Smithers

“ In due course Mr Peter Begg said, "Send me Smithers." The clerk who took the message said to Smithers, "You're going to get beans." And at this all the heroism in Smithers [Pg 129] arose and boiled over, and he spluttered out that he thought it would be rather the other way.
"Look here," said Mr Begg, "how do you come to make such an infernal fool of yourself as this, Smithers?" Smithers was now well alight.
"Kindly understand once for all that there are some expressions I don't permit to be used to me by any man." ”

“ Smithers coughed apologetically.
"I never was a hand at figures, Sigrid."
"Never mind. Take your time."
"I don't know rightly—it looks to me like a thousand."
"That must be about right. Well, that's what we've got. No more. What would you have me do—teach dancing to loutish girls in some stuffy English suburb? No, Smithy. You wouldn't. In my art there is no one greater than I—there never has been—and though I want to live I mustn't burn out like some poor candle. I must be a splendid rocket, lighting up all the country, and most splendid of all at the last. Then darkness." ”

“ The other two English, Humfrey Holt and John Smithers, strong full-grown men, rode in fiercely to the rescue, and Berenger himself struggled furiously to loose himself from the captain, and deliver his brother. Suddenly there was the report of a pistol: poor Smithers fell, there was a moment of standing aghast, and in that moment the one man and the two youths were each pounced on by three or four gendarmes, thrown down and pinioned. ”

“ Later, the medal would be produced. Poor Alfred Smithers! Nature's low comedian, and yet smitten with a raging madness [Pg 128] for the strut, the soliloquy, the limelight, the sympathetic music, the roar of applause!
In his new part of hero he invented business that was not good. He began to be, as he phrased it, "master in his own house." He interfered in matters which were the special province of Mrs Smithers. He gave detailed instructions in domestic subjects of which he was completely ignorant, and brought upon himself ridicule. ”

“ As he was the only representative of Smithers & Co., he was treated with marked respect wherever he appeared.
The young man, whether partner or clerk, had evidently the supreme control of affairs. He swayed in his own hands the thunder-bolts of this Olympian power. Nothing daunted him. The grandeur of his enterprises dazzled the public mind. His calm antagonism to the great houses of London filled them with surprise. A new power had seized a high place in the commercial world, and the old gods—the Rothschilds, the Barings, and others—looked aghast. ”

“ He was a young man, spry and chipper. In one hand he held a rather portly notebook and in the other a fountain pen. He had been making all sorts of inquiries of Smithers and his men, assuming the killingly businesslike air always worn by young reporters, who think thereby to hide the fact that they are young. This young reporter thought he had right here the chance of his lifetime to make himself famous. He saw a chance for three columns on the first page about the things that had happened to Smithers’ circus that day and he meant to work that chance for every word it was worth. ”

“ Am I a—fool, or an impostor?"
"Well," parried Smithers with all a South Kensington student's want of polish, "that's a bit personal."
"Assume, sir, that I am an honest observer."
"Well?"
"I have seen spirits, heard spirits, felt the touch of spirits." He opened his pale eyes very widely.
"Fool, then," said Smithers in an undertone which did not reach the ears of the spiritualist.
"You may have been deceived," paraphrased Lewisham.
"I can assure you. . . others can see, hear, feel. I have tested, sir. Tested! I have some scientific training and I have employed tests. ”

“ Look at this.
(Smithers comes forward and looks at pot as she indicates.)
Smithers.
I see nothing there, Miss.
Loveday.
The earth has been disturbed here—look, the rest of the pot is covered with moss.
Duchess.
Oh, Loveday, Loveday. The gardener has pulled up a weed, I suppose. Pulling up weeds always does disturb the moss. Even the Government knows that.
Loveday.
Gordon, Mr. Smithers—haven’t you a penknife one of you? Dig just there for me, please do.
Varlie.
(Gets suddenly restive in his keepers’ hands.) This is the limit! This beats everything. She put it there herself.
Smithers. ”

“ He dismissed the mediumistic séances as trickery.
"Rot and imposture," said Smithers loudly, and with an oblique glance to see if his challenge reached its mark. Its mark was a grizzled little old man with a very small face and very big grey eyes, who had been standing listlessly at one of the laboratory windows until the discussion caught him. He wore a brown velvet jacket and was reputed to be enormously rich. His name was Lagune. He was not a regular attendant, but one of those casual outsiders who are admitted to laboratories that are not completely full. ”

