened, and 
 she fell upon her husband's neck — " so that we go all together." 
 
 Bessy laid down her work, and silently crept round her 
 father's chair, and without a word, mingled her arms with her 
 mother's. The old man felt the pressure of his daughter, and 
 hugging wife and chUd close at his heart, he cried — " Yes ; all 
 together — all together." And in a minute, in a gay voice, and 
 his eyes sparkling through then- mist, Carraways said — " Come, 
 it 's time to go to bed. Good night," and he kissed his daughter. 
 " I shall not be up long ; but I. want to finish these few pages." 
 And Carraways was left alone ; trying with all his might to see 
 a Land of Promise for his old age in a golden book, written foy 
 the hopes of emigrants. 
 
 The next morning, ]5asil Pennibackcr — for we must for a page 
 or two return to him — rose, determined to see Primrose Eow by
 
 A MAX MADE OF MONEY. 129 
 
 dayliglit. xVs lie took his breakfast, liis looks fell witli peculiar 
 satisfaction upon a large bunch of heartsease that, ere he slept, 
 Avith his own hands he had placed in water ; that, ere he had sat 
 down to begin his meal, he had examined with an eye more 
 curious than was his wont in the small matter of flowers. Indeed, 
 he was himself a little sm'prised at the interest hanging about 
 his heart for those few bits of purple and yellow " freaked with 
 jet." However, he was satisfied of their beauty and freshness ; 
 and therefore breakfasted as heartily as man with cheerful 
 conscience may. 
 
 It was about mid-day when Bessy was broken in upon by the 
 servant girl, who came almost in a bunch into the room — so 
 hurried, so anxious, and withal so pleased seemed she to deliver 
 her tidings — to proclaim with scarlet face, and panting breath 
 that — " there was a gentleman below that wanted ]\Iiss." Now, 
 neither Mr. nor Mrs. Carraways were in. This circumstance the 
 girl observed, she knew, and had already acquainted the gentle- 
 man with the fact ; a fact that, in truth, had in no way discon- 
 certed him. Bessy was finally stopt in her inquiries by the gii'l, 
 who remembered she had a card. 
 
 " Mr. Basil Pennibacker," — 
 
 Bessy reddened as she took it. " Yes, Miss, I '11 show him 
 up directly," said the girl. 
 
 " Stay, Susan — I — yes ; you are quite right. Pray show the 
 gentleman in," said Bessy; and, as she heard the foot of Basil 
 on the stairs, her heart kept count with every step, and she felt 
 cold as a stone. 
 
 Basil entered the room. "We verily beheve his OAvn mother — 
 doting parent that she was — would not have kno^vn him. He 
 was almost awkward in his bashfulness ; his eyes wandered ; he 
 feebly smiled ; and deeply blushed. Bessy, somehow, showed 
 most courage of the two. 
 
 " I 'm very sorry, Mr. Pennibacker, that there is no one but 
 myself at home. Yery sorry that " — 
 
 "Pray don't mention it, !Miss Carraways; I assure you I — 
 that is — I hope Mr. and IMi's. Carraways are well ; as well, my 
 
 g3
 
 130 A MAX MADK OF MOXEY. 
 
 dear madam " — and Basil began to feel his ground — " as well as 
 I could wish them." 
 
 " Quite well," said Bessy, " I do not think my mother can be 
 long. And I 'm sui-e she '11 be glad to see you. We do not see 
 many friends now," said Bessy ; and then she could have bitteu 
 her tongue that she had said it; he might believe that she 
 hinted at his mother and sisters. 
 
 "After all. Miss Carraways," said Basil, "how very few 
 people there are worth thinking friends." 
 
 "It may be so, sii* ; I fear it is so; but," said Bessy, "it is 
 a hard truth to learn, learn it when we may." 
 
 Basil was again at fault ; again his tongue hung fii'e ; and he 
 wondered, and was a little piqued at the self-possession of Bessy, 
 when he — a man — was in such a tremor. His brain was wander- 
 ing for new words, when happily, his eyes fell upon the superb 
 bunch of heartsease idly grasped by his hand. " Happily, 
 Miss Carraways," said Basil, suddenly supported, " happily there 
 are friends that will smile upon us till death." 
 
 " Oh dear, yes ! Life, indeed, would be a sad lot could we not 
 think so," and Bessy's eyes glistened ; and glistening, made 
 Basil wince. 
 
 She never looked so beautiful. Heaped about with, luxury ; 
 a little rose-bud queen in a golden palace, with fairy birds 
 singing to her, and happiness like an atmosphere around her — 
 she never looked so beautiful as in that bit of tenpenny muslin — 
 standing upon Kidderminster, at the rate of eighteen shillings 
 a-wcek, boots included. (Now all this went jumbling, jostling 
 through the brain of Basil, as he caught the dewy tiash of Bessy's 
 innocent blue eyes.) 
 
 " There are friends. Miss Carraways, v/hom you have been 
 kind to, who still have grateful looks. There are friends, I saw 
 thousands of them yesterday, looking all the happier for your 
 care. I was told of some, for whom you had a particular regard. 
 I " — here Basil began again to feci abashed and tongue-tied. 
 " I mean friends .by the outer wall, opposite the summer-house 
 with — with Diana in it " —
 
 A MAN M.VDE OF MONEY. 131 
 
 " I recollect the summer-liouse," said Bessy, and lier little 
 hand clutched the back of a chair. 
 
 " Of course. I was sure you would. "Well, the truth is, my 
 dear lady — pardon me, ]\Iiss Carraways — I was there, and I 
 thought you would like to see some of these friends, and — the 
 fact is, — my dear Bessy — ten million pardons, madam, I — the 
 fact is, as I said, thinking you would like to see them, I gave 
 them a — a general invitation, — have brought 'em here, and here 
 they are." 
 
 Basil held the heartsease towards Bessy. She curtseyed, held 
 her trembling hand to take them. " Thank you ! A thousand 
 thanks ! " she smiled. And then she fell in a chair, and buiying 
 her face among the flowers, gave up her heart to weeping. 
 
 Poor Basil ! he felt awe-struck by the passion he had roused. 
 He wished the floor to open, and himself — to use his own after- 
 phi'ase — to be repealed for ever. " If I had thought " — he 
 stammered. 
 
 " Oh thank you, sir — a thousand thanks," cried Bessy, and 
 she wept anew. 
 
 " My dear madam," said Basil, " I am a fooHsh person ; a 
 very foolish person. Another time I hope to be permitted to 
 assure you that I meant no folly ; upon my soul, I mean truth — 
 earnest, honest, eternal truth, if truth be in this world. I " — 
 And here Basil distressed, discomfited, rushed frgm the room. 
 
 In another hour, Bessy was calm and sad — yet not altogether 
 sad. The heartsease were placed in a glass, and again and again 
 Bessy would go to them, and, as though putting her finger under 
 the chin of baby loveliness, as though the flower were a sentient 
 thing, she wo\dd lift the curl of the blossom as it hung over the 
 vessel. She was gazing at the heartsease when Jenny Topps 
 was shown into the room. 
 
 " Well, Mrs. Topps," said Bessy with a melancholy smile. 
 " Now, not that I 'm ashamed of Topps's name, why shoidd I 
 be ? " — said the young wife, looking very proud of it, — " but do 
 caU me Jenny, IVIiss, as afore. Do, please." 
 " Well, then, Jenny "—
 
 132 A MAX MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 " Well, then, what do you think :Miss? We went to the Hall 
 yesterday. Ha, you should only see it now ! No ; I didn't 
 mean that. I wouldn't have you see it for any money. We 've 
 brought away what you wanted. But that 's not it. What do 
 you think? Now, don't cry — promise me, you won't cry." 
 
 " Well, then, Jenny, I promise you," and somehow Bessy 
 made the promise with better self-assurance than she coidd have 
 boasted a little more than an hour ago. 
 
 " Well, then, them nasty Jerichos — for I hate 'em " — 
 
 " You shoidd hate nobody, Jenny," said Bessy. 
 
 " Perhaps not, ma'am. But natur that makes us love, makes 
 us hate, and we can't help it. Them Jerichos is going to take 
 the HaU." 
 
 " Is it possible ? " asked Bessy, with strange calmness. 
 
 " I saw 'em all there. Going to take the Hall," repeated Jenny, 
 much incensed. 
 
 " Very well. Somebody must live there," said Bessy. And 
 then, strangely perplexed, she looked at the heartsease, and knew 
 not what to think. 
 
 Basil, on his hurried way home, was no less perplexed. He 
 accused himself of foUy, cruelty. He had torn open the girl's 
 heart with his clumsy blunder ; and of what avail was it, that he 
 would die to dry her tears ? 
 
 " Why, my dear fellow," said an acquaintance, stopping Basil, 
 fuming with remorse, " My dear fellow, what is the matter with 
 you ? Anything wrong? Anything I can do to help you ? " 
 
 " Yes," exclaimed Basil. " Bind me to you for life, and get 
 me a coalheaver." 
 
 " A coalheaver ! " cried his friend. 
 
 " A coalheaver," repeated Basil. " In my present state of 
 feeling, nothing — I know it — nothing can restore me to 
 tranquillity tUl I 've licked a coalheaver."
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 133 
 
 CHAPTEK XII. 
 
 Already had IVIr. Jericlio banked the purchase-money for 
 Jogtrot Hall. Thirty thousand pounds' worth of flesh had he 
 sacrificed to buy to himself a country mansion ; the better, in 
 the flattering words of his wife, to fill the world ; who delighted 
 as she was with the obedient ambition of her lord, was, never- 
 theless, touched in her tenderest aff"ections when she contemplated 
 his diminished presence. Even Jericho himself, prepared as he 
 was for the astonishment of his family and famihars, winced as 
 he caught the astounded glances of his circle. Breeks, the tailor, 
 began to measm'e, and to re-measure with an increasing wonder, 
 that in a little time deepened into awe, and threatened to explode 
 into terror. "It's like measuring a penknife for a sheath," 
 Breeks declared to his wife. " That 'Mr. Jericho 's quite a 
 puzzle, Jiiha ; quite. There 's no knowing where the paddin' 
 ends and the man begins. Man, Julia ! He isn't a man at all, 
 but a cotton-pod. Why he can't have no more stomach than a 
 'bacco-pipe." Such were the confidential communings of man 
 with wife ; and, after certain intervals, with a whole round of 
 Mrs. Breeks's bosom gossips. In a Uttle time, it was the growing 
 belief of a large circle that Jericho was no flesh, no man at 
 all. " He was made up of coats," ran the rumoui*, " like an 
 onion." 
 
 Jericho, we have said, was tenderly alive to his daily waste. 
 Again and again had he passed the silken lace about his chest; the 
 lace that, if the bank continued to be drawn upon, soon promised 
 to wind round and round the anatomy of Jericho, like whipcord 
 round a boy's peg-top. Jericho, however, comforted himself 
 — so had he taken measures — that the bank should be closed for 
 many a day. He would not peel himself to a leaf, let his wife 
 conjure as she might. Fortunately, he was never in better health. 
 If he lost in substance, mere flesh, he somehow obtained an m\- 
 usual toughness and strength of fibre. He was lithe, elastic as
 
 13-i A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 a rod of steel. And after all, what was flesh ? Animal grossness. 
 The less he had of it, the more spiritual the human creature. 
 
 But Mrs. Jericho would not thus be comforted. She had 
 half -uttered her fears to 'Mx. Candituft. Would introduce Doctor 
 Dodo, a friend of his, as a friend ; not to alarm ]\Ii\ Jericho. 
 Certainly not. But merely to lead him in the meanderings of a 
 pleasant morning talk to his own individual case. Mi's. Jericho 
 might depend upon the care of Candituft. He would study 
 even the weakness of dear Jericho as a weakness to be reverenced. 
 " Some weaknesses," said Candituft, " were like flawed China : 
 quite as good as the perfect thing, if not too rudely handled." 
 Mrs. Jericho declared the thought to be true and beautiful. 
 
 Now, it grieves us, as faithful chroniclers of this liistory to 
 pain the reader with the intelligence that at the very time conjugal 
 love and manly friendship were sweetly plotting for better health 
 and insured We in the person of Solomon Jericho, there were 
 men — certainly two constructive homicides — who contemplated 
 the probable funeral of the Man of Money, and never once winced 
 at the thought of the sable feathers. Let the reader judge. 
 
 Almost at the exact time that Basil Pennibacker fled in sorrow 
 and confusion from the door of Carraways, Commissioner Thrush 
 knocked at the postern of Solomon Jericho. And had Jericho's 
 household gods been as anxious, waking, instead — as we fear it 
 too often happens with household gods in general — instead of 
 sleeping, like pet spaniels at the fire-side, sure Ave are that the 
 chimney deities would have given a sympathetic shriek, or howl, 
 or cry, or squaU — hearing murder's messenger at the door. 
 " Is Mr. Jericho within ? " asked the assistant homicide with a 
 serene gravity worthy of the coming funeral. The victim was at 
 home. The undertaker might walk up stairs ; and making due 
 allowance, might measure the hving customer. And all this 
 time, though the household gods might see in the buraing 
 embers, the splendid funeral of their master prefigured in glowing 
 rays, with — if it fm-ther pleased them — a view, between the 
 second and third bar, of the widow weeping over a pyramidal 
 monument, weeping in a cloud of veil, with streaming wisp of
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 135 
 
 handkercliief, — althougli every part and piece of this alarming 
 spectacle were to be seen in the live coals of Jericho's hearth, 
 nevertheless Jericho's household gods took no more accoitiit of 
 the show than if it were a congregation of burning vapours brought 
 together to roast the family goose, or cook the family mutton. 
 
 Commissioner Thrush walks placidly up to j\Ir. Jericho, and 
 offers him his hand. And Jericho takes the palm in his own, 
 never dreaming that, probably, he grasped a piece of churchyard 
 clod. 
 
 " Though I come upon an unpleasant business, my dear sir — 
 by the Avay I think you get thinner and thinner," said Thrush. 
 
 "I believe Commissioner," said Jericho very aiisterely, "I 
 believe in polite society, a man's flesh is silently permitted to be 
 quite a matter for his own contemplation." 
 
 " Mr. Jericho, I am corrected, and very properly. A thousand 
 pardons. I bring this from my friend Colonel Bones," and fixing 
 his eye like a snake upon Jericho, Thrush discharged a letter 
 upon him. 
 
 Jericho read the letter. With a stony face of contempt he 
 looked down upon it. " This is quite ridicidous," said Jericho. 
 
 " It may be droll, devilish droll," said Thi-ush, " Men differ 
 so in their tastes. You may think a challenge a joke; may, 
 indeed, think pistols when they click, merely diseurs de bons mots. 
 Every man as he likes." 
 
 " You do not intend to say, Commissioner Thrush, that this 
 Colonel Bones — this gingerbread hero — this " — 
 
 " Colonel Bones is my friend," said Thrush. " Colonel Bones 
 has served her Majesty : at least, if not her Majesty, her Majesty's 
 uncle. It 's all in the family ; just the same thing. You insulted 
 the Colonel." 
 
 " The fact is " — Jericho paused, but only one instant, for a lie 
 — " The fact is, the day was hot ; I had drunk too much — " 
 
 " I am sorry to hear it. For now it is impossible to accom- 
 modate matters. Now, sir, the Colonel must be a charcoal- 
 burner; you must taste his saltpetre," and Thrush smacked 
 his lips, as recommending its flavom*.
 
 13G A MAX MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 " Impossible to accommodate ! "Wlieu it was abuse iu a 
 moment of wine," cried Jericho. 
 
 " Sir, an offence committed in wine must be betwen intimates 
 a double offence ; and for this reason ; this iron-bound reason. 
 It implies long-smouldering malice," cried Thi-ush. 
 
 " I don't see that," exclaimed Jericho, becoming interested in 
 the question. " How do you prove it?" 
 
 " You shall hear, sir, in a very few words ; and those, the 
 very words of my late excellent and sagacious friend, the king of 
 Siam." 
 
 "I don't see," cried Jericho, " that the king of Siam " — 
 
 " If you please ; one moment," said Thrush, with mild autho- 
 rity. " ' Drunkards ' his majesty would say ' are of two sorts. 
 The good-natured and the malicious. Now, the good-natured 
 man in his drink bal^bles his praises and his affections ; and with 
 all his goodness, woidd blush when sober to say the loving 
 things that run from him in his wine. His sober thoughts are 
 written in his heart in the mUk of human goodness. Now, the 
 malicious man, who in his steady hours, has kept a fair face and 
 a clean lip to his fellow — in his time of drink talks revUing and 
 abuse. His thoughts are written not in milk, but in vinegar : 
 but the fire of the wine brings out either character, showing- 
 both true, the words of milk and the words of verjuice.' Now, 
 this, sir, was the judgment of the king of Siam." 
 
 " I — I do not see it. I can't see it. Eidiculous ! Prepos- 
 terous," cried Jei^cho. 
 
 "The king of Siam though in his royal tomb, and sprinkled 
 with the loving ashes of fifty of his wives bm'nt at a great 
 expense for that occasion only — the king of Siam " said Thrush 
 with ominous gravity, "is still my friend. When we have 
 disposed of our present business, I shall be happy to give the 
 readiest attention to any disparagement you may feel disposed to 
 vent upon the lamented potentate." 
 
 " I am not at all the man, sir, to do anything of the sort,'* 
 cried Jericho. " I respect[the — the — yes, the constituted autho- 
 rities, in their tombs or out of 'em."
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 137 
 
 " I am very liappy to hear it. Because you must at once 
 concede, on the authority of my friend, the king, that au 
 affront in drink is a double insult. You called my friend, 
 Colonel Bones, an officer in her Majesty's uncle's service " — 
 
 Jericho who, though he trod upon thorns, could not resist 
 the sneer, asked, " What regiment ? " 
 
 " No matter, sii-," said Thrush, " I have forgotten it. The 
 Colonel himself may have forgotten it. Any regiment you like. 
 The 59 th Harlequins, or the 74 th Pantaloons — it is no matter. 
 You have insulted an officer ; it may be, insiUted him for years. 
 You called him toad-eater — pauper — bone-picker ! Now, sir, 
 who shall say how long you may have carried about you those 
 opprobrious epithets, written in the strongest vinegar upon your 
 heart ? Written, and only waiting the reqidred voliune of hot, 
 fruity port, to dawn and break out into diabolic blackness ? At 
 length you diink ; you become drunk ; and thereupon imme- 
 diately publish to the Avorld the calumny writ in withering 
 acid." Jericho was astonished. Thrush, wiping his forehead 
 after the exertion, dropt his voice, and in the politest, meekest 
 manner, asked, " To whom will you do me the honour to refer 
 me ? Who is your friend ? " 
 
 " Certainly ; to be sure," said Jericho with alacrity ; and he 
 immediately sat down, and penned a note to the Hon. Cesar 
 Candituft. With what a halo of benevolence was that good 
 creature immediately siuTOunded ! With something of a smde 
 at his lip, Jericho penned a few familiar lines. " He would 
 leave the matter entirely in his hands." This done, he handed 
 the missive to Thrusli, who took it with the satisfied air of a 
 man who felt that he was proceeding in a manner most satisfac- 
 tory to the feelings of all parties. 
 
 " Good morning, Mr. Jericho, this little aft'air — end as it may 
 — wUl, I trust, make no alteration in om* intimacy. I give you 
 my word of honour, so impartial am I in this matter — so little 
 personal feeling have I mixed up in this business, that had you 
 instead of the Colonel called upon me, I should have had equal 
 pleasure in attending upon yoiu-self."
 
 138 A MAX MADE OF MOXEY. 
 
 " You are very good, very good," said Jericho very icily. 
 
 " Not at all. I consider that in going out with any man, I 
 merely fulfil a great social duty, and think upon that account I 
 have an equal claim — should the occasion fall — upon equal 
 servicesfromany of my fellow-creatures. Dear sir, good morning." 
 And Tlu'ush went his way. 
 
 It may seem odd, when we aver that Jericho sat in the com- 
 pletest state of ease. He was never more tranquil, and for this 
 reason, — he was profoundly secure in the friendship, the sweet 
 humanity, of Candituft. He, he an accomplice to draw him into 
 a duel ! That noble fellow would rather meet the ball himself. 
 Besides, he recollected — and very much soothed was he by the 
 recollection — that Candituft abhorred duelling. He had heard 
 him denounce the practice as mui'derous, fratricidal. "A 
 duellist ! " Candituft would say, — " A duellist is only Cain 
 in higher life," Very much comforted was Jericho with 
 this sweet philanthropic sentence. Again and again did he 
 speak it to liimself: pass the beautiful words one by one 
 before his moral vision, as a girl admires bead by bead of a 
 new necklace. 
 
 Only half-an-hour had passed, and Candituft was announced. 
 " A duellist is only Cain in high life," thought Jericho trium- 
 phantly, as he rose to press the hand of his friend. 
 
 " Dear, good sir," said Candituft, " I am delighted to see you 
 look so happy. Yes ; it is a moment like this that shows the 
 true man. That proves the constitutional serenity of his soul. 
 That shows him ready, if it must be, at the call of honour — 
 ready to quit life when life has its best blandishments — ready to 
 leave the flowery path of wealth and prosperity, and to descend 
 into the cold and comfortless tomb. The friendship of such a 
 man makes mc proud indeed ;" and Candituft shook Jericho's 
 hand. 
 
 "Tomb! "What do j^ou mean by tomb?" cried Jericho, 
 " Don't talk to me of tombs." 
 
 " Of course, my dear friend, only as a figure of speech. 
 Goodness forbid anything graver," said Candituft.
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY, 139 
 
 " You have seen that Thmsh ? " asked Jericho, ti-ying to be 
 careless. 
 
 " I met him as I was coming here. An unpleasant business. 
 But I 've settled matters, I think, very comfortably," said 
 Candituft. 
 
 " I knew you would. My best of friends," cried Jericho, 
 clapping Candituft on the shoulder. 
 
 " My friend's honour is as dear — I don't know if it isn't 
 dearer — than my own. You were quite safe in my hands." 
 Here Candituft pulled out his pocket-handkerchief, used it with 
 considerable vigour ; and after a seemly pause, said, " We fight 
 at eight." 
 
 " Eight ! " shiieked Jericho, and he leaped as though already 
 struck by the bullet. 
 
 " Everything is settled quite according to routine, and we '11 
 take a light, early dinner, and " — 
 
 " And do you mean, sir," exclaimed Jericho, " to call yourself 
 my friend, and want me to fight ? " 
 
 "I do assure j'ou, my dear sir, it is the most touching proof 
 of — I will not stop at friendship — I will say, of affection. Yes, 
 sir, brotherly affection," said Candituft, a little moved by a 
 sample of the emotion. 
 
 " Why, sir, I have heard you call duelling murder ! Have 
 you not ? " cried Jericho. 
 
 Candituft was instantly explicit. " Murder it is, sir." 
 
 " Fratricide ! " exclaimed Jericho. 
 
 " There can be no doubt of it : slaughter carried among the 
 brotherhood of man." 
 
 At length Jericho came to the clenching sentence. — " Have 
 you not called a duellist, Cain in high life ? " 
 
 " Very true, my dear sii*. But if Cain is admitted into the 
 circles, it is not for us to object to his introduction. I trast, 
 SU-, that I love my feUow-creatures. I hope I know what is due 
 to the family of man ; nevertheless I can't be expected to give 
 up my place in society, from the mere weakness of affection."
 
 140 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 " Seriously, Mr. Candituft," asked Jericho, "do you expect 
 me to fight Colonel Bones ? " 
 
 " You placed yourself in my hands, my very dear sir — and 
 though I should lament any fatal issue on your side — when I 
 say lament it, I feel 'twould blight my future existence — never- 
 theless, as my friend, and as a man in society, as a man owing to 
 the world the efficacy of high example, you must fight." Thus 
 judged the Hon. Cesar Candituft. 
 
 "But I won't fight," exclaimed Jericho. "Fighting isn't in 
 my way." 
 
 Candituft merely observed — " Kicking may be." Jericho drew 
 himself up. "Pardon me, my dear friend — I" — Candituft 
 struggled with his feelings ; at length, he fell upon Jericho's 
 neck, and in an agony of friendship exclaimed — " Worthiest of 
 beings ! Best of creatures ! You must fight ! " 
 
 Jericho was a little subdued by such devotion. — " You really 
 think I must fight ? " 
 
 " Do you think," said Candituft, " that the Duke of St. George 
 would suffer a man who refused a challenge to sully the door- 
 step of Ked Dragon House ? Noblest of men as he is, and 
 kindest of the human race, he would feel it to be his duty to spit 
 upon you. Metaphorically, my dear friend, of course." 
 
 "You are right," said Jericho, giving his courage a wrench— 
 " I will fight." 
 
 " I knew it " — and Candituft seized Jericho's hand between 
 his own — " I was sure of it." 
 
 " At eight you say. And where " — Jericho felt a little dizzy 
 — " where the place ? " 
 
 " The best, the noblest, the most heroic spot," said Candituft. 
 " Battersea-Eields, of course." 
 
 " Hiunph ! I thought Wimbledon was more genteel," observed 
 Jericho, wanderingly. 
 
 " It was : but surely, my dear sir, you can't forget. The 
 Duke himself — the immortal Wellington, has thrown an undying 
 ustre upon Battersea-Pields."
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 141 
 
 " I recollect," said Jericho. " Of course — to be siu'e lie biis." 
 
 " Such being the case, I suffer no friend of mine to receive 
 any man's fire on any meaner ground. For my own part, I 
 have always considered Battersea-Fields, as a sort of battle-field- 
 of-ease to Waterloo. Possibly, my dear friend, the same thought 
 may have struck you." 
 
 • " I can't say that it has " — replied Jericho — " but I shall 
 remember it for the future no doubt." 
 
 "And now, my dear Solomon" — Jericho winced at the 
 affectionate familiarity ; there sounded in it a raven note — " my 
 dear friend, you may have a few matters to settle. You may 
 have to speak to Mrs. Jericho " — 
 
 "Why, I mus'nt tell her of it ! " asked Jericho. 
 
 " Not for ten thousand worlds ! it would spoil all. We know 
 what women are, dear creatures ! They smell powder, and the^'^ 
 scream police." Mr. Jericho never felt a warmer admiration of 
 the wisdom of the sex. " Not a word to Mrs. Jericho. Never- 
 theless you may manage indirectly to convey certain wishes. 
 I 've said enough. Adieu ; I '11 not fail at seven, to the minute. 
 Good bye," and the friend and philanthropist took an affectionate 
 leave. 
 
 Ever since Mr. Candituft had blown the praises of Doctor Dodo, 
 Mrs. Jericho, like an earnest and affectionate wife, wished to 
 introduce him to her husband : even though by stratagem. 
 Eesponsive to the lady's call, the Doctor came to the house ; 
 arriving some half-hour before the return of Candituft. After a 
 brief, confidential gossip, the Doctor suggested that Mrs. Jericho 
 should introduce him as called in by herself. She had the 
 vapours ; was nervous ; failing in appetite. Happily, an 
 excuse could never be wanted by a fine lady for a physician. 
 Fortunately,Mr. Jericho — anxiously seeking his wife, to give some 
 indirect council ere Candituft should return — came upon the 
 doctor in consultation with the lady. " My dear," said Mrs. 
 Jericho, " Doctor Dodo. I have called him in about my horrid 
 nerves."
 
 142 A MAX MADE OF MOXEY. 
 
 " Why, what 's the matter witli them ? I never heard that 
 anything ailed them. Nevertheless, I 'm very happy to see 
 Doctor Dodo. Surely, a friend of Mr. Candituft's ? " said Jericho. 
 
 " We are very old friends, very old," said the Doctor, and he 
 took hold of Jericho's hand, treating it to a somewhat prolonged 
 shake. 
 
 " Don't let me hmTv you, my dear," said Jericho, about to 
 retire. " I shall be in the library. Doctor Dodo, I shall be 
 very happy to make your acquaintance. Aery happy ; " and 
 Jericho walked restlessly to the window. 
 
 Doctor Dodo shook his head, saying in a whisper, " Mr Jericho 
 must be seen to, dear madam. His appetite is not good ? " 
 
 "Excellent," whispered Mrs. Jericho, with emphasis. 
 
 " It looks a decided case of — however,^we shaU see. Pulse, 
 very extraordinary — very extraordinary," said the Doctor. 
 
 " Doctor Dodo, will you take a short notice," said Mrs. Jericho, 
 aloud, " and in a homely sort dine with us to-day ? " 
 
 " I dine out, my dear," said Jericho : " dine at the Club with 
 Candituft, and " — a deep, sepulchral knock shook the door — 
 " and here he is to fetch me." 
 
 Candituft was delighted to see Doctor Dodo. The very man 
 whom he wanted to meet. Perhaps, in the doctor's way, he 
 would set Jericho and himself, Candituft, down at the Club. It 
 was exactly in the Doctor's drive, and he would be only too 
 happy. " Come along, dear sir," said Candituft to Jericho sig- 
 nificantly, " or they may wait dinner for us." 
 
 " Good bye, Sabilla, my love," said Jericho, and squeezed his 
 wife's hand a little to his wife's astonishment. 
 
 " And now, Doctor," said Candituft, when the three were in 
 the carriage, " Your work is over for the day. You must oblige 
 us with a drive — we have a Httle call to make ; therefore, allow 
 me to direct the coachman. After our caU — we shan't be long — 
 we '11 all dine together." 
 
 " Doctor Dodo was the most polite of men. He at once 
 acceded to the request ; and the coaclmaan, guided by Candituft,
 
 (5^^. J^., /
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 143 
 
 at eight precisely cbove on Battersea-Fields. " Eh ! " I cried the 
 Doctor — " What ! I smell powder ! " 
 
 " And there 's the game," cried Candituft, and he pointed to 
 Colonel Bones and Thrush who had just alighted from a cab, 
 driven to the field by the unconscious Bob Topps. 
 
 " This is not fair, Mr. Candituft. You 've entrapped me here ; 
 I shall not stop," said the Doctor. 
 
 " Nay, only five minutes, for Mrs. Jericho's sake," said Candi- 
 tuft. " You may be needfid, Doctor." 
 
 "I can be of no use, none whatever. You'll please to 
 remember I 'm a physician, not a surgeon. However, as I 'm 
 here, if you '11 use dispatch " — and the Doctor looked at his 
 watch — " I '11 see the business through." 
 
 " Thank you — a thousand thanks," said Candituft, and imme- 
 diately he and Tlrrush conferred. The parties came to fight — 
 not to explain : the seconds ruled that. Whereupon, the men 
 were immediately placed. Candituft looked at them with an eye 
 of admiration ; saying to himself, — " I think, as near as possible* 
 precisely on the Duke's own gi'ound." 
 
 All ready. Colonel Bones, with a grunt and a grin, fires at 
 the signal. His ball goes clear through Jericho's bosom, 
 knocking off a button in its passage, and striking itself flat against 
 a pile of bricks. 
 
 " A dead man ! " cried the doctor, running to Jericho. 
 
 " My friend ! " exclaimed Candituft. " Have you made your 
 will?" 
 
 " Eh ! What's the matter ?" said Jericho. 
 
 " Matter ! " exclaimed Doctor Dodo, and he pointed his cane 
 to the hole in the front of Jericho's coat, immediately over the 
 region of his heart ; and then, walking round him, stared at the 
 hole between the foiu-th and fifth rib. " Matter ! It 's the first 
 time, I ever heard a man with a bullet clean through his heart, 
 ask — what 's the matter !" 
 
 " I 'm blessed if here ain't the ball, as flat as a penny, with 
 the waddin about it," cried Bob Topps, picking up the lead.
 
 144 A MAX MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 " What ! Eh ? Why, gentlemen, said the Doctor, taking the 
 ball, and peeling from it the fragments of paper — " are you so 
 rich that you wad with bank-notes ? " 
 
 The Colonel's ball had passed through Jericho's bank-note- 
 paper heart ; and Jericho lived and moved, and was none the 
 worse for it. Jericho fired in the air ; whereupon the Colonel 
 and Thrush, with a strange leer at him avowed themselves 
 more than satisfied. Jericho declared the whole matter to be a 
 good joke, and was about to enter the Doctor's carriage. "I 
 beg your pardon, sir," said the Doctor, " but no man, or devil, 
 or whatever he may be, rides in my carriage, who can live with 
 a hole through his heart." And the Doctor jumped inside, 
 shouted "home," and was wliirled from the ground. 
 
 Neither Thrush nor Bones cared to ride back ; indeed, they 
 proposed to walk, W^hereupon, Jericho beckoned to Topps — 
 " Not if you'd turn these fields into gold and give 'cm me," 
 cried Bob ; and he jumped on his box, and drove away. 
 
 " Dev'lish impudent fellow," said Jericho to Candituft : but 
 Candituft made no answer. He cared not to talk even to the 
 Man of Money, the money having a hole in its heart.
 
 A MAX MADE OF MONEY. 145 
 
 CHAPTEK XIII. 
 
 The baU that -went tliroiigh Jericlio's heart, killed Doctor 
 Dodo's reputation. The Doctor was one of those stifT-necked 
 men who wiU believe their own senses in opposition to their 
 own interests. He was signally punished for his obstinacy ; 
 and, we trust, will stand pilloried in these pages as an instruc- 
 tive example of misfortune, bigoted to a faith in its own eyes, 
 ears, and understanding. Why — with a wife and increasing 
 family hanging at his coat pockets, — why would Doctor Dodo, 
 in defiance of the world, insist upon enjoying his own convic- 
 tions ? How many men have been ruined by the extravagance ; 
 nevertheless, headlong simplicity will not take v/arning ! 
 
 Doctor Dodo declared that he had been inveigled to the 
 ground — the Battersea Waterloo — and therefore was under no 
 professional pledge of silence. Again, the gun-shot wound 
 enjoyed by Jericho — as Dodo sneeriugly plu-ased it — was so 
 extraordinary, so marvellous, seeing that the man was no worse 
 for it — that, with trumpet-voice, the case must sound an alarm 
 to the whole profession. If men were to live with holes in their 
 hearts, there was an end of the delicate mystery of anatomy. 
 Man became no jot more dignified than polypus. 
 
 " I tell you, Doctor Stubbs, a hole clean through the fellow's 
 licavty cried Dodo to a brother jDhysician, who, with finger and 
 thumb dreamily fondling the tip of his nose, looked askance at 
 the heated narrator. Dodo fired at the look of doubt, and 
 bellowed, " I teU you clean — clean ! If the ball had passed 
 through a crumpet, it couldn't have gone cleaner." 
 
 "And the — the man walked from the ground?" said Stubbs, 
 with w^ary look and voice. 
 
 " Never felt it," said Dodo. " Walke:! away, Stubbs ; strode 
 off like an ostrich." 
 
 "Humph!" said Stubbs; and the good fellow thought of 
 Dodo's large family ^/ith friendly concern. "Humph! And 
 WRs there much hemorrhage ?"
 
 146 A MAX MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 " None, none, Stubbs : no more than if you 'd fired tlirough a 
 pancake," exclaimed Dodo. 
 
 " Toil couldn't" — Stubbs spoke very tenderly — " you couldn't 
 Ijc mistaken, my dear Dodo ? It teas the heart ?" 
 
 The blood rushed to Dodo's face, choking his speech. Giving 
 a violent jerk at his neckcloth, then sternly composing himself, 
 Doctor Dodo gave the following testimony solemnly, as though 
 the honour of a life depended on it : — " My dear sir — Doctor 
 Stubbs — I am not a man to joke, sir ; I defy my worst enemy 
 to say that. Well, sir, upon my professional reputation. Colonel 
 Bones's bullet went through the left ventricle of Jericho's 
 heart." 
 
 " Dear me ! Very odd — very odd ! Of course, if you aver 
 this " 
 
 " Aver it ! I saw the wound ; the hole, Doctor Stubbs, the 
 hole. I say it, on my professional reputation, standing before 
 Jericho, I saw through him. As I am a gentleman, I saw the 
 setting sun thi'ough his foiu'th and fifth ribs." 
 
 "Very strange," said Stubbs, in the kindest, most con- 
 ciliating way. " ^Tiat do you think of it ?" 
 
 " Think ! Why, when I saw the man walk away ; when I 
 know that he is now as well as ever ; what must I think — averse 
 as I am from all such notions — what must I think but that 
 Jericho has sold himself to the devil ? What do you smile at, 
 Doctor Stubbs?" cried Dodo, angrily. 
 
 "I coiddn't have thought you believed in such bargains," 
 said Stubbs, gently. " Besides, whatever may have happened 
 in the dark times, we mustn't believe in suclt transactions 
 now-a-days. Political economy forbids it." 
 
 " I don't see ; I don't see," cried Dodo.' " I say, sold himself 
 to the devil; and Avhy not?" 
 
 " Why, my dear Dodo, you see we must concede that supply 
 is ruled by demand, and" — and Stubbs thought to pacify Dodo 
 — " and between ourselves — if half we hear be true, I think the 
 devd must have his hands full. And so, my good friend, take 
 my advice ; say nothing about the matter."
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 147 
 
 "What!" cried Dodo, "close my eyes — shut my mouth? 
 Not out of my grave, Doctor Stubbs ; certainly not. I know 
 you 're a prudent man, with a reverence for the world, and so 
 forth. But for myself — as I say — not out of my grave. No, 
 no ; not out of my grave," and with a smile and a waive of the 
 hand that said — "Doctor Stubbs, you're a pitiful fellow," Dodo 
 strode from his mean adviser. 
 
 Colonel Bones — it was at the Cutanconie Club that the 
 Doctors met — dropt in a few minutes after the departure of 
 Dodo : five minutes after, came Commissioner Thrush. It was 
 plain from the strange looks of the men that there was a dark 
 secret between them. Bones lifted his eyebrows ; Thrush 
 upraised his. Bones drew his mouth into a small significant 
 hole ; Thrush puckered his lips to a point. Bones threw up his 
 hands ; Thrush, with shaking palms, responded to the gesture. 
 And then Bones and Thrush seated themselves at the opposite 
 sides of a table; and squaring their elbows upon the board, 
 looked silently in one another's faces. 
 
 " Humph ? " cried Bones, after a pause. " Humph ? Ever 
 seen anything like it in Siam ? " 
 
 " Who could have thought it !" cried Thrush. " Who could 
 believe the devil such a fool — such an ass ? " 
 
 " After all, Commissioner, it 's long been my opinion that the 
 devil is a fool. We 've flattered him too much ; thought too 
 highly of him. The devil 's a nincompoop. Humph ? " said 
 Bones. 
 
 " He must be ; or could he ever have bought such a penn'orth 
 as Jericho ? " asked Thrush, 
 
 " Vulgar notion, Commissioner, The devil buys nobody : 
 folks when they 've a mind to it, give themselves away. The 
 wonder is, some of 'em are taken even at a gift. Humph? " 
 
 " Wrong, Colonel, wrong ; I 'm certain of it, the devil 's a 
 liberal, punctual dealer in the market, arid when he buys out- 
 right, pays ready money for his goods. I Avonder how much 
 he's given for Jericho? Who'd have thought that Doctor 
 Faustus should come up again in our time ! That hole in his 
 . H 2
 
 148 A MAX MADE OF MOXEY. 
 
 heart accounts for the money in liis pocket. Colonel Bones," — 
 cried Tlu-usb, with sudden solemnity. 
 
 " Commissioner Thrush," said Bones, sonorously responding. 
 
