Esquire, Inc.

“ You may easily conceive that the poor lad was driven to his wit's end by these tyrannical proceedings.
"I never would have believed this of Squire Bull!" cried he. "I always thought him to be a generous, frank, open-minded gentleman, with a soul above pettifogging; and one who would not be hard upon a debtor. Esquire North would not have behaved to me in this way—no, nor would any other of my neighbours. And I won't believe, even yet, that it is the wish of the Squire to deal so hardly with a poor lad, who has not had time to set himself right with the world. It must be Protocol's, doing ”

“ In the midst of this our misunderstanding and correspondence, I happened to give the world an account of the order of esquires [7] ; upon which, Mr. Powell was so [Pg 8] disingenuous, as to make one of his puppets (I wish I knew which of them it was) declare by way of prologue, that one Isaac Bickerstaff, a pretended esquire, had wrote a scurrilous piece to the dishonour of that rank of men; and then, with more art than honesty, concluded, that all the esquires in the pit were abused by his antagonist as much he was. ”

“ Of course the corporation will be willing to pay a reasonable sum for land taken."
"I think I can promise that, as I shall have an important voice in the matter."
"I see you are a thorough business man," said the squire. "I hold that it is always best to pursue a liberal policy."
"Quite so. You have no doubt of obtaining the farm?"
"Not the slightest."
"But suppose the present owner meets the mortgage?"
"He can't. He is a poor man, and he has no moneyed friends. ”

“ And yet, if I am not greatly mistaken, it is but a trifle in comparison with the value of the lode I have referred to."
"You do not mean that?" the squire said eagerly.
"But it would be folly to make its existence known until you have got out of the hands of those money-lenders," Ralph went on.
"They would grab it all, you think?"
"I fear so. If all one hears about their cunning is true, there is scarcely any hope for a man who once gets into their clutches. The law seems powerless. You had better have made yourself a bankrupt right off." ”

“ The Squire represented the house: he did a great many things for the good of it—the temporal good, of course.
"Eh? Who would buy?" said the Squire. "If a thing is good enough to accept, Mrs. Wriggs, it has some value; what has a value is worth buying. Let us collect all the articles we have no further use for, and obtain the highest price for them, by way of showing to that Providence which has bestowed them upon us that they have a value in our eyes. I will accompany you downstairs, and see what broken saucepans and other utensils there may be there. Every little helps, in a good cause." ”

“ Being a thorough-going Protectionist, he has no fancy for the gewgaws of foreign importation, and makes it a point to appear always in the village church, and on all great occasions, in a sober suit of homespun. He has no pride of appearance, and he needs none. He is known as the Squire throughout the township; and no important measure can pass the board of selectmen without the Squire's approval;—and this from no blind subserviency to his opinion,—because his farm is large, and he is reckoned "forehanded,"—but because there is a confidence in his judgment. ”

“ Ralph said, with a laugh. "To tell you the truth, it was largely by accident that I discovered the lode I am speaking of. Unfortunately, it is outside the Great St. Goram boundary, so that it is of no use to our shareholders."
The squire laughed and rubbed his hands.
"But it will be of use to me," he said. "Really, this is a remarkable bit of luck. You are quite sure that it is a very valuable discovery?"
"As sure as one can be of anything in this world. The Hillside lode is rich, but this——"
"No, no," Sir John interrupted eagerly. "You don't mean to say that it is richer than your mine?" ”

“ In a day or two it was ascertained that the old squire had had a ‘stroke,’ and was not expected to live through the week.
“A servant from the Hall had brought the news to the circle at the ale-house, that a telegram had been sent to the solicitor of the old squire, Mr. John Ketcham, of Carlisle, to come immediately down to the Hall to remain with the squire until the end, and to take charge of affairs; also to bring with him the squire’s last will, which disinherited the heir and left the estate to a hospital, and which was already signed and sealed. ”

