Poor and Proud; Or The Fortunes of Katy Redburn: A Story for Young Folks Read online

  CHAPTER III.

  KATY AND MASTER SIMON SNEED VISIT THE PAWNBROKER'S SHOP.

  The court in which Katy lived had once been the abode of many veryrespectable families, to use a popular word, for respectable does notalways mean worthy of respect on account of one's virtues, but worthyof respect on account of one's lands, houses, and money. In the formersense it was still occupied by very respectable families, though noneof them possessed much of the "goods that perish in the using" Mrs.Redburn, the seamstress, was very respectable; Mrs. Colvin, thewasher-woman, was very respectable, so were Mrs. Howard, the tailoress,Mr. Brown, the lumper, and Mr. Sneed, the mason.

  Katy's mother lived in a small house, with three other families. Sheoccupied two rooms, for which she paid four dollars a month, the amountof rent now due and unpaid. Dr. Flynch took a great deal of pleasure intelling Mrs. Redburn how his humanity and his regard for the welfare ofthe poor had induced him to fix the rent at so cheap a rate; but healways finished by assuring her that this sum must be promptly paid,and that no excuses could ever have any weight.

  The next house to Mrs. Redburn was tenanted by Mr. Sneed, the mason. Idon't know whether I ought to say that Mr. Sneed had a son, or thatMaster Simon Sneed had a father, being at a loss to determine which wasthe more important personage of the two; but I am not going to sayanything against either of them, for the father was a very honest masonand the son was a very nice young man.

  Katy knocked at the door of this house, and inquired for Master SimonSneed. She was informed that he had not yet finished his dinner; andshe decided to wait in the court till he made his appearance. Seatingherself on the door stone, she permitted her mind to wander back to thenarrative her mother had related to her. She glanced at her coarseclothes, and could hardly believe that her grandfather was a richmerchant, and lived in a fine house. How nice it would be if she couldonly find the old gentleman! He could not be cross to her; he wouldgive her all the money she could spend, and make a great lady of her.

  "Pooh! what a fool I am to think of such a thing!" exclaimed sheimpatiently, as she rose from the door stone. "I am a beggar, and whatright have I to think of being a fine lady, while my poor sick motherhas nothing to eat and drink? It is very hard to be so poor, but Isuppose it is all for the best."

  "Do you want me, Katy?" said a voice from the door, which Katyrecognized as that of Master Simon Sneed.

  "I want to see you very much," replied Katy.

  "Wait a moment, and I will join you."

  And in a moment Master Simon Sneed did join her; but he is so much of acuriosity, and so much of a character, that I must stop to tell myyoung readers all about him.

  Master Simon Sneed was about fifteen years old, and tall enough to havebeen two years older. He was very slim, and held his head verystraight. In 1843, the period of which I write, it was the fashion forgentlemen to wear straps upon their pantaloons; and accordingly MasterSimon Sneed wore straps on his pantaloons, though, it is true, the boysin the street used to laugh and hoot at him for doing so; but they werevery ill-mannered boys, and could not appreciate the dignity of himthey insulted.

  Master Sneed's garments were not of the finest materials, but though hewas a juvenile dandy, it was evident that it required a great deal ofpersonal labor to make him such.

  Clearly those straps were sewed on by himself, and clearly thosecowhide shoes had been thus elaborately polished by no other hands thanhis own. In a word, the appearance of his clothes, coarse as was theirtexture, and unfashionable as was their cut, indicated the mostscrupulous care. It was plain that he had a fondness for dress, whichhis circumstances did not permit him to indulge to any very greatextent.

  Master Simon Sneed was a great man in his own estimation; and, as hehad read a great many exciting novels, and had a good command oflanguage, he talked and acted like a great man. He could hold his ownin conversation with older and wiser persons than himself. He couldastonish almost any person of moderate pretensions by the largeness ofhis ideas; and, of late years, his father had not pretended to hold anargument with him, for Simon always overwhelmed him by the force andelegance of his rhetoric. He spoke familiarly of great men and greatevents.

  His business relations--for Master Sneed was a business man--were notvery complicated. According to his own reckoning, he was the chiefperson in the employ of Messrs. Sands & Co., wholesale and retail drygood Washington Street; one who had rendered immense service to thefirm, and one without whom the firm could not possibly get along asingle day; in short, a sort of Atlas, on whose broad shoulders thevast world of the Messrs. Sands & Co.'s affairs rested. But accordingto the reckoning of the firm, and the general understanding of people,Master Simon was a boy in the store, whose duty it was to make fires,sweep out, and carry bundles, and, in consideration of the fact thathe boarded himself to receive two dollars and a half a week for hisservices. There was a vast difference between Master Simon Sneed'sestimate of Masters Simon Sneed, and the Messrs. Sands & Co.'s idea ofMaster Simon Sneed.

