The More You Saw Of Alick, The More, It Must Be Owned, You Learned
To Despise Him.
His natural talents were of no use either to
himself or others; for his character had degenerated like his face,
and become pulpy and pretentious.
Even his power of persuasion,
which was certainly very surprising, stood in some danger of being
lost or neutralised by over-confidence. He lied in an aggressive,
brazen manner, like a pert criminal in the dock; and he was so vain
of his own cleverness that he could not refrain from boasting, ten
minutes after, of the very trick by which he had deceived you.
'Why, now I have more money than when I came on board,' he said one
night, exhibiting a sixpence, 'and yet I stood myself a bottle of
beer before I went to bed yesterday. And as for tobacco, I have
fifteen sticks of it.' That was fairly successful indeed; yet a
man of his superiority, and with a less obtrusive policy, might,
who knows? have got the length of half a crown. A man who prides
himself upon persuasion should learn the persuasive faculty of
silence, above all as to his own misdeeds. It is only in the farce
and for dramatic purposes that Scapin enlarges on his peculiar
talents to the world at large.
Scapin is perhaps a good name for this clever, unfortunate Alick;
for at the bottom of all his misconduct there was a guiding sense
of humour that moved you to forgive him. It was more than half a
jest that he conducted his existence. 'Oh, man,' he said to me
once with unusual emotion, like a man thinking of his mistress, 'I
would give up anything for a lark.'
It was in relation to his fellow-stowaway that Alick showed the
best, or perhaps I should say the only good, points of his nature.
'Mind you,' he said suddenly, changing his tone, 'mind you that's a
good boy. He wouldn't tell you a lie. A lot of them think he is a
scamp because his clothes are ragged, but he isn't; he's as good as
gold.' To hear him, you become aware that Alick himself had a
taste for virtue. He thought his own idleness and the other's
industry equally becoming. He was no more anxious to insure his
own reputation as a liar than to uphold the truthfulness of his
companion; and he seemed unaware of what was incongruous in his
attitude, and was plainly sincere in both characters.
It was not surprising that he should take an interest in the
Devonian, for the lad worshipped and served him in love and wonder.
Busy as he was, he would find time to warn Alick of an approaching
officer, or even to tell him that the coast was clear, and he might
slip off and smoke a pipe in safety. 'Tom,' he once said to him,
for that was the name which Alick ordered him to use, 'if you don't
like going to the galley, I'll go for you.
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