"Do you seriously," inquired Mr. Gammon, "charge him with being such a character, and can you _prove_ your charges, Mr. Tag-rag?"

"Prove 'em! yes, sir, a hundred times over; so will all my young men!"

replied Tag-rag, vehemently.

"And in a court of justice, Mr. Tag-rag?" said Mr. Gammon, emphatically.

"Oh! he is going to _law_, is he? Ah, ha! Bless my soul!--So _that's_ why you're come here--ah, ha!--when you can make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, you may get your bill out of Mr. t.i.ttlebat t.i.tmouse!--ha, ha, ha!" laughed Tag-rag, hoping thereby to conceal how much he was really startled.

"Well--that's _our_ look-out, Mr. Tag-rag: to Mr. t.i.tmouse, his character is as valuable as Mr. Tag-rag's is to him. In short, Mr.

t.i.tmouse has placed himself in our hands, and we are resolved to go on with the case, if it cost us a hundred pounds--we are indeed, Mr.

Tag-rag."

"Why--he's not a penny in the world to go to law with!" exclaimed Tag-rag, with an air of mingled wonder, scorn, and alarm.

"But you forget, Mr. Tag-rag, that if Mr. t.i.tmouse's account of the business should turn out to be correct, it will be _your_ pocket that must pay all the expenses, amounting probably to twenty times the sum which the law may award to him!"

"_Law_, sir?--It's not justice!--I hate law.--Give me common sense and common honesty!" said Mr. Tag-rag, with a little agitation.

"Both of them would condemn your conduct, Mr. Tag-rag; for I have heard a full account of what Mr. t.i.tmouse has suffered at your hands--of the cause of your sudden warning to him, and your still more sudden dismissal of yesterday. Oh, Mr. Tag-rag! upon my honor, it won't do--not for a moment--and should you go on, rely upon what I tell you, that it will cost you dear."

"And suppose, sir," said Tag-rag, in a would-be contemptuous tone--"I should have witnesses to prove all I've said--which of us will look funny _then_, sir?"

"Which, indeed! However, since that is your humor, I can only a.s.sure you that it is very possible we may be, by the time of the trial, possessed of some evidence which will surprise you: and that Mr. t.i.tmouse defies you to prove any misconduct on his part. We have, in short, taken up his cause, and, as you may perhaps find by and by, to your cost, we shall not easily let it drop."

"I mean no offence, sir," said Tag-rag, in a mitigated tone; "but I must say, that ever since _you_ first came here, t.i.tmouse has been quite another person. He seems not to know who I am, nor to care either--and he's perfectly unbearable."

"My dear sir, what has he _said_ or _done_?--that, you know, is what you must be prepared to prove, when you come into court!"

"Well, sir! and which of us is likely to be best off for witnesses?--Think of that, sir--I've eighteen young men"----

"We shall chance that, sir," replied Gammon, shrugging his shoulders, and smiling very bitterly; "but again, I ask, what did you dismiss him for? and, sir, I request a plain, straightforward answer."

"What did I dismiss him for?--Haven't I eyes and ears?--First and foremost, he's the most odious-mannered fellow I ever came near--and--he hadn't a shirt to his back when I first took him--the ungrateful wretch!--Sir, it's at any rate not against the law, I suppose, to _hate_ a man;--and if it isn't, how I HATE t.i.tmouse!"

"Mr. Tag-rag"--said Gammon, lowering his voice, and looking very earnestly at his companion--"can I say a word to you in confidence--the strictest confidence?"

"What's it about, sir?" inquired Tag-rag, somewhat apprehensively.

"I dare say you may have felt, perhaps, rather surprised at the interest which I--in fact our office, the office of Quirk, Gammon, and Snap, in Saffron Hill--appear to have taken in Mr. t.i.tmouse."

"Why, sir, it's _your_ look-out to see how you're to be paid for what you're doing--and I dare say lawyers generally keep a pretty sharp look-out in that direction!"

Gammon smiled, and continued--"It may, perhaps, a little surprise you, Mr. Tag-rag, to hear that your present (ought I to say, your _late_?) shopman, Mr. t.i.ttlebat t.i.tmouse, is at this moment probably the very luckiest man--and one among the richest, too--in this kingdom."

"Why--you don't mean to say he's drawn a prize in the lottery?"--exclaimed Tag-rag, p.r.i.c.king up his ears, and manifestly changing color.

"Pho! my dear sir, _that_ is a mere bagatelle compared with the good fortune which has just fallen to his lot. I solemnly a.s.sure you, that I believe it will very shortly turn out that he is at this moment the undoubted owner of an estate worth at least ten thousand a-year, besides a vast acc.u.mulation of ready money!"

"Ten thousand a-year, sir!--My t.i.tmouse!--t.i.ttlebat t.i.tmouse!--Ten thousand a-year! it's quite impossible!" faltered Tag-rag, after a pause, having gone as pale as death.

"I have as little doubt of the fact, however, sir, as I have that you yesterday turned him out of doors, Mr. Tag-rag!"

"But"--said Mr. Tag-rag, in a low tone--"who could have dreamed it?--How was--_really_, Mr. Gammon!--how _was_ I to know it?"

