The Pickwick Papers, by Charles Dickens (1836-1837) - Chapter 55
CHAPTER LV Mr. SOLOMON PELL, ASSISTED BY A SELECT COMMITTEE OF COACHMEN, ARRANGES THE AFFAIRS OF THE ELDER Mr. WELLER
'Samivel,' said Mr. Weller, accosting his son on the
morning after the funeral, 'I've found it, Sammy. I thought it wos there.'
'Thought wot wos there?' inquired Sam.
'Your mother-in-law's vill, Sammy,' replied Mr. Weller.
'In wirtue o' vich, them arrangements is to be made as I told you on, last
night, respectin' the funs.'
'Wot, didn't she tell you were it wos?' inquired Sam.
'Not a bit on it, Sammy,' replied Mr. Weller. 'We wos a
adjestin' our little differences, and I wos a-cheerin' her spirits and bearin'
her up, so that I forgot to ask anythin' about it. I don't know as I should ha'
done it, indeed, if I had remembered it,' added Mr. Weller, 'for it's a rum sort
o' thing, Sammy, to go a-hankerin' arter anybody's property, ven you're
assistin' 'em in illness. It's like helping an outside passenger up, ven he's
been pitched off a coach, and puttin' your hand in his pocket, vile you ask him,
vith a sigh, how he finds his-self, Sammy.'
With this figurative illustration of his meaning, Mr.
Weller unclasped his pocket-book, and drew forth a dirty sheet of letter-paper,
on which were inscribed various characters crowded together in remarkable
confusion.
'This here is the dockyment, Sammy,' said Mr. Weller. 'I
found it in the little black tea-pot, on the top shelf o' the bar closet. She
used to keep bank-notes there, 'fore she vos married, Samivel. I've seen her
take the lid off, to pay a bill, many and many a time. Poor creetur, she might
ha' filled all the tea-pots in the house vith vills, and not have inconwenienced
herself neither, for she took wery little of anythin' in that vay lately, 'cept
on the temperance nights, ven they just laid a foundation o' tea to put the
spirits atop on!'
'What does it say?' inquired Sam.
'Jist vot I told you, my boy,' rejoined his parent. 'Two
hundred pound vurth o' reduced counsels to my son-in-law, Samivel, and all the
rest o' my property, of ev'ry kind and description votsoever, to my husband, Mr.
Tony Veller, who I appint as my sole eggzekiter.'
'That's all, is it?' said Sam.
'That's all,' replied Mr. Weller. 'And I s'pose as it's
all right and satisfactory to you and me as is the only parties interested, ve
may as vell put this bit o' paper into the fire.'
'Wot are you a-doin' on, you lunatic?' said Sam,
snatching the paper away, as his parent, in all innocence, stirred the fire
preparatory to suiting the action to the word. 'You're a nice eggzekiter, you
are.'
'Vy not?' inquired Mr. Weller, looking sternly round,
with the poker in his hand.
'Vy not?' exclaimed Sam. ''Cos it must be proved, and
probated, and swore to, and all manner o' formalities.'
'You don't mean that?' said Mr. Weller, laying down the
poker.
Sam buttoned the will carefully in a side pocket;
intimating by a look, meanwhile, that he did mean it, and very seriously too.
'Then I'll tell you wot it is,' said Mr. Weller, after a
short meditation, 'this is a case for that 'ere confidential pal o' the
Chancellorship's. Pell must look into this, Sammy. He's the man for a difficult
question at law. Ve'll have this here brought afore the Solvent Court, directly,
Samivel.'
'I never did see such a addle-headed old creetur!'
exclaimed Sam irritably; 'Old Baileys, and Solvent Courts, and alleybis, and
ev'ry species o' gammon alvays a-runnin' through his brain. You'd better get
your out o' door clothes on, and come to town about this bisness, than stand
a-preachin' there about wot you don't understand nothin' on.'
'Wery good, Sammy,' replied Mr. Weller, 'I'm quite
agreeable to anythin' as vill hexpedite business, Sammy. But mind this here, my
boy, nobody but Pell--nobody but Pell as a legal adwiser.'
'I don't want anybody else,' replied Sam. 'Now, are you
a-comin'?'
'Vait a minit, Sammy,' replied Mr. Weller, who, having
tied his shawl with the aid of a small glass that hung in the window, was now,
by dint of the most wonderful exertions, struggling into his upper garments.
