The Dynamiter | Page 2

'Paul Somerset!'

'I am indeed Paul Somerset,' returned the other, 'or what remains of him
after a well-deserved experience of poverty and law. But in you,
Challoner, I can perceive no change; and time may be said, without
hyperbole, to write no wrinkle on your azure brow.'
'All,' replied Challoner, 'is not gold that glitters. But we are here in an
ill posture for confidences, and interrupt the movement of these ladies.
Let us, if you please, find a more private corner.'
'If you will allow me to guide you,' replied Somerset, 'I will offer you
the best cigar in London.'
And taking the arm of his companion, he led him in silence and at a
brisk pace to the door of a quiet establishment in Rupert Street, Soho.
The entrance was adorned with one of those gigantic Highlanders of
wood which have almost risen to the standing of antiquities; and across
the window-glass, which sheltered the usual display of pipes, tobacco,
and cigars, there ran the gilded legend: 'Bohemian Cigar Divan, by T.
Godall.' The interior of the shop was small, but commodious and ornate;
the salesman grave, smiling, and urbane; and the two young men, each
puffing a select regalia, had soon taken their places on a sofa of
mouse-coloured plush and proceeded to exchange their stories.
'I am now,' said Somerset, 'a barrister; but Providence and the attorneys
have hitherto denied me the opportunity to shine. A select society at the
Cheshire Cheese engaged my evenings; my afternoons, as Mr. Godall
could testify, have been generally passed in this divan; and my
mornings, I have taken the precaution to abbreviate by not rising before
twelve. At this rate, my little patrimony was very rapidly, and I am
proud to remember, most agreeably expended. Since then a gentleman,
who has really nothing else to recommend him beyond the fact of being
my maternal uncle, deals me the small sum of ten shillings a week; and
if you behold me once more revisiting the glimpses of the street lamps
in my favourite quarter, you will readily divine that I have come into a
fortune.'
'I should not have supposed so,' replied Challoner. 'But doubtless I met
you on the way to your tailors.'
'It is a visit that I purpose to delay,' returned Somerset, with a smile.
'My fortune has definite limits. It consists, or rather this morning it
consisted, of one hundred pounds.'
'That is certainly odd,' said Challoner; 'yes, certainly the coincidence is

strange. I am myself reduced to the same margin.'
'You!' cried Somerset. 'And yet Solomon in all his glory--'
'Such is the fact. I am, dear boy, on my last legs,' said Challoner.
'Besides the clothes in which you see me, I have scarcely a decent
trouser in my wardrobe; and if I knew how, I would this instant set
about some sort of work or commerce. With a hundred pounds for
capital, a man should push his way.'
'It may be,' returned Somerset; 'but what to do with mine is more than I
can fancy. Mr. Godall,' he added, addressing the salesman, 'you are a
man who knows the world: what can a young fellow of reasonable
education do with a hundred pounds?'
'It depends,' replied the salesman, withdrawing his cheroot. 'The power
of money is an article of faith in which I profess myself a sceptic. A
hundred pounds will with difficulty support you for a year; with
somewhat more difficulty you may spend it in a night; and without any
difficulty at all you may lose it in five minutes on the Stock Exchange.
If you are of that stamp of man that rises, a penny would be as useful; if
you belong to those that fall, a penny would be no more useless. When
I was myself thrown unexpectedly upon the world, it was my fortune to
possess an art: I knew a good cigar. Do you know nothing, Mr.
Somerset?'
'Not even law,' was the reply.
'The answer is worthy of a sage,' returned Mr. Godall. 'And you, sir,' he
continued, turning to Challoner, 'as the friend of Mr. Somerset, may I
be allowed to address you the same question?'
'Well,' replied Challoner, 'I play a fair hand at whist.'
'How many persons are there in London,' returned the salesman, 'who
have two-and-thirty teeth? Believe me, young gentleman, there are
more still who play a fair hand at whist. Whist, sir, is wide as the world;
'tis an accomplishment like breathing. I once knew a youth who
announced that he was studying to be Chancellor of England; the
design was certainly ambitious; but I find it less excessive than that of
the man who aspires to make a livelihood by whist.'
'Dear me,' said Challoner, 'I am afraid I shall have