A FINE October morning succeeded to the foggy evening that hadwitnessed my first introduction to Crimsworth Hall. I was earlyup and walking in the large park-like meadow surrounding thehouse. The autumn sun, rising over the ----shire hills,disclosed a pleasant country; woods brown and mellow varied thefields from which the harvest had been lately carried; a river,gliding between the woods, caught on its surface the somewhatcold gleam of the October sun and sky; at frequent intervalsalong the banks of the river, tall, cylindrical chimneys, almostlike slender round towers, indicated the factories which thetrees half concealed; here and there mansions, similar toCrimsworth Hall, occupied agreeable sites on the hill-side; thecountry wore, on the whole, a cheerful, active, fertile look.Steam, trade, machinery had long banished from it all romance andseclusion. At a distance of five miles, a valley, openingbetween the low hills, held in its cups the great town of X----.A dense, permanent vapour brooded over this locality--there layEdward's "Concern."

I forced my eye to scrutinize this prospect, I forced my mind todwell on it for a time, and when I found that it communicated nopleasurable emotion to my heart--that it stirred in me none ofthe hopes a man ought to feel, when he sees laid before him thescene of his life's career--I said to myself, "William, you are arebel against circumstances; you are a fool, and know not whatyou want; you have chosen trade and you shall be a tradesman.Look!" I continued mentally--"Look at the sooty smoke in thathollow, and know that there is your post! There you cannot dream,you cannot speculate and theorize--there you shall out andwork!"

Thus self-schooled, I returned to the house. My brother was inthe breakfast-room. I met him collectedly--I could not meet himcheerfully; he was standing on the rug, his back to the fire--howmuch did I read in the expression of his eye as my glanceencountered his, when I advanced to bid him good morning; howmuch that was contradictory to my nature! He said "Good morning"abruptly and nodded, and then he snatched, rather than took, anewspaper from the table, and began to read it with the air of amaster who seizes a pretext to escape the bore of conversing withan underling. It was well I had taken a resolution to endure fora time, or his manner would have gone far to render insupportablethe disgust I had just been endeavouring to subdue. I looked athim: I measured his robust frame and powerful proportions; I sawmy own reflection in the mirror over the mantel-piece; I amusedmyself with comparing the two pictures. In face I resembled him,though I was not so handsome; my features were less regular; Ihad a darker eye, and a broader brow--in form I was greatlyinferior--thinner, slighter, not so tall. As an animal, Edwardexcelled me far; should he prove as paramount in mind as inperson I must be a slave--for I must expect from him nolion-like generosity to one weaker than himself; his cold,avaricious eye, his stern, forbidding manner told me he would notspare. Had I then force of mind to cope with him? I did notknow; I had never been tried.

Mrs. Crimsworth's entrance diverted my thoughts for a moment.She looked well, dressed in white, her face and her attireshining in morning and bridal freshness. I addressed her withthe degree of ease her last night's careless gaiety seemed towarrant, but she replied with coolness and restraint: herhusband had tutored her; she was not to be too familiar with hisclerk.

As soon as breakfast was over Mr. Crimsworth intimated to me thatthey were bringing the gig round to the door, and that in fiveminutes he should expect me to be ready to go down with him toX----. I did not keep him waiting; we were soon dashing at arapid rate along the road. The horse he drove was the samevicious animal about which Mrs. Crimsworth had expressed herfears the night before. Once or twice Jack seemed disposed toturn restive, but a vigorous and determined application of thewhip from the ruthless hand of his master soon compelled him tosubmission, and Edward's dilated nostril expressed his triumph inthe result of the contest; he scarcely spoke to me during thewhole of the brief drive, only opening his lips at intervals todamn his horse.

X---- was all stir and bustle when we entered it; we left theclean streets where there were dwelling-houses and shops,churches, and public buildings; we left all these, and turneddown to a region of mills and warehouses; thence we passedthrough two massive gates into a great paved yard, and we were inBigben Close, and the mill was before us, vomiting soot from itslong chimney, and quivering through its thick brick walls withthe commotion of its iron bowels. Workpeople were passing to andfro; a waggon was being laden with pieces. Mr. Crimsworth lookedfrom side to side, and seemed at one glance to comprehend allthat was going on; he alighted, and leaving his horse and gig tothe care of a man who hastened to take the reins from his hand,he bid me follow him to the counting-house. We entered it; avery different place from the parlours of Crimsworth Hall--aplace for business, with a bare, planked floor, a safe, two highdesks and stools, and some chairs. A person was seated at one ofthe desks, who took off his square cap when Mr. Crimsworthentered, and in an instant was again absorbed in his occupationof writing or calculating--I know not which.

Mr, Crimsworth, having removed his mackintosh, sat down by thefire. I remained standing near the hearth; he said presently--

"Steighton, you may leave the room; I have some business totransact with this gentleman. Come back when you hear the bell."

The individual at the desk rose and departed, closing the door ashe went out. Mr. Crimsworth stirred the fire, then folded hisarms, and sat a moment thinking, his lips compressed, his browknit. I had nothing to do but to watch him--how well hisfeatures were cut! what a handsome man he was! Whence, then, camethat air of contraction--that narrow and hard aspect on hisforehead, in all his lineaments?

