A Woman of Culture, Chapter XII-XIV [pp. 771-801]

i88i.J A WOMAAr OF CUiTUA'E. 783
the police or by exacting boarding-house mistresses, had disturbed nothing that was fit for use; and when the air was clear and
the sun let shine through the windows a suspicion of old-time
refinement, and grace, and mystery hung about its faded walls.
Mr. ~uip enjoyed a distinction among the company that was
quite enviable. He owed it to his unsurpassed impudence and
his interested but apparently open-hearted generosity. For Mr.
Quip spent money with the freedom of a millionaire, and never
dreamed of a return. We have seen how he recompensed himself in a few instances. His real character was unknown to the
individuals over whom he presided. It might not have mattered
much if they had known. Many of them could not lay claim to
better deeds or dispositions, and were secretly indebted to the
symposiarch for advice, useful sympathy, and trifling money loans.
Mr. Quip might be trusted to make good use of the influence
which he had thus obtained. He was politic but not backward
in using it. Relentless as a money~lender, pitiless as a tiger, be
yet understood the peculiarities of his own position sufficiently
never to attempt the high hand with his victims. He was always
the friend, the consoler, the injured party-a new-woAd Pecksniff in all the outlines of that famous but overdrawn character.
Juniper was perhaps the only individual besides Dr. Killany who
had a clear insight into the man's character. But Juniper was
looked upon as a fool, and the book was never closed for him.
He had not sense enough, in Quip's sarcastic opinion, to make
anything out of the printed page. li he had, thought the symposiarch, sipping his punch lazily, he would not be here to-night;
or, being here, he would drink less whiskey and keep himself ready
for danger.
"Roseleigh," he said suddenly to a pleasant young fellow
who sat beside him, "come to the other side of the room. I
want to talk with you."
"You must keep an eye on Juniper," he said when they were
out of hearing of the others, "and not let him drink too much.
See that he drinks enough to loosen his tongue, for I must get
some information out of him, which is my reason for bringing
him here to-night. He's so close a fool that if he suspects what
I am after, drunk or not, he won't open his lips to-night. You
understand?"
"Perfectly," replied the genial Roseleigh, whose readiness to
obey the chief arose from the fact of his slight indebtedness to
Quip. "Trust me to manage him."
A whisper in Mr. Juniper's ear brought the gentleman, after