Mr. Walters

“ It is perhaps unnecessary to add more as to the merits of Mr. Walter as a man of enterprise in business, or as a public man and a Member of Parliament. The great work of his life was the development of his journal, the history of which forms the best monument to his merits and his powers.
The progressive improvement of steam printing machinery was not affected by Mr. Walter's death, which occurred in 1847. ”

“ Walters would bring him a cup of black coffee and at ten o’clock would retire to his own room, which was separated from the main building by a heavy door which Mr. Trasmere invariably locked.
Once in the early days of his service, Walters had expostulated.
“Suppose there is a fire, sir,” he complained.
“You can get through your bath-room window on to the kitchen and if you can’t drop to the ground from there, you deserve to be burnt to death,” snarled the old man. “If you don’t like the job you needn’t stay. ”

“ He drags (to use a phrase of Stevenson’s) with a wide net, but his castings are made, for the most part, in the same waters. Of the literature of the time of Elizabeth, or even of Anne, he tells us little, and it is not until we come to Goldsmith, Lamb, De Quincey, Leigh Hunt, and, later, to Jefferies, Thoreau, and Stevenson, that Mr. Walters may be said to let himself go. ”

“ Walters did not move a muscle.
"Mr. Standish has a very thick neck, sir," he remarked, "that makes it more difficult."
Dare put down the coffee cup he was just raising to his lips and stared at Walters.
"What on earth has that to do with it?" he exclaimed.
"It is more difficult to get a good grip of a man with a thick neck, sir, than of one with a thin neck. Fortunately I have a thick neck," he added imperturbably.
Walters has always been a great joy to Dare; but there are times when he is also something of a trial. Dare suggested that he should explain himself, which he proceeded to do. ”

“ But if the wicked old man only simulated for his own base purposes a mistake as to the identity of Mr. Walters, there was certainly no such evil intention on the part of a young woman who, when on a visit to a relation living in Broadminster, was invited to a dinner party and was taken in by a fine-looking man of military appearance whose name was pronounced by their hostess as Colonel Trelawney. ”

“ Burrell puffed away luxuriously as they walked along, stopping now and then at her command, to look into such shop-windows as contained articles adapted to the use of infants, from india-rubber rings and ivory rattles, to baby coats and shoes.
At length they arrived at the door of Mr. Walters, and on, looking up at the house, he exclaimed, "This is 257, but it can't be the place; surely coloured people don't live in as fine an establishment as this." ”

“ Where are the servants?”
“There is only the cook,” said Rex and Carver went in search of her.
But the kitchen was closed and deserted. It was apparently the cook’s day off.
“I’ll make a search of the house,” said Carver. “Come along, Tab, you are in this case now and you had better stay with it.”
The search did not take a very long time. There were two rooms used by Mr. Trasmere, the remainder were locked up and apparently unused. A passage-way led to Walters’ sleeping apartment, which had originally been designed as a guest room and was larger than servants’ quarters usually are. ”

“ These things looked strange; suspicions spread around the neighborhood, until some persons came into the store, who said they talked with Mr. Morse, in Walters’ tavern, a few days after his going there, when some remarked the idle, sauntering fellows that were perpetually hovering about there, having no business, and many other circumstances were alluded to, until suspicion became so strong in the minds of the people, that they finally resolved to make a private search, but not until Mr. ”

“ Gabb, the widow who was providing the good cheer, “and do you know he stares every woman he sees out of countenance.”
“My dear,” said Blabb, the other widow, “Blank is just like all the men; everyone knows him, but his poor wife.”
“Oh, my gracious goodness,” exclaimed the ancient maid, whose name was Slabb, “is Mr. Blank such a dreadful man? ”

