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 Case Applications
CHAPTER 2: Financial Planning Tools: Personal Financial
Statements and the Time Value of Money
Feature Story
2.1 Organizing Your Financial Information
2.2 Evaluating Your Personal Financial Situation
2.3 The Time Value of Money
2.4 Present Value: How Much Do I Need Today to Reach a
Future Goal?
Summary
Learning Objectives Review
Excel Worksheets
Key Terms
WileyPLUS
End-of-Chapter Homework Material
Concept Review Questions
Application Problems
Case Applications
CHAPTER 3: Budgeting and Cash Management
Feature Story
3.1 Developing, Implementing, and Monitoring a Household
Budget
3.2 The Role of Cash in Your Financial Plan
3.3 Providers of Cash Management Services
3.4 Evaluating Cash Management Products and Services
3.5 Resolving Cash Management Problems and Avoiding
Identify Theft
Summary
Learning Objectives Review
Excel Worksheets
 Key Terms
WileyPLUS
End-of-Chapter Homework Material
Concept Review Questions
Application Problems
Case Applications
CHAPTER 4: Tax Planning
Feature Story
4.1 The Federal Income Tax System
4.2 Filing Requirements
4.3 Federal Income Tax Calculation
4.4 Tax Planning Strategies
Summary
Learning Objectives Review
Excel Worksheets
Key Terms
WileyPLUS
End-of-Chapter Homework Material
Concept Review Questions
Application Problems
Case Applications
CHAPTER 5: Managing Credit: Credit Cards and Consumer Loans
Feature Story
5.1 What Is Consumer Credit?
5.2 Your Consumer Credit Plan
5.3 Credit Cards
5.4 Consumer Loans
Summary
Learning Objectives Review
 Excel Worksheets
Key Terms
WileyPLUS
End-of-Chapter Homework Material
Concept Review Questions
Application Problems
Case Applications
CHAPTER 6: Making Automobile and Housing Decisions
Feature Story
6.1 Making Auto Decisions on a Budget
6.2 Should You Lease or Buy a Car?
6.3 Making Housing Decisions on a Budget
6.4 Mortgage Financing
6.5 Completing a Real Estate Transaction
Summary
Learning Objectives Review
Excel Worksheets
Key Terms
WileyPLUS
End-of-Chapter Homework Material
Concept Review Questions
Application Problems
Case Applications
CHAPTER 7: Insuring Cars and Homes
Feature Story
7.1 Managing Personal Risks
7.2 How Insurance Works
7.3 Managing Homeowner’s and Renter’s Risk
7.4 Auto Insurance
 7.5 Buying Insurance and Making Claims
Summary
Learning Objectives Review
Excel Worksheets
Key Terms
WileyPLUS
End-of-Chapter Homework Material
Concept Review Questions
Application Problems
Case Applications
CHAPTER 8: Life Insurance and Long-Term Care Planning
Feature Story
8.1 Life Insurance and Your Financial Plan
8.2 Buying Life Insurance
8.3 Reading Your Policy
8.4 Planning for Long-Term Care Costs
Summary
Learning Objectives Review
Excel Worksheets
Key Terms
WileyPLUS
End-of-Chapter Homework Material
Concept Review Questions
Application Problems
Case Applications
CHAPTER 9: Employee Benefits: Health, Disability, and
Retirement Plans
Feature Story
9.1 The Value of Employee Benefits
 9.2 Health Insurance and Your Financial Plan
9.3 Planning for Disability Income
9.4 Employer-Sponsored Retirement Plans
Summary
Learning Objectives Review
Excel Worksheets
Key Terms
WileyPLUS
End-of-Chapter Homework Material
Concept Review Questions
Application Problems
Case Applications
CHAPTER 10: Saving for Distant Goals: Retirement and
Education Funding
Feature Story
10.1 Developing a Retirement Plan
10.2 Retirement Income from Employer Plans and Social
Security
10.3 Individual Retirement Savings Alternatives
10.4 Planning for Education Costs
Summary
Learning Objectives Review
Excel Worksheets
Key Terms
WileyPLUS
End-of-Chapter Homework Material
Concept Review Questions
Application Problems
Case Applications
CHAPTER 11: The Fundamentals of Investing
 Feature Story
11.1 Developing a Realistic Investment Plan
11.2 Understanding Your Investment Choices
11.3 The Risk–Return Trade-off
11.4 Diversification and Performance Evaluation
Summary
Learning Objectives Review
Excel Worksheets
Key Terms
WileyPLUS
End-of-Chapter Homework Material
Concept Review Questions
Application Problems
Case Applications
CHAPTER 12: Investing in Stocks and Bonds
Feature Story
12.1 Investing in Common Stock
12.2 Investing in Bonds
12.3 Investing in Preferred Stock
12.4 Securities Markets
Summary
Learning Objectives Review
Excel Worksheets
Key Terms
WileyPLUS
End-of-Chapter Homework Material
Concept Review Questions
Application Problems
Case Applications
CHAPTER 13: Investing in Mutual Funds and Real Estate
Feature Story
13.1 What Is a Mutual Fund?
13.2 Mutual Fund Investing
13.3 Real Estate Investment
13.4 Speculative Investments
Summary
Learning Objectives Review
Excel Worksheets
Key Terms
WileyPLUS
End-of-Chapter Homework Material
Concept Review Questions
Application Problems
Case Applications
CHAPTER 14: Estate Planning
Feature Story
14.1 What Is Estate Planning?
14.2 Methods of Transferring Property
14.3 Estate and Gift Taxes
14.4 Reducing Taxes Through Trusts and Gifts
Summary
Learning Objectives Review
Excel Worksheets
Key Terms
WileyPLUS
End-of-Chapter Homework Material
Concept Review Questions
Application Problems
 Case Applications
Glossary
Index
End User License Agreement

List of Tables
CHAPTER 1
TABLE 1.1 Common Personal Finance Questions
TABLE 1.2 Changes in Income and Prices over Time
TABLE 1.3 Examples of Goals with Different Time Horizons
TABLE 1.4 Monthly Payments Necessary to Pay Off Specific
Debt Amounts
TABLE 1.5 Financial Planning Organizations and
Certifications
TABLE 1.6 Decision-Making Styles
CHAPTER 2
TABLE 2.1 Where Should You Store Financial Records?
TABLE 2.2 How Do You Compare to Other U.S.
Households?
TABLE 2.3 Example of Annuity Payments and Balances
CHAPTER 3
TABLE 3.1 Average Household Budget Amounts for
Different Age Groups
TABLE 3.2 Solutions for Common Budget Mistakes
TABLE 3.3 Financial Issues to Resolve Before Marriage
TABLE 3.4 Comparison of Checking Account Alternatives
TABLE 3.5 Comparison of Savings Account Alternatives
TABLE 3.6 How to Avoid Identify Theft
CHAPTER 4
TABLE 4.1 Marginal Tax Rates, 2019
TABLE 4.2 Additional Federal Income Tax Forms You May
Need to File
TABLE 4.3 What Is and Is Not Included in Total Income on
Your Federal Taxes
TABLE 4.4 Excerpt from 2019 Tax Table
TABLE 4.5 Summary of Common Tax Credits in Effect for
2019
CHAPTER 5
TABLE 5.1 Types and Sources of Consumer Credit
TABLE 5.2 Advantages and Disadvantages of Consumer
Credit and Credit Cards
TABLE 5.3 Monthly Payments Necessary to Achieve Debt
Reduction Goals
TABLE 5.4 Principal and Interest Payments for a Simple-
Interest Loan ($2,000 loan, 12% ann…
CHAPTER 6
TABLE 6.1 Costs of Automobile Ownership
TABLE 6.2 Lease Terminology
TABLE 6.3 Components of Auto Dealer Profit
TABLE 6.4 Advantages and Disadvantages of Renting
TABLE 6.5 Key Features of Different Types of Mortgages
TABLE 6.6 Questions for Real Estate Agents or Brokers
TABLE 6.7 Summary of Closing Costs
CHAPTER 7
TABLE 7.1 What Risks Do Homeowner’s Policies Cover?
