Part 59 (1/2)

The waiter looked a little perplexed.

'I should like to go to gaol at once,' said Ferdinand.

'Lord! sir!' said the little waiter.

'Yes! I cannot bear this,' he continued; 'I shall go mad.'

'Don't you think your friends will call soon, sir?'

'I have no friends,' said Ferdinand. 'I hope n.o.body will call.'

'No friends!' said the little waiter, who began to think Ferdinand was not such a n.o.b as he had imagined. 'Why, if you have no friends, sir, it would be best to go to the Fleet, I think.'

'By Jove, I think it would be better.'

'Master thinks your friends will call, I am sure.'

'n.o.body knows I am here,' said Ferdinand.

'Oh!' said the little waiter, 'You want to let them know, do you, sir?'

'Anything sooner; I wish to conceal my disgrace.'

'O sir! you are not used to it; I dare say you never were nabbed before?'

'Certainly not.'

'There it is; if you will be patient, you will see everything go well.'

'Never, my good fellow; nothing can go well.'

'O sir! you are not used to it. A regular n.o.b like you, nabbed for the first time, and for such a long figure, sir, sure not to be diddled.

Never knowed such a thing yet. Friends sure to stump down, sir.'

'The greater the claim, the more difficulty in satisfying it, I should think,' said Ferdinand.

'Lord! no, sir: you are not used to it. It is only poor devils nabbed for their fifties and hundreds that are ever done up. A n.o.b was never nabbed for the sum you are, sir, and ever went to the wall. Trust my experience. I never knowed such a thing.'

Ferdinand could scarcely refrain from a smile. Even the conversation of the little waiter was a relief to him.

'You see, sir,' continued that worthy, 'Morris and Levison would never have given you such a deuce of a tick unless they knowed your resources.

Trust Morris and Levison for that. You done up, sir! a n.o.b like you, that Morris and Levison have trusted for such a tick! Lord! sir, you don't know nothing about it. I could afford to give them fifteen s.h.i.+llings in the pound for their debt myself and a good day's business, too. Friends will stump down, sir, trust me.'

'Well, it is some satisfaction for me to know that they will not, and that Morris and Levison will not get a farthing.'

'Well, sir,' said the incredulous little functionary, 'when I find Morris and Levison lose two or three thousand pounds by a n.o.b who is nabbed for the first time, I will pay the money myself, that is all I know.'

Here the waiter was obliged to leave Ferdinand, but he proved his confidence in that gentleman's fortunes by his continual civility, and in the course of the day brought him a stale newspaper. It seemed to Ferdinand that the day would never close. The waiter pestered him about dinner, eulogising the cook, and a.s.suring him that his master was famous for champagne. Although he had no appet.i.te, Ferdinand ordered dinner in order to ensure the occurrence of one incident. The champagne made him drowsy; he was shown to his room; and for a while he forgot his cares in sleep.