 " We owe a duty to society. We imist expose this fiend," 
 exclaimed Thrush, rapping the table. 
 
 " Strip him to the world," coincided Bones, " that the world 
 may see through him. Humph ? " 
 
 "Tear the demon from his gilded temple," cried Thrush, 
 eloquent in his indignation, " and appal mankind with the 
 hideousness of wicked wealth." 
 
 " Beautiful ! Humph ? " and Bones rubbed his hands, 
 pleased with promised sport. 
 
 " Nevertheless, Colonel, let us proceed regularly, respectably. 
 I have turned the matter over ; and I think our best line of action 
 is this. — Is this," and Thrush gathering himself to the table, 
 brought his forefinger to his nose, to steady his opinion. " Y^e 
 will call upon the rector of the demon's parish." 
 
 " Humph ? " said Bones, doubtingly. " Well, if you think so." 
 
 " We will inform him of the existence of the fiend your bullet 
 has discovered" — Thrush paused. 
 
 " Very good," cried Bones, cncoiu-agingly. " Very proper — 
 if you think so." 
 
 " The rector will then lay the matter before the bishop of his 
 diocese " — Thrush again paused — 
 
 "Excellent; cpiite according to discipline," said Bones, "and 
 what then ? Humph ? What then ? " 
 
 " Why, then," continued Thrush, with an awful expression of 
 face, " why then, the bishop — I have no doubt of it, whatever — 
 the bishop will, with his pastoral grasp, seize upon Jericho, and 
 haul him into the ecclesiastical court." 
 
 The fierce, grim, cannibal look of the Colonel was softened 
 into compassion. "Poor devil!" said Bones. 
 
 " There is no help for it," cried Thrush, with the air of a man 
 determined upon making a sacrifice in no way distressing to him- 
 self. " No help for it. Perhaps, it is not agreeable to be mixed 
 up with such a matter. It is certaiidy not pleasant to go down
 
 A MAN' MADE OF MONEY. 149 
 
 to posterity in company vv'itli a demon. Nevertlieless, we owe a 
 debt to society ; therefore, we v/ill first obtain the attestation of 
 Doctor Dodo, and so assured, proceed to Doctor Cummin of 
 St. Shekels. Man owes two solemn debts ; one to society, and 
 one to nature. It is only when he pays the second, that he 
 covers the first." 
 
 "Beautiful! Humph?" said Bones. 
 
 " IMy dear fellows," said Stubbs, joining the two friends 
 vowed to the destruction of the demon Jericho, " have you seen 
 Dodo lately ? " 
 
 " Saw him last night, didn't we ? " answered Thrush, with a 
 wink, to Bones. 
 
 " I may speak to both of you confidentially," observed Stubbs 
 in trustful tone, " I believe we aU have a regard for poor Dodo : 
 an excellent fellow — wiU talk, that 's the worst. Has no stopper 
 to his mouth ; what rises from his heart will run out at his lips, 
 that 's his misfortune, poor fellow ! but — well, well, — we all have 
 oiu* faults. Now, I want to ask you " — and Stubbs, looking 
 about him, lowered his voice — " I want to ask, have you observed 
 anything odd about Dodo ? Anything at all flighty ? — you know 
 w'hat I mean." 
 
 "Why, upon my word" — said Thrush, dragging out the 
 syllables, and then pausing, 
 
 " He has a large family ; I may say, a sweet family. An 
 excellent wife, too. But, poor fellow ! he has not had time to 
 be rich, and I hope — yes, I do hope," said Stubbs, emphatic, 
 " that the brain 's all right." 
 
 " What ! Cracked ? " cried Bones. " Does it ring as if 
 cracked — humph ? " 
 
 "This is in the closest confidence," again urged Stubbs; 
 " but I assure you that, for half-an-hour, Dodo would insist upon 
 it that a man — it would be unjust, ungenerous, to mention his 
 name, but a man of unbounded wealth and equal honour — had 
 received a bullet through the left ventricle, you understand, of his 
 heart ; and that the man was stUl alive. And this," Dodo said, 
 "he had witnessed ; had seen the sunset through the perforation. 
 And still alive ! "
 
 150 A MAX MADE OF MONEV. 
 
 Bones slowly rubbed his iiaads. 
 « WeU ? " said Thi-usb, coldly. 
 
 " Well ! " cried Stubbs. " My dear sii-, when a man makes 
 such an avowal, we know tliat the brain — for the time, at least — 
 is gone. And when, moreover, the man happens to be a physi- 
 cian, why then " — and the Doctor, in despair of utterance big 
 enough to express the result, took a pinch of snuff. 
 
 At this moment Doctor Mizzlemist joined the party. " Seen 
 Dodo lately ? " said he, looking mysterious. " Very odd. I 
 suppose he means it as a joke ; but jokes are not exactly the 
 things for physicians ; indeed, not for any man who 'd ride in 
 his carriage. Jokes are the luxury of beggars ; men of substance 
 can't afford 'em." 
 
 " Very true, Doctor," said Stubbs, nodding serious affirmation. 
 
 " Must be mad, I think," said ]\Iizzlemist. " Going aU about 
 the town, swearing that he saw a man shot through the heart, 
 and the man walk from the ground. Why, his diploma isn't 
 worth so much ass's- skin. Who 'd employ such a physician ? 
 Now, this is Dodo's dilemma — law, insanitj^ poverty; the 
 prongs of the caudine fork — if I haven't forgotten my classics," 
 and [Mizzlemist extended his three fingers. 
 
 " "VMiat do you mean ? And only for saying a man was 
 shot," stammered Thrush, " what do you mean ? " 
 
 " In the first place" — and Mizzlemist smacked his lips — "there 
 is hbel, inasmuch as to assert that a man lives with a bullet- 
 liole in his heart, in the opinion of every sound lawyer implies a 
 diabolic compact." 
 
 "Good," cried Stubbs, much satisfied. 
 
 " Secondly, if the physician escape libel, he is open to a writ 
 (7e lunatico," said Mizzlemist, his voice cheerfully rising. 
 
 " There can be no doubt of it," averred Stubbs. 
 
 "Thirdly, if he get clear of libel, and, more extraordinary 
 still, escape a lunatic jury, why, the physician's practice is gone 
 — dead as a fly in his own ointment." 
 
 " Physicians don't keep ointment," said Stubbs, Avith dignity. 
 " We prescribe — simply."
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 151 
 
 " His practice is gone," repeated Mizzlemist, " and then, if 
 he 's not made his fortune, then " — and Mizzlemist rolled the 
 verdict over his tongue, — " then there is poverty, emphatic 
 poverty. And so, as friends of Dr. Dodo, give him a hint, do. 
 Ai'c you going westward, Stubbs ? I see your wheels are at 
 the door. Can you give me a trundle ? " 
 
 "With pleasure," and Stubbs and Mizzlemist straightway 
 departed. 
 
 " You did not see the hole yoiu'self. Colonel ? " asked Thrush, 
 with contemplative face. 
 
 " Why, no. I Avas the last person to look at it, you know. 
 Humph ? " cried Bones. 
 
 " I wish I had had a peep. Would have been more satisfac- 
 tory — much more," said Thi-ush, puzzled. 
 
 " I saw no blood ; and I was near enough to see that. 
 Humph ? " and Bones nibbled liis thumb-nail. 
 
 " After all," and Thi'ush spoke like a man of amended judg- 
 ment, " after all, it must be Dodo's joke, or if not " — and 
 Thrush pointed expressively at his own forehead, " poor feUow ! 
 A large family, too. At all events, we cannot be too prudent. 
 And so, tiU we hear more, I think we will postpone our call 
 upon Doctor Cummin." 
 
 " I must say I wouldn't trouble either him or the bishop 
 without better grounds. For my part I think there must be a 
 mistake. And then there 's hbel, and lunacy, and — though I've 
 nothing to lose — there 's poverty, and — upon my word " — and 
 Bones seemed fixed in the opinion — " I think we had better hold 
 our peace." 
 
 " I think so too," cried Thi'ush, very readily. "For I recol- 
 lect it was a saying of the King of Siam's, that the giant 
 "V^Tiapperwo, who with his little finger could level slone walls, 
 was at last knocked down by his own tongue." 
 
 " Very strange," said Bones, opening a letter — one of two 
 brought by the servant. " Jericho, I suppose to show he 
 bears no malice, asks me to dinner." 
 
 "It is odd," answered Thrush, reading the twin missive;
 
 152 A MAX MADE OF MOXEY. 
 
 " but here, too, he asks me. This looks like conscious inno- 
 cence. Dodo must be jesting, ox must be mad." 
 
 " At all events, we 'U go — humph ? — I say we '11 go " — 
 Thrush bowed assent — " if only to look about us. Nevertheless, 
 I must say that I am anxious for Dodo — anxious for his wife — 
 anxious for his family. Humph ? " 
 
 And Eumom* blew upon the hole in Jericho's heart — blew as 
 through a brazen trumpet — making many modulations. We have 
 heard her at the luxurious Cutancome. Let us listen to her at 
 the Horse and Anchor, frequented by Bob Topps whose sim- 
 plicity and goodnatm'e had made him a sudden favourite with 
 the rugged charioteers who drank and baited at the hostelry. 
 " What 's your fare, Bob ? " a cabman wag would ask, playfully 
 satirical on Eobert's innocence, " what 's your fare, now, from 
 the first of April to Jerusalem ? " Another, in the like vein 
 would demand of Bob "how much he'd take to drive over 
 Lady-day, and set down clear of the water-rate ? " And Bob 
 gave and took in the best of humour, and in a iew days, with the 
 help of ale — the liberal "footing'' of a beginner — commanded, 
 when he would, an attentive audience. And Bob told the story 
 of the duel from the beginning, to pleased listeners. When, 
 however, he came to the hole in the duellist's heart, the duellist 
 still iilive, he met with boisterous unbelief. 
 
 " Upon my word and honour, gentlemen" — said Bob earnestly 
 — " I picked the bullet up myself ; and it was as flat — as flat 
 as any shilling. It had gone clean through him." 
 
 " And him as it hit," asked one of the audience, "was stiU 
 alive ? " 
 
 " Alive ! Why, I tell you, he wanted me to drive him home. 
 But, no, no, says I. In course not : I wasn't goin' to pison 
 my cab, and a new un, too, with brimstone," said Bob saga- 
 ciously. 
 
 " Well, if that lie isn't enough to take one's wheel off"," said an 
 old man, holding Bob's ale-pot in his hand ; and then winking 
 at the donor, and taking a long, deep draught to right himself.
 
 A MAX MADE OF MONEY. 153 
 
 "A hole riglit through him, eh?" said another, a grave 
 jester. " Why didn't you thread him Avith your whip, like a 
 herrin' through the gills ? There 's a song that talks o' hollow 
 hearts, but I 'spose the song don't mean hearts with holes in 
 'em like grindstones." 
 
 " You may say what you like," cried Bob, " I know the man ; 
 I saw the light twinkling through him — and more than that, his 
 name 's Jericho." 
 
 "What! the rich man that they're always talkin' about in 
 the paper ? The man that 's buying everything ? The man 
 that's goin' to have gold scrapers at his door, and lion's head 
 knockers cut out o' diamonds? You're a good fellow, Bob, 
 though you know no more of the fares of town than the Babies 
 in the Wood, — stiU you 're a good fellow, and I wouldn't see 
 you hurt. So you'd better say nothin' aginst such folks as 
 IVIi'. Jericho. Why, what are you to such as him ? He'd put 
 you into the Com-t of Chancery for scandal, and none of your 
 dearest friends — not even the wife o' your bosom with the 
 biggest telescope as ever was, woidd ever be able to see a bit of 
 you agin. Do mind what you 're about," and the philosopher 
 and friend pulled at the ale. 
 
 " Don't tell me," cried Bob; '' t/ud J evidiQ — oh, there's some- 
 thing precious T\Tong there ! A man can't live with a hole in 
 his heart, and the devil know nothin' about it." 
 
 A pelting shower came on ; there was a sudden demand for 
 cabs, and all Bob's audience were speedily on their several boxes. 
 He alone sat in the tap-room, pensive and puzzled. 
 
 " My good lad," said the landlord of the Horse and Anchor, 
 addressing Bob with considerable kindness — " my good lad, I 
 like you, but take my advice — don't give your mind to lying. 
 A lie may do very well for a time ; but like a bad shilling, it 's 
 found out at last — it is, upon my word and honour. Still, if 
 you must lie — if you can't help it — teU lies about them as is 
 your equals ; don't lie agin them that has money enough to eat 
 you. Without salt!" added, in the way of exclamation, the 
 Horse and Anchor. 
 
 n3
 
 151 A i[AN MADK OF MONEY. 
 
 " Breeks, my dear, I 've long been sure of it, tliougli I never 
 said anytliing about it." — 
 
 (The hole in the heart, reader, is now discussed beneath the 
 roof-tree of Breeks, Jericho's tailor ; Mrs. Breeks much outraged 
 in her feelings that her husband wiU continue to make for that 
 serpent.) 
 
 " I never spoke — I never do 'tiU I 'm forced — but as true as 
 I wear a vi'edding-ring, I always used to feel hot and cold shivers 
 when you came from measuring that creature. And some day, 
 some twelve o'clock at night, take my word for it, he '11 be carried 
 off in a red-hot chariot, with your clothes upon him." 
 
 " Should be sorry, JuUa, to lose so good a customer. To be 
 sure, Mr. Jericho is not the man he was " — said Breeks. 
 
 " Man ! There 's no doubt of it, he 's sold himself to 
 Belzebub, and given a stamped receipt in his own blood for 
 the money. Else I should like to know how a man could live 
 with a hole in his heart." 
 
 " It 's nothin' whatever," — said Breeks — " easily enough." 
 
 " Breeks, you 're getting quite a heathen, and for the sake 
 of the dear children, I won't live with you," pouted Mrs. 
 Breeks. 
 
 " See, Julia, what a hole your eyes once made in my heart," 
 cried the flattering tailor. 
 
 "Quite another sort of thing. Holes of that sort ar'n't 
 supposed to kiU J " and the wife proudly smiled. 
 
 " No ; they certainly do heal, and don't leave so much as a 
 scar behind. Time does fine-draw 'em wonderful. But don't 
 believe it, Julia ; certainly Mr. Jericho isn't the man he was : 
 he 's thin to a wonder, and solemn to match. And once he was 
 so lusty and so droll. To be sure, then he never paid, and so 
 took any joke. Do ^ou recollect once when I made him a whole 
 suit, without a single pocket ? ' Wjiy Breeks,' — says he — ' why, 
 there 's never a pocket ; not a shigle pocket.' ' I know that,' 
 says I. ' I made the suit so a purpose.' 'Why so ? ' says he. 
 ' Why,' says I, ' Mr. Jericho, whenever I ask you for money, 
 you say you never by no means have so much as a shillin'.
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 155 
 
 Now, when a mau never has money, what 's the use of pockets ? 
 I wouldn't any longer hurt your feelins to make 'em.' Law ! 
 how he laughed : never laughs now, — but in return, what a 
 jewel of a paymaster ! " 
 
 " Paymaster ! And how do you know where his money 
 comes from ? I shouldn't wonder if Jiis money in partic'lar 
 isn't after all — as Mr. Jabez Spikenard says of all money — so 
 much dust and ashes." 
 
 " I can't say," answered Breeks ; " aU I know is, you very 
 soon turn it^ into mutton and tatoes. And as for the hole 
 that 's talked of — if Mr. Jericho's heart had as many holes as a 
 cullender, you '11 be good enough to wink at 'em." 
 
 " What ! be bUnd to wickedness ! I never was in aU my 
 life, Breeks, not even afore I listened to IVIr. Spikenard, and it 
 isn't likely I 'm going to shut my eyes now. I '11 learn all about 
 this hole of Satan's make, depend upon it : I '11 give all the 
 partic'lars to dear j\Ir. Spikenard, and won't he make a discourse 
 on it that '11 drag the hearts out of the very charity children ! I 
 icill, Breeks," averred the wife. 
 
 " I 'm sorry to hear it, Julia : because, I did intend to give 
 you a new cherry-coloured satin. You look well — 'xtremely 
 well in cherry- colour, Julia. Yes : I had made my mind iip to 
 a new gown." 
 
 " And what 's to baulk a blessed intention, Breeks ? " asked 
 Julia. 
 
 " Why, I 'd put aside the money from a bill of Mr. Jericho's. 
 And only to think, if when you was at chapel, the cherry-coloured 
 satin should turn upon your very back to sackcloth and ashes ! " 
 
 "Breeks, my love," said the wife with sudden energy, "I'll 
 risk it." 
 
 " ]\Ii-. Jericho " — said the tailor — " is shamefully abused. 
 'Cause they can't find a hole in his coat, they pick one in his 
 heart. See, too, what we owe him ! Any other man, when he 
 got rich, would have left the tailor of his struggling years ; 
 would have cut him oif like an end o' thread, — and gone to the 
 west. Has Mr. Jericho done so ? "
 
 150 A MAX MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 " He hasn't, love," said Mrs. Breeks, meltina^. 
 
 " Has money made any difference in liim — 'xcopt this ? 
 More he never paid, and now he does ? " 
 
 "•It 's a sweet truth," cried the wife, continuing to soften. 
 
 " And as for this talk about the hole — it 's a venomous false- 
 hood. Besides, what is it to us ? " 
 
 " ^Miat, indeed ! " exclaimed Mrs. Breeks. 
 
 " He pays his way like a prince — I only wish aU princes 
 paid like him," — cried the emphatic Breeks — " 'twould be 
 better for some tailors. And are we to see a hole in such a 
 customer's heart ? Not if the sun and moon and all the stars 
 vras shining through him. But I don't believe it. No : it's a 
 wicked scandal." 
 
 "Backbiters, as IMi". Spikenard says, are like locusts; they 
 love to feed upon the fat of the land. They 've no doubt bit the 
 hole ; nobody else. Yes, my love ; you 've made me quite happy ; 
 quite restored my confidence in our customer. I shall be proud 
 to wear a gown out of his money ; it will show I don't turn 
 against him. And I think this time, love " — and ]\Irs. Breeks 
 patted the face of her lord with kitten playfulness — " this time, 
 not a cherry-colour; no, dearest ; a crimson." 
 
 In Primrose Place the hole in the heart, played upon by the 
 rapid lips of Mrs. Topps, had a various effect. Bessy was 
 struck with fear and wonder ; Bessy's mother thought there 
 might be something in the story ; and yet could not believe 
 it : and Carraways laughed outright at the tale. " I assure 
 you, father, Jenny seems qiute shocked at the cii'cumstance. 
 Poor girl," said Bessy, " she will have it, something 's going to 
 happen." 
 
 "No doubt," laughed Carraways, "or how would the world go 
 on ? Come, tell us all about it, Jenny," said the old gentleman, 
 as Mrs. Topp^ with a staid, grave face, crept from an inner 
 room. "Mr. Jericho got a hole in his heart, eh? " 
 
 " Yes, sir ; and everybody 's wondering about it — for he 's not 
 dead, and not likely to be," said Jenny.
 
 A MAX MADE OF MONEY. 157 
 
 "And what do you think of it, Jenny ? Come, speak out," 
 said Carraways. 
 
 "Why, if you please, sir, it isn't for such as me to think 
 anything ; still, I have heard of people selling themselves. I 
 have heard that the — the — the " — 
 
 " The devil, eh, Jenny? " said Carraways. 
 
 " If you please, sir," and Jemiy curtsied. " That he walks 
 about like a hungry lion to buy folks." 
 
 "And you think he's had a cheap penn'orth of Mr. Jericho, 
 eh?" 
 
 "I didn't say that, sir," said Jenny; "still, everybody wonders 
 how he's got so rich. He says it's a mine of metal. Folks 
 say, a mine of brimstone. But this I know" — and Jenny 
 encouraged, became voluble — " this I do know. A bullet went 
 through Mr. Jericho's heart ; and the lead was as flat as a plate, 
 for Bob picked it up, and after that Jericho walked away. He 
 wanted to ride ; but Bob — bless him ! — knew better than that. 
 Oh yes ! " 
 
 " And this is Bob's story, is it ? " said Carraways, gravely. 
 " Humph ! I 'm sorry to hear it. I 'm afraid, Jenny, my good 
 girl, I 'm afraid Bob loves to diink." 
 
 " La, sir ! No more than a baby," said Jenny. 
 
 " Just so," said Carraways. 
 
 " Besides, there was a doctor that handled the biJlet — a lucky 
 thing that, for dear Bob — and moreover, that saw through 
 the hole in Mr. Jericho's breast — and more than that, that says 
 he '11 have Mr. Jericho afore the bishops, and put him in the 
 Tantastical Court. And the doctor, by what I hear " — said Mrs. 
 Topps, with burning face — ".drinks no more than Kobert." 
 
 " Well, Jenny, well," said Carraways, with a smile. " I Hke 
 you to defend your husband. It 's very natural ; very proper. 
 But the world, my good girl, can't and won't think as you do. 
 I know a little, you '11 allow, of Bob ; and though I can speak 
 from no absolute evidence, nevertheless, I have a suspicion that 
 he has a liking for drink. If this be so, try and reform him." 
 
 " I will, sir," said .Jenny, and the tears came into her eyes.
 
 158 A MAX MADE OF MOXEV. 
 
 " I may be wi'oiig ; but watch him, and if need be, persuade 
 him against so dreadfid a A'icc." 
 
 " I will, su', indeed I will," cried Jenny, weeping outright. 
 
 " I don't believe this story. Xobody will believe it. Every- 
 body will take it as a drunkard's tale ; therefore, warn Bob ; warn 
 him from me. There 's a good girl." 
 
 " I will, sii' ; thank 'ee, sir," and poor Jenny, with saddened 
 heart, crept from Primrose Place, sorrowfid for her weak and 
 foohsh husband. It was the first thin cloud that had crossed the 
 honeymoon ; and suddenly, the world had never looked so dark 
 to Jenny. 
 
 The Hon. Cesar Candituft, on the night of the duel, went to 
 bed in a state of grievous perplexity. There could be no doubt 
 that the bullet had passed through Jericho. The man, it was 
 horribly clear, held a supernatural tenm-e of existence. It was 
 impossible to continue his friendship, for the mystery would be 
 blown in all corners of the town. Impossible, too — or, at least, 
 unsafe — to marry into such a family. Who was to know what 
 infernal compact did, or did net, exist among them ? That he, 
 Cesai', should have a bosom friend, so rich, with a hole in his 
 heart ! 
 
 l^'Ir. Candituft, wearied by dreams in no way complimentary to 
 Jericho, sat late at breakfast. The servant brought in a smaU 
 packet. It was a letter from Mr. Jericho with a most mag- 
 nificent diamond ring. " Wear this diamond, my deai" Cesar," 
 ran Jericho's missive, " as the type of a friendship, bright, 
 imflawed, and everlasting." Candituft was a judge of diamonds. 
 The stone was splendid; costly. As Cesar sat, gazing at the 
 lustrous present, his heart melted in charitable emotions towards 
 the donor ; his brain sang thanksgiving. He rose, and approach- 
 ing the window, in sweet luxurious idleness of feeling, tried the 
 gem upon the glass. He wrote with diamond point : 
 
 " Friendship, mysterious cement of the soul, 
 I owe thee much."
 
 A MAX MADE OF MONEV. 159 
 
 " Very good," said Basil Pennibacker, looking over Cesar's 
 shoulder, " but you hav'n't put down the amount." 
 
 " Mr. Pennibacker," exclaimed Candituft, " this is an honour 
 that "— 
 
 " Don't name it. I 've dropt in like a housebreaker upon you ; 
 but the fact is, by what I hear, blue lire 's come into fashion 
 again," said Basil. 
 
 " What can you possibly mean, dear Mr. Pennibacker ? " asked 
 Cesar, sweetly unconscious. 
 
 " ]\Ir. Candituft" — said Basil — "you must be kind enough to 
 explain a matter to me. Understand, I have no objection what- 
 ever to the sale of any gentleman to the — I wish to be guarded 
 in my words — to the iniquitous principle. If people will take 
 themselves to Horns-and-Tail Market, why, that 's their affair. 
 I may drop a buttermilk tear or so, as you would do, but I 
 shouldn't tliink of holding 'em back. After all, sir, to speak plainly, 
 it is said about town that my respected father-in-law, 'Mr. Solomon 
 Jericho, has sold himself to the devil." Candituft started, 
 " Have you any knowledge of the interesting transaction?" 
 
 " I! Mr. Basil Pennibacker! " exclaimed Candituft,his thoughts 
 wandering and wounded. 
 
 "Understand," said Basil, very calmly : "pray, understand. 
 I have no objection whatever to the sale on Mr. Jericho's personal 
 account ; only the world may think that the sulphur runs through 
 the whole family." 
 
 " Sm-ely, sir " — said Candituft — " surely you are in jest ? " 
 
 " If my words were engrossed on parchment, with a fifty 
 pound stamp to 'em, they couldn't be more serious. Last night, 
 Mr. Jericho fought a duel ? Battersea fields ? You were his 
 second ? So far, I find I 'm right. Well, sir, it is said that 
 Colonel Bones fired a ball through the heart — how the ball found 
 it out, I can't say — through the heart of Mi*. Jericho." 
 
 Candituft di'opped his eyelids — smiled — and shook his head. 
 
 "Is this true?" asked Basil. "Doctor Dodo swears it's 
 true ; but Dodo — some folks say — is a lunatic. Is it true that 
 Jericho, with a hole through his heart, like a hole through a
 
 160 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 tailor's tbimble, lauglicd at tlie thing as a good joke, and walked 
 like a postman from the ground?" 
 
 " ]Mi-. Pennibacker, in this world we light upon strange 
 people " — 
 
 " ^^Tiat the monkey said " — cried Basil — " when he met his 
 sweetheart in the Ark. Go on." 
 
 " Do you not perceive, ]\Ir. Basil — is it not very strange — that 
 a man of your extraordinary acumen does not discover this bullet 
 to be — a — a metaphor ? " 
 
 " I don't know," said Basil. " To be sure I have known 
 metaphors of the like metal. But what do you mean ? "Where 's 
 the metaphor, when the world calls Mr. Jericho, the Man with 
 a Hole in his Heart ! " 
 
 " Ha ! sir," cried Candituft, " it is saddening to a man who 
 tries hard to' love his species — to be compelled to hear such 
 things. Malice ! Envy ! The cant of tvicked poverty — nothing 
 more. Because a man is rich, he must have no emotions ; 
 because his pocket is crammed, his heart must have a hole 
 in it." 
 
 "Humph!" said Basil doubtfully.— '' Well, I 'm— yes, I^m 
 satisfied." 
 
 And the hero, Cesar Candituft, glanced at his diamond, and 
 said to himself — " So am I." 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 Mr. Jekiciio was fully conscious of the malice of rumour. 
 He well knew that he appeared before the world in a super- 
 natural, perhaps, in a demoniacal light. The timidity, the 
 tremors of Mrs. Jericho and her daughters, convinced him that 
 they saw in husband and father, a mau of most mysterious 
 attributes. Monica, with all her strength of mind, turned pale 
 at the smallest courtesy of her parent ; and Agatha, suddenly 
 meeting him on the staircase, squealed and ran away as from a
 
 A -MAN MADE OF MOXEY. 161 
 
 tlencl. " Mamma, dear mamma," she exclaimed iu a moment 
 of anxious tenderness, " I 'm sm'e ]\Ir. Jericho 's sold ; every 
 body says so — sold. If you love me, tell me now — does 
 your niglit-Hght burn blue ? " And tliougli Mrs. .Tericlio very 
 majestically rebuked the giddiness of her daughter, the wife 
 iu the deep, silent night — the shrunken Jericho fast asleep, 
 screwed up in himself as you would twist a bank-note — the wife 
 would feel the solemnity of her whereabout. " Should the 
 buyer come ! " she thought while abed — and if folks could be 
 arraigned for their thoughts, what goodly company would throng 
 the bar ! — " should the buyer come, I trust he '11 know his own 
 side." 
 
 Yet Jericho, from the first hour of his change, never felt so 
 strong in himself; so insolently vigorous in mind and bod3\ 
 It was clear he should live for ever : he had been made immortal 
 by money (not so uncommon a creed this). Death was to be 
 awed like the human vulgar, and to pay respect to wealth. 
 The principle of property was to flourish everlastingly in him, 
 Solouion Jericho ! True it was, he continued to sluink — to 
 waste. Nevertheless, he could not wholly disappear : he must 
 have body, no matter for its tenuity. But that he was elevated 
 bej'ond the anatomical accidents of common humanity, was 
 plain from the ball that had passed through his heart, and he 
 alive, without the loss of one drop of blood. To be sure the 
 hole — for he had stood betv."een two mirrors and seen through 
 himself — the hole had an ugly look, but who was to know it ? 
 A secret to be easily kept, with proper caution, even from the 
 wife of his bosom. 
 
 Therefore, Jericho despised the innuendoes, the hints that 
 buzzed up and down the world — no more valued them than 
 a cloud of summer gnats. And wherefore? He knew the way 
 to confound and kill them. In the might and immortality of 
 liis money, he would bring back homage, flattery, devotion. He 
 looked upon the world and its millions, as his palace — his 
 subjects. He felt himself the elect of wealth — the chosen one 
 designed to develope to the human race the enduring rule of cash.
 
 162 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 Fi-om such moment, there was to him notliing high, nothing 
 great, nothing beautiful in humanity, — and for this reason, 
 Jericho beUeved he could purchase it. In his moneyed eye, man 
 in his noblest striving, woman in her holiest devotion, was 
 ticketted and bore a price. Truth and virtue at the highest and 
 best, were things for market : and Jericho scorned them, — 
 because, when he would, he could destroy either commodity, by 
 huckstering for it. 
 
 Jericho strong, stem in his power, had cast about him the 
 most magnificent presents. He had sought occasion to bestow 
 gifts of worth and beauty upon the merest acquaintance ; in aU 
 cases, contriving that the donation should harmonise with the 
 taste — melodiously accord with the wish of the gifted. Jewels, 
 pictures, horses had Jericho — with more than imperial bountj^ — 
 bestowed upon all sides. A week only after the duel, and 
 Jericho had more than trebled the number of his friends and 
 champions. The Hole in the Heart, in the eye of Jericho's 
 world had gradually closed ; and the heart was nobler, better, 
 truer, kindlier than ever. 
 
 ]Mi"3. Jericho was soon sweetly comforted by the enthusiasm 
 of crowds of dear friends for her magnificent husband. She 
 ought, indeed, to be a happy woman, possessing such a 
 man. "V^liereupon, Mrs. Jericho, with the sbglitest touch of 
 remorse for past ingenuous thoughts, owned he was the best of 
 creatures. And then she wondered how it was, that any man 
 with so large a soul, should have so little substance. It really 
 seemed as if all Jericho's flesh went to make heart 1 
 
 And Monica entirely vanquished her fears. And Agatha 
 never screamed again : no ; she would smile when she met her 
 dear father ; more, would raise herself upon her toes, and take a 
 kiss from him, gulping it with great content. How, indeed, 
 could wicked rumours any longer pass into the ears of the young 
 ladies, when their father had hung there the costliest ear-rings ? 
 Those diamonds — like the diamond shield of St. George — shamed 
 and confounded everything false that approached them. A happy 
 thought, this, of Jericho's, to protect an ear with a diamond !
 
 A MAX MADE OF MONEY. 163 
 
 Nevertheless, j\Ir, Jericho was doomed to meet with a rebuff. 
 Ill the full flush of victory he was to be chiUed. Among his 
 lam'els there was au ugly, domestic slug, that woidd stick there. 
 And this, too, with Jericho's power of money ! However, the 
 annoyance was only passing ; a bank-note or two would wipe 
 the eye-sore off ; would make the soiled leaf immortally green. 
 Now, this contemptible, yet irritating slug, was our young friend 
 Basil, changed almost as much as Jericho himself. Love had 
 seemed to give sudden maturity to his brain : had seemed to 
 have advanced to meet time on his way, learning by anticipation 
 his goodly lessons. It was only at intervals that Basil's odd, 
 quaint spirit, that had shone in him from boyhood, would now 
 reveal itself. At times, he would be as fantastic as ever, but the 
 fitful jest would die in sudden gravity. However, altered as 
 Basil was, his arrival at the mansion of Jericho was a matter of 
 delight to his mother and sisters. Mrs. Jericho's only trouble 
 was, that her foolish boy would not be friendly with his excel- 
 lent father. And both the girls would earnestly assm-e their 
 brother — though they must own ]Mi*. Jericho got awfuUy thin, 
 and they could not account for it — that after all he was a dear, 
 kind man, and never refused anything. 
 
 " Why, what is the matter, my dear Basil ? " said IVIrs. Jericho. 
 " Why, you look ten years older. I 'm sure you study too much. 
 And, you foolish boy, why should you study at all, now ? " 
 
 " Why, indeed, mamma ? " asked Monica. "Why not leave 
 law to people — poor creatm'cs ! — who have nothing but their 
 wits ? By what I hear, there 's not room even for them : and, 
 as Mr. Candituft says, it is not kind' — it is not philanthropic — 
 for wealth to study to take the bread out of the mouths of the 
 indigent. Do give up those horrid chambers, and be a 
 gentleman." 
 
 " Yes, deal'," said Agatha ; " and if you must employ yoia* 
 time, why not go into the army ? You would look charming, 
 Basil, you would, indeed ; and I 'm siu-e Mr. Jericho would buy 
 you as many regiments as you 'd like to be officer to. Do be a 
 soldier — there 's a darbntr."
 
 164 A MAN MADE OF MONET. 
 
 " Or, my dear Basil," — observed ]\Ii-s. Jericho with serious 
 emphasis, — " as you seem strangely inclined to a sober view of 
 the world, if you would prefer the church — not, for my ovni part, 
 that I think any profession necessary for you — nevertheless, if 
 you have a regard for the chui'ch — I do not see, looking into the 
 probability of events, and contemplating — as I have contem- 
 plated — the growing interest of Mr. Jericho — I do not see, my 
 dear child, why you should not be a bishop." And ]\Irs. Jericho 
 resignedly folded her hands at the prospect of Canaan. 
 
 " Thank you, my dear madam — in the meantime can I see Mr. 
 Jericho ? " asked Basil. 
 
 " Of course, my love. He '11 be enchanted at your visit ; 
 delighted to see you. Here, my dear." Basil followed his 
 mother ; who, pausing in an ante-room, turned to her son. 
 " Now, my dear boy, do be courteous to yom* father. He loves 
 you — I know he loves you. And yet you will look so coldly. 
 Ha ! Basil, you don't know ]\Ir. Jericho's heart." 
 
 " Humph ! " said Basil, 
 
 " My dear," said Mrs. Jericho, entering the library, where 
 Jericho sat, "I have brought you a truant." 
 
 " Happy to welcome him," said Mr. Jericho ; and he rose, 
 and approaching Basil, held out his hand. Basil, with a look of 
 horror, started back. 
 
 " Basil ! My love ! " cried j\Irs. Jericho, astonished at her 
 son's emotion. " What is the matter? " 
 
 " Why, the truth is, dear madam " — said Basil — " I haven't 
 seen Mr. Jericho for some time ; and if he continue to dwindle 
 at the same rate, I take it in another month he '11 hardly be 
 visible to the naked eye," 
 
 " Mx. Pennibacker," — said Jericho, with all his power of 
 money — " have you any business with me ? " 
 
 " If you please — in private," and Basil looked at his mother. 
 
 " Basil !" cried Mrs. Jericho, in a tone of protest ; but Jericho 
 waved his hand, and without another word, Mrs. Jericho obeyed 
 the implied gesture. Some shrews are tamed by the more 
 tvrannous constitution. INlrs. Jericho had been altogether over-
 
 A MAX MADE OF MOXEY. 1G5 
 
 come, softened into tlie most docile of creatures by her husband's 
 money. He seemed to have bought the good-will of her bad 
 temper. 
 
 "I am to understand, JMr. Pennibacker," said Jericho majes- 
 tically, "that you refuse my hand?" 
 
 " If you please," answered Basil. 
 
 " It is my affection for your mother, my love for her daughters, 
 and — I ought to be ashamed perhaps to confess the weakness — 
 and a lingering esteem for you, that induce me to condescend 
 to ask, why you presume to refuse the hand — the hand, young 
 man — that has fostered you? " 
 
 " Mr. Jericho," said Basil, plunging into his subject, " are 
 you aware what the world says of you? " 
 
 "What? " asked Jericho, with a grim and ghastly smile. 
 
 " Why, it says that — common report, by the way, isn't very 
 choice in its language — it says that you have sold yom'self to the 
 devil." 
 
 Jericho rose, and with his sternest dignity and best com- 
 posure, asked — " WiU you take the stairs, young man, or shall 
 I have you thrown out of the window ? " 
 
 " Just one moment, sir, and when I've finished my business, 
 I'll make my choice. You sent me some bank-notes, Sir. 
 Jericho," said Basil, taking a letter from his pocket. 
 
 " I am almost ashamed to own it," answered Jericho. " But 
 I knew that to a young man — a youth of generous feelings — 
 money was always acceptable; and — yes I am ashamed to 
 confess it — I was weak, foolish, fond enough to supply you 
 with a large sum of mone}'." Here ]\Ii*. Jericho took out his 
 pocket-handkerchief. 
 
 " I did not believe the story of the diabolic transfer," said 
 Basil ; and Jericho beheved he had softened his son-in-law ; — 
 " not for w^ant of witnesses ; because, we know, when the devil 
 buys, two parties are sufficient to the deed. That I know, 
 allow me to say, as a moralist and a lawyer." 
 
 Jericho ventured to bow. 
 
 " I had heard the story of the duel ; and inquired into it.
 
 166 A MAN HADE QF MONEY. 
 
 As for the bullet going tbrougli your heart, IVIr. Jericho, and 
 you stiU paying the world the politeness to remain among us, I 
 did not — though it posed me at first — I did not believe that, 
 either. The bidlet was a figure — the hole a metaphor — I was 
 satisfied, and thought my mother safe." 
 
 " I respect your filial anxiety, 'Mi: Pennibacker, though it is 
 so ridiculously needless. Ha ! ha ! Then you were satisfied of 
 the insanity of Doctor Dodo ? By the way, poor man ! I'm soriy 
 for him — sorry for his family. Of course, his practice is gone ; 
 no man's life safe in his hands. Poor fellow ! WeU, w^ell, 
 we're frail, feeble creatures. Very arrogant in our wisdom, 
 and yet — let a pin's point touch the brain, as Doctor Stubbs 
 w'ell observes — and where are we ? However, the poor Doctor's 
 family shall not starve. No : I shall most assuredly provide 
 for his widow and children." But Avitli all tliis, Jericho failed 
 to call forth any cordial love from Basil's face. He sat stern 
 and self-sustained. 
 
 "You sent me this letter, IMi-. Jericho," — said Basil — "with 
 bank-notes ? " 
 
 "A thousand pounds in — I believe — ^in hundreds," answered 
 Jericho carelessly. 
 
 " May I ask, sir, where you took these notes ?" asked Basil. 
 
 ""VMiere! What is that to you, sii*?" and Jericho began to 
 chafe. At last, with a forced smile, as though disdaining him- 
 self for the condescension, he said — "they're new notes, ar'n't 
 they?" 
 
