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‘Rather! It’s the height of human felicity, Mr. Spicer. I envy you vastly.’

‘Well, sir, I’m rather disposed to look at it in that light myself. My nature is not discontented, Mr. Goldthorpe. But, sir, if you could have seen me when the lawyer began to explain about the houses! I was absolutely ignorant of the leasehold system; and at first I really couldn’t understand. The lawyer thought me a fool, I fear, sir. And when I came down here and saw the houses themselves! I’m afraid, Mr. Goldthorpe, I’m really afraid, sir, I was weak enough to shed a tear.’

They were sitting by the light of a very small lamp, which did not tend to cheerfulness.

‘Come,’ cried Goldthorpe, ‘after all, the houses are yours for a twelvemonth. Why shouldn’t we both live on here all the time? It’ll be a little breezy in winter, but we could have the fireplaces knocked into shape, and keep up good fires. When I’ve sold my book I’ll pay a higher rent, Mr. Spicer. I like the old house, upon my word I do! Come, let us have a tune before we go to bed.’

Smiling and happy, Mr. Spicer fetched from the cupboard his concertina, and after the usual apology for what he called his ‘imperfect mastery of the instrument,’ sat down to play ‘Home, Sweet Home.’ He had played it for years, and evidently would never improve in his execution. After ‘Home, Sweet Home’ came ‘The Bluebells of Scotland,’ after that ‘Annie Laurie’; and Mr. Spicer’s repertory was at an end. He talked of learning new pieces, but there was not the slightest hope of this achievement.

Mr. Spicer’s mental development had ceased more than twenty years ago, when, after extreme efforts, he had attained the qualification of chemist’s assistant. Since then the world had stood still with him. Though a true lover of books, he knew nothing of any that had been published during his own lifetime. His father, though very poor, had possessed a little collection of volumes, the very same which now stood in Mr. Spicer’s cupboard. The authors represented in this library were either English classics or obscure writers of the early part of the nineteenth century. Knowing these books very thoroughly, Mr. Spicer sometimes indulged in a quotation which would have puzzled even the erudite. His favourite poet was Cowper, whose moral sentiments greatly soothed him. He spoke of Byron like some contemporary who, whilst admitting his lordship’s genius, felt an abhorrence of his life. He judged literature solely from the moral point of view, and was incapable of understanding any other. Of fiction he had read very little indeed, for it was not regarded with favour by his parents. Scott was hardly more than a name to him. And though he avowed acquaintance with one or two works of Dickens, he spoke of them with an uneasy smile, as if in some doubt as to their tendency. With these intellectual characteristics, Mr. Spicer naturally found it difficult to appreciate the attitude of his literary friend, a young man whose brain thrilled in response to modern ideas, and who regarded himself as the destined leader of a new school of fiction. Not indiscreet, Goldthorpe soon became aware that he had better talk as little as possible of the work which absorbed his energies. He had enough liberality and sense of humour to understand and enjoy his landlord’s conversation, and the simple goodness of the man inspired him with no little respect. Thus they got along together remarkably well. Mr. Spicer never ceased to feel himself honoured by the presence under his roof of one who–as he was wont to say–wielded the pen. The tradition of Grub Street was for him a living fact. He thought of all authors as struggling with poverty, and continued to cite eighteenth-century examples by way of encouraging Goldthorpe and animating his zeal. Whilst the young man was at work Mr. Spicer moved about the house with soundless footsteps. When invited into his tenant’s room he had a reverential demeanour, and the sight of manuscript on the bare deal table caused him to subdue his voice.