"That's the fact, however," said Gammon, shrugging his shoulders.

Tag-rag wriggled about in his chair, put his hands in and out of his pockets, scratched his head, and continued staring open-mouthed at the bearer of such astounding intelligence. "Perhaps, however, all this is meant as a joke, sir,"--said he--"And if so--it's--it's--a very"----

"It's one of his solicitors who were fortunate enough to make the discovery, that tells you, sir," interrupted Gammon, calmly. "I repeat what I have already told you, Mr. Tag-rag, that an estate of ten thousand a-year is the very least"----

"Why, that's two hundred thousand pounds, sir!"--exclaimed Tag-rag, with an awe-struck air.

"At the very least"----

"Lord, Mr. Gammon!--Excuse me, sir, but how _did_ you find it out?"

"Mere accident--a mere accidental discovery, sir, in the course of other professional inquiries!"

"And does Mr. t.i.tmouse know it?"

"Ever since the day, Mr. Tag-rag, after that on which I called on him here!" replied Gammon, pointedly.

"You--don't--say--so!"--exclaimed Tag-rag, and then continued silent for nearly half a minute, evidently amazed beyond all power of expression.

"Well,"--at length he observed--"I _will_ say this--with all his few faults--he's the most amiable young gentleman--the _very amiablest_ young gentleman I--ever--came near. I always thought there was something uncommon superior-like in his looks."

"Yes--I think he _is_ of rather an amiable turn," observed Gammon, with an expressive smile--"very gentlemanlike--and so intelligent"----

"Intelligent! Mr. Gammon! you should only have known him as I have known him!--Well, to be sure!--Lord! His only fault was, that he was above his business; but when one comes to think of it, how could it be otherwise?

From the time I first clapped eyes on him--I--I--knew he was--a superior article--quite superior--you know what I mean, sir?--he couldn't help it, of course!--to be sure--he never was much liked by the other young men; but that was jealousy!--all jealousy; I saw that all the while."

Here he looked at the door, and added in a very low tone, "Many sleepless nights has their bad treatment of Mr. t.i.tmouse cost me!--Even I, now and then, used to look and speak sharply to him--just to keep him, as it were, down to the mark of the others--he was so uncommon handsome and genteel in his manner, sir. I remember telling my good lady the very first day he came to me, that he was a gentleman born--or ought to have been one."

Now, do you suppose, acute reader, that Mr. Tag-rag was insincere in all this? By no means. He spoke the real dictates of his heart, unaware of the sudden change which had taken place in his feelings. It certainly has an ugly look of improbability--but it was the _nature of the beast_; his eye suddenly caught a glimpse of the golden calf, and he instinctively fell down and worshipped it. "Well--at all events," said Mr. Gammon, scarcely able to keep a serious expression on his face--"though he's not lived much like a gentleman hitherto, yet he will live for the future like a _very great gentleman_--and spend his money like one, too."

"I--I--dare say--- he will!--I wonder how he _will_ get through a quarter of it!--what do _you_ think he'll do, sir?"

"Heaven only knows--he may very shortly do just what he likes! Go into the House of Commons, or--perhaps--have a peerage given him"----

"Lord, sir!--I feel as if I shouldn't be quite right again for the rest of the day!--I own to you, sir, that all yesterday and to-day I've been on the point of going to Mr. t.i.tmouse's lodgings to apologize for--for---- Good gracious me! one can't take it all in at once--Ten thousand a-year!--Many a lord hasn't got more--some not half as much, I'll be bound!--Dear me, what will he do!--Well, one thing I'm _sure_ of--he'll never have a truer friend than plain Thomas Tag-rag, though I've not always been a-flattering him--I respected him too much!--The many little things I've borne with in t.i.tmouse, that in any one else I'd have--But why didn't he tell me, sir? We should have understood one another in a moment."--Here he paused abruptly; for his breath seemed suddenly taken away, as he reviewed the series of indignities which he had latterly inflicted on t.i.tmouse--the kind of life which that amiable young gentleman had led in his establishment.

Never had the keen Gammon enjoyed anything more exquisitely than the scene which I have been describing. To a man of his practical sagacity in the affairs of life, and knowledge of human nature, nothing could appear more ludicrously contemptible than the conduct of poor Tag-rag.

How differently are the minds of men const.i.tuted! How Gammon despised Tag-rag! And what opinion has the acute reader by this time formed of Gammon?

"_Now_, may I take for granted, Mr. Tag-rag, that we understand each other?" inquired Gammon.

"Yes, sir," replied Tag-rag, meekly. "But do you think Mr. t.i.tmouse will ever forgive or forget the little misunderstanding we've lately had? If I could but explain to him how I have been acting a part towards him--all for his good!"

"You may have opportunities for doing so, if you are really so disposed, Mr. Tag-rag; for I have something seriously to propose to you.

Circ.u.mstances render it desirable that for some little time this important affair should be kept as quiet as possible; and it is Mr.

t.i.tmouse's wish and ours--as his confidential professional advisers--that for some few months he should continue in your establishment, and apparently in your service as before."