“ Smithers, with ruffled grey hair and a face of care and perpetual perplexity, sat beneath the marble Venus knitting a pair of mittens which no human being was ever likely to wear.
"Smithy, this lady has come all the way from Calcutta. She's Mrs. Barclay—Jim's wife."
Mrs. Smithers let the mittens drop into her lap, but she gave no other sign of consternation. She was in the state of a person who has been subjected to a vigorous course of electric treatment and has become impervious to shocks. ”

“ Smithers, who at once pushed it with a careless gesture towards his companion. You can of course guess the date I made use of: July 17, 19—. Mr. T——, who had evidently looked upon this matter as mere play, flushed scarlet as he read these words, and for one instant looked as if he had rather fly the house than answer Joe Smithers's nonchalant glance of inquiry.
"I have given my word and will keep it," he said at last, but with a look in my direction that sent me reluctantly back to my retreat. "I don't suppose you want names," he went on ”

“ The major might have added that he was too well known to be trusted, for, though a smart, clever man, he made a scanty and precarious living by his wits.
"See here, major," said Smithers, "I'm a stranger, and not posted. You can call me Smithers. I've got a few hundred dollars and the goods in the wagon. My intention was to open a corner grocery to get a living."
"Won't do; there are too many of them. I'll tell you what to do, and you can bet your life that I know this community better than you," said the major. ”

“ Smithers set out to explain why not, and happened on confusion. "I still believe the man has powers," said Lagune.
"Of deception," said Smithers.
"Those I must eliminate," said Lagune. "You might as well refuse to study electricity because it escaped through your body. All new science is elusive. No investigator in his senses would refuse to investigate a compound because it did unexpected things. ”

“ If you dare to shrink in any one point from your duty, at that instant I will come down upon you with a heavy hand. You, too, are watched. I have other agents here in Brandon besides yourself. Many of those who go to the bank as customers are my agents. You can not be false without my knowing it; and when you are false, that moment you shall be handed over to the authorities. Do you hear?”
The face of Smithers was mild, but his tone was stern. It was the warning of a just yet merciful master. All the timid nature of Philips bent in deep subjection before the powerful spirit of this man. ”

“ Smithers did as he was directed, and extended his arms in the air.
"Where are you from, and what have you got?" was the next question.
"From Jersey City, and last from Omaha," replied Smithers. "I have a few stores in the wagon, and very little money. It is all I have to keep my wife and two [Pg 149] children. Gentlemen, for pity's sake, don't deprive us of our only means of gaining a livelihood!"
"Oh, drop on yourself!" answered the captain, impatiently. "Play light! What are you?—a ranting preacher?"
"I was a dry-goods clerk, sir." ”

“ Smithers, two of the finest equipped men on earth for inveigling the proletariat, whether by word of mouth, sleight-of-hand or swiftness of foot. Dukes come and go, explorers go and get lost, but me and Jeff Peters,' says Andy, 'go after the come-ons forever. ”

“ The next morning I sent for Mr Smithers, who made his appearance, and showed him what had taken place.
"Dear me, I'm very sorry; but you had too many people above stairs—that is very clear."
"Very clear, indeed, Mr Smithers. We had a ball last night."
"A ball, sir! Oh, then no wonder."
"No wonder! What! do you mean to say that balls are not to be given?"
"Why, really, sir, we do not build private houses for ball-rooms—we could not, sir; the price of timber just now is enormous, and the additional strength required would never pay us." ”

“ With these words, Smithers seized his leathern thong, and was advancing towards the hump-back, when the wretched lad threw himself on his knees, clasped his hands together, and cried, "No,—don't, father—don't! I can't bear that lash! You don't know how it hurts.—I'll do all you tell me."
"Well, that's speaking proper—that is," said the executioner, dropping the already uplifted thong.
"It's all for your good that I use it now and then, Gibbet. Don't I want to make a man of you? Look at the money you can earn if you'll only make yourself a name like me. ”

