Then he bade us both good-day, without any attempt to press his attentions upon Jessie. Jessie asked me what I thought of him, and I could not help answering that he seemed to be a gentleman, but made some demur to his addressing her by her Christian name.
'Oh, that is the fashion in the profession,' said Jessie carelessly; there is nothing in that.'
'He is not an actor, is he, Jessie?'
'No; he is something in the City.'
This vague definition of many a man's occupation, common as it is, was new to me, and I inquired what the 'something' was. Jessie could not enlighten me. I continued my inquiries by asking her how she knew that he was something in the City. He himself had told her, Mr. Rackstraw had told her, and young ladies whose acquaintance she had made at Mr. Rackstraw's had also told her.
'He is at Mr. Rackstraw's every day, Jessie?' I said.
'Nearly every day, Chris,' she answered, and closed the subject of conversation by saying that, at all events, Mr. Glover was a perfect gentleman.
I did not find him to be otherwise; he was uniformly courteous to me, and I could not make open complaint against him because his courtesy was of a kind which a superior yields to an inferior. He was a gentleman, and I was a common workman; I chafed at it inwardly, nevertheless. I would have avoided him if I could, but he would not allow me to do so. The second time I walked into Mr. Rackstraw's office I met him at the door, and he fastened on to me. I had come for Jessie? Yes. Was I coming every day for Jessie? Yes. I had plenty of spare time then? Yes. I was fond of Jessie, he supposed? I answered as briefly as was consistent with bare civility, but I made no reply to his last question. He was neither surprised nor exacting. As I did not answer the question, he answered it himself. It was natural that I should be fond other; we had been brought up together as brother and sister, he had been given to understand; yes, it was natural that I should be fond of her in that way--natural, indeed, that we should be fond of each other in that way. He had been given to understand, also, that we were not in any way related to one another; but he could see that in an instant, without being told. Jessie was a lady, evidently; I might tell her he said that, if I pleased, for he was never ashamed of what he said or did; Jessie was a lady in her manners, in her speech, in her ideas; and these things do not come to one by instinct, or even by education; they must be born in one.
This and much more he said; conveying by implication (what indeed I knew already) that Jessie was far above me, and (what I could not doubt) that he was a gentleman, and I was not. He had a trick of playing with his moustaches, which he continually curled into his mouth with his fingers as he spoke; and even at that early period of our acquaintanceship, I, in my instinctive dislike of him, thought there was something stealthy in the action. Standing before me, with his fingers to his mouth, Mr. Glover there and then commenced to expatiate upon a theme of which I heard a great deal afterwards from his lips: this theme was his good name, of which he was evidently very proud. There was not a stain upon it, nor upon that of any of his connections; he had never harboured a thought to tarnish his character, which was above reproach. He did not express these sentiments in the words I have used, but these were the pith of them, and there was a distinct assertion in his utterances that he was much better than his fellow-creatures. I, listening to him, understood exactly what he meant to convey to my comprehension: that even if we twain had been equal in station, his high character and stainless name would have placed him far above me.
In a week from this time Jessie told me that Mr. Glover had made closer inquiries about me, and hearing that I was a wood engraver, had expressed his intention of interesting himself in my career. I was not pleased at this; I did not wish to be placed under an obligation to Mr. Glover, and I muttered something to this effect to Jessie. She seemed surprised, but made no comment upon it. Mr. Glover, however, was as good as his word. I received a letter from a master engraver, desiring me to call upon him, with reference to some work he wished to give me. The hour fixed for the appointment was the hour at which I was due at Mr. Rackstraw's. I had no choice but to comply; and I made arrangements that afternoon, not only to engrave some blocks of a superior description, but to submit sketches of my own, upon wood, for a Christmas story which was to be published that year. The interview was a long one, and when I arrived home, I was not pleased to find Mr. Glover chatting to my mother in our sitting-room. He had seen Jessie home, and, in compliance with uncle Bryan's desire, had brought her to the door. An introduction to uncle Bryan and my mother naturally followed, and thus he was introduced to the house. He asked me pleasantly whether I had made satisfactory arrangements, and confessed that he had been the means of introducing this better kind of work to me. He received my mother's thanks graciously, and it made me mad to see that she thought it was a stroke of great good fortune to have won such a patron. What could I do but thank him also for the introduction? That I did so in an ungracious and even in a sullen manner did not seem to strike him; Jessie noticed it, however.