The Seamy Side, Chapters XXX-XXXII [pp. 246-259]

THE SEA,MY SIDE.5
great City House. I had my own business to
make, and I've made it. The dibs are all of my
own piling "-he thought this might sound vul gar-" and when I say' dibs,' of course I mean
the money; because I began as nothing but a
clerk. You wouldn't think that, Miss Hamblin,
would you, to look at me now? However, here
I am-just as you see me. I've got a big busi ness in tea; really, a big business. There's my
cab at the door for you to see the kind of hack I
can afford-cheap at a hundred; and I'm quite
a young man still, Miss Hamblin, and perhaps
not so bad-looking as some-eh? Handsome
Jack I have been called. We should run well together; and the long and the short is that, if
you will let me pay my attentions to you, I am
ready, money or no money."
Alison burst out laughing. She was so happy
in her mind that she was amused rather than
offended. The man's vulgarity, his impoudence,
his mock humility, his personal conceit, his intense belief in himself, amused her. She clapped
her hands together as delighted as any schoolgirl at a joke, and burst into merry peals of
laughter, which utterly routed and discomfited
the wooer.
"Pay your attentions to me, Mr. Baker?"
she cried; "oh, I am so sorry, because I am
obliged to decline that delicate offer, so delicately made. Another girl, Mr. Baker, must have
the happiness of receiving your attentions. And
oh! I really feel what I am giving up: the big
business in tea, and the cheap hack, and thethe dibs, and the young man, still young, called
Handsome Jack. But there are many other
girls, I am sure, who take a deep interest in tea,
and expensive hacks, and dibs, and Handsome
Jacks. You will have better luck with them, no
doubt. Good morning, Mr. Bunter Baker."
She laughed in his face, and left him there
standing, hot and flushed. His knees felt shaky,
and monosyllables trembled on his lips.
He wiped his forehead, and asked himself
if she meant it. For really, this derisive way of
receiving his suit had not presented itself to his
mind as a possibility. She might refuse him, he
thought; that was possible, but not probable,
considering his big business, and his-well, his
handsome person - why not acknowledge the
truth? Often persons of the opposite sex called
him Handsome Jack —all women are alike-why
not Miss Hamblin?
Hang it! was there anything ridiculous in
him?' Couldn't the girl say "no" without laughing in his face? Perhaps, after all, she was only
egging him on. How if he were to try the very
next Sunday morning and hang about the doors
of the church when the congregation were coming out?
She was gone; the door stood open. As he
gathered up his hat and gloves he became aware
that in the doorway stood a boy, with white hair
and pink cheeks, who appeared to be enjoying
some excellent joke. That is, he was laughing
from ear to ear when Jack turned round, and, on
being observed, he pulled out a pocket-handker chief, and went through a pantomime of sorrow,
which inspired Mr. J. Bunter Baker with a strong
desire of horsewhipping that boy. Had he been
listening?
"Oh! oh! oh!" cried the pink boy, retreating warily in the direction of the pantry. "Oh!
oh! what a dreadful thing! She won't have
him; she throws away his dibs and despises his
tea: our full-flavored at two-and-four, and our
really choice at three-and-two. She won't have
him, even though they call him Handsome Jack.
Ho! ho! Handsome Jack!"
Mr. Baker rushed at the boy. Young Nick
threw himself into the pantry and locked the
door. He heard his baffled enemy immediately
afterward retreating, and, opening the door, began a prolonged and most unearthly yell as of
agony, at which Mr. Baker fled hurriedly, and all
the household rushed to see what was the matter, headed by Mrs. Cridland.
" It's all right, old lady," said her son, tranquilly; "he's gone, I perceive."
"Who?" asked his mother.
" Handsome Jack. O Alison!" he went on,
"what a pity! You've thrown him away! He's
gone for good."
"'Let others wed for rings and things and pearls,
'Tis oh! a Writing-master's wife to be-ee-ee-ee."
CHAPTER XXXII.
HOW STEPHEN STILL HAD DREAMS.
A LITTLE cloud in the sky, no bigger than a
man's hand. Stephen saw it in the heavens when
Jack Baker quoted Alderney Codd's words. If
Jack, who never looked skyward, had seen it, it
would have spread over the whole horizon, and
obscured the sun long before he returned from
his embassy. He sought his friend immediately.
"It is all up," he reported;" I am certain
they have found out everything."
"What have they found out?" asked Stephen.
"I don't know. She didn't tell me. But I
am certain-"
"Hang it, man! be reasonable," Stephen
said. "What makes you certain?"
"Look here, Hamblin. I find the young lady
happy, radiant, not cast down at all. She is all
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