'Vait a minit' Sammy; ven you grow as old as your father, you von't get into
your veskit quite as easy as you do now, my boy.'
'If I couldn't get into it easier than that, I'm blessed
if I'd vear vun at all,' rejoined his son.
'You think so now,' said Mr. Weller, with the gravity of
age, 'but you'll find that as you get vider, you'll get viser. Vidth and visdom,
Sammy, alvays grows together.'
As Mr. Weller delivered this infallible maxim--the
result of many years' personal experience and observation--he contrived, by a
dexterous twist of his body, to get the bottom button of his coat to perform its
office. Having paused a few seconds to recover breath, he brushed his hat with
his elbow, and declared himself ready.
'As four heads is better than two, Sammy,' said Mr.
Weller, as they drove along the London Road in the chaise-cart, 'and as all this
here property is a wery great temptation to a legal gen'l'm'n, ve'll take a
couple o' friends o' mine vith us, as'll be wery soon down upon him if he comes
anythin' irreg'lar; two o' them as saw you to the Fleet that day. They're the
wery best judges,' added Mr. Weller, in a half-whisper--'the wery best judges of
a horse, you ever know'd.'
'And of a lawyer too?' inquired Sam.
'The man as can form a ackerate judgment of a animal,
can form a ackerate judgment of anythin',' replied his father, so dogmatically,
that Sam did not attempt to controvert the position.
In pursuance of this notable resolution, the services of
the mottled-faced gentleman and of two other very fat coachmen --selected by Mr.
Weller, probably, with a view to their width and consequent wisdom--were put
into requisition; and this assistance having been secured, the party proceeded
to the public-house in Portugal Street, whence a messenger was despatched to the
Insolvent Court over the way, requiring Mr. Solomon Pell's immediate attendance.
The messenger fortunately found Mr. Solomon Pell in
court, regaling himself, business being rather slack, with a cold collation of
an Abernethy biscuit and a saveloy. The message was no sooner whispered in his
ear than he thrust them in his pocket among various professional documents, and
hurried over the way with such alacrity that he reached the parlour before the
messenger had even emancipated himself from the court.
'Gentlemen,' said Mr. Pell, touching his hat, 'my
service to you all. I don't say it to flatter you, gentlemen, but there are not
five other men in the world, that I'd have come out of that court for, to-day.'
'So busy, eh?' said Sam.
'Busy!' replied Pell; 'I'm completely sewn up, as my
friend the late Lord Chancellor many a time used to say to me, gentlemen, when
he came out from hearing appeals in the House of Lords. Poor fellow; he was very
susceptible to fatigue; he used to feel those appeals uncommonly. I actually
thought more than once that he'd have sunk under 'em; I did, indeed.'
Here Mr. Pell shook his head and paused; on which, the
elder Mr. Weller, nudging his neighbour, as begging him to mark the attorney's
high connections, asked whether the duties in question produced any permanent
ill effects on the constitution of his noble friend.
'I don't think he ever quite recovered them,' replied
Pell; 'in fact I'm sure he never did. "Pell," he used to say to me
many a time, "how the blazes you can stand the head-work you do, is a
mystery to me."--"Well," I used to answer, "I hardly know
how I do it, upon my life."--"Pell," he'd add, sighing, and
looking at me with a little envy--friendly envy, you know, gentlemen, mere
friendly envy; I never minded it--"Pell, you're a wonder; a wonder."
Ah! you'd have liked him very much if you had known him, gentlemen. Bring me
three-penn'orth of rum, my dear.'
Addressing this latter remark to the waitress, in a tone
of subdued grief, Mr. Pell sighed, looked at his shoes and the ceiling; and, the
rum having by that time arrived, drank it up.
'However,' said Pell, drawing a chair to the table, 'a
professional man has no right to think of his private friendships when his legal
assistance is wanted. By the bye, gentlemen, since I saw you here before, we
have had to weep over a very melancholy occurrence.'
Mr. Pell drew out a pocket-handkerchief, when he came to
the word weep, but he made no further use of it than to wipe away a slight tinge
of rum which hung upon his upper lip.
'I saw it in the ADVERTISER, Mr. Weller,' continued
Pell. 'Bless my soul, not more than fifty-two! Dear me--only think.'
These indications of a musing spirit were addressed to
the mottled-faced man, whose eyes Mr. Pell had accidentally caught; on which,
the mottled-faced man, whose apprehension of matters in general was of a foggy
nature, moved uneasily in his seat, and opined that, indeed, so far as that
went, there was no saying how things was brought about; which observation,
involving one of those subtle propositions which it is difficult to encounter in
argument, was controverted by nobody.
