Master Humphreys Clock | Page 8

'Do you remember,' said the other, stepping forward, - 'DO you
remember little Joe Toddyhigh?'
The port wine fled for a moment from the fruiterer's nose as he
muttered, 'Joe Toddyhigh! What about Joe Toddyhigh?'
'I am Joe Toddyhigh,' cried the visitor. 'Look at me, look hard at me, -
harder, harder. You know me now? You know little Joe again? What a
happiness to us both, to meet the very night before your grandeur! O!
give me your hand, Jack, - both hands, - both, for the sake of old times.'
'You pinch me, sir. You're a-hurting of me,' said the Lord Mayor elect
pettishly. 'Don't, - suppose anybody should come, - Mr. Toddyhigh, sir.'
'Mr. Toddyhigh!' repeated the other ruefully.
'O, don't bother,' said the Lord Mayor elect, scratching his head. 'Dear
me! Why, I thought you was dead. What a fellow you are!'

Indeed, it was a pretty state of things, and worthy the tone of vexation
and disappointment in which the Lord Mayor spoke. Joe Toddyhigh
had been a poor boy with him at Hull, and had oftentimes divided his
last penny and parted his last crust to relieve his wants; for though Joe
was a destitute child in those times, he was as faithful and affectionate
in his friendship as ever man of might could be. They parted one day to
seek their fortunes in different directions. Joe went to sea, and the now
wealthy citizen begged his way to London, They separated with many
tears, like foolish fellows as they were, and agreed to remain fast
friends, and if they lived, soon to communicate again.
When he was an errand-boy, and even in the early days of his
apprenticeship, the citizen had many a time trudged to the Post- office
to ask if there were any letter from poor little Joe, and had gone home
again with tears in his eyes, when he found no news of his only friend.
The world is a wide place, and it was a long time before the letter came;
when it did, the writer was forgotten. It turned from white to yellow
from lying in the Post-office with nobody to claim it, and in course of
time was torn up with five hundred others, and sold for waste-paper.
And now at last, and when it might least have been expected, here was
this Joe Toddyhigh turning up and claiming acquaintance with a great
public character, who on the morrow would be cracking jokes with the
Prime Minister of England, and who had only, at any time during the
next twelve months, to say the word, and he could shut up Temple Bar,
and make it no thoroughfare for the king himself!
'I am sure I don't know what to say, Mr. Toddyhigh,' said the Lord
Mayor elect; 'I really don't. It's very inconvenient. I'd sooner have given
twenty pound, - it's very inconvenient, really.' - A thought had come
into his mind, that perhaps his old friend might say something
passionate which would give him an excuse for being angry himself.
No such thing. Joe looked at him steadily, but very mildly, and did not
open his lips.
'Of course I shall pay you what I owe you,' said the Lord Mayor elect,
fidgeting in his chair. 'You lent me - I think it was a shilling or some
small coin - when we parted company, and that of course I shall pay
with good interest. I can pay my way with any man, and always have
done. If you look into the Mansion House the day after to-morrow, -
some time after dusk, - and ask for my private clerk, you'll find he has a

draft for you. I haven't got time to say anything more just now, unless,'
- he hesitated, for, coupled with a strong desire to glitter for once in all
his glory in the eyes of his former companion, was a distrust of his
appearance, which might be more shabby than he could tell by that
feeble light, - 'unless you'd like to come to the dinner to-morrow. I don't
mind your having this ticket, if you like to take it. A great many people
would give their ears for it, I can tell you.'
His old friend took the card without speaking a word, and instantly
departed. His sunburnt face and gray hair were present to the citizen's
mind for a moment; but by the time he reached three hundred and
eighty-one fat capons, he had quite forgotten him.
Joe Toddyhigh had never been in the capital of Europe before, and he
wandered up and down the streets that night amazed at the number of
churches and other public buildings, the splendour of the shops, the
riches that were heaped up on every