TABLE 7.2 Cost of Riders
 TABLE 7.3 State Minimum Auto Liability Insurance Limits
TABLE 7.4 Survey Rankings and A. M. Best Financial
Strength Ratings for Various …
CHAPTER 8
TABLE 8.1 Excerpt from a Mortality Table
TABLE 8.2 Estimated Annual Social Security Survivor
Benefits (2019)
TABLE 8.3 Comparison of Features of Common Types of
Life Insurance
TABLE 8.4 Financial Strength Ratings from Various Rating
Agencies, 2019
TABLE 8.5 Median Annual Cost of Nursing Home Care
(Semiprivate Room) in 2018, by State
TABLE 8.6 U.S. Median Costs and Growth Rates for
Different Types of Long-Term Care
TABLE 8.7 Limits on Tax Deductions for LTC Insurance
Premiums
TABLE 8.8 LTC Policy Provisions
CHAPTER 9
TABLE 9.1 Employee Benefit Plan Participation, Civilian
Workers, 2018
TABLE 9.2 Lori’s After-Tax Salary and Benefits Comparison
TABLE 9.3 Major Provisions of the Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act of 2010 (and …
TABLE 9.4 Medicare Program Coverage
CHAPTER 10
TABLE 10.1 Retirement Wealth Factors for Estimating
Retirement Savings Goal, Assuming 4 Per…
TABLE 10.2 FICA Payroll Tax Rates for Social Security and
 Medicare Programs, 2019
TABLE 10.3 Social Security Normal Retirement Age
TABLE 10.4 Annual Social Security Retirement Benefit
Estimates, 2019
TABLE 10.5 IRA Contribution and Income Limits, 2019
TABLE 10.6 Student Loan Types and Characteristics
TABLE 10.7 Key Features of Education Savings Plan
Programs
CHAPTER 11
TABLE 11.1 Financial Planners’ Tips for Finding the Money
to Invest
TABLE 11.2 2019 Federal Capital Gains Tax Rates on
Investments Held for One Year or More
TABLE 11.3 Top-Rated Online Brokers for Beginners, 2019
TABLE 11.4 Average Annual Returns for Different Periods
of Time
TABLE 11.5 Comparison of Two Stock Investments over
Time
TABLE 11.6 Stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average,
2019
CHAPTER 12
TABLE 12.1 Sector Classifications with Industry and
Company Examples
TABLE 12.2 Bond Ratings and Their Meanings
TABLE 12.3 Sensitivity of Bond Prices to Interest Rates
CHAPTER 13
TABLE 13.1 Growth in Number and Total Assets of U.S.
Funds, by Type of Investment Company
CHAPTER 14
 TABLE 14.1 Requirements for a Valid Will

List of Illustrations
CHAPTER 1
FIGURE 1.1 The Financial Planning Process All personal
financial decisions should be based …
FIGURE 1.2 Elements of a Comprehensive Financial Plan
To have the greatest chance of succes…
FIGURE 1.3 Household Income and Wealth over the Life
Cycle Your financial plan must adapt t…
FIGURE 1.4 The Total Cost of Raising a Child and
Breakdown of Expenditures, 1960 vs. 2015 T…
FIGURE 1.5 Inflation, Federal Funds Rate, and 30-Year
Mortgage Rates, 1980–2019 This graph …
FIGURE 1.6 SMART Goals: Guidelines The key to setting
effective financial goals is to make …
FIGURE 1.7 Process of Developing Personal Financial Goals
Follow these steps to identify an…
FIGURE 1.8 The Riveras’ Financial Goals By breaking their
larger goals into smaller, more e…
FIGURE 1.9 Sample of Excel Worksheet 1.5: Monthly
Payment Necessary to Pay Off Debt
FIGURE 1.10 The Amatos’ Retirement Fund (Invested
100% in Stocks) The Amatos optimistically …
FIGURE 1.11 Sensitivity of Investment Portfolio to Rate-of-
Return Assumptions The greater yo…
CHAPTER 2
FIGURE 2.1 Positive Net Worth Net worth is positive when
assets outweigh liabilities.
FIGURE 2.2 Sample of Excel Worksheet 2.2: Danelle
 Washington’s Personal Balance Sheet, Dece…
FIGURE 2.3 Sample of Excel Worksheet 2.3: Spending Log
FIGURE 2.4 Sample of Excel Worksheet 2.4: Danelle
Washington’s Personal Cash Flow Statement…
FIGURE 2.5 Debt Payments as a Share of Gross Income for
a Hypothetical Household with Gross…
FIGURE 2.6 The Power of Compounding at Different
Interest Rates The higher the rate you ear…
FIGURE 2.7 Important Financial Calculator Keys Financial
calculators generally have five bu…
FIGURE 2.8 Timeline for Future Value of a Lump Sum How
much will a $1,000 investment (PV) b…
FIGURE 2.9 Timeline for Future Value of an Ordinary
Annuity At an annual rate of 5% (i…
FIGURE 2.10 Timeline for Future Value of an Annuity Due
At an annual rate of 5% (i),…
FIGURE 2.11 Timeline for Present Value of a Lump Sum If
the future value (FV) is $10,000 and…
FIGURE 2.12 Timeline for Present Value of an Ordinary
Annuity What is the present value (PV)…
FIGURE 2.13 Timeline for Loan Payments With a present
value (PV) of $4,973.70 and an interes…
CHAPTER 3
FIGURE 3.1 Average Household Budget Allocations for
Different Age Groups Your allocation of…
FIGURE 3.2 Sample of Excel Worksheet 3.1: The Riveras’
First-Pass Household Budget
FIGURE 3.3 Sample of Excel Worksheet 3.1: The Riveras’
Second-Pass Household Budget
FIGURE 3.4 Sample of Excel Worksheet 3.2: The Riveras’
 Budget Tracker, January to March.
FIGURE 3.5 Financial Infidelity Among Adults Who Have
Combined Finances with a Spouse or Pa…
FIGURE 3.6 Effect of Financial Deception on Current
and/or Past Relationships Financial dec…
FIGURE 3.7 Sample of Excel Worksheet 3.4: Evaluating
Financial Service Providers
FIGURE 3.8 One-Year Certificate of Deposit Rates, 2001–
2019 The APY on certificates of depo…
FIGURE 3.9 Routing Number and Account Number for
Electronic Transfers Between Accounts This…
CHAPTER 4
FIGURE 4.1 Who Pays No Federal Income Tax? This chart
shows the proportion of the 172 milli…
FIGURE 4.2 Top and Bottom U.S. Federal Income Tax
Marginal Rates, 1913–2019 Marginal tax ra…
FIGURE 4.3 Taxes Owed, After-Tax Income, and Average
Tax Rates Each column in this graph sh…
FIGURE 4.4 Marginal and Average Tax Rates At almost all
income levels, married taxpayers ar…
FIGURE 4.5 Steps in Calculating Federal Income Taxes
Owed For a given level of income, your…
FIGURE 4.6 Completed 1040 for Rosa and Mateo Rivera
FIGURE 4.7 Schedule A: Itemized Deductions for Rosa and
Mateo Rivera The Riveras’ total ite…
CHAPTER 5
FIGURE 5.1 Household Consumer Credit in the United
States, 2003–2018 Consumer debt has near…
FIGURE 5.2 Assessing Your Creditworthiness Using the
Five Cs of Credit Ask yourself these q…
 FIGURE 5.3 FICO Credit Score Factors Although the FICO
score measures many aspects of how y…
FIGURE 5.4 National Distribution of Credit Scores More
than half of Americans have FICO cre…
FIGURE 5.5 Debt Collection Complaints Debt collectors
receive a portion of what they collec…
FIGURE 5.6 Bankruptcy Filings and Household Debt
Ratios, 1989–2018 The figure shows the rel…
FIGURE 5.7 Changes in Consumer Payment Choice, 2009–
2017 Debit cards have become the prefer…
FIGURE 5.8 Sample of Excel Worksheet 5.3: Comparing
Credit Cards
FIGURE 5.9 Sample of Excel Worksheet 5.4: How Much
Can You Borrow with a Home Equity Loan?