'I have heard it remarked that she was a very fine
woman, Mr. Weller,' said Pell, in a sympathising manner.
'Yes, sir, she wos,' replied the elder Mr. Weller, not
much relishing this mode of discussing the subject, and yet thinking that the
attorney, from his long intimacy with the late Lord Chancellor, must know best
on all matters of polite breeding. 'She wos a wery fine 'ooman, sir, ven I first
know'd her. She wos a widder, sir, at that time.'
'Now, it's curious,' said Pell, looking round with a
sorrowful smile; 'Mrs. Pell was a widow.'
'That's very extraordinary,' said the mottled-faced man.
'Well, it is a curious coincidence,' said Pell.
'Not at all,' gruffly remarked the elder Mr. Weller.
'More widders is married than single wimin.'
'Very good, very good,' said Pell, 'you're quite right,
Mr. Weller. Mrs. Pell was a very elegant and accomplished woman; her manners
were the theme of universal admiration in our neighbourhood. I was proud to see
that woman dance; there was something so firm and dignified, and yet natural, in
her motion. Her cutting, gentlemen, was simplicity itself. Ah! well, well!
Excuse my asking the question, Mr. Samuel,' continued the attorney in a lower
voice, 'was your mother-in-law tall?'
'Not wery,' replied Sam.
'Mrs. Pell was a tall figure,' said Pell, 'a splendid
woman, with a noble shape, and a nose, gentlemen, formed to command and be
majestic. She was very much attached to me--very much-- highly connected, too.
Her mother's brother, gentlemen, failed for eight hundred pounds, as a law
stationer.'
'Vell,' said Mr. Weller, who had grown rather restless
during this discussion, 'vith regard to bis'ness.'
The word was music to Pell's ears. He had been revolving
in his mind whether any business was to be transacted, or whether he had been
merely invited to partake of a glass of brandy-and- water, or a bowl of punch,
or any similar professional compliment, and now the doubt was set at rest
without his appearing at all eager for its solution. His eyes glistened as he
laid his hat on the table, and said--
'What is the business upon which--um? Either of these
gentlemen wish to go through the court? We require an arrest; a friendly arrest
will do, you know; we are all friends here, I suppose?'
'Give me the dockyment, Sammy,' said Mr. Weller, taking
the will from his son, who appeared to enjoy the interview amazingly. 'Wot we
rekvire, sir, is a probe o' this here.'
'Probate, my dear Sir, probate,' said Pell.
'Well, sir,' replied Mr. Weller sharply, 'probe and
probe it, is wery much the same; if you don't understand wot I mean, sir, I
des-say I can find them as does.'
'No offence, I hope, Mr. Weller,' said Pell meekly. 'You
are the executor, I see,' he added, casting his eyes over the paper.
'I am, sir,' replied Mr. Weller.
'These other gentlemen, I presume, are legatees, are
they?' inquired Pell, with a congratulatory smile.
'Sammy is a leg-at-ease,' replied Mr. Weller; 'these
other gen'l'm'n is friends o' mine, just come to see fair; a kind of umpires.'
'Oh!' said Pell, 'very good. I have no objections, I'm
sure. I shall want a matter of five pound of you before I begin, ha! ha! ha!'
It being decided by the committee that the five pound
might be advanced, Mr. Weller produced that sum; after which, a long
consultation about nothing particular took place, in the course whereof Mr. Pell
demonstrated to the perfect satisfaction of the gentlemen who saw fair, that
unless the management of the business had been intrusted to him, it must all
have gone wrong, for reasons not clearly made out, but no doubt sufficient. This
important point being despatched, Mr. Pell refreshed himself with three chops,
and liquids both malt and spirituous, at the expense of the estate; and then
they all went away to Doctors' Commons.
The next day there was another visit to Doctors'
Commons, and a great to-do with an attesting hostler, who, being inebriated,
declined swearing anything but profane oaths, to the great scandal of a proctor
and surrogate. Next week, there were more visits to Doctors' Commons, and there
was a visit to the Legacy Duty Office besides, and there were treaties entered
into, for the disposal of the lease and business, and ratifications of the same,
and inventories to be made out, and lunches to be taken, and dinners to be
eaten, and so many profitable things to be done, and such a mass of papers
accumulated that Mr. Solomon Pell, and the boy, and the blue bag to boot, all
got so stout that scarcely anybody would have known them for the same man, boy,
and bag, that had loitered about Portugal Street, a few days before.
