But, Lor', sir, with this 'ere man a-sellin' the Pell Mell"--lowering his voice, he invited Hilary to confidence--"so many o' the gentry takes that; an' there ain't too many o' the gentry about 'ere--Imean, not o' the real gentry--that I can afford to 'ave 'em took away from me."Hilary, who had stopped to listen out of delicacy, had a flash of recollection. "You live in Hound Street?"The old man answered eagerly: "Oh dear! Yes, sir--No. 1, name of Creed. You're the gentleman where the young person goes for to copy of a book!""It's not my book she copies."
"Oh no; it's an old gentleman; I know 'im. He come an' see me once.
He come in one Sunday morning. 'Here's a pound o' tobacca for you!'
'e says. 'You was a butler,' 'e says. 'Butlers!' 'e says, 'there'll be no butlers in fifty years.' An' out 'e goes. Not quite"--he put a shaky hand up to his head--"not quite--oh dear!""Some people called Hughs live in your house, I think?""I rents my room off o' them. A lady was a-speakin' to me yesterday about 'em; that's not your lady, I suppose, sir?"His eyes seemed to apostrophise Hilary's hat, which was of soft felt:
'Yes, yes--I've seen your sort a-stayin' about in the best houses.
They has you down because of your learnin'; and quite the manners of a gentleman you've got.'
"My wife's sister, I expect."
"Oh dear! She often has a paper off o' me. A real lady--not one o' these"--again he invited Hilary to confidence--"you know what I mean, sir--that buys their things a' ready-made at these 'ere large establishments. Oh, I know her well.""The old gentleman who visited you is her father.""Is he? Oh dear!" The old butler was silent, evidently puzzled.
Hilary's eyebrows began to execute those intricate manoeuvres which always indicated that he was about to tax his delicacy.
"How-how does Hughs treat the little girl who lives in the next room to you?"The old butler replied in a rather gloomy tone:
"She takes my advice, and don't 'ave nothin' to say to 'im. Dreadful foreign-lookin' man 'e is. Wherever 'e was brought up I can't think!""A soldier, wasn't he?"
"So he says. He's one o' these that works for the Vestry; an' then 'e'll go an' get upon the drink, an' when that sets 'im off, it seems as if there wasn't no respect for nothing in 'im; he goes on against the gentry, and the Church, and every sort of institution. I never met no soldiers like him. Dreadful foreign--Welsh, they tell me.""What do you think of the street you're living in?""I keeps myself to myself; low class o' street it is; dreadful low class o' person there--no self-respect about 'em.""Ah!" said Hilary.
"These little 'ouses, they get into the hands o' little men, and they don't care so long as they makes their rent out o' them. They can't help themselves--low class o' man like that; 'e's got to do the best 'e can for 'imself. They say there's thousands o' these 'ouses all over London. There's some that's for pullin' of 'em down, but that's talkin' rubbish; where are you goin' to get the money for to do it?
These 'ere little men, they can't afford not even to put a paper on the walls, and the big ground landlords-you can't expect them to know what's happenin' behind their backs. There's some ignorant fellers like this Hughs talks a lot o' wild nonsense about the duty o' ground landlords; but you can't expect the real gentry to look into these sort o' things. They've got their estates down in the country. I've lived with them, and of course I know."The little bulldog, incommoded by the passers-by, now took the opportunity of beating with her tail against the old butler's legs.
"Oh dear! what's this? He don't bite, do 'e? Good Sambo!"Miranda sought her master's eye at once. 'You see what happens to her if a lady loiters in the streets,' she seemed to say.
"It must be hard standing about here all day, after the life you've led," said Hilary.
"I mustn't complain; it's been the salvation o' me.""Do you get shelter?"
Again the old butler seemed to take him into confidence.
"Sometimes of a wet night they lets me stand up in the archway there;they know I'm respectable. 'T wouldn't never do for that man"--he nodded at his rival--"or any of them boys to get standin' there, obstructin' of the traffic.""I wanted to ask you, Mr. Creed, is there anything to be done for Mrs. Hughs?"The frail old body quivered with the vindictive force of his answer.
"Accordin' to what she says, if I'm a-to believe 'er, I'd have him up before the magistrate, sure as my name's Creed, an' get a separation, an' I wouldn't never live with 'im again: that's what she ought to do. An' if he come to go for her after that, I'd have 'im in prison, if 'e killed me first! I've no patience with a low class o' man like that! He insulted of me this morning.""Prison's a dreadful remedy," murmured Hilary.
The old butler answered stoutly: "There ain't but one way o' treatin' them low fellers--ketch hold o' them until they holler!"Hilary was about to reply when he found himself alone. At the edge of the pavement some yards away, Creed, his face upraised to heaven, was embracing with all his force the second edition of the Westminster Gazette, which had been thrown him from a cart.
'Well,' thought Hilary, walking on, 'you know your own mind, anyway!'
And trotting by his side, with her jaw set very firm, his little bulldog looked up above her eyes, and seemed to say: 'It was time we left that man of action!'