CHAPTER 6
FIGURE 6.1 Decision Process for Consumer Purchases You
can apply this decision process to a…
FIGURE 6.2 Sample for Excel Worksheet 6.4: Costs of
Leasing versus Buying a Car
FIGURE 6.3 Negotiation Process for Buying a New Car If
you do your homework, you’ll be in a…
FIGURE 6.4 Sample of Excel Worksheet 6.5: Costs of
Renting versus Buying a Home
FIGURE 6.5 Maximum Affordable House Price and Loan
Amount The graph shows how much house yo…
FIGURE 6.6 Sample for Excel Worksheet 6.6: Calculating
an Affordable Home Price
FIGURE 6.7 Annual Interest and Principal Payments for a
30-Year Mortgage The graph assumes …
FIGURE 6.8 The Effect of APR on Monthly Mortgage
Payments The graph shows how monthly mortg…
 FIGURE 6.9 The Effect of Loan Term on Monthly Payments
Monthly payments are always higher f…
FIGURE 6.10 Cumulative Total Mortgage Payments and
Interest Paid for 15-Year and 30-Year Mor…
FIGURE 6.11 Sample for Excel Worksheet 6.7: Mortgage
Comparison
FIGURE 6.12 Sample for Excel Worksheet 6.8: Mortgage
Amortization Schedule
FIGURE 6.13 Average Home Price by State, 2018
CHAPTER 7
FIGURE 7.1 The Risk Management Process Follow the steps
in this process diagram to more eff…
FIGURE 7.2 Sample for Excel Worksheet 7.1: Property Risk
Exposure Checklist
FIGURE 7.3 Home Equity as a Percentage of Total
Household Assets Your home is likely to be …
FIGURE 7.4 Homeowners’ and Renters’ Risks Homeowners
and renters are exposed to real and pe…
FIGURE 7.5 Legal Reform and Auto Fatalities over Time
Aggressive legal reforms have signifi…
FIGURE 7.6 Interpreting Minimum Auto Liability Limits
State auto insurance laws have separa…
FIGURE 7.7 Categories of Auto Insurance Coverage Auto
insurance coverage varies by category…
FIGURE 7.8 Auto Fatality Rate by Age and Gender Teens
and people in their early 20s, especi…
FIGURE 7.9 Average Auto Premiums by State How do auto
insurance rates in your state compare…
FIGURE 7.10 Steps in Buying Property and Liability
Insurance As always, a careful decision p…
CHAPTER 8
FIGURE 8.1 Steps in the Financial Needs Method The goal
is to buy enough life insurance to …
FIGURE 8.2 Sample of Excel Worksheet 8.1: Life Insurance
Needs Analysis for Arjun and Tanya…
FIGURE 8.3 Cost of $500,000, 10-Year Renewable Term
Life Insurance Policy for a Woman at Di…
FIGURE 8.4 Components of Death Protection Provided by
Ordinary Whole Life Insurance over Ti…
FIGURE 8.5 Funding Sources for Long-Term Care Costs
Total spending for long-term care is mo…
CHAPTER 9
FIGURE 9.1 Sample of Excel Worksheet 9.1: Tax Savings
from Pretax Employee Benefits
FIGURE 9.2 Sample of Excel Worksheet 9.3: Job
Comparison Worksheet
FIGURE 9.3 Cumulative Increases in Health Insurance
Premiums, Wages, and Consumer Prices, 1…
FIGURE 9.4 Average Costs for Different Types of Health
Plans, 2018 Employers differ in the …
FIGURE 9.5 Distribution of Health Plan Enrollment for
Covered Workers by Plan Type, 1988 an…
FIGURE 9.6 Sample of Excel Worksheet 9.4: Disability
Income Needs Analysis
FIGURE 9.7 Participation in DB and DC Plans as a
Percentage of All Private-Sector Workers, …
CHAPTER 10
FIGURE 10.1 Retirement and Education Planning Process
Careful planning for retirement and ed…
FIGURE 10.2 Sample of Excel Worksheet 10.1: Developing
 and Prioritizing Retirement Goals
FIGURE 10.3 Sample of Excel Worksheet 10.2: Retirement
Planning Worksheet
FIGURE 10.4 The Three-Legged Stool of Retirement
Income A retirement plan that relies too he…
FIGURE 10.5 Aggregate Household Retirement Income,
Age 65+, 2015 For over-65 households as a…
FIGURE 10.6 Timeline for a Deferred Annuity This
deferred annuity begins making payments whe…
FIGURE 10.7 Estimated Future First-Year Cost for Higher
Education (tuition, fees, room, boar…
FIGURE 10.8 Sample of Excel Worksheet 10.3: Education
Funding Worksheet
FIGURE 10.9 Growth of Undergraduate Student Loans,
1990–2018 Total undergraduate student loa…
CHAPTER 11
FIGURE 11.1 Am I Ready to Start an Investing Plan? Before
you start work on your investment …
FIGURE 11.2 The Investment Planning Process As in other
areas of your financial life, planni…
FIGURE 11.3 Sample of Excel Worksheet 11.1: Setting
Investment Goals
FIGURE 11.4 Mutual Fund Assets 2000 and 2018 (billions
of dollars) The total amount invested…
FIGURE 11.5 Long-Term Performance of Various
Investments The graph shows how an investment o…
FIGURE 11.6 The Risk–Return Relationship for Various
Asset Choices An important invest…
FIGURE 11.7 Risk Premiums and Yields on Debt
Investments Debt investments with greater expos…
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The more amply nourished of the two police constables then entered
the four-wheeled cab. The boy was thrust in after him. The second
police constable followed. A third police constable, whose dignity
and ample nourishment, assisted by stripes on the arm, seemed
even to transcend those of his brethren in the interior, hoisted
himself with difficulty on the driver’s box, which groaned beneath his
weight. As the vehicle moved off slowly, some of the bystanders also
groaned.
The police station was round the corner of the next street, some fifty
yards distant. The woman’s hansom had been there quite a minute
by the time the four-wheeled cab appeared at the rate of three miles
an hour.
The woman had deemed it expedient to remain in the hansom until
its arrival. The absence of excited onlookers at the door of the police
station had been a disappointment to her. It had seemed to be an
error of judgment to arrive before the police. And by a curious
oversight she had neglected to have a police constable riding in the
hansom with her. However, with the consummate generalship gained
by a long intercourse with public life she was able to repair this
omission. She stood up in the hansom, and after catching the eye of
several of the passers-by, called out to no one in particular in her
most vibrant mass-meeting accents, “Let the prisoner get out first.”
The portly police constable got down from the box of the four-
wheeler with an alacrity which a detached observer might have felt
to be beneath the dignity of his physical equipment, and
communicated this order to those who sat within. It reassured the
woman to observe that the door of the police station had opened,
and that on its threshold were a police constable and a pale man
with a pen behind his ear. A second crowd was beginning already to
assemble. As the boy in the grasp of his two custodians was
marched into the police station, the woman had the gratification of
noticing that by this time a number of eye-witnesses had come
round the corner from the Emporium. Their interest was reassuring.
By the time the crowd on the pavement had grown almost large
enough to warrant the woman’s descent from the hansom, another
pale man, with a pen behind both ears, came out of the police
station. The crowd made way for him respectfully. He approached
the step of the hansom with the finely considered deportment of one
who is accustomed to deal with men and things.
