It could be done , because there was very little business at any time , and practically none at all before the evening .
Mr Verloc 0
cared but little about his 0
ostensible business .
And , moreover , was in charge of .
The shop 1
was small , and so was the house 3
.
It 3
was one of
those grimy brick houses which existed in large quantities before the era of reconstruction dawned upon
London 5
4 82 .
The shop 1
was a square box of a place 75
, with the front glazed in small panes .
In the daytime the door remained closed ; in the evening it stood discreetly but suspiciously ajar .
The window contained photographs of more or less undressed dancing girls 6
; nondescript packages in wrappers like patent medicines ; closed yellow paper envelopes , very flimsy , and marked two-and-six in heavy black figures ; a few numbers of ancient French comic publications hung across a string as if to dry ; a dingy blue china bowl , a casket of black wood , bottles of marking ink , and rubber stamps ; a few books , with titles hinting at impropriety ; a few apparently old copies of obscure newspapers , badly printed , with titles like _ The Torch _ , _ The Gong _ — rousing titles .
And the two gas jets inside the panes were always turned low , either for economy ’s sake or for the sake of the customers 7
.
These customers 8
were either very young men , who hung about the window for a time before slipping in suddenly 9
; or men of a more mature age 10
, but looking generally as if they 10
were not in funds .
Some of that last kind 11
had the collars of their 11
overcoats turned right up to their 11
moustaches , and traces of mud on the bottom of their 11
nether garments , which had the appearance of being much worn and not very valuable .
And the legs inside them did not , as a general rule , seem of much account either .
With their 11
hands plunged deep in the side pockets of their 11
coats , they 11
dodged in sideways , one shoulder first , as if afraid to start the bell going .
The bell , hung on the door by means of a curved ribbon of steel , was difficult to circumvent .
It was hopelessly cracked ; but of an evening , at the slightest provocation , it clattered behind the customer 12
with impudent virulence .
It clattered ; and at that signal , through the dusty glass door behind the painted deal counter , Mr Verloc 0
would issue hastily from the parlour 13
at the back .
His 0
eyes were naturally heavy ; he 0
had an air of having wallowed , fully dressed , all day on an unmade bed .
Another man 14
would have felt such an appearance a distinct disadvantage .
In a commercial transaction of the retail order much depends on the seller 15
’s engaging and amiable aspect .
But Mr Verloc 0
knew his 0
business , and remained undisturbed by any sort of æsthetic doubt about his 0
appearance .
With a firm , steady-eyed impudence , which seemed to hold back the threat of some abominable menace , he 0
would proceed to sell over the counter some object looking obviously and scandalously not worth the money which passed in the transaction : a small cardboard box with apparently nothing inside , for instance , or one of those carefully closed yellow flimsy envelopes , or a soiled volume in paper covers with a promising title .
Now and then it happened that one of the faded , yellow dancing girls would get sold to an amateur 16
, as though she had been alive and young .
Sometimes it was Mrs Verloc 2
who would appear at the call of the cracked bell .
Winnie Verloc 2
was a young woman with a full bust , in a tight bodice , and with broad hips 81
.
Her 2
hair was very tidy .
Steady-eyed like , she 2
preserved an air of unfathomable indifference behind the rampart of the counter .
Then the customer of comparatively tender years 17
would get suddenly disconcerted at having to deal with a woman 18
, and with rage in his 17
heart would proffer a request for a bottle of marking ink , retail value sixpence ( price in one-and-sixpence ) , which , once outside , he 17
would drop stealthily into the gutter .
The evening visitors 19
— the men with collars turned up and soft hats rammed down 76
— nodded familiarly to Mrs Verloc 2
, and with a muttered greeting , lifted up the flap at the end of the counter in order to pass into the back parlour 20
, which gave access to a passage 21
and to a steep flight of stairs 22
.
The door of the shop 1
was the only means of entrance to the house in which
Mr Verloc 0
carried on
his 0
business of
a seller of shady wares 23
3 , exercised his 0
vocation of a protector of society 24
, and cultivated his 0
domestic virtues .
These last were pronounced .
He 0
was thoroughly domesticated .
