Fighting the Flames by Robert Michael Ballantyne (read novels website txt) 📖

scene deepened when he remembered the bold acts of the firemen at Beverly Square, and recognised some of the faces of the men who had been on duty there, and reflected that these very men, _who seemed thus to be playing themselves_, would on that very night, in all probability, be called upon to exert these powers sternly and seriously, yet coolly, in the midst of scenes of terror and confusion, and in the face of imminent personal danger.

Brooding over these things, Willie, having at length torn himself away, hastened on his pilgrimage to London Bridge.


CHAPTER TEN.


DIFFICULTIES AND DISSIPATIONS.

In a very small office, situate in a very large warehouse, in that great storehouse of the world's wealth, Tooley Street, sat a clerk named Edward Hooper.

Among his familiar friends Edward was better known by the name of Ned.

He was seated on the top of a tall three-legged stool, which, to judge from the uneasy and restless motions of its occupant, must have been a peculiarly uncomfortable seat indeed.

There was a clock on the wall just opposite to Ned's desk, which that young gentleman was in the habit of consulting frequently--very frequently--and comparing with his watch, as if he doubted its veracity. This was very unreasonable, for he always found that the two timepieces told the truth; at least, that they agreed with each other. Nevertheless, in his own private heart, Ned Hooper thought that clock-- and sometimes called it--"the slowest piece of ancient furniture he had ever seen."

During one of Ned's comparisons of the two timepieces the door opened, and Mr Auberly entered, with a dark cloud, figuratively speaking, on his brow.

At the same moment the door of an inner office opened, and Mr Auberly's head clerk, who had seen his employer's approach through the dusty window, issued forth and bowed respectfully, with a touch of condolence in his air, as he referred with much regret to the fire at Beverly Square, and hoped that Miss Auberly was not much the worse of her late alarm.

"Well, she is not the better for it," said Mr Auberly; "but I hope she will be quite well soon. Indeed, the doctor assures me of this, if care is taken of her. I wish that was the only thing on my mind just now; but I am perplexed about another matter, Mr Quill. Are you alone?"

"Quite alone, sir," said Quill, throwing open the door of the inner office.

"I want to consult with you about Frederick," said Mr Auberly as he entered.

The door shut out the remainder of the consultation at this point, so Edward Hooper consulted the clock again and sighed.

If sighs could have delivered Hooper from his sorrows, there is no doubt that the accumulated millions of which he was delivered in that office, during the last five years, would have filled him with a species of semi-celestial bliss.

At last, the hands of the clock reached the hour, _the_ hour that was wont to evoke Ned's last sigh and set him free; but it was an aggravating clock. Nothing would persuade it to hurry. It would not, for all the untold wealth contained in the great stores of Tooley Street, have abated the very last second of the last minute of the hour. On the contrary, it went through that second quite as slowly as all the others. Ned fancied it went much slower at that one on purpose; and then, with a sneaking parade of its intention to begin to strike, it gave a prolonged hiss, and did its duty, and nothing _but_ its duty; by striking the hour at a pace so slow, that it recalled forcibly to Ned Hooper's imaginative mind, "the minute-gun at sea."

There was a preliminary warning given by that clock some time before the premonitory hiss. Between this harbinger of coming events, and the joyful sound which was felt to be "an age," Ned was wont to wipe his pen and arrange his papers. When the hiss began, he invariably closed his warehouse book and laid it in the desk, and had the desk locked before the first stroke of the hour. While the "minute-gun at sea" was going on, he changed his office-coat for a surtout, not perfectly new, and a white hat with a black band, the rim of which was not perfectly straight. So exact and methodical was Ned in these operations, that his hand usually fell on the door-latch as the last gun was fired by the aggravating clock. On occasions of unusual celerity he even managed to drown the last shot in the bang of the door, and went off with a sensation of triumph.

On the present occasion, however, Ned Hooper deemed it politic to be so busy, that he could not attend to the warnings of the timepiece. He even sat on his stool a full quarter of an hour beyond the time of departure. At length, Mr Auberly issued forth.

"Mr Quill," said he, "my mind is made up, so it is useless to urge such considerations on me. Good-night."

Mr Quill, whose countenance was sad, looked as though he would willingly have urged the considerations referred to over again, and backed them up with a few more; but Mr Auberly's tone was peremptory, so he only opened the door, and bowed the great man out.

"You can go, Hooper," said Mr Quill, retiring slowly to the inner office, "I will lock up. Send the porter here."

This was a quite unnecessary permission. Quill, being a good-natured, easy-going man, never found fault with Ned Hooper, and Ned being a presumptuous young fellow, though good-humoured enough, never waited for Mr Quill's permission to go. He was already in the act of putting on the white hat; and, two seconds afterwards, was in the street wending his way homeward.