“I am afraid, Lady Pomeroy,” he said firmly, but with perfect
courtesy, “we shall have to trouble you to come in and prefer a
charge.”
“I have nothing whatever to do with the charges,” said the woman,
speaking over his head to the crowd. “I ask for my purse; I can’t live
without it. If it is not returned to me immediately it will give great
displeasure to Lord Pomeroy.”
However, by this time the woman had seemed fully to decide that
the hour was ripe to make a descent from the vehicle. As she did so
one of those who had been privileged to take part in the scene
outside the Emporium cried, “Three cheers for Lord Pomeroy!”
They were given heartily.
By an impulse which she was powerless to repress, the woman
stopped in her triumphal progress to the door of the police station,
and bowed and smiled gracefully on all sides.
“Three cheers for the Countess!” was the reward she received.
Amidst quite a display of enthusiasm the woman entered the police
station, accompanied by the little girl with the golden curls, who was
clapping her small hands with glee. She did not seem to be aware
that several of the dolls she had been at the trouble to convey from
the Emporium had fallen out of her pockets on to the pavement.
“Wot’s up, Bill?” said a male street-person, with a filthy scarf round
his neck, to one whose neck was encased less adequately in only the
band of his shirt.
“Bin pinching one o’ the unemployed,” said his companion, with an
admirable assumption of the air of a Christian martyr.
 VI
Within the precincts of the police station the boy, still bewildered yet
not afraid, was brought to stand in a gloomy room with iron bars
across the windows. In this a bald-headed man sat at a desk writing.
“Pearson,” said the bald-headed man to a police constable who wore
no helmet, “fetch one o’ them velvet cheers out o’ the horfis for her
ladyship.”
The bald-headed man spoke in a very dictatorial manner, without
looking up from his writing. Upon the entrance of the woman he
rose majestically.
“There’ll be a cheer for you in a minute, my lady,” he said,
addressing the woman as though it gave him great pleasure to do
so. “Had we knowed you was coming we’d ’a had it dusted.”
“It is of no consequence,” said the woman, as if she meant it.
By this time her tone had acquired a note of sweetness. She had
seemed to be mollified by the manner in which her progress had
stirred the great heart of the public.
“I understand, my lady,” said the bald-headed man, “that you prefers
a charge against the accused of theft from the person at Barter’s
Emporium?”
“I have nothing whatever to do with the charges,” said the woman
tenaciously. “I ask only for my purse. I can’t live without it. If it is
not restored to me immediately it will be most displeasing to Lord
Pomeroy.”
“On’y a matter o’ form, my lady,” said the bald-headed man blandly.
“Bring the book, Harby. This way, Pearson. Take a cheer, your
ladyship.”
With considerable stateliness the woman sank on to a chair of purple
velvet.
The bald-headed man re-seated himself at the table and opened the
book. He turned to the boy with an almost ferocious sternness,
which made him shudder in spite of his bewilderment.
“Now then, my lad,” he said, “what’s your name?”
“I—I—I d-don’t think I know, sir,” stammered the boy, after this
question had been repeated twice.
“Oh, don’t you?” said the bald-headed man, his ferocity yielding to a
sudden pleasantness that seemed even more remarkable. “You don’t
think you knows? Bring the register, Harby. He don’t think he
knows!”
The boy’s confession of ignorance had conferred upon the bald-
headed man a sweetness of manner of which few would have
suspected him to be capable.
“Look up ‘C,’ Harby, vollum six,” said the bald-headed man, rubbing
his hands with much satisfaction, and then adjusting a pair of pince-
nez which hung by a gold cord from his neck. “Open wound on the
face.”
The woman turned sharply to the little girl.
“Come here, child,” she said. “Have I not told you to keep away from
that horrid boy?”
Without paying the least attention to the woman, the little girl
touched the hand of the boy with a kind of odd confidentialness.
“I yike oo velly much,” she said.
“We shall not detain you, my lady,” said the bald-headed man,
bestowing a studious attention upon his diction. “But I’m afraid we
must trouble you to come to see the magistrate to-morrow morning
at eleven. The accused will be detained in custody. He has all the
appearance of being an old hand. By to-morrow we shall hope to
have found out a bit more about him.”
“Why don’t you give me my purse?” said the woman. “I can’t live
without it.”
“Was a purse found on the accused, Moxon?” said the bald-headed
man to the stouter of the two original constables.
“No, sir,” said Moxon, “on’y fourpence in copper and a foreign book.”
“Hand them to me,” said the bald-headed man peremptorily, “and go
over him properly.”
The boy was taken by two policemen into a room close by.
Immediately they began to pull off his clothes. To his extreme
horror, bewilderment and shame they stripped him stark naked.
They lifted up his heels and passed their fingers between his toes;
they held up his arms and pressed their hands into his armpits; they
ran their fingers through his hair, and placed them in his mouth.
“No purse,” they said.
They left the boy naked, with all his clothes on the floor. As the door
closed behind them he fell senseless on the cold stone. A long and
vague period followed, which was veiled from his consciousness by a
kind of semi-darkness. During that period he seemed to find himself
again in the presence of the bald-headed man, who still sat at his
desk and glared at him over the rims of his gold eye-glasses.
The boy had only the haziest knowledge of that which took place;
and subsequently was never able to satisfy himself as to whether or
not he was again wearing clothes at this interview. At least he had
no recollection of having put them on again or of any one else
having done so.
The beautiful woman street-person in the gay clothes, and the little
girl with golden curls, had gone away. The large and gloomy room
smelt very oppressive, and seemed full of police constables.
“Have you a father?” said the bald-headed man. Although all was
darkness and confusion about the boy the harsh voice seemed to
cause his heart to stop beating.
The boy made some inaudible reply, which finally was taken for an
answer in the affirmative.
“A mother?”
A further inaudible reply was taken to be a negative.
“What is the name of your father?”
“I—I—I d-don’t think I know, sir,” stammered the boy.
“Now then, none o’ that, or it will be ’otted up for you.”
The voice of the bald-headed man caused the boy’s teeth to chatter.
“What is your father?”
The boy lifted up his strange eyes in dumb bewilderment.
“I think he’s a little bit touched, sir,” said a very melancholy-looking
police constable, tapping his head with his forefinger.
“You think nothing, Gravener,” said the bald-headed man sternly.
“What right have you to think? You’ve been in the Force long enough
to know that. What does your father do?” he said to the boy.
After a moment a flash of intelligence seemed to fuse the deadly
pallor of the boy’s face.
“H-he keeps a lot of books,” he said, “a lot of books written by the
ancient authors.”
“Vendor of old books, eh? Where does he live?”
For a moment the dark curtain of incomprehension again descended
upon the boy; but quite suddenly it lifted and his mind was illumined
with a ray of meaning.
“My father lives in the street of the second among the English
authors,” he said.
“Now then, now then,” said the bald-headed man. “If you talk in that
way I’ll promise you it will be ’otted up for you.”
“I—I know the author’s name quite well,” said the boy, disregarding
this reproof, for his mind was reverting now to the little room, which
already he seemed to have left an epoch ago. “The name begins
with the letter M. M—Mi—Mil—it is the street of Milton!”
“Milton Street—vendor of old books in Milton Street. What number?”
“N-number!” muttered the boy blankly. “N-number. Oh yes! The
number of the shop of my father is the number of the year in which
Ovid was born.”
“Hovvid!” said the bald-headed man impatiently. “Who the ’ell’s
Hovvid? Do you know, Harby, who Hovvid is?”
“Not I!” said a solemn, grey-headed police constable. “Do you know,
Pearson?”
“Hovvid!” said a police constable with mutton-chop whiskers. “Can’t
say as ’ow I do. Sounds like the name of a ’oss.”
“Do you mean, my lad,” said the bald-headed man, “the number o’
the year a ’oss o’ the name of Hovvid won the Derby?”
“A ’oss o’ the name of Hovvid never did win the Derby,” said the
police constable with mutton-chop whiskers decisively.