Neither his 0
spiritual , nor his 0
mental , nor his 0
physical needs were of the kind to take him 0
much abroad .
He 0
found at home 3
the ease of his 0
body and the peace of his 0
conscience , together with Mrs Verloc 2
’s wifely attentions and Mrs Verloc 2
’s mother
25 ’s deferential regard .
was a stout , wheezy woman 77
, with a large brown face .
She 25
wore a black wig under a white cap .
Her 25
swollen legs rendered her 25
inactive .
She 25
considered herself 25
to be of French descent , which might have been true ; and after a good many years of married life with a licensed victualler of the more common sort 26
, she 25
provided for the years of widowhood by letting furnished apartments for
gentlemen 27
near
Vauxhall Bridge Road 28
in
a square 29
once of some splendour and still included in
the district of Belgravia 30
41 .
This topographical fact was of some advantage in advertising ; but the patrons of
the worthy widow 25
32 were not exactly of the fashionable kind .
Such as they 32
were , Winnie 2
helped to look after them 32
.
Traces of the French descent which the widow 25
boasted of were apparent in Winnie 2
too .
They were apparent in the extremely neat and artistic arrangement of her 2
glossy dark hair .
Winnie 2
had also other charms : her 2
youth ; her 2
full , rounded form ; her 2
clear complexion ; the provocation of her 2
unfathomable reserve , which never went so far as to prevent conversation , carried on on the lodgers 33
’ part with animation , and on hers with an equable amiability .
It must be that Mr Verloc 0
was susceptible to these fascinations .
Mr Verloc 0
was an intermittent patron 78
.
He 0
came and went without any very apparent reason .
He 0
generally arrived in London 5
( like the influenza ) from the Continent 34
, only he 0
arrived unheralded by the Press ; and his 0
visitations set in with great severity .
He 0
breakfasted in bed , and remained wallowing there with an air of quiet enjoyment till noon every day — and sometimes even to a later hour .
But when he 0
went out he 0
seemed to experience a great difficulty in finding his 0
way back to his 0
temporary home in
the Belgravian square 29
35 .
He 0
left it 35
late , and returned to it 35
early — as early as three or four in the morning ; and on waking up at ten addressed Winnie 2
, bringing in the breakfast tray , with jocular , exhausted civility , in the hoarse , failing tones of a man who had been talking vehemently for many hours together 36
.
His 0
prominent , heavy-lidded eyes rolled sideways amorously and languidly , the bedclothes were pulled up to his 0
chin , and his 0
dark smooth moustache covered his 0
thick lips capable of much honeyed banter .
In ’s opinion Mr Verloc 0
was a very nice gentleman 79
.
From her 25
life ’s experience gathered in various “ business houses ” 37
the good woman 25
had taken into her 25
retirement an ideal of gentlemanliness as exhibited by the patrons of
private-saloon bars 39
38 .
Mr Verloc 0
approached that ideal ; he 0
attained it , in fact .
“ Of course , we 40
’ll take over your 25
furniture , mother 25
, ” Winnie 2
had remarked .
The lodging-house 42
was to be given up .
It seems it would not answer to carry it on .
It would have been too much trouble for Mr Verloc 0
.
It would not have been convenient for his 0
other business .
What his 0
business was he 0
did not say ; but after his 0
engagement to Winnie 2
he 0
took the trouble to get up before noon , and descending the basement stairs 43
, make himself 0
pleasant to in the breakfast-room 44
downstairs 45
where she 25
had her 25
motionless being .
He 0
stroked the cat , poked the fire , had his 0
lunch served to him 0
there 44
.
He 0
left its 44
slightly stuffy cosiness with evident reluctance , but , all the same , remained out till the night was far advanced .
He 0
never offered to take Winnie 2
to theatres 46
, as such a nice gentleman 47
ought to have done .
His 0
evenings were occupied .
His 0
work was in a way political , he 0
told Winnie 2
once .
She 2
would have , he 0
warned her 2
, to be very nice to his 0
political friends
48 .
And with her 2
straight , unfathomable glance she 2
answered that she 2
would be so , of course .
How much more he 0
told her 2
as to his 0
occupation it was impossible for to discover .