 Basil looked at Jericho, and then at the notes. Then he 
 cnimpled the paper in his fingers, and the s\Tnpathetic heart — 
 the heart of money — felt a pang, and Jericho was, for a moment, 
 drawn up in his chair, knees to chin. Basil eyed him Avith 
 a fierce look — eyed the notes. " Humph ! " he said, " Odd, tough 
 paper ! And the marks don't look like ink, but black blood." 
 
 " What do you mean, villain ? " cried Jericho ; and — it was a 
 momentary flash of thought, of will — and Jericho saw Basil, 
 dallying as he was with the secret, silenced, killed, put out of 
 the way.
 
 y/ 

 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 167 
 
 " And the hole, sir ! Do you mark ? " and Basil smoothed 
 ont a note. "Odd, isn't it? Just the round of a pistol 
 bullet," and Basil advanced the perforated paper under the very 
 nose of Jericho, who, fallen in his chaii*, shrank up bodily from 
 the note as from a spear's point. " Come, sir," cried BasQ, 
 " confess at once." 
 
 " Why, what is the matter? Confess ! " cried IVIrs. Jericho, 
 who had Ungered near the door, and, alarmed and confused by 
 the half-sentences that reached her, re-entered the library. 
 " Confess what ? " 
 
 "I will confess," said Jericho : " and I could only wish that 
 all the world could hear me ; that all the world might know 
 yom- baseness," and the Man of Money glared at Basil. 
 
 " Baseness ! Impossible ! Dearest Solomon ! " cried IVIi's. 
 Jericho. 
 
 "My love," said Jericho : " I have acted weakly — I own it. 
 Condescending to the prejudices of society, in a rash moment, I 
 consented to fight a duel." 
 
 "The rumour, Solomon, had reached me; but I would not 
 reproach yoii : no ; I have struggled with my feelings, and been 
 silent. You cared not to make me a widow," said Mrs. Jericho, 
 "but heaven knows I forgive you." 
 
 " I received my adversary's ball here," — said Jericho, spread- 
 ing his hand over his heart, "A poor man must have been 
 killed, but there is a fate that watches over property. I was 
 providentially preserved by my money. I hope I am thankful," 
 and Jericho carefully wiped his dry eyes. 
 
 " Proceed — I conjure you," exclaimed Mrs. Jericho, with an 
 alarmmg gush of tenderness. 
 
 " I earned my pocket-book here : 'twas full of notes, the ball 
 went through eveiy one of them ; and" — 
 
 Mi's. Jericho shrieked, as though the pei-il was imminent. 
 "And stopt short at my shirt," and Jericho paused. 
 " I breathe again," exclaimed the thankful wife. 
 " Well, my dear, I now come to my confession. I had 
 intended to present your son with a handsome amount on his
 
 168 A MAX MADE OF MONEV. 
 
 approaching birtli-tlay. I sent liim a tliousand pounds. It now 
 appears — for tlie circumstance bad escaped me — tliat tlie notes 
 were among those perforated by the pistol-ball. I might have 
 thought " — and Jericho tried to feel much hurt — " that such 
 perforation would have enhanced the value — yes, of a thousand 
 pounds ; but, I regret to say it, the young man is hardened — 
 bronzed against the iinest emotions of the soul — even when 
 recommended by money. Madam, he is incorrigible." 
 
 Mrs. Jericho was wholly won by the story of her husband. 
 Kind, good, generous creature ! So liberal to Basil. She sent 
 to Jericho a look of thankful fondness, and then shook her head 
 at her abashed offspring. 
 
 Tes — abashed. Basil was puzzled by the ingenuous confes- 
 sion of his father-in-law. For a moment he felt a touch of 
 remorse, and was about to spring forward and seize Jericho's 
 hand. And then he paused, and doubt came up again. "If I 
 am wrong, Mr. Jericho — if I have been rash and rude, I shall be 
 o-lad, delighted, sir, to ask your pardon. But you must allow 
 me to take a little time — to sift my evidence a little finer. 
 Meanwhile, sir, you may impound the money," and Basil laid 
 the notes before IVIr. Jericho. " Good bye, my dear mother; 
 you '11 hear, I hope, good news of me soon. Am on the high 
 road of happiness, and hope soon to put up at All Earthly 
 Bliss." 
 
 " A strange, wild creature," said i\Irs. Jericho, following her 
 son with loving looks as he darted from the room. " But good 
 — yes, dear, believe it, good. His heart, I know it, is in its 
 right place. And these " — and Mrs. Jericho took up the ten 
 hundred pound notes with a hole in each — " and these protected 
 youY heart ! Henceforth, to me they are enhanced beyond all 
 price. — Yes, Jericho — Solomon — husband," and the fond wife 
 carefully folded up the bank notes, and as carefully placed them 
 in her bosom, laying her guardian hand above them- — ■'■'■ yes, I 
 shall treasui'e them. No power — none, Jericho — shall tear them 
 from me. They saved your life, and to mc they are hereafter 
 beyond all price."
 
 A MAN MADE OF MO.NBY, 169 
 
 Jericho endeavoured to look resigned — pleased. Sucli devo- 
 tion flattered liim, though he could not but feel that it cost him 
 a thousand pounds. 
 
 (With respect to the hole in the heart, let us clear up as we 
 proceed. In a very little while every bank-note was perfect as 
 before. This was to be expected. When a heart is wholly 
 made of money, how can it long feel the worst of wounds ?) 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 And Mr. Jericho went on, a rejoicing conqueror. His huge 
 town mansion, burning with gold — the very domain of uphol- 
 stery, massive, rich and gorgeous, for the Man of Money was for 
 the most substantial, the most potent development of his creed, 
 whereby to awe and oppress his worshippers — his house, in its 
 wide hospitality, embraced, as Jericho devoutly believed, the 
 world.- Let all mankind outside his walls suddenly sink and 
 die, and he would be convinced that stiU under his roof-tree 
 were gathered together all the men and women who composed 
 the heart, the kernel of human life. The earth might be reple- 
 nished and set up again all the better, the finer ; both for what 
 was lost, and what was spared. The kernel might grow kernels, 
 without husk or straw. 
 
 And comfortable, happy people, with the bread of competence 
 and the butter of comfort inch-thick, would nevertheless marvel 
 at the imagined happiness, tlie life-long rapture of Jericho, And 
 honest, well-to-do folk, from country homes would stare at 
 Jericho House as though it was made of a single diamond cut 
 into chambers and banquetting-halls : for it was to them a mag- 
 nified Mountain of Light, albeit they had never heard of the 
 jewel. And London paupers stared at the walls, as though they 
 saw in them a strange, fantastic reflection of their own rags and 
 wretchedness ; and took a savage pleasure, a malicious joy in 
 seeing their hungry faces flung back from the House of Gold. 
 
 . I
 
 170 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 And there were others wlio delighted, though they tasted not 
 of his labours, in all that Jericho did : they instinctively loved 
 him for his money, although they had no hope of a farthing of 
 it. Nevertheless was he to them a mighty power — a great pre- 
 sence; one of the wonders of our mortal state. Coidd IMi*. 
 Jericho have papered the sky with bank-notes, these impartial 
 admirers would have sung praises to the work and the workman. 
 It would have been a marvellous triumph of wealth ; to be 
 honoured by the weU-to-do accordingly. 
 
 Nevertheless, so headstrong, so self-destructive was Basil 
 Pennibacker, that he refused to cross the threshold of Jericho 
 House. He resolved to break for ever with the Man of Money, 
 He had made his last essay upon his own spirit ; and impulsive 
 and indignant, it rose above the politic restraint. He would 
 touch no farthing of Jericho's means; he would, in his own 
 want, be nevertheless his own man of money, 
 
 Basil sat in his chamber writing. A letter lay before him. It 
 was from his mother — the last of many, sent day after day — 
 entreating him to Jericho House. AU the world would be there 
 only too glad to show delight upon the occasion; for it was 
 Basil's birth-day. On that day, he came of age. On that day, 
 he gave a quittance to natural and legal guardians ; and became 
 invested with the rights of citizen. On that day, in Basil's own 
 words, he was free to sit down in Parliament, if he could only 
 find a seat. On that day, he took possession of man's estate — 
 with Jiis purposes and aspirations, a glorious heritage ! And 
 Basil proposed to keep his bii'th-day in finest state, too, though 
 not at the board of his legal father. And tliis determination he 
 had again wiitten — had folded and sealed the letter, when the 
 clock struck twelve, Basil rose to his feet at the first stroke, 
 and, with self-communing looks, paused until the hour was told. 
 In that brief space, he had entered into a compact with his 
 heart, and — with uplifted eyes — silently asked for strength to 
 maintain it. 
 
 Basil then cast a heap of papers in the flames — letters and 
 other records of his dead, disowned life — and, as he stood lean-
 
 A MAN MADE OF MOXEY. 171 
 
 ing at the fireside, watcliing the destruction of notes and recol- 
 lections once so treasured ; as he looked down upon the curling 
 flames, and now and then tossed back some scattered fragments 
 to the burning heap, he laughed a moment as in contempt of his 
 olden idols — for he had worn some of those things in his bosom, 
 had kissed them with his lips, had read their words, as though 
 he caught their syllables from speaking mouths. And now he 
 laughed ; and the next moment a grave look rebuked the levity. 
 The flames Avent out ; the papers were consumed ; and casting 
 one look at their ashes, specked with dying fii"e, Basil went to 
 his rest. He had fulfilled his self-promise ; had accomplished his 
 first work. He had, as he purposed, seen his birth-day in alone : 
 in due and solemn state — as he was fain in after-times to avow; 
 with preparation and with ceremony befitting the crowning 
 One-and-Twenty. 
 
 Basil rose early on his birth-day. He was up and out ; for 
 he feared to be waylaid by his mother and sisters — and he had 
 resolved, and it was hardly the day to begin with weakness, not 
 to be made the show at Jericho House. And he felt anger, pity, 
 that Bessy and her father and mother — the girl so sweet, so 
 gentle ; the old man with so cheery and strong a heart ; and 
 the wife so soft and patient, with not a frown or angry word 
 for fortune — should be forgotten, cast aside like holiday gar- 
 ments sported and worn out : — that his mother and sisters 
 should do this — should value his love for the daughter of a 
 ruined man, as a mere caprice — a wayward generosity, which, 
 with any other youthful freak, would last its time, and then 
 subside and die — gave him the heart-ache, not unmixed with 
 shame — the sharp shame that comes with blushes for those we 
 love. 
 
 Basil, we say, left home early, resolved in his own fashion to 
 celebrate his coming of age. It was the first day he showed to 
 the world, — a citizen. He had determined to strip himself for 
 the race of life, casting aside all needless trappings ; all foolish 
 cumbrous pride ; all vanities, that at their best bladdery light- 
 ness, take much room ; and sometimes, make much idle noise. 
 
 . I 2
 
 172 A .MAX MADE OF iiOXEY. 
 
 He would start iu liis path like a runner in his coui'sc. But he 
 shall give the history of the day — an odd, curious day for a 
 newly-risen heir — iu his own words. He shall give it as he 
 narrated it years after ; when the flush of youth had passed 
 from his brow ; and in manly maturity of strength and beauty, 
 with some forty years descended with grace and goodness on his 
 head ; some forty years hardening his cheek ; and looking with 
 sober sweetness from his eyes, — he told the story of liis twenty- 
 first birth-day, to his eldest boy aged eighteen. 
 
 " It was after this manner, Basil" — for the boy though some 
 time distant from the world, is upon arrival to have his father's 
 name — " after tliis manner, boy. 
 
 " Up and early through the city to the fields ; and there, in 
 the eye of God, my knees upon their kindred clay, my spirit 
 seeking its hoped-for home — I asked a blessing on the day. I 
 prayed that my heart might feel the freshness of life, even as my 
 body felt in every limb the freshness of the morning earth, I 
 prayed that my soul might be lighted, even as my sight, with the 
 glory that from the gates of heaven streamed upon the world. 
 I prayed that I might carry through my days the mingled 
 feelings of that time. — The constant touch of earth that warned 
 me whence I came — the flooding light of heaven that showed me 
 where I 'd go. 
 
 " And then, Basil, I walked about the fields, and began to 
 school myself — making little moralities by the way — to see 
 nothing common in my path, wheresoever it fell — still to wonder 
 at a blade of grass, with its thousand veins, carrying up and 
 down the nourishing green blood. And then, I would lay down 
 awhile, and listen to the lark — there is a mighty orchestra in 
 fields and woods, if we would but cidtivate the ear to attend to the 
 musicians, — listen until my blood throbbed in my ears, and I 
 sprang to the earth, bounding with joy and life. And then, 
 I peeped in and out of hedges, plucking little gentle, bashful 
 flowers, that looked so beautiful in the hght, and jireached this 
 lesson — one of the many of the day — to him who plucked them ; 
 to look tenderly, thoughtfully for humble worth, — the hedge
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 173 
 
 flowers of the world ; the very poor relations, but still relations, 
 of the lilies of the field, 
 
 " After an hour or two, I felt it must be time for breakfast ; 
 and I resolved to take the meal in joatriarchal state. And I 
 moreover resolved, on this day, to take a lesson of temperance. 
 So I pitched upon a little bit of a hillock, no higher than a 
 woolsack, with a tall poplar in the middle of it. Well, I lay 
 myself down, and laid my breakfast. Eolls, and butter, a bottle 
 of milk and hard eggs. But the moment I was about to fall to, 
 a bird, perched on the top branch of the tree, piped away, as 
 though giving me especial welcome to his breakfast parlour : 
 pausing to acknowledge the creature's civility, my breakfast still 
 remained imtasted. Just as the music was finished, a miserable 
 woman — a moving bimdle of rags — with three children, crawled 
 round a corner of the hedge and paused, and for the moment, 
 seeing my breakfast, looked as though they beheld the Land of 
 Promise (if, indeed, such misery had been ever cheered with the 
 tidings of it). 
 
 " And now there were four unexpected guests — four hungry 
 mouths that, without uttering a syllable, had declared for my 
 breakfast. The wi'etched woman's eyes shone with an uncom- 
 fortable light ; a glittering sharpness, as she saw the food. 
 And the chikben though they never stirred a foot — the bread 
 and butter seemed to drag their hungry heads and shoulders 
 forward. A grand opportunity this for self-discipline. Provi- 
 dence had so ordered it, that I might open my Twenty-Pirst 
 Bu'th-Day in a goodly and hopeful manner. I gladly acknow- 
 ledged the occasion ; and, at a word, called the woman and her 
 children to the outspread meal — there Avas not enough for all of 
 us — and yielding my place, departed. It was plain the woman 
 thought me mad. She watched me as I ascended the hill ; and 
 — I could see — wondering at the stranger, sat down with 
 her chikben, doubtless thanking her fortune that had that day 
 sent her a lunatic. And this was my breakfast when I came of 
 age — so began my trial birth-day. 
 
 " I made my way back to the town, that I might go on with
 
 17-i A MAX MADE OF^ilOXCY. 
 
 my lessons : for I determined to study one matter or the other 
 until I returned to bed. I walked in the Park. There was a 
 drill-serjeant at work with a score or so of young recruits; 
 human clods in scarlet livery. It was odd, and in my 
 humour, sad to see with what pains and care the master-man 
 thumped and punched and rapped and rebuked his louting, 
 goggling, shambling, prentices. With what serene stupidity 
 they took a tap upon the knuckles, as though the cane was 
 some light prettiness of office — some radiant peacock's feather; 
 nought uglier or heavier, descending. Curious, too, to see how 
 contentedly these lumps of men would swallow an oath and 
 curse flung at them, as though the blasphemy and malediction 
 were an expected part and portion of their daily bread. And 
 so these civil babes and sucklings were swathed and bandaged, 
 and set upon their legs, and taught to walk, and shoot, and 
 stab, and — upon severe occasions — to throw firebrands among 
 cottage thatch, and bomb-shells upon consecrated churches. 
 And I thought this a sad sight ; spectacle of folly, and crime, 
 and ignorance. And I determined, for my life forward, when- 
 ever I heard of glory, to tliink and speak of \t, as an evil in the 
 ornaments of greatness — a harlot in jewels and a crown ; and 
 these filched from the transmuted toU of the peasant and the 
 craftsman. And this was the next lesson of my birth-day. 
 
 " Then I wandered to a famous spot. — It was where, in the 
 olden time, the great grim men in power — who wore authority, 
 as though authority should have the look and manners of an 
 ogre, not of a sage — set up the piUory wherein men were 
 punished for having souls with more than the proper daring 
 and stubbornness of souls. Souls that would have their own 
 opinions, as their masters had their own teeth ; to digest for 
 themselves, and not take in the spoon's-meat of power, with 
 thankful looks for what was given them. And the bodies 
 corrupted with these wicked and rebellious soixls were placed 
 in the pillory — and approaching the spot, I bowed to the 
 place; the martyr-field of opinion. And — perhaps, it was 
 that I was hungry, and with empty stomachs, men, they say,
 
 A MAX MADE OF MOI^EY. 175 
 
 have sometimes wandering heads, but my sou" — (the reader, we 
 trust, has not forgotten that Basil is all the while talking in this 
 page by anticipation — compelled to do so by the tyranny of the 
 quill, to his unborn boy Basil, junior) — " but my son, I 
 winked, and when I looked again, there, indeed, was the 
 pillory : but not the pillory of punishment ; not the dry, meagre 
 wood ; the hungry flesh-devom'ing timber. — No : the blood that 
 had run about it carried strange virtue with it ; a strange 
 excellence, under the brooding wings of time. The naked wood 
 imbibed the stream ; and the bare pillory became leafy as laurel, 
 and fruitfid as the vine : the leaves of a strange sort, but 
 vmdying ; and filled with a sweet perfume that scented far 
 around. And the fruit was of a curious, a delicious kind; bite 
 and bite as you would, the lovely pulp returned, the Avound 
 healed ; now bitten, and now whole. Well, my boy, having had 
 my day-di'eam — ^my vision of the piUory — I learned to strive to 
 look backward with thankful looks : I learned to read the 
 suffering of the man by the light of his time, and — with 
 aU love for the living — to have gratitude for the dead. We 
 are too apt to bmy our accounts along with our benefactors ; 
 to enjoy the triumphs of others, as though they were the 
 just property of ourselves. Now, to think against this, was 
 another lesson — a lesson learned in the Place of Pillory — of my 
 birth-day. 
 
 " And then I looked into a Court of Law — then into a Church 
 — then went upon 'Change, — and in every place tried to divide 
 man from his double or false man — from the artificial twin-self 
 that so often walks about the world with him in profane places, 
 and sometimes in sacred temples. 
 
 " And I went into miserable lanes, where human creatures 
 styed like swine, had httle beyond the swine's instinct, — to eat 
 and drink, and gabble brutishly. And even here, I learnt to 
 reverence the human heart, for, in some foul place, some very 
 nest of misery, — there, it would flourish in its best beauty, 
 giving out even in such an atmosphere the sweets of love, and 
 charity, and resignation. It was in one of these places, I took
 
 176 A MAX 1[ADE 0? MON'EY. 
 
 a crust for my dinner ; and tried to swallow a life-long lesson of 
 patience, and contentment with the meal. 
 
 " iVnd this and these were the lessons I tried to learn on my 
 twenty-fii'st birth-day. Coming to mau's estate, I lost no time, 
 you see, but set out to contemplate for that day what it was that 
 lay about me." 
 
 The reader, who has advanced somewhat more than eighteen 
 years, to read the foregoing confession, will be pleased to turn 
 back on the road, it is to be hoped satisfied with the employ- 
 ment of Basil, whom we left at early morn setting out for his 
 birth-day work. AYe take it there are few who thus upon the 
 threshold of manhood welcome one-and-twenty. Who knows ? 
 The example of Basil may beget followers. 
 
 Early the next morning, Basil took his road to Primrose 
 Place. He had resolved at once to ask Bessy of her fiither. He 
 would not accept a shilUng of Jericho ; he would not compromise 
 his conscience by submitting to the poorest obligation at his 
 hands ; nevertheless, he felt in his heart such a spring-tide of 
 hope and happiness, that the worst worldly difficulties were but 
 as a hedge of thorns, to be thrust aside by an arm of reso- 
 lution. 
 
 ]\Ir. Carraways was alone : deep in his book ; and more and 
 more assured that he was securing a stock of knowledge that 
 should make him ilourish at the antipodes. It was a little late, 
 as poor Mrs. Carraways wovdd meekly, sadly suggest, for such 
 removal ; but the old man with every day and hour, assured liis 
 wife — assured Bessy, who though she tried to smile and look 
 content, pined and withered beneath the sentence — that it was 
 the only place for broken men to grow whole again. They 
 woidd yet see him in the fulness of fortune ; and he would yet 
 leave his girl with the dowry of a lady, 
 
 " Good morning, Basil," said the old man, with somewhat 
 forced politeness ; for though he had a true regard for the youth 
 he cared not to see him so often at Primrose Place as in old 
 times at Jogtrot Lodge. However, the ship would sail soon,
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 177 
 
 and, with this thought, Carraways called up his old look of cor- 
 diality, and gave his old grasp of the hand. " Wliy, you are out 
 early for a reveller, eh? After your doings, last night? " 
 
 Basil stared. He then remembered : Carraways doubtless 
 spoke of the festival held at Jericho House, in honour of the 
 absent. He would not explain this. He merely said — " I take 
 but little sleep, sir." 
 
 " Humph ! How 's that ? " asked Carraways. " But the 
 fact is, Basil, you seem changed altogether. I sometimes think 
 that one of the judges has lost his gravity, and you 've picked it 
 up : for after all, it doesn't seem very well to fit you. I hardly 
 know if I like you so well in it as in the boy suit. However, you 're 
 right, lad. Be grave betimes : 'tis best, and prepares you 
 before hand for the knocks that arc certain to come. Though, 
 to be sure, if a man may coimt upon a bright and easy road — a 
 path of diamond dust with rosebud borders, like the gardens in 
 the fairy book — you are the man." 
 
 " Indeed, sir," and Basil shook his head, " I think — that is, 
 I know you mistake my path of life. 'Tis not so fine ; and 
 more, I hope not so tedious as that you see for me. In a word, 
 I shall owe notliing to Mr. Jericho." 
 
 " Indeed ! What, quarrelled with him ? I 'm sorry for that. 
 You should remember your interest, Basil." 
 
 " There, my good sir, without a thought you speak a wisdom 
 that, with a thought, you despise. I shall try to make interest 
 one with honesty ; if it succeeds, why, the profits will bring 
 the best sweets of gain ; if it fails, Avhy still it leaves something 
 behind ; it is not aU beggary." 
 
 " Very good, very excellent, Basil " — said Carraways — 
 " nevertheless, you must not cast away ]\Ir. Jericho. He is a 
 strange man, no doubt. If half that 's said of him be true, a 
 very strange man. But then again only that very half, said 
 of the most of us, would make a deuced alteration in the best 
 looking, — the most punctual and respectable. Therefore, not 
 half— no, not a twentieth part that 's said— is to be listened to. 
 Nevertheless Basil" — and, despite of himself, Carraways looked
 
 178 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 grave, and felt the craving of curiosity — " nevertheless do you 
 know, it is all about the world that your father-ia-law, a 
 few days since, received a pistol-buUet through his heart, and 
 that moreover his heart has a hole tlu"Ough it at this very 
 moment ? " 
 
 " Yes, I have heard the story," said Basil. " One of the jokes 
 of"— 
 
 " Ha ! AYell, I thought so ; a joke is it ? Bessy would liave 
 it that it meant nothing more than a fable — or hieroglyphic — 
 or something of that sort. Of com-se, I knew that. I knew a 
 man couldn't live with a hole in his heart," for all wliich Car- 
 raways seemed a little disappointed at Basil's half-explanation 
 at the moment. Common truth fell like cold water upon the 
 awakened fancy of the old merchant ; with the greater shock, as 
 it was rare indeed tliat he laid liimself out for an enjoyment of 
 the extraordinary. 
 
 " And now, sir," said Basil, and he almost trembled as he 
 spoke, " I wish to address you upon the dearest question of my 
 life." 
 
 " Bless ]ne ! " said Carraways, and he gravely seated himself, 
 and motioned Basil to a chair. Then the old man, with a slight 
 tremor of hand, wiped his spectacles, replaced them on his nose, 
 cleared his throat, clasped his hands, and endeavom'ed to look 
 the very study of easy, uuconseious courtesy — placid and polite. 
 And at the time the colour was tinglmg in his cheeks, and he 
 felt his heart beat distinctly, painfully. 
 
 In few stammering words, speech running freer as it flowed, 
 Basil spoke of his affection for Bessy. All that has been said 
 since the first father was first asked for the first daughter — if the 
 reader be capable of the task, may be imagined ; and the most 
 eloquent and affectiouate phrases assorted from the mountain of 
 words, to piece out at the bravest and best the declaration of 
 Basil. At length he paused. Carraways pressed his hand, and 
 looked mournfully in the young man's face. 
 
 " My dear young man," said the father, " once, when the 
 fortune was of our side, 1 should have been glad to hear this.
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 179 
 
 I should have been proud of you as a husband for Bessy. Now, 
 it can't be." 
 
 " Why not? Indeed, dear su', I '".' — 
 
 " We have not a sliilling, Mr. Pennibacker. Not a shilling. 
 We have just scraped together a loan — a gratuity — alms — what- 
 ever the world may call it, to take ourselves out of the way. 
 I wiU not quarter my family upon your relations. Quarter ! 
 Why, 'twould be the town-talk that that cunning old fox Carra- 
 ways had gulled a foolish boy — the Man of Money's son — to 
 marry a beggar girl. Aiid all to end his own days in clover. 
 No, su- ; no. You 're very good, Basil ; you mean this honestly, 
 nobly ; I 'm sure you do ; but you 'U think better of it ; and 
 with the prospects that await you — with the part you have to 
 play in the world — in a little while, you '11 thank me for refusing 
 you." 
 
 " No, sir, no : for your refusal — ^though I can fully value the 
 integrity of its meaning — wiU change into consent, when you 
 become assured that no influence, no argiunent of wealth or 
 station, can make me debtor to Mi\ Jericho for a single sliilling. 
 I wiU provide for my wife — for Bessy" — 
 
 " You are very good," said Carraways, melting somewhat at the 
 passion of the youth, "very good; but the fact is, my dear lad 
 ■ — and make your mind up once and all to hear it — the fact is, 
 Bessy is aheady provided for." 
 
 " Provided ! Aheady 1 " cried Basil, and the young man 
 turned pale as a corpse, and shook from head to Hmb. 
 
 Carraways was yet more afiected by the youth's emotion. 
 Kindly he took Basil's hand — " I mean, my good boy — 
 don't mistake me, I wouldn't be mistaken ; for I can live back 
 my life" — and the old man's eyes gUstened, and his voice 
 trembled — "live it back in my memory to the very moment, 
 when I asked for Bessy's mother, — and I — I can feel for you, 
 my lad ; beUeve it, Basil ; I can, boy — I can," and Carraways 
 stood shaking Basil's hand, his eyes swimming the while, — 
 begging him to dismiss the matter from his mind, and be " a good 
 boy and a man."
 
 ISO A -VAX MADE OF .MONEY. 
 
 " I entreat you, good sir — I entreat you, by the precious 
 memories you speak of — tell me what it is you mean ! Bessy 
 provided " — 
 
 " I mean witli a — a ship," said Carraways, with forced 
 cheerfidness. 
 
 " A ship ? " exclaimed Basil. 
 
 "Yes — a ship," answered Carraways. "And I remember, I 
 have an appointment with the Captain. So if you will, you shall 
 walk part of the way with me ? " A proposition that, as the 
 reader will conclude, the politic lover immediately assented to. 
 
 CHAPTEE XYI. 
 
 Nothing could have been more perfect — more complete — 
 than the magnificent festival at Jericho's house, in nominal 
 honour of the coming of age of Basil Pennibacker. At an 
 early hour, Basil's chambers had been beset ; beautifid presents 
 and dehcate bouquets were sent to the student, and thej who 
 brought them found no one to relieve the porters, no one to 
 utter a word to them. All the greeting they met with, was 
 mutely delivered from a piece of written paper, wafered outside 
 the inhospitable door. The greeting ran as follows : — " To all 
 who may present themselves. Mr. Basil Pennibacker has gone out 
 to spend the day with Om-and-Ttcenty Friends. May not return 
 till to-morro,ic. No relatives admitted (on this day) either on 
 husiness or pleasure. Vivat the Tenant." For all this, Mr. 
 Jericho felt assured that Basil would, some time of the evening, 
 present himself. The hours wore on, and though the hostess 
 and the young ladies were now and then anxiously, nay affec- 
 tionately examined upon the probable causes of Mx. Basil's 
 absence, — after a while, all the world resolved to forget the 
 cause of the junket, almost as entirely as though it had been 
 a funeral festival of the olden day ; a pottle-pot carouse in 
 memory of the new deceased. And tl^en, let every fair excuse
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY, 181 
 
 be charitably received. Folks liad their own affairs to attend 
 to ; their own little interests to look after — their own mortal 
 appetites to appease. Between four and five hundred people 
 came to do honour to Jericho's household gods, honouring his 
 son-in-law. And if Basil could have flattered himself that his 
 absence would cast ten minutes' cloud above that brilliant mob, 
 very much indeed, could he have taken a peep at it, woidd he 
 have been rebuked for his presumption. As we have said, 
 people had their own affairs to mind. 
 
 Mrs. Jericho had, it is true, a mother's heart, and every five 
 minutes — hour after hour — looked where Basil might appear ; 
 and as the time wore on, and there was no Basil, the mother 
 now drooped, and now roused herself into some sudden happi- 
 ness — some violent enjoyment at some poor platitude, stamped 
 for true wit, with impress sharp enough to be passed on and 
 on for the true coin. 
 
 Monica Pennibacker was sorry, vexed, that Basil had not 
 come; it was so wayward, so foolish. Nevertheless, she could 
 not sacrifice the lover to the brother ; and the Hon. Mr. Can- 
 dituft had, no doubt, confounded by the blaze of Monica's beauty 
 — for even the best of beauty has its happy killing times — a 
 beauty, accidentally assisted by magnificent jewels, — committed 
 himself, as a man of honour, once and for ever. He had 
 snatched five minutes — hardly five — to speak definitely of mar- 
 riage ; he had many times played about the subject, — and now 
 he had walked up to the ring, — why, at a blow, Monica self- 
 sustained as an Amazon,, referred the gentleman to her father. 
 The thing was done ; and the Hon. Cesar Candituft had nothing- 
 more for it than to dance off" reflection till the morning. But 
 no : Cesar thought of Monica's dowry, and was not the man to 
 jest, even to himself, upon so solemn a subject. 
 
 When we know more about the laws of electricity, it is pro- 
 bable that there may be a new statute — a law of society — 
 against so many people meeting to dance. Who shall saj-, — 
 that one man, nerved to the deed, to' make an ofl'er of mar- 
 riage, in a window-cornjer or any other angle of a ball-room —
 
 182 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 does not in lifty other places, electrically affect fifty otlier people? 
 For all our present ignorance permits us to interpret, as many 
 rings as go to bed-curtains may at the same moment pass from 
 hand to hand. We do not wish to anticipate or force opinion on 
 this most serious subject. But as prosaic chroniclers of a prosaic 
 history, Ave must state this much ; leaving the inference to the 
 reader. — Almost at the same moment that Mr. Candituft 
 solemnly proposed to Monica, Sir Ai-thur Hodmadod, urging 
 the lady to name the inevitable day, assailed sweet Agatha. At 
 the same moment ; for the young ladies, ere they slept, compared 
 the time by theii' own little tiny repeaters. 
 
 Colonel Boiies never appeared so well — never had so com- 
 fortable an air as at the party. He seemed, for that night, to 
 have washed away his grimy pauper look, and entered into an 
 understanding with himself to display the gentleman. Perhaps 
 it was the new habit acquired by Colonel Bones, that gave a 
 certain air of com-tesy and glitter to him; for Colonel Bones 
 took snuff from a box set with lovely brilliants, the gift of his 
 dear friend and late antagonist. Solomon Jericho. 
 
 Commissioner Thrush and Doctor Mizzlemist, also jewelled 
 by the Man of Money, were after their fashion blithe and happy; 
 with the fullest conviction of the sound-heartedness of their host. 
 Indeed, the hole in Jericho's heart had, in the world's opinion, 
 closed like a hole in sand : he had, by the force of his magni- 
 ficence, so conquered and confounded slander. Only one foe 
 remained unbeaten ; the obstinate, pig-headed Dodo, who — 
 wherever he could tear the hole open afresh — would avow his 
 faith in the diabolic existence of Jericho, And people listened, 
 then shook their heads, and — behind his back — pitied poor 
 Dodo. Very zealous friendship had moved Jericho to prosecute 
 the slanderer ; but the Man of Money, with his own magnani- 
 mity replied — " Put Doctor Dodo in court ! No, poor man ; 
 I would rather put him in a strait waistcoast." 
 
 The day after the birth-day festival, Mr. Jericho sat in his 
 library in the happiest of humours. In a very quiet way, and 
 in the shortest possible time, he had won of Lord Bezant five
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 183 
 
 thousand pouuds. Lord Bezant was one of tlie Duke of St. 
 George's friends ; one of the superb knot of men witli whom his 
 Grace, in the most condescending manner, had made Jericho 
 intimate. Five thousand pounds ! A sum in itself of little 
 account to our Man of Money ; but as an earnest of the favours 
 of fortune, of the first and dearest importance. For every 
 thousand that Jericho won upon dice or cards — he might, more- 
 over, under friendly guidance, be lucky on the turf — was so 
 much substance saved. True it was, that he made the birth-day 
 least given in the name of Basil a victory to himself; true it was, 
 he had his passing time of triumph ; but he saw, he felt the 
 cost. He knew that every farthing came from his heart ; he 
 knew that to make such outward show he had shrunk and 
 dwindled to fearful tenuity. Hence, he now slept apart ; soli- 
 tary in his chamber. He had no doubt of his vitality ; neverthe- 
 less, the principle of his wealth might wear him to a rag, a 
 shred ; and, at the worst, this must be unkno^\Ti. Therefore, 
 we say, it was a new delight to Jericho when a belief in his 
 constitutional good luck dawned upon and deepened in liim. 
 Men — a happy few — had carried from the gambling table the 
 splendours of wealth, and why should not he be one of fortune's 
 — or the fiend's — elect ? 
 
 Jericho, since his introduction to the Duke of St. George — 
 who had so handsomely circulated the plebeian among a host of 
 noble friends — had never played that he had not risen a winner. 
 Altogether, in the merest point of time, he had won some fifteen 
 thousand pounds. As Jericho thought of this, he laid his hand 
 above his paper heart, and promised a long repose to the fund. 
 Fortune had no doubt fallen in love with him, and would give 
 him all he asked. Therefore he woidd make the grand tour, 
 and — the Napoleon of Trumps — break every bank in Em-ope. 
 
 Could Mi's. Jericho, boimd as she was, upon the tenderest of 
 missions, break upon her lord in happier hoiu'? Serene and 
 softened by the conviction of his destined magnificence, he was 
 a little disposed to enter, byway of passing amusement, into the 
 sympathies and affections of his people about him.
 
 18-1 A MAX MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 "No news of Basil," said Mrs. Jericlio : "but, be assured, 
 Solomon, his absence was no intended affront." 
 
 " Don't name it, my dear. He was not missed. To please 
 you, we did honour to his bii-th-day. The day was a graceful 
 excuse for the fete — and as the fete was all that was required, 
 why no doubt, everybody was pleased. At least, I saw no dis- 
 appointment," and Jericho softly whistled. 
 
 "Nevertheless, for all his folly and perverscness — and I 
 must blame him for his conduct — for all his ill-manners, and 
 I cannot wholly justify him, I am sure, Solomon, sure that Basil 
 loves you." 
 
 " If such is your opinion, Mrs. Jericho, I must make up my 
 mind to suffer it." 
 
 IVIrs. Jericho thought she would not persevere in the theme : 
 therefore, with sudden vivacity, she changed the subject. " My 
 dear, of coiu'se you are aware that our girls must, some time or 
 the other, settle in life ? " 
 
 " Your girls, my dear, have my free permission to settle when 
 and where they wUl." 
 
 " I was sure of that, dear. I certainly think with our present 
 position we ought to have commanded something better than a 
 younger brother for Monica. Nevertheless, as Candituft is 
 your friend, and I believe a good creature — and as they seem 
 determined to have one another, wliy, why should we thwart 
 them ? " 
 
 "Why, indeed ? " asked Jericho, very calmly. 
 
 " Sir Arthur Hodmadod," said Mrs. Jericho, in a tone of 
 apology for the gentleman, "is certainly a fool" — 
 
 " What of that ? " asked the philosopher. " Surely the family 
 can bear one fool — eh ? Wise enough for that ? " 
 
 " j\Iy dear Solomon, you know best of course. To be sure, 
 had we been tainted with worldly ambition, there is no doubt 
 that w^e might have married our children in the very heart of the 
 peerage, but " — 
 
 " I 'm quite content as matters stand," said Jericho. 
 
 " As I say, you know best. Well, Monica informs me — and
 
 A MAX MADE OF MONEY. 185 
 
 I tliought, ray love, I would prepare you — that INIr. Candituft 
 intends to see you to-day ; formally to ask your daughter at 
 your hands." 
 
 "Indeed. WeU, as far as I'm concerned, I'U give her to 
 liim vdth. the greatest pleasure in life." 
 
 " Don't speak with such levity, love ; don't," said ]\Irs. 
 Jericho mildly ; " marriage is not a mere bargain." 
 
 " Certainly not. Solemn compact — very solemn compact ;" 
 and again Jericho whistled. 
 
 " Well, then, Solomon, as you consent, what do you propose 
 to give with the dear child ? " 
 
 "Give, Mrs. Jericho! I'll give a magniticent party on the 
 occasion. More than that, I think — nay, I 'm sure that to 
 please me and honour you — my friend the Duke " — it was thus 
 Jericho began to speak of his Grace of St. George — " my friend 
 the Duke will give the wench away." 
 
 " 'Twill add a perfume to the orange blossoms," cried Mrs. 
 Jericho with a gush of sentiment, " 'TwiU, if possible, add a 
 solemnity to the ceremony. But I mean what dowry do you 
 give ? " 
 
 " Dowry ! I thought, my dear, you observed that marriage 
 Avas no bargain ? Why, you 're making it quite a ready money 
 transaction." 
 
 " Now, my dear Jericho, I admire your wit. It is brilliant, 
 delightful — and I assure you, I am as proud of all yoiu* brilliant 
 sayings, quite as proud as if they were my own. But this is " — 
 
 Here the servant entered with the card of " The Hon. Mr. 
 Candituft." 
 
 " Show him in," said Jericho with an instant decision. 
 
 " My dear," exclaimed Mrs. Jericho, hiu-rying to depart, " I 
 leave Monica in yoiu* hands. I know your noble heart ; I 'm 
 sure you wiU treat her like a gentleman and — and a father." 
 With this confiding speech Mrs. Jericho hastened from the room. 
 Meeting Candituft at the door, she took his hand with the greatest 
 cordiality, and with the prettiest ignorance of the pm-pose of his 
 visit.
 
 186 A MAX MADE OF MOXEY. 
 
 " 'Poll my life, my dear sir," said Caudituft, " I never saw 
 sucli luck as you had last night." 
 
