Fiction > Book editions > London, 1885 - Dynamiter

judicial astrology ; and here I stand, all London roaring
by at the street's end, as impotent as any baby. I have
a prodigious contempt for my maternal uncle ; but
without him, it is idle to deny it, I should simply resolve
into my elements like an unstable mixture. I begin to
perceive that it is necessary to know some one thing to
the bottom — were it only literature. And yet, sir, the
man of the world is a great feature of this age ; he is
possessed of an extraordinary mass and variety of
knowledge ; he is everywhere at home ; he has seen life
in all its phases ; and it is impossible but that this great
habit of existence should bear fruit. 1 count myself a
man of the world, accomplished, cap-a-pie. So do you,
Challoner. And you, Mr. Desborough ? '
' Oh yes,' returned the young man.
' Well then, Mr. Godall, here we stand, three men of
the world, without a trade to cover us, but planted at
the strategic centre of the universe (for so you will
allow me to call Rupert Street), in the midst of the chief
mass of people, and within ear- shot of the most con-
tinuous chink of money on the surface of the globe. Sir,
as civilised men, what do we do ? I will show you. You
take in a paper ? '
'I take,' said Mr. Godall, solemnly, 'the best paper
in the world, the " Standard." '
' Good,' resumed Somerset. ' I now hold it in my
hand, the voice of the world, a telejDhone repeating
all men's wants. I open it, and where my eye first
falls — well, no, not Morrison's Pills — but here, sure
enough, and but a little above, I find the joint that I
was seeking ; here is the weak spot in the armour of
society. Here is a want, a plaint, an offer of substantial
gratitude : '•'•Two Hundred Founds Revmrd. — The above
reward will be paid to any person giving information as
to the identity and whereabouts of a man observed
yesterday in the neighbourhood of the Green Park. He
was over six feet in height, with shoulders disproportion-
ately broad, close shaved, with black moustaches, and
wearing a sealskin great coat." There, gentlemen, our
fortune, if not made, is founded.'