“Ovid is one of the chief among the Roman authors,” said the boy.
For the moment everything else had yielded to the astonishment he
felt that all these imposing, austere, and strikingly-dressed street-
persons should not know who Ovid was.
“Get the directory, Harby,” said the bald-headed man, “and look up
the year in which Hovvid was born. You were right, Gravener; he is a
bit touched.”
“Coorse I’m right,” said Gravener. “Anybody with ’alf a heye can see
that.”
“Ovid was born in the year 43 before Christ,” said the boy. “The
number of the shop of my father is forty-three.”
“Then why couldn’t you say so at first, my lad, and save all this
parley?” said the bald-headed man sternly. “What’s in Number One,
Harby?”
“A drunk and incapable, and a petty larceny.”
“Better put him in there for to-night.”
The boy was led into a room somewhat similar to that in which his
clothes had been taken off. But this apartment seemed not only
larger and more cheerless, but also very much darker. The only
means by which daylight could get in was through a narrow window
high up in the wall, and this was barred with iron. The few beams
that were able to struggle through seemed merely to render
everything malign and hideous. The boy, who from his first hour in
the world had had an overpowering horror of the darkness,
shuddered in every vein when he discovered that he was alone, and
irrevocably committed to it for a nameless term. After the first trance
of his terror had passed he was able to discern that a settle ran
along the side of the wall. Hardly daring to move, he crept towards
it. As he did so he stumbled over something. It was warm and soft.
Something alive was lying on the floor. It was a shapeless mass. He
could hear it breathing.
He sank on to the settle at the side of the wall. He was inert and
stupefied. Great cold beads began to roll from his cheeks. He could
see and comprehend nothing. Under the dominion of his terror he
began to wish for death.
Quite suddenly a voice came out of the darkness.
“What ’ave they pinched you for, mate?” said a low growl in his ear.
He had not been conscious that any other living presence was in the
dark room, except that nameless something which was lying on the
floor. He was so startled that he gave a little shriek.
“Pipe up, cully,” said the low growl in his ear.
The boy’s teeth began to chatter furiously, but they emitted no
sounds that were coherent.
“Off his onion!” growled the voice, together with a string of blood-
curdling expressions, from which the boy was mercifully delivered
comprehension.
Presently the voice growled out of the darkness again.
“Got a chew, cully?”
The faculty of speech was still denied to the boy.
Further blood-curdling expressions followed from the other occupant
of the bench, who then relapsed into a morose silence.
The boy grew very cold. He trembled violently; yet his heart had
almost seemed to stop beating. The darkness and the silence and
the strangeness and the loneliness seemed to grow more intense.
His mind would hardly submit to the question of what had happened
to him. It refused to revert to his father and the little room. He felt
that he was never going to see them again.
After a while he slipped from the bench involuntarily. He found
himself on his knees on the cold stone floor. He clasped his hands
and pressed his eyes convulsively against the piece of wood on
which he had been sitting. He began to pray. There seemed to be
nothing else to do.
Two hours later a police constable entered and lit a feeble gas-jet
high up in the wall. It was protected by a cage of wire. He then gave
a kick to the breathing, shapeless thing without a name, which lay in
the middle of the stone floor.
With a leer of jocular malignity the occupant of the form pointed to
the kneeling figure of the boy.
“Off his onion, mate,” he said, with a low growl and expectorating
freely.
“Pity you ain’t,” said the police constable.
The occupant of the form spat upon the boots of the police
constable.
The police constable approached the boy, and said, with a sort of
rough kindness—
“You can have the Christian Herald, my lad, if you’d like it.”
The boy neither moved nor answered. He did not know that a word
had been spoken to him.
“Told yer, cully,” came the rough growl from the form. “He’s up the
pole.”
The police constable walked out of the cell with a greater show of
delicacy than that with which he had entered it.
An hour afterwards he came in again carrying two basins of thick
lukewarm gruel and a copy of the Christian Herald, two months out
of date. He found the boy to be still on his knees in the precise
attitude he was in when he entered before.
“Balmy!” growled the voice from the bench.
The police constable gave one basin of gruel to the speaker, and
placed the other basin and the copy of the Christian Herald at the far
end of the form, well out of the reach of its occupant.
The police constable touched the boy on the shoulder gently.
“Don’t want to disturb you, my lad,” he said, “but your supper’s
waiting for you when you want it. And I’ve brought you the Christian
Herald to cheer you up a bit.”
No sign came from the boy to suggest that he was conscious that he
had been addressed.
The police constable walked out of the cell on tiptoe.
The occupant of the form devoured his basin of gruel ravenously.
The sounds that he emitted in so doing were strongly reminiscent of
the lower animals. He then rose and fetched the other basin of gruel
from the end of the bench, together with the Christian Herald. He
placed the Christian Herald on the floor, and wiped his boots on it
with an odd kind of gusto. He then proceeded to devour the second
basin of gruel. Afterwards he placed his legs up on the bench, went
to sleep and snored lustily.
 VII
The boy had no recollection afterwards of what occurred during the
long period which intervened between this hour and that remote one
in which he saw again his father’s face. How long the darkness
lasted and what happened in it he could not tell. He prayed
continuously until his flesh ached and his mind grew frail. Yet in the
midst of that which seemed to be without a limit, in the midst of an
anguish that seemed to have no end, it was borne in upon him that
the daylight had come back again.
Thereafter he had a vague knowledge of cold water, other rooms,
other voices, more light, and more air. At last he came to understand
that he was in the midst of a large place which contained many
street-persons who looked very solemn and wore no hats. Far away
in front of him he seemed to discern a high desk, at which was
seated an elderly street-person with grey hair, a shining bald head
and impressive manners. Seated on either side of him were a
number of women in gay and beautiful clothes. There was also a
number of those odd beings whom he had come to recognize as
police constables. And then quite suddenly he saw his father’s face.
The pale, noble and serene countenance was looking up at him. It
was pervaded by that secret and beautiful smile which the boy had
seen so many times upon it. With a little convulsive shudder of
recognition the boy started to run to his father, but as he made to do
so he awoke to the discovery that he was enclosed in a kind of cage.
“My father, my father!” the boy called out.
“Keep quiet,” said a police constable beside him in a rough whisper.
The elderly grey-haired man at the high desk lifted up his head in a
startled manner, and looked about him.
“Remove that man from the court,” he said.
He thrust out a finger straight at the boy’s father. With his heart
beating faint and small, the boy watched his father vanish out of his
ken. He passed out through a side door in the custody of two
immense police constables.
“My husband, Lord Pomeroy,” said a woman who sat next to the
elderly man with the grey hair and the impressive manners, “my
husband, Lord Pomeroy, is much displeased that my purse has been
stolen, and he would be here personally to express his displeasure
had he not been commanded to Windsor unexpectedly.”
These words, very loudly spoken, seemed to provoke a kind of joyful
flutter in the breasts of all present. Even in the breast of the boy it
provoked a flutter, yet not perhaps of a similar kind. It was the
sound of the loud and harsh voice itself which to him was of sinister
omen. As in an agony of remembrance he felt what this voice
denoted, the blood ran as water in his veins.
“I am sure, Lady Pomeroy,” said the man with grey hair in a most
silken manner, “in your misfortune you are entitled to every
sympathy from this court. May it trust that there was nothing of
great value in your purse.”
“Oh dear, dear no!” said the woman emotionally, “there was nothing
whatever in my purse, but I can’t live without it.”
“Quite so, just so,” said the man with grey hair. “The court
appreciates that perfectly. It feels you are entitled to every
sympathy.”
“Pray what is the use of sympathy, my dear good man,” said the
woman petulantly, “if it doesn’t restore my purse?”
“Precisely, dear Lady Pomeroy,” said the man with grey hair, “your
concern for your purse is most natural.”
