"It would be cruel and absurd in me not to express at once, Mr. Aubrey, my conviction that your situation is fearfully critical; and that your sole hope is in the moderation which may be hoped for from Messrs.

Quirk, Gammon, and Snap, and their client, Mr. t.i.tmouse. Serious as are, at present, your other liabilities--to that one, of the mesne profits, they are but as a bucket of water to the Thames. As we are talking, Mr.

Aubrey, in this candid and unrestrained manner, I will tell you my chief source of apprehension on your account, with reference to Messrs. Quirk, Gammon, and Snap: namely, that they may possibly speculate on your being able, if placed in real peril, to call around you, in your extremity, a host of wealthy and powerful friends--as security, or otherwise"--

"They will find themselves, then, utterly mistaken," said Mr. Aubrey, sternly. "If they and their client are really capable of such shocking brutality--such wanton oppression--let them do their worst: I am resigned. Providence will discover a shelter for my poor wife and children, and my dear, devoted, high-spirited sister; and as for myself, rather than satiate the rapacity of such wretches, by plundering good-natured and generous friends, I will spend the remainder of my days in prison!"

Mr. Aubrey was evidently not a little excited while he said this; but there was that in his tone of voice, and in his eye, which told Mr.

Runnington that he meant what he said; and that, as soon as it should have come to the point of oppression and injustice, no man could resist more powerfully, or endure with a more dignified and inflexible resolution. But Mr. Runnington expressed strong hopes that it would not come to such an issue. He consoled Mr. Aubrey with a.s.surances that, as for their own demand, it might stand over for years; and that so, he was sure, would it be with the far lesser demand of Mr. Parkinson; and that if, by a great effort, sufficient could be raised to discharge promptly the bill of Messrs. Quirk, Gammon, and Snap, some much more favorable arrangement respecting the amount and mode of payment of the mesne profits might be effected--leaving Mr. Aubrey, in the mean time, leisure to apply himself vigorously to his studies for the bar, for which Mr.

Runnington a.s.sured him that he considered him peculiarly qualified; and pledged himself to back him with all the influence he had, or could command.

"Gracious Heaven, Mr. Runnington!" said Aubrey, with a little excitement, "is it not very nearly intolerable that I should pa.s.s the prime of my days in thraldom to such people as these, and be encircled by the chains of such a man as this t.i.tmouse is represented as being? I will not call myself his foe, nor his victim; but I am the one through whose sudden dest.i.tution he has obtained a splendid fortune. I did not _knowingly_ deprive him of it--he must be bereft of all the ordinary feelings of humanity, to place me, whom he has already stripped of all, upon the rack--the rack of extortion! Oh! put me in his place, and him in mine--do you think I would not have been satisfied with what I had gained? Would _I_ have alarmed and tortured him by calling for an account of what he had spent with a firm, a reasonable persuasion that it was his own--profoundly unconscious of its being another's? Oh, no! I would not only have forgiven him all, but endeavored to secure him from future want!" He sighed. "Oh, that I were at this moment a free man!

_pauper--sed in meo aere_; that I had but five hundred pounds to keep me and mine for a year or two--with a mind at ease, and fit for study!

but here we are at the Temple. When shall we meet again--or shall I hear from you?"

"Very shortly," replied Mr. Runnington, who for the last few minutes had been listening to Mr. Aubrey in respectful and sympathizing silence; and shaking him warmly by the hand, with much cordiality and fervency of manner, he pledged himself to do all in his power to promote his interests.

CHAPTER VIII.

When Mr. Aubrey arrived at Mr. Weasel's chambers, he looked dejected and hara.s.sed; yet, exerting his powers of self-command, he at once addressed himself, calmly and vigorously, to the business of the day. From time to time he peremptorily excluded the distressing thoughts and recollections arising out of his morning's interview with Mr. Runnington; and succeeded in concentrating his attention upon a case of more than usual intricacy and multifariousness of details, which Mr. Weasel, having glanced over, had laid aside for a more leisurely perusal. He handed it, however, to Mr. Aubrey soon after his arrival, with something approaching to a secret satisfaction, in the expectation of its "proving too much for him;" but he was mistaken. Mr. Aubrey left a little earlier than usual; but not before he had sent in the voluminous "case" to Mr.