At length all these weighty matters being arranged, a
day was fixed for selling out and transferring the stock, and of waiting with
that view upon Wilkins Flasher, Esquire, stock-broker, of somewhere near the
bank, who had been recommended by Mr. Solomon Pell for the purpose.
It was a kind of festive occasion, and the parties were
attired accordingly. Mr. Weller's tops were newly cleaned, and his dress was
arranged with peculiar care; the mottled-faced gentleman wore at his button-hole
a full-sized dahlia with several leaves; and the coats of his two friends were
adorned with nosegays of laurel and other evergreens. All three were habited in
strict holiday costume; that is to say, they were wrapped up to the chins, and
wore as many clothes as possible, which is, and has been, a stage-coachman's
idea of full dress ever since stage- coaches were invented.
Mr. Pell was waiting at the usual place of meeting at
the appointed time; even he wore a pair of gloves and a clean shirt, much frayed
at the collar and wristbands by frequent washings.
'A quarter to two,' said Pell, looking at the parlour
clock. 'If we are with Mr. Flasher at a quarter past, we shall just hit the best
time.'
'What should you say to a drop o' beer, gen'l'm'n?'
suggested the mottled-faced man. 'And a little bit o' cold beef,' said the
second coachman.
'Or a oyster,' added the third, who was a hoarse
gentleman, supported by very round legs.
'Hear, hear!' said Pell; 'to congratulate Mr. Weller, on
his coming into possession of his property, eh? Ha! ha!'
'I'm quite agreeable, gen'l'm'n,' answered Mr. Weller.
'Sammy, pull the bell.'
Sammy complied; and the porter, cold beef, and oysters
being promptly produced, the lunch was done ample justice to. Where everybody
took so active a part, it is almost invidious to make a distinction; but if one
individual evinced greater powers than another, it was the coachman with the
hoarse voice, who took an imperial pint of vinegar with his oysters, without
betraying the least emotion.
'Mr. Pell, Sir,' said the elder Mr. Weller, stirring a
glass of brandy-and-water, of which one was placed before every gentleman when
the oyster shells were removed--'Mr. Pell, Sir, it wos my intention to have
proposed the funs on this occasion, but Samivel has vispered to me--'
Here Mr. Samuel Weller, who had silently eaten his
oysters with tranquil smiles, cried, 'Hear!' in a very loud voice.
--'Has vispered to me,' resumed his father, 'that it
vould be better to dewote the liquor to vishin' you success and prosperity, and
thankin' you for the manner in which you've brought this here business through.
Here's your health, sir.'
'Hold hard there,' interposed the mottled-faced
gentleman, with sudden energy; 'your eyes on me, gen'l'm'n!'
Saying this, the mottled-faced gentleman rose, as did
the other gentlemen. The mottled-faced gentleman reviewed the company, and
slowly lifted his hand, upon which every man (including him of the mottled
countenance) drew a long breath, and lifted his tumbler to his lips. In one
instant, the mottled-faced gentleman depressed his hand again, and every glass
was set down empty. It is impossible to describe the thrilling effect produced
by this striking ceremony. At once dignified, solemn, and impressive, it
combined every element of grandeur.
'Well, gentlemen,' said Mr. Pell, 'all I can say is,
that such marks of confidence must be very gratifying to a professional man. I
don't wish to say anything that might appear egotistical, gentlemen, but I'm
very glad, for your own sakes, that you came to me; that's all. If you had gone
to any low member of the profession, it's my firm conviction, and I assure you
of it as a fact, that you would have found yourselves in Queer Street before
this. I could have wished my noble friend had been alive to have seen my
management of this case. I don't say it out of pride, but I think-- However,
gentlemen, I won't trouble you with that. I'm generally to be found here,
gentlemen, but if I'm not here, or over the way, that's my address. You'll find
my terms very cheap and reasonable, and no man attends more to his clients than
I do, and I hope I know a little of my profession besides. If you have any
opportunity of recommending me to any of your friends, gentlemen, I shall be
very much obliged to you, and so will they too, when they come to know me. Your
healths, gentlemen.'
With this expression of his feelings, Mr. Solomon Pell
laid three small written cards before Mr. Weller's friends, and, looking at the
clock again, feared it was time to be walking. Upon this hint Mr. Weller settled
the bill, and, issuing forth, the executor, legatee, attorney, and umpires,
directed their steps towards the city.