 " Why, yes," said Jericho, swelling mto figm-e, " I think the 
 blind goddess smirked a little on me." 
 
 " With such luck, had you set in for play, why, sir, before 
 you rose you might have been owner of Zebra Park. Not but 
 what upon principle I detest gambling. It is a vice destitute of 
 the finer emotions that ought ever to exist among the family of 
 man. Nevertheless, if a simpleton like Lord Bezant will be 
 ruined, I do think he ought to fall to the lot of a gentleman and 
 a wise man," and Candituft bowed to Jericho. " It is devilish 
 annoying to see a fool flung away upon a mere vulgar brute of 
 luck. It jars one's sense of propriety. No, at least, gentlemen 
 ought to ruin gentlemen." 
 
 "A beautiful motto, Candituft. Have it AVritten iip at the 
 Club," said Jericho. 
 
 " Needless, my dear sir, quite needless ; 'tis in the hearts of 
 the members. And now, my dear friend, for you are my 
 friend," said Candituft, with his every-day emotion, " I have a 
 delicate business to open to you. An affair affecting the happi- 
 ness of" — 
 
 " Go on," said Jericho, quite prepared for the ordeal. 
 
 "But fii-st let me not forget my friend," said Candituft. 
 Hodmadod is, we know, a fool." 
 
 Jericho, nursing his knee, repUed, "I do not think the 
 ParHament assembled could have the face to deny it." 
 
 "Nevertheless, a very good creature, and, I dare say, wiU 
 make a good husband. Yes, he '11 di-ive well in the wedding- 
 ring." 
 
 " Let us hope so," replied Jericho, prepared for the best or 
 the worst. 
 
 " But he 's bashful as — as — 'pou my life, I 'm at a loss for a 
 simile. And as he and I are old friends, and as he knew that I 
 shoidd see you — in fact, he 's in the house this moment ; came 
 along with me — He desired me to inform you that ]\Iiss Agatha 
 had consented to fix the — the — what d'ye call it — the happy day."
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 187 
 
 " Wish them joy," said Jericho. " My friend the Duke shall 
 give her away." 
 
 " As to the young lady's dowry," and Candituft hesitated. 
 " I can't give a farthing. Can't afford it, my dear Candituft," 
 and the Man Tamer laughed at the declaration as at an intended 
 jest. "Can't afford it. Besides, think' of the girl's beauty, 
 talents, temper !" 
 
 " They have all had their full influence upon my friend. And 
 Ai'thur — good, silly fellow !— is not avaricious. Besides, he has 
 a handsome property of his own ; and I 'm sure he 'U be 
 deliglited, happy to marry the young lady merely for herself." 
 
 " That 's true love — Cupid, as you see him in the valentines, 
 Avithout any property," said Jericho. 
 
 " Of com'se, my good friend, you will bestow a handsome outfit 
 and " 
 
 " To be sure. Half-a-dozen of every thing," said Jericho, 
 and he laughed hugely at the joke : and the Man-Tamer, as in 
 friendship bound, laughed his best in concert. 
 
 " Well, I have fulfilled my mission, and saved the awkward- 
 ness of my friend. You object not to the day, whenever it may 
 be ? And for the dowry, I mean the outfit, we who know your 
 heart, may safely leave that to you. Yes, yes ; Ai-thur, my good 
 soft friend, Arthur, is a happy man. Once I fondly thought that 
 my dear sister — however " — and Candituft sighed — "it was not 
 to be. And now, sir" — 
 
 " Yes," cried Jericho, quite prepared for what was coming. 
 " Yes ; go on." 
 
 " You may have remarked my affection for Miss Monica ? 
 You must have remarked it ? " 
 
 " I beg a thousand pardons," said the wag Jericho, " but it 
 has quite escaped me." 
 
 Candituft wanly smiled. The jest was ill-timed; nevertheless 
 he could not resent it from his friend. Therefore, he smiled and 
 proceeded. " In a word, my dear sir, we have come to the 
 sweet conclusion that we were made for one another." 
 
 " Dear me ! Well, how lu.ckv vou should have met ! I dare
 
 188 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 say, now"' — and the cruel Avit, witli all his teeth and talons, 
 played with the timid, mouse-like heart of his victim — " I dare 
 say, now, there are thousands of people made for one another, at 
 the present moment wandering about the world without a chance 
 of coming together. Indeed, seeing how big the world is, and 
 how very few people arc really made to match, it 's next to a 
 miracle that they shoidd ever meet at all. Eh?" 
 
 " My dear sir, your views of life are always so just, — are 
 always clothed in such graceful and conA'incing language that I 
 cannot answer, I can only admire and bow. I trust, my dear 
 sir, you do not oppose om* love?" and Candituft shuddered at 
 the dreadful suspicion. 
 
 "By no means," said Jericho. "Marry, marry, and be as 
 happy as you can." 
 
 "A thousand thanks. You are aware, my dear sir, that my 
 family is rich " — 
 
 " Eh ? " cried the Man of IMoney. 
 
 " Eich in liistorical associations. The blood of the Canditufts 
 fructifies the fields of Cressy and Agincourt." 
 
 "Humph! And what's the crop — what's the yield? I have a 
 great respect for blood, Mr. Candituft; it is, in this world, 
 a very useful, a very indispensable article. Nevertheless, blood 
 in a field — no matter how old — is not the best investment. I 
 speak, you know, as a vulgar ]\Ian of INIoney." 
 
 " I Avas about to observe," said the easy-tempered, but 
 withal pensive suitor, " that I have too pure, too deep an 
 afi'ection for Miss Pennibacker, to make her the partner of only 
 the glories of my house. A bachelor, my dear sir, though 
 poor, receives a lustrous honour from the chivahy of his 
 name ; but it is an honour that, alone, will not do to marry 
 upon." 
 
 " You mean," and Jericho grimly grinned, " the honour that's 
 enough for one is not enough for two." 
 
 " Why, yes" — and Candituft hesitated — " I may say that is 
 pretty well my meaning." 
 
 " xVnd in this marriage with Miss Pennibacker, you propose
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 189 
 
 to find the chivaky, the honour, if I — if I find the money ? 
 Eh?" cried Jericho. 
 
 " Mr. Jericho " — and Candituft thought he would assert the 
 nobility of the blood in the grouuds of Cressy and Agincourt — 
 " Mr. Jericho, I do not come to deal with you for your daughter, 
 as I would come to a grazier for " — 
 
 " "VYhat ! " cried Jericho, jumping to his feet. 
 
 " I mean, desii'ous of maintaining Miss Pennibacker in that 
 sphere which she was born to delight and illustrate, I mtist ask 
 — you force me to be plain — what will you give with the young 
 lady ? " 
 
 " Not a farthing," cried Jericho. " Not one farthing," said 
 the Man of Money with determined emphasis. 
 
 At this moment, quite casually, IMrs. Jericho entered the 
 room. Seeing the stern looks of Jericho, the rebuked aspect 
 of Candituft, she innocently inquired "What is the matter? " 
 
 " Pooh ! you know well enough," cried Jericho, " Mx. Candi- 
 tuft wants to marry Nic." 
 
 " I was certainly aware of the honourable object of ]Mr. Can- 
 dituft 's ambition," said Mrs. Jericho. 
 
 " But that 's not all," cried the Man of Money, " he wants to 
 be handsomely paid for the trouble." 
 
 " Paid 1 " exclaimed the lady. 
 
 " Why, that 's the plain thing. Paid. He wants a dowry." 
 
 " My dear, we will not talk upon the subject at present," said 
 IVIi's. Jericho. " I see you are in one of your sportive humours; 
 in one of your gay moods, when you will make merry with the 
 happy state." 
 
 " Quite so, my dear lady," said Candituft. " But as you 
 say, we will not pursue the subject. Another time." 
 
 " By no means ; better have it out at once," said Jericho. 
 
 "Don't name it," said Candituft, "In fact, my good sir," 
 and the lover grew of a sudden cool and circumspect ; "1 think 
 we had better postpone the matter till a more benignant season." 
 
 " Ml-. Candituft ! " exclaimed Mrs. Jericho. 
 
 " Happily," said the prudent suitor, " Miss Pennibacker is
 
 190 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 yet in the first blush and florescence of youth ; and it may be, 
 my dear huly, that fortiuie, with an amended estimate of the 
 maiden's merits, may find her a nobler, a richer, though not " — 
 and Mr. Candituft endeavoured with manly fortitude to suppress 
 his emotion — "though not a fonder husband." 
 
 " I am sure of that," said Mrs. Jericho ; " I have every con- 
 fidence in you, my dear sir ; and so has Mr. Jericho." 
 
 "Any amount of confidence," said the Man of Money. 
 "Any amount." 
 
 " And as Monica has fixed her heart upon the union" — 
 
 " 'Twoidd be a gi'cat pity," said Jericho, determined upon 
 his humour, " to baulk a bold intention. T\'hy, Mi-. Candituft, 
 the young lady is such a treasm'c in herself, that, upon my 
 word, I think you ought, when you many her, to remunerate us 
 for our loss. It has always seemed to me that certain savages 
 — as they are shamefully called — have the advantage of us in 
 theii- habits of marriage." 
 
 " No doubt, my dear sii*, if you think so," said Candituft 
 stiffly. "For myself, I am in ignorance of the superiority." 
 
 " I mean in the habit that reverses the transaction : when the 
 husband buys his wife of her father ; and not as in our shame- 
 fully corrupt and sophisticated condition, when the father buys a 
 husband for his girl. I have always set my face against the 
 custom, — and I feel the time is come that I should strike a blow 
 at the prejudice." 
 
 " Xow, my dear Solomon," — Mrs. Jericho knew it was no 
 time to pursue the subject, and she contemplated, with some 
 anxiety, the deepening gravity of Candituft — " my dear Jericho, 
 we will say no more upon the matter. In your present merry 
 humour, you care nothing for people's afl"ections. You play what 
 tune you please on people's heartstrings. Oh, you wits ! " and 
 the wife tapped the hard, dim face of the humourist Jericho. 
 
 "Well, well, let us have the jig out," said the relentless wag. 
 ** Sir Ai'thm' proposes to make Aggy Lady Hodmadod — I hear 
 the day is named, though with great self-forbearance I 've not 
 asked whether it 's to-morrow or next day."
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONET. 191 
 
 " My dear Solomon," said Mrs. Jericlio, " tliis is too much 
 levity." 
 
 " Not at all : and I don't see wliy both the birds mayn't be 
 trussed by the same parson. And so, after aU, my good friend," 
 — and the traitorous Jericho smiled. 
 
 " My dear sir," — and Candituft with his best energy smiled 
 in retimi. 
 
 " After all, let us settle the sum. Eh ? " 
 
 " Be it as you wiU," said Mrs. Jericho, with the best duty of 
 a wife, calling herself back to the subject. 
 
 " Well, then," said the Man of Money, and for his own private 
 purpose of humour,he still smiled and coaxed hisvoice, "what sum 
 would satisfy you ? " It was a delicate question to be put thus 
 nakedly. " Come, name a figure. Say five thousand pounds." 
 Candituft looked blank at Jericho, moving not a muscle. 
 " AAliat do you think of seven ? " The Man-Tamer gently 
 lifted his eye-brows, deprecating the amount. " Come, then, 
 we '11 advance to ten? " Candituft's face began to thaw, and 
 he showed some signs of kindly animation. " At a word, then," 
 cried Jericho, with affected heartiness, " will you take fifteen 
 thousand ? " 
 
 "From you — yes," cried Candituft, and he seized Jericho's 
 hand. The Man of Money looked at Candituft with a con- 
 temptuous sneer, and with a wrench twisted his hand away. 
 He then dropt in his chair, and a strange, diabolical scowl pos- 
 sessed his countenance. The Man-Tamer shrank from his 
 friend ; IVIi's. Jericho ran to her husband, but screamed at the 
 sudden change that seemed to blot out the human character of 
 his face. The Man of Money, with his own features, looked a devil. 
 
 " And where — where do you tliink this money is to come from ? 
 Where ? " asked Jericho, and he rose from his chaii-, and it 
 seemed as though the demon possessing him would compel the 
 wretch to talk — would compel him to make terrible reveahngs. 
 Every word he uttered was born of agony. But there he stood ; 
 forced to give out utterances that tortured him. " I will tell 
 you," roared Jericho, "what this money is. Look about you !
 
 192 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 "What do you see? Tine walls — fine pictures — fine every- 
 tbing. Why, you see me — tortured, torn, worked up, changed. 
 The walls are hung with my flesh : my flesh you walk upon. 
 There, that — that" — and Jericho pointed to the diamond on 
 Candituft's finger — " that gem— that jewel, as bright as the suu 
 in heaven — what is it ? Why, it 's my blood — my blood distilled, 
 then hardened into stone. I am worn piecemeal by a hundred 
 thieves, but I '11 be shared among them no longer." 
 
 By this time, the girls and Sir Arthur Hodmadod, alarmed by 
 the cries of Jericho, had entered the room. 
 
 "And you had a fine feast, had you not?" cried the pos- 
 sessed Man of Money, writhing with misery, and howling his 
 confession. "And what did you eat? my flesh — what did you 
 drink? my blood." 
 
 "It 's impossible," cried Hodmadod, aghast. "When I say 
 impossible" — 
 
 " The food, the -wines, the gold and silver, all — all of me-— 
 and so I 'm shared to feed fools and make a show. To make a 
 show," Jericho repeated, his voice sinking, and he fell, as in a 
 fit, in his chaii*. 
 
 For some minutes he lay as though he had passed into sleep : 
 and the mabgnant expression gradually cleared from his face. 
 
 " Yeiy odd," said Sir Arthui*, " very strange. Better send 
 for Doctor Stubbs." 
 
 " Hush ! it 's a fit, a passing fit ; he 's better now, and fast 
 asleep," said IMrs. Jericho, whilst the girls exchanged strange 
 looks with one another. " Fast asleep." 
 
 " I congratulate you," said Candituft to Hodmadod, as they 
 both left the room, "he consents to your marriage." 
 
 "Does he?" asked Hodmadod, a bttlc staggered by the' 
 courtesy.
 
 ^^.ir. 
 
 
 /
 
 A MAN MADE OF MO.NEY. 193 
 
 CHAPTER XYIL 
 
 A MAX may be possessed witli au evil spirit, and yet be 
 wholly unconscious of the presence of his tenant. This may 
 seem, at the first blush, an impossible circumstance ; neverthe- 
 less, we are upon reflection convinced that thousands of good, 
 weU-meaning people, carry about with them fitful, moody, cap- 
 tious, disorderly spirits, and are, notwithstanding, the very last 
 folks to acknowledge the existence of the inmates. Now, it 
 woidd seem that ]\Ii*. Jericho had this ignorance in especial 
 strength and perfection. He was blessed with the happiest 
 forgetfulness of the demon that, as was shown in the last chapter, 
 afflicted his wife, and astonished his acquaintance. He had no 
 after-thought of the unseemly words, of the vulgar violence 
 uttered and committed by his evil spirit. Poor man ! He was 
 spared the pain, the humiliation of such knowledge ; hence, the 
 fit oyer, the spirit laid, Jericho was as gay and debonair as 
 ever — quite. 
 
 To be siu-e, Mrs. Jericho had afl'ectionate misgivings ; and the 
 young ladies, with a keen memory of the wildness of their 
 father-in-law, looked with hopefulness quite natural to the day 
 when they should be delivered from his tyranny by the new 
 benevolence of a husband. The girls, with the simple confidence 
 of their sex, were assured of the devotion of tlieir lovers. Poor 
 things ! 'Now Sir Ai-thur Hodmadod, with sudden treachery, 
 had contemplated instant flight. He was alarmed, terrified, at 
 the thought of marrying the daughter of a man with such 
 strange, such diabolic notions. Sir Arthur thought of the 
 beneficial efi"ect of a run through Italy. He could not disguise 
 it from himself, that his heart was broken ; and therefore, he was 
 in tlie most interesting situation for a few months' exile. He 
 would forget the living beauties of Agatha in the refined abstrac- 
 tions of paint and marble. He had promised himself some day 
 to cultivate liis taste for art, and it was plain, the proper time 
 was come. And then — and then the lover remembered — (liow, 
 
 K
 
 194 A MAX MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 for an instant, could he have forgotten it ?) — tliat Agatha bore 
 no taint of Jericho's blood. No : she was a Pennibacker j the 
 daughter of a warrior! And with this happy thought, Sir 
 Arthur, with the mixed remorse and generosity of true affection, 
 aiTayed the dear one with newer, richer graces. But a mistress 
 is never so captivating as when considered through the penitence 
 of love. 
 
 The Hon. Csesar Candituft had sterner thoughts of marriage. 
 Perhaps, too, he had larger views than his simple, gentle friend ; 
 and so, placed upon himself a corresponding value. We believe 
 Sir Arthur — could he have been induced to think at all — 
 would have considered matrimony as a very pleasant little trip 
 in a gay little boat ; with a bright sky, a smooth sea, and now 
 and then a mennaid to come up, and warble a song of love. Now, 
 Candituft would not attempt the voyage so embarked. He was 
 for a secure craft, extremely well victualled, and — to be ready 
 for the worst — carrying the heaviest metal. Therefore had 
 Candituft resolved on the most guarded civUity to Monica: 
 he would, if possible, kill the love within her by the cutting 
 coldness of his courtesy. For he had well-considered himself : 
 he had sat in impartial judgment upon his own claims to a wife ; 
 and he was convinced that if he could be brought to persuade 
 liimsclf to marry into the family of a lunatic, at least he would 
 be well paid for the daring. Thus, if Monica's determination 
 towards marriage could live through the cold season that was 
 immediately to set in — if the hardy rose would smile through 
 the frost — why, the flower, like the Druid's misletoe, should only 
 be gathered with a golden blade. 
 
 A week wore on, and Candituft was only the more hardened 
 in civility. A week wore on, and Hodmadod was only the more 
 melted in love. But Monica would not feel the bitter season — 
 whilst Agatha smiled and glowed in the full flush of the sunny 
 time. Sir Arthur, on his part, was a Uttle astonished that 
 Candituft coidd for a moment hesitate to seize his happiness at 
 the altar's foot, at the very tune that he, the baronet, was to be 
 crowned with joy for ever. Whereupon Candituft assured Sir
 
 A JIAN MADE OF MOXEY. 195 
 
 Arthur tliat, for one day, it would be more than sufficient bliss 
 to see his friend made happy. He doubted his strength to 
 stand up against the double delight of double nuptials. Hence, 
 for his part, he would wait. But we have a little anticipated ; 
 and have now to introduce a third party come upon a nuptial 
 errand, to the Man of Money. 
 
 Basil, it may be remembered, left Primrose Place with IMi-. 
 Carraways, bent — as the old gentleman declared — upon busmess 
 with the captain of a ship bound for the antipodes. It 
 is needless to repeat any part of the conversation between the 
 lover and the father, as they took their way to the Halcyon, a 
 maguificent vessel, lying in the docks in all the seeming con- 
 fusion of outfit, We will at once come to the residt of the 
 dialogue cai-ried on — oddly enough — amid all the activity and 
 clam.our of London streets. Earnest as were the words of Basil, 
 passionate as were his looks — was there a single passenger, of 
 the hundreds that passed and passed, who coidd have divined 
 that, the young man was at such an hour, and in such a place, 
 teUing the story of his heart, pleading the passion of a life? 
 Yet it was even so. And the old man, in his best blunt way, 
 oj)posed the ardour of the youth ; even whilst his father's heart 
 glowed and throbbed at the expression. And then, as they 
 walked onward, the old man spoke less and less, and Basil 
 became more voluble. At length, Carraways stopt, and taking 
 Basil's hand, said in a low, thick voice — " Well lad ; thus it is. 
 If there is no objection at your home, and you are sure of 
 Bessy, — she 's your's. And now, not another word upon the 
 matter ; for I see we 've no time to lose." 
 
 As we are modestly convinced that every tittle of this history 
 wiU in a hundred years or more be a theme for commentators — 
 (the worthy folks who too often write on books, as men with 
 diamonds write on glass, obscuring light with scratches) — as we 
 know that this volume will be very thickly annotated, we shall 
 make one point clear ; namely, the precise spot where Carraways 
 pronounced his consent. Well, then ; it was exactly opposite 
 the Eoyal Exchange, under the sha:low of the gi-asshopper. No 
 
 J£2
 
 196 A MAX MADE OF MOXEY. 
 
 bad emblem of a poor yet cheerful lover, with little but hope and 
 blithe spirits to begin the world upon. 
 
 Nevertheless — says somebody — an odd neighbourhood for 
 men to ask and give in marriage. Well, it may be. Still, 
 Hymen has been known to have his walk on 'Change, as 
 well as common merchants ; and what is more, with as fine 
 a sense of profit and loss, as though in boyhood he had sat 
 on the same form and thumbed the same arithmetic with 
 Mercury. 
 
 And Carraways, true to his promise, presented himself at 
 Jericho's house. The Man of Money felt a joyous revenge as 
 he eyed the ruined merchant's card. It was very natural to 
 Jericho. Sir Gilbert Carraways, the beggar, had treated him 
 in the most shameful — the most insolent spirit. The poor wretch 
 had, in no way, acknowledged the supremacy of his old friend's 
 wealth. No ; his studied silence, his absence from the house, 
 conveyed the contemptuous feeling of the pauper towards the 
 rightfid majesty of money. To be sure, Jericho had not offered 
 assistance ; certainly not ; it wr.s not his place to undraw his 
 purse-strings, if people — ruined people — had not the due 
 humdity to ask it. But now — there could be no doubt of it — 
 Carraways was come to beg for aid : he was at length taught by 
 suffering a proper reverence for cash. And with this thought, 
 Jericho armed himself to receive him. We write knowingly-— 
 armed himself. For as carefully, as cunningly as ever knight 
 endued his frame with plates of steel or brass, — so did Jericho 
 hang upon that thin, cold, shivering soid of his, the tremendous 
 panoply of bank paper. 
 
 It is a curious sight — is it not ? — to see the Man of Money 
 sternly awaiting the advent of the rude, forgetful beggar. " Show 
 him in," brays Jericho to the servant. John quits the room, to 
 serve up the pauper. But two minutes pass — and there sits 
 Solomon Jericho dreadful in his arms of money : his visage 
 sharp and cruel, newly whetted, gleaming with scorn. The fat, 
 mddy, good-tempered face — with meat and wine in the look of 
 it — that was wont to glow and grin at Can'aways' board, is pre-
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 197 
 
 maturely old, and slinink, and sharpened ; tlie hungry outline of 
 felonious age. 
 
 Carraways enters the room, *' Gracious heaven ! Why, what 
 is this ? " For never since the merriment at the Hall, had Carra- 
 ways and Jericho met. Never, of course, since Carraways departed 
 this life in the gazette, had he seen the Man of Money. Therefore 
 was the merchant astounded at the thing that sat before him — 
 for Jericho did not rise to his old friend ; oh no — he knew the 
 prerogative of money better than that — and therefore, in his 
 own natural way did Carraways give utterance to his wonder- 
 ment. " Is it possible ? " 
 
 "I believe, su'," said Jericho, and contempt wrinkled his face, 
 and his voice croaked, frog-like — " I believe I see Gilbert Car- 
 raways, who was a merchant ? " 
 
 " "VYho was a merchant, and is Gilbert Carraways stiU," said 
 the old man. 
 
 " Late of Jogtrot IlaU ? " said Jericho, with a low chuckle. 
 
 "Yes," repeated Carraways clearly, sonorously ringing the 
 words, " late of Jogtrot Hall, of Marigolds. Now, of a second 
 floor, of Primrose Place." 
 
 " Ha ! ha ! Well, now, I like that," cried Jericho. " I like 
 a man who can play with fortune. I like a man who, when the 
 wench — she 's a queer cat, fortune, isn't she, Mr. Gilbert Carra- 
 ways ? — when she spatters him with mud, can give her as good 
 as she sends. Ha ! ha ! Well, if you have been covered with 
 du't, you 're merry still. But, why haven't you come to see 
 me ? " asked Jericho with a sneer. 
 
 " Because of the dirt, Mr. Jericho. You see, you ride upon 
 fortune's wheel ; now I only get the mud from it." 
 
 " Yery good," said the patron Jericho. " And I 'm glad you 
 can try to make a joke, Mr. Carraways ; it must be a great com- 
 fort to a poor man. ^Tiy, now, I can understand how a beggar 
 of a cold night, if he can only muster up heart enough to make 
 a joke, how it must be as good as a truss of straw to him ; 
 mus'n't it, eh, Mr. Carraways ? " 
 
 " 'Pon my word, ]\Ir. Jericho, I haven't yet tried the experi-
 
 198 A MAN >LU)E OF MONEY. 
 
 nient. And I do hope, you '11 never be brought to it ; otherwise, 
 I do think — try as you may — you '11 sleep plaguy coldly. But 
 I didn't come here to talk in this idle fashion." 
 
 "I hope not," said Jericho, sharpening his malice with his 
 best might. " I hope you came to tell me, when you propose 
 to see us at Jogtrot Hall. By the way, I 'm going to change 
 the name," 
 
 " I hope so," said Carraways very calmly. 
 
 " Yes ; my friend the Duke of St. George- — do you know the 
 Duke ?— my friend has promised to give me a new name for it. 
 Though I tliink, out of compliment to him, I shall call it George 
 and Garter Lodge. You know, Mr. Gilbert Carraways, there 's 
 no telling what one may come to." 
 
 "No, Solomon Jericho," said the merchant. "Stdl, just 
 now, you must have one comfort ; you can't come to less than 
 you are." Jericho called up all his thunder to his brows. 
 " Surely," said Carraways tranquilly, as though he was speaking 
 of some monstrous abortion of nature — " siuely, 'tis wonderful ! 
 Why, my good man" — 
 
 " Good man ! " roared Jericho. 
 
 " My good man," and Carraways doggedly repeated the 
 epithet, " where do you put your heart ? Why, it can't be as 
 big as a poppy-seed. Do you ever walk out in the air ? If so, 
 pray put a gold-bar or so in your pockets, or some day the wind 
 will take you up — carry you into the sky. And who knows ? 
 Some future astronomer — ^if I remember my schooling right, 
 the sort of thing has been done — some astronomer may make 
 a constellation of a bank-note." 
 
 " I sec," said Jericho, with the most vigorous expression of 
 pity. " I see, — you 're a free-tliinker. Bank-notes in the 
 sky ! Poor man ! Poverty has made you an atheist." 
 
 " Not so," said Carraways, placidly. " Indeed, not so. Strange 
 as it may seem to you, poverty has made me a believer in more 
 goodness than I dreamt of before. However, I didn't come to 
 talk of that." 
 
 " I suppose not," said Jericho.
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 199 
 
 "But, bless me ! " cried the persevering Carraways, "liow 
 tliiii you are ! Why, you can have no bowels." 
 
 Mr. Jericho said nothing, lie merely drew himself up, using 
 a snaky motion of the head to express his silent contempt of 
 the doubt. And silence was best. "What spoken answer would 
 have better met such unbelief? 
 
 " But as I say," repeated Carraways, " I didn't come to talk 
 about that. I come — now attend to me, if you please, Solomon 
 Jericho " — and Jericho fell flat against the back of his chair, 
 astounded at the pauper's impudence — " attend to me, I didn't 
 come to talk of that. I came here, at once, to renounce all right 
 and title, for me and mine by gift or will now and for evermore, 
 — aU right, I say, to a shilling of your money." 
 
 " I think," said Jlr. Jericho suddenly recovering himself, " I 
 think you give yourself a very needless trouble." 
 
 " Well, I hope so," answered Carraways. " Still, I woidd 
 not risk a mistake. Your son-in-law" — 
 
 " Humph ! " said Jericho, and with studied sarcasm. " Son- 
 in-law ! Tes ; the law bears very hard on us, now and then." 
 
 " Has proposed to marry my Bessy. I have consented ; and 
 after what I 've said, I suppose, j\Ii-. Jericho, you can have no 
 objection to the match ? " 
 
 " Really, Gilbert Carraways," replied the Man of ]\Ioney, 
 smiling the while, " why should I ? Yom* conditions are so 
 advantageous, that I should be a fool as well as a monster to 
 come between two doting hearts. All I can say is, I wish you 
 joy of the young gentleman." 
 
 *' I have every faith in him," said Carraways, " Perliaps, 
 Mr. Jericho, you will break the matter to Basil's mother ? I 
 need not intrude upon the lady's better employment. We leave 
 England in about a fortnight." 
 
 " What ! the young couple and all ? " cried Jericho ; " and 
 where may you be bound for ? " 
 
 " The antipodes," answered Carraways, very blithely. 
 
 " A capital determination, Gilbert. As you 've been turned 
 topsy-turvy here, why going to the antipodes is, perhaps, the
 
 200 A MAX MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 shortest way of putting you on your legs again." Here the 
 servant answered the bell, rang by the Man of Money. " Beg 
 Mrs. Jericho to come to me," said the husband. 
 
 " Good morning," cried Carraways rising. " I would rather 
 not see the lady. I'll leave the explanation in your hands. 
 'Twill come better from you. Much better. Well," — and Car- 
 raways paused before Jericho, and staringly read him up and 
 down — " you are thin ! Why, you must have no more blood than 
 a cucumber, Solomon. To think that a man should be so rich — 
 ha ! what luck you 've had in platina, to be sure — so rich and 
 so meagre ! Talk of the Wandering Jew, why if you live long 
 enough, you '11 be known as the Wandering Bank-note. Dear me ! 
 Well, you 'd be very curious under a microscope — very curious. 
 Good morning, good morning." And Carraways bustled from 
 the presence of the Man of Money, who sat speechless and 
 confounded by the easy insolence of the pauper. Never, perhaps, 
 since the first piece of metal was stamped as the go-between of 
 man and man, had the dignity of wealth been so impudently 
 put upon. In the savagenesc of his injured majesty, Jericho 
 could have brained the offender with a bag of money — dashed 
 him in little pieces with a golden thunderbolt ; an article with 
 which Plutus often beats the iron of the bigger Jupiter. 
 
 "He is gone now — the pauper's departed," said Jericho 
 scornfully to his wife, as she entered. 
 
 " Who is gone ? And whom can you speak of ? A pauper, and 
 here !" Mrs. Jericho would as soon have thought to see a polecat 
 basking on the hearth-nig. " Pauper ! " 
 
 " That fellow Carraways," said Jericho, and his lips widened 
 at the name as at a filthy dj-ug. 
 
 " Oh ! I suppose the old story with such people. Came for 
 money ? " said his wife. 
 
 " Not he ; an impudent, blustering scoundrel. Came here to 
 shake his rags in my face, and show how very proud he was of 
 them. Would you believe it? He had the brazen efi'rontery to 
 come here — here — to renounce my offer of money, and that 
 before it was made."
 
 7^^. ^.^.^ l(Jlc.^an. ojT Jion^ 
 
 '■^
 
 A MAX MADE OF MONEY. 201 
 
 "Dear me! Poor man!" said Mrs. Jericlio, with a look and 
 voice of pity. " Insane, of com*se." 
 
 "No — not lie. Not more mad than thousands of people. 
 For it 's wonderful to think how near conceit is to insanity, and 
 yet how many folks are suffered to go free and foaming with it. 
 Conceit, Sabilla ; mere conceit in a rabid state. Of aU pride, 
 the worst is the pride of beggary. Of all madness, that madness 
 is the worst and the most disgusting that, squatted upon a 
 dunghill, brags of the straw and muck, as though they were 
 gold and velvet." 
 
 " Very true, indeed, my dear — beautifully true," said the wife. 
 " But we must make great allowances ; when a man is stripped 
 of everything" — 
 
 " Well, when he is, it isn't exactly the time for him to brag of 
 the buff he 's reduced to." 
 
 " My dear ! " cried Mrs. Jericho, with the prettiest glance of 
 remonstrance. " My love ! " 
 
 " Moreover, when a family is stripped of eveiy thing," cried 
 Jericho, " I don't think it precisely the family to marry into." 
 
 " Wliy, Solomon, what do you mean ? " asked the wife, 
 anxious and foreboding. 
 
 "The meaning's as short and as strong as the marriage 
 service. Your hopeful son is going to many Bessy." 
 
 " Impossible ! He cannot mean it," cried Mi-s. Jericho. " It 
 is a mere folly of youth that he wiU outlive — that he must out- 
 live. The fact is, my dear Jericho, we must send him abroad," 
 
 " We needn't trouble ourselves. In a few months he will be 
 directly under my foot," Mrs, Jericho stared, " At the anti- 
 podes, my dear; at the antipodes," and Jericho rubbed his 
 hands at the prospect. 
 
 " And that Carraways— oh, it 's a pretty plan, I see, to provide 
 for the daughter — that Carraways came here to tell you this ? " 
 
 " With his compliments, or something like 'em, that I should 
 open the matter to you." 
 
 " Solomon, my dear Solomon " — and Mrs. Jericho dropt in a 
 chair beneath her maternal feelings—" this is a great blow to our 
 
 K 3
 
 202 A MAX M.VDE OF MONEY. 
 
 house." Jericho looked confideutly ; putting his thin hands into 
 his pockets, as though he would imply a conviction that the house 
 was strong enough to bear the shock. " 'Twill break my heart, 
 Solomon." Still the husband looked calm and self-possessed. 
 " It will bring me to a premature gi-ave." And still, and still 
 the hopeful spouse blenched not. " A foolish, enthusiastic child 
 — Avheu there was such a path open to liim ! " 
 
 " All the road clean as a whistle to the Comi of Queen's 
 Bench," said Jericho. 
 
 " No — no. The Duke of St. George's eldest daughter ; that 
 beautiful girl, the Lady Malypense — he has only to ask and 
 have ; I am certain of it, Solomon. If I know what the human 
 heart is made of " — 
 
 "And what is it made of?" inquii-ed Jericho; for in the 
 material of hearts he had a strange interest. " What 's the 
 stuff? People differ on the point devilishly." IVIrs. Jericho 
 stared. " What do you think I heard ? Why, that the heart 
 of Lady Malypense — 'twas that bitter fellow Thrush who said it 
 — that her heart was like a jewel cushion ; merely a thing to 
 stick fiaery upon." Mrs. Jericho looked wounded incredulity. 
 " Oh, I don't believe it. I only tell you how folks gabble about 
 hearts. Ha ! ha ! every man talks of his neighbour's heart, as 
 though it was his own watch. — A thing to be seen in all 
 its works; and abused for irregular going. I always laugh 
 when I hear a man talk of another man's heart. And if anybody 
 has a right to laugh, I think it 's myself. Ha ! ha ! " and 
 Jericho grinned disdainfully ; and by such scorn withered, as he 
 believed, the wicked rumour that now and then would gabble 
 against him. 
 
 " I am resolved, my love," said Mrs. Jericho, '' that this boy 
 shall not sacrifice himself. I have fixed my heart upon a coronet 
 for him, and he shaU have it. We deserve nothing less." 
 
 " Humph ! Do you think, my dear, that coronets hang on 
 pegs that " — 
 
 " Nothing more easy," broke in the wife and mother. " He 
 marries the Duke's daughter ; he obtains a high appointment at
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONET. 203 
 
 a foreign court ; he enters upon diplomacy ; I 'm sure he was 
 born for it ; he always had, as a child, such a taste for mechanics. 
 I only wish I 'd kept the mouse-trap he invented wlien he was 
 six years old. Depend upon it, he 's a born ambassador, my dear." 
 
 "Isn't marked anywhere with the name of the court, ch ? " 
 asked Jericho. 
 
 " Now, my love, I adore your wit ; but do respect a mother's 
 feehngs. Consider, Jericho. As I say, he marries Lady Maly- 
 pense. He is sent abroad. Oiu* politics are in a tangle some- 
 where — in Egypt, or Greece, or Belgium, or the Sandwich 
 Islands — 'tis all the same — and Basil winds the afi'air off as 
 cleanly as a skein of silk. Then, of course, he is eimobled — he has 
 somehow saved liis country ; and, choosing an estate from the 
 map of England, it is bought for ever and for ever for him by a 
 gratefid people, and he takes his seat among the lords spiritual 
 and temporal — a peer of the realm. I 'm sure of it, from his 
 genius ; though I never named it before. Certain." 
 
 "."Well," said Jericho, satirically, "there's something in it. 
 And yet to consider a peer in his robes and coronet — well, it 
 must be confessed 'tis a mighty grand thing to come out of a 
 mousetrap." 
 
 " Not at aU," said Mrs. Jericho, " peerages have come of much 
 smaller matters. And, in fact, my love, this intended marriage 
 — this foUy — this sacrifice must, at any cost, be prevented." 
 
 " As you please ; but for my part, I think you 'd better let 
 matters take their coiu'se." 
 
 " Solomon ! " cried the wife, in the voice of reproach. 
 
 " And as for a peerage, why, where Basil's going, he may 
 choose the rank he best likes ; earl, marquess, duke. — And 
 what 's more, he can have himself tattooed, dog-cheap, with 
 garters on both legs, and any number of orders." iVnd Jericho 
 laughed at his own wit, with the partiaUty of a parent. 
 
 Mrs. Jericho visited the scorner with one scathing glance of 
 anger ; then half in pity, half in contempt, she cried — " Mr. 
 Jericho, you are not a mother." And it must be confessed the 
 Man of Money bore the information with pattern tranquillity.
 
 204 A MAN MADE OF MONEY, 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Poor mother ! She had a double task to do — double and 
 contrary. To carry a daughter to the altar, and to tear a son 
 from its perilous precincts. Monica wondered that Agatha — 
 but then she was always such a selfish, giddy thing ! — would 
 not insist upon deferring her mamage with the Baronet until 
 her elder sister should wed her beloved. Por Candituft had 
 made good — seeming good — his cause of delay. He had sud- 
 denly discovered some dormant right to some long-forgotten 
 property ; and he would first secure that to lay it as an offering 
 at the feet of his bride. Monica, in her warm affection, would 
 have gladly married at once, content to wait for after prosperity 
 as it might follow; but her mother thought it best to tarry. 
 Great good might come of a little delay ; and ]\Ir. Jericho could 
 not be hurried to name the exact amount of dowry. Now, with 
 respect to Agatha, the case was wholly different. She had not 
 her sister's strength of mind ; and the Baronet was in the full 
 enjoyment of his full fortune ; moreover, with a liberality worthy 
 of imitation, he would have been content to marry Agatha even 
 with no other dowry than the first bride brought to the first 
 bridegroom. 
 
 Therefore Jericho's house hummed in every nook and corner 
 with the note of preparation ; with the tuning prelude to 
 hymeneal song. Nevertheless, in Jericho's house great and tor- 
 turing was the sacrifice of heart. For was it nothing for Monica 
 to plate her anxious face with smiles ; to hover about her sister 
 with looks and words of gentle meaning ; of sweet congratula- 
 tion, when her own breast was misery? Was it nothing to 
 gather a marriage garland for another, when she was yet smart- 
 ing from nettles ? Nothing to forego the robe of the bride and 
 to don the meaner garments — made robes of sorrow and humi- 
 liation by disappointment — of the bridesmaid ? 
 
