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SYLVIE AND BRUNOCHAPTER 11.PETER AND PAUL.
"A s I was saying," the Other Professor resumed, "if you`ll just think over any Poem, that contains the words--such as
`Peter is poor,` said noble Paul,
`And I have always been his friend:
And, though my means to give are small,
At least I can afford to lend.
How few, in this cold age of greed,
Do good, except on selfish grounds!
But I can feel for Peter`s need,
And I WILL LEND HIM FIFTY POUNDS!`
How great was Peter`s joy to find
His friend in such a genial vein!
How cheerfully the bond he signed,
To pay the money back again!
`We ca`n`t,` said Paul, `be too precise:
`Tis best to fix the very day:
So, by a learned friend`s advice,
I`ve made it Noon, the Fourth of May.
But this is April! Peter said.
`The First of April, as I think.
Five little weeks will soon be fled:
One scarcely will have time to wink!
Give me a year to speculate--
To buy and sell--to drive a trade--`
Said Paul `I cannot change the date.
On May the Fourth it must be paid.`
`Well, well!` said Peter, with a sigh.
`Hand me the cash, and I will go.
I`ll form a Joint-Stock Company,
And turn an honest pound or so.`
`I`m grieved,` said Paul, `to seem unkind:
The money shalt of course be lent:
But, for a week or two, I find
It will not be convenient.`
So, week by week, poor Peter came
And turned in heaviness away;
For still the answer was the same,
`I cannot manage it to-day.`
And now the April showers were dry--
The five short weeks were nearly spent--
Yet still he got the old reply,
`It is not quite convenient!`
The Fourth arrived, and punctual Paul
Came, with his legal friend, at noon.
`I thought it best,` said he, `to call:
One cannot settle things too soon.`
Poor Peter shuddered in despair:
His flowing locks he wildly tore:
And very soon his yellow hair
Was lying all about the floor.
The legal friend was standing by,
With sudden pity half unmanned:
The tear-drop trembled in his eye,
The signed agreement in his hand:
But when at length the legal soul
Resumed its customary force,
`The Law,` he said, `we ca`n`t control:
Pay, or the Law must take its course!`
Said Paul `How bitterly I rue
That fatal morning when I called!
Consider, Peter, what you do!
You won`t be richer when you`re bald!
Think you, by rending curls away,
To make your difficulties less?
Forbear this violence, I pray:
You do but add to my distress!`
`Not willingly would I inflict,`
Said Peter, `on that noble heart
One needless pang. Yet why so strict?
Is this to act a friendly part?
However legal it may be
To pay what never has been lent,
This style of business seems to me
Extremely inconvenient!
`No Nobleness of soul have I,
Like some that in this Age are found!`
(Paul blushed in sheer humility,
And cast his eyes upon the ground)
`This debt will simply swallow all,
And make my life a life of woe!`
`Nay, nay, nay Peter!` answered Paul.
`You must not rail on Fortune so!
`You have enough to eat and drink:
You are respected in the world:
And at the barber`s, as I think,
You often get your whiskers curled.
Though Nobleness you ca`n`t attain
To any very great extent--
The path of Honesty is plain,
However inconvenient!`
"Tis true, `said Peter,` I`m alive:
I keep my station in the world:
Once in the week I just contrive
To get my whiskers oiled and curled.
But my assets are very low:
My little income`s overspent:
To trench on capital, you know,
Is always inconvenient!`
`But pay your debts!` cried honest Paul.
`My gentle Peter, pay your debts!
What matter if it swallows all
That you describe as your "assets"?
Already you`re an hour behind:
Yet Generosity is best.
It pinches me--but never mind!
I WILL NOT CHARGE YOU INTEREST!`
`How good! How great!` poor Peter cried.
`Yet I must sell my Sunday wig--
The scarf-pin that has been my pride--
My grand piano--and my pig!`
Full soon his property took wings:
And daily, as each treasure went,
He sighed to find the state of things
Grow less and less convenient.
Weeks grew to months, and months to years:
Peter was worn to skin and bone:
And once he even said, with tears,
`Remember, Paul, that promised Loan!`
Said Paul` I`ll lend you, when I can,
All the spare money I have got--
Ah, Peter, you`re a happy man!
Yours is an enviable lot!
`I`m getting stout, as you may see:
It is but seldom I am well:
I cannot feel my ancient glee
In listening to the dinner-bell:
But you, you gambol like a boy,
Your figure is so spare and light:
The dinner-bell`s a note of joy
To such a healthy appetite!`
Said Peter `I am well aware
Mine is a state of happiness:
And yet how gladly could I spare
Some of the comforts I possess!
What you call healthy appetite
I feel as Hunger`s savage tooth:
And, when no dinner is in sight,
The dinner-bell`s a sound of ruth!
`No scare-crow would accept this coat:
Such boots as these you seldom see.
Ah, Paul, a single five-pound-note
Would make another man of me!`
Said Paul `It fills me with surprise
To hear you talk in such a tone:
I fear you scarcely realise
The blessings that are all your own!
`You`re safe from being overfed:
You`re sweetly picturesque in rags:
You never know the aching head
That comes along with money-bags:
And you have time to cultivate
That best of qualities, Content--
For which you`ll find your present state
Remarkably convenient!`
Said Peter `Though I cannot sound
The depths of such a man as you,
Yet in your character I`ve found
An inconsistency or two.
You seem to have long years to spare
When there`s a promise to fulfil:
And yet how punctual you were
In calling with that little bill!`
`One can`t be too deliberate,`
Said Paul, `in parting with one`s pelf.
With bills, as you correctly state,
I`m punctuality itself:
A man may surely claim his dues:
But, when there`s money to be lent,
A man must be allowed to choose
Such times as are convenient!`
It chanced one day, as Peter sat
Gnawing a crust--his usual meal--
Paul bustled in to have a chat,
And grasped his hand with friendly zeal.
`I knew,` said he, `your frugal ways:
So, that I might not wound your pride
By bringing strangers in to gaze,
I`ve left my legal friend outside!
`You well remember, I am sure,
When first your wealth began to go,
And people sneered at one so poor,
I never used my Peter so!
And when you`d lost your little all,
And found yourself a thing despised,
I need not ask you to recall
How tenderly I sympathised!
`Then the advice I`ve poured on you,
So full of wisdom and of wit:
All given gratis, though `tis true
I might have fairly charged for it!
But I refrain from mentioning
Full many a deed I might relate
For boasting is a kind of thing
That I particularly hate.
`How vast the total sum appears
Of all the kindnesses I`ve done,
From Childhood`s half-forgotten years
Down to that Loan of April One!
That Fifty Pounds! You little guessed
How deep it drained my slender store:
But there`s a heart within this breast,
And I WILL LEND YOU FIFTY MORE!`
`Not so,` was Peter`s mild reply,
His cheeks all wet with grateful tears;
No man recalls, so well as I,
Your services in bygone years:
And this new offer, I admit,
Is very very kindly meant--
Still, to avail myself of it
Would not be quite convenient!` You`ll see in a moment what the difference is between `convenient` and `inconvenient.` You quite understand it now, don`t you?" he added, looking kindly at Bruno, who was sitting, at Sylvie`s side, on the floor. "Yes," said Bruno, very quietly. Such a short speech was very unusual, for him: but just then he seemed, I fancied, a little exhausted. In fact, he climbed up into Sylvie`s lap as he spoke, and rested his head against her shoulder. "What a many verses it was!" he whispered.
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