At this stage in the proceedings the man with grey hair gave a kind
of benevolent signal to a sedulous-looking man, whose hair was very
glossy, who sat immediately opposite to him, and who at this
moment was engaged in sharpening a lead pencil.
“But, dear Lady Pomeroy,” said the man with grey hair, speaking very
slowly and with his eye fixed on the man opposite, “sympathy is not
necessarily barren, even if it is not fertile of visible result.”
Upon the utterance of these words, an extremely intellectual looking
police constable, who was stationed in the centre of the crowded
room, broke into a sudden and totally unexpected guffaw of
laughter, which he turned into a cough with equal suddenness and
great dexterity. His action incited the row of gaily dressed females to
give vent to a little melodious cackle. These in turn seemed to incite
the man who had been sharpening the lead pencil to write furiously.
And all these portents having assured the man with grey hair that
his memorable utterance had passed into history, he composed his
features into a form of polite expostulation that words so trivial
should have achieved that destiny.
Much passed between the woman with the loud voice and the man
with the grey hair and the impressive manners. All, however, went
unheeded by the boy; for during the whole of the time he stood
clutching at the wooden rail by which he was surrounded, in order to
save himself from measuring his length on the floor. To every other
person in the court, however, the intercourse of the woman with the
loud voice and the man with grey hair seemed to be fraught with a
high significance.
Presently the constable who stood beside the boy gave him a sharp
nudge.
“Now then,” he whispered truculently. “Pull yerself together. His
washup is a-speaking to you.”
The boy was able to observe that the man with grey hair and
impressive manners was wagging a short and fat forefinger in his
direction. He also appeared to be speaking with a kind of stern
deliberation, but the boy failed to appreciate a word that he said.
This homily, however, proceeded for some time; and in the course of
it all present were much impressed. The man with grey hair and
impressive manners concluded his discourse somewhat in this
fashion: “Owing to the humane clemency which has been exhibited
by Lady Pomeroy, a clemency, I may say, which is so familiar among
all grades of society as to stand in need of no advertisement from
this court”—(“Hear, hear,” in a suppressed but perfectly audible
whisper from a voice at the back)—“there is no undue desire to
press this charge. William Jordan, as this seems to be the first
occasion on which you have appeared before this court, and as I am
informed that no record of a previous conviction stands against your
name, you will at the express desire of Lady Pomeroy”—(“Hear,
hear,” from the voice at the back)—“be dealt with under the First
Offenders Act. After entering into recognizances to come up for
judgment if called upon, you will be discharged. It is deemed
advisable, however, that you should have an interview with the
police court missionary. In conclusion I hail this opportunity of
tendering the most sincere thanks of the public to Lady Pomeroy”—
(“Hear, hear,” from the back)—“for the public-spirited manner in
which she has come forward to discharge a duty which must have
been peculiarly distasteful to her.”
While the row of gaily dressed women rose wreathed in smiles, and
formed a cordon round the man with grey hair and impressive
manners, in order to shake hands with him, the boy was led into an
adjoining room. In the next instant he was shuddering convulsively
in the arms of his father.
A sad-looking man with cadaverous cheeks and sunken black eyes
came up to them. With an odd kind of compunction he laid his hand
on the boy’s sleeve.
“What is he doing here?” he said.
The boy’s father enfolded the questioner in his secret and beautiful
smile.
“You ask a question which admits of no answer,” he said.
At the sound of the voice of the boy’s father, the man with the
cadaverous cheeks recoiled a step. His sallow face flushed a little.
With the naïveté of a child he peered into the eyes of the boy’s
father.
“I think, sir,” he said, with a curiously humble gesture, “I think you
are perfectly right.”
 VIII
From that time forward and for many days the boy did not venture
again out of the little room behind the shop. And at night he could
not bear to be out of his father’s company, so that he never went to
bed without him, but sat reading in the ancient authors, or staring
into vacancy with his chin propped on his hands. On some evenings
after the shutters of the shop had been put up at eight o’clock, and
each had partaken of his frugal supper, his father would take down
from the shelf on the wall the old and massive volume in which he
read so diligently.
The boy had never sought to read in this volume, because although
he had always viewed it with the greatest curiosity, and had even
seen when it lay open for his father’s perusal, that its pages of
vellum were covered in close and faded, and almost undecipherable
writing in red ink, he had felt instinctively from his father’s manner in
regard to it that the contents were only for his father’s eyes.
One night, however, long after the hour of midnight had chimed out
from the clocks of the neighbouring churches, and his father had
been reading in the old volume with a fidelity that seemed even
greater than his wont, the boy could stifle his curiosity no more. This
was owing to a strange incident that befell. Towards the dawn of the
summer morning, his father, who had not allowed his eyes to stray
from the book for many hours, rose from the table suddenly. There
was an expression upon his face that the boy had never seen before.
His father went to the cupboard which was let into the wall, into
which, owing to some occult reason that had never even shaped
itself in his mind, the boy had never sought to peer. Therefrom he
took a knife which was contained in a case that was very old and
chased curiously, a chalice for the reception of ink, and a stylus.
Setting out these articles upon the table, his father took off his
threadbare coat, and laid his right arm naked to the elbow. He then
took the knife from the case and plunged it into the flesh. As the red
blood spurted forth and dripped into the chalice, the boy gave an
exclamation of horror and dismay.
“If you have not yet the power, Achilles, to withstand this spectacle,”
said his father in that voice which never failed to calm his most
instant fears, “pray turn your eyes away.”
Although the boy was on the verge of swooning, for such a sight
bereft him of his strength, he continued to look at his father in sore
distress.
After his father had allowed a quantity of blood to pass into the
chalice, he swathed the wound in his arm in a linen band, opened a
blank page in the book, and sat down before it, stylus in hand.
He dipped the pen in the red fluid; he poised it over the page. For a
long time he maintained this attitude, yet not a mark of any kind did
the fingers trace on the vellum. At last with a gesture of profound
anguish, which filled the youthful witness with terror, he rose, and a
kind of moan came from his lips.
“It is not to be!” he muttered.
The fire in the grate was still smouldering, and into this the boy’s
father cast the contents of the chalice. Then with a religious care he
cleansed each of the articles he had taken from the cupboard, and
replaced them there.
“Is it that you cannot write in the book, my father?” asked the boy,
whose lips were pale.
“Yes, beloved one, it is not yet given to me to write in the book,”
said his father, with an expression of indescribable agony upon his
face. “And yet my years are now beyond three score.”
“Is it that you have never written in the book, my father?” asked the
boy in his consternation.
“I have never written in the book, Achilles,” said his father. “And I
dare not measure the failures I have made.”
“Is it the book of the Fates, my father, in which every human person
must write his destiny?” asked the boy.
“No, beloved one,” said his father. “It is not the book of the Fates.
Only the bearers of our name can write in this book. And these have
written in it for a thousand years past.”
“What is our name, my father?” said the boy. “I have been asked for
it on several occasions by the persons in the streets.”
“Our name is William Jordan—yours and mine.”
“William Jordan, William Jordan,” repeated the boy softly. A look of
strange disappointment crept into his face. “William Jordan!” he said,
“William Jordan!”
“What’s in a name, beloved one?” said his father, with his secret and
beautiful smile.
Under his father’s patient eyes the look of strange disappointment
passed from the boy’s face.
“And each bearer of our name, my father, must write in this book?”
said the boy.
“It is so decreed,” said his father. “And for a thousand years past
each of our dynasty has done so, with the exception, Achilles, of you
and me.”
The boy’s heart began to beat wildly.
“Then I, too, must write in it, my father?”
As he spoke the frail and gaunt form shook like gossamer.
“We can but fulfil our destiny, beloved one,” said the boy’s father.
“And it is written that when a bearer of our name ceases to write in
the Book of the Ages our dynasty is at an end.”
 IX
One day the boy discovered that a small brown volume, the Phaedo
of Plato, had disappeared from one of the shelves in the shop.