 And there was another victim, another heroine who, witli the 
 fortitude of on Amazon, would smile at self-suffering. — We
 
 A MAX MADE OF MONEY. 205 
 
 mean, tlie Hon. Miss Candituft. Can it be believed that that 
 heroic young lady consented to be second bridesmaid to her 
 rival ? Of course, the simple Agatha dreamt not of the agony 
 she inflicted when she prayed such grace of her bosom friend ; 
 the rather that the devotion was accorded with the sweetest, 
 the most touching alacrity. Agatha was to wear the nuptial 
 wreath, and Miss Candituft the willow. Nevertheless, the re- 
 jected one would carry it like a martyr, turning the reproach to 
 glory. 
 
 Our Man of Money — absolved of the liability of dowry — was 
 in the best of moods. His opinion of the merits of Hodmadod 
 continually increased, though Candituft had somehow to pay for 
 the growth. The Baronet became every day a finer fellow j Can- 
 dituft every day a meaner dog. The excellence accorded to one, 
 was remorselessly taken from the other. Thus, pending the 
 nuptial preparation, Hodmadod was the favoured creature at 
 the hearth of Jericho, whilst Candituft was coldly allowed an 
 unconsidered corner. Nevertheless, Candituft had too much 
 benevolence, too much aff"ection for the brotherhood of man to 
 resent the neglect. Indeed, how should he, since he would not 
 behold it ? Some men will not see an affi'ont, even when big as 
 a street-door in their face : as there have been philosophers, so 
 raised above human weakness, who have not felt the violence of 
 a leg, have not discovered when they were kicked. 
 
 Now let us for a while leave the nuptial loves, busied with the 
 best and the finest, at Jericho House; and look in upon a certain 
 second floor, in Primrose Place. 
 
 It is plain enough that Basil has told his stor}^ — won his wife. 
 The happy, altered looks of Bessy speak a new and deep con- 
 tent of heart. Indeed, every person present — there are four 
 women, all busy, hence the room at Primrose Place may be con- 
 sidered full — gives indication of a coming ceremony, Bessy is 
 at work, it would appear with all her heart in her sewing. — 
 And Bessy's mother is earnest, grave, in her appeal to the better 
 judgment of Mrs. Topps who, it is plain, has just returned upon
 
 206 A MAX MADE OF MOXEV. 
 
 lier errand, bringing a skein of silk that can in no way be made 
 to match with the coloiu" of the piece to be made up. IMiss 
 Bai'nes is appealed to — Miss Barnes is the young sempstress, 
 the lodger of the attic, who all unconsciously received the 
 benison of Basil, and who has come down to assist in the work 
 — and !Miss Barnes joins her verdict against ]\'Ii's. Topps ; who, 
 a little vexed with herself, ties her riband strings with an angry 
 snatch, and descends to amend her serious error, by changing 
 the skein. 
 
 The most innocent and the most hardened bachelor of three- 
 score, brought into the room, would at once divine the sort of 
 work prepared by those tlu'ee women. He would at once know 
 their cutting and theii' sewing to be spells preparatoiy to the 
 tying of a knot that should, for the term of natural life, hold 
 tight together two fellow creatures. The women worked so 
 earnestly — so readily ; whilst unseen little loves fluttered up and 
 down ; now running along the edge of a hem, and now giving 
 a flourishing caper with some final stitch. 
 
 The room — Mrs. Can-away s had a dozen times said as much 
 — ^was in a dreadful btter. Calicos and flannels, and stufl's, and 
 brown holland, and cotton webs with blue stripes lay heaped 
 about, in very homely contrast to the pretty lilac-coloured satin 
 carefully worked at by IVIiss Barnes ; a satin that Bessy would 
 now and then glance at as though she felt towai'ds it a living 
 tenderness. And still looking, she seemed aU the happier with 
 every look. 
 
 And Mrs, Carraways seemed much amended. She appeared 
 to have set aside her anxious aspect, and taken, as her husband 
 jovially said, a new lease of heart. And so, she Avorked with 
 happy zeal; and even hummed an old, old tune, as now and 
 then she looked about her, and her eye rested, now upon a 
 canvas bog, now upon a hat of tarpaulin, — things that, telling 
 her of the long, long voyage to the other side of the world, made 
 her only a few days ago sick with apprehension. 
 
 There was a sudden pause — a perfect silence. And then a 
 carriage whirled up Primrose Place, and stopt short at the door.
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 207 
 
 " Who can tLat be ? " cried Mrs. Carraways, with a look of 
 dread, and bying down her work. ]\Iiss Barnes immediately 
 went to the window, and fluently enough described the brilliant 
 carriage, and the many-coloured liveries. 
 
 " I thought so," cried ]\Ii-s. Carraways, timiing pale, " it 's 
 Mr. Jericho." As she spoke, the smitten knocker chattered — ■ 
 for it was a modest knocker, too light and small to thunder — 
 through the house. 
 
 "No," cried jMiss Barnes. " Xot ]\Ir. Jericho. A lady." 
 
 " Mi's. Jericho ! " exclaimed Bessy, becoming nervous — look- 
 ing very pale in her turn ; and casting a strange, anxious glance 
 at the lilac-colom'cd satin laid down by Miss Barnes. " Is she 
 alone ? " 
 
 " Quite alone," said Miss Barnes; and without another word, 
 the sempstress gathered up her work, and left the room. 
 
 In another moment, Susan entered with Mrs. Jericho's cai'd. 
 " Show the lady up stairs," said Mrs. Carraways in a very twitter 
 — " And say, we will see her dii-ectly." Susan descended upon 
 her mission, and ^Ii-s. Carraways and Bessy ran to their several 
 rooms, like startled rabbits to their bm-rows. 
 
 Mrs. Jericho slowly ascended the stairs, and with prodigious 
 dignity entered the second floor front. "Missus Carraways, 
 mum, will be with you directly," said Susan who, in her way, 
 was a little flustered ; inasmuch as she had been suddenly sum- 
 moned from peeling tm-nips to wipe her hands for Mrs. Jericho's 
 card. 
 
 J\li-s. Jericho stood alone in the apartment which, in all its 
 details, she set herself with her best intelligence, to read. Very 
 speedily she divined the meaning of the various articles about 
 her ; the checked shirting ; the plaids ; the tarpaidin ; with here 
 and there some tin utensil, bright and new for travel. They 
 made her sad, melancholy. She could have almost wept ; for 
 somehow, she seemed to see in everytliing the loss of Basil. 
 Pride Avas sinking ; afi"ection rising in her heart ; when her eye 
 glanced upon a piece of white satin — perhaps, it was for a 
 bonnet, we cannot say— and in that white, imspotted web, her
 
 208 A. MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 woman's shrewdness read a whole history. Instantly she was 
 herself; more than ever herself: full to overflowing with the 
 wrongs of a mother. In that bit of white satin, did ]Mrs. 
 Jericho read — as she firmly believed — the fatal maiTiage warrant 
 of her son, her eldest born. 
 
 Mrs. Carraways had, of course, to change her cap. Such 
 was her first intention ; the serious purpose that had sent her 
 fljang to her room. However, let no woman say she will at a 
 pinch change her cap and nothing more. For IMrs. Carraways 
 had no sooner entered her room, and caught a bit of herself in 
 her glass, than she was convinced she must also change her 
 gown. She cared nothing for Mrs. Jericho ; she had ceased to 
 have respect or esteem for her; nevertheless, it was due to 
 herself " not to be seen a figure." These thoughts engaged 
 ]\Irs. Carraways, as her fluttered hand, like the last minstrel's, 
 wandered among the strings. At length, however, in the best 
 cap and gown that fortune had left her, Mrs. Carraways appeared 
 before her visitor. 
 
 'Mxs,. Jericho did not affect cordiality. She made no attempt 
 to excuse her absence — her neglect of old acquaintance. Mrs. 
 Jericho was too wise a woman ; knew too well the person with 
 whom she had to confer. No : she would not attempt to shirk 
 her ingratitude ; but — if we may say as much—at once took the 
 scorpion by the tail. 
 
 " Mrs. Carraways, you will probably understand why we have 
 not met since our mutual circumstances have so completely 
 changed?" Thus, ^vith hardest smile, spoke Mrs. Jericho. 
 
 " I would I could understand all things quite as well," said 
 Mrs. Carraways, with cold and steady look. 
 
 " It woidd have been painful to you, painful to myself," said 
 Mrs. Jericho. 
 
 " And you were quite right," answered the broken lady, " to 
 spare at least one of us." 
 
 ^Irs. Jericho waived her head and arm, as much as to intimate 
 that all needful preface being done, she might at once begin the 
 subject-matter. "Do you know Avhat brings me here, Mrs. 
 Carraways ? "
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 209 
 
 " I think, madam, I can guess," was the ready answer. 
 
 " It is this, madam," said Mrs. Jericho, with her best thunder, 
 raising the white satin. " This ! " 
 
 Mrs. Carraways did not for one moment affect surprise. No : 
 to the astonishment of the sonorous Mrs. Jericho, she calmly 
 replied — " I thought so." 
 
 Mi's. Jericho immediately disposed her soul for self-enjoyment. 
 The said soul felt a yearning for lofty exercise ; and Avith good 
 reason ; it had so long obeyed the soul of Jericho — aggrandised, 
 sublimated by money — that it longed to assert its natural 
 importance ; an importance that, at the commencement of this 
 history — if the reader recollects as much — was made sufficiently 
 evident. Mrs. Jericho's majesty had been confined, doubled up, 
 like a snake in a box ; and it was not to be wondered at that, 
 the occasion offering, it should desire to come out and air itself, 
 showing its fine proportions. The husband Jericho had some- 
 how been the snake-charmer; now Mrs. Carraways was weak 
 and ignorant as babyhood. 
 
 " And may I ask you, madam, what you propose by inveigling 
 a young man " — 
 
 " Eeally, Mrs. Jericho," said Mrs. Carraways, and even witli 
 the most placid manner she managed to rise above the violence 
 of her visitor — " reaUy, I must hear nothing of this. ^Ir. 
 Carraways has, I believe, communicated with Mr. Jericho ; and 
 I take it, as they are agreed" — and Mrs. Carraways was most 
 provoking in her humihty — " as they are of accord, the less we 
 women interfere the better." 
 
 " That may be your degraded opinion of the rights of women, 
 Mrs. Carraways ; of the rights of a mother. Happily, however, 
 I have other notions; other feelings. To be sure, you may 
 very calmly contemplate the marriage of your daughter with a 
 husband of untold affluence — of untold affluence, ma'am." 
 
 "Untold, — I believe so; yes, untold," observed Mrs. Car- 
 raways, very quietly. 
 
 Mrs. Jericho would not pause in her course to notice the 
 sarcasm. " But, madam, it is otherwise to the mother whose
 
 210 A MAX MADE OF MOXEY. 
 
 cliild, whose* only son, is to be lured, entrapped, and cruelly 
 sacrificed to tlie hopeless condition of a penniless wife." 
 
 " I assui'e you, madam," — ]\Ii's. Carraways' cheek tingled a 
 little ; but she had made up her mind to be cool, and cool she 
 would be though — as she afterwards phrased it — her blood was 
 boiHng — " I assure you, ]\Ir. Carraways has no thought of J\Ir. 
 Peunibacker's probable, I might say, his problematical wealth ; 
 though, no doubt, it must be immense, if all the stories be true 
 about the mines of platina." 
 
 " My dear ]\Irs. Carraways " — that lady stared at the sudden 
 com'tesy — " let us understand one another. J\Ir. Jericho has, 
 I can answer for it, eveiy wish to serve the family. _ You are 
 about to make a voyage ; about to begin the world anew. Just 
 grant us one favom*, and there is nothing we wiU not do for 
 you." It was thus, without effort, Mrs. Jericho subsided from 
 the imperious to the polite, when she found it best to sink to 
 an advantage. 
 
 "You are veiy kind; very suddenly kind," said Mrs. Carra- 
 ways ; " but I think even now we are so rich — yes, so very rich, 
 that it is impossible !Mi*. Jericho can assist us." 
 
 " Come, come" — said Mrs. Jericho, laying her hand upon Mrs. 
 Carraways' hand, and the good lady smiled a little sourly at the 
 action — " we are both mothers ; and must consider om* chddi'en's 
 happiness. xVs for Basil, he is quite a boy ; absurdly young to 
 take a wife. No fixed affections. A very boy." 
 
 *' He is young; very young," confessed Mi's. Carraways. 
 
 " Do not suppose, my dear madam, that I would thwart his 
 affections when pronounced and real. And as for any inequality 
 of fortune, why, after all, I would not weigh my boy's heart 
 against money. Certainly not. So pray, my dear Mrs. Carra- 
 ways, think what I said about fortune, as so much idle temper ; 
 mere heat of words, with no meaning ; none, I assure you." 
 And then Mi's. Jericho, in the simplest manner possible, asked — 
 " Pray, when do you sail? " 
 
 " In about a fortnight, I believe," was the answer, and Mi's. 
 Can'aways could not repress a sigh.
 
 A MAN MADK OF MONEY. 211 
 
 " So soon ! " cried IMrs. Jericlio, and her face darkened. — 
 " Well, that is eaiiy — very early. Now, dear ]\Irs. Carraways " 
 — and Mrs. Jericho drawing up her chau-, became impressive, 
 then pathetic — " what I ask for the happiness of both our children 
 is only this. — Leave Basil here ; let him remain a year or two with 
 us ; and then, if his affection still holds for yom- daughter, why, 
 I 'm sure the young people shall have my — my blessing. Say 
 two years only, my dear creature." 
 
 " I can say nothing," replied Mrs. Carraways. " Gilbert has 
 pledged his word." 
 
 " A pledge that may be easily removed, explained ; anything. 
 All I ask for Basil " — cried his mother with new energy — " is 
 the trial of two years." 
 
 " A trial for me," cried Basil, hurrymg into the room, " my 
 dear lady, on what account ? Ha ! ha ! Susan told me you 
 were here, and I lost no time to ask yom- blessing," and Basil 
 bent liis head, and kissed his mother's hand. Then, he gaily 
 asked — " Where 's father ? " 
 
 " I thought it best to come alone," answered Mrs. Jericho. 
 
 *' Oh ! I wouldn't trouble Mr. Jericho for the world ; I meant 
 my other father, — father Carraways." IMrs. Jericho frowned and 
 bit her lip. " I thought he 'd be home before me. We 've had 
 such a ramble ; and — my dear lady — we have selected two such 
 ploughs. Fit to plough Elysium." 
 
 " Ploughs ! " cried Mrs. Jericho. " In heaven's name, Basil, 
 what do you mean? " 
 
 " Mean ! The noblest meaning in the world, my dear 
 mother. The first meaning of the first man, — work, mother ; 
 work. Two such ploughs ! The true philantlu-opic iron," cried 
 Basil. 
 
 " My poor boy ! you must be mad," and ]\Irs. Jericho sighed 
 and shook her head. 
 
 "Not mad, my dear lady; only wondi'ous happy. You see, 
 mother, we 've been shopping. Delightful employment, you '11 
 own that ? Been cheapening a few of Vulcan's nick-nacks Avith 
 which we propose to set-oft" nature. Such ploughs, I say;
 
 212 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 fancy took a flight into the future, and I thought I heard the 
 corn wave to and fro while I looked at 'em. Such axes ! How 
 they will startle the wood-nymphs ! Such hoes, such rakes, 
 such pitchforks ! I never felt so proud in my life, as while I 
 handled 'em. Every tool seemed to me at once the weapon 
 and the ornament of independence. With such magnificent arms 
 a true man may go forth and conquer the wilderness ; making 
 the earth smile with the noblest of victories." 
 
 " Khapsodist ! " cried Mrs. Jericho. "And you can leave 
 home, can quit fortune, family, every grace and happiness of life 
 for the whim of a desert ? " 
 
 " Grace and happiness a man may, if he will, always carry 
 with him. The most valuable of luggage, they pack very easily. 
 Desert ! Look here, my dear mother — see," and Basil took 
 from his pocket a map, which unfolding, he spread upon the 
 table. " Quite a land of plenty ! Earth is here so kind, that just 
 tickle her with a hoe and she laughs with a harvest." 
 
 Mrs. Jericho said nothing; but shook her head and sighed. 
 And here Mrs. Carraways quietly withdrew. 
 
 " Look here, my dear mother," and Basil traced the map with 
 his finger, " see, here 's where we shall disembark. Here, you see 
 is Port Pancake. Here is Van Dumplings Land — now we skirt 
 along here, till we come to Smokejack Point. Then we trend 
 to the left by Pudding Mount, until we break upon Sea Pie Bay. 
 Then we at once get into the Lavender." 
 
 " Lavender ! " echoed Mrs. Jericho feebly. 
 
 " Yes, a home in the Lavender is where we are bound for — 
 and then, you see — and then " — 
 
 Por a minute ]\Irs. Jericho's tears had fallen upon the map ; 
 Basil would not see them ; at length his voice thickened, then fairly 
 broke, and the next moment son and mother were sobbing in 
 each other's arms. 
 
 " And you can leave me — you can quit us ? " said the mother. 
 " Oh Basil ! can you leave u^ ? " 
 
 " What remains for me, — what can I do .^ I shall be better 
 away — much better."
 
 A MAN MADE OF MOxN'EY. 213 
 
 " Wherefore better ? Have you not position— fortune ? All 
 that should make you happy ? " 
 
 " My position, splendid serfdom " — answered Basil — " my 
 fortune, money that would damn me." 
 
 " Basil," said his mother, startled by the passion of her son. 
 " Your father's money ! " 
 
 " I would have avoided this ; I hoped to avoid it, — but 
 mother, I suspect your husband." The wife drew herself up ; 
 nevertheless, a somethhig in her heart seemed to baffle her. 
 " There are odd tales told of Mr. Jericho. Have an eye upon 
 him. I don't believe the words in their vulgar, nursery meaning ; 
 but it is said that Mr. Jericho's mines, whence he derives his 
 wealth, is the very mine that some day " — 
 
 Basil's mother grew pale. She tried to speak ; and then to 
 smile, as though in scorn and utter incredulity. 
 
 " I only repeat the rumour ; of course, mother, I give no faith 
 to bonds of brimstone. Still, I should like to be assm'ed of 
 the som'ce of his means. Why, mother, you have eyes. You 
 cannot, if you would, be blind to the daily, hourly waste of the 
 man. Like a waxen figm-e made by a witch, he dwindles — 
 dwindles. People say, too, such waste is the tribute exacted by 
 the devil." 
 
 " Basil ! " shi-ieked the frightened woman. 
 
 " And, I take it," answered the young man with solemn voice, 
 and saddest looks, " I take it to be so. Come, you must hear 
 me out. I shall not offend again; and you must hear me. What 
 are the ravages of conscience but tribute paid to evil ? What 
 the pains, the tremors, the hcartquakes that I know the man 
 endures — for I have watched him — what are all, but the devil's 
 tribute ? " 
 
 "You are a dreamer — an enthusiast — a foolish boy," cried 
 Mrs. Jericho, laughing and shuddering, 
 
 " Well, we shall see — we shall see. We will talk no more of 
 it," said Basil. 
 
 " With all my heart ; I am siu-e I must reproach myself that I 
 have listened so Ions;."
 
 214 A MAN MADE OP MONEY. 
 
 " Yet, a Avorcl," said Basil. " I qiiit England in a foiiniglit." 
 
 "With a wife?" asked the mother, tremulously. 
 
 "With a wife," exclaimed Basil, and with the words his heart 
 shone in his face. 
 
 "Foolish, imprudent, ungrateful boy ! " and the mother wept. 
 
 " May you have no worse cause for tears, madam, till we meet 
 again," said Basil proudly. " But pray hear me. We go to 
 make a liouse in the wilderness. Tet do not think, my mother, 
 my sisters, are forgotten. Iso : they shall find a home too." 
 
 "In the wilderness?" asked Mrs. Jericho, ■v\'ith contempt. 
 
 " In the wilderness," answered Basil, " and bless the solitude 
 that gives them happy shelter from the falsehoodof the di'eaiy finery 
 of life. I say, in the wilderness. Once there, what a new hunger 
 you will feel for natm'e ! Well, all shaU be prepared for you." 
 
 " No, Basil," said the mother mom'nfuUy, " we never meet 
 again: mother, sisters, aU to you will be as the dead. I suppose 
 you have heard ? Agatha marries Sir Arthur, and in a few days." 
 
 " If it be so, poor wench ! " said Basil. "But I have hope, 
 mother; hope." 
 
 " Of coiu-se, Basil, you will come to the ceremony ? " 
 
 " And Bessy? " — inquii-ed Basil. His mother made no answer; 
 Basil calmly continued. " Nevertheless, should the wedding-cup 
 slip from the lip — there are such slips, you know — Aggj' shall 
 find that her new sister has thought of her — even, I say, in the 
 wilderness. I shall leave behind those who will watch you " — 
 
 " Watch ? " cried I\Ii's. Jericho, impatiently. 
 
 "For a kind purpose," said the son, "And you shall see 
 what a house we '11 have for you. Oh ! you '11 need it. What 
 a garden ! What freedom ! What a new life of happiness and 
 honour — the life of the husbandman, a life fed by the bounty of 
 earth, and sweetened by the airs of heaven. Good-bye." 
 
 "Oh, Basil; we shall meet before you — before" — the mother 
 coxQd say no more, 
 
 "Oh, yes; truly yes," and Basil took his mother to his 
 bosom ; and the woman's heart flowed in tears — and pride and 
 vanity, and worldly thoughts were, for the moment, conquered.
 
 A MAN MADE OF MOSEV. 215 
 
 " Will you see Bessy ? " asked Basil ; his mother responded with 
 a pressure of her arms. In a moment, Bessy — answering the 
 call of Basil — stood, blushing in the room. 
 
 ]\Irs. Jericho felt rebuked, humbled, by the sweet, frank, 
 innocence of the girl. "Bless you, Bessy," she cried; and 
 kissing her, with an effort smiled ; then sajdng, " Basil, you will 
 see me to the door," hurried down staii-s. In a minute, Mrs. 
 Jericho was in her carriage. " Home ! " cried Basil, and home- 
 wards the lady went. And the figure of Bessy stiU went vnih 
 her ; the good, happy face of the fair creature that had smiled so 
 sweetly at the tjTanny of fortune ; that, in the confiding purity 
 of her heart, seemed invulnerable to evil, — the face went with 
 her ; and the wife of the Man of Money for the moment blushed 
 for her possessions ; felt ashamed of her wealth. 
 
 And then she thought of Basil and his young bride in the 
 wilderness ; and the next thought sent the recollection of that 
 word — was it scornfully uttered by Basil ? — that word " Home " 
 through her brain. Never before had the sound so jarred upon 
 her heart. " Home ! " With what sad, suUen thoughts, she 
 now considered that magnificent dungeon; that gorgeous prison, 
 her home. How its splendour came feverishly upon her soul ! 
 How Little was there in that home that consecrated it from any 
 temple where the creed was money, and the worshipper, the world. 
 
 "Home!" a sweet and terrible word. How often may 
 it have made its way into the carriage, sickening youth and 
 beauty with its sound — striking cold misery to the poor, aching 
 heart ; some sad, chm-ch-bargain, receipted by the priest. How 
 often, the miserable creatm^e, begging at the carriage-door, 
 kneading the mud beneath his naked feet, with all his tattered 
 wretchedness feels no such pang as that word " Home " inflicts 
 upon the seeming felicity he prays to. " Home 1 " How 
 merrily the hours dance onward! How the heart has for- 
 gotten, thrown down its daily load, letting itself be cheated into 
 joy ! Still the hours glide on, glowing as they pass, and sorrow 
 is tricked into happiness. And it may be the dream lasts 
 until the dreamer departs. And then the word " Home " is
 
 216 A MAX MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 flung, like a snake, to the victim — the daily viper that daily 
 stings. 
 
 And whilst we have hammered out this iron sermon upon one 
 kind of home, what a diiierent home have our lovers — Basil and 
 Bessy — already made in the wilderness ! Basil lias talked of all 
 he has purchased, — ploughs, axes, hammers ; all sorts of field 
 implements ; and Bessy has listened with an earnestness that 
 tried to understand theii" separate use. And then Basil had given 
 particidar orders for plants and seeds. " For you see, my love," 
 said he, " I intend to take as much of England as we can 
 with us." 
 
 " To be siu-e," cried Bessy. " Oh yes ! " 
 
 "And so, I 've cuttings of raspberry, and currant, and goose- 
 berry ; and for flowering shrubs, rhododendrons, and camellias, 
 and roses as various, yes as the beauty they are the type of." 
 
 " And I too have seen to a great many seeds," said Bessy. 
 " Above all, I 've not forgotten the heart's-ease." 
 
 " That " — said BasQ, taking a kiss as the best comment — 
 " that, Bessy, I may be always sure of." 
 
 CHAPTEK XIX. 
 
 Mr. Jericho, as in gratitude bound, was proud of the 
 friendship of the Duke of St. George. If, at any time, Solomon 
 thought of the peerage — and we cannot deny that his soul did 
 now and then hover about the House of Lords — it was his 
 belief that to the high party interest of the duke he should 
 owe the strawberry leaves. Besides, Jericho had his own 
 personal claims. He was religiously observant of the wishes of 
 the Minister, and — if a dog could vote — not even that grateful 
 animal woidd have barked aye or no with better docility ; or 
 even with quicker intelligence. Again, it was only too plain to 
 Jericho's intimate friends that he was dying for his country. 
 "Parliament is killing that dear man," was the frequent cry
 
 A MAX MADE OF MONEY. 217 
 
 of Candituft. " He is wasting piecemeal," was tlie complaint 
 of ISIizzlemist. " All liis flesh," cried Mrs. Jericho, the tears 
 peeping from her eyes, " all his flesh goes into those filthy blue 
 books." And this belief became a very popular superstition 
 among the crowd of folks who visited the Man of IMoney. His 
 blood and brain, aye the marrow of the senator, all was consumed 
 to reappear in statistical details : yes, his very soul might be 
 recognised by friendship, sympathetic and imaginative, sacrificed 
 to printer's ink. And — as Colonel Bones would ask — 
 " What cared the people of Toadsham for the devotion of their 
 member ? " Whilst Commissioner Thrush declared that to 
 stick by his seat with the tenacity of Jericho, was not to sit 
 leism-ely and like a gentleman for a borough, but to be impaled 
 in Parliament. To be sui'e, Mrs. Jericho was again and again 
 promised by sanguine friends that "]\Ii". Jericho must some 
 day have a coronet." But the wife, loath to be comforted, 
 would again fall upon her husband's daily waste, " A coronet ! 
 Yes ; a coronet is all very well, but if the dear fellow dwindles 
 and dwindles in Parliament as he has done, why — poor creature 
 — when the coronet comes, he 'U have no head to put in it." 
 An impossible case, of course ; and only to be received as the 
 morbid apprehension of conjugal aftection. 
 
 It was a great pity that Jericho's intimacy with the Duke 
 did not begin in early youth. His Grace himself sweetly con- 
 founded Jericho by more than once protesting such regret. 
 "My dear Solomon," his Grace would say, and at first all the 
 blood in Jericho's body seemed tm-ned into ichor by the con- 
 descension, " My dear Solomon ; I only wish we had met at 
 College. However," the Duke would add with fortitude, " we 
 must make the best of the time that remains to us." And 
 certainly, Jericho might take to himself this comfort : at no 
 period of his life could his friendship have been so useful to 
 St. George as at the veiy moment of his acquaintance. The hot 
 is, the Duke was in debt. Debt, indeed, was his family distinc- 
 tion. All his ancestors, from Hugh de Gorge — who, to give the 
 slip to his Norman tailor, came with William to Hastings, and 
 
 L
 
 218 A MAX MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 cut for himself a good slice of land with his carving sword — all 
 St. George's ancestors were in debt. They were all born to 
 prodigious bills, just as other high families are born to thick lips 
 and elliptic noses. Therefore, we say, Jericho was now a 
 cherished guest at Eed Dragon House. Two days before the 
 marriage of Agatha, the Man of iloney passed the gi-eater part 
 of the night there : it was four in the morning when he returned 
 home. Of course, IMi-s. Jericho thought him in Parliament; 
 wastmg himself, in her own impatient words, upon those wretches 
 of Toadsham. " iVnd what would they care if he killed himself 
 outright in their service? Why, they'd erect nothing to his 
 memory. Not so much as his statue in gilt gingerbread." At 
 this Mr. Jericho would smile incredulously ; and in his bitter 
 way, declare a female patriot to be the rarest of animals. 
 
 It was late, very late when Jericho appeared in his library. 
 The servant, waiting at the breakfast -table, eyed his master with 
 looks of dismay. The honest fellow's teeth chattered as though 
 he was compelled to wait upon a ghost. Jericho observed the 
 condition of the lacquey, and, aftronted by his terror, ordered 
 him to quit the room. And the man, it was afterwards dis- 
 covered, rushed to his bedchamber, skinned liimself of his livery; 
 scratched on his old plain clothes, and — as though he was 
 making off with the silver tea-pot — sneaked stealthily from the 
 house. (That man — if we may quit om* story to say as much — 
 that man is now in Bedlam ; his hopeless madness a belief that 
 his own face is nothing more than a razor blade. Poor fellow ! 
 Evidently possessed by the sharpened visage of Jericho, as it 
 cruelly gleamed upon him from the breakfast-table.) 
 
 And there was good reasoii for this new keenness of the face 
 divine. Ere Jericho quitted Eed Dragon House, he had lent 
 upon the most satisfactory mortgage — so any way there was land 
 for his money — no less than five-and-forty thousand pounds to liis 
 Grace of St. George. It was a great sacrifice ; but the Man of 
 Money could not withstand it. Truly an enormous sacrifice ; but 
 it should be the last — the last — the very last. And there was no 
 doubt that the money, lent at such a season, and to such a man,
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 219 
 
 witli parliamentary service and the fame of vA'ealtli, would bring the 
 peerage : a baronetcy Jericho had already refused. A peerage ! 
 Nevertheless, how he had shrunk — how horribly he had dwin- 
 dled — how wretchedly small he had become to purchase it. 
 Aye, — how small ? He would again measure himself : he would 
 know the exact waste. "WTiereupon Jericho took the silken cord, 
 and passed it round his breast. Why, it would twice encircle 
 him — twice, and a piece to spare. With horror and loathing, 
 Jericho flung the cord in the fire : he would never again take 
 damning evidence against himself. Yet, why should he fear ? 
 He lost no strength. On the contrary, as his flesh wasted, his 
 spirit became stronger — his passions fiercer. He had waxed in 
 dignity of soul — in might and vigour of self-assertion. He had 
 wholly lost the weak, easy-tempered part of himself, and was a 
 man of iron will ; of all-subduing energy. And perhaps this 
 was the tenor of the compact ; the condition of his wealth ; that, 
 as he sloughed the fleshy weakness of human nature, his spu'it 
 should be strengthened, sublimated to the temper of the diviner 
 creature. His very soul glowed and chuckled at the thought ; 
 and thus priding himself, in the triumph of his folly he sat and 
 smiled a ghastly smile, and rubbed together his long, thin, blood- 
 less hands. 
 
 " Why, what 's the matter, woman ? " suddenly cried the Man 
 of Money. Mrs. Jericho had abruptly entered the room, and 
 shouted astonishment at the spectre of her hasband. " What 's 
 the matter ? " The woman coidd not answer ; she trembled; 
 yet with a frosty smile tried to overcome her look of apprehen- 
 sion. Somehow, too, the strange manner of the man — his eye 
 and voice ten*ified and thriUed her. " I ask, what's the matter?" 
 
 " Nothing, my dear; nothing," stammered the wife; " nothing 
 if you — you are well." 
 
 "And why should I not be well? What ails me?" and 
 Jericho fro^med and rose erect. 
 
 " You were so late at the House, I thought, my love, you 
 must be tii-ed; that is all," murmured Mrs. Jericho. "But 
 my love, here is Sii- Ai-thur," and Sir Arthur Hodmadod— 
 
 l2
 
 220 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 tlie bridegroom of to-morrow with the happy Agatha — came 
 smiling into the room. Instantly, the smile was struck from 
 his face ; he let fall his cane, and as though he had looked 
 upon Gorgon, stood with fixed eyes, di'opt jaw, and face of 
 whitest stone. His bride, with instinctive trust, alarmed at the 
 spectre, clutched the coat skirt of her betrothed. ]\Ii'S. Jericho 
 trembled anew at this new display of terror ; and with heroic 
 effort, tried to rattle the baronet back to himself, 
 
 " Well, my dear Sir Arthur ; here are you and Agatha, like 
 coupled doves. Well, bless ye both," and the gallant woman 
 affectionately patted the cheek of her future son, and gave an 
 affectionate, but sharpish pinch to her daughter's cheek, possibly 
 to bring back the blood. " I only hope, my loves, that this 
 time tweuty years you'll keep as close together. But I have no 
 doubt of it, none ;" and she violently shook Hodmadod's hand, 
 and gave another pinch to the other cheek of Agatha. 
 
 "No doubt of it," stammered Hodmadod. " Always domestic 
 and always together, like knife and fork ; when I say knife and 
 fork, of course I mean cup-and-saucer." 
 
 " To be sure," cried IVIrs. Jericho very cordially. 
 
 " My dear sir," and Hodmadod looked anxiously, warily at 
 Jericho ; " heavy debate last night ; when 1 say heavy, I mean, 
 you spoke of course. What a shame it is, Mr. Jericho, that 
 they never print your speeches. Shameful. They print much 
 ■worse, I 'm sure. Didn't divide till three, I perceive. And with 
 committees and all, it's butchering work. When I say butchering 
 work, I mean that I look upon the House of Commons as quite 
 a slaughter-house. Best lives of the countiy sacrificed there. 
 Why, now, how ill you look ! " 
 
 "Do you think so? "growled Jericho. 
 
 " Shocking ill. If I were you, I should take the Chiltem 
 Hundreds. When I say, Chiltern Hundreds, I mean medical 
 advice ; if not, Parliament will kill you. Kill a bullock; when 
 I say a bullock, I don't mean that you 're a" — 
 
 " Sir Arthur Hodmadod," roared Jericho j and the baronet 
 was in a tremor, for he had not, though he had industriously
 
 A MAN MADE OF MOXET. 221 
 
 essayed, talked himself into courage. " Sir Arthur ! " ^Irs. 
 Jericho was in new twitters, and Agatha, about to faint, crept 
 closer to her love — " Sir Arthur, I say." 
 
 " WeU, sii'," answered the baronet very tremulously. 
 
 " I believe you marry that young lady to-morrow ? " 
 
 "It is my rapturous destiny," said Hodmadod, affecting a 
 smile. — " When I say rapturous" — 
 
 " I know," roared the IMan of Money, vnth. his best brutality, 
 " Now, understand, once and for all, if I permit a jackass to 
 marry into my family, I do not suffer him always to bray to 
 me." And with this Mr. Jericho stalked from the room. 
 
 " Jackass !" exclaimed Hodmadod — "I must have this ex- 
 plained. When he says jackass of course he means " — 
 
 " Oh, dear no ! " cried Mrs. Jericho, crushing the inference 
 in its shell — its goose-shell. 
 
 " Not for a moment, Arthur ; don't believe it," interposed 
 Agatha ; and, at the touch of her hand, the lion-hearted 
 Arthur dropt his mane, and the Avrathful fire died in his pacific 
 eyes. 
 
 "It's all the debates," cried Mrs. Jericho. *'They 're wear- 
 ing him to a shadow. He '11 never be himself so long as he 's 
 in that horrid Commons. He must retire into the Upper House. 
 He 's losing all his substance in Acts of Parliament. And what 
 — what indeed does anybody care ? Except ourselves," said Mrs. 
 Jericho, with self-correction — "except ourselves. And, dear 
 Sir Arthur, I know your friendship — I know your sympathy : 
 that Ml-. Jericho, in all his trials, in all his anxieties for the 
 country, that he may always depend upon." 
 
 " Always," responded Sii- Arthur ; with the better alacrity 
 that he remembered he was about to leave England for a year ; 
 or, as his bride had more prettily expressed it to a friend, "for 
 twelve honeymoons." 
 
 Mrs. Jericho left the lovers to themselves. We shall imitate 
 the considerate example of IMrs. Jericho. We will not break 
 upon the last hour of single life left them to enjoy together. 
 The last hour : for when next they meet, they meet in the very
 
 222 A MAN MADE OF MOXEY, 
 
 handsome and very florid structure of St. Shekel's, there to be 
 made one by the welding ministration of Doctor Cummin. 
 
 About to quit Jericho House, Sir Ai-thur thought himself 
 especially favoured by fortune to meet Doctor Stubbs npon the 
 door-step. " Sir Arthur," said the courteous physician, " I wish 
 you great joy, though in advance." 
 
 " You 're a kind creature, Stubbs ; when I say kind, I was 
 just thinking of you. That is, when I say thinking of you, I 
 mean" — 
 
 "My dear Sir Arthm-," and Stubbs looked professionally 
 anxious, " what is the matter ? " 
 
 " Nothing 's the matter. — When I say nothing, I never felt so 
 odd in my life. Never was married before you know ; and, 
 upon my word, looking at the church steeple there, it goes up 
 and down, and I feel aU over sea-sick. Did you feel so, eh ? " 
 and Hodmadod took the arm of Stubbs, and turning from the 
 door, the bridegroom and physician walked gently onward. 
 " Quite sea-sick," repeated the Baronet. 
 
 " It 's nothing ; " said the physician, " merely your nerves." 
 
 " That 's what I said to myself ; only my nerves. Still, it 
 isn't pleasant, is it, going to be married ? Not but what I shall 
 be happy. Eh? Don't you think I shall be happy?" asked 
 the Baronet ; for in all things he Hked to be confirmed by 
 another opinion ; he had, perhaps, so little faith in his own. 
 
 " Miss Penuibacker was made to — to — to make you happy : 
 no doubt of it," said Stubbs. 
 
 " When you say made, of course you mean ordered for me. — 
 And when — but bless me ! how that steeple does go up and 
 down, and how my nerves — they arc my nerves you say ! — 
 tingle too." 
 
 " Well, well, we must put that all right," said Doctor Stubbs. 
 " It won't do for you to take nerves with you to the altar, to- 
 morrow. It 's the bride's privilege to have nerves. You must 
 be rock." 
 
 " I should like it, above all things," said Hodmadod. 
 " Ought to be rock at such a tune, eh ? "
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 223 
 
 " A piece of manly adamant," responded Doctor Stubbs, and 
 his eye twinkled. " Well, that can be done. That can be done," 
 repeated the^Doctor slowly, the whUe he wrote with pencil upon 
 a leaf of his pocket-book. " Here, Sir Arthur. This will brace 
 you up like a drum," and the Doctor, tearing the prescription 
 from his book, handed it to the tremulous bridegroom. 
 
 Sir Ai'thur cast his eye upon the medicinal Latin ; muttered 
 bits of the written spells — " Morpli : Acetat. Hi/oscyami. Bigi* 
 talis. jEtheris SHlphuric. Yes ; I see " — and the patient smUed, 
 much comforted. " I see ; quite hke a drmn. Exactly." 
 
 " There are two doses," said Stubbs. " You will take one the 
 last thing to-night ; and the other when you wake iu the morn- 
 ing. That will, no doubt, be early," and Stubbs laughed. 
 
