Sowerby

“ He sat himself down in his ordinary way, and began to speak of the subject of the day.
"We're all to go," said Sowerby.
"So I hear," said the private secretary. "It will give me no trouble; for, as the respectable Buggins says, we're in the Upper House now."
"What a delightful time those lucky dogs of lords do have!" said Sowerby. "No constituents, no turning out, no fighting, no necessity for political opinions—and, as a rule, no such opinions at all!"
"I suppose you're tolerably safe in East Barsetshire?" said Robarts. "The duke has it pretty much his own way there." ”

“ Sowerby was no longer a client of the duke's, but his opponent; no longer his nominee and dependent, but his enemy in the county. "Chaldicotes," as old Mr. Gumption remarked to young Mr. Gagebee, "Chaldicotes, Gagebee, is a cooked goose, as far as Sowerby is concerned. And what difference could it make to him whether the duke is to own it or Miss Dunstable? For my part, I can not understand how a gentleman like Sowerby can like to see his property go into the hands of a gallipot wench whose money still smells of bad drugs. And nothing can be more ungrateful," he said, "than Sowerby's conduct. ”

“ Sowerby was a Whig, and was seated in Parliament mainly by the interest of that great Whig autocrat the Duke of Omnium, whose residence was more dangerous even than that of Mr. Sowerby, and whom Lady Lufton regarded as an impersonation of Lucifer upon earth. Mr. Sowerby, too, was unmarried—as indeed, also, was Lord Lufton, much to his mother’s grief. Mr. Sowerby, it is true, was fifty, whereas the young lord was as yet only twenty-six, but, nevertheless, her ladyship was becoming anxious on the subject. In her mind, every man was bound to marry as soon as he could maintain a wife ”

“ The duke had bought up nearly all the debts which had been secured upon the property, and now could make a clean sweep of it. Sowerby, when he received that message from Mr. Fothergill, knew well that this was intended; and he knew well, also, that when once he should cease to be Mr. Sowerby of Chaldicotes, he need never again hope to be returned as member for West Barsetshire. This world would for him be all over. And what must such a man feel when he reflects that this world is for him all over? ”

“ Sowerby of Chaldicotes. Tidings had reached him, through Mr. Fothergill, that the duke would be glad to have matters arranged; and Mr. Sowerby well knew the meaning of that message.
Mr. Sowerby was not fighting this campaign alone, without the aid of any ally. Indeed, no man ever had a more trusty ally in any campaign than he had in this. And it was this ally, the only faithful comrade that clung to him through good and ill during his whole life, who first put it into his head that Miss Dunstable was a woman and might be married. ”

“ But all the world must admit that Sowerby was not in the position which a county member ought to occupy. He was a ruined man, and it would not be for his own advantage that he should be maintained in a position which was fit only for a man of property. He knew—he, Fothergill—that Mr. Sowerby must abandon all right and claim to Chaldicotes; and if so, what would be more absurd than to acknowledge that he had a right and claim to the seat in Parliament? As to Lord Dumbello, it was probable that he would soon become one of the largest landowners in the county ”

“ Sowerby to mention the duke's name upon the hustings."
And it so happened that Mr. Sowerby never did mention the duke's name.
It is ill fighting when the spirit is gone, and Mr. Sowerby's spirit for such things was now well-nigh broken. It is true that he had escaped from the net in which the duke, by Mr. Fothergill's aid, had entangled him, but he had only broken out of one captivity into another. Money is a serious thing, and, when gone, can not be had back by a shuffle in the game, or a fortunate blow with the battledoor, as may political power, or reputation, or fashion. ”

“ The duke had the power; Sowerby knew that the duke had the power; and Fothergill's business was to explain that the duke meant to exercise his power. He was used to the work, and went on turning over the papers, and pretending to read them, as though his doing so were of the greatest moment.
"I shall see the duke myself," Mr. Sowerby said at last, and there was something almost dreadful in the sound of his voice.
"You know that the duke won't see you on a matter of this kind. He never speaks to any one about money ”