The office of Wilkins Flasher, Esquire, of the Stock
Exchange, was in a first floor up a court behind the Bank of England; the house
of Wilkins Flasher, Esquire, was at Brixton, Surrey; the horse and stanhope of
Wilkins Flasher, Esquire, were at an adjacent livery stable; the groom of
Wilkins Flasher, Esquire, was on his way to the West End to deliver some game;
the clerk of Wilkins Flasher, Esquire, had gone to his dinner; and so Wilkins
Flasher, Esquire, himself, cried, 'Come in,' when Mr. Pell and his companions
knocked at the counting-house door.
'Good-morning, Sir,' said Pell, bowing obsequiously. 'We
want to make a little transfer, if you please.'
'Oh, just come in, will you?' said Mr. Flasher. 'Sit
down a minute; I'll attend to you directly.'
'Thank you, Sir,' said Pell, 'there's no hurry. Take a
chair, Mr. Weller.'
Mr. Weller took a chair, and Sam took a box, and the
umpires took what they could get, and looked at the almanac and one or two
papers which were wafered against the wall, with as much open-eyed reverence as
if they had been the finest efforts of the old masters.
'Well, I'll bet you half a dozen of claret on it; come!'
said Wilkins Flasher, Esquire, resuming the conversation to which Mr. Pell's
entrance had caused a momentary interruption.
This was addressed to a very smart young gentleman who
wore his hat on his right whisker, and was lounging over the desk, killing flies
with a ruler. Wilkins Flasher, Esquire, was balancing himself on two legs of an
office stool, spearing a wafer-box with a penknife, which he dropped every now
and then with great dexterity into the very centre of a small red wafer that was
stuck outside. Both gentlemen had very open waistcoats and very rolling collars,
and very small boots, and very big rings, and very little watches, and very
large guard-chains, and symmetrical inexpressibles, and scented
pocket-handkerchiefs.
'I never bet half a dozen!' said the other gentleman.
'I'll take a dozen.'
'Done, Simmery, done!' said Wilkins Flasher, Esquire.
'P. P., mind,' observed the other.
'Of course,' replied Wilkins Flasher, Esquire. Wilkins
Flasher, Esquire, entered it in a little book, with a gold pencil-case, and the
other gentleman entered it also, in another little book with another gold
pencil-case.
'I see there's a notice up this morning about Boffer,'
observed Mr. Simmery. 'Poor devil, he's expelled the house!'
'I'll bet you ten guineas to five, he cuts his throat,'
said Wilkins Flasher, Esquire.
'Done,' replied Mr. Simmery.
'Stop! I bar,' said Wilkins Flasher, Esquire,
thoughtfully. 'Perhaps he may hang himself.'
'Very good,' rejoined Mr. Simmery, pulling out the gold
pencil-case again. 'I've no objection to take you that way. Say, makes away with
himself.'
'Kills himself, in fact,' said Wilkins Flasher, Esquire.
'Just so,' replied Mr. Simmery, putting it down.
'"Flasher-- ten guineas to five, Boffer kills himself." Within what
time shall we say?'
'A fortnight?' suggested Wilkins Flasher, Esquire.
'Con-found it, no,' rejoined Mr. Simmery, stopping for
an instant to smash a fly with the ruler. 'Say a week.'
'Split the difference,' said Wilkins Flasher, Esquire.
'Make it ten days.'
'Well; ten days,'rejoined Mr. Simmery.
So it was entered down on the little books that Boffer
was to kill himself within ten days, or Wilkins Flasher, Esquire, was to hand
over to Frank Simmery, Esquire, the sum of ten guineas; and that if Boffer did
kill himself within that time, Frank Simmery, Esquire, would pay to Wilkins
Flasher, Esquire, five guineas, instead.
'I'm very sorry he has failed,' said Wilkins Flasher,
Esquire. 'Capital dinners he gave.'
'Fine port he had too,' remarked Mr. Simmery. 'We are
going to send our butler to the sale to-morrow, to pick up some of that
sixty-four.'
'The devil you are!' said Wilkins Flasher, Esquire. 'My
man's going too. Five guineas my man outbids your man.'
'Done.'
Another entry was made in the little books, with the
gold pencil-cases; and Mr. Simmery, having by this time killed all the flies and
taken all the bets, strolled away to the Stock Exchange to see what was going
forward.
