THE SKETCHES.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1424, 15 June 1899, Page 12

THE SKETCHES.

He Fell imoag Thieves, J.-'•' * ■ • “• . ; A PRODIGAL’S EXPERIENCES. • I 'was at the time in that state of fir.anintoxication which envelopes some of ti 3 between the ages of 21 and 25. I •had spent all I. had got, most of that which I should have, and dipped pretty heavily into what I might never obtain. When I asked my friends for money they said, “Go to your bank.” I went, and they closed the account on sight with the nearest approach to rudeness that bank officials ever allow themselves. When I approached a man whom I had assisted to keep for two years while his father struggled with consumption in the Riviera, he took up a strong position on the hearthrug, announcing that when a . man could not get money from his bank there must be something wrong, and that for his part,he was a poor man, having • ONLY £2OOO A YEAR; ■besides, his expenses were so great that Areally, pleased as he would have been, he couldn’t. Why did I not go to Isaac ? tit was not the sort of thing that he would do himself, of course ; but still Isaac was better than Jacob, and, he had been told, a perfect philanthropist 1 when set against Levenstein. So he gave me Isaac’s address', and remembered a pressing engagement. When I called k again he was out. Isaac does his business in the West/.End and lives at various place* . He ,fiad prospered exceedingly, and by ■ Ui"vity of manner and a disregard of small ’pcohomies had earned the gratitude of ‘such of lus. clients as survived his '.treatment. There was nothing about .Isaac that could be objected to, unless, ' perhaps, it was the diamond ring which he wore outside his glove. His Sackmile street.tailor had wept salt tears of grief ever, that ring. -.dr Isaacs,” lie ..confided, to me on one occasion, “is my [despair. I cut hi-s clothes myself: I ■ have special employees who have spent a lifetime in ’’••• STUDYING THE UNEXPECTED . . TURNS, ■twists,and curves, of Ills body; he is docile about his clothes and always wears f.what ho is told; I don’t complain of him -in that way. But when by cunning art I have added half a cubit to his height 'And lessened the tread.ii of his waist by Hit least six inches, he ruins all my efforts by putting on that ring; and tells me its market value with pride.” There is no need to ring at the door of Mr Isaacs’s chambers, which are just • off ■ Piccadilly, for an ever-watebfu! clerk j sitting in the front room is warned of a your approach by means of an ingenious .‘arrangement’of mirrors, and opens , the /door by mmupulating a lever near his -■\harid, On thfe occasion of my visit, the ‘;pnexpected suddenness with which the ' door receded deceived me and I fell ilat .op my face,- thus following the example pof . Caesar when he was engaged on a -■ pillaging expedition. Gathering myself I was ascending the stairs, ywhen a delicate scent of real Parhift violets: warned me that Mr Isaacs was en,;.fl remembered that he had a Jcorner in married women $• and read the /"rimes” upside down for quite ten minuj tps until - a pleasant rustling of silk on , ,the..stairs told me that the visitor had •Ij Iqft, The. discreet clerk who had written out the bills for Mr Isaacs ever since he • came from the. borders of Poland, and o'yhq was popularly supposed to be his ...brother* bowed me into Mr Isaacs’s room .and retreated; or rather floated away, aso noiselessly did he seem to move. v.. “I have been'expecting you for some '■months,” said Mr Isaacs cheerfully, xutiffing his nose with the diamond ring. / “You see, I keep a list of, the young ' sparks, as I call them, and you are a little •, over due.” . ■:■!;... ; ~ X : This was. disconcerting in the extreme, xfthd: I commenced to lie hurriedly ibout rniy past expenditure, my present Resources, and my future prospects, while x-Mr Isaacs; biting off about a third of;a - large cigar, lit what; remained. • _“l‘Want £500,” I was saying, and the • tale rang,glibly off my tongue from con--11 stant repetition; “my aunt” . But Air Isaacs interupted me. “I think,” he said, pulling open a drawer at his side, “I can assist you a little, and save us both time. The only thing that you '-have left, Mr Spook, is - SETTLEMENT OP £l2O A YEAR; “you’ owij'^r 1000.; fee is my son, you see, so I know,” he continued, look • *“g.«P with a smile; “and last week vou ,jvent to Levenstein for a monkey —.ho - mamed ■my Sister,” he said in', a patonahdTie which he gave to Enoch come due ?”°And when he got the answer he explained •that Enoch wan his wife’s brother. ffJJ A'ery . aggra rating, and up'sqt my most- carefuDy arranged plans. .I-liad.vnpt realised ■until that mom cut ‘that;the financiers of the West-End were a large family with Isaacs as a controlling power.

see,” he remarked kindly, .“it Typuld ;haye:sa ; Ved: to milch trouble ff yoh had come to me first. Still when you told my first cousin that I was a usurer”— —*' .. j E Jrblushed atdhe recollection and looked towards the Hi . . _ *: ’ “I am only telling you these things,”

said Mr Isaacs,'with a curious kind of smile playing on his dark face, “so that we should understand one another; you see I am told so -many stories that 1 sometimes get tired, and when I cab I assist a customer.” .1 was very crushed and annoyed. “Are you going to lend me tins money f” I blurted out desperately, feeling an intense desire to stamp the diamond ring into his face. “Your bankruptcy petition lias snil three days to run,” replied Mr Isaacs serenely, and I KICKED MYSELF when I remembered that my opening statement had denied the existence of any legal proceedings against me and portrayed me as a man cf financial probity and Quixotic honour. “D—n it, man!” I hurst out, “you know I must have it;” and I ran about the room like a newly branded bullock in a foal yard. Mr Isaacs threw his cigar into the fireplace, and it narowly missed my nat in its course. “i have been working for forty years,” he said, walking towards the window and rattling the money in his trousers pockets. “I have almost decided to give up this business. Besides,” lie went cn, with a slight sneer, “supposing I were to lend you this money ; not that 1 think I shall—l don’t know when I. should see it back. You see you might go bankrupt, and where should.l come in? But I think we may do business.-”- And sitting down be made many calculations on the blotting paper with a jewelled pencil. “I will lend you £SOO, of which you will return me £2O for expenses, you will , MAKE A STATUTORY DECLARATION • • setting out means, if you have any,” and he chuckled at his own jest, “and you will assign that little income of yours to me in case of -accidents.” Broken as I was, I raised a feeble protest, but Mr Isaacs remembered an appointment and preoared to go out. Fearing the immediate certainty ci exposure more than subsequent obliteration, I begged him to'remain ; there was nothing I would not do, nothing I would not assign. For half an hour Ire demurred, and after signing enough statements to secure me five years, I left, having successfully got rid of the last of my patrimony. For twelve months Mr Isaacs and I did not meet, at which date a nc-tice in the “Gazette” reminded me that- be was still alive. When We met a t Carey street he thanked me for the '.£2o. I thought,” he said, “it would -do for expenses bankruptcy expenses. ’ St. James’s Gazette.”