“ The only advantage a Jackass gets by having a college degree is that he can enter the Civil Service and no questions asked. His degree would not pass him unquestioned into any other employment.”
I very soon concluded that the Civil Service involved, if you took it seriously, a form of disease which saps your self-esteem and kills out your originality.
After I had been some months with Mr. Kingdom and a friendly feeling had been established between us, he said to me one day, “Wesblock, I rather like you personally, but you will never make a good Civil servant.” ”

“ If they prove correct I will ask you to retire a few minutes while I discuss the situation with Miss Joseph, whom I will ask to decide what our action will be. We cannot hinder you from following us, but you cannot take us anywhere we are unwilling to go.”
The sense of Muriel’s being at my side gave me the courage to make this speech. Mr. Pfhal smiled again, exhibited a silver badge, which he wore on his suspenders, and produced Doctor Joseph’s telegram, after which he retired to the end of the car, keeping all the while his mask-like face towards us. ”

“ Gambling with real estate lots as counters had [Pg 143] not brought house rent to its present abnormal figure. A house fit to live in was then procurable at twenty dollars per month. Still, with four children and a wife to feed, clothe, and shelter, my way was not easy.
Minister One’s secretary was Mr. Jellyman, a good fellow and a clever one, whom I had known in Montreal as a clerk to the most notorious crook amongst the city’s lawyers. Being private secretary to One was a heart-breaking position, and it finished poor Jellyman, both morally and physically. ”

“ The man who went to Mr. Talbot's house returned first, bringing the startling information that Mr. Talbot had not been home all night, and that his uncle and sister were anxious to know where he was, as they had received no message from him since he quitted the house the previous night at 10.15. The Commissioner of Police came himself a little later. By that time Inspector Walters had reached here for his turn of day duty, and after a hasty consultation we decided to break in all the doors that were locked, commencing with that of the second assistant. ”

“ On Monday, the fourteenth day of January, in the year Thirty-Seven, I arrived in Ottawa. When I walked into the Government building the policeman on the door touched his hat to my English clothes, [Pg 136] which were still good. I presented myself at the green baize door of Mr. Gobble’s office, and was presently shown in by a messenger, who had first taken in my card. Mr. Gobble had already forgotten me, so shook hands heartily as if he were pleased to see me again and invited me to sit down. “Well, Mr. Wesblock, what now?” he said, waiting for the cue which would show him who the deuce I was. ”

“ Mr. Ritson traced [157] the localities of the other Arthurian struggles to the banks of the Glen in Lincolnshire and of the Duglas in Lancashire; he thought Bassas might be Bashford in Staffordshire, though others favour Boston in Lincolnshire ”

“ I
"If you intended to horsewhip a man, Walters, how would you begin?" enquired Jocelyn Dare of his man one morning at breakfast.
Without so much as the fraction of a second's hesitation Walters placed the omelette before his master, lifted the cover, gave a comprehensive glance at the table to see that nothing was lacking, then in the most natural manner in the world replied, "I should buy a whip, sir."
That was Walters all over. He is as incapable of surprise as water of compression. He is practical to his finger-tips, that is what makes him the most excellent of servants. ”

“ The tale of Walter’s daring act flew like wildfire through the school, and if any one still retained against him a particle of ill-feeling, or looked on his character with suspicion, it was this evening replaced by the conviction that there was no more noble or gallant boy than Walter among them, and that if any equalled him in merit it was one of those whose intimate friendship for him had on this day been deepened by the grateful knowledge that to him, in all human probability, they owed their preservation from an imminent and overpowering peril. ”

“ Bursting from the apartment, Walter hastily sought the hall; and the evening meal having been by this time spread, he called to the retainers to be seated, and hastened to busy himself in attending to his father, in supplying him with the food prepared for him, and with such little matters as he knew the old man most liked—feeding him from time to time like a child.
“Aye, aye, that’s good,” said old Sir Walter. “Thanks, thanks, my boy; you are a good boy. But where is Bella? where is the Lady Stradawn? Och hey, that’s good,—but she is often away now; seldom it is, I am sure, that I see her. ”

