Mr. Higgins

“ Higgins's business and character before the day was out, so he took the bull by the horns, and introduced his companion by name, giving also his trade and address. "There's a specimen of an honest tradesman for you. Queer sort of assistant for me to pick up?"
"There's no denying it," said Lambert.
"There's a little story attached to the way Mr. Higgins and I struck up a friendship. What's the best thing in life worth living for, old man?"
"Quartern o' rum," replied Mr. Higgins. The answer seemed to be jerked out of him by force of magnetism.
Dick laughed; Lambert made a movement of departure. ”

“ Higgins, gazing earnestly at the Patriarch. "Well, 'tain't no surprise to me—always calc'lated he must have folks somewheres. An' I'm right glad now he needs 'em he's made up his mind to have 'em come. Wants me to write, does he?"
"He can't write any more himself," said Madison. "He seems to think that you, as the postmaster, as well as the town police official, are the proper person to do it—and I quite agree with him."
"So I be," declared Mr. Higgins importantly. ”

“ Higgins, his features twitching more hideously than ever. Dick hailed these signs of discomposure with delight, and encouraged by the impression his sarcastic references to Mr. Higgins as an honest tradesman had produced he was quick to take advantage of it. He resembled the gambler who stakes his whole fortune upon the last throw.
"Did you ever see the secret books of the police," he said, "with the names of certain men with black marks against them? Why, we can lay our hands upon every thief and fence in London when we want to--do you hear? when we want to." Mr. Higgins winced. ”

“ Beyond, the meadows and the shawl of mist in the valley, a long stretch of gold and golden-brown where gorse and bracken company together, the one in its vigorous and glowing prime, the other in the ruddy evening of its days, but not a whit less resplendent.
Overhead, a grey-blue sky, with the grey just now predominating, but a sky of promise, according to Mr. Higgins, with never a hint of breakdown. By and by the blue was to conquer, and the sportive winds were to let loose and drive before them the whitest and fleeciest of clouds, but always far up in high heaven. ”

“ HIGGINS [deftly retrieving the handkerchief and intercepting her on her reluctant way to the door] You’re an ungrateful wicked girl. This is my return for offering to take you out of the gutter and dress you beautifully and make a lady of you.
MRS. PEARCE. Stop, Mr. Higgins. I won’t allow it. It’s you that are wicked. Go home to your parents, girl; and tell them to take better care of you. ”

“ Mr. Higgins shivered. "If ever you get into his clutches look out for snakes. It's a pleasure to work with a man like that. He and I are on the same lay."
Another hour's steady work, and the last bill was pasted on the walls and the last quartern of rum disposed of. Then he reckoned up what was due to Mr. Higgins, paid and dismissed him, and repeated his caution about looking out for snakes if it should be his bad fortune to fall into the clutches of the famous detective.
"I've about settled your hash," mused Dick, as he saw Mr. Higgins plunge into the nearest beershop. ”

“ Higgins's part to put the two boys together. One boy is slippery enough, but there is no place that two boys, working together, cannot get out of. It may be that Mr. Higgins thought of this, but chose not to act upon the knowledge.
But, as people afterwards said, if he meant to give Tom a chance, he only succeeded in fixing his doom.
The next morning, when the constable opened the door to give his prisoners their breakfast, he found a hole in the roof hardly big enough for a cat to get through, but no boys. ”

“ It was as when one sees a strain of music. I remembered the prayers of my dear departed mother when she sought to enlighten my speechless infancy with divine grace, and I felt that I loved this Higgins.
Such is life. We wander through the bowers of love without a thought of the morrow, while the dread vulture of predestination eats into our souls, and cries, wo! wo! Truly, earthly happiness is a mockery.
CHAPTER II.
Scarcely had I taken my seat in the library after my grandfather had left us, when Mr. Higgins ordered me to black his boots. ”

“ Higgins might, in some degree, have surprised Morley Ernstein, had he not thought that there was something equivocal in the good gentleman's expressions, and that, perhaps, what he termed a genteel way of business, might be neither more nor less than gambling, swindling, or thieving dexterously, and that the more dangerous courses to which he alluded, might only be crimes easy of detection. Mr. Higgins went on, however, after a moment's pause, saying--"I can't help thinking, that young scoundrel has got himself entangled with Neville, in a way that he'll not easily, break through ”