“ We looked all along the brook, but could see no Indian poke, the fresh growths of which will poison stock. Nor had we ever seen ground hemlock or poisonous ivy there. The clearing was nearly all good, grassy upland such as farmers consider a safe pasturage. Truly the shadow of tragedy seemed to hover there.
We bore our sorrowful tidings home, and the old Squire was as much astonished and mystified as every one else. None of us had the heart either to carry the sad news or even to send word of it to Mrs. Kennard; but we notified the owner of the Percherons at once. ”

“ From a window of the farmhouse Cyrus Hooper saw Squire Sheldon and his guest walking by the farm, and noticed the interest which they seemed to feel in it. But for the assurance which he had received of help to pay the mortgage he would have felt despondent, for he guessed the subject of their conversation. As it was, he felt an excusable satisfaction in the certain defeat of the squire's hopes of gain.
"It seems that the more a man has the more he wants, Jefferson," he said to his nephew. ”

“ At times like these the Judge turned a wistful gaze on the lawyer, and with something of appeal in his eyes. But he met; always the shake of the head and the tightening of the lips.
“You can’t afford to take a single chance, Judge,” the Squire had told him at the beginning of the business. “You must not owe one man a dollar. Your books and your papers will be your own, then. And they must be burned. ”

“ The Squire is in peculiar degree dependent for success upon mood of his audience. In crowded House, Members cheering, laughing, or, if you please, jeering and howling, the Squire improves with every five minutes of his Speech. To-night House not a quarter full; those present depressed with consciousness that no real fight meant; Mr. G. sat it out with some intervals of suspicious quietude. HENRY FOWLER also faithful found; sitting with folded arms waiting for the time when a new Chancellor of the Exchequer shall find opening made for him on a newly-arranged Treasury Bench. ”

“ It is with great difficulty that the Squire can ever be brought to have any tree cut down on his estate. To some he looks with reverence, as having been planted by his ancestors; to others with a kind of paternal affection, as having been planted by himself; and he feels a degree of awe in bringing down, with a few strokes of the axe, what it has cost centuries to build up. I confess I cannot but sympathize, in some degree, with the good Squire on the subject. ”

“ The old Squire encouraged us to have a nest egg at the bank, and by the end of the year there were seven bank books at the farm, all carefully put away under lock and key, in fact there were nine, counting the two that belonged to our hired men, Asa and Jim Doane. Acting on the old Squire's exhortation to practise thrift, they vowed that they would lay up a hundred dollars a year from their wages. ”

“ The squire squeezed his tenants for all they were worth, and now the money-lenders are squeezing him. It's only poetic justice, after all."
"Yet surely he is to be pitied?"
"Well, yes. Every man is to be pitied who fools away his money on the Turf and on other questionable pursuits, and yet when the pinch comes you cannot help saying it serves him right."
"But nobody suffers alone, Ralph."
"I know that," he answered, the colour mounting suddenly to his cheeks. "But as far as his son Geoffrey is concerned, it may do him good not to have unlimited cash." ”

“ It was an understood thing that none of the squire’s tenants had a gun.
“Well,” said the squire to Mr. Saxton, “you have the land for next to nothing—next to nothing—at a rent really absurd. Surely the little that the rabbits eat——”
“It’s not a little—come and look for yourself,” replied the farmer. The squire made a gesture of impatience. ”

“ Ralph answered slowly, for his thoughts were intent on another matter, "but whether it is very valuable or not I cannot say. I should judge it is not of great value, or the squire would not want to sell the freehold."
"When a man is compelled to raise a large sum of money there is frequently for him no option."
"And is that the case with Sir John?"
"There can be no doubt whatever that he is hard up. His life interest in the Hamblyn estate is, I fancy, mortgaged to the hilt. If he can sell Hillside Farm at the price he is asking for it, he will have some ready cash to go on with." ”

