“It is Mr. Curtis I desire to see,” said I.
“It's four hours too early, then,” said the same speaker. “Old Joe won't be stirring till nigh eight o'clock. If Mr. Archy would do, he's in the stables, and it's the best time to talk to him.”
“And if it's the master you want,” chimed in another, “he 's your man.”
“Lead me to him, then,” said I, resolving at least to see the person who claimed to be supreme in this strange household. Traversing a number of passages and dirty, ill-kept rooms, we descended by a small stone stair into an ample courtyard, two sides of which were occupied by ranges of stables. The spacious character of the building and the costly style of the arrangements were evident at a glance; and even a glance was all that I had time for, when my guide, whispering, “There is Mr. Archy,” hurriedly withdrew and left me. The person indicated was standing as if to examine a young horse which had met with some accident, for the animal could scarcely move, and with the greatest difficulty could bring up his hind legs.
I had time to observe him; and certainly, though by no means deficient as regarded good features, I had rarely seen anything so repulsive as the expression of his face. Coarsely sensual and brutal, they were rendered worse by habits of dissipation and debauch; and in the filmy eye and the tremulous lip might be read the signs of habitual drunkenness. In figure he was large and most powerfully built, and if not over-fleshy, must have been of great muscular strength.
“Shoot him, Ned,” he cried, after a few minutes of close scrutiny; “he's as great a cripple as old Joe himself.”
“I suppose, your honor,” said the groom, “there's nothing else to be done, it 's in the back it is.”
“I don't care a curse where it is,” said the other, savagely; “I only know when a horse can't go. You can put a bullet in him, and more's the pity all other useless animals are not as easily disposed of.—And who is our friend here?” added he, turning and approaching where I stood.
I briefly said that I was a stranger desirous of seeing and speaking with Mr. Curtis; that my business was one of importance not less to myself than to him; and that I would feel obliged if he could procure me the opportunity I sought for.
“If you talk of business, and important business,” said he, sternly, “you ought to know, if you haven't heard it already, that the man you want to discuss it with is upwards of a hundred years of age; that he is a doting idiot; and that, for many a day, the only one who has given any orders here now stands before you.”