Pickwick Abroad: A Companion to the Pickwick Papers — page 43: what you’re looking at

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‘a's * » ” ' as he sank into a chair, and proceeded to, bury his face in his hands. “But you will be good to her, Pickwick—Tupman—if I should fall ;—you won’t desert her! And if I die—in—-in—a land—of—strangers—” | yee Mr. Winkle’s voice was lost in sobs ; and at the moment when Mr. Pickwick was - about to approach his disconsolate - friend, the door again opened, and a queit proces- sion of four gentlemen, dressed in a variety of garbs, marched into the room. The first was a stout personage, attired in the extreme of fashion, and decorated with | the order of the Legion of Honor. The second was a short, sallow-visaged, sharp- eyed, straight-haired, thin-looking individual holding a parcel of papers in his hand, and glancing around him with keenness and sus- picion. The third and fourth members of this little procession were two seedy- he ai coarse-visaged, tobacco-smelling ‘vagabonds, with thread-bare coats, boots nirily contrived to admit the fresh breezes at the toes, and shirts as dirty as if they had been part of a reversionary interest in the property of a deceased coal-heaver. “ Parlez-vous Francais, Messieurs ?” in- quired the thin gentleman with the papers. A pause ensued; and as no reply was given either by the wondering Mr. Pick- wick, or his equally astounded companions, the individual who put the above query, made a sign to one of the shabby-dressed gentlemen; and the said shabby-dressed gentleman immediately disappeared. He returned in a few minutes, accompanied by one of the waiters of the hetel, as an inter- preter. This re-inforeement having been obtained, the following conversation ensued through the medium of the waiter. “Ts Mr. Adolphus Crashem present ?” “T am the gentleman who bears that name. What the devil do you want with Te ?” “Are you prepared to pay twelve hun- dred francs, in one instance—three thousand four hundred in another—and two thousand in. a third? the first being a debt contracted by you toa livery-stable keeper in Bond Street, London; the second to a tailor in Regent Street, of the same city; and the third to a jeweller in Calais. Here are three bills of exchange, regtlarly drawn and endorsed, and now in the hands of Messieurs Romanée and Médoc, wine-merchants in ~ . Paris, The amount of the whole is six thousand six hundred francs.” “Pay! who the devil talks of paying?” 4, "PICKWICK ABROAD. + — sy, 35 4 ‘ cried Mr. Adolphus Crashem. “No gentle- man ever yet paid a bill at maturity ; and if he had he would have been caught, ticketed, and put into a museum as a curi- osity.” : , “Then, Sir,” proceeded the waiter, “this gentleman”’—pointing to him with the riband of the Legion of Honor—“is the Justice of the Peace, attending as a magis- trate to see that no force be illegally ix.ned on either side; that gentleman—” indicat- ang the one with the papers—“is a bailiff, duly authorized by the Judge of the Tribu- nal of First Instance to arrest your person; —and those men—” waving his hand in the direction of the two individuals in the dirty shirts—‘ are the witnesses of the cap- tion, required by law in these cases.” “The devil they are!” cried Mr, Adol- phus Crashem ; “ and as such is their game, if my friends Tims, Tupman, and Winkle, will only assist me, we'll devilish soon rid the room of such unpleasant company.” “Tm ready, for one!” exclaimed Mr. Tims: “so fall to as soon as you like.” “ Tupman—Winkle,” ejaculated Mr. Pick- wick, sternly, “do not attempt to interfere with these gentlemen in the discharge of their duty. We know not the laws of this country, and must not stand the chance of violating any of them.” “Well—I certainly won't, if you wish it,” observed Mr. Tupman, from whose mind nothing had been farther absent than the idea of fighting in behalf of Mr. Crashem ; “and I’m convinced Winkle will not disobey — ou,” _ “ No—that I won't,’ exclaimed Mr. Winkle, recovering for the first time from the state of extreme misery into which he had just now been plunged. “ Not but that I would have done my best, though, if Pickwick were agreeable.” » “What is to be done, then?” inquired Mr. Crashem, casting a suppliant look at the Pickwickians—or rather at their pock- ts. | ve You had better go to prison at once,” said Mr. Pickwick, in a voice tremulous with emotion ; “and then we can try and make arrangements with your creditors.” _ Mr. Crashem expressed his gratitude for the advice, but begged to observe that he strongly suspected “there was a hook ¢ the end of it.” Mr. Pickwick acknowl edged the compliment, although he did not exactly understand nor appreciate its full value. GOMIIGIoOOo f SS (SO) m