“ Professor Higginson was not a little astonished to see the same smile suddenly appearing and disappearing on the face three or four times about nothing in particular, and directed towards no one. A little more experience of the world would have enabled him to label the features and the man, for that smile goes with the Ministry of the Fine Arts, and no less a one than Sir John Hooker stood before him. But Mr. Higginson had got no further than Lord Biggleton, that was enough for him! ”

“ Folk at Helstone were never brought higher than the kitchen; and I’ve let one or two of them know before now that they might think it an honour to be even there.”
Higgins found it easier to unburden himself to one than to two. After Margaret left the room, he went to the door and assured himself that it was shut. Then he came and stood close to Mr. Hale.
“Master,” said he, “yo’d not guess easy what I’ve been tramping after to-day. Special if yo’d remember my manner o’ talk yesterday. I’ve been a seeking work. I have,” said he. ”

“ Higgins stepped quickly inside, and as soon as Burton, who followed in his wake, had entered, he closed the front door, turned the key and slipped it into his pocket.
"Excuse me," he said, in a brisk undertone. "No one wants you, Doctor. I want Mr. Henry Underwood."
"You want him, Higgins? What for?"
"Assault."
"Assault? Henry? You're crazy. Henry hasn't spirit enough to assault any one. I'd bail him out with the greatest joy in the world, if he did. Whom did he assault, in the name of Goshen?"
"Mr. Hadley." ”

“ Why, if Sheilah knew that I——Oh, won't you please——' Suddenly he broke down, burying his face in his hands.
Mr. Fairchild got up and walked over to the window, and stood staring out a moment. He had a daughter at home and a boy, and a wife. 'Pull yourself together,' he said roughly to Felix, over his shoulder, and strode over toward the door. 'I'll be back in five or ten minutes. You stay here and get yourself into shape.'
When he returned his frown was deeper, his manner ever more stern and severe. He spoke with the irritability of a man acting against his better judgment. ”

“ Roger agreed.
"And we've got to pretend to go along to Flora City," he added. "I don't like to sneak. It goes against my grain; but business is business. Come on, Higgins. Next trip in a week, Mr. Granger? Good enough. We're going to our stateroom and catch up some sleep. Wake us at peril of your life."
He led the way swiftly to the stateroom, grasped his bag and Higgins', locked the door and hurried aft out of sight of the people gathered forward. ”

“ Preserved Higgins had motored down from his palatial stucco monstrosity in London's Mayfair, with a letter from Redder, his lordship's agent, to “'ave a look at the plyce. That's my w'y o' doin' business. I looks, I tykes my choice, and I p'ys my tin, wot?”
Mr. Preserved Higgins was a remarkable man in more ways than one. Of course he was a self-made man. Everybody is, these days. Of course He dropped his h’ches. Everybody does, these days. ”

“ But the outcome of this very innocent remark was as follows: "How sorry I am I came to The Grange! I never will be happy again in all my life, and Charlie says so, too!"
"Are you sure there was no cheating?" asked Mr. Wyndham.
"No, dear uncle, impossible," replied Cornelia. "I [Pg 297] couldn't, and they wouldn't; they are all quite too good for that; every one of them, except, perhaps, Charlie, who is in a peculiar sense my own first cousin. But it seems to be a property of a whisper to be a twister; it is sure to get in a tangle, and comes out quite different from the way you started it." ”

“ Higginson who would, in any case, have forced the return to Hunston; Higginson who had given this girl the right to think, as she did think, that she owed her escape wholly to an "accident" to the machinery.
He had thought that he had saved Uncle Elbert's daughter from himself, and lo, his enemy had plucked the honor from him. The world should not be big enough for this man to elude his vengeance.
"You mention Mr. Higginson. Where is he?"
She glanced at him, impersonally, struck by the unconscious sternness of his voice. ”

“ Mr. Higgins dropped the reins on the dashboard, and dove into first one pocket and then another. "Shucks!" said he disgustedly. "Now if I ain't gone an' left it to home after all. But I dunno as it makes much difference. It was from a fellow up your way by the name of Michael Coogan, an' was addressed to the postmaster. 'Pears he read a piece in the papers about the Patriarch which he sent along with the letter. Allows he's been ailin' quite a spell, though he don't say what's the matter with him, an' wants to know if what's in that piece is all gospel truth, 'cause if 'tis he's comin' down. ”

