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_ Next day he felt stronger again. He had been listening to the voice
of the evil one on the night before, and would parley no more with
such thoughts. He had chosen his profession, and his duty was to
persevere with it. If he was unhappy it was probably because he was
not giving up all for Christ. Let him see whether he could not do
more than he was doing now, and then perhaps a light would be shed
upon his path.
It was all very well to have made the discovery that he didn't very
much like poor people, but he had got to put up with them, for it
was among them that his work must lie. Such men as Towneley were
very kind and considerate, but he knew well enough it was only on
condition that he did not preach to them. He could manage the poor
better, and, let Pryer sneer as he liked, he was resolved to go more
among them, and try the effect of bringing Christ to them if they
would not come and seek Christ of themselves. He would begin with
his own house.
Who then should he take first? Surely he could not do better than
begin with the tailor who lived immediately over his head. This
would be desirable, not only because he was the one who seemed to
stand most in need of conversion, but also because, if he were once
converted, he would no longer beat his wife at two o'clock in the
morning, and the house would be much pleasanter in consequence. He
would therefore go upstairs at once, and have a quiet talk with this
man.
Before doing so, he thought it would be well if he were to draw up
something like a plan of a campaign; he therefore reflected over
some pretty conversations which would do very nicely if Mr Holt
would be kind enough to make the answers proposed for him in their
proper places. But the man was a great hulking fellow, of a savage
temper, and Ernest was forced to admit that unforeseen developments
might arise to disconcert him. They say it takes nine tailors to
make a man, but Ernest felt that it would take at least nine Ernests
to make a Mr Holt. How if, as soon as Ernest came in, the tailor
were to become violent and abusive? What could he do? Mr Holt was
in his own lodgings, and had a right to be undisturbed. A legal
right, yes, but had he a moral right? Ernest thought not,
considering his mode of life. But put this on one side; if the man
were to be violent, what should he do? Paul had fought with wild
beasts at Ephesus--that must indeed have been awful--but perhaps
they were not very wild wild beasts; a rabbit and a canary are wild
beasts; but, formidable or not as wild beasts go, they would,
nevertheless stand no chance against St Paul, for he was inspired;
the miracle would have been if the wild beasts escaped, not that St
Paul should have done so; but, however all this might be, Ernest
felt that he dared not begin to convert Mr Holt by fighting him.
Why, when he had heard Mrs Holt screaming "murder," he had cowered
under the bed clothes and waited, expecting to hear the blood
dripping through the ceiling on to his own floor. His imagination
translated every sound into a pat, pat, pat, and once or twice he
thought he had felt it dropping on to his counterpane, but he had
never gone upstairs to try and rescue poor Mrs Holt. Happily it had
proved next morning that Mrs Holt was in her usual health.
Ernest was in despair about hitting on any good way of opening up
spiritual communication with his neighbour, when it occurred to him
that he had better perhaps begin by going upstairs, and knocking
very gently at Mr Holt's door. He would then resign himself to the
guidance of the Holy Spirit, and act as the occasion, which, I
suppose, was another name for the Holy Spirit, suggested. Triply
armed with this reflection, he mounted the stairs quite jauntily,
and was about to knock when he heard Holt's voice inside swearing
savagely at his wife. This made him pause to think whether after
all the moment was an auspicious one, and while he was thus pausing,
Mr Holt, who had heard that someone was on the stairs, opened the
door and put his head out. When he saw Ernest, he made an
unpleasant, not to say offensive movement, which might or might not
have been directed at Ernest and looked altogether so ugly that my
hero had an instantaneous and unequivocal revelation from the Holy
Spirit to the effect that he should continue his journey upstairs at
once, as though he had never intended arresting it at Mr Holt's
room, and begin by converting Mr and Mrs Baxter, the Methodists in
the top floor front. So this was what he did.
These good people received him with open arms, and were quite ready
to talk. He was beginning to convert them from Methodism to the
Church of England, when all at once he found himself embarrassed by
discovering that he did not know what he was to convert them from.
He knew the Church of England, or thought he did, but he knew
nothing of Methodism beyond its name. When he found that, according
to Mr Baxter, the Wesleyans had a vigorous system of Church
discipline (which worked admirably in practice) it appeared to him
that John Wesley had anticipated the spiritual engine which he and
Pryer were preparing, and when he left the room he was aware that he
had caught more of a spiritual Tartar than he had expected. But he
must certainly explain to Pryer that the Wesleyans had a system of
Church discipline. This was very important.
Mr Baxter advised Ernest on no account to meddle with Mr Holt, and
Ernest was much relieved at the advice. If an opportunity arose of
touching the man's heart, he would take it; he would pat the
children on the head when he saw them on the stairs, and ingratiate
himself with them as far as he dared; they were sturdy youngsters,
and Ernest was afraid even of them, for they were ready with their
tongues, and knew much for their ages. Ernest felt that it would
indeed be almost better for him that a millstone should be hanged
about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend
one of the little Holts. However, he would try not to offend them;
perhaps an occasional penny or two might square them. This was as
much as he could do, for he saw that the attempt to be instant out
of season, as well as in season, would, St Paul's injunction
notwithstanding, end in failure.
Mrs Baxter gave a very bad account of Miss Emily Snow, who lodged in
the second floor back next to Mr Holt. Her story was quite
different from that of Mrs Jupp the landlady. She would doubtless
be only too glad to receive Ernest's ministrations or those of any
other gentleman, but she was no governess, she was in the ballet at
Drury Lane, and besides this, she was a very bad young woman, and if
Mrs Baxter was landlady would not be allowed to stay in the house a
single hour, not she indeed.
Miss Maitland in the next room to Mrs Baxter's own was a quiet and
respectable young woman to all appearance; Mrs Baxter had never
known of any goings on in that quarter, but, bless you, still waters
run deep, and these girls were all alike, one as bad as the other.
She was out at all kinds of hours, and when you knew that you knew
all.
Ernest did not pay much heed to these aspersions of Mrs Baxter's.
Mrs Jupp had got round the greater number of his many blind sides,
and had warned him not to believe Mrs Baxter, whose lip she said was
something awful.
Ernest had heard that women were always jealous of one another, and
certainly these young women were more attractive than Mrs Baxter
was, so jealousy was probably at the bottom of it. If they were
maligned there could be no objection to his making their
acquaintance; if not maligned they had all the more need of his
ministrations. He would reclaim them at once.
He told Mrs Jupp of his intention. Mrs Jupp at first tried to
dissuade him, but seeing him resolute, suggested that she should
herself see Miss Snow first, so as to prepare her and prevent her
from being alarmed by his visit. She was not at home now, but in
the course of the next day, it should be arranged. In the meantime
he had better try Mr Shaw, the tinker, in the front kitchen. Mrs
Baxter had told Ernest that Mr Shaw was from the North Country, and
an avowed freethinker; he would probably, she said, rather like a
visit, but she did not think Ernest would stand much chance of
making a convert of him. _
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