Weasel's room by the clerk, together with a half-sheet of draft paper, containing a brief summary of the results at which he had arrived; and which not a little surprised Mr. Weasel. The case did not happen to involve much technical knowledge; but, as well in respect of the imperfect manner in which it was drawn up, as of the confusion worse confounded of the transactions themselves, out of which the questions arose, there were required persevering attention, strength of memory, and great clear-headedness. In short, Weasel owned to himself that Mr.

Aubrey had taken a very masterly view of the case; and how would his estimate of his pupil's ability have been enhanced, by a knowledge of the situation in which he was placed--one so calculated to distract his attention, and prevent that hearty and complete devotion to legal studies, without which Mr. Weasel well knew how vain was the attempt to master them?

"Have you read Aubrey's opinion on that troublesome case--I mean the Cornish Bank?" inquired Weasel, taking a pinch of snuff, of Mr.

Thoroughpace, another pupil who had just sat down beside Mr. Weasel, to see him "settle" [_i. e._ score out, interline, and alter] a pleading drawn by the aforesaid Thoroughpace. That gentleman replied in the negative. "He's got a headpiece of his own, I can tell you!---Egad, somehow or another, he always contrives to hit the nail on the head!"

"I'd a sort of notion, the very first day he came, that he was a superior man," replied Thoroughpace. "He makes very few notes--seems to trust entirely to his head"----

"Ah! a man may carry that too far," interrupted Mr. Weasel, thrusting a pinch of snuff up his nose.

"Then I wish _I_ could," replied Thoroughpace. "Isn't there such a thing as making _the hand engross the business of the head_?" Mr.

Weasel--recollecting that in his library stood twelve thick folio volumes of ma.n.u.script "precedents," which he had been fool enough to copy out with his own hand during his pupilage, and the first year or two of his setting up in business--hemmed, and again applied to his snuff-box. "How do you get on with Aubrey in the pupils' room?" he inquired.

"Why, I didn't like him at first. Very reserved, and is not without _hauteur_. Even now, though very courteous, he says little, appears entirely absorbed by his studies; and yet he seems to have something or other pressing on his mind."

"Ah! I dare say! Law's no trifle, I warrant him! No doubt it's _teasing_ him!" replied Weasel, rather complacently.

"Do you know I should doubt it! I never saw a man to whom it seemed to _yield_ so easily.--He's a particularly _gentlemanlike_ person, by the way; and there's something very attractive in his countenance. He seems highly connected."

"Oh--why, you've heard of the great cause of _Doe_ d. _t.i.tmouse_ v.

_Jolter_, a Yorkshire ejectment case, tried only last spring a.s.sizes?--That case, you know, about the effect of an _erasure_.--Well, he's the defendant, and has, I hear, lost everything."

"You astonish me! By Jove, then, he had need work!"

"Shall _we_ set to work, Mr. Thoroughpace?" said Weasel, suddenly, looking at his watch lying on his desk. "I've promised to let them have these pleas by six o'clock--or the other side will be signing judgment;"

and plunging his pen into the inkstand, to work he went, _more suo_, as if such a man as his pupil, Mr. Aubrey, had never existed. Weasel was not at all a hard-hearted man; but I verily believe that if a _capias ad satisfaciendum_ (_i. e._ final process to take the body into custody to satisfy debt and costs) against Charles Aubrey, Esquire, had come into Mr. Weasel's chambers to be "_settled_" as requiring special accuracy--after humming and hawing a bit--and taking an extra pinch of snuff, he would have done his duty by the doc.u.ment faithfully, marked his _seven-and-sixpence_ in the corner, and sent it out indifferently with other papers; consoling himself with this just reflection, that the thing _must_ be done by _somebody!_ and he might as well have the _fee_ as any one else!

On Mr. Aubrey's return home to dinner, he found that his sister had received another long letter from Dr. Tatham, to which was appended a postscript mentioning Mr. Gammon in such terms as suggested to Mr.

