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A Novel of Old New York
by Francis Spufford
"There you go," Lovell said. "Smiling again. Commerce is trust, sir. Commerce is need and need together, sir. Commerce is putting a hand in answer into a hand out-stretched; but when I call you a rogue, you don't flare up, as is the natural answer at the mere accusation, and call me a rogue for doubting."
"No," returned Smith cheerfully. "For you're right, of course. You don't know me; and suspicion must be your wisest course, when I may be equally a gilded sprig of the bon ton, or a flash cully working the inkhorn lay."
Lovell blinked. Smith's voice had darkened to a rookery croak, and there was no telling if he was putting on or taking off a mask.
"There's the lovely power of being a stranger," Smith went on, as pleasant as before. "I may as well have been born again when I stepped ashore. You've a new man before you, new-made. I've no history here, and no character: and what I am is all in what I will be. But the bill, sir, is a true one. How may I set your mind at rest?"
"You've the oddest notion in the world of reassurance, if you're in earnest," said Lovell, staring. "You could tell me why I've had no letter, to cushion this surprise. I'd have expected an explanation, a warning."
"Perhaps I out-paced it."
"Perhaps. But I believe I'll keep my counsel till I see more than perhaps."
"Of course," said Mr. Smith. "Nothing more natural, when I may be a rascal."
"Again, you make mighty free with that possibility," Lovell said.
"I only name the difficulty you're under. Would you trust me more if we pretended some other thing were at issue?"
"I might," said Lovell. "I might well. An honest man would surely labour to keep off the taint of such a thing. You seem to be inviting it, Mr. Smith. Yet I can't be so casual, can I? My name's my credit. Do you know what will happen if I accept your bill, for your secret business, your closed-mouth business, your smiling business, your confidential business? And you discount it with some good neighbour of mine, to lay your hands on the money as fast as may be, as I've no doubt you mean to? Then there'll be sixty-day paper with my name upon't, going round and round the island, playing the devil with my credit just at the turn of the season, in no kind of confidence at all. All will know it; all will know I'm to be dunned for a thousand pound, and wonder should they try to mulct me first."
"But I won't discount it."
"What?"
"I won't discount it. I can wait. There is no hurry. I have no pressing need for funds; sixty days' sight, it says, and sixty days will suit me perfectly. Keep the bill; keep it under your eye; save it from wandering."
"If I accept it, you mean."
"Yes. If you accept it."
"And if I don't?"
"Well, if you protest it, I shall make this the shortest landing in the colonies that ever was heard of. I shall walk back along the quay, and when the Henrietta is loaded, I shall ship home, and lodge my claim for damages with Banyard's."
"I don't protest it," said Lovell, slowly. "Neither yet do I accept it. It says here, our second bill, and I've not seen hide or hair of first nor third. What ships d'ye say they're bound on?"
"Sansom's Venture and Antelope," said Mr. Smith.
"Well," said Lovell, "here's what we'll do. We'll wait and we'll see; and if the others of the set turn up, why then I'll say I accepted the bill today, and you shall have your sixty days, and if you're lucky you may be paid by quarter-day; and if they don't appear, why then you're the rascal you tease at being, and I'll have you before the justices for personation. What do you say?"
"It's irregular," said Mr. Smith, "but something should be allowed for teasing. Very well: done."
Excerpted from Golden Hill by Francis Spufford. Copyright © 2017 by Francis Spufford. Excerpted by permission of Scribner. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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