第79章

`M Y DEAR M R P UGSTYLES --Next to the welfare of our beloved island--this great and free and happy country, whose powers and resources are, I sincerely believe, illimitable--I value that noble independence which is an Englishman's proudest boast, and which I fondly hope to bequeath to my children, untarnished and unsullied. Actuated by no personal motives, but moved only by high and great constitutional considerations; which I will not attempt to explain, for they are really beneath the comprehension of those who have not made themselves masters, as I have, of the intricate and arduous study of politics; I would rather keep my seat, and intend doing so.

Will you do me the favour to present my compliments to the constituent body, and acquaint them with this circumstance?

With great esteem, My dear Mr Pugstyles, &c.&c.'

`Then you will not resign, under any circumstances?' asked the spokesman.

Mr Gregsbury smiled, and shook his head.

`Then, good-morning, sir,' said Pugstyles, angrily.

`Heaven bless you!' said Mr Gregsbury. And the deputation, with many growls and scowls, filed off as quickly as the narrowness of the staircase would allow of their getting down.

The last man being gone, Mr Gregsbury rubbed his hands and chuckled, as merry fellows will, when they think they have said or done a more than commonly good thing; he was so engrossed in this self-congratulation, that he did not observe that Nicholas had been left behind in the shadow of the window-curtains, until that young gentleman, fearing he might otherwise overhear some soliloquy intended to have no listeners, coughed twice or thrice, to attract the member's notice.

`What's that?' said Mr Gregsbury, in sharp accents.

Nicholas stepped forward, and bowed.

`What do you do here, sir?' asked Mr Gregsbury; `a spy upon my privacy!

A concealed voter! You have heard my answer, sir. Pray follow the deputation.'

`I should have done so, if I had belonged to it, but I do not,' said Nicholas.

`Then how came you here, sir?' was the natural inquiry of Mr Gregsbury, MP. `And where the devil have you come from, sir?' was the question which followed it.

`I brought this card from the General Agency Office, sir,' said Nicholas, `wishing to offer myself as your secretary, and understanding that you stood in need of one.'

`That's all you have come for, is it?' said Mr Gregsbury, eyeing him in some doubt.

Nicholas replied in the affirmative.

`You have no connection with any of those rascally papers have you?'

said Mr Gregsbury. `You didn't get into the room, to hear what was going forward, and put it in print, eh?'

`I have no connection, I am sorry to say, with anything at present,'

rejoined Nicholas,--politely enough, but quite at his ease.

`Oh!' said Mr Gregsbury. `How did you find your way up here, then?'

Nicholas related how he had been forced up by the deputation.

`That was the way, was it?' said Mr Gregsbury. `Sit down.'

Nicholas took a chair, and Mr Gregsbury stared at him for a long time, as if to make certain, before he asked any further questions, that there were no objections to his outward appearance.

`You want to be my secretary, do you?' he said at length.

`I wish to be employed in that capacity, sir,' replied Nicholas.

`Well,' said Mr Gregsbury; `now what can you do?'

`I suppose,' replied Nicholas, smiling, `that I can do what usually falls to the lot of other secretaries.'

`What's that?' inquired Mr Gregsbury.

`What is it?' replied Nicholas.

`Ah! What is it?' retorted the member, looking shrewdly at him, with his head on one side.

`A secretary's duties are rather difficult to define, perhaps,' said Nicholas, considering. `They include, I presume, correspondence?'

`Good,' interposed Mr Gregsbury.

`The arrangement of papers and documents?'

`Very good.'

`Occasionally, perhaps, the writing from your dictation; and possibly, sir,' said Nicholas, with a half-smile, `the copying of your speech for some public journal, when you have made one of more than usual importance.'

`Certainly,' rejoined Mr Gregsbury. `What else?'

`Really,' said Nicholas, after a moment's reflection, `I am not able, at this instant, to recapitulate any other duty of a secretary, beyond the general one of making himself as agreeable and useful to his employer as he can, consistently with his own respectability, and without overstepping that line of duties which he undertakes to perform, and which the designation of his office is usually understood to imply.'

Mr Gregsbury looked fixedly at Nicholas for a short time, and then glancing warily round the room, said in a suppressed voice:

`This is all very well, Mr--what is your name?'

`Nickleby.'

`This is all very well, Mr Nickleby, and very proper, so far as it goes--so far as it goes, but it doesn't go far enough. There are other duties, Mr Nickleby, which a secretary to a parliamentary gentleman must never lose sight of. I should require to be crammed, sir.'

`I beg your pardon,' interposed Nicholas, doubtful whether he had heard aright.

`--To be crammed, sir,' repeated Mr Gregsbury.

`May I beg your pardon again, if I inquire what you mean, sir?' said Nicholas.

`My meaning, sir, is perfectly plain,' replied Mr Gregsbury with a solemn aspect. `My secretary would have to make himself master of the foreign policy of the world, as it is mirrored in the newspapers; to run his eye over all accounts of public meetings, all leading articles, and accounts of the proceedings of public bodies; and to make notes of anything which it appeared to him might be made a point of, in any little speech upon the question of some petition lying on the table, or anything of that kind.

Do you understand?'

`I think I do, sir,' replied Nicholas.