“ Having brought his best girl to town, and being secure in his skill with his farm plugs, he strode forward timidly to make a name for himself in Highland Falls forever.
“Ah!” said Smithers, serenely. “One gent has nerve! I knew that America with her sons of freedom could produce one man bold enough to dare this feat.”
The country youth hesitated a moment in front of his mount, while the crowd leaned forward in expectation. Having petted Smasher in a professional way and observed that the horse still hung its sleepy head, the rider summoned all his nerve and straddled the pony. ”

“ Smithers laughed in a tremulous manner.
"What!" he exclaimed. "Apprentice him to an undertaker?"
"Why not? You might require his services sooner than you expect. If ours is not such a respectable trade as the dry-goods business, we are as much in request as you are. You clothe the living, we clothe the dead."
"I couldn't hear of such a thing," replied Smithers. [Pg 15] "Besides, the boy hasn't finished his schooling. He knows nothing."
Tommy re-entered the room and spread a snow-white cloth over the table.
"There's a little man," said Barker, encouragingly. ”

“ We will not trouble our readers, or shock their ears or senses, by a recapitulation of the dialogue; suffice it to say, that if warm it was short. So that when Eleanor discovered the disputants she witnessed the exacerbation of Smithers' ire, and the descent of his whip across William's shoulders. The fate of Smithers on this occasion might have been similar to what it was on a former one had not the attention of William been drawn off from his purpose by hearing a loud shriek at his rear. ”

“ It had the effect of suborning his countenance to the match, and enlisting his strenuous exertions, to induce Eleanor to accede to the wishes of the Smithers family, [121] and plight herself anew to the man who had already received her youthful acquiescence.
The offer that Smithers had made to Rainsfield was this. That they should enter into partnership, and throw their respective properties into one concern, and work together on equal terms. Smithers was to embark all the country he was then possessed of, or the proceeds arising from the sale of any portion, and what capital he could command ”

“ Smithers, Tommy's mother had two children, a boy and a girl, who had respectively received the high-sounding names of Harold Stamford Smithers and Alice Regina Smithers.
Mr. Smithers himself was a clerk in a New York dry-goods house, and he resided in a quiet part of Jersey City, about half a mile from the ferry.
He prided himself upon being high-toned, and above all things boasted that he was master in his own house. ”

“ As fine, upstanding, square-toed, bullet-headed, clean-living a son of a gun as ever perjured himself in the box. There was nothing of the softy about Smithers. I took off my billicock to Smithers' memory. ”

“ While Smithers was speaking, the House very still—and perhaps, with the exception of an understrapper of the Treasury, enjoying a five minutes’ snooze, or deep in a statistical calculation, not a soul was on the government benches at all—nobody listened to Smithers; yet, on went Smithers stuttering incoherently, reading from his notes with fearful pauses between, screaming p. ”

“ His patience with the recalcitrant prisoners delighted the Admiral, who more than once assured his wife that Smithers was an intelligent fellow and quite an artist in his way.
“I wonder how he manages it,” said Mrs. Trewbody: “he told baby last autumn that a little bird would fly out of the camera when he took off the cap; and every one allows that the result is most lifelike. ”

“ And a little later Alfred Smithers, with a distinct chill on the heroism, went up to bed.
The chill was even more distinct when in the small hours of the morning Mrs Smithers shook [Pg 131] him by the shoulder, awoke him, told him that there was a burglar in the kitchen, and asked him to go down.
In the small hours of the morning one's vitality is low. ”

“ Smithers. “I said I would have lent the money; and so to the acknowledged heir of Mrs. Hoggarty I would—would at this moment; for nothing delights the heart of Bob Smithers more than to do a kindness. I would have rejoiced in doing it; and a mere acknowledgment from that respected lady would have amply sufficed. But now, sir, the case is altered,—you have no security to offer, as you justly observe.” ”

“ Smithers,” said Dorothy, severely, 79 “I do not want to hear any more about dead people, or resurrected cats, or anything of that nature. What’s gone is gone, and there’s no use in continually referring to it.”
At this significant moment, Claudius Tiberius paraded somewhat ostentatiously through the kitchen and went outdoors.
“You see, Miss?” asked Mrs. Smithers, with ill-concealed satisfaction. “Wot’s gone ain’t always gone for long, that’s wot it ain’t.” ”