This will show you what sort of a man Jim Marshall was, and how useful he could be to anybody who wanted anything. He got us our billiard-table, and it was in this way. Harry was saying one night that, as soon as he could afford it, he would have a billiard-room; but he couldn’t yet, as the table would cost such a lot of money, if it was by a good maker.
“Nonsense!” said Marshall; “do you want a good billiard-table?”
“Well,” said Harry, “I do want one, but I can’t afford——”
“It isn’t a question of affording. If I can get you one as good as new, with all the fittings complete—balls, cues, and everything—will you go to fifty pounds?”
“Certainly,” said Harry.
“Then get your billiard-room ready.”
Harry knew Marshall would keep his word. So we made a room at the back, with a little alteration, into a billiard-room. And as soon as it was ready Marshall said, “All right. The table is coming down from London to-morrow.”
And it did come, and a beautiful table it was, and as good as new. Harry said it couldn’t have been played on many times, and must have cost a lot of money when it was new. Marshall, it seems, knew of a young gentleman in London, who had come into some money, and fitted up a billiard-room in his house, and then taken a fit into his head to travel. And when he came back he didn’t want to live in a house any more, but was going to have chambers, and he wanted to get rid of a lot of his things. How Marshall did it, I don’t know; but, at any rate, we got our table and everything complete for fifty pounds.
Having a billiard-table was very nice for some things. Gentlemen who stayed at the hotel—artists, and such like—found it a great comfort on wet days and long evenings, and several of the young gentlemen from the houses round about would come in, and get up a game at pool, and it certainly did the house good in that way, though it brought one or two customers that I didn’t care about at all—young fellows who were too clever by half, as Harry said, and who came to make money at the game, and I don’t think were very particular how they made it.
Harry said, when we put the table up, that we should have to be careful, and keep the place select, as, if a billiard-room wasn’t well looked after, it soon got to be a meeting-place for the wrong class of customers.