 "Oh yes," cried Hodmadod, with joyous burst. " Oh, yes ! 
 Up with the first chanticleer. When I say the first chanticleer "— - 
 
 "To be sure," said. Stubbs. " And now, my dear Sir Ai-thur 
 — why what is the matter ? " 
 
 " Nothing. When I say nothing, you can't think how that 
 steeple still goes up and down. 1 'm always sick at sea ; but 
 never felt so sick'as now in all my life. Up and down ! " 
 
 "Aye, aye; f your nerves. Now, pray listen. You must keep 
 yoiu-self very quiet. Because to-morrow " — Stubbs was the 
 smallest of a wag — " to-morrow you have to make a gi-eat moral 
 demonstration." 
 
 " Very moral. Marriage, you know, Nothing can be more 
 moral. When I say" — 
 
 " Yes, I apprehend. Therefore, you must be very quiet. 
 Because your temperament is excitable. You 're very impulsive. 
 Yom* nerves are most delicately striuig." 
 
 " Quite so. Often thought it. Smallest thing sets 'em 
 tingling. I 'm quite like an Eohan harp ; played upon by the 
 least breath. When I say " — 
 
 " To be sm-e. At this crisis you must be particularly careful. 
 Pray attend to me" — the Doctor looked at his watch — " for I 'm 
 past my time. ^'^Tien you 've taken the medicine, do not on any 
 account suffer yourself to be disturbed. Be most particular in
 
 224 A MAN MADE OF MONEY, 
 
 this. You will then have a sweet, refreshing sleep ; and you 
 wiU wake, as I say, like a drum. God bless you" — and Doctor 
 Stubbs shook the Baronet's hand — " like a drum." 
 
 The Doctor returned to make his call at Jericho House, and 
 Hodmadod took his way to his own abode ; resolved to shut 
 himself up until summoned by the chimes to his happy fate. 
 Still the chm'ch steeple, as he phrased it in his thoughts, went 
 up and down in his head ; and he felt an increased sense of the 
 necessity of quietude. With strengthened determination to be 
 tranquil, Hodmadod, arrived at home, summoned his valet to his 
 presence. " Atkins," said Hodmadod, and Atkins stared at the 
 soft, subdued manner of his master. What coidd ail him? 
 "Atkins, you know Avhat is about to happen to-morrow." — 
 Atkins, responding to what he thought the dejection of the 
 Baronet, looked grave and shook his head. " Now, it is most 
 necessary to my reputation as a man and a rock, Atkins, that I 
 should not be disturbed. You understand ? " 
 
 " Y'es, sir; to be sure, sir; not disturbed, sir," said Atkins. 
 
 " Very well. Then you will go yoiu'self, Atkins, and get me 
 that prescription," and Hodmadod gave the document to the 
 suspicious retainer. Yes ; suspicious. For Atkins had grave 
 doubts, as he took his way to the chemist's ; doubts which his 
 fidelity to his master soon put into language. 
 
 " May I be so bold as to ask if there's anything queer in that 
 physic?" asked Atkins, with the best unconcern he could assume. 
 
 "No; oh no," said the chemist; and Atkins was greatly 
 relieved. " Merely soothing — merely soothing." 
 
 And the evening closed in ; and Hodmadod — though he 
 would now and then put his hand to his head, by which it was 
 evident that the steeple was still there — Hodmadod felt calmer 
 and calmer; indeed, on the wdiole, happy and resigned. And 
 then again he felt so dull and lonely, that he heartily wished the 
 morning was come, and all was well over. Time never moved 
 so heavily. And now the bridegi'oom ran his fingers along the 
 piano — now he corrected his whiskers in the glass — now he 
 looked at the bracelet that, on the morning, he proposed to
 
 A MAN MADE OF MOXEY. 225 
 
 clasp about the wrist of liis bride. Still the minutes would 
 lag; time would limp, as with a thorn in either foot. Never- 
 theless, Hodmadod did the best to speed him along. It was the 
 last evening of his celibaey. He would try a little reading. In 
 his time, the Baronet had been a great patron of the ring ; but 
 that thoughtless time was over. When his faithful valet appeared 
 with the night-light, Hodmadod was deep in Boxiana. 
 
 " Everything's ready for the morning," said Atkins, following 
 his master to the room. "Very handsome, sir," said Atkins, 
 with the freedom of an old favourite ; "very handsome waistcoat. 
 Must make the lady quite proud of you;" and Atkins looked 
 admiringly at the delicate vest. " No lady could refuse a 
 gentleman in such a waistcoat. Not often, sii', the church sees 
 anything like that." 
 
 "Be silent, Atkins," said Hodmadod. "Blockhead! When 
 I say blockhead, I mean ass ; and ■\^'hen I say ass, I mean you — 
 Atkins. Do you think marriage consists in waistcoats ? ^A hen 
 I say waistcoats, do you think the holy and blessed state is made 
 up of — of — satin and — and" — 
 
 " Not at all, sii-,"— said the faithful Atkins. 
 
 " Well, then, be silent, and attend to my last words, or 
 nearly" — Atkins stared — " as a bachelor. I must not be dis- 
 turbed. I will ring for you; but on no account, and for no 
 purpose whatever, break in upon me. You understand me, 
 Atkins. I have my thoughts to compose — medicine to take — 
 and many things to think of. A great moral demonstration to 
 make, Atkins ; when I say, a moral demonstration, I have to be 
 a rock to-morrow ; adamant — moral adamant, at the altar." 
 
 " Must be staggering, sir ; 'specially the first time. But 
 you '11 go through it, sir," — said the encom-aging Atkins — " go 
 through it, sir ; with credit to yourself, and — and with lionour 
 to your country." 
 
 " Blockhead, go. And you hear, if j^ou suffer me to be dis- 
 turbed, the world 's before you. When I say, the world 's 
 before you, I mean my door is for ever behind you. Go," and 
 Atkins with a bow and a smile departed. Hodmadod prepared 
 
 l3
 
 226 A MAN MADE OF MOXET. 
 
 himself for rest. Yet, for a few minutes, he sat before the 
 glass. He took the mmiature of Agatha in his hand, and kissed 
 it. Then his eye fell upon the soothing medicine ; and as with 
 a new impulse, and pressing the picture, again and again he 
 saluted it. Then, laying it down, he took up the anodyne. He 
 read the direction, translated by the chemist — "Half to be 
 taken the last tiling at night; half, the first in the morn- 
 ivg." The whole was very little. Very little. A smde of 
 self-satisfaction crept over the face of Hodmadod as his eye 
 rested on the bottle. He had made a discovery ; had achieved 
 a wise thought, and his face was illuminated in token of the 
 triumph. And stUl he considered the bottle ; and silent, his 
 mind thus talked. 
 
 " Very little in the bottle. AMien I say little, 'twould aU go 
 in a wine-glass. Half now, half in the morning! Wh^ 
 shouldn't it be all taken now — all swallowed at once, and be 
 (:lone with ? ^Tiy make two bites of a cherry ? When 
 I say a cherry, I mean physic. It must come to the same 
 thing ; must do the same work with the nerves, whether 
 swallowed at once, or at twice. Then, why shoiddn't it do 
 double work? Why not do all the bracing now, and have 
 it over ? To be sure. Why, what a fool that Doctor Stubbs 
 must be — and after all, he doesn't look so very wise — what 
 a fool he must be to divide the stuff into two. No, no ; 
 I shall not separate them;" and Hodmadod, with a laugh, 
 shook the medicine — "I shall not separate 'em," talked 
 his mind — " what the chemist has mixed together, let no man 
 separate ; " and, tickled by this timely joke, as he thought it, 
 Hodmadod, with a nod at the miniature, swallowed all the 
 anodyne, and made the best of his way to that bed, which he 
 was to leave on the morning a rock — a piece of adamant — 
 moral adamant. 
 
 Magnificently rose the sun, and with the sun rose Agatha. 
 
 " Uprose the sun, and uprose Emily." 
 At earliest dawn, all Jericho's house was astir ; every servant —
 
 A MAX MADE OF MONEY. 227 
 
 especially the maids — from the housekeeper to the smallest 
 maid of the kitchen looking upon the day as a day in which 
 she had some most especial interest. Every female heart beat 
 chm-chwards. We will not dwell upon the thoughts of Agatha; 
 howj when she awoke she already pictured to herself Arthur 
 animated and hopeful ; his face beaming with the like happiness 
 that, she felt it, lightened her own ; how she endeavoured to 
 anticipate the hours, to see through the futm-e ; to look to 
 eleven o'clock, and behold her bridegroom in the vestiy of St. 
 Shekels ; the appointed place of rendezvous, within a few steps 
 — and all a path of flowers — to the altar. 
 
 And, we regret to be compelled to confess it, that at the time 
 the bridegi'oom was fast asleep ; not even dreaming of the bride 
 that was up and fluttering from lace to lace — from silk to silk. 
 
 Time wore on, and the famdy of Jericho were assembled — all 
 but Basil. Agatha sighed as she marked his absence ; two or 
 three tears came to her eyes ; and then she thought of Arthuv 
 and the cruelty of Basil was, on the moment, forgiven and for- 
 gotten. IVIr. Jericho put his best face upon the day. He looked 
 shining and as fuU as he well could be, of content. If his face 
 was sharp, it was — for the occasion — polished. Mrs. Jericho 
 had resolved to part with her daughter with dignified fortitude. 
 Monica was all resignation to her own disappointment, and her 
 sister bridesmaid, the Hon. IMiss Candituft, pensive but proud ; 
 vrith a furtive look of mischief in her eye, as it fell upon the uncon- 
 scious Agatha. And all the party were prepared for church. 
 
 Atkins had twice or thrice listened at his master's door ; and 
 stUl his master slept. Atkins looked at his watch, and was 
 astounded at the horn*. Still the bridegroom slept. Atkins 
 thought he would rouse his master ; and then he thought of his 
 master's stern command and threat ; thought too of the profits 
 of his place, and therefore let the bridegroom sleep. 
 
 The carriages rolled from Jericho House on their way to the 
 church. The white bows shone on the servants ; the lily for a
 
 228 A MAX MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 minute triumplied in tlie face of the bride. St. Shekels opened 
 on the bridal company. The heart of Agatha beat thicker at the 
 church-door. 
 
 Atkins again listened at the chamber, again and again ; not a 
 sound. The medicine — the drugs! A horrid suspicion — despite 
 of the warranty, of the chemist — shot all through the valet. 
 Along every nerve, throughout every bone of his body — as he 
 afterwards declared — a dreadful doubt of double-dealing ; of 
 cowardly evasion of the hymeneal engagement by means of 
 poison. Atkins entered the chamber. 
 
 The bridal party ascended the steps of St. Shekels. The 
 looks of Agatha hungered for her love : hungered, though bent 
 iipon the church stones. Expectation, to the tips of Agatha's 
 fingers, awaited the hand of Arthur to press Jier hand. The 
 bridal party entered the vestry. 
 
 Atkins stept stealthily to the bed side. The bridegroom was 
 iii such a sweet, deep sleep, it seemed to Atkins a sin and a 
 shame to wake him to be married. 
 
 The bridegroom had not arrived. Agatha looked all round 
 the vestry ; again and again scrutinised its dimensions ; and still 
 refused to believe the juggling evidence of her senses. " Not 
 arrived ! " cried Mr. Jericho, looking fiercely at the clerk. 
 " Impossible ! " said Mi-s. Jericho. " Extremely migallant," 
 whispered Monica. " He '11 be here in a minute," said the Man 
 Tamer. "Perhaps," said Miss Candituft, "perhaps he has 
 mistaken the church." The bride, of com-se, said nothing. 
 " Here he is," cried ]\Iizzlemist, the door opening ; and the 
 heart of the bride opening with it. A false alarm. It was not 
 the bridegroom : it was the beadle. The clerk was wanted by 
 Doctor Cummin. 
 
 Atkins stood at the bedside, and resolving with himself.
 
 A MAX MADE OF MONEY. 229 
 
 determined to wake his master. " Sir, sir, it 's late — it 's very 
 late, indeed, sir," cried Atkins. 
 
 " If tlie bridegi-oom doesn't come in five minutes," said the 
 Man of Money, " I do not think I can permit the bride to stay 
 a moment longer." "Nov\% my dear," said Mrs. Jericho, "you 
 are so impatient. There must be some strange mistake — per- 
 haps, some accident." "Yes, mamma, I'm sure that's it — 
 some accident," said poor Agatha ; and then the tears ran freely 
 down her cheeks. Poor little soul ; her heart was breakuig ; 
 nevertheless, IMiss Candituft — cruel bridesmaid ! — smiled as in 
 revenge and scorn. " This is infamous ! " shouted ]\Ir. Jericho, 
 with every moment waxing ^^Tathful. 
 
 " You '11 be past the time, sir ; you will really," and Atkins 
 shook his master. " I know all about it," grunted Hodmadod. 
 "Steeple still up and down — still in my head," and the bride- 
 groom again lapsed into the depths of sleep. Atkins shook, but 
 shook in vain. 
 
 " This appears to me," said Jericho, " a premeditated affront. 
 All a plan to insult your daughter, Mrs. Jericho ; to insult the 
 family; to insult me. I wish the devil may" — "Beg your 
 pardon, sir," said the clerk: "but you must remember where 
 you are ; can't admit of such language here." ]\Ir. Jericho 
 drew himself up to reply ; but coidd not speak. At length his 
 wordless scorn exploded in a burst of laughter. "This is 
 shameful," cried the clerk. " Brawling in church." " My dear 
 sir, it is vexing," said Mizzlemist with quick knowledge of the 
 ecclesiastical law — " but control your feehngs." " And why — 
 why should I control them ? " roared Jericho — " I suppose I can 
 afford to pay for them. The bride shall not stay to be insidted ; 
 the young lady shall not remain a minute longer." Dear Agatha! 
 Then might be seen the little loves, with blubbered cheeks, 
 sitting squat among her orange flowers ; picking bud and blos- 
 som, and with sobbings, chopping them upon the vestry floor.
 
 230 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 And every minute gave new fire to J\Iiss Candituft's eye — new 
 red to her cheek — new fulness to her lip. 
 
 " Why, sir, sir," cried Atkins, again shaking the bridegroom ; 
 "you're to be married to-day, sir-; and it's past the time. 
 Have you forgot, sir ? " "I know all about it," snorted Hod- 
 madod ; " scoundrel — disobeyed my orders — leave my service — 
 world before you — all before you ; " and with this, delivered 
 very somnolently, Hodmadod rolled over upon liis side, and 
 would not awake. " I see how it is," thought Atkins. " He 
 has turned the matter over in his mind ; he has thought better 
 of it, and this is his plan to get off the match." And Atkins 
 had his own reasons for approving of his master's determi- 
 nation : Atkins would rather serve a bachelor, than a married 
 man. Hence, when Candituft presented himself at the house — 
 sent thither by a whisper from Mrs. Jericho to seek the bride- 
 groom — Atkins declared that he knew nothing of his master; 
 therefore, could say nothing. All he knew was, that Sir Arthur 
 had intended to be married that morning ; and if he was not at 
 the church ; if he was not married by that time, why that was 
 his master's business ; and not his, Atkins's. Moreover ; 
 perhaps Mr. Candituft and Sir Arthur had missed one another 
 on the road. Now, ]\Ii-. Candituft was by no means ui'gent in 
 his inquiries ; he did not sift the testimony of the valet ; in fact, 
 asked for no particulars ; but taking the suggestion of Atkins as 
 the truth, assuming that the bridegroom and himself had crossed 
 each other, the Man-Tamer retm'ned to the vestry at the same 
 leism*ely rate at wliich he had set out upon his journey. 
 
 "Another five minutes, and 'tAvill be too late," cried Mizzle- 
 mist, Jericho said nothing ; but rocked himself backwai'ds and 
 forwards in a chair, his hands in his pockets, and grinning to 
 himself the most tremendous revenge. Mi's. Jericho sat frowning 
 and tapping her foot; Monica looked blank and sympathetic, 
 she could not but feel for the distress of the bride ; Agatha wept 
 without attempting to restrain her tears, whilst the Hon. Miss
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 231 
 
 Candituft, calmly looking down upon tlie victim, held to the 
 sobbing maid a bottle of salts. At this moment, the Hon. Mr. 
 Candituft entered the vestry ; he looked about him, as though 
 expecting to see the bridegroom. " Why, he 's not come ! " said 
 Candituft, surprised ; " where can he be ? " At this moment the 
 church clock struck. "It is past the canonical hour," cried 
 Mizzlemist, in tones heavy and sad as passing-bell. " Too late 
 to maiTy to-day," said the clerk, "if the gentleman comes now." 
 Mr. Jericho, wdthout saying a word, rose. He approached the 
 bride ; and in the most peremptory manner offered his arm to 
 the forlorn one. Agatha, wiping her tears, and drawang her veil 
 about her scalded face, laid her trembling hand upon her father- 
 in-law. Mr. Candituft, with words of sympathy, led away Mrs. 
 Jericho, who would have despised herself to say a syllable then 
 and there upon the shameful transaction. Monica followed 
 with Mizzlemist, and as she declared, from the bottom of her 
 heart pitting her poor sister; with a supplementary wish, 
 accompanied by a spasmodic clutching of her little right hand, 
 "that she was only a man to revenge dear Agatha." Miss 
 Candituft was silent ; but as she descended the church steps, 
 her face glowed and her eyes sparkled with triumph. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 As St. Shekels clock struck twelve, the bridegroom awoke. 
 Heavily yawning, he called for Atkins. The faithful creature, 
 hovering about the door, immediately entered the room. 
 " Atkins, what 's o'clock ? " demanded Hodmadod. 
 
 Atkins, afraid to give a direct reply, said, *' Clock, sir? ha, 
 sir ! don't you know ? " 
 
 " How the devil should I know ? " asked Hodmadod, still 
 yawning, and then stretcliing himself, and rolhng backwards 
 and forwards, half stupified by sleep. " What 's o'clock ?"
 
 232 A MAN MADE OF MOXEV. 
 
 "TVhy, sir" — Atkins was afraid to speak — " wliy, sir, it's 
 past twelve o'clock." 
 
 " Past twelve, eli? Past twelve," grumbled Hodmadod, very 
 drowsily. 
 
 " Do you recollect, sir," and Atkins timidly approached the 
 subject — " do yoii at all recollect, sir, anything you had to do 
 this morning?" 
 
 " Humph ! " grunted Hodmadod, with half-closed eyes. 
 
 Hereupon Atkins took up the bridal waistcoat, and shaking 
 it — quite as if he meant nothing — and smoothing it in the face 
 of Hodmadod, repeated the (juestion. The bridegroom's eyes 
 gradually fixed themselves upon the snowy garment : light and 
 with it consciousness gleamed within them. Suddenly, Hod- 
 madod sat bolt upright in bed, and violently and rapidly 
 exclaimed — " Atkins, tell me, Atkins ! Wasn't I to be married 
 this morning ?" 
 
 "This looks a little like it, sir," said Atkins, at arm's length 
 exhibiting the waistcoat. 
 
 Then Hodmadod, with a groan, fell back in his bed, and 
 cried — "Atkins, Stubbs has poisoned me ; when I say poisoned 
 me" — 
 
 " My dear fellow," exclaimed Candituft, bursting into the 
 room ; " how delighted am I at last to find you ! What is the 
 matter ? Poison ! Attempted suicide ? No doubt, to avoid this 
 marriage. I always thought your heart was not in it. But 
 wherefore poison ? " 
 
 " When I say poison, I mean — look there" — and Hodmadod 
 pointed to the phial. " Stubbs prescribed it ; two doses, one at 
 night, one in the morning. Thought it quite the same to take 
 'em both at once — they were only to strengthen my nerves, and 
 they've"— 
 
 " I see ; a narcotic, A double dose has been a tremendous 
 sleeping-draught," said Candituft, " My dear friend — 'tis a 
 mercy you ever woke again. I have only just left the 
 Jerichos." 
 
 " There 's no time to lose," cried Hodmadod ; " I feel dread-
 
 ^-^ A.t^ UDt-cc/.^- g'-n-^-Cf?!^- J
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 233 
 
 fiilly stupid with the physic ; when I say stupid, I mean I '11 be 
 up, dressed, and ready for church directly." 
 
 " Too late, my dear boy," said Candituft with touching 
 solemnity. *' I came before to seek you — but your valet" — 
 
 "Acted according to orders, sir," said Atkins. "Sir Arthur 
 knows that. He must clear me," and assured of this, Atkins, 
 with the fullest self-satisfaction, left the room. 
 
 "Too late! How do you mean too late?" cried Hodmadod. 
 " Never too late to marry." 
 
 "Too late to-day. "VYe waited for you an hour; a full hour 
 in the church," said Candituft. 
 
 " What a wi'etch I am ! " exclaimed Hodmadod, striking the 
 clothes with his fist — " when I say a wretch, I mean a brute not 
 fit to see the light," and executing his own sentence, he rolled 
 his head in the blankets. "Not fit to see the light," he howled 
 through the bed clothes. 
 
 " Come, you must be comforted," said Candituft. " Never- 
 theless, it was a dreadful sight in the vestry. Enough to melt a 
 heart of stone." Hodmadod groaned. "Mr. Jericho all colom's 
 with rage. ]\Ii's. Jericho still smiling, confident to the last." 
 Hodmadod, with much emotion, shook his leg ; and in smothered 
 voice bellowed — "I don't deserve it." Candituft continued. 
 " Monica all tears. My sister — dear girl ! — only thoughtful of 
 the happiness of others ; regardless of her own sufferings — 
 but I will not dwell upon that — my sister, I say, doing all she 
 could to engage the attention of Agatha." 
 
 "And — and — Agatha?" asked the culprit through the 
 blankets. There was no answer. — "Yes — my dear friend 
 — tell me all her suff"erings," cried Hodmadod in muffled 
 voice—" all." 
 
 " Well, I must say this much in her praise," answered Can- 
 dituft, " she bore the delay with the greatest patience." Gra- 
 dually Hodmadod unrolled his head from the blankets. " She 
 talked and chatted away the time in the prettiest and pleasantest 
 manner." 
 
 " You don't say so ? " cried Hodmadod, again showing his
 
 234 A MAN MADE OF MOXEY. 
 
 heated face to the light, and starmg ia the eyes of the cool and 
 traitorous Candituft. " You don't say so ? " 
 
 " It might have been to disguise her real feelings," said 
 Candituft. " Nevertheless, I must say, it did not seem like it. 
 No ; the fortitude seenicd genuine. I know your partiality — 
 you like women with such philosophy." 
 
 "No, I don't," cried Hodmadod savagely. "AVhen I say I 
 don't like 'em, I mean I hate 'em." 
 
 " It 's my mistake, my dear friend. Well, where was I ? Oh, 
 well — we waited the hour ; and when the clock struck we left 
 the chm'ch," repeated Candituft. 
 
 " And Agatha ? " moaned Hodmadod. 
 
 " Why, the little heroine skipped into her cai'riage, happy as a 
 bii-d."— 
 
 " She 's a flu-t — a jilt " — cried Hodmadod. " I 'm very 
 much, obliged to Doctor Stubbs." 
 
 "Do you really feel an obligation for that double dose?" 
 asked Candituft. 
 
 "I do — I do!" shouted Hodmadod, and he shook Candi- 
 tuft's hand, and in despair again rolled himself up in the bed- 
 clothes. 
 
 It was a very wicked rumour ! A vile and cruel insinuation ! 
 And when we are made to feel the combined meanness and 
 wickedness of such a slander ; when we are oppressed by the 
 power of such calumny ; when our spirit faints beneath a sense 
 of the poison, — ^how apt we are to wish the world at once at an 
 end, that truth may vindicate its lasting triumph. " Shut the 
 book, my dear " — it was thus an old man spoke to his grand- 
 child, reading a chronicle of atrocity ; of blood, and fire, and 
 infanticide, and the rest — "shut the book, my clidd, and let 
 us pray for the Judgment." 
 
 Poor little Agatha 1 When she was assured by several bosom 
 friends that it was well known throughout the world that Sir 
 Arthm- Hodmadod had taken poison — only, happily, a powerful 
 constitution had triumphed over the deadly dose — poison for
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY, 235 
 
 the sole, determined purpose of avoiding marriage with IMiss 
 Agatha Pennibacker, — she wished at once to sink into her grave, 
 to be well quit of a world that could coin and circulate such a 
 wicked, wicked counterfeit. Nevertheless, llodmadod did not 
 show himself at Jericho House. What then ? Good Doctor 
 Stubbs gave daily intelligence of his amending health. StUl, 
 Hodmadod did not write ! Why, no ; Stubbs had forbidden 
 him any mental exercise soever; his nerves were still in a 
 jangle, and pen and ink were luxuries, in his delicate condi- 
 tion, not to be tasted. Agatha continued to be assured of the 
 devotion, the imalterable passion of Sir Ai'thur. And she was 
 wilHng to believe it. Nevertheless — her heart would whisper as 
 much in her bosom — nevertheless, the smallest of notes Avoidd 
 have been thankfully received from the dearest of lovers, and 
 still not a line fi-om Sir Ai'thur ! Not a syllable to give hope of 
 his speedy convalescence ! Not even a hint of an early day to 
 carry out the beautifid intention, so disastrously marred at the 
 very foot of St. Shekels altar. Well; a knowledge of the 
 wicked truth oppresses us, and without further delay, we will at 
 once make known the treacheiy of Candituft and the falsehood 
 of the Baronet. As Agatha's heart is, for a time, doomed to be 
 broken, the blow may as well come down at once. The earlier 
 the damage, the sooner the repair. 
 
 " It is enough to make a man leave civilised life, and wear 
 goatskins," — said Candituft, on his next visit to Hodmadod — 
 " to know and feel the malignity of the family of man." 
 
 " Certainly," said Hodmadod, " it 's a family that will pick 
 one another to pieces. When I say pick " — 
 
 " To be sure. Now, what do you imagine, my dear friend — 
 what do you conceive to be the cause of your deferred marriage 
 with the beautiful Agatha? " — 
 
 " Why, the physic — the sleeping di-aught. ]\Iorphinp, Avasn't 
 it ? " asked the iimocent Hodmadod, 
 
 " To be sure : but the world will not have it so. No — no. The 
 world declares that you had thought better of the business " — 
 
 " Yes? " cried the Baronet, a little impatient.
 
 236 A MAN MADE OF HONEY. 
 
 "And between tlie bride and poison, chose the drug," and 
 Candituft spoke as one disgusted. 
 
 " Impossible ! It can't be ! " exclaimed Hodmadod. 
 
 " My dear friend, I wiU not suffer myself to tell you how 
 this falsehood is propped — buttressed up I may say — by other 
 lies. I heard it avowed — malignantly avowed — that if you 
 should, even now, marry IVIiss Pennibacker, the young lady will 
 be indebted for a husband, not to his own choice, but entirely to 
 a stomach-pump." 
 
 *' But it isn't true, you know," said the Baronet. 
 
 " What matters truth to a scoffing world ? I must, however, 
 say that some — indeed a great many — excellent people were 
 most kind, most sympathetic. They entirely believed in the 
 innocence of yom- mistake : they kindly attributed your swallow- 
 ing a doiible dose to the um*eflecting fervoiu* of a lover. But at 
 the same time, they one and all declared, that in their opinion, 
 the finger of fate was in it." 
 
 " When you say the finger of fate you mean, — I was sent to 
 sleep by the kindness of Providence ? " 
 
 " Exactly so. In a word, it is evident " — say reflecting people 
 — "it is evident that Sir Arthur was not to marry Miss Penni- 
 backer." 
 
 And — to be brief — the people were right. Por, in a few days. 
 Sir Ai-thur w^edded with Miss Candituft. And, when Agatha 
 most needed the protection of a husband ! Por never had Mr. 
 Jericho shown himself such a ruthless and intolerable tyrant. 
 The servants began to declare he was mad, and such sad belief 
 every hour gained ground with Jericho's family. ]Mrs. Jericho 
 thought she would seek counsel of Basil ; and then she feared to 
 discover aU her bodings to him. Again ; it might be only another 
 of the frantic fits that had of late shaken her helpmate ; although 
 tliis time, the insanity took a more terrible development. 
 
 The Man of Money, though he had controlled his icdignation, 
 quitted St. Shekel's chm-ch an enraged and wounded individual. 
 Yes ; wounded in his delicate sense of money. Sir Arthur 
 Hodmadod had shown to the world his contempt of the alliance
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 237 
 
 — had proclaimed his indifference, his scorn of Solomon Jericho ! 
 The slight, the insult put upon the bride, was of little accomit 
 — the blow was aimed at the father-in-law through the daughter. 
 Already the Man of Money thought of pistols ; and then, the 
 risk of another hole tlii"ough his monetary heart made him at 
 once resolve upon peace, l^'or two days Jericho considered with 
 himself; brooded in silence over his new design. At length he 
 was resolved. At length, he had made the true discovery of the 
 true value of wealth. The value was power — not shoAV. Now 
 this great and original discovery, as his disordered brain believed 
 it, worked on him with the rage of madness. It was now his 
 fond conviction that the money he bore about him, carried with 
 it an immortal principle : if he ceased to exhaust his heart — his 
 bank of life — he should live for ever. He would, therefore, not 
 draw another note ; no ; not another. He would live upon 
 what he had. He would turn the foolish superfluities about 
 liim into hard, tangible money. He would enjoy avarice ; for 
 avarice was power. The miser was the ragged king, and the 
 finest of fools were his merest subjects. And Avith this thought, 
 Jericho Avandered thi'oughout his house ; now muttering, now 
 talking, and now threatening the types and shows of wealth, 
 about him. He woidd no longer feed the eyes of the world — 
 a perilous waste — but govern men with a golden sceptre. 
 " Why, it was a vanity — a miserable vanity — the stupid pride 
 of the peacock — to spread before the world a splendid show! 
 Now, the magpie was a wiser creature that concealed its trea- 
 sures." And then he — the Man of Money — had had enough 
 of public homage. He would therefore turn miser, and make 
 men look upon his outside wretchedness with wonder; make 
 them bow and simper to his very tatters. Again, mystery ever 
 hung about the miser ; for it was the serf-like weakness of the 
 poor to multiply his riches. 
 
 " IVIi-s. Jericho," said the Man of Money. The trembling wife 
 had been summoned to receive her husband's orders. She had 
 scarcely power to meet the eyes of her helpmate. In two days, 
 twenty years seemed to have gathered upon him. His face looked
 
 238 A MAN MADE OF MONET. 
 
 brown, tliiu, and withered as the last year's leaf. His whole 
 body bent and swayed like a piece of paper, moved by the air. 
 As he held his hand aloof, the light shone through it. Basil's 
 words again sounded in the woman's ears : it was plain, there 
 was some homd compact between her lord and the infernal 
 powers ; or — it was all as one — the tyranny of conscience had 
 worn him to his present condition. 
 
 *' Mrs. Jericho, madam, you will instantly bring me all your 
 diamonds — jewellery — aU. Give the Uke orders to your daughters; 
 the mincing harpies that eat me." . 
 
 " My dear — my love ! " cried the wife. 
 
 " My love ! Well, well, you mean the same thing ; but the 
 words should not be ' my love' — but ' my money.' " 
 
 *' You are not well, Solomon. You have been vexed by this 
 disappointment ; you have taken it too much to heart," stam- 
 mered Mi's. Jericho. 
 
 " To heart ! ha ! ha ! Yery well — be it so. Heart and 
 pocket, ma'am ; all 's one." 
 
 " My dear, let me send for Doctor Stubbs." The wife shrink- 
 ingly approached the Man of Money, and — timidly as a wood- 
 nymph might put her hand upon a wolf — was about to encircle 
 with her arm the neck of Jericho. 
 
 " Away with you ! I '11 have none of it. Woman's arms ! 
 The serpents that wind about a man's neck, killing his best 
 resolutions. Away with you, and do as I command. Bring me 
 all your treasures — all. And yoiu* minxes ! See that they obey 
 me too. And instantly." 
 
 "Yes, my love ; to be sure," said ]\Ii's. Jericho ; for she was all 
 but convinced that Solomon's reason was gone, or going. It 
 was best and wisest for the time to be calm with him — 
 to humour him. " And why, my love, do you wish for these 
 things ? Of course, you shall have them. But why ? " 
 
 " To turn them into money, madam," cried Jericho, rubbing 
 his hands. "We have had enough of the tom-foolery of wealth 
 — I now begin to hunger for the siibstance. I 'U do without 
 fashion. I '11 have power, madam ; power."
 
 A MAX MADE OF MONEY. 239 
 
 " Yes, SolomQn ; certainl}' . But tell rae, clearest, is not fasluou 
 power ? " asked the wife, essaying a smile. 
 
 '■' The power of a fool. Am I a fool? " The wife raised her 
 hands, forbidding the thought. "What's all this show — all 
 this outside trumpery ? Do I enjoy it ? Am I the master of 
 it?"— 
 
 " Yes, love ; of course," said 'Mis. Jericho. 
 
 "I say no — no. The fools, the wretches who come about us 
 — 'tis theirs as much as mine. To see it is to have it. iS'ow 
 why should I rob myself to feed the eyes of asses ? No : I '11 
 have all my money all to myself. I '11 keep the power in my 
 own hands — in my owu hands. I '11 raise an army, an army, 
 madam;" and Jericho chuckled, and his wife was more con- 
 vinced of his increasing insanity. " Now, woman, do you know 
 what an army is ? " 
 
 "Of course, my dearj I should hope so," and the wife still 
 tried to coax the madman. 
 
 " I mean, the rich man's army ; the miser's army, if you will. 
 Now I propose to raise — let me see — let me see — a couple of 
 million of fighting men." 
 
 " Mad ! Past hope — mad ! " thought the wife in despair. 
 
 "Do you hear me, woman? " roared the Man of Money, and 
 he shook like a gi-een flag in the Avind. 
 
 " Yes, love ; every word — every syllable. Of course ; " and 
 again the wife trembled. 
 
 " Two millions of fighting men. And how will I raise them ? 
 Why, there 's your jewels ; the jewels — for I 'U have every stone 
 of 'em — of those kittens, your daughters." — 
 
 (" If I could only manage to send for Doctor Stubbs," thought 
 Mrs. Jericho.) 
 
 "Then there's this house and all its lumbering trumpery. 
 And — and — that cursed hermitage you made me buy for the 
 time I was to be Prime IVIinister of England." — 
 
 (« Oh— that Doctor Stubbs woidd make a morning call!" 
 silently prayed the wife.) 
 
 " I shall tm-n all— all into fighting men. And such men !
 
 240 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 Ha! ha! they are never killed ; no — no; they multiply. Yes — 
 yes " — and Jericho bent his head, and joined his hands, " they 
 increase and multiply." — 
 
 (" He shall not be left alone," determined Mrs. Jericho, with 
 a shiver.) 
 
 " And these millions of fighting men are men with the royal 
 stamp upon 'em, Mi's. Jericho; men who sing a continual 
 chorus Dei gratia ; men, who it may be, kill — kill upon fields 
 of parchment : kill dead, dead as the sheep that carried the 
 skin, — what then ? all 's clean and clear, not a drop of blood." 
 
 " No. Oh, no ; not a drop " — said Mrs. Jericho. Poor 
 bewildered woman ! What could she say ? 
 
 " Now, when I make myself the general of these two millions 
 of golden men, I send them out — some on one campaign — 
 some on another. Some to do service for young heirs, and eat 
 'em afterwards. Well, they return to me. They come home, 
 bringing j)risoners; other golden captives. Every soldier his 
 one, or two, or three soldiers. Eh ? " 
 
 " Yes, love ; of course," assented Mrs. Jericho. 
 
 " And therefore, madam," cried Jericho with ferocity — 
 " therefore, we will have no more of this trumpery to waste 
 upon others. No : I will have the power — the power in my 
 own hands. I will have my fighting millions of good gold 
 pieces ; and — though we live in a hovel, and all of us wear 
 sackcloth, as we all shall" — 
 
 " To be sure, my dear," said Mrs. Jericho, and — she could 
 not help it — she thought of a strait-waistcoat. 
 
 " Why, even then, when folks point at me, crawling about in 
 outside beggary — even then the world shall acknowledge me to 
 be greater than Caesar, mth all his legions." 
 
 " Yes — yes — dear," sighed Mi-s. Jericho. 
 
 " Caesar, with all his legions," repeated the man possessed ; 
 and he poised himself in his chair as upon a throne ; and called 
 into his shadowy face, as he believed, an imperial look of money.
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 241 
 
 CHAPTEE XXI. 
 
 Leaving King Jericho — anointed, crowned with wealth; 
 wealth, the sceptre in his right hand ; wealth, the ball of the 
 world, in his left; — we must bestow our thoughts upon a few of 
 the subject people, who from time to time have appeared in these 
 pages. We therefore speed our way to the frigate-built ship. 
 Halcyon, Captain Goodbody, commander. One minute, reader, 
 and arm-in-arm w^e stand upon the deck. 
 
 Some dozen folks with gay, duU, earnest, careless, hopeful, 
 wearied looks, spy about the ship, theii* futm'e abiding-place 
 upon the deep for many a day. Some dozen, with different 
 feelings, shown in different motions, enter cabins, dip below, 
 emerge on deck, and weave their way among packages and casks, 
 merchandise and food, lying in labyrinth about. The ship is in 
 most seemly confusion. The landsman thinks it impossible she 
 can be aU taut upon the wave in a week. Her yards are all so 
 up and down ; and her rigging in such a tangle, such disorder ; 
 like a wench's locks after a mad game at romps. Nevertheless, 
 Captain Goodbody's word is as true as oak. On the appointed 
 day, the skies permitting, the frigate-built Halcyon, with her 
 white wings spread, will di'op down the Thames — down to the 
 illimitable sea. 
 
 She carries a glorious freightage to the Antipodes ; English 
 hearts and English sinews. Hope and strength to conquer and 
 control the waste, taming it to usefulness and beauty. She 
 carries in her the seed of EngUsh cities ; with English laws to 
 crown them free. She carries with her the strong, deep, earnest 
 music of the English tongue ; a music, soon to be universal as 
 the winds of heaven. What should fancy do in a London 
 Dock? All is so hard, material, positive. Yet there, amid the 
 tangled ropes, fancy will behold— clustered like bii-ds— poets and 
 philosophers, history men and story men, annalists and legalists, 
 English all, bound for the other side of the world, to rejoice it 
 with their voices. Put fancy to the task, and fear not, fancy 
 
 M
 
 242 A MAX MADE OF MONET. 
 
 will detect Milton in the shiouds — and Shakspeare, looking 
 sweetly, seriously down, pedestalled upon yon main-block. 
 Spenser, like one of Ms o^oi fairies, swings on a brace ; and 
 Bacon, as if in philosophic chair, sits soberly upon a yard. 
 Poetic heads of every generation, from the half-cowled brow of 
 Chaucer to the periwigged pate of Dryden, from bonnetted Pope 
 to nightcapped Cowper — fancy sees them aU — aU; aye, from 
 the long-dead day of Edward to the living horn- of Yictoria; 
 sees them all gathered aloft, and with fine ear lists the rustUng 
 of their bays. 
 
 Such passengers, however, are prone to steal their transit, 
 pajaug no shilling to owners. We have therefore given suf- 
 ficient — more than sufficient — paper and ink to their claims upon 
 us. Por here are passengers, crossing from the wharf to the 
 deck ; good folks jom-nied from Primrose Place to inspect their 
 sometime house upon the wave. Carraways and Basil have, on 
 former visits, inspected every nook and corner of the Halcyon, 
 and therefore tread the deck with an assured manner, as though 
 they abeady felt themselves at home. And Bessy, with happy 
 face, and sparkling eyes, looks vivaciously around, as though 
 she was truly surprised by the excellent accommodations, the 
 comforts and conveniences, manifest at a glance. Poor IVIi-s. 
 Carraways tries to smile, but shudders at the dirt and confusion; 
 and then, casting a hopeless look at the tangled ropes, fairly 
 sighs in despair at the dreadful untidiness about her. 
 