“I bartered it yesterday, beloved one, in exchange for seven shillings
and sixpence in silver,” said his father in reply to his inquiries.
This unexpected and disconcerting answer made many anxious
questions necessary.
“Why, my father, for what reason?” said the boy.
“In order to provide the means of life, beloved one,” said his father.
“The means of life, my father?” said the boy.
“The food we eat,” said his father. “Our clothes, the roof that
protects us, the coals for the fire in the winter months.”
“Are all these things obtained with pieces of silver, my father?”
“Yes, beloved. We are called upon to pay in substance for all that we
enjoy.”
The boy grew profoundly silent for a while.
“Does that mean, my father,” he said at last, in a choking voice, “that
because we enjoy this little room of ours, we purchase the priceless
hours we spend in it by pieces of silver—you and me?”
“Truly,” said his father.
“And yet, my father,” said the boy, “I have no pieces of silver of my
own except those you used to give me when I went forth into the
streets of the great city to the school. Neither have I books of my
own to yield in exchange for pieces of silver. Can you tell me in what
manner I must gain these things? You know, my father,” he added
very anxiously, “it may befall that this little room might one day be
taken away from me, as it once was before, if I do not obtain some
pieces of silver of my own.”
“There is but one means of obtaining pieces of silver, beloved one,”
said his father mournfully, “and that is by going forth to seek them in
the streets of the great city.”
The boy was smitten with stupefaction by these words. They were
charged with an import that he did not know how to sustain. But at
least they caused a cloud to dissolve which had long pervaded his
mind.
“I see, I see,” he said weakly; “now it is that I understand, my
father, what all these street-persons are doing when they walk so
furiously up and down the streets of the great city. They are seeking
for pieces of silver.”
“Yes, beloved,” said his father.
“And it is for that reason that they look so fierce and so cruel, my
father. They know that if they don’t find some pieces of silver their
little rooms will be taken away from them.”
“Yes, beloved one,” said his father.
“How unhappy they must be, my father, those persons in the streets
of the great city,” said the boy. “We ought to give them our pity
instead of our fear and our hatred. But”—his voice seemed to perish
—“does it not mean, my father, that I also must go forth once more
into the great city and become a person in the streets?”
As he framed this sinister question he peered into his father’s eyes
with a look of entreaty, as though he besought him not to answer in
the manner that he feared to be inevitable.
“You have spoken truly, Achilles,” said his father gently.
The words of his father seemed to embody a sentence of death. His
father perceived in what manner he was stricken.
“You see, beloved one,” he said, holding the slight frame against his
bosom, “nothing whatever can be obtained in this world which for a
term we are doomed to inhabit, except by the medium of pieces of
silver. The food that sustains us, the clothes that shield us, the roof
that defends us, can only be purchased by pieces of silver. Even
these heroes, whom you and I consider the first among created
things, had to collect many pieces of silver before they could acquire
the materials, and the leisure to perform their most signal acts.”
“And, my father,” said the boy, “had they not always to have their
little rooms in which to read the ancient authors and to seek their
knowledge?” He shuddered with a kind of passion. “Yes, indeed, I
must go out into the streets of the great city and find some pieces of
silver,” he said.
 X
The boy was visited by little sleep that night and for many nights to
follow. The necessity of adventuring forth again into those streets,
the recollection of which ever haunted him like a diabolical vision,
was at first more than he could endure. Many were the attempts he
made to fare forth yet again, but on every occasion he would turn
back all stricken by distress after essaying less than a hundred
yards. Yet at each failure the stern need of conquering this
deplorable frailty would address him like a passion; and sometimes
with a sense of dire humiliation he would be moved to take counsel
of his father.
“How, my father, can I make myself obey myself?” was a question
he asked many times.
It was not until his father had pondered deeply on this subject that
he vouchsafed a reply. And then at last he said, “I fear, beloved, that
in your present phase there is only one answer I can give to your
question. I fear it will be necessary for you to obtain a little
knowledge in the practical sciences before the power will be
furnished for you to move out in courage and security into the
streets of the great city. Beloved, we will devote a whole year to this
study, and we will conduct it together.”
During that evening, to the boy’s astonishment, his father went out
into the street and brought back a newspaper, an article the boy had
never seen in his hand before.
“This is the Alpha and the Omega, beloved one, of that strange
world whose mysteries you deem it to be your duty to penetrate,”
said his father, with his secret and beautiful smile.
From that time forward the boy’s evenings were no longer given up
to desultory readings in the ancient authors. He bestowed many
painful and irksome hours upon the newspaper; and these would
have been intolerable had not his labours had the sanction of his
father’s patient exposition. Day by day its most obscure mysteries
were unfolded to him. Yet the more knowledge he acquired the
greater his repugnance became. “I hate it! I hate it!” he cried
sometimes, with tears in his eyes.
There was another means also by which his father sought to
increase his knowledge of the practical sciences. He would
accompany him daily into the streets at all hours of the morning,
afternoon and evening. He made him familiar with many labyrinths
among the highways and byways of the great city. He gave him an
insight into many obscure methods of acquiring pieces of silver. He
would denote the character of individual persons as they passed by;
and above all, he strove to make the boy familiar with the language
that was in daily use about him, and with the plane of ideas of those
who used it.
In the course of one of these daily lessons his father pointed out a
boy kneeling at the edge of the pavement with a box before him,
some brushes and a pot of blacking.
“That boy, beloved one,” said his father, “maintains his place in the
scheme by removing the mud from the boots of the passers-by.
Observe him now cleansing those of the man in the tall bright hat.
For so doing he will be rewarded with a small piece of silver, and
with that piece of silver he will obtain food and a roof for his head.”
“I don’t understand, my father, I don’t understand,” said the boy in
deep perplexity. “If the man in the tall bright hat gives away to
others the pieces of silver he possesses because he is too proud to
bear a little mud on his boots, how can he obtain food for himself,
and how can he sustain the little room in which he dwells?”
“We will follow in the footsteps of that man,” said his father, “and
seek to find out the means by which he gains his own pieces of
silver in such profusion.”
For many weeks the boy’s education in the practical sciences was
conducted in this fashion; and although at first he lived in a state of
deep perplexity, and was often overcome by the feeling that he
would never find a key to these bewildering enigmas that made up
the life of the great world out of doors, which now for some
inscrutable purpose he was called upon to enter, perseverance,
study and devout patience furnished him at last with some kind of
reward.
Not less than two years of concentrated effort was necessary ere the
boy began to make real progress in the least subtle of the
astonishing complexities of that potent civilization of the West as
evolved in the latter days of the nineteenth century of the Christian
era. But as one slight piece of knowledge after another rewarded his
intense application, he seemed to derive some ground of certainty
from his successes, so that by the time he was nearly eighteen years
of age he had pieced together these hard-won fragments of
experience in such numbers that they wove themselves into a kind
of fabric of lucid ideas. Endowed with this basis upon which to
stand, he felt the hour to be at hand when the courage and the
capacity would be his to make some sort of an entrance into the life
of men and things, in the actual and visible out-of-doors world.
One evening he said to his father with an almost proud air: “To-
morrow, my father, I intend to put to the test all this knowledge that
has come to me during my many days of study—that is, of course,
my father, if you think I speak the language well enough.”
“Yes, beloved one,” said his father, with a mournfulness which was in
strange contrast with the exaltation of his own mood. “I think by
now you speak the language well enough to do so.”
“And I am growing very learned in the newspaper, am I not, my
father?” he said almost joyfully, for although in his heart he still
loathed the newspaper, the sense of achievement in being able to
read and to understand the less inscrutable of its mysteries was very
high.
“Yes, beloved one,” said his father, “I consider your progress is
wonderful.”