  But I beg my young friends not to let anything I have written create aprejudice against him, for he was really a very kind-hearted young man,and under certain circumstances would have gone a great way to oblige afriend. He had always been exceedingly well disposed towards Katy;perhaps it was because the simple-hearted little girl used to be somuch astonished when he told her about his mercantile relations withthe firm of Sands & Co.; and how he managed all their business for themafter the store was closed at night, and before the front door wasunlocked in the morning; how he went to the bank after immense sums ofmoney; and how the firm would have to give up business if he shoulddie, or be obliged to leave them. Katy believed that Master Simon was agreat man, and she wondered how his long, slim arms could accomplish somuch labor, and how his small head could hold such a heap ofmagnificent ideas. But Master Simon, notwithstanding his elevatedposition in the firm, was condescending to her; he had more than oncedone her a favor and had always expressed a lively interest in herwelfare. Therefore she did not scruple to apply to him in the presentemergency.

  "Well, Katy, in what manner can I serve you?" inquired Simon, as heelevated his head, and stood picking his teeth before her.

  "I want you to do something for me very much indeed."

  "State your business, Katy."

  "Dr. Flynch has been to our house to-day, and wants the rent; motherhasn't any money----"

  "And you wish me to lend you the amount?" continued Simon, when Katyhesitated to reveal the family trouble. "It is really unfortunate,Katy; it is after bank hours now, and I don't see that I canaccommodate you."

  "O, I don't want to borrow the money."

  "Ah, you don't."

  "I have got a watch here, which belonged to my father; and I want topawn it for the money to pay the rent."

  "Well, it is rather out of our line of business to lend money oncollateral."

  "I don't want you to lend it. I want you to take it to thepawnbroker's. Mother says I am so young and so small that they mightcheat me; and I thought perhaps, may be, you'd be so kind as to go withme."

  "Go with you!" exclaimed Master Simon, as he eyed her coarse, ill-madegarments.

  "I thought you would," replied Katy, with a look of disappointment.

  "Well, Katy, I shall be very glad to assist you in this matter, but----"

  Master Simon paused, and glanced again at the unfashionable dress ofthe suppliant. He was, as he said, willing to aid her; but the idea ofthe principal personage of the house of Sands & Co. walking through thestreets of the great city with such an ill-dressed young lady wasabsurd, and not to be tolerated. Master Sneed reflected. It isundoubtedly true that "where there is a will there is a way."

  "Where do you wish to go?" demanded he.

  "I don't know."

  "Do you know where Brattle Street is?"

  "I don't, but I can find it."

  "Very well; important business in another street requires my personalattention for a moment, but I will join you in Brattle Street
in aquarter of an hour, and attend you to a pawnbroker's."

  "Thank you."

  Master Sneed gave her directions so that she could find the street, andat the end of the court, as she turned one way, he turned the other.

  Katy was first at the appointed place of meeting, where Simon soonjoined her; and directing her to follow him, he led the way intoanother street, and entered a shop.

  "This young person wishes to raise some money on a watch," said Simon,as he directed the attention of the astonished broker to Katy, who wasscarcely tall enough to be seen over the high counter.

  "Let me see it."

  Katy handed up the watch, which the money lender opened and carefullyexamined. His practised eye soon discovered that the works of the watchwere of the best quality.

  "Where did you get this?" asked the broker.

  "My mother gave it to me;" and Katy told without reserve the pitifulstory of want and destitution which compelled Mrs. Redburn to part withthe cherished memento of the past.

  "I will give you three dollars for the watch," added the broker.

  "Come, come, sir," interposed Master Simon, with a smile; "that is alittle too bad. A gentleman of your judgment and discretion has alreadyassured himself that the article is worth at least twenty."

  The broker drew a long breath after this speech, and seemed very muchimpressed by the style of the remark. But Katy declared she did notwant to sell the watch, only to pawn it.

  "Your story is not a very plausible one," said the broker, "and thereis some risk in taking it."

  "I give you my personal assurance, on honor that her story is alltrue," added Simon.

  The broker burst out into a loud laugh. He could not stand Simon's finespeeches, and would not take the watch at any rate; so they departed tofind another place, and entered a shop close by.

  "Where did you get this?" asked the broker sourly, and Katy repeatedher story, and Simon vouched for its truth.

  "It is all a lie," exclaimed the broker, "I will put the watch into mysafe and hand it over to the police."

  "This is a most extraordinary proceeding," protested Master Simon.

  "Get out of the shop, both of you, or I will hand you over to thepolice! You stole the watch, and have the audacity to bring it into theshop of an honest man. I don't buy stolen goods."

  Katy began to cry, as the last hope of redemption from the fangs of Dr.Flynch fled. Even Master Simon Sneed was alarmed at the idea of beinghanded over to the police; but his sense of dignity compelled him toenter his earnest protest, against the proceeding of the broker, andeven to threaten him with the terrors of the law. The money-lenderrepeated his menace, and even went to the door, for the apparentpurpose of putting it into execution.

  "Come, Katy, let us go; but I assure you I will represent this outrageto my friend the mayor, in such a manner that entire justice shall bedone you," whispered Simon. "I cannot remain any longer away from mybusiness, or I would recover the watch at once."

  "O, dear! my poor mother!" sobbed Katy.

  "Don't cry, my child; leave it all to me, and run home as fast as youcan. You shall have the watch again, for I will call in the wholepolice force of Boston to your aid;" and Master Simon ran away toattend to the affairs of Sands & Co., which Katy innocently concludedmust be suffering by this time from his absence.

  Poor Katy! with a heavy heart she wandered home to tell her mother ofthis new misfortune.