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had a safe journey. This is the young gentleman I spoke of, Father."
"Mr. Sperling." The elder Mr. Downes frowned and looked him over from head to toe. "You are a very
young gentleman."
"I am two-and-twenty, sir," the young man said, flushing.
"And I daresay that like most young gentlemen you like to spend money as fast as you can get your
hands on it," Mr. Downes said. "Or faster."
The flush deepened. Jack squared his shoulders. "I have worked for my living for the past year, sir," he
said. "Everything I earn, everything I can spare from feeding myself and setting a roof over my head is
used to pay off debts that I did not incur."
"Yes, yes," Mr. Downes said, his frown suggestive of irritation. "You are foolish enough to beggar
yourself for the sake of an extravagant father, I daresay. For the sake of that ridiculous notion of a
gentleman's honor."
The young man's nostrils flared. "Sir," he said, "with all due respect I will not hear my father insulted. And
a gentleman's honor is his most precious possession."
Mr. Downes waved a dismissive hand. "If you work for my son and me, young man," he said, "you may
grow rich. But if you intend to spend your hard-earned pounds on paying a father's debts, you are not the
man for us. You will need more expensive and more fashionable clothes than those you are wearing and
more than a decent roof over your head. You will need a wife who can do you credit in the business
world. I believe you have a lady in mind. You will need to think of yourself, not of creditors to whom you
owe nothing if you but forget about a gentleman's honor. The opportunity is there. My son has already
offered it and I am prepared to agree with him. But only if you are prepared to make yourself into a
single-minded businessman. Are you?"
Jack had turned pale. He could work for these two powerful men, who knew how to be successful, how
to grow rich. As a gentleman with a gentleman's education and experience as his father's steward and
more lately as aLondonclerk, he could be trained by them, groomed by them for rapid promotion until he
was in a position to make his own independent fortune. It was the chance of a lifetime, a dream situation.
He would be able to offer for Fanny Grainger. All he had to do was swallow a few principles and say
yes.
Edgar watched his face. This was not an approach he would have taken himself. His father had grown up
in a harsher world.
"No, sir." Jack Sperling's face was parchment white. The words were almost whispered. But they were
quite unmistakable. "No, thank you, sir. I shall return to town by stage. I thank you for your time. And for
yours, sir." His eyes turned in Edgar.
"Why not?" Mr. Downes barked. "Because you are a gentleman, I suppose. Foolish puppy."
"Yes, sir," Jack said, very much on his dignity. "Because I am a gentleman and proud of it. I would rather
starve as a gentleman, sir, than live as a rich man as a As a " He bowed abruptly. "Good day to
you."
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"Sit down, Mr. Sperling," Mr. Downes said, indicating a chair behind the young man. "My son judged
you rightly, it seems. I might have known as much. We have business to discuss. Men who go into trade
for the sole purpose of getting rich, even if it means turning their backs upon all their responsibilities and
obligations and even if it means riding roughshod over the persons and livelihoods and feelings of
everyone else  such men often do prosper. But they are not men I care to know or do business with.
You are not such a man, it seems."
Jack looked from him to Edgar.
"It was a test," Edgar said, shrugging. "You have passed it."
"I would have appreciated your trust, sir," the young man said stiffly, "without the test. I am a gentleman."
"And I am not, Mr. Sperling," Mr. Downes said. "I am a businessman. Sit down. You are a fortunate
young man. You know, I suppose, what gave my son the idea of taking you on as a bright prospect for
our business."
"Mr. Downes was obliged to marry Lady Stapleton," Jack Sperling said, "and wished to reduce the
humiliation to Miss Grainger, who expected his offer. Yes, I understand, sir."
"It is in our interest to make you an acceptable groom for the lady," Mr. Downes said, "who will be
arriving here with her mama and papa before the day is out, I daresay." Jack Sperling flushed again. "But
make no mistake, young man. There is no question of your being paid off. We demand work of our
employees."
"I would not accept a single farthing that I had not earned, sir," Jack said. "Or accept a bride who had
been bought for me."
"And about your father's property," Mr. Downes said. "Yourlatefather?"
The young man inclined his head. "He died more than a year ago," he said.
"And the property?" Mr. Downes was drumming the fingers of one hand on the arm of his chair. "It has
been sold?"
"Not yet," Jack said. "It is in a state of some dilapidation."
"I am willing to buy it," Mr. Downes said. "As an investment. As a business venture. When the time is
right I will sell it again for a profit  or my son will if it is after my time. To you, Mr. Sperling. When you [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]