“I observe, my father,” said the boy proudly, “that according to the
newspaper we purchased this morning—no, no, that is not the true
way of speaking—no, I meant merely to say that according to this
morning’s paper, ‘a bright boy is wanted at No. 12, Webster’s
Buildings in the City.’ It is my purpose, my father, to present myself
at No. 12, Webster’s Buildings in the City to-morrow morning at the
hour of nine.”
“This is indeed Achilles,” said his father. He peered wistfully at the
wan cheeks now brilliant with the excitement of resolve.
“If you will embrace me, my father,” said the boy, “I will go now to
my chamber all alone by myself. I am grown so powerful with the
knowledge I have gained that I feel as if I may do almost anything.”
The white-haired man took the frail form into his embrace.
“I beseech you,” he said, as he held him in his arms, “not to demand
too much of the strength that Nature has lent you. I would urge you
not to go out among the life of the great city if you have a single
misgiving.”
“I have not a single misgiving, my father,” said the boy. “I am able to
read and to write and to speak the English tongue. I know how to
ask the con—the conductor to stop the horses of the omnibus. I can
do sums—compound fractions. I am acquainted with most of the
streets in the great city. Have I not walked therein alone several
times?”
“Well, well, Achilles,” said his father softly, “if you have really made
up your mind!”
“You do speak the language beautifully, my father,” said the boy. “If
you have really made up your mind! Why, those are the very words I
heard a woman street-person use in Piccadilly yesterday.”
The boy took a lighted candle and went up the stairs. This was the
first occasion on which he had ventured to do this unattended since
the night he had passed in the cell at the police station. But now a
new-born sense of power was upon him, the fruit of knowledge. Of
late he had made an amazing advance in his studies. He was already
beginning to move about the great world out of doors in freedom
and security. He had even begun to carry his capacity in his bearing.
Only that afternoon a small girl of ten with a basket on her arm had
asked him to tell her the time, and also the nearest way to High
Holborn. And the proud consciousness was his that he had
performed both these offices with perfect satisfaction to them both.
He lay in his pillows that night with almost the sensations of a
conqueror. Who among all the cruel and remorseless throng in the
streets of the great city, who were yet so strong and capable and so
wonderfully certain of themselves, could have done more? A year
ago such an achievement as this would have been beyond his
wildest ambitions. A month ago he could not have done it. A week
ago it would have been barely possible. As he lay in this flush of
valour it occurred to him suddenly that the light was burning at its
fullest. There and then he determined, for the first time in his life, to
get out of bed and turn it out.
He jumped from the sheets with a bound, fearing to delay. With a
touch of the finger the room was plunged in complete darkness. Like
one possessed he darted back across the floor and found his way
back into his bed. He buried his head deep down under the clothes.
He lay there shuddering among nameless horrors, and shuddering
fell asleep.
That night his father never sought his couch at all. He sat below in
the little room until the daylight came, pondering the contents of the
ancient tome. In the morning at seven o’clock when the boy came
down-stairs again he found his father still in meditation.
“I have had such dreams, my father,” said the boy, and his face was
still flushed with the excitement of the previous night. “Some of
them were so hideous that they made me cry out, yet all the time I
knew myself to be one of the great ones of the earth.”
 XI
At eight o’clock, after having made a delicate meal, the boy set out
on his pilgrimage into the streets of the great city. It was a delicious
morning of early spring. The sun stole through its white curtains,
playing elvishly on the traffic. The sounds and cries which ascended
from the purlieus of this vast open theatre seemed to be mellowed,
and to merge themselves in the primal harmony of the unplumbed
spaces overhead. Never before had the boy felt such an exhilaration
as on this glorious day. He crossed from one pavement to another
with wonderful valiancy, sometimes evading the heads of the horses
with a feeling that was almost akin to unconcern. He took his way
from street to street with the conviction ever re-affirming itself
within him that he would find his way to No. 12, Webster’s Buildings
in the City.
In the height of this new power, which for the first time in his life
had rendered him fit to move in the great world out of doors, he
gave expression to his sense of joy by breaking out suddenly into
the reverberating, wavelike music of the Iliads. His lips moved to the
measure of those mighty cadences; they rolled out of his mouth,
and their song was louder than the thunder of the traffic. As he
pressed ever onwards through the endless, elbowing throng, he
knew himself as one with the son of Peleus.
Without once faltering, or one mistake in his course he found himself
before the façade of Webster’s Buildings in the City as the clocks
were striking nine. A moment’s reflection showed him which was No.
12. It comprised a suite of offices on the ground floor.
Quite a number of boys of various ages and sizes were waiting on
the pavement outside the door. They had formed themselves into a
queue. First the boy stood looking at the mystic No. 12 which was
painted on the fanlight over the door, and then at the row of
youthful faces, which was already regarding him critically. After a
moment of hesitation he walked past them and plunged into the
interior of the building. As he did so, loud and angry protests arose
of, “’Ere, you come back, Barnum and Bailey!” “Take yer turn, yer
young swine!” “Give ’im one for himself!”
The boy not understanding to whom this enigmatic truculence was
addressed, walked through the dark passage into the first room that
he saw, the door of which was partly open. A morose-looking man
who was biting a pen was standing just inside it.
The boy took off his hat and bowed low.
“M-may it p-please you, sir,” he said, repeating slowly but in
strangely timid accents, a speech which he had already carefully
rehearsed a thousand times, “I d-desire to offer m-myself in the
capacity of a bright boy.”
The morose-looking man took the pen out of his mouth with great
deliberation, and also with an astonishment which he did not seek to
dissemble.
“Do you, indeed?” he said. “We do want a bright boy, but we don’t
want ’em too bright. You go back and wait your turn, you cheeky
young imp.”
The boy stood a moment in perplexity, unable to grasp what was
implied by this answer, and what, in the circumstances, was the
fitting course to pursue. In the next, however, he had received
enlightenment. The problem was solved for him by the man with the
pen. “D—— your young impudence!” he said, taking him by the
shoulders. In the next instant the boy had been run through the
passage and flung out on to the pavement with the aid of a heavy
kick.
His re-appearance and mode of egress were not lost on the select
company of bright boys who formed the queue. They seemed to
accord them a very decided approval. As the boy stood in
bewilderment, with his former morbid dread of physical violence
returning upon him, loud howls of derision arose from the queue.
At first it did not occur to the boy that they were directed at himself.
But, as he continued to stand before the door in irresolution and
surprise, the displeasure with which he was viewed personally was
brought somewhat forcibly to his notice. A boy sauntered out from
the middle of the queue and collected a handful of mud from the
gutter. He then crept up stealthily behind him, and flung it down the
back of his neck.
In spite of this not particularly delicate hint, however, and in spite of
the cries of derision all about him which seemed every moment to
increase, the boy continued to stand before the door. At last a
powerful boy, who was the first in the queue, turned to a companion
and said: “Keep my place, Nosey.” He then stepped out, and seizing
the boy ferociously by the ear, half led and half dragged him to the
tail of the queue. After having cuffed him severely, he said, “You get
out of your place again, and I’ll break your neck.”
Humiliation, terror and bodily pain were now added to the boy’s
bewilderment, but even these potent forces, mighty in combination
as they were, could not overcome the new-born strength of purpose
that had so recently sprung up in his heart. Doggedly, yet sickly
enough, he continued to stand behind the other boys, striving by
every means in his power to divine precisely what was taking place
around him; and to learn what line of conduct would consort with an
immunity from personal violence, and yet further the end to which
he had pledged himself.
He stood on the pavement nearly an hour while other boys formed
up behind him. Happily none considered it to be worthy of their
dignity to visit him with further notice now that his place had been
unmistakably indicated to him and his presumption had been fittingly
rebuked. Nevertheless he hardly dared to breathe or to look to the
right or to the left lest he should again incur their notice. At last,
however, an incident happened which afforded him intense relief.
In the process of time boy after boy in front of him had passed
through the sacred door, and then after a brief interval within had
returned and had gone away disconsolate, incurring as he did so,
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