CHAPTER V. "I have set my life upon a cast." RICHARD III. ACT. V. Sc. IV. THERE might be some difficulty in the solution of a problem, as to the cause why most people can employ their reflective faculties with the greatest success in bed. We are not going to enter into any far-fetched explanations, as based on physiological and more general philosophical principles, but it shall suffice to add that old Johnson indulged in matutinal cogitations—so did La Place and so does Macaulay. Gideon retired to rest early after his visit to Newgate; he slept fretfully. He awoke early on the following morning, repictured to memory the harrowing scene of yesterday, and re counted all that had passed. That unopportune question, so precipitately, impatiently put, as to whether he had or had not been at the bankers generated additional feelings of disquietude-a strange dread overshadowed his mind, and the mazy cloud of poverty, as well as misfortune, flitted spectrally before him! Was it fancy, was it the distempering shadow of a morbid fear, or a mere inward impression-one of those strangely presaging emotions, which are sometimes experienced as if the invisible, the spiritual, held subtle, inexplicable communication with the dull existences of tangible physical being? Yes, and there are those mysterious influences which operate on our now grosser and less sensate natureinfluences, which have the indefineable potency of resummoning, à la clairvoyante, things of the past—of prophetically indicating the yet un-entered future !-Well, Gideon resolved on marching off to Lombard-street, as soon as ever these great monetary houses were open. The church clock of St. Mary's Woolnoth was chiming the first quarter after ten, when Gideon ascended the steps of Messrs. Goldbeater, Bullion, and Company's celebrated banking house, and it was one of the wealthiest and most respectable banking establishments in the city. To just contemplate it for a moment-The building itself is by no means large externally, though like the burrows of other accumulative animals, as well as the biped, it expands internally. The elevation is plain, substantial, matter-of-fact, English, without a shadow of architectural pretension, without a trace of the ornamental cum utile, or anything in the shape of show off! The granite steps are considerably worn by the multitudinous feet of money changers, who day after day, week after week, year after year, pass in and out of that far-famed portal. Those double doors, which swing backwards and forwards, from ten in the morning till four in the afternoon, like perpetual motions, are worn and paintless, and more especially just at that part where every goer in or comer out applies his pushing palm. The monosyllabical words "In"-"Out" are painted on the wire-defended panes, so that opposing currents may not run counter. That large brass plate once exultant in its tall black letters, whereby the names of the firm might in running be read, has been so worn by frequent polishing that the name of the firm is quite illegible. But what care the firm for this, its very illegibility confers respect-yes, its time-worn appearance symbols its stability and credit, and every one knows where Goldbeater and Bullion's bank is! Those two or three individuals sauntering about the steps are always there (at least one of them)—always there from ten to four. Their shabby suits of once well-fabricated clothes, shining though clouted shoes, clean short white aprons, and lynx-eyed glances confer on them something of a specific character. That wrinkled, dried-up little man has, like a presiding deity, hovered about that particular spot for five and twenty years. The tall, swarthy, lank, phlegmatic mortal who wanders up and down the pathway, like a troubled spirit, has not made this his haunt so long, he was once a little tradesman, misfortune assailed him, and his melancholy visage tells you that his soul is holding communion with other and better days. The third person of the trio, who is a far more huge specimen, has a good, honest-looking face, notwithstanding it having a blue cast even "when the Sirian star makes the summer sultry," which indicates cyanosis or some other obstructive affection, and he is generally troubled with a chronic bronchial catarrh. Well these loiterers are porters not under the immediate engagement of the firm—but the officials, and indeed Messrs. Goldbeater and Bullion themselves, have such confidence in their integrity that they derive their chief income for porterage at this establishment. Occasionally you might see the little man, or the lank man, or the huge man, bearing away a bagful of gold or silver—but his integrity is so tried, and he is so sure to deliver the said bag in safety, that nobody, ever for one instant supposes, that within the next hour or half-hour, he would not be VOL. III. I |