“ Fauntleroy made a movement forward. He had been standing between his grandfather and the visitor, listening with all his might. He had begun to be interested in Higgins at once. He wondered how many children there were, and if the scarlet fever had hurt them very much. His eyes were wide open and were fixed upon Mr. Mordaunt with intent interest as that gentleman went on with the conversation.
“Higgins is a well-meaning man,” said the rector, making an effort to strengthen his plea.
“He is a bad enough tenant,” replied his lordship. “And he is always behindhand, Newick tells me.” ”

“ Anthony shot a command at the speaker that checked him half-way across the room. "Ringold, take the door and don't let anybody in or out." To Higgins he exclaimed, "You idiot, didn't you see I had his hands?"
"No. Had to get him," returned Higgins, with vinous dignity. "Wanted to rob my old friend, Mr.—What's his name?"
"We've got to leave quick before we get in bad," Locke reiterated, nervously, but Anthony retorted:
"We're in bad now. I want Padden." He stepped to the door and signaled a passing waiter. A moment later the proprietor knocked, and Ringold admitted him. ”

“ Higgins. Just think of it! She belongs to me!”
“Oh, don’t be a perfect lunatic, Dan,” the actress exclaimed, half laughing, half crying, “and don’t listen to him, Higgins. He’s just crazy.”
But the old woman’s eyes went bright at the 240 boy’s face and tone. “I never was so glad of anything in my life.”
“As of what?” asked her mistress sharply, and the tone was so cold and so suddenly altered that Dan felt a chill of despair.
“Why, at what Mr. Blair says, Miss.”
“Then,” said her mistress, “you ought to be ashamed of yourself. He’s only twenty-two, he doesn’t know anything about life. ”

“ No wonder is it that the gentle young widow, whose face ever beamed with kindness, whose hand was ever outstretched to aid the unfortunate, was looked up to with a love and veneration only inferior to that with which Mr. Roscoe himself was regarded.
In such an atmosphere of affection, and under the best influences of unaffected piety and refinement, little Margaret expanded in beauty and goodness, like a sweet flower planted in a fertile soil, and refreshed by soft-falling dews and healthful breezes. ”

“ And—"
"Hush!" cautioned Helena. "Here's Mr. Higgins coming."
"All right," said Madison, rising and moving to the door. "I'm going now, then—guess you understand. See you in the morning for the final touches. Tell Mr. Higgins I'm waiting outside for him to drive me home." He raised his voice. "Good afternoon, Miss Vail," he said, and stepped out onto the lawn.
—VIII— IN WHICH THE BAIT IS NIBBLED
There was a group around the Flopper on the Portland platform beside the Bar Harbor express ”

“ Tell me out.”
“I have telled yo’,” said Higgins, a little surprised at Mr. Hale’s agitation. “I would na ask for work for mysel’; but them’s left as a charge on me. I reckon, I would ha guided Boucher to a better end; but I set him off o’ th’ road, and so I mun answer for him.”
Mr. Hale got hold of Higgins’s hand and shook it heartily, without speaking. Higgins looked awkward and ashamed.
“Theer, theer, master! Theer’s ne’er a man, to call a man, amongst us, but what would do th’ same; ay, and better too; for, belie’ me, Is’e ne’er got a stroke o’ work, nor yet a sight of any. ”

“ But Slim resisted Higgins' insistent desire to make Slim known to vaudeville's elite.
“There's only one guy in the world that you can introduce me to, Lem,” he told the guide-actor. “Do you know a ventriloquist named Samuel Dozell? He's playing at the Mirror this week. “
Higgins eyes his friend curiously. “Now, what interest have you in Sam Bozell?” he asked. “Your boss send you?”
“What do you mean by that?” demanded Slim.
Higgins' weatherbeaten face took on a shrewd expression.
“Well, Mr. Pelham's a detective and Bozell's a crook. That ain't putting two and two together ”

“ I abruptly asked.
"Of course I do!"
[96] "Well, then—a little brown Boston terrier whom I call Dandy," I announced.
He laughed as if it was a joke. "What nonsense! Your sister has told me quite a lot about you, Miss Vars, one time and another; that you write verse a little, for instance. Any one who can create is able to fill all the empty corners of his life. You know that as well as I do."
I considered this new idea in silence for a moment. We turned in at Lucy's street.
"How long shall you be here, Miss Vars?" asked Mr. Jennings. "And, seriously, may I call some evening?" ”