“ It was soon put beyond a rumor, and became manifest enough, that Mr. Sowerby did not intend to retire from the county in obedience to the duke's behests. A placard was posted through the whole division in which no allusion was made by name to the duke, but in which Mr. Sowerby warned his friends not to be led away by any report that he intended to retire from the representation of West Barsetshire. ”

“ There is the bill, Lord Lufton," and Sowerby, producing a document, handed it across the table to his lordship. "I gave five-and-twenty pounds for it this morning."
Lord Lufton took the paper and looked at it. "Yes," said he, "that's the bill. What am I to do with it now?"
"Put it with the family archives," said Sowerby—"or behind the fire, just which you please."
"And is this the last of them? Can no other be brought up?"
"You know better than I do what paper you may have put your hand to. I know of no other. At the last renewal, that was the only outstanding bill of which I was aware." ”

“ Sowerby. "The matter's pretty much in our own hands."
"Altogether," said Mr. Green Walker. "That's what my uncle always says."
"The Manchester men will only be too happy for the chance," said Harold Smith.
"And as for the high and dry gentlemen," said Mr. Sowerby, "it's not very likely that they will object to pick up the fruit when we shake the tree."
"As to picking up the fruit, that's as may be," said Mr. Supplehouse. Was he not the man to save the nation; and if so, why should he not pick up the fruit himself? Had not the greatest power in the country pointed him out as such, a savior? ”

“ Sowerby was one of those men who are always mixing up business with pleasure, and who have usually some scheme in their mind which requires forwarding. Men of this class have, as a rule, no daily work, no regular routine of labour; but it may be doubted whether they do not toil much more incessantly than those who have.
“Lufton is so dilatory,” Mr. Sowerby said. “Why did he not arrange this at once, when he promised it? And then he is so afraid of that old woman at Framley Court. Well, my dear fellow, say what you will; she is an old woman and she’ll never be younger. ”

“ From them and all their brethren Mr. Sowerby at this time endeavored to keep his distance, but his endeavors were not altogether effectual. Whenever he could escape for a day or two from the lawyers, he ran down to Chaldicotes; but Tom Tozer, in his perseverance, followed him there, and boldly sent in his name by the servant at the front door.
"Mr. Sowerby is not just at home at the present moment," said the well-trained domestic. ”

“ Sowerby, this seeking of pecuniary assistance from the very woman whose hand he had attempted to gain about a fortnight since; but he allowed his sister to prevail. What could any man do in such straits that would not go against the grain? At the present moment he felt in his mind an infinite hatred against the duke, Mr. Fothergill, Gumption and Gagebee, and all the tribes of Gatherum Castle and South Audley Street; they wanted to rob him of that which had belonged to the Sowerbys before the name of Omnium had been heard of in the county, or in England! ”

“ Sowerby gave a final wink, and said that he regarded the matter as settled.
"No, not settled, Nathaniel," said the cautious minister.
"It's the same thing," rejoined Sowerby. "We all know what all that flummery means. Men in office, Mark, never do make a distinct promise,—not even to themselves of the leg of mutton which is roasting before their kitchen fires. It is so necessary in these days to be safe; is it not, Harold?"
"Most expedient," said Harold Smith, shaking his head wisely. "Well, Robarts, who is it now?" ”

“ Sowerby had supported the government at the late crisis; but why was he now seen herding with such a one as Supplehouse?
"He did it pretty well, I think," said Sowerby.
"Very well, indeed," said Supplehouse; "as he always does those sort of things. No man makes so good an explanation of circumstances, or comes out with so telling a personal statement. He ought to keep himself in reserve for those sort of things."
"And who in the meantime is to carry on the Queen's government?" said Harold Smith, looking very stern.
"That should be left to men of lesser mark," said he of the Jupiter. ”

