Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Sandra Brown and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team.
1920
XX THE Green Man
Linford Pratt, senior clerk to Eldrick & Pascoe, solicitors, of Barford,a young man who earnestly desired to get on in life, by hook or bycrook, with no objection whatever to crookedness, so long as it could beperformed in safety and secrecy, had once during one of his periodicalvisits to the town Reference Library, lighted on a maxim of that otherunscrupulous person, Prince Talleyrand, which had pleased him greatly."With time and patience," said Talleyrand, "the mulberry leaf is turnedinto satin." This seemed to Linford Pratt one of the finest and soundestpieces of wisdom which he had ever known put into words.
A mulberry leaf is a very insignificant thing, but a piece of satin is ahighly marketable commodity, with money in it. Henceforth, he regardedhimself as a mulberry leaf which his own wit and skill must transforminto satin: at the same time he knew that there is another thing, inaddition to time and patience, which is valuable to young men of hispeculiar qualities, a thing also much beloved by Talleyrand—opportunity.He could find the patience, and he had the time—but it would give himgreat happiness if opportunity came along to help in the work. Ineveryday language, Linford Pratt wanted a chance—he waited the arrivalof the tide in his affairs which would lead him on to fortune.
Leave him alone—he said to himself—to be sure to take it at the flood.If Pratt had only known it, as he stood in the outer office of Eldrick &Pascoe at the end of a certain winter afternoon, opportunity was slowlyclimbing the staircase outside—not only opportunity, but temptation,both assisted by the Devil. They came at the right moment, for Pratt wasalone; the partners had gone: the other clerks had gone: the office-boyhad gone: in another minute Pratt would have gone, too: he was onlylooking round before locking up for the night. Then these thingscam