第44章

"My mother, sir, four years since, having a legacy of 400L.left to her, advised with her solicitor, Mr.Smithers, how she should dispose of this sum; and as the Independent West Diddlesex was just then established, the money was placed in an annuity in that office, where I procured a clerkship.You may suppose me a very hardened criminal, because I have ordered clothes of Mr.Von Stiltz; but you will hardly fancy that I, a lad of nineteen, knew anything of the concerns of the Company into whose service I entered as twentieth clerk, my own mother's money paying, as it were, for my place.Well, sir, the interest offered by the Company was so tempting, that a rich relative of mine was induced to purchase a number of shares.""Who induced your relative, if I may make so bold as to inquire?""I can't help owning, sir," says I, blushing, "that I wrote a letter myself.But consider, my relative was sixty years old, and I was twenty-one.My relative took several months to consider, and had the advice of her lawyers before she acceded to my request.And I made it at the instigation of Mr.Brough, who dictated the letter which I wrote, and who I really thought then was as rich as Mr.Rothschild himself.""Your friend placed her money in your name; and you, if I mistake not, Mr.Titmarsh, were suddenly placed over the heads of twelve of your fellow-clerks as a reward for your service in obtaining it?""It is very true, sir,"--and, as I confessed it, poor Mary began to wipe her eyes, and Gus's ears (I could not see his face) looked like two red-hot muffins--"it's quite true, sir; and, as matters have turned out, I am heartily sorry for what I did.But at the time I thought I could serve my aunt as well as myself; and you must remember, then, how high our shares were.""Well, sir, having procured this sum of money, you were straightway taken into Mr.Brough's confidence.You were received into his house,and from third clerk speedily became head clerk; in which post you were found at the disappearance of your worthy patron!""Sir, you have no right to question me, to be sure; but here are a hundred of our shareholders, and I'm not unwilling to make a clean breast of it," said I, pressing Mary's hand."I certainly was the head clerk.And why? Because the other gents left the office.I certainly was received into Mr.Brough's house.And why? Because, sir, my aunt HAD MORE MONEY TO LAY OUT.I see it all clearly now, though I could not understand it then; and the proof that Mr.Brough wanted my aunt's money, and not me, is that, when she came to town, our Director carried her by force out of my house to Fulham, and never so much as thought of asking me or my wife thither.Ay, sir, and he would have had her remaining money, had not her lawyer from the country prevented her disposing of it.Before the concern finally broke, and as soon as she heard there was doubt concerning it, she took back her shares--scrip shares they were, sir, as you know--and has disposed of them as she thought fit.Here, sir, and gents," says I, "you have the whole of the history as far as regards me.In order to get her only son a means of livelihood, my mother placed her little money with the Company--it is lost.My aunt invested larger sums with it, which were to have been mine one day, and they are lost too; and here am I, at the end of four years, a disgraced and ruined man.Is there anyone present, however much he has suffered by the failure of the Company, that has had worse fortune through it than I?""Mr.Titmarsh," says Mr.Commissioner, in a much more friendly way, and at the same time casting a glance at a newspaper reporter that was sitting hard by, "your story is not likely to get into the newspapers; for, as you say, it is a private affair, which you had no need to speak of unless you thought proper, and may be considered as a confidential conversation between us and the other gentlemen here.But if it COULD be made public, it might do some good, and warn people, if they WILL be warned, against the folly of such enterprises as that in which you have been engaged.It is quite clear from your story, that you have been deceived as grossly as anyone of the persons present.But look you, sir, if you had not been so eager after gain, I think you would not have allowed yourselfto be deceived, and would have kept your relative's money, and inherited it, according to your story, one day or other.Directly people expect to make a large interest, their judgment seems to desert them; and because they wish for profit, they think they are sure of it, and disregard all warnings and all prudence.Besides the hundreds of honest families who have been ruined by merely placing confidence in this Association of yours, and who deserve the heartiest pity, there are hundreds more who have embarked in it, like yourself, not for investment, but for speculation; and these, upon my word, deserve the fate they have met with.As long as dividends are paid, no questions are asked; and Mr.Brough might have taken the money for his shareholders on the high-road, and they would have pocketed it, and not been too curious.But what's the use of talking?" says Mr.Commissioner, in a passion: "here is one rogue detected, and a thousand dupes made; and if another swindler starts to-morrow, there will be a thousand more of his victims round this table a year hence; and so, I suppose, to the end.And now let's go to business, gentlemen, and excuse this sermon."After giving an account of all I knew, which was very little, other gents who were employed in the concern were examined; and I went back to prison, with my poor little wife on my arm.We had to pass through the crowd in the rooms, and my heart bled as I saw, amongst a score of others, poor Gates, Brough's porter, who had advanced every shilling to his master, and was now, with ten children, houseless and penniless in his old age.Captain Sparr was in this neighbourhood, but by no means so friendly disposed; for while Gates touched his hat, as if I had been a lord, the little Captain came forward threatening with his bamboo-cane and swearing with great oaths that I was an accomplice of Brough."Curse you for a smooth-faced scoundrel!" says he."What business have you to ruin an English gentleman, as you have me?" And again he advanced with his stick.But this time, officer as he was, Gus took him by the collar, and shoved him back, and said, "Look at the lady, you brute, and hold your tongue!" And when he looked at my wife's situation, Captain Sparr became redder for shame than he had before been for anger."I'm sorry she's married to such a good-for- nothing," muttered he, and fellback; and my poor wife and I walked out of the court, and back to our dismal room in the prison.