River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1883-04-05
"OUR" MR. JENKINS.

|
turer as any in Lambeth, and I, his
dead sisters son, Cyril Vaughan by
name, was not merely drawing fair sal
airy, with the prospect of a partnership,
hut was actually engaged to be married
to my second cousin, reputed wealthy
heiress-dear, sweet Lucy Braithwaite
the old mans only child. A severe,
Just man was John Braithwalte. He
had won his own way in life by rigid
self-denial and unweaiying industry dur
| ing a ioyless youth, and doubt if he
ever thoroughly enjoyed the fruits of his
well-earned prosperity. 1t was only
when his eye rested on his daughters
pretty face that his stern look relaxed
Lucy reminded him, doubtless, of her
| genuine mother. But he was good
master to a goods servant nota-
| bly, where he, who was by
nature and habit suspicious, could re-
| pose full trust. He did SO in his conf
| Dental clerk, Jacob Jenkins That head
| clerk was one out of thousand. Re-
| spectacle Jenkins" was the nickname by
| which irreverant youngsters in the
| counting house spoke with bated breath
| OF that pearl of clerks; but even those
| pert Office boys had beiiefin the man
| he was so respectable, with his lean,
| well-shaven face, his neatly-brushed suit
| of formal black, and his square-toed
boots. Never, as | have heard, III the
| twenty-nine years of his toll had honest
| jenkins been known to ask for a holt
| day, to shirk extra work, or to make a
| blunder as to tare and tret, thing of
moment with a firm like ours, large ex-
| porters as we were.
As for myself | am afraid that my
poor merits, if | had any, were quite
| eclipsed by those of that commercial
| comet, Jenkins. Indeed, | know of no
reason except my blood relationship to
| our principal, head of the house of
| parison between that veteran of the
| desk and my inexperienced self. But
my uncle often said, in his gruf way:
"Take Jenkins for your model" or,
cyril, lad, it viii be one while before
| you fill Jenkins's shoes. See how neat
| ly he settled that business with Chauvin
| ct Fills, of Bordeaux, and how cleverly
| he avoided the heavy loss of that last
| ship nent when Krakiaw and Kinder
| garten, of Hamburg were going to
| smash"
Yet stuck to my work, younga as l was,
| and did my best not to DC undeserving
| of the prospective partnership, and
somehow | got vague impression in
my head that, instead of my being iesl-
\ GUS OF Jenkins, jenkins was jealous OF
| me.
| One day there was big check to be
| changed-nearer to three thousand
| pounds than two-and it was my task,
| no unusual one, to present the draft at
| Peabody & Sons In house like ours
| where the furnaces were always agloW,
and the tall chimneys always smoking,
| the outgoings for wages, horse-keep and
| fuel were, | need hardly say, very
| large.
On that day--how well I remember ii
Il was in exceptionally high spirits.
had been talking with dear
Lucy, and though her father, who said
| that we children need be in no hurry,
would never consent to name even an
| approximate day for our wedding, still
there was vague prospect of connubial
| bliss next spring. 1t was fine bright
weather, and on the Tuesday there was
| to be garden party at some Richmond
| villa, to which we all were to go. Alto
| gether was in excellent spirits, and as
| far as any man could be from dreaming
| of the evil that was to come.
'tHow will you take itP' asked the
bank cashier.
Short" / answered, with a sort of
| boyish pride in my newly-acquired fa-
| miliarity with business phrases, and
with my gold and notes l left the bank.
AS l did so, man staggered toward
me, jostled me, then reeled away, NUT
tering "Beg pardon" and would have
Go1l hsrf fO, hn nrf IF orf
| | saw in a moment that the man was
| sober. But he looked i'll, very i'll, hag-
gard and hollow-eyed, though still young,
and he was decently clad in a well-worn
velveteen suit, with large bronze buttons.
There was the smack of the country
about him, waif as he was in the midst
of London, and his accent, so far as
could judge, was that of Yorkshire or
Northumberland.
"You are i'll, fear" / inquired, ''and
perhaps a stranger in London
s'Nigh clemmed in this blessed Lon
don of yours, paved with golden guineas,
as our old crones say up IN Craven, T"
muttered the countryman, in the same
thin, reedy voice; tpaved with traps,
say I, and cause for it, since all that
granfeyther stored up, whether for Bess
and Bell, or for me-" and then he
would have fallen but for my assistance.
Clearly the man was fainting, and from
starvation. We had walked some dis
lance. In tempting proximity, at the
corner of a side street. was house,
over the door of which, in great gold
letters, cleaned the words Luncheon
Bar" Into this, quite instinctively, /
half dragged, half hustled the man.
1t was the mi idle of the dav, lunch
eon-time, brisk hour for business in
the city, in the eating and drinking line
at least, and the place | had entered was
full of customers, young men mostly,
noisily chatting over their sandwiches
As flung open the swinging door | felt
sure that | caught glimpse ofmy uncle's
confidential clerk on the pavement out
side.
"Mr. Jenkins" / called out, but he
evidently did not hear me, but passed
on.
There was a rush of excited young fell
lows toward us-"Bet you he's drunkP,
-Four to five he's deadp run over
and so Portland it was not immediately
that could get some restorative. But
the poor countryman's face was livid, his
eyes closed, his teeth fast shut, and he
could swallow nothing. Then a doctor
was sent for, and the doctor was slow in
coming, and | had explanation after
explanation to give, first to
the dull-witted landlord who came blink
ing out of back parlor, then to inquisi-
tive customers and when, at last, a
breathless surgeon, hastily summoned,
came painting in at the heavy swing door
amid the surging crowd, there was a
necessary word or so with him.
But where is my patient" asked the
bewildered man OF science; and, indeed,
the ''poor fellow" who was the obje t oil
all this stir had disappeared in the midst
of the hubbub, and with him had van
ished the heavy, steel-clasped, black mo-
rocco pocket-book, which | remember
ed too late to have incautiously laid on
table in the furry and confusion OF our
sudden and awkward entry, and which
was gone. pitilessly gone.
cyril Vaughan, | always deemed you
TO be simpleton--a soft, as we York
shire chaps say--but now know you to
be knave," Numbered out my irate
uncle, the north country accent in his
wrathful voice becoming unusually pre-
dominant Had you not been my rela-
tive, had not my girl who shall never
be the wife of such a scoundrei-begged
YOU off would have prosecuted you as
I would any other rogue, and sent you
to quarry stone among convicts at Dart
moor or Portland. As it is, / won't hear
another word of your lies or your ex-
cuses. GO, gol or 1 shall forget Lucys
pleadings, and act as a citizen, and not
as father. The confidence trick" eh?
The conference.-the am not your
dupe, lad Go, and get yourself hanged
elsewherel You won't starye on the sum
of which Won have robbed me y