Mr Pancks was one of the very few marriageable men for whom Miss Rugg
had no terrors, the argument with which he reassured himself being
twofold; that is to say, firstly, 'that it wouldn't do twice,' and
secondly, 'that he wasn't worth it.' Fortified within this double
armour, Mr Pancks snorted at Miss Rugg on easy terms.
Up to this time, Mr Pancks had transacted little or no business at his
quarters in Pentonville, except in the sleeping line; but now that he
had become a fortune-teller, he was often closeted after midnight
with Mr Rugg in his little front-parlour office, and even after those
untimely hours, burnt tallow in his bed-room. Though his duties as his
proprietor's grubber were in no wise lessened; and though that service
bore no greater resemblance to a bed of roses than was to be discovered
in its many thorns; some new branch of industry made a constant demand
upon him. When he cast off the Patriarch at night, it was only to take
an anonymous craft in tow, and labour away afresh in other waters.
The advance from a personal acquaintance with the elder Mr Chivery to
an introduction to his amiable wife and disconsolate son, may have been
easy; but easy or not, Mr Pancks soon made it. He nestled in the bosom
of the tobacco business within a week or two after his first appearance
in the College, and particularly addressed himself to the cultivation of
a good understanding with Young John. In this endeavour he so prospered
as to lure that pining shepherd forth from the groves, and tempt him
to undertake mysterious missions; on which he began to disappear at
uncertain intervals for as long a space as two or three days together.
The prudent Mrs Chivery, who wondered greatly at this change, would have
protested against it as detrimental to the Highland typification on the
doorpost but for two forcible reasons; one, that her John was roused to
take strong interest in the business which these starts were supposed
to advance--and this she held to be good for his drooping spirits;
the other, that Mr Pancks confidentially agreed to pay her, for the
occupation of her son's time, at the handsome rate of seven and sixpence
per day. The proposal originated with himself, and was couched in the
pithy terms, 'If your John is weak enough, ma'am, not to take it,
that is no reason why you should be, don't you see? So, quite between
ourselves, ma'am, business being business, here it is!'
What Mr Chivery thought of these things, or how much or how little he
knew about them, was never gathered from himself. It has been already
remarked that he was a man of few words; and it may be here observed
that he had imbibed a professional habit of locking everything up. He
locked himself up as carefully as he locked up the Marshalsea debtors.
Even his custom of bolting his meals may have been a part of an uniform
whole; but there is no question, that, as to all other purposes, he kept
his mouth as he kept the Marshalsea door. He never opened it without
occasion. When it was necessary to let anything out, he opened it a
little way, held it open just as long as sufficed for the purpose, and
locked it again.