Page:The Adventures of David Simple (1904).djvu/244

asked him if he knew any of those gentlemen; for that he thought it pity somebody should not take care of them home, for fear they should come to any mischief. "Alack! sir," replied the man, "there is no danger of them; drunken men and children—you know the proverb. I have kept a shop in that street these twenty years; and it is very few mornings, unless it be very bitter cold weather, but that a parcel of them pass by. That young gentleman who went first, I am told, would make a very fine gentleman if he did not drink so hard; and I had it from very good hands, for I am acquainted with his mother's chambermaid, and she must know, to be sure. And then that hatchet-faced man who came next, I think he had better take care of his wife and children than run about spending his money in such a manner; he owes me a bill of one pound three shillings and two-pence; but no wonder he can't pay his debts, while he leads such a sort of life. That short man who walks by his side, to my certain knowledge was arrested last week; and I was told, if some of his rakish companions had not bailed him, he would have found it a difficult matter to have got out of the bailiff's hands; for, faith and troth, master, if once they lay hold on any one, it is not an easy matter to get from them again. He is but poor; I don't believe he is much richer than one of we that do keep shops to get our livelihood; and yet, they say, his elder brother rides in his coach and six. I think he might relieve him when he is in distress; indeed, it is nothing to me, and I never trouble my head about other folks' business. There is a man lives in that house yonder; he pretends to set up for a gentleman, and yet I don't hear he has any estate; forsooth, he must have servants, though he can't tell where to get money to pay them; but they serve him as he deserves—they won't