“ And therewith he took out two more loaves from his wallet, and tossed them to Walter, and so turned and went his ways; whiles walking upright, as Walter had seen his image on the quay of Langton; whiles bounding and rolling like a ball thrown by a lad; whiles scuttling along on all-fours like an evil beast, and ever and anon giving forth that harsh and evil cry.
Walter sat a while after he was out of sight, so stricken with horror and loathing and a fear of he knew not what, that he might not move. ”

“ Walter is a square-shouldered youth of medium height, with irregular, rather commonplace features, a rough skin, and an unpleasant habit of shifting his eyes rapidly round and round yours as you talk with him—I am as impartial a judge of my own family as a stranger would be. Walter has been a good deal of a sneak all his life—at least, he was up to the time when a man’s real character disappears behind the pose he adopts to face [80] and fool the world with. ”

“ Now moreover Walter looked, and deemed that he beheld something through the grass and bracken on the other side of those two, an ugly brown and yellow body, which, if it were not some beast of the foumart kind, must needs be the monstrous dwarf, or one of his kin; and the flesh crept upon Walter’s bones with the horror of him. But the King’s Son spoke unto the Maid: Sweetling, I shall take the gift thou givest me, neither shall I threaten thee any more, howbeit thou givest it not very gladly or graciously. She smiled on him with her lips alone, for her eyes were wandering and haggard. ”

“ As for the Maid, she stood for a while without moving, and looking after the King’s Son and the creature that followed him. Then she turned about to where Walter lay and lightly put aside the boughs, and Walter leapt up, and they stood face to face. She said softly but eagerly: Friend, touch me not yet!
He spake not, but looked on her sternly. She said: Thou art angry with me?
Still he spake not; but she said: Friend, this at least I will pray thee; not to play with life and death; with happiness and misery. Dost thou not remember the oath which we swore each to each but a little while ago? ”

“ Walter was put into his crib for his nap, which was undisturbed. When he awoke I gazed at him with pride. His eyes were perfectly brilliant with beauty, his lips were red as coral and his cheeks rivalled the blush of the rose. As I held him in my arms and pushed back the curls from his broad, noble brow, so like his father's, my heart said, "what a beautiful boy, and he is my own." I was astonished to find him so ready to sit quietly in my lap while Pauline, by every art of which she was capable, was trying to decoy him away. ”

“ For when he was very small, Walter had been to him like an elder brother, and when he was older, it was Walter who had taught him to ride and to shoot, to hunt and to fish, and when he was at school it was Walter to whom he looked up as the dashing young man of the world, who knew all life's secrets, and when he was at college it was Walter who had helped him out of the inevitable foolish scrapes into which it is the custom of the undergraduate to fall. ”

“ He cast one glance at the centre of the room, and there, to his utter amazement, he beheld Sir Walter seated quietly in an easy-chair, emitting from his mouth volumes of flame and smoke. Not doubting that this was some devilish enchantment, the terrified Puritan, with a trembling grasp, raised up the large flagon which he had in his hands, and threw the whole of its contents right into Sir Walter’s face. ”

“ In these things the original promoters always make money, whether the subsequent stock-holders do or do not. The affair looked promising to me, but I had to admit that I had no money. This information was enough for Skillmore and Leidman, and they went on their way, while I turned again to my fur skins.
Among my friends was one Walter, the dearest, softest, best-natured and most believing chap I ever knew. He was nearly as big a fool as I was in the way of having an unbounded faith in humanity and the future. ”

“ It must be understood that, for all his vices, Walter was essentially clean and kindly. He rushed into everything, [64] the bad with the good. He was not rotten with heavy hopelessness; though he was an outcast from his home, he was never a pariah. Not Walter, but the smug, devilish cities which took their revenues from saloon-keeping were to blame when he turned from the intolerable dullness of their streets to the excitement of alcohol in the saloons and brothels which they made so much more amusing than their churches and parlors. ”