“ Miners are as fond of playing at law making and dispensing as French novelists are of "playing at Providence." They say, also, that he was not elected by the voice of the people, but that his personal friends nominated and voted for him unknown to the rest of the community. This is perhaps true. At least, I have heard some of the most respectable men here observe that had they been aware of the Squire's name being up as candidate for an office which, though insignificant elsewhere, is one of great responsibility in a mining community, they should certainly have gone against his election. ”

“ Yet Mr. Raymond had applied to Squire Turner for money to assist him in building his house. The squire had two objects in granting this request. First, the security was ample, and the investment a good one; and, secondly, a debtor is always to some extent in the power of his creditor. Squire Turner was by no means averse to establishing this power over the husband of the woman who had rejected his suit. The time might come when he could make a use of it.
“What piece did you speak to-day, Harry?” asked his mother. ”

“ To begin with, the Squire and his condescending way of doing business irritated him very much, so much that once or twice in the course of the conversation he was within an ace of breaking the whole thing off, and only restrained himself with difficulty from doing so. As it was, notwithstanding all the sacrifices and money risks which he was undergoing to take up these mortgages, and they were very considerable even to a man of his great prospects, he felt that he had been placed in the position of a person who receives a favour rather than of a person who grants one. ”

“ The old Squire, after consulting with the two other selectmen, finally offered five of the paupers fifty cents a day and their board if they would come to our place and dry apples. Three of the five were women, one was an elderly man, and the fifth was a not over-bright youngster of eighteen. So far from disliking the project all five hailed it with delight.
Having paupers round the place was by no means an unmixed pleasure. We equipped them with apple parers, corers and slicers and set them to work in the basement of the haymaker. ”

“ Hilton," went on his lordship, deliberately. "Well, here's your chance: wager against it what you will."
The Squire's eyes flashed, but he said nothing.
"Come," pursued his lordship, "I am not particular to a point. Anything will serve. And if you have not the spirit to pick out a hazard, why, I will do it for you. I will wager you Houghton Roy against twenty thousand guineas," he said, speaking with slow emphasis, "that I will marry the first woman eligible that I encounter, going from these doors." ”

“ He's taken the oath to obey the orders that are given him, an' now he'll have to do it, whether it pleases him or not. You'll have that other hundred all right when I come to see you tomorrow night or the next?"
"That's what I agreed to do, isn't it?" demanded the Squire, testily.
"Yes, of course, Squire, of course, only I wanted to remind you so you wouldn't forget to have it on hand, an' in small bills, too. A [67] man don't feel like riskin' his neck at this business, you know, unless he's sure of gettin' well paid for it." ”

“ His large figure, very plainly but becomingly dressed, loomed over the slim person of the peer, who had not risen with him, and now, his eyes concentrated but expressionless, spoke deliberately.
"It seems a gentleman must not play at Brooks's after eleven," he said, choosing his words quite comfortably, if slowly. "It is news to me; but if I may not play, none can stop me from a wager. I challenge you on that, Squire." ”

“ There was undoubtedly something about the Squire—some queer magnetism—born perhaps of his very restlessness and unexpectedness—that made life in his neighbourhood seldom less than interesting. His temper this morning would probably be of the worst. Something, or some one, had defeated all his schemes for a magnificent assertion of the rights of man. His park was in the hands of the invaders. The public plough was impudently at work. And at the same moment his secretary had given warning, and the new catalogue—the darling of his heart—would be thrown on his hands. ”

“ And the Squire pointed to the stocks.
Master Frank's eye followed the direction of the cane, as well as his cravat would permit; and he said, dryly,
"Yes, sir; but how came the stocks to be so long out of repair?"
"Because one can't see to every thing at once," retorted the Squire, tartly. "When a man has got eight thousand acres to look after, he must do a bit at a time."
"Yes," said Captain Barnabas. "I know that by experience."
"The deuce you do!" cried the Squire, bluntly. "Experience in eight thousand acres!"
"No; in my apartments in the Albany. ”