The married couple 40
took her 25
over with the furniture .
The mean aspect of the shop 1
surprised her 25
.
The change from the Belgravian square 29
to the narrow street in
Soho 50
49 affected her 25
legs adversely .
They became of an enormous size .
On the other hand , she 25
experienced a complete relief from material cares .
’s heavy good nature inspired her 25
with a sense of absolute safety .
’s future was obviously assured , and even as to Stevie 51
she 25
need have no anxiety .
She 25
had not been able to conceal from herself 25
that he 51
was a terrible encumbrance , that poor Stevie 51
.
But in view of Winnie 2
’s fondness for her 2
delicate brother
51 , and of Mr Verloc 0
’s kind and generous disposition , she 25
felt that the poor boy 51
was pretty safe in this rough world 52
.
And in her 25
heart of hearts she 25
was not perhaps displeased that the Verlocs 40
had no children 53
.
As that circumstance seemed perfectly indifferent to Mr Verloc 0
, and as Winnie 2
found an object of quasi-maternal affection in , perhaps this was just as well for poor Stevie 51
.
For he 51
was difficult to dispose of , that boy 51
.
He 51
was delicate and , in a frail way , good-looking too , except for the vacant droop of his 51
lower lip .
Under our 54
excellent system of compulsory education he 51
had learned to read and write , notwithstanding the unfavourable aspect of the lower lip .
But as errand-boy 51
he 51
did not turn out a great success .
He 51
forgot his 51
messages ; he 51
was easily diverted from the straight path of duty by the attractions of stray cats and dogs , which he 51
followed down narrow alleys 55
into unsavoury courts 56
; by the comedies of the streets 57
, which he 51
contemplated open-mouthed , to the detriment of ’s interests ; or by the dramas of fallen horses , whose pathos and violence induced him 51
sometimes to shriek pierceingly in a crowd , which disliked to be disturbed by sounds of distress in its quiet enjoyment of the national spectacle .
When led away by a grave and protecting policeman 59
, it would often become apparent that poor Stevie 51
had forgotten his 51
address — at least for a time .
A brusque question caused him 51
to stutter to the point of suffocation .
When startled by anything perplexing he 51
used to squint horribly .
However , he 51
never had any fits ( which was encouraging ) ; and before the natural outbursts of impatience on the part of he 51
could always , in his 51
childhood ’s days , run for protection behind the short skirts of Winnie 2
.
On the other hand , he 51
might have been suspected of hiding a fund of reckless naughtiness .
When he 51
had reached the age of fourteen , an agent for
a foreign preserved milk firm 61
80 , having given him 51
an opening as office-boy 51
, he 51
was discovered one foggy afternoon , in ’s absence , busy letting off fireworks on the staircase 63
.
He 51
touched off in quick succession a set of fierce rockets , angry catherine wheels , loudly exploding squibs — and the matter might have turned out very serious .
An awful panic spread through the whole building 64
.
Wild-eyed , choking clerks 65
stampeded through the passages 66
full of smoke , silk hats and elderly business men 67
could be seen rolling independently down the stairs 68
.
Stevie 51
did not seem to derive any personal gratification from what he 51
had done .
His 51
motives for this stroke of originality were difficult to discover .
It was only later on that Winnie 2
obtained from him 51
a misty and confused confession .
It seems that two other office-boys in
the building 64
69 had worked upon his 51
feelings by tales of injustice and oppression till they 69
had wrought his 51
compassion to the pitch of that frenzy .
But , of course , dismissed him 51
summarily as likely to ruin .
After that altruistic exploit Stevie 51
was put to help wash the dishes in the basement kitchen 71
, and to black the boots of the gentlemen patronising
the Belgravian mansion 35
72 .
There was obviously no future in such work .
The gentlemen 73
tipped him 51
a shilling now and then .
Mr Verloc 0
showed himself 0
the most generous of lodgers 74
.
But altogether all that did not amount to much either in the way of gain or prospects ; so that when Winnie 2
announced her 2
engagement to Mr Verloc 0
could not help wondering , with a sigh and a glance towards the scullery , what would become of poor Stephen 51
now .