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He said Merrett, Barnacle, and Company must be easily pleased, but they would soon find out their mistake, and that I might as well make up my mind to be dismissed after the first fortnight, and so on. I didn't take it much to heart; and after the first gush did not trouble my relative much with my prospects.
The result of these exertions was that when the door opened half a minute later the office was, to all appearance, as quiet as usual. To our surprise, the comer was not Mr Barnacle, who usually arrived first, but Mr Merrett, who on other days hardly ever put in an appearance till an hour later. What was the reason of this reversal of the order of things we could not say, and did not much care.
Mr Barnacle had always had the reputation of being the sterner of the two partners, and now, as he abruptly joined in the conversation, I felt as if it boded very little good for me. "One moment," said he to Mr Merrett; "there are a few more questions we should ask, I think. Batchelor, you are doing yourself no good by this noise," he added, turning to me. He was right, and I saw it.
When Billy had gone, Mr Merrett turned to me and said, "Go to your work, Batchelor, and tell Doubleday to send Hawkesbury here." I obeyed, feeling that, after all, as far as I was concerned, the storm had blown over. Doubleday went to Hawkesbury's glass box and opened the door. "You're wanted, Hawkes Hullo!" This exclamation was caused by the discovery that Hawkesbury was not there!
He briefly recapitulated the lecture for my benefit, and then dismissed us both under the charge of Mr Doubleday to our duties, and by the time one o'clock was reached that day, and I was informed I might go out for twenty minutes for my dinner, I was quite settled down as junior clerk in the Export Department of Merrett, Barnacle, and Company.
"I counted ten out loud in the professional way like they do at the National Sporting Club, you know, and then said 'O'Hara wins'. I felt an awful swell. After about another half-minute, Rand-Brown was all right again, and he got up and went back to the house with Merrett, and O'Hara and Moriarty went off to Dexter's, and I gave the ferrets their grub, and cut back to breakfast."
"How came it in your desk, Batchelor?" asked Mr Barnacle. I didn't know, and therefore I couldn't say, and consequently said nothing. "Have you any explanation to offer?" repeated Mr Barnacle. "No," I replied. "Then, officer," said Mr Merrett, "we must give him in charge." The bare idea of being walked off to a police-station was enough to drive all my sullenness and reserve to the four winds.
He said he didn't care, so long as I didn't tell everybody, so I said I wouldn't tell anybody except you, so he said all right, then, I could stop if I wanted to. So that was how I saw it. Well, after we'd been waiting a few minutes, Rand-Brown came in sight, with that beast Merrett in our house, who'd come to second him. It was just like one of those duels you read about, you know.
He turned to his nephew and said, "Did you fetch a policeman, Hawkesbury?" "No; I was just going when you called me in here." Mr Merrett touched his bell, and Crow appeared. "Is Doubleday in?" asked the senior partner. "No, sir." "As soon as he comes in, tell him he is wanted." Crow took an eyeful of us as we stood there, evidently dying of curiosity to know what it all meant, and then retired.
I braced myself up to the ordeal, and not heeding the facetious dig in the ribs which the clerk gave me in passing, I put on my best face, and entered the awful presence. Two gentlemen sat facing one another at the table, one of them old, the other middle-aged. These I instantly guessed to be Messrs. Merrett and Barnacle.
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