 "A magnificent vessel, my dear," says Carraways. "Her 
 first voyage, to 3." 
 
 " Very pretty, indeed, Gilbert," falters the wife. 
 
 " Beautiful, isn't she, mamma ? " cries Bessy, exulting in the 
 positive loveliness of the craft. 
 
 "A noble ship, madam," says Basil; "and everybody predicts 
 as swift as a bird." 
 
 Mrs. Carraways glances aloft, then sideways ; then sliding her 
 hand under the arm of her husband, she asks, a httle tremulously, 
 "Do you think, Gilbert, she is quite safe? The first voyage ! 
 Of course, somebody must go the first voyage. Still, do you 
 feel confident she is safe ? "
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 243 
 
 " Safe as the ark, my clear," answers Carraways, with a jocund 
 laugh, squeezing his wife's arm at the same time. 
 
 " And how long " — IMi's. Carraways had akeady twenty times 
 put the self-same query — " how long shall we be shut up in this 
 ship ? I mean, how long will the voyage " — 
 
 " Oh, Captain Goodbody v^ill pledge his name and fame as a 
 sailor," — cries Carraways— " not more than four months. 
 Perhaps, a bare sixteen weeks. Why, what 's the matter ? " 
 
 "Nothing, dear; nothing," says the wife, with a blank face. 
 " It 's the — the sraeU of the tar — the pitch — it always made my 
 heart sink ; but — it 's very strange — never so much as now." 
 
 " How very odd, mamma i " cries Bessy ; " but you will think 
 me a curious creature. Upon my word, I think the odour rather 
 pleasant ; indeed, positively agreeable," and the bride inhaled 
 the pitched deck and tarred ropes as though she stood in a rose- 
 garden. Bessy's valorous nostril made even her mother smile 
 through her paleness ; and Carraways with a laugh declared 
 the girl ought to have been born a mermaid. Basil, with proud 
 and glowing looks, silently listened to the enthusiasm of his 
 betrothed. 
 
 " I never did see a place in such a litter," said Mrs. Carra- 
 ways, looking with the eye of huswife at the crowded, scattered 
 deck. " And all those ropes, Gilbert ; why, they never can get 
 them out of tangle by the time they say." 
 
 " Never fear, lass ; sailors can do anything. All they have 
 to do with time is to beat it. But come, let us look over our 
 house. As we are to be tenants for some weeks, you '11 like to 
 see the drawing-room and dining-room ; the parlours, the 
 kitchens, the garrets ; and all the other conveniences of the 
 dwelling. And let me tell you, it has one capital recommenda- 
 tion : it has no taxes. Basil, lad, show the way." 
 
 Basil, with Bessy under his arm, immediately proceeded to 
 make the best of the way to the principal cabin. This, through 
 a zig-zag path of various cargo, was at lengtli accomplished ; 
 and the four stood in some dark place, in which one candle, M'ith 
 funereal wick, survived sullenly in the gloom. 
 
 m2
 
 244 A MAN MADE OP MONEY. 
 
 "This," said Basil, very boldly, "is the state cabin." 
 
 " Oh ! " said Mrs. Carraways. 
 
 " It 's dark now, mamma," said the hopeful Bessy, " because 
 the docks and the — the other ships are close at the windows ; 
 but when we are at sea, of course it will be beautiful. Such a 
 \dew ! " 
 
 "No doubt, Bessy," cried her father. " Here you'll sit and 
 see the dolphins and the flying-fish, and the stormy petrels, and 
 the — the — that is, all the other sea-sights." 
 
 "Very, very interesting indeed," sighed Mrs. Carraways. 
 
 "The place, it must be owned," said Basd, "is a little 
 gloomy at present. In fact, cabins always are, in dock. But I 
 assure you, my dear madam, when once wide at sea, and from 
 the windows here you look out and behold a wide, wide wilder- 
 ness of water, blue or green, now intermingled with the red 
 flood of morning, now crested with the white foam of noon, now 
 deepened with the golden sunset — with star by star coming 
 out, like angel eyes, to smile good night upon you — I do 
 assure you, my dear mother, that then the place wdl show a 
 very, very different aspect." 
 
 " Yes : I dare say," confessed Mrs. Carraways ; and she felt 
 she could confess no less. 
 
 " Oh, it will be beautiful," cried Bessy, and her hopeful, 
 cordial voice, sounded sweetly through the miserable, musty 
 gloom. " Beautifid to sit here, and work, and read ; and watch 
 the changes of the sea ; the albatrosses, and the coral reefs, and 
 aU the ocean wonders. Beautiful ! " 
 
 " And now we '11 go below," said Carraways ; for he felt the 
 contrast of the present and the future a little too glowing for his 
 wife ; whose only answer to the raptures of Bessy was a deeper 
 sigh. 
 
 "Where are we going now?" asked Mrs. Carraways, as she 
 suffered herself to be led in and out of what she called the 
 shocking litter upon the deck. "Yes; I recollect — down 
 stairs." 
 
 " A very noble ship, indeed ; beautiful — very beautiful," said
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 245 
 
 Carraways, pausing, and looking about liim, in his way to the 
 companion-ladder; for he felt that the dreadful moment, the 
 fearful instant of trial was at hand ; and therefore ventiued to 
 deliver himself of a triumphant flourish upon the magnificence of 
 the floating prison in general, ere he introduced his wife to her 
 dark, close berth ; her condemned cell for many, many weeks. 
 
 " Many more stairs ? " asked ]\L-s. Carraways, having taken 
 about three in her descent. 
 
 " jS"one ; that is, none to speak of," answered her husband ; 
 still and still descending. " Here we are," he cried at length. 
 " Fine and roomy between decks. Nothing can be more airy," 
 said Carraways, taking ofi^ his hat. 
 
 " I feel as if I should faint," said ]\Ii-s. Carraways. 
 
 " Admirably ventilated," observed the husband. 
 
 " I had no idea it could be so nice," said Bessy, and she 
 looked with as much hope, as much sweet cheerfulness about 
 her, as though she stood in her own old, early summer bower : 
 the play-place of her childish days. 
 
 " Here are the cabins," and Carraways opened a door, and 
 showed in a sort of long box two opposite rows of boards. 
 
 " Cabins ! My dear Carraways," cried the desponding wife ; 
 " why, they 're like kitchen shelves, and not a bit broader. I 
 couldn't sleep in one of them" — 
 
 " Oh yes, mamma," cried Bessy, " I 'm sm-e they 're much 
 broader than they look." Still IVIrs. Carraways considered that 
 shelf whereupon for four months she was to be laid aside, with a 
 troubled eye — a very rueful face. " And, after ail, I 've no doubt, 
 mamma, with a little use they're much nicer than a bed." 
 Carraways said nothing ; but made up his mouth, as though 
 contemplating the enjoyment of a whistle. " Very much nicer 
 than a bed, especially at sea. And if the ship should ever go 
 up and down — I say if it should — why, it 's impossible to fall 
 out Avith this ledge to the shelf. Nothing coidd be more con- 
 siderate ; nothing coidd be more comfortable." The face of 
 Mrs. Carraways gi-adually relented at the cheerful voice of Bessy : 
 by degrees, too, it took a somewhat comic look ; there was, in
 
 246 A MAX MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 tinith, positive fun peeping through its sadness, and breaking up 
 its shadow. And Bessy still continued eloquent upon the unin- 
 trusive advantages of a shelf — as Carraways avowed to himself 
 not much broader than a boot-jack — over the ostentatious pre- 
 tensions of any bedstead soever. " I 'm sure, I shouldn't 
 wonder, mamma, when you've become quite used to this, if you 
 ever care to sleep upon a bedstead again." 
 
 Here Mrs. Carraways burst into a hearty laugh. The affec- 
 tionate exaggeration of Bessy was not to be resisted ; and her 
 mother, with tears in her eyes and laughter at her lips, threw her 
 arms about Bessy's neck, and doatingly kissed her. " Yes, my 
 love ; yes, my own Bessy ; I will see everything with your own 
 good, glad eyes. I ought to do so ; and I Avill, love, from this 
 moment." And, in very truth, it was delightful to see with 
 what instant earnestness Mrs. Carraways set about the good 
 work. She, who went below, moping and dim, and sad, 
 returned to the deck with such smiling looks, that they fell like 
 sunlight upon her husband and the lovers. The whole party 
 looked as though they had come to secure berths for a voyage to 
 Utopia or Atlantis ; with the further delight that there were 
 kindred and friends gone thither long before, and anxiously 
 expecting them. The party mounted the poop of the vessel, and 
 Mrs. Carraways declared it would be a very beautiful place in fine 
 weather to bring her knitting, and to work there and watch 
 the birds and fishes. And the ship's deck, that, a while past, 
 was in such a dreadful litter, was reconsidered with a very 
 tolerant eye. Nay, we will not avouch that even the pitch and 
 tar had not, within a few minutes, contracted a sweet and 
 flowery odoui* — a whiff of lilac or violet — deemed impossible 
 before. In a word, everything about the Halcyon was better 
 than Hope — even were she a royal academician — could have 
 painted it. And when Captain Goodbody, in the forepart of the 
 ship, was pointed out to Mrs. Carraways ; the said Captain at 
 the time employed dancing up and down at arm's length an 
 infant passenger of some eight or nine months' worldly expe- 
 rience ; and dancing the little one, chuckUng and crowiug in
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 247 
 
 concert with his playmate, — when, we say, Mrs. Carraways saw 
 the commander of the Halcyon so genially employed, — she 
 emphatically avowed that then she had not another care about 
 the voyage on her mind ; and if the luggage had only been aboard, 
 and the ship cleared of its litter, she would have been quite ready 
 for sea that very minute. 
 
 " That 's a good lass," said Carraways. " Still, not this 
 minute. Here 's a pair of doves to be coupled, before we take 
 ship in the ark;" and Bessy blushed. 
 
 " Why, of course, Gilbert," repHed his wife. "I meant that 
 and all ; " and Bessy blushed still deeper. 
 
 At this moment, a gentleman, his wife, and — Mrs. Carraways 
 counted them as they came up the poop ladder — a family of nine 
 children, ascended in procession. The gentleman approached 
 Carraways with a ceremonious elevation of beaver : then, with 
 measured syllables, began, — " I believe, sir, I have the pleasure 
 of addi-essing a brother passenger that will be ? " Carraways 
 bowed. " My name, sir, is Dodo : a name, I believe, pretty well 
 known in that place they call the world, down there," and Dodo, 
 as with accusing finger pointed towards the west, and bitterness 
 seemed to well to his lips. Basil stared at the change wrought 
 in the man. His face, once shrewd, earnest, yet withal honest 
 and good-tempered, seemed edgy, as sharpened on the world's 
 grindstone. His thin hair was white as paper; and when he 
 spoke, it was with a twitch, as though every syllable he uttered 
 stung his lips with a sense of wrong. Basil at once recognised 
 Dodo, although Dodo had no remembrance of Basil. 
 
 " I trust, sir," continued Dodo, " I may take the freedom of 
 a self-introduction; as I am to have the care of you during the 
 voyage. I go out as doctor of the vessel. And my best wishes 
 are that none of you will have any need of me." Carraways 
 bowed in thankfulness of such benevolence. " I go out, under- 
 stand me," said Dodo; and then he smiled scornfully— " but 
 never, never to retiu-n. I will not take a particle of the dust of 
 England with me. Not a particle. When I finally step aboard, 
 it shall be in a pair of new shoes ; bran-new shoes. Not a
 
 248 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 particle of that ungrateful earth," and Dodo pointed to the 
 west. 
 
 " I am sorry, sir," said Carraways, " you should have such 
 cause for new shoe-leather." 
 
 " It is no matter, sir ; no matter," and Dodo raised his hands, 
 and shook his fingers, as though shaking all annoyance from 
 them. " No matter. We go to a fine country, sir ; a virgin 
 country, sir. A country, fresh from the hand of nature ; a 
 country, glorious and flourishing with living wood ; a country 
 yet unburdened, sir, with heavy sins of brick and mortar. A 
 magnificent country. So fertile ! A crop with every quarter ; 
 splendid pasturage ; wonderful cattle ; beautiful flowers, and 
 birds, and fishes" — 
 
 " And " — said Mrs. Carraways — " and no snakes." 
 
 At the sentence. Doctor Dodo fairly leapt from his feet. 
 " That 's it, my dear madam — that 's it, my truthful lady ! No 
 snakes — no reptiles — no vipers ; that 's it," and Dodo rubbed 
 his hands, and chuckled with a wildness of enjoyment, some- 
 what akin to ferocity. Mr. Carraways remembered the reports 
 of Dodo's insanity ; and began to wonder at, perhaps to regret, 
 liis appointment as doctor of the Halcyon. " Excuse me, sir," 
 said Dodo ; "but it 's a subject I must feel deeply. Allow me 
 to introduce Mrs. Dodo ; our children, with one at the breast 
 at home. Well, sir ; here we are, twelve of us, stung out of the 
 country by vipers; bitten out of house and home by adders. 
 Am I wrong then, when I thank heaven that where we 're bound 
 to, there are no snakes ? " 
 
 " Indeed, Doctor Dodo," said Carraways, " your nimierous 
 family adds an interest to your story. What do you mean? 
 Bitten, stung ! I don't understand you." 
 
 " By the snakes that walk, sir. The snakes that still have 
 speech, plainly as the first snake that ever wagged his thi'ee- 
 forked lie, sir. The vipers that kill a man's reputation ; the 
 snakes that trail their slime over his daily bread." 
 
 " My dear George," said INIrs. Dodo, soothingly. 
 
 " Be quiet, Charlotte. Stung as I have been, when I can get
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY, 249 
 
 a gentletnan to liear me — for that's a comfort not always 
 granted — when I can get a gentleman with a heart in his face 
 to listen to me, it does my soul good to tell my wrongs — to tell 
 my wrongs ; " and the poor man trembled, and grew very pale. 
 Then, putting down his emotion with a strong will, he pro- 
 ceeded, as he believed calmly, to narrate his injiuies. And thus 
 he now muttered, and now gasped them. — " You see, sir, there 
 is a fellow in this town, named Jericho," — Carraways was about 
 to stop Dodo, but Basil by a look, forbade him, — " a sort of 
 man-devil, sir; man-devil. A fiend with bowels made at 
 the Bank, and just smeared with a paste of flesh to seem 
 human. Well, this demon was shot through the heart, I saw 
 it, sir. I looked thi-ough the perforation ; could have run my 
 cane through the hole ; a hole as clean as a hole in a quoit ; and 
 the devil walked away abve, and is alive yet ; though shredding 
 away, sir; shredding like scraped horseradish. Well, sir, not 
 to fatigue you, I proclaimed what I had seen. I rose before 
 the world; and — I never denied the truth in my life, never 
 vvhen I was a bachelor, and shall I do it now, with ten children 
 to blush for me ? — and I denounced this Jericho to be the devil 
 that I know he is. I made oath that I had seen the sunlight 
 through what ought to have been the left ventricle of the 
 demon's heart ; and what, sir ; what was my reward — what my 
 return by the world ? Why the ^^'orld called me lunatic, mad- 
 man ! My patients fell from me in a day. A few hours, and 
 my hand was unblessed with a single guinea. The devil Jericho 
 threw gifts about him ; and all society tui-ncd itself into a knot of 
 vipers, and stung my reputation — killed my practice — poisoned 
 my bread. And so, sir" — and Dodo gasped for breath, and 
 strove for serenity, — " and so, I have resolved to leave the land. 
 We aU go," — and Dodo smiled — " all, mother and myself, the 
 nine here, and the one at the breast. I 've brought 'em — dear 
 liearts ! — to show 'em their berths. I 'm afraid, I 've tired 
 you ; good morning, sir. Come along, Charlotte ; come along, 
 my loves. We go where there are no snakes — no snakes." 
 And poor Doctor Dodo, with his meek and melancholy wife, 
 
 m3
 
 250 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 descended to the deck; and thence, followed by the nine children, 
 dived to the sleeping shelves below. 
 
 " Poor dear man ! " said IMi's. Carraways ; and then she 
 added — " but I 'm so glad he 's going with us. If one is never 
 ill, still Gilbert, it always gives one confidence to have a doctor 
 of the party." 
 
 " To be sure, my love," answered Gilbert. " A doctor may 
 be an excellent warranty of health. For the very reason that 
 he 's at hand, we may resolve to do without him, eh ? " And 
 Carraways looked waggishly in his wife's face ; and seemed to 
 take a new stock of good spirits from the happiness he saw 
 there. Indeed, all the four were in the blithest mood. And we 
 may say of Bessy, wherever she looked she seemed to carry light 
 and pleasure with the glance. 
 
 They were about to descend, when from the dark state-cabin 
 came a long gurgling laugh that made them all pause. " I'm 
 sure I know that laugh," cried Mrs. Carraways. 
 
 " Oh ! I 'm certain it 's she," avowed Bessy, gravely con- 
 fident. " It must be " — and it w\as — Jenny Topps. She ran 
 out like a kitten after her tail upon the deck, and then looking 
 up, caught the faces of her friends. Whereupon, Jenny bobbed 
 a deep curtsey, blushed, and immediately put her arm under 
 the protecting arm of Topps as he lounged out from the cabin. 
 Instantly, Topps himself was as much confused as his wife ; 
 which confusion he signified, by taking off his hat, and without a 
 word smoothing down liis hair. 
 
 " Why, Eobert, what brings you here ? " asked Carraways, 
 descending the ladder. 
 
 " Why, sir — please, sir," answered Robert, " come to see the 
 •ship, sir;" and Eobert looked at Jenny. — "That's all, sii'; 
 nothing more, sir." 
 
 " Now, Eobert, you know I hate dogmatism" — Eobert bowed 
 — " nevertheless, I must know what brings you here. Come, 
 tell me ; what is it ? " 
 
 Still Eobert smoothed his hair ; still he answered — " Come 
 to see the ship, sir. Nothing more, sir."
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 251 
 
 " Indeed," said Carraways. " Well, then, Robert ; let 's go 
 and look a little for'ard. I liavn't seen the caboose yet, myself. 
 Come, Basil." And the wary man moved onward with the 
 two, leaving Jenny Topps in charge of Mrs. Carraways and 
 Bessy. Scarcely had the three men proceeded beyond the main- 
 mast, when the three women had plunged into the subject that, 
 as Carraways knew, he alone should fail to fathom. 
 
 " Well, then, dear ma'am, if you '11 not tell Eobert that I told 
 you," said Jenny, burning to speak, " we 've made up our 
 minds to go wherever you go ; and we 've come to take our 
 places." 
 
 " My dear Jenny," said !Mrs. Carraways, touched by the 
 affectionate fidelity of the young couple, " my good girl, I hope 
 you have well considered this step. It would make us aU very 
 unhappy, should you for a moment repent it. To leave your 
 friends " — 
 
 " But we 've none to leave ; for father goes with us," cried 
 Jenny, poui'ing out her news. "And you can't believe how 
 happy the old man is at the thought of it. He says it will be so 
 beautiful for him in his old age to carry reading and writing to 
 the children in the wilderness. For he declares he will have a 
 school there, if all his scholars learn under the naked sky, and 
 sit upon stumps of trees. You can't think how happy he is. 
 And then, ma'am " — added Jenny with gTaver looks — " I 'm 
 sure it will be the saving of Robert. It will, indeed, ma'am. 
 That cab-work, ma'am," and Jenny raised her hands, "is 
 dreadfid." 
 
 "It must be," said Mrs. Carraways. "Out all weathers." 
 
 " It isn't so much the weather, as the company. It 'ud spoil 
 an angel to be a cabman," averred Jenny — " waiting for the 
 people, he has to wait for, so late at clubs. But, pray, ma'am, 
 don't tell master, ma'am ; for Robert's set his heart upon sur- 
 prising him when he finds him in the ship. And it will make 
 Robert so happy to wait upon master all the passage ; and me 
 to wait upon yoii— and I'm never ill, never. Been up and 
 down to Blackwall a dozen times, and felt it no more than if I 'd
 
 252 
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 been in my own room. And so, I 'm sure, I can be of some use 
 to you." 
 
 " My good, good girl," cried Bessy, giving both her hands to 
 the excellent creature. 
 
 "And above all," said Jenny, very seriously, "there is one 
 thing in this passage that will be a great load off my mind. It is 
 this. The passage, they say, lasts four months. Now in that 
 time, I shall be certain sure to finish my patchwork quilt." 
 
 Here Carraways and Basil returned, Topps following apart. 
 Mrs. Topps, dropping a hasty cm-tsey, made off to her husband, 
 and Carraways regarding his wife and daughter, with laughing, 
 curious looks, — with Basil conducted them from the ship. The 
 guilty Mrs. Topps, hanging on her husband's arm, had an 
 instant dread that her lord would question her upon the suspected 
 subject of conversation with the ladies. Whereupon, with fine 
 instinct, she resolved to be beforehand in the way of interroga- 
 tion. — "Eobert, my dear," said Jenny, with the deferential air 
 of a scholar; "Eobert, what did Mr. Carraways mean when he 
 said he hated dog — dogmatism ? " Topps was puzzled. 
 " Robert, my dear," Jenny urged, " what — what in the world 
 is dogmatism ? " 
 
 Now it was the weakness of Topps never to confess ignorance 
 of anything soever to his wife. " A man should never do it," 
 Topps has been known in convivial seasons to declare ; " it 
 makes 'em conceited." "Whereupon Topps, wrested from his 
 first purpose of examination, by the query of his spouse, pre- 
 pared himself, as was his wont, to make solemn, satisfying 
 answer. Taking oft" his hat, and smoothing the wrinkles of his 
 brow, Topps said — " Humph 1 what is dogmatism ? Why, it 
 is this — of course. Dogmatism is puppyism come to its full 
 growth."
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 253 
 
 CHAPTEE XXII. 
 
 And Jericho lived in his large house, like a rat in a hole. 
 Avarice had seized upon him ; and with every hour bent and sub- 
 dued every thought and purpose to coin all his possessions. He 
 would have his millions of fighting pieces. Hence, he loathed to 
 look upon the finery about him. It was a wicked, a wasteful 
 folly. A shameful sacrifice to the eyes of others. He had dis- 
 charged all his servants — had no one, save one old man ; the 
 pauper grandfather of one of his footmen, who had haunted the 
 house for oifal ; and, as Jericho believed, was in lucky horn- 
 discovered by his master to become the most faithful of retainers. 
 This old man seemed of congenial wickedness with Jericho. 
 Indeed, there looked between them a strange similitude ; twin 
 brethren damned to the like sordidness, the like rapacity ; with 
 this difterence, that the master could enjoy to his soul's triumph 
 the lust of wealth ; whilst the more wretched serf was ravenous 
 with the will alone. It was very odd. Jericho and old Plutus — 
 the Man of Money was a grim wag ; and in liis savage drollery 
 had nicknamed the crust-hunting pauper Plutus — Jericho and 
 Plutus were in face and expression alike as two snakes ; alike in 
 key their voices, as viper's hiss to hiss : though Plutus, be it 
 known, was the fatter and the louder reptile. 
 
 The Man of Money sat in one of his garrets ; a den of a 
 place, though crowning the magnificent fabric of Jericho House, 
 The scullion had slept there. And there remained the very bed, 
 the very table, the one chair enjoyed by the discarded drudge. 
 It was the worst, the meanest nook of the house ; and therefore, 
 Jericho rejoichig, took possession of its scpialor. It was with one 
 effort, a triumph over a lingering Aveakness for the nice, the soft 
 appliances of life. He sat there, in that low, slant garret, the 
 sovereign of himself; the conqueror of the spendthrift, the 
 reveller, and the glutton. The wretchedness that surrounded 
 him was the best, the seemliest pomp to declare and grace his 
 victory.
 
 254 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 " 'Tis a pity, Plutus — a pity, you wretcli — that all tLe vul- 
 tures cannot alight in one day; a great pity; for I'll not quit 
 here, till all 's sold and the money bagged. A great pity. And 
 they can't all come to-morrow ? But I '11 not leave the carcase. 
 No. I '11 stop till aU 's gone — all 's gone." And Jericho swathed 
 his gown, ostentatiously tattered, about his withering body ; and 
 rubbed together his transparent hands. 
 
 " Good master," said the old slave, with a slavish cringe, 
 " good master, if the dealers could come all in one day, would it 
 be wise to have them in a crowd — all in a crowd ? " 
 
 " Yes, wise ; very wise. That they might maul and bid 
 over one another. Nevertheless, be it as you say. But they '11 
 all come ?" 
 
 " All ; good, kind su*," answered Plutus. " There 's Israel, 
 and Ichabod, and Laban, and Seth, and Shem, and Issachar" — 
 
 " Peace, you old dog," cried Jericho ; and the menial bowed 
 and smiled at the abuse — " you needn't bark aU. their names. 
 It is enough, if they will all come — all come. And when I have 
 melted all that 's here — for every bit shall to the crucible — why, 
 then there's that accursed hermitage — that home of vanity that 
 my wife made me buy. Me, poor fool ! then as fine and brain- 
 less as a horse-fly. Where is " — and Jericho's leaf-like body 
 shook, and his eye glowed like a carbuncle as he dragged the 
 words out — " where is that woman ? Where, those young white- 
 faced witches that would have me melt like wax before the fires 
 of perdition ; would utterly consume me, so they might live and 
 rejoice, and array themselves in my destruction ? What ! They 
 defy me in my own house ? That woman, the mother witch, 
 that years long-past ensnared me with a lie ; that lured me to 
 the church with what seemed gold. A damned jack-a-lanthorn ! 
 And there she stood ; her hand in mine, and a lie in her heart. 
 I see her now. Her large beautiful face — for it was beautiful — 
 with a smile all over it; and that smile all a lie. Humph!" 
 — said Jericho moodily, " I was a happy, careless jackass, till I 
 thrust my neck under a yoke, running for what seemed golden 
 oats — golden oats."
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 255 
 
 "Be of good heart, master," said old Plutus with a mis- 
 chievous leer, " 'tis a common case. The best of men have 
 fallen in the snare ; the best of women, too. Wasn't mistress 
 herself a little choused — ^just a little?" 
 
 " What of that ? When two beggars marry, still the she- 
 beggar has the best of it : for the he-pauper — poor, damned 
 devil ! — has tatters to find for two. And this woman now defies 
 me. And her young tiger kittens ! Well, well, we shall see — 
 we shall see," cried Jericho ; and again he rubbed his hands, 
 warming them as with some horrid resolution. " They dare me 
 in my own house. They will not stir, they cry. They will not 
 — mother wolf, and young ones — they will not let go their hold. 
 Well, I '11 sell them bare — bare. Their beds from under them ; 
 their clothes from oif them. I will turn that woman — that lie 
 — ha ! 'tis a harder and a sharper lie than it was ; older and 
 baser looking, than when first it cheated me — I '11 '.jrn her upon 
 the world, without a shred, without a doit." 
 
 " You can't do it," said the grimy serving-man, with a hard 
 grin, "can't do it, indeed, dear master. The law makes a 
 man' provide for his wife. Such is the world. More 's the 
 pity ! " 
 
 " Law ! What 's the law to a man with millions of mercena- 
 ries ? With fighting yellow-boys, fighting where still they 've won 
 — are still to win — the bloodiest of battles ; though no blood is 
 seen ? Tn law's very courts ? In the very courts ? " And then 
 Jericho, with his brow in his hand, sat for some minutes, 
 silently brooding ; his filthy attendant looking steadily at him ; 
 and, it seemed strange — growing more and more like his horrid 
 master. At length the Man of Money started from his medita- 
 tion. " Why, what a brain is mine ! " he cried : " sometimes 
 I feel it fluttering in my skull — fluttering hke a bird ; and 
 sometimes, humming and buzzing like a beetle." 
 
 " It may be want of rest," said tlie pliant Plutus. 
 
 "Liar!" roared Jericho: " but that's no matter. Go; get 
 me a crowbar. Stop. This will do," and Jericho took the 
 poker — the foreign luxury had been brought to the scullion's
 
 256 A ilAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 bower by the serving-man — and balancing it, lie repeated mut- 
 teringly : " This will do. Now, follow me down stairs. This 
 will right me. This will punish the lie — the fine lie — the lie 
 that first betrayed me." 
 
 " Dear, good sii-," cried Plutus, with hypocritic whine, 
 " you'll do no violence, you won't harm the dear ladies ? Con- 
 sider, dear, good master ; consider your own safety. If you 
 consider nobody else — and why, indeed, should you ? — at least, 
 consider your sweet self. Dear, dear master ! Have mercy on 
 your own days, and don't huii the ladies." 
 
 " 1 '11 have my right — I '11 have my own. I '11 have what my 
 blood, and flesh, and marrow are turned into. I '11 have it all 
 back. You dog, follow me." 
 
 "As in duty bound, dear master," said the old slave ; and 
 with a smile and a light step, he followed Jericho who, as he 
 descended the staii-s, muttered revenge against the lie — the chain 
 of lies — that as he said, had bound him. 
 
 Poor ^Irs. Jericho— more and more assured of the madness of 
 her husbaud — had resolved to take counsel of her dear and 
 valued friends. Again and again she had determined to seek 
 Basil, and then she faltered ; for she feared the wild enthusiasm 
 of his temper. He would, it was her dread, make such strange 
 conditions ; would doubtless insist upon her renunciation of 
 Jericho's wealth ; would require herself and daughters to forego 
 the luxuries that custom had made necessary as daily bread. 
 Therefore she would appeal to the judgment of wise, practical 
 people ; of men who really knew the world ; of folks who, 
 strong in the religion that it was the best possible abiduig-place, 
 never di-eamt of quitting it. (Thus, whilst Jericho was raving in 
 the garret, Mrs. Jericho was giving audience to councillors and 
 friends. The Man of Money saw liis wife and her daughters 
 homeless, destitute, and enjoyed happiness, as at a draught, 
 meditating such misery. And at the same moment, IMi's. Jericho 
 contemplated the Man of Money secure in a mad-house ; made 
 harmless and made as comfortable as his sad condition would
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY, 257 
 
 allow. Jericlio, his brain the while singing with sweet mnsic, 
 was reviewing his millions of golden soldiery. And at the like 
 instant, Jericho's wife, anticipating time, beheld her lunatic lord 
 in paper diadem and straw boots.) 
 
 Doctor Stubbs, combining the two noble characters of doctor 
 and friend, was prompt — aye, aftectiouately prompt — with his 
 best aid. And Doctor Mizzlemist united great private regard 
 w'ith great public erudition. Mizzlemist had flown in his 
 carriage with his best consolation. Colonel Bones, in his hard, 
 coarse way — but solacing withal, like sugar from wood — came 
 ready with his counsel, though at the peril of his life. Com- 
 missioner Thrush, filled with exotic wisdom cidled from the 
 spiceries of Siam, attended, a comforter; and the Honourable 
 Cesar Candituft, though bleetling with an inward wound for 
 the falsehood of a friend, even Candituft at such a moment 
 would not absent himself. — No; though Agatha had been 
 betrayed, treacherously supplanted by his own sister, it was 
 still his duty to suppress his feelings, and watch the interests of 
 Monica ; the more especially that destiny might haply r.iterknit 
 them with his own. 
 
 And, at the very time that Jericho bethought him of a crow- 
 bar as the instrument of some tremendous deed, at the very 
 time, these councillors, with Mrs. Jericho, Monica, and Agatha 
 Pennibacker sat in the drawing-room ; sat solemn in druidic 
 circle. Indeed, the extreme caution — manifest in the looks and 
 manner of all, gave a strange air of mystery to the gathering. 
 Mrs. Jericho, though reduced to a single maid — who would not 
 be turned out, though Jericho abused and threatened never so 
 lustily — had resolved not to quit the premises. No : she had 
 made up her mind ; and if it must be, she would die in that 
 drawing-room. Therefore, as her coimcillors one by one 
 arrived, they were, to their own astonishment and passing dis- 
 quiet, hushingly admitted across the threshold, and stealthily 
 conducted to the presence chamber. "Gently, sir,"— said 
 Wyse, the maid, as she admitted Candituft, the last comer, 
 " gently, if you please : tread Hke a cat ; for if the madman
 
 258 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 should hear you, I wouldn't answer for your life." Warned by 
 such intelligence, Candituft — after an unconscious backward 
 glance at the street door — stept, like any dancing-girl, upon his 
 toes to the drawing-room. 
 
 " My dear friends," said Mrs. Jericho, " in the great calamity 
 that has fallen upon our house — upon our house — it is at least 
 a consolation that I can cast myself upon yoiu- sympathies." 
 
 *' To be sure, certainly," said Mizzlemist. " These are the 
 times that try friends." 
 
 " For myself, I coidd endure my fate without a murmur. I 
 could follow poor Mr. Jericho, — I could follow him to the end 
 of the world." 
 
 "You mustn't think of it, my dear madam," said Doctor 
 Stubbs. And then not content with a single declaration, he 
 iterated with professional emphasis — " You must«o^ think of it. ' 
 
 " But I have daughters," said Mrs. Jericho ; and for a time 
 she evidently felt she had said sufficient. Por, she let her right 
 arm fall, as with a weight of emotion ; and statue-like, looked 
 icily before her, 
 
 " It is of course your duty, madam, to take care of your- 
 self," said Commissioner Thrush. " Happily, we live in a 
 christian country ; where we look upon woman — lovely woman 
 — as something divine." 
 
 " An angel in the rough. Humph ? " said Bones. 
 
 "We can all see, my dear lady," said Candituft, " that the 
 wife wrestles with the parent. But after all, what would this 
 world be without its trials ? They do us good ; they are meant 
 to do us good." 
 
 (Poor little Agatha ! She sighed, and bit her lip ; totally 
 rejecting this side-wind consolation.) 
 
 " And therefore, my dear friends " — said Mrs. Jericho with 
 new nerve — " counsel me ; advise me. Upon your knowledge 
 of the world I rely. It will be a hard struggle; but Mr. 
 Jericho's property must be protected; and therefore, I fear 
 Mr. Jericho — as I say, it will cost me many a pang — Mr. Jericho 
 must be restrained."
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 259 
 
 " Make yourself comfortable, madam," said the voice of con- 
 solation, speaking through Stiibbs ; "there is nothing more easy; 
 nothing more easy." 
 
 " It 's done every day," cried Mizzlemist, as though he spoke 
 of eating a meal or taking a pinch of snutf. 
 
 " The calamity is common," said Candituft, with his mind 
 made up at the very worst to endure it. 
 
 " And, in this country," remarked Thrush, much comforted 
 'with the thought, " lunatics are so well considered." 
 
 " Happy as kings. Humph ? " cried Bones. 
 
 " Still I have hope," said Mrs. Jericho. " I have consolation 
 in the belief that the poor dear creature — ha, what a heart he 
 has under all his strange manner ! — only wanders for a time. 
 And the truth is, my dear friends, it must be confessed he has 
 been sorely tried." The friends stared. " It is no wonder that 
 the strongest brain should reel a little under so sudden a blow." 
 The friends stared anew. " To be singled out by fortune ; to 
 be selected from millions to suffer what he has done ! To be 
 called upon, at a moment I may say, to stand with such a 
 mountain on his head ! To be made, at a minute's notice, if I 
 may use the expression, another Atlas ; why, it 's enough to 
 make a giant stagger." 
 
 " Why, what — what trial ? " asked Doctor Stubbs with pom- 
 pous concern. 
 
 "What blow?" inquired Mizzlemist, looking sagely adown 
 his waistcoat. 
 
 " Singled out ! How, — what for ? Humph ? " growled 
 Bones. 
 
 " A mountain on his head ! What 's the mountain about ? " 
 asked Thrush. 
 
 " Excellent, worthy creature ! An Atlas in calamity ! And 
 none of us to know it," cried Candituft. — " My dear madam, 
 what is it — what has Mr. Jericho had to suiFer ? " 
 
 " Why, riches " — answered Mrs. Jericho, a little surprised at 
 the dullness of her councillors. 
 
 " Oh ! " exclaimed the friends, feeling at once sympathetic 
 and rebuked.
 
 260 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 " The sudden load of wealth was enough to crush any brain : 
 and though — dear Solomon ! — for a time stood up like a hero 
 beneath the shock ; still, I do fear, it has been too much for 
 that fine web of reason, as, Doctor Stubbs, I think I 've heard 
 you call the brain." — 
 
 " Never, madam," cried Stubbs hastily ; " could not pos- 
 sibly have done it For the brain is not a web, but a series of 
 convolutions, divided into two hemispheres, that " — 
 
 " To be sure ; that is exactly what you said," rejoined Mrs. 
 Jericho. " Well, then, I 'm afraid of the hemispheres." 
 
 " In a word, and to come at once to business," said Mizzle- 
 mist, who for some time had shifted in his chair, as though he 
 had sat on lumps of pounce — " in a word, madam, it is your 
 opinion that your husband — our unfortunate friend — is at the 
 present time incapable of controlling his own affaii's ? " 
 
 Mrs. Jericho, placing her handkerchief before her face, said, 
 "That is my opinion." 
 
 " Very good," rejoined Mizzlemist, satisfied that matters were 
 at length shaping themselves into form. " Very good. However, 
 let us proceed with certainty. Let us hear the evidence. For 
 I need not observe, it would be very painful to poor Jericho's 
 family — very painful to his friends — to sue out a commission of 
 lunacy, and after all not to succeed. Waiving my friendship, 
 failure would hurt my feelings as a professional man." Saying 
 this, Mizzlemist drew liimself up to a table, whereupon Avere 
 those dangerous implements — paper, pen, and ink. Then with 
 pen in hand, put the opening question — " What was the fii'st 
 wild symptom, my dear madam ? Yes ; as you conceive, the 
 first indication of Mr. Jericho's insanity ? " 
 
 " The first ? Oh ! It was this," answered the troubled wife and 
 witness. " This. He said, that as he felt himself a goose in the 
 House of Commons — goose, I remember was the word — he 
 would go to stubble in September, and never return to Parlia- 
 ment again." 
 
 " Humph ! " said Mizzlemist ; and a little baulked, he rubbed 
 his nose, and looked down upon the virgin sheet. Then, as
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 2G1 
 
 tliougb. taking heart, lie said — " But we '11 proceed, if you please. 
 The next ? " 
 
 " The next symptom ? It was when — when — you wiU recollect, 
 Mr. Candituft, the circumstance — when we spoke of Monica's 
 dowry, and — and " — 
 
 " Perfectly Avell," said Candituft, " and in the wildest manner, 
 he refused a single penny." 
 
 " Well ? " said Mizzlemist, still twiddUng the impending pen. 
 " That doesn't help us. What next ? " 
 
 " Why, then," deposed Mrs. Jericho with amended alacrity, 
 " the poor fellow raved and stormed, and said the house was 
 furnished with money that was his blood." And still INIizzle- 
 mist wrote not a syllable. " His blood," repeated Mrs. Jericho, 
 with pathetic emphasis. 
 
 " Humph ! " cried Mizzlemist, " we get no nearer to it. No 
 nearer. But let's proceed." 
 