“ The Duke of Omnium was the very head of all such sinners, and Lady Lufton greatly feared that her son might be made subject to the baneful Omnium influence, by means of Mr. Sowerby and Chaldicotes.
And then Mr. Sowerby was known to be a very poor man, with a very large estate. He had wasted, men said, much on electioneering, and more in gambling. ”

“ Why should the duke lend you money without an object? Of course he has his own views. But I do say this; he has not hurried you; and had you been able to do anything to save the place you might have done it. You have had time enough to look about you."
Sowerby still stood in the place in which he had first fixed himself, and now for awhile he remained silent. His face was very stern, and there was in his countenance none of those winning looks which often told so powerfully with his young friends,—which had caught Lord Lufton and had charmed Mark Robarts. ”

“ Sowerby should actually endeavour to defraud his friend, had smoothed down the young lord's anger, and recommended him to get the case referred to some private arbiter. All this had afterwards been discussed between Robarts and Mr. Sowerby himself, and hence had originated their intimacy. The matter was so referred, Mr. Sowerby naming the referee; and Lord Lufton, when the matter was given against him, took it easily. His anger was over by that time. "I've been clean done among them," he said to Mark, laughing; "but it does not signify; a man must pay for his experience. ”

“ However, I am not going to set my opinion up against Miss Sowerby's. Where I can follow her I find so much clear insight and observation that I must needs have faith in her good judgment where I cannot understand. This arrangement still leaves me free to prefer her in her less serious moments. Here she is irresistible with that delicate humour of hers that is always in the picture and never has to resort to the device of manufactured epigram. There is true artistry in her lightest touch. Her people are not galvanised puppets; they simply draw their breath and there they are. ”

“ Sowerby was there, and Mark Robarts's hopes were nearly at an end.
"Do you mean that they will demand nine hundred pounds?" said Robarts, standing up and glaring angrily at the member of Parliament.
"I fear that they will," said Sowerby. "I think it is best to tell you the worst, in order that we may see what can be done."
"I can do nothing, and will do nothing," said Robarts. "They may do what they choose—what the law allows them." ”

“ He is a man that must be absolutely avoided; I, at any rate, have learned to know so much."
In the expression of which opinion Lord Lufton was too hard upon poor Sowerby; as indeed we are all apt to be too hard in forming an opinion upon the rogues of the world. That Mr. Sowerby had been a rogue, I cannot deny. It is roguish to lie, and he had been a great liar. It is roguish to make promises which the promiser knows he cannot perform, and such had been Mr. Sowerby's daily practice. It is roguish to live on other men's money, and Mr. Sowerby had long been doing so. ”

“ But yet Mark could not see how this should be so.
But what was he to do? That threat of cost and lawyers, and specially of the newspapers, did have its effect upon him—as no doubt it was intended to do. And then he was utterly dumbfounded by Sowerby's impudence in drawing on him for £500 instead of £400, "covering," as Sowerby so good-humoredly said, "sundry little outstanding trifles."
But at last he did sign the bill, and sent it off, as Sowerby had directed. What else was he to do?
Fool that he was. A man always can do right, even though he has done wrong before. ”

“ Mr. Flint, by reflection, was by no means so exultant as the worthy shoe-mender. The odd mode of packing away a deed of such importance, with no assignable motive for doing so, except the needless awe with which Sowerby was said to have inspired his feeble-spirited client, together with what Caleb had said of the shattered state of the deceased's mind after the interview with Mrs. Warner's daughter, suggested fears that Sowerby might dispute, and perhaps successfully, the validity of this last will. My excellent partner, however, determined, as was his wont, to put a bold face on the matter ”

“ Robarts then told him about the projected marriage with Miss Dunstable, giving it as his opinion that the lady would probably accept the gentleman.
"Not at all improbable," said his lordship, "for Sowerby is an agreeable fellow; and if it be so, he will have all that he wants for life. But his creditors will gain nothing. The duke, who has his title-deeds, will doubtless get his money, and the estate will in fact belong to the wife. But the small fry, such as you, will not get a shilling." ”