Wilkins Flasher, Esquire, now condescended to receive
Mr. Solomon Pell's instructions, and having filled up some printed forms,
requested the party to follow him to the bank, which they did: Mr. Weller and
his three friends staring at all they beheld in unbounded astonishment, and Sam
encountering everything with a coolness which nothing could disturb.
Crossing a courtyard which was all noise and bustle, and
passing a couple of porters who seemed dressed to match the red fire engine
which was wheeled away into a corner, they passed into an office where their
business was to be transacted, and where Pell and Mr. Flasher left them standing
for a few moments, while they went upstairs into the Will Office.
'Wot place is this here?' whispered the mottled-faced
gentleman to the elder Mr. Weller.
'Counsel's Office,' replied the executor in a whisper.
'Wot are them gen'l'men a-settin' behind the counters?'
asked the hoarse coachman.
'Reduced counsels, I s'pose,' replied Mr. Weller. 'Ain't
they the reduced counsels, Samivel?'
'Wy, you don't suppose the reduced counsels is alive, do
you?' inquired Sam, with some disdain.
'How should I know?' retorted Mr. Weller; 'I thought
they looked wery like it. Wot are they, then?'
'Clerks,' replied Sam.
'Wot are they all a-eatin' ham sangwidges for?' inquired
his father.
''Cos it's in their dooty, I suppose,' replied Sam,
'it's a part o' the system; they're alvays a-doin' it here, all day long!' Mr.
Weller and his friends had scarcely had a moment to reflect upon this singular
regulation as connected with the monetary system of the country, when they were
rejoined by Pell and Wilkins Flasher, Esquire, who led them to a part of the
counter above which was a round blackboard with a large 'W.' on it.
'Wot's that for, Sir?' inquired Mr. Weller, directing
Pell's attention to the target in question.
'The first letter of the name of the deceased,' replied
Pell.
'I say,' said Mr. Weller, turning round to the umpires,
there's somethin' wrong here. We's our letter--this won't do.'
The referees at once gave it as their decided opinion
that the business could not be legally proceeded with, under the letter W., and
in all probability it would have stood over for one day at least, had it not
been for the prompt, though, at first sight, undutiful behaviour of Sam, who,
seizing his father by the skirt of the coat, dragged him to the counter, and
pinned him there, until he had affixed his signature to a couple of instruments;
which, from Mr. Weller's habit of printing, was a work of so much labour and
time, that the officiating clerk peeled and ate three Ribstone pippins while it
was performing.
As the elder Mr. Weller insisted on selling out his
portion forthwith, they proceeded from the bank to the gate of the Stock
Exchange, to which Wilkins Flasher, Esquire, after a short absence, returned
with a cheque on Smith, Payne, & Smith, for five hundred and thirty pounds;
that being the money to which Mr. Weller, at the market price of the day, was
entitled, in consideration of the balance of the second Mrs. Weller's funded
savings. Sam's two hundred pounds stood transferred to his name, and Wilkins
Flasher, Esquire, having been paid his commission, dropped the money carelessly
into his coat pocket, and lounged back to his office.
Mr. Weller was at first obstinately determined on
cashing the cheque in nothing but sovereigns; but it being represented by the
umpires that by so doing he must incur the expense of a small sack to carry them
home in, he consented to receive the amount in five-pound notes.
'My son,' said Mr. Weller, as they came out of the
banking- house--'my son and me has a wery partickler engagement this arternoon,
and I should like to have this here bis'ness settled out of hand, so let's jest
go straight avay someveres, vere ve can hordit the accounts.'
A quiet room was soon found, and the accounts were
produced and audited. Mr. Pell's bill was taxed by Sam, and some charges were
disallowed by the umpires; but, notwithstanding Mr. Pell's declaration,
accompanied with many solemn asseverations that they were really too hard upon
him, it was by very many degrees the best professional job he had ever had, and
one on which he boarded, lodged, and washed, for six months afterwards.
The umpires having partaken of a dram, shook hands and
departed, as they had to drive out of town that night. Mr. Solomon Pell, finding
that nothing more was going forward, either in the eating or drinking way, took
a friendly leave, and Sam and his father were left alone.
'There!' said Mr. Weller, thrusting his pocket-book in
his side pocket. 'Vith the bills for the lease, and that, there's eleven hundred
and eighty pound here. Now, Samivel, my boy, turn the horses' heads to the
George and Wulter!'