Aubrey a little scheme which he resolved to carry into effect on the morrow--namely, to call himself at the office of Messrs. Quirk, Gammon, and Snap, and seek an interview with Mr. Gammon, who, Dr. Tatham stated, had quitted Yatton for town only the day before the doctor had written to Miss Aubrey. After a very restless and unhappy night, during which he was tormented by all kinds of dismal dreams, Messrs. Quirk, Gammon, and Snap figuring in each as the stern and mysterious arbiters of his earthly destiny, he resolved to put an end to his present insupportable suspense--to learn at once the extent of what he had either to hope or to fear--by calling that very afternoon at Saffron Hill. For that purpose, he quitted Mr. Weasel's at the early hour of three o'clock; and straightway bent his steps towards those delectable localities--through Fetter Lane to Hatton Garden, thence inquiring his way to Saffron Hill.

He was not long in finding the house of which he was in quest, his eye being soon attracted by the great, gleaming bra.s.s-plate with the words "QUIRK, GAMMON, and SNAP," as prominent and threatening as ever those names had appeared to t.i.tmouse in the day of _his_ agony and suspense.

_He_ had stood gazing at them with idiot longing and vulgar apprehension, as the reader has seen. How very different a person now looked at them with feelings of intense interest and overmastering anxiety, as at the names of those who had him completely in their power--his fortunes, his _liberty_, his livelihood, and that of the dear beings whose interests, whose all on earth, whose personal safety--were bound up in his! Mr. Aubrey, with a jaded air, dressed in a b.u.t.toned black surtout, and with an umbrella under his arm, entered the hall, where were sitting and standing several strange-looking people--one or two suffering evidently great agitation; in fact, relatives of prisoners whose trials for capital offences were coming on the next day at Newgate--and made his way into a room, on the door of which he read "Clerks' Room."

"Now, sir, your name and business?" said a showily dressed Jewish-looking youth, with copious curls, lolling at a desk from which he did not move, and speaking in a tone of very disagreeable a.s.surance.

"Is Mr. Gammon within? my name is Aubrey," he added, taking off his hat; and there was a certain _something_ in his voice, countenance, and bearing--a certain courtly superiority--which induced the personage whom he had addressed to slip off his stool, and exhibit as polite an air as _he_ could possibly a.s.sume.

"Mr. Gammon is in his room, sir, and alone. I believe he is rather busy," said the youth, going towards Mr. Gammon's room--"but I've no doubt you can see him."

The fact was, that at that very moment Mr. Gammon was engaged drawing up "Instructions to prepare Declaration" in an action for mesne profits against Mr. Aubrey! He had only the day before returned from Yatton, where circ.u.mstances had occurred which had quickened their intended proceeding against that unfortunate gentleman--that being the first quarter to which, at Mr. t.i.tmouse's suggestion, they were to look for a considerable supply of ready money. That morning, in the very room into which Mr. Aubrey was to be presently shown, had taken place a long discussion between Mr. Quirk and Mr. Gammon, on the very subject which had now brought to their office Mr. Aubrey. Mr. Quirk was for making short work of it--for "going straight a-head"--and getting the whole 60,000 or security for the greater portion, and 20,000 down! Gammon, however, was of opinion that that was mere madness; that by attempting to proceed to extremities against so unfortunate a sufferer as Mr.

Aubrey, they could not fail of drawing down on themselves and their client universal execration--(at _that_, Quirk only grunted and grinned;) and, moreover, of driving Mr. Aubrey desperate, and forcing him either to quit the country, or accept the protection of the insolvent laws--at this Mr. Quirk looked serious enough. Gammon had, in the end, satisfied his senior partner that their only chance was in gentleness and moderation; and the old gentleman had, as usual, agreed to adopt the plan of operations suggested by Gammon. The latter personage had quite as keen a desire and firm determination as the former, to wring out of their wretched victim the very last farthing which there was the slightest probability of obtaining; for t.i.tmouse had pointed to that quarter for the discharge of his ten thousand pound bond, and bill of costs (which--by the way--contained some three hundred items, slightly varied in language, which stood also charged in their bill to Mr. Aubrey!) then twenty--or at least fifteen thousand pounds, were to be handed over to himself, t.i.tmouse; and all the rest that could be got, Mr. Gammon might appropriate to his own use. Such was the prospective part.i.tion of the spoil!--Mr. Gammon's inquiries into Mr.

Aubrey's circ.u.mstances, had completely convinced him, however, that it would be impossible to extract any considerable sum from that unfortunate gentleman; and that if they could contrive to get payment of their bill against him--perhaps substantial security for a portion--say four or five thousand pounds--of the mesne profits; and his own personal responsibility for the payment of any portion of the remainder, hereafter--they had better rest satisfied--and look for liquidation of their own heavy claim, to a mortgage upon the Yatton estates. Mr. Gammon had also proposed to himself certain other objects, in dealing with Mr.