 " And then I perfectly recollect " — chimed in Candituft — 
 " that our unfortunate friend, foaming while he said it — foam- 
 ing, my dear Doctor Mizzlemist — declared that he was being 
 eaten' alive by society. That, 5n other words, people of the best 
 condition who came to his parties, were no better than cannibals." 
 
 Doctor ]\Iizzlemist laid down the pen, and with a blank stare 
 tlnust both his hands in his pockets. "I must confess," he 
 said at length, " we are all in the dark as yet. I don't see a 
 ray of light; not a glimmer." 
 
 " Why, surely, all this must be madness ? Plain as the moon 
 at the full?" said Candituft. 
 
 " The fact is," answered ]\Iizzlemist, " as Mr. Jericho's friends, 
 we may have our own convictions. We may not doubt liis 
 insanity. But, unfortunately, we have to convince a jury." 
 
 " Ha ! that 's it," said Monica with a sigh ; and Agatha 
 shook her little head and sighed, " that 's it." 
 
 Colonel Bones had, for some time, been in thought. At 
 length he observed — " Could nothing be made out of the poor 
 fellow's conduct the day when— when Miss Agatha — was not 
 married ? "
 
 262 A MAN MADE OF MONEY, 
 
 " Oh, Colonel ! " exclaimed Agatlia witLi a spasm of sorrow. 
 
 "Beg your pardon," said Bones. "Better luck next time. 
 But I was only thinking, — was there no bit of madness then ? 
 Laughed very wildly, didn't he? " 
 
 " Won't do for a juiy," cried Mizzlemist. Then, with great 
 zeal, he resumed the pen. " Come, we must not be beat in this 
 way. Can't you help us, doctor? " and Mizzlemist appealed to 
 Stubbs. 
 
 " By-and-bye ; in good time," said Stubbs. " Keep me to 
 the last, I prefer it." 
 
 Mizzlemist looked eloquently at Mrs. Jericho. " With sub- 
 mission, doctor," said the lady, hesitatingly and mournfully, " I 
 think the state in which you find us, is sufficient evidence of the 
 calamity that afflicts our house. All the servants discharged. 
 Mr. Jericho himself, attended by some hideous creature — who he 
 is, and whence he came I know not — Mr. Jericho, shut up in a 
 garret, like some wild beast in a cave — Mr. Jericho, I say " — 
 
 "Very true; and bad as true," said Mizzlemist, "but still," 
 he added with a sigh, " no evidence." 
 
 "Why, what is wanted?" cried Monica, out of all patience 
 with the stupidity of law. — " Are we to wait until we are all killed 
 — now, mamma, I must speak — are we to wait till we are all 
 made dreadful victims, until the law wiU protect us ? " 
 
 " Very good, indeed ; very well said," observed Mizzlemist, 
 pleased with the spirit of the maiden; whilst Candituft a 
 little gravely gazed upon the flushed cheeks and flashing eyes 
 of his betrothed. " Perhaps, my dear young lady, you can 
 assist us, after all ? " said Mizzlemist. " Your mamma will, I 
 know, permit you to depose to whatever you know. Now; 
 have you witnessed any symptoms of insanity on the part of 
 Mr. Jericho?" 
 
 ".Thousands," exclaimed the impassioned and imaginative 
 Monica. 
 
 " Name one ; one to begin with," said the Doctor, " that 
 wiR prove to a jury your worthy father-in-law to be wholly 
 incapable of controlling his own aflairs. One instance,"
 
 A MAX MADE OF MONEY. 2G3 
 
 "Well, then," said Monica, entering with raptui'e on the 
 task, and for one instance ready to run over twenty, touching 
 them like keys of music — " well, then, he 's discharged all the 
 servants — he's locked up all the plate — he's asked for our jewels 
 back again — he's going to sell the house, and turn us into 
 apartments — he's tlu'catened the three of us with gowns of 
 sackcloth — and — and — and — he called me on Monday last — 
 and at the very time I was singing too — he called me a 
 screeching wild puss of the woods ! " 
 
 " Did he, indeed ? " said Mizzlemist. 
 
 " It was worse than puss," cried Monica, hysterical. 
 
 " Nevertheless," and ]\tizzlemist dropt the pen, " there is no 
 evidence in all this ; no evidence that Solomon Jericho, Esq., 
 M.P., is of unsound mind^aud incapable of managing his own 
 affairs." 
 
 As Doctor TMizzlemist delivered this opinion, a crash was 
 heard in an adjoining room. Another and another; and then a 
 loud, triumphant laugh from the throat of Jericho. 
 
 Wife and daughters, with juiy of friends, started to their 
 feet. Candituft, ere he was aw^are — for had he reflected a mo- 
 ment, he woidd as soon have unbarred a lion's cage — opened 
 the door. And there stood Jericho, laden with spoil ! The 
 girls shrieked when they beheld their jewel cases in the gripe 
 of the Man of Money ; and jVIrs. Jericho, when she saw^ all 
 her diamonds repossessed by their donor, felt as a mother 
 must feel, beholding her cherished little one — her only treasure 
 — crunched between the teeth of a royal tiger. J ericho said not 
 a word ; but stood, and leered upon the company, and with a 
 savage chuckle, the while shaking the iron implement — the 
 bui'glarious poker with which he had broken up cases and 
 cabinets — rejoicingly exhibited his plunder. Then, about to 
 ascend to his garret, he roared to the felonious familiar that 
 grinned at his elbow — " See all these robbers into tlie street — 
 the street ; and then come to me ; " and still hugging the spoil, 
 Jericho, with another laugh, flitted up the staircase, 
 
 •' Surely, Dr. Mizzlemist," cried the impulsive Agatha, " this
 
 264 A MAX MADE OF MOXEV. 
 
 must satisfy anybody? This is maduess — to steal my 
 pearls ! " 
 
 " My amethysts ! " sobbed Monica, 
 
 "And my diamonds!" cried jMi's. Jericho, with so deep an 
 utterance of wrong, that every other injmy was lost in it — 
 straws in a whirlpool. 
 
 Doctor Mizzlemist shook his head. " Very violent ; very 
 selfish ; nevertheless, the fact would by no means satisfy a jmy 
 that Solomon Jericho is incapable of looking after liis own 
 property." 
 
 And the sheet of paper provided to contain a crowd of 
 evidence against the sanity of Jericho, remained without a mark ; 
 a virgin page. Its whiteness went to the very heart of Mrs. 
 Jericho, as her listless eye fell upon it. Life itself seemed a 
 blank. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 To-morrow morning, the church of St. Asphodel — Bessy, 
 from her window in Primrose Place, could see its spire tapering 
 above the distant trees — would hold within its walls a happy 
 couple. To-morrow, Basil and Bessy Avere to be writ in the 
 church-books one. It would be a magnificent wedding ; hopes 
 and affections would so adorn and elevate the ceremony. But, 
 when the time arrives, we will endeavour as faithfully as 
 we may, to chronicle the doings of the hour. As the day 
 before a wedding will to some parties seem the longest day that 
 ever dav/ned and died, so to others it will appear the shortest 
 day imaginable ; a day that just shows itself and is gone. 
 However BasU and Bessy may have measured the day of which. 
 we n^rite, thinking it a day without an end, sure avc are that 
 Mrs. Carraways more and more believed it impossible that the 
 wedding could take place on the morrow, so mucli had still to 
 be completed.
 
 A MAN MADE OF M0X1:Y. 267 
 
 " Won't they be surprised, when they see them aboard the 
 ship," cried Bessj^ glowing with pleasure. (And by the Avay, 
 in the course of the two past paragraphs, Bessy and her father 
 have reached the gardener's, and are now in front of the very 
 hive ; close to the swarm of insect colonists, the pilgrim bees, 
 the emigrant honey-makers.) " Wont they be surprised ! " 
 repeated Bessy. 
 
 " Well, I doubt," said Carraways, smiling down upon the 
 hive, " I doubt, if Queen Dido — yes, I think it was Dido — 
 carried with her more useful colonists ; and I take it, say what 
 they will, few so innocent." Bessy looked inquiringly. — 
 " I don't think you know much of Queen Dido, my dear ; 
 and to say the truth, my school knowledge with the lady 
 was at the befet a nodding acquaintance. But, if you can 
 only preserve them!" and the old gentleman folded his hands 
 thoughtfully. 
 
 " Oh, I have no fear of that. I am certain, dear father — I 
 feel so sure of it — they will arrive with us all safe and well. 
 And then " — 
 
 " And then, my love," — said the old man — " you w^ill not 
 have lived in vain. No, my child, you will have done your 
 share in the great human work — have oljeyed the behest that 
 lays it as a solemn task on all to share with all the good that, for 
 some wise end, was only meted to a few. Only laud the bees 
 safe ; let the swarm be but well upon the wing ; let them once 
 set to work, making honey — the new manna in the wilderness — 
 where honey was never made before, — why do this, Bessy, and 
 you are greater than any of the men Queens, that ever lived — 
 greater than any of the topping masculine ladies out of pkce in 
 petticoats. Catherine and Christina and such folks — humph ! 
 very great no doubt, — but their memory is not exactly kept in 
 honey. And Queen Elizabeth — yes, an extraordinary virgin — 
 but what a small stinging insect in a stomacher — how useless 
 to the world is Queen Elizabeth against Queen Bee I" 
 
 " I am sure they will live," repeated Bessy ; " and 'twill be 
 N 2
 
 268 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 sucli iiice employment, during tlie voyage, to take care of tbem. 
 And then, in a little time when they swarm and swarm" — 
 
 " Why, then, my dear — yes, I see it all " — and the old man, 
 with a thoughtful smile, and as though dalljdng with a fancy, 
 continued — " I see it all, and can prophesy. In some hundred 
 years or so, when men think it the true glory to build up, not 
 to destroy ; when work, not slaughter, is the noble thing ; Avhen, 
 in a word, the eagles of war shall be scouted as carrion fowl, 
 and the bees of the garden shall be the honoured type of 
 human wisdom, — why, then, Bessy — then, my child — that is 
 some hundred years to come — in the city that will then flourish, 
 I predict that the people will raise a statue to the memory of 
 the woman, who gave to the Antipodes the household glory of 
 the honey bee." 
 
 " Oh, father ! " cried Bessy. 
 
 " If the bees prosper, why you and Basil shall in the new 
 country take a bee for yom- crest ; by the w^ay, not at aU bad 
 emigrant heraldry," laughed the old man. " Let me see; a bee' 
 or on a thistle proper. And the motto, ' Honey from suffering ! ' 
 A good Christian legend," said Carraways. " And then, in a 
 hundred years, as I predict, a statue " — 
 
 " A statue ! " and Bessy laughed. 
 
 "Well," said the father with a gentle seriousness, "I'm 
 getting old, Bessy. But I feel 'tis good — very good — to gain 
 hope for the world, even as we gain years. It makes the sweeter 
 smiset for our human day." 
 
 And now anticipating awhile, we have only to say that at the 
 proper season the hive was tenderly conveyed on board the 
 Halcyon, there to await the cares of its coming mistress. 
 
 Looking in — as we are permitted to do — at the chamber- 
 window of Basil, we find him assorting friends and companions 
 for his future home. Though a wild sportive lad — bouncing 
 through the early chapters of this veracious history, — he was 
 so deeply touched by his love of Bessy ; so suddenly pulled up
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 269 
 
 to a serious contemplation of the world, by tlie strange events 
 of his family, — that, after a brief pause, he sprang, as at a 
 bound, to a nobler, higher view of human dealings. Hence, he 
 had soon gathered some glorious books. A blessed companion 
 is a book ! A book that, fitly chosen, is a life-long friend. 
 A book — the unfailing Damon to his loving Pythias. A book 
 that — at a touch — pours its heart into our own. 
 
 And some of these friends, with looks that may not alter, 
 with tones that cannot change, — Basil set apart for his com- 
 panions in the wilds. As he chose them one by one — for 
 some must remain behind, he might not take them all — he 
 looked gravely down upon them ; vidth almost a tenderness of 
 touch laid them aside, — his fellow-voyagers. Some twoscore 
 were selected ; special friends. There they lay ; motionless and 
 dumb. And yet the chamber was filled with lovely presences ; 
 was sounding with spiritual voices : the beautiful and mighty 
 populace, evoked by the memory of the living friend — the friend 
 in the flesh, the companion and the scholar of the souls of the 
 dead 
 
 And this was Basil's last employment, the day before his 
 bridal. He marshalled a magnificent array of friends to bear 
 him company in the wilderness. He carried with him an invi- 
 sible host of bright spirits ; spirits of every kind and degree ; 
 and all friends — sound friends ; — of friendship made in solitude ; 
 and without patch or lacker, lasting to the grave. 
 
 Five minutes, reader ; and your company to the once decent 
 lodging — now turned topsy-turvy — of Mr. and Mrs. Topps. 
 They, too, are in the very fury of packing-up. Or rather, Mrs. 
 Topps and two or three friends. For Eobert and his father-in-law 
 — Goodman White, late and future schoolmaster — remain pas- 
 sively in the way ; both of them discussing the apparent merits 
 of some score of young rooks ; that Bob, on his own account, 
 and as a special off"ering to his old master Carraways, had with 
 some difficulty and danger, kidnapped from the high-top elms
 
 270 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 that surround Jogtrot Hall. Bob, in his snatch of reading, 
 had learned that rooks were at the Antipodes precious as birds 
 of paradise. He had therefore obtained some twenty nestlings, 
 " very sarcy upon their legs, indeed." They would be worth their 
 weight in gold, he declared to his father-in-law, to pick up the 
 worms and the grubs. 
 
 " It 's a capital thing for a bird or a brute," said Bob, " to be 
 born to be of some use. Eh ?" The schoolmaster assented. 
 " Now, I shouldn't have liked to be born a magpie — or a weasel ; 
 it's like being born a thief" — 
 
 " I doubt, aye, I more than doubt whether anybody's born 
 a thief," said White. 
 
 " I 'm not a scholar, — that is, compared to you ; I can't say. 
 But a rook is a serviceable cretur ; he earns his Kving ; and 
 nobody can't grudge it him. They are precious hearty, arn't 
 they," and Bob, with an eye of pride surveyed the nestlings. 
 " There 's only one thing that I'm sorry about : but it's impos- 
 sible — and this it is ; I am only sorry we couldn't take the trees 
 from the Hall, too." 
 
 "Ha ! We shall find trees enough, there," said White, intent 
 upon the birds. " Well, they are strong !" 
 
 " No fear of they're making capital sailors. And they 'U be 
 quite company, won't they, to feed 'em, and watch their ways ? 
 And what's more, when we get reg'larly settled, why their noise 
 will always remind us of England. How they will caw and 
 caw, eh ! Eather have 'em with us " — and Bob slapt his leg to 
 emphasise tlie preference, — "rather have 'em than a band of 
 music." 
 
 And the sun set and rose and shone out the bridal morning. 
 As the good folks of Primrose Place had determined that the 
 ceremony should be performed with the best quiet and simplicity, 
 we are left but little to do as chroniclers of the marriage. We 
 may merely observe that Bessy flushed into a positive beauty ; 
 and her mother, as Carraways said, ha^ somehow flung clean
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONET. 271 
 
 away twelve or foiirteeu years from her face, determined on that 
 occasion only to look the bride's elder sister. Miss Barnes, the 
 bridesmaid — for Carraways would have none other — was, despite 
 of herself, sad. The event seemed to bring into her face, a past 
 history. Of Basil we have nothing to say ; the bridegroom is 
 so rarely interesting. 
 
 Topps claimed the privilege of driving the bride to church. 
 (The slim Mrs. Topps, with riband and bows, had burst out in 
 white like a cherry-tree in brilliant blossom). Topps, however, 
 to the passing — very passing disquiet — of Carraways, who 
 wished everything to be so simple, drove to the door with a 
 white favour in his hat, as big as a ventilator ; a favour in his 
 coat ; and four favours to match on the heads of the horses. 
 
 "A stupid fellow ! " said Carraways. 
 
 " Well, after all, my dear," said his wife, " I don't know if 
 Eobert isn't right. There 's no harm in a bit of riband ; and 
 why should we steal to church as if we were ashamed of what 
 we 're doing ? What do you think, Miss Barnes ? " 
 
 "It's quite right," said Carraways; for he well knew what 
 Miss Barnes would think. "Drive on, Kobert." 
 
 In a short time the bridal party reached St. Asphodel's church. 
 A short time and Basil and Bessy stand hand in hand at the altar. 
 The minutes pass ; and the lovers' destinies — as before their 
 hearts — grow into one. The priest is silent ; and " amen " like 
 consecrating balm, hallows the mystery. 
 
 And then father and mother, and humble friends, gather close 
 to the wedded; press them and bless them. And the spirits 
 that await on human trustfulness, and human hope, when 
 plighted to each other to make the best and lightest of the 
 world's journey, be it through a garden or over a desert ; 
 arrayed with roses, or strown with flint — the spirits that sanctify 
 and strengthen simple faith and all unworldly love, — hover 
 about bride and bridegroom, and as they take their way from 
 the chm-ch, bless them on their pilgrimage. 
 
 Another hour, and Eobert Topps is again in attendance at
 
 272 A MAX MADE OF MONET. 
 
 Primrose Place. Trunks are brought to the door, and packed 
 on the carriage ; and in a few minutes Basil hands his wife to 
 her seat. There has been a shower of tears within at the 
 separation ; though mother and daughter are to meet again in 
 so short a time. Por be it known that Basil and his bride are 
 westward bound, to pass the first three or four days of the 
 honeymoon on the coast ; to be duly taken thence by the good 
 ship Halci/oii calling there on the voyage out. 
 
 It may have been at the very minute that Basil and his bride 
 quitted Primrose Place, that a letter was dehvered at Jericho 
 House. The letter was for Miss Pennibackei*, written in the 
 pangs of disappointment, in the agony of a broken heart, by the 
 Hon. Cesar Candituft. We sum up the meaning of the epistle, 
 gladly avoiding the fulness of its contents — gladly, too, avoid- 
 ing any attempted description of the profound astonishment, 
 disgust, and horror, of poor Monica. It may be remembered 
 that the lover, baulked of the dowry by the loathsome avarice of 
 Mr. Jericho, was fain to trust to the successful issue of some 
 vague law-suit for the means of married life in its requu'ed 
 magnificence. "Well, the uncertainty of the law, is a grim joke 
 that generations of men have suffered and bled under. And — 
 to be brief — Candituft after his late visit to Jericho House, 
 discovered that, with the best of causes he had the worst of 
 luck, and so — and so — with a bleeding heart he released from 
 all her vows the betrayed Monica. He was about to leave 
 London, to seek consolation in the society of his brother-in-law 
 and his sweet sister. 
 
 " The villain ! " cried Monica, " and after I had been 
 brought to promise him my hand ! To leave me, and perhaps 
 for another." 
 
 " The cruel creature ! " little Agatha spoke of Ilodmadod — 
 " after I had cm'ed his hand, to go before my face, and give it 
 to that — that Little scorpion ! "
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 273 
 
 CHAPTEE XXIV. 
 
 Though Mrs. Jericho had failed in her hopes of sympathetic 
 assistance from the friends she had summoned about her, she 
 would not quit the field. She would dispute the ground inch 
 by inch. On her final interview with Basil— she would rather 
 not see Bessy, she wished to be spared the trial — she declared 
 that, albeit INIr. Jericho was strangely wayward, it was but a 
 passing whim. However, be that as it might, it was her duty 
 as a wife and mother to remain where she was. And Basil, 
 having taken his measm-es that, at the worst, his mother and 
 sisters might be protected, bade them a gay farewell; for he 
 felt that the separation would be only for a short time. " My 
 dear mother," he said, " in a whUe, and you '11 be making 
 pumpkin pie in a log-hut ; as rosy as the ruddiest milkmaid." 
 Mrs. Jericho smiled very wanly at the picture. " And you, 
 girls, why, what hands you '11 be at rearing chicks, and fattening 
 pigs." The young ladies shuddered at the thought. And 
 when Basil prophesied for them a brace of stalwart farmers 
 for husbands, why, in their own words, " then- blood ran cold 
 at the bare idea." 
 
 Meanwhile our Man of Money hugged himself in his triumph. 
 He had despoiled his wife and her daughters of the costly gifls 
 that in his hom-s of ignorant weakness had been beguiled from 
 him. And when he looked at the jewels — when he knew that 
 they were his own again, — the victory was saddened by the 
 despairing thought that, he could by no known means, repossess 
 himself of aU the money — all he had wasted upon them. " No ; 
 no. It is a curse to think it, but tlmj cannot to the crucible. 
 They cannot yield up an ounce — nay not a grain — of the 
 glorious money cast away upon their pampered flesh — their 
 mincing appetites — their brainsick whims. No : that money is 
 gone ; buried in the graves of vanity, and gluttony, and show. 
 Gone ! Gone ! In another land I might have sold those milk-faced 
 
 n3
 
 274 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 witches for something to reimburse me. But there is no help for 
 it here — none." These savage and fantastic thoughts fermented 
 in the brain of Jericho ; and, still defeated in his moody musings, 
 he would still return to the idea of his loss, to the hope to 
 cover it. " To think that they — the sleek white cats ! — to think 
 that they should be the tombs wherein I have buried so much ! 
 To think that they should have so devoured me ! That they 
 should haj^e worn my heart ! Should have been arrayed with 
 my life ! Shoidd have worn it in their ears, about their tiny 
 wrists ! Nay, should have trod upon it, in their damned glass 
 . slippers ! And not a penny— not a penny can I melt from 
 them ! " And then, as some consolation, the miser would look 
 at the jewels — the plunder he had secm-ed. Any way, that was 
 something snatched from the wreck. Yet it was hard to gain 
 nothing more. Hard to know that the cost of past days, the 
 bye-gone pomp and luxury, — was irrevocable as the departed 
 hours. 
 
 The Man of Money sat crouched in the scullion's garret. His 
 sordid serving-man — with his eyes fiercely bent upon his master; 
 his mouth curved with a sharp grin, as though he read odd, 
 strange, diabolic matter in the brain laid bare to his looks — his 
 servant Plutus stood apart. The morning was come, and in a 
 while, the buyers would crowd to purchase ; to buy the contents 
 of the mansion bit by bit, so that — as Jericho rejoiced — he 
 might carry them in his pocket. 
 
 " There 's some of them," said Jericho, turning up his cheek 
 as the knocker struck through the house. The Man of Money, 
 followed by his servant, descended the stairs, with tripping pace. 
 "Bring them to me — here," said 'Jericho, passing into a room; 
 whilst the menial proceeded to the door. "Not gone, yet — not 
 yet ! " exclaimed the Man of Money to his weeping wife as, pale 
 and trembling, she approached him. 
 
 " My dear Solomon," — 
 
 "AVell?" answered Jericho, with hyena laugh, "well, my 
 very dear wife ? "
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 275 
 
 " For the last time, let me supplicate you," said the woman. 
 
 "I am content, for the last time. Well, go on ; supplicate," 
 answered the IMan of Money. 
 
 " You will destroy us," exclaimed the poor wife — " utterly, 
 utterly destroy us." 
 
 "Well? I know it — I know it," answered Jericho. "And 
 may I not destroy what I have made ? You were all beggars 
 when I took ye, and to beggars ye shall return. The rags, with 
 my blood, were changed into gold-cloth. Now, I 'U have my 
 blood again — I will — and you shall have your rags." 
 
 "Dear Jericho ! This is maduess," cried the wife. 
 
 " No, it isn't," answered Jericho, with a strange calmness. 
 " It isn't madness, my dear, dear spouse, as the Avise Doctor 
 IMizzlemist has signified. Oh, it was a rare meeting ! How 
 happy you might have been ! What rare junkettings, here ! 
 What a world of fashion, making this house a heaven, — and the 
 poor devil, the madman owner, the maniac bone of your bone — 
 the lunatic flesh of your flesh — fast bound, fast barred ! What 
 music you would have had — and he , the Bedlamite, howl- 
 ing to the moon. Go ! " yelled the Man of Money, stamping 
 his thin noiseless foot upon the floor ; but the woman, drawing 
 herself up, resolved to stand her ground. " What ! you thought 
 because you had not yet eaten the fniit, you would never taste 
 its bitterness." 
 
 " What fruit ? What bitterness ? " cried IVIi-s. Jericho, rising 
 in spirit. 
 
 Jericho gave no direct reply. Hugging his arms about him, 
 he swayed to and fro. "Some lies," he cried, "like some 
 truths, are of long growth ere they bear ; but they do bear at 
 last. Now, the lie you sowed " — 
 
 " I ! " exclaimed the indignant wife. 
 
 "The lie you sowed,"— repeated Jericho doggedly— " fell 
 upon hard ground, 'tis true. The altar stone, no less. Still, the 
 lie has sprouted, has struck root ; has shot up, and its fruit- 
 like the fruit of every lie, I know that much now — is bitterness.
 
 276 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 The wine it makes is miseiy, to the dregs of life — and you shall 
 drink your fill of it. No ; I am not mad; even, saying this, I 
 am not mad ; " cried Jericho, for he marked the eloquent mean- 
 ing of the woman's looks — " not mad, but enlightened. This 
 is not frenzy, madam ; but A\dsdom — withering wisdom," sighed 
 Jericho, and there was such a sound of human suffering in the 
 words that, with a smile in her face, the wife looked up at her 
 persecutor. 
 
 " My dear, you are not well — this is " — 
 
 " Why stay you here ? " cried the Man of Money, with the 
 old ferocity. " Why will you not be warned ? Well, well, take 
 your own way — you know best ; you know best. But in a few 
 hours, and there 's not a bed left for your fine, costly bones to 
 lie upon. Now, will you depart ? " cried Jericho. 
 
 "No," exclaimed the wife. "I know my course. I am 
 advised." Jericho laughed. " Oh, do not doubt that," repeated 
 the angry woman. '* I will not quit the house while a tatter 
 remains. It shall be your work to leave me destitute, and 
 then "— 
 
 " Aye, destitute ; as I took you. The rich widow — the Indian 
 queen — the sultana " — 
 
 " The man of wealth — the shipowner — the holder of stocks — 
 the golden merchant " — 
 
 " Well, and has it turned out otherwise ? " asked Jericho, 
 sullenly and proudly. " Has my wealth been wanting ? Did I 
 cheat you ? Have you not shared and shared ? Have you not 
 cursed me? You married me for your money-drudge — your 
 golden slave. And still, with your speech you goaded me ; still 
 with that whip of asp — a shrew's tongue — ^you scourged me. 
 Money— money ! And despairingly I wished even of the fiend 
 for money. I have my wish" — and Jericho slowly fixed his 
 eyes upon his wife, whose sympathy returned with the man's 
 suffering — fixed his eyes, whilst his face became ghastly pale, 
 though with the paleness came back something of the calmer 
 look of former days — " I have my wish," groaned Jericho,
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 277 
 
 spreading his hand upon his breast — " and— I feel it — I am 
 damned for it." 
 
 " Husband ! " cried the wife, and her arm sought to embrace 
 him. " Heavens ! " she screamed in terror ; and with her arm 
 — some time divorced — around her husband, her blood stood 
 frozen at the change. His body seemed as a wand — a willow 
 wand. The wife trembled, and did not dare to look at what she 
 deemed monstrous — devilish. With her heart beating thick, 
 her brow bedewed, her arm fell as dead to her side. 
 
 " The brain burns brightest, I have heard," said Jericho, with 
 mournful, meaning voice — with features pale and tranquil, and 
 with a gleam of their old expression — " brightest a while before 
 'tis clay — if it be so, in the running of some minutes, I teas. 
 My God ! What do I see? " and Jericho stared with eyes suddenly 
 lustrous, " What do I see ? " he groaned. " The skeletons of 
 things ! Outside beauty has departed, and here — here I stand 
 — in a house of dust. I know that was some fine thing upon 
 you — some silken rag of pride — and now it is a web of dust — of 
 woven dust ! I look upon yom* face — that fine, large, glowing, 
 breathing lie that was, and it is a lie no longer. No ; it is 
 resolved into the one truth — the universal dust, the ca2)ut mor- 
 tuum of the last day." 
 
 " My love," said the wife, with a voice of terror ; but the man 
 possessed would not hear. 
 
 " Why could I not see this before ? Why, I know that thing 
 about your neck was gold ; is gold still to the blind ignorance of 
 the world. It is a piece of yellow dust ; so light, a breath must 
 scatter it. All dust. Your fine, proud, sweeping body ! Why, 
 now I see it as it is. I could crumble it with my hands. And 
 your heart, I see that too ! And what is called the blood passing 
 through it. Blood ! why, it is a gush of sand. And youi* brain ? 
 — as busy as an ant-hill ; as busy and as earthy." 
 
 " My dear," said the wife, struck with the change, yet fain to 
 play the comforter, " you are better now." 
 
 " Much better ; for I can see through all things. Why had
 
 278 A MAN MADE OF MOXEY. 
 
 I not one glance of this before ? Are we only to know what 
 dirt is pride and pomp, only to know it when the tongue begins 
 to taste the clay ? But it is no matter," and the wild look 
 again dawned in the sick man's face. Again, the fierce, wUd, 
 violent spirit grew strong \\dthin him. " It is no matter. All 's 
 well. Very well ! As I said — as I said. I am rich, and I am 
 damned for it. I have earned heU — well earned it " — 
 
 " For the love of heaven," cried the woman in despair, for the 
 moment feehng a partner in the horror. 
 
 " None of that ! No cowardice ! No craven — twelfth -hour 
 puling. Be honest when you can't help it. 'Twas a bargain ; a 
 fair bargain with hell. So let the devil have his own. And 
 mark you ! Woman of sin — thing of smiles and fraud ! you 
 and your young hags take a witch's flight, and be gone. You 
 had best : much best. Wait another day, and there '11 not be a 
 broomstick to fly with." 
 
 And here, introduced l)y Plutus — how ]\Irs. Jericho shuddered 
 at the creature's presence ! — came certain tradesmen ; wreckers 
 never absent when a fortune founders. Israel, Laban, and 
 Issachar stood before the Man of Money, who, on the instant, 
 returned to his himgry, ravenous self. Yes; at sight of the 
 dealers, the face of Jericho put on its former wickedness ; and 
 philosophy and remorse were dumb and dead, and cunning and 
 avarice again active and voluble. With a contemptuous chuck 
 of the head, Jericho acknowledged the presence of the chapmen, 
 and then turned fiercely upon his wife. " Are you advised now ? 
 A few hours, and if you will stay here, you shall rule the mistress 
 of naked walls. Go ! " And the poor woman, with terror in 
 her looks, fled from the spot. How — in that moment — she 
 accused the lingering, guilty pride, that had withheld her from 
 communing with Basil ! How willingly would she have followed 
 him ! With what alacrity have flung aside, like tarnished finery, 
 her present life, and drawn the breath of simplicity and peace ! 
 And with this thought she sought her daughters. This thought 
 she uttered with fervent utterance; and found no according
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 279 
 
 sympathy. But youth is apt to be disdainful. And so it was 
 with Monica, so even with the less courageous Agatha. Both 
 of them bade their mother — she herself had taught the lesson, and 
 now her pupils bade her not forget it— have a nobler spirit. 
 They were prepared to defy the tyrant to the last ! Indeed, in 
 a wild, passionate moment, burning with revenge, Monica laugh- 
 ing and clapping her hands, declared it would be noble sport to 
 set fire to the house, and all perish in the flames. Poor girl ! 
 "We verily believe she had no such wicked intention. She only 
 spoke from a desperate waywardness of spirit ; for it must not 
 be forgotten that the treasonous letter of the dastard Candituft 
 — (he married, ten years after, a tyrannous old maid, with enor- 
 mous expectations that ripened into nothing better than erysi- 
 pelas) — the coward letter, like a live coal, was eating up Monica's 
 heart. However, the mother was re-assured by the spirit of her 
 children ; and having gathered together all the property — body 
 goods, no other — allowed them by the tyrant Man of Money, 
 was resolved to stay to the last. Neither would she take the 
 judgment of the jury of friends as final. She must believe — 
 moreover ]\Ionica, upon the strength of her grey experience was 
 convinced — that the law was too kind, too just and benevolent 
 towards feeble woman, not to dethrone and confine for life, her 
 maniac despot. 
 
 In the meantime, the dealers, accompanied by Jericho, 
 prowled from room to room. Eurniture, plate, pictures — all 
 that had made the glory of Jericho — were duly considered and 
 duly debased by the men who wished to make them their own. 
 For a while, Jericho endured the chaft'ering of the tribe. At 
 length, he suddenly drew up. " Look ye here," said the Man 
 of Money, prepared at once to make clean work of it ; for his 
 impatience subdued his avarice, — " Look ye, here. I treat 
 with men of honour ; with scrupulous merchants whose only 
 wish is a fair profit. I know this, gentlemen. The tone of 
 vour voices, the clear look of your eyes, the sterling worth 
 of your words, as we have passed from room to room, con-
 
 280 A MAN MADE OF MONEY. 
 
 sidering the goods, — all convince me that I am safe m your 
 hands." 
 
 Israel, Laban, and Issachar, staring somewhat, bowed. 
 
 " Safe in your hands," repeated Jericho. " Well, then, why 
 should we waste time ? I want to be quit of this. I want, at 
 a thought, to melt all you see and have seen, into ready money. 
 I know I must be a mighty loser. Oh yes ! For money never 
 was so scarce — trade never so very dead= This I knew before ; 
 so not a word about it now. Well then, worthy gentlemen, 
 princely dealers, take counsel with yourselves, and to save a 
 public hubbub — for I woidd pass from tliis fiery furuace of a 
 house, this mansion burning with gold, to the peaceful corner 
 I have provided me. You understand ? " — 
 
 Again Israel, Laban, and Issachar, bowed. They understood 
 perfectly. 
 
 " Take counsel, I say, and make me an offer, a lumping offer 
 for the whole. Eh ? " 
 
 Israel, Laban, and Issachar were impressed with the com- 
 prehensive largeness of the thought. It would save time, and 
 trouble, and the liberal, the right royal Jericho would be a 
 gainer — there could be no doubt of it — a great gainer in the 
 end. 
 
 . " Fellow," and Jericho turned to his serf, " conduct the mer- 
 chants into every corner. And gentlemen, let me have your 
 offer — be it ever so rough a guess, stiU something like it — 
 your offer to-night. No later ; to-night." 
 
 Israel, Laban, and Issachar, with their hearts glowing in tlieii" 
 eyes, and smiling at their mouths, rubbed their hands, and pro- 
 mised. The magnificent Jericho should have their offer in the 
 evening. They, the merchant friends — old associates, time- 
 tried feUows — with one another would soon decide ; and — there 
 should be no miss in the matter — a plain, distinct offer should be 
 made in the evening. 
 
 Whereupon, the Man of Money ascended to his garret, and 
 the dealers pursued their occupation. There was only one
 
 A MAN MADE OF MONET, 281 
 
 apartment shut against them. And here, Mrs. Jericho and her 
 daughters defied a siege. Every other place was searched, and 
 every article scanned by the dealers, who at length with a grave 
 joy departed from the house, big with the belief in a glorious 
 pennyworth. 
 
 The Man of Money sat alone in his garret. Evening closed in, 
 and the moon rose, and looked reproachfidly at the miser. The 
 same moon that looked so tenderly upon millions ; the same 
 moon that shone upon the silvery sails of the Halcyon, flying 
 like a sea-bird to its home. 
 
 The Man of Money started in his chair. " What 's that ? " 
 The garret door opened. " You, — is 't not ? " 
 
 " I," answered the slave Plutus. 
 
 "Well? Has it come?" cried the master. 
 
 " Here it is," answered the servant ; and he laid a letter upon 
 the table. 
 
 "Well, now for their conscience!" exclaimed the Man of 
 Money. " Go, Avhile I read it," and the servant departed. 
 " Stay, dog. A light — I cannot read else. Do you hear ? A 
 light." 
 
 The fellow came not in; but his voice was heard without. 
 " There is a candle on the table ; and paper prepared to 
 light it." 
 
 Most precious paper ! The heart's fl.esh and blood of the Man 
 of ^loney. For the devilish serving-man had folded a note — 
 (how obtained, can it matter ?) — a note peeled from the breast of 
 his master ; a piece of money, a part of the damned Jericho, 
 sympathising with him. 
 
 The Man of Money took the paper, — the devil with his ear 
 upturned crept closer to the door — and thrust it amidst the 
 dying coals. A moment, and the garret is rent as with a 
 lightning flash. 
 
 Yelling, and all on fire, the Man of Money falls prostrate, 
 with hell in his face. Then his lips move, but not a sound is 
 heard. And the fii'e communicated by the sympathy of the
 
 282 A MAN MADE OF J[ONEY. 
 
 living note — tlie flesh of his flesh — like a snake of flame, glides 
 up his limbs, devouring them. And so he is consumed. A 
 minute ; and the Man of Money is a thin, black paper ash. 
 Now, the night wind stirs it ; and now, a sudden breeze carries 
 the cineroLis corpse away, fluttering it to dust impalpable. 
 
 And at the moment, the possessions of Jericiio — all he had 
 bought with his flesh, and blood, and soul — aU was blasted to 
 tinder, consumed to ashes. The pictures dropt in dust from the 
 walls; the walls crumbled; the very gold the wretch had hoarded 
 became as nought. 
 
 Candituft looked at his diamond ring — the gift of Jericho — 
 and it was a speck of charcoal. Bones and Thrush, drawing 
 forth theu" golden snuff-boxes, found in their hands two lumps of 
 soot. 
 
 ]\Irs. Jericho and her daughters were alike disenchanted. The 
 very moment Jericho passed away in flame, they found themselves 
 in garments of tinder. 
 
 And thus were all things of the Man made of Money — things 
 of dust and ashes. 
 
 The night has passed, and day — lovely summer time — smiles 
 a benison upon the world. The Halcyon, with her sea-pilgrims 
 aboard, lies-to off the western shore. There are two voyagers yet 
 to come. And there — a thing no bigger than a nautilus — a 
 boat comes shooting out ; tussling and bounding with the breeze 
 and sea, and now fairly leaping from w^ave to wave towards the 
 ship, as with the instinct of some creature towards its parent 
 breast. " There they are ! " shouts Carraways, and his wife 
 cries and laughs — and Jenny Topps jumps about — and Eobert 
 claps his hands — and Old "White blesses himself — and Doctor 
 Dodo smiles, and Mrs. Dodo is so happy — and the nine children 
 Dodos — baby at the breast counting for nothing — give a scream 
 and a shout of delight ! 
 
 Another minute, and the boat is alongside. And there are
 
 //My yty/^ yC/Z^ 
 
 '^ /^
 
 A MAX MADE OF MONEY. 283 
 
 bride and bridegroom, — there is Bessy with such happiness 
 lilliug her good face, with Basil's arm around her — and Basil 
 looking proud of his treasui-e ! Another minute, and Bessy is 
 upon the deck in her mother's arms ; and Basil grasps the hand 
 of father Carraways. 
 
 Captain Goodbody's eye — he sees all but says little — glistens 
 at the meeting. The boat's cast off — aU 's right. 
 
 " 'Bout ship ! " cries the Captain. The yards swing round ; 
 the canvas fills as with the breath of good spirits. May such 
 await the trusting and courageous hearts our vessel carries — 
 await on them and all who, seeking a new home, sail the mighty 
 deep ! 
 
 THE END,
 
 LONDON : 
 BRADBURY AND EVANS, r-RINTERS, WHITEFHtARS.