Page:The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club.djvu/601

503 THE PICKWICK CLUB. 503

" No * i/*' in the case, my dear Sir," said Perker, triumphantly. woman at nine o'clock this morning, before 1 had set foot in this place, or held any communication with Mrs. Bardell, upon my honour/' And selecting the letter from the bundle, the little lawyer laid it at Mr. Pickwick's elbow, and took snuff for two consecutive minutes without winking.
 * There is the very letter I speak of. Brought to my office by another

" Is this all you have to say to me ? " enquired Mr. Pickwick, mildly.

" Not quite," replied Perker. " I cannot undertake to say at this moment, whether the wording of the cognovit, the nature of the osten- sible consideration, and the proof we can get together about the whole conduct of the suit, will be sufficient to justify an indictment for con- spiracy. I fear not, my dear Sir ; they are too clever for that, I doubt. 1 do mean to say, however, that the whole facts, taken together, will be sufficient to justify you in the minds of all reasonable men. And now, my dear Sir, I put it to you. This one hundred and fifty pounds, or whatever it may be — take it in round numbers — is nothing to you. A jury has decided against you ; well, their verdict is wrong, but still they decided as they thought right, and it is against you. You have now an opportunity, on easy terms, of placing yourself in a much higher position than you ever could by remaining here ; which would only be imputed by people who didn't know you to sheer, dogged, wrong- headed, brutal obstinacy : nothing else, my dear Sir, believe me. Can you hesitate to avail yourself of it, when it restores you to your friends, your old pursuits, your health and amusements ; when it liberates your faithful and attached servant, whom you otherwise doom to imprison- ment for the whole of your life ? and above all, when it enables you to take the very magnanimous revenge — which I know, my dear Sir, is one after your own heart — of releasing this woman from a scene of misery and debauchery, to which no man should ever be consigned if I had my will, but the infliction of which, on any female, is frightful and barbarous. Now I ask you, my dear Sir, not only as your legal adviser, but as your very true friend, will you let slip the occasion of attaining all these objects and doing all this good, for the paltry con- sideration of a few pounds finding their way into the pockets of a couple of rascals, to whom it makes no manner of difference, except that the more they gain the more they'll seek, and so the sooner be led into some piece of knavery that must end in a crash ? I have put these considera- tions to you, my dear Sir, very feebly and imperfectly, but I ask you to think of them — turn them over in your mind as long as you please : I wait here most patiently for your answer."

Before Mr. Pickwick could reply, before Mr. Perker had taken one twentieth part of the snuff which so unusually long an address im- peratively required to be followed up with, there was a low murmuring of voices outside, and then a hesitating knock at the door.

" Dear, dear,'' exclaimed Mr. Pickwick, who had been evidently roused by his friend's'appeal ; "' what an annoyance that door is ! Who is that ?"

" Me, Sir," replied Sam Weller, putting in his head.