Aubrey, than the mere extraction of money from him; and, in short, prompted by considerations such as those above intimated, he had come to the determination, an hour or so before Mr. Aubrey's most unexpected visit, to be at once prepared with the necessary means for setting in motion legal proceedings for the recovery of the arrear of mesne profits. But we are keeping Mr. Aubrey waiting, all this while, in the outer office.

"Have I the honor to address Mr. Gammon?" commenced Mr. Aubrey, courteously, on being shown into the room--not announced by name, but only as "_a gentleman_"--where Gammon sat busily engaged writing out the "Instructions" for framing the rack on which it was designed to extend his unconscious visitor!

"Sir, my name _is_ Gammon," he replied, coloring a little--and rising, with an expression of very great surprise--"I believe I have the honor of seeing Mr. Aubrey?--I beg you will allow me to offer you a chair"--he continued with forced calmness of manner, placing one as far distant as was possible from the table, and, to make a.s.surance doubly sure, seating himself between Mr. Aubrey and the table; expecting to hear his visitor at once open the subject of their bill, which they had so recently sent in.

"Will you suffer me, Mr. Aubrey," commenced Gammon, with a bland and subdued air, not fulsome, but extremely deferential, "before entering on any business which may have brought you here, to express deep and sincere sympathy with your sufferings, and my _personal_ regret at the share we have had in the proceedings which have ended so adversely for your interests? But our duty as professional men, Mr. Aubrey, is often as plain as painful!"

"I feel obliged, sir," said Mr. Aubrey, with a sigh, "for your kind expressions of sympathy--but I cannot for a moment conceive any apology necessary. Neither I, nor my advisers, that I am aware of, have ever had cause to complain of harsh or unprofessional treatment on your part.

Your proceedings certainly came upon me--upon all of us--like a thunder-stroke," said Mr. Aubrey, with a little emotion. "I trust that you have given me credit, Mr. Gammon, for offering no vexatious or unconscientious obstacles."

"Oh, Mr. Aubrey! on the contrary, I am at a loss for words to express my sense of your straightforward and high-minded conduct; and have several times intimated my sentiments on that subject to Messrs.

Runnington"--Mr. Aubrey bowed--"and again I anxiously beg that you will give me credit for feeling the profoundest sympathy"--he paused, as if from emotion; and such might well have been excited, in any person of ordinary feeling, by the appearance of Mr. Aubrey--calm and melancholy--his features full of anxiety and exhaustion, and his figure, naturally slender, evidently somewhat emaciated.

["I wonder," thought Gammon, "whether he has any _insurances on his life_!--He certainly has _rather_ a consumptive look--I should like to ascertain the fact--and in what office--and to what extent."]

"I trust, most sincerely, Mr. Aubrey, that the mental sufferings which you must have undergone, have not affected your health?" inquired Gammon, with an air of infinite concern.

"A little, certainly, sir, but, thank G.o.d, I believe not materially; I never was very robust," he replied with a faint sad smile.

["_How like his sister!_"--thought Gammon, watching his companion's countenance with real interest.]

"I am not quite sure, Mr. Gammon," continued Aubrey, "that I am observing etiquette in thus coming to you, on a matter which you may consider ought to have been left to my solicitors, and who know nothing of my present visit--but"----

"An honorable mind like yours, Mr. Aubrey, may surely act according to its own impulses with safety! As for etiquette, I know of no professional rule which I break, in entering into a discussion with you of any topic connected with the action which has recently been determined," said Gammon, cautiously, and particularly on his guard, as soon as his penetrating eye had detected the acuteness which was mingled with the sincerity and simplicity of character visible in the oppressed countenance of Mr. Aubrey.

"I dare say you can guess the occasion of my visit, Mr. Gammon?"

["There goes _our bill_!--Whew!--What now?" thought Gammon.]

Mr. Gammon bowed, with an anxious, expectant air.

"I allude to the question yet remaining between your client, Mr.

t.i.tmouse, and me--the mesne profits"----

"I feared--I expected as much! It gave me infinite anxiety, as soon as I found you were approaching the subject!"