The American Senator | Page 8

meet of the hounds used to be held; and still the
meet at Bragton Bridge is popular in the county.


CHAPTER III
The Masters Family
At six o'clock one November morning, Mr. Masters, the attorney, was
sitting at home with his family in the large parlour of his house, his
office being on the other side of the passage which cut the house in two
and was formally called the hall. Upstairs, over the parlour, was a
drawing-room; but this chamber, which was supposed to be elegantly
furnished, was very rarely used. Mr. and Mrs. Masters did not see much
company, and for family purposes the elegance of the drawing-room
made it unfit. It added, however, not a little to the glory of Mrs.
Masters' life. The house itself was a low brick building in the High
Street, at the corner where the High Street runs into the market-place,
and therefore, nearly opposite to the Bush. It had none of the elaborate
grandeur of the inn nor of the simple stateliness of Hoppet Hall, but,
nevertheless, it maintained the character of the town and was old,

substantial, respectable, and dark.
"I think it a very spirited thing of him to do, then," said Mrs. Masters.
"I don't know, my dear. Perhaps it is only revenge."
"What have you to do with that? What can it matter to a lawyer whether
it's revenge or anything else? He's got the means, I suppose?"
"I don't know, my dear."
"What does Nickem say?"
"I suppose he has the means," said Mr. Masters, who was aware that if
he told his wife a fib on the matter, she would learn the truth from his
senior clerk, Mr. Samuel Nickem. Among the professional gifts which
Mr. Masters possessed, had not been that great gift of being able to
keep his office and his family distinct from each other. His wife always
knew what was going on, and was very free with her advice; generally
tendering it on that side on which money was to be made, and doing so
with much feminine darkness as to right or wrong. His Clerk, Nickem,
who was afflicted with no such darkness, but who ridiculed the idea of
scruple in an attorney, often took part against him. It was the wish of
his heart to get rid of Nickem; but Nickem would have carried business
with him and gone over to some enemy, or, perhaps have set up in
some irregular manner on his own bottom; and his wife would have
given him no peace had he done so, for she regarded Nickem as the
mainstay of the house.
"What is Lord Rufford to you?" asked Mrs. Masters.
"He has always been very friendly."
"I don't see it at all. You have never had any of his money. I don't know
that you are a pound richer by him."
"I have always gone with the gentry of the county."
"Fiddlesticks! Gentry! Gentry are very well as long as you can make a

living out of them. You could afford to stick up for gentry till you lost
the Bragton property." This was a subject that was always sore between
Mr. Masters and his wife. The former Mrs. Masters had been a
lady--the daughter of a neighbouring clergyman; and had been much
considered by the family at Bragton. The present Mrs. Masters was the
daughter of an ironmonger at Norrington, who had brought a thousand
pounds with her, which had been very useful. No doubt Mr. Masters'
practice had been considerably affected by the lowliness of his second
marriage. People who used to know the first Mrs. Masters, such as Mrs.
Mainwaring, and the doctor's wife, and old Mrs. Cooper, the wife of the
vicar of Mallingham, would not call on the second Mrs. Masters. As
Mrs. Masters was too high-spirited to run after people who did not
want her, she took to hating gentry instead.
"We have always been on the other side," said the old attorney, "I and
my father and grandfather before me."
"They lived on it and you can't. If you are going to say that you won't
have any client that isn't a gentleman, you might as well put up your
shutters at once."
"I haven't said so. Isn't Runciman my client?" "He always goes with the
gentry. He a'most thinks he's one of them himself."
"And old Nobbs, the greengrocer. But it's all nonsense. Any man is my
client, or any woman, Who can come and pay me for business that is fit
for me to do."
"Why isn't this fit to be done? If the man's been damaged, why
shouldn't he be paid?"
"He's had money offered him."
"If he thinks it ain't enough, who's to say that it is,--unless a jury?" said