Turning to me he began abruptly:-

"You are come down to ----shire to learn to be a tradesman?"

"Yes, I am."

"Have you made up your mind on the point? Let me know that atonce."

"Yes."

"Well, I am not bound to help you, but I have a place herevacant, if you are qualified for it. I will take you on trial.What can you do? Do you know anything besides that useless trashof college learning--Greek, Latin, and so forth?"

"I have studied mathematics."

"Stuff! I dare say you have."

"I can read and write French and German."

"Hum!" He reflected a moment, then opening a drawer in a desknear him took out a letter, and gave it to me.

"Can you read that?" he asked.

It was a German commercial letter; I translated it; I could nottell whether he was gratified or not--his countenance remainedfixed.

"It is well;" he-said, after a pause, "that you are acquaintedwith something useful, something that may enable you to earn yourboard and lodging: since you know French and German, I will takeyou as second clerk to manage the foreign correspondence of thehouse. I shall give you a good salary--90l. a year--and now," hecontinued, raising his voice, "hear once for all what I have tosay about our relationship, and all that sort of humbug! I musthave no nonsense on that point; it would never suit me. I shallexcuse you nothing on the plea of being my brother; if I find youstupid, negligent, dissipated, idle, or possessed of any faultsdetrimental to the interests of the house, I shall dismiss you asI would any other clerk. Ninety pounds a year are good wages,and I expect to have the full value of my money out of you;remember, too, that things are on a practical footing in myestablishment--business-like habits, feelings, and ideas, suitme best. Do you understand?"

"Partly," I replied. "I suppose you mean that I am to do my workfor my wages; not to expect favour from you, and not to depend onyou for any help but what I earn; that suits me exactly, and onthese terms I will consent to be your clerk."

I turned on my heel, and walked to the window; this time I didnot consult his face to learn his opinion: what it was I do notknow, nor did I then care. After a silence of some minutes herecommenced:--

"You perhaps expect to be accommodated with apartments atCrimsworth Hall, and to go and come with me in the gig. I wishyou, however, to be aware that such an arrangement would be quiteinconvenient to me. I like to have the seat in my gig at libertyfor any gentleman whom for business reasons I may wish to takedown to the hall for a night or so. You will seek out lodgingsin X----."

Quitting the window, I walked back to the hearth.

"Of course I shall seek out lodgings in X----," I answered. "Itwould not suit me either to lodge at Crimsworth Hall."

My tone was quiet. I always speak quietly. Yet Mr. Crimsworth'sblue eye became incensed; he took his revenge rather oddly.Turning to me he said bluntly--

"You are poor enough, I suppose; how do you expect to live tillyour quarter's salary becomes due?"

"I shall get on," said I.

"How do you expect to live?" he repeated in a louder voice.

"As I can, Mr. Crimsworth."

"Get into debt at your peril! that's all," he answered. "Foraught I know you may have extravagant aristocratic habits: ifyou have, drop them; I tolerate nothing of the sort here, and Iwill never give you a shilling extra, whatever liabilities youmay incur--mind that."

"Yes, Mr. Crimsworth, you will find I have a good memory."

I said no more. I did not think the time was come for muchparley. I had an instinctive feeling that it would be folly tolet one's temper effervesce often with such a man as Edward. Isaid to myself, "I will place my cup under this continualdropping; it shall stand there still and steady; when full, itwill run over of itself--meantime patience. Two things arecertain. I am capable of performing the work Mr. Crimsworth hasset me; I can earn my wages conscientiously, and those wages aresufficient to enable me to live. As to the fact of my brotherassuming towards me the bearing of a proud, harsh master, thefault is his, not mine; and shall his injustice, his bad feeling,turn me at once aside from the path I have chosen? No; at least,ere I deviate, I will advance far enough to see whither my careertends. As yet I am only pressing in at the entrance--a straitgate enough; it ought to have a good terminus." While I thusreasoned, Mr. Crimsworth rang a bell; his first clerk, theindividual dismissed previously to our conference,re-entered.

"Mr. Steighton," said he, "show Mr. William the letters fromVoss, Brothers, and give him English copies of the answers; hewill translate them."

Mr. Steighton, a man of about thirty-five, with a face at oncesly and heavy, hastened to execute this order; he laid theletters on the desk, and I was soon seated at it, and engaged inrendering the English answers into German. A sentiment of keenpleasure accompanied this first effort to earn my own living--asentiment neither poisoned nor weakened by the presence of thetaskmaster, who stood and watched me for some time as I wrote. Ithought he was trying to read my character, but I felt as secureagainst his scrutiny as if I had had on a casque with the visordown-or rather I showed him my countenance with the confidencethat one would show an unlearned man a letter written in Greek;he might see lines, and trace characters, but he could makenothing of them; my nature was not his nature, and its signs wereto him like the words of an unknown tongue. Ere long he turnedaway abruptly, as if baffled, and left the counting-house; hereturned to it but twice in the course of that day; each time hemixed and swallowed a glass of brandy-and-water, the materialsfor making which he extracted from a cupboard on one side of thefireplace; having glanced at my translations--he could read bothFrench and German--he went out again in silence.