There was a tavern named the "Angel" at the corner of one of the streets off Tooley Street, which Edward Hooper had to pass every evening on his way home. Ned, we grieve to say, was fond of his beer; he always found it difficult to pass a tavern. Yet, curiously enough, he never found any difficulty in passing this tavern; probably because he always went in and slaked his thirst _before_ passing it.

"Good evening, Mr Hooper," said the landlord, who was busy behind his counter serving a motley and disreputable crew.

Hooper nodded in reply, and said good evening to Mrs Butler, who attended to the customers at another part of the counter.

"Good evenin', sir. W'at'll you 'ave to-night, sir?"

"Pot o' the same, Mrs B," replied Ned.

This was the invariable question and reply, for Ned was a man of regularity and method in everything that affected his personal comforts. Had he brought one-tenth of this regularity and method to bear on his business conduct, he would have been a better and a happier man.

The foaming pot was handed, and Ned conversed with Mrs Butler while he enjoyed it, and commenced his evening, which usually ended in semi-intoxication.

Meanwhile, Edward Hooper's "chum" and fellow-lodger sat in their mutual chamber awaiting him.

John Barret did not drink, but he smoked; and, while waiting for his companion, he solaced himself with a pipe. He was a fine manly fellow, very different from Ned; who, although strong of limb and manly enough, was slovenly in gait and dress, and bore unmistakable marks of dissipation about him.

"Very odd; he's later than usual," muttered Barret, as he glanced out at the window, and then at the tea-table, which, with the tea-service, and, indeed everything in the room, proved that the young men were by no means wealthy.

"He'll be taking an extra pot at the `Angel,'" muttered John Barret, proceeding to re-light his pipe, while he shook his head gravely; "but he'll be here soon."

A foot on the stair caused Barret to believe that he was a true prophet; but the rapidity and firmness of the step quickly disabused him of that idea.

The door was flung open with a crash, and a hearty youth with glowing eyes strode in.

"Fred Auberly!" exclaimed Barret in surprise.

"Won't you welcome me?" demanded Fred.

"Welcome you? Of course I will, most heartily, old boy!" cried Barret, seizing his friend's hand and wringing it; "but if you burst in on a fellow unexpectedly in this fashion, and with such wild looks, why--"

"Well, well, don't explain, man; I hate explanations. I have come here for sympathy," said Fred Auberly, shutting the door and sitting down by the fire.

"Sympathy, Fred?"

"Ay, sympathy. When a man is in distress he naturally craves for sympathy, and he turns, also naturally, to those who can and will give it--not to _everybody_, John Barret--only to those who can feel _with_ him as well as _for_ him. I am in distress, John, and ever since you and I fought our first and last battle at Eton, I have found you a true sympathiser. So now, is your heart ready to receive the flood of my sorrows?"

Young Auberly said the latter part of this in a half-jesting tone, but he was evidently in earnest, so his friend replied by squeezing his hand warmly, and saying, "Let's hear about it, Fred," while he re-lighted his pipe.

"You have but a poor lodging here, John," said Auberly, looking round the room.

Barret turned on his friend a quick look of surprise, and then said, with a smile:

"Well, I admit that it is not _quite_ equal to a certain mansion in Beverly Square that I wot of, but it's good enough for a poor clerk in an insurance office."

"You are right," continued Auberly; "it is _not_ equal to that mansion, whose upper floors are at this moment a _chevaux-de-frise_ of charcoal beams and rafters depicted on a dark sky, and whose lower floors are a fantastic compound of burned bricks and lime, broken boards, and blackened furniture."

"You don't mean to say there's been a fire?" exclaimed Barret.

"And _you_ don't mean to tell me, do you, that a clerk in a fire insurance office does not know it?"

"I have been ill for two days," returned Barret, "and have not seen the papers; but I'm very sorry to hear of it; indeed I am. The house is insured, of course?"

"I believe it is," replied Fred carelessly; "but _that_ is not what troubles me."

"No?" exclaimed his friend.

"No," replied the other. "If the house had not been insured my father has wealth enough in those abominably unpicturesque stores in Tooley Street to rebuild the whole of Beverly Square if it were burnt down. The fire costs me not a thought, although, by the way, it nearly cost me my life, in a vain attempt I made to rescue my poor dear sister Loo--"

"_Vain_ attempt!" exclaimed Barret, with a look of concern.

"Ay, vain, as far as I was concerned; but a noble fireman--a fellow that would make a splendid model for Hercules in the Life Academy--sprang to the rescue after me and saved her. God bless him! Dear Loo has got a severe shake, but the doctors say that we have only to take good care of her, and she will do well. But to return to my woes. Listen, John, and you shall hear."

Fred Auberly paused, as though meditating how