New Grub Street Read Online Free Page B

reviewing in general; it was more
than probable that both Yule and his daughter did a good deal of
such work.
    'Suppose we go into the garden,' suggested Miss Harrow,
presently. 'It seems a shame to sit indoors on such a lovely
afternoon.'
    Hitherto there had been no mention of the master of the house.
But Mr Yule now remarked to Jasper:
    'My brother would be glad if you would come and have a word with
him. He isn't quite well enough to leave his room to-day.'
    So, as the ladies went gardenwards, Jasper followed the man of
letters upstairs to a room on the first floor. Here, in a deep cane
chair, which was placed by the open window, sat John Yule. He was
completely dressed, save that instead of coat he wore a
dressing-gown. The facial likeness between him and his brother was
very strong, but John's would universally have been judged the
finer countenance; illness notwithstanding, he had a complexion
which contrasted in its pure colour with Alfred's parchmenty skin,
and there was more finish about his features. His abundant hair was
reddish, his long moustache and trimmed beard a lighter shade of
the same hue.
    'So you too are in league with the doctors,' was his bluff
greeting, as he held a hand to the young man and inspected him with
a look of slighting good-nature.
    'Well, that certainly is one way of regarding the literary
profession,' admitted Jasper, who had heard enough of John's way of
thinking to understand the remark.
    'A young fellow with all the world before him, too. Hang it, Mr
Milvain, is there no less pernicious work you can turn your hand
to?'
    'I'm afraid not, Mr Yule. After all, you know, you must be held
in a measure responsible for my depravity.'
    'How's that?'
    'I understand that you have devoted most of your life to the
making of paper. If that article were not so cheap and so abundant,
people wouldn't have so much temptation to scribble.'
    Alfred Yule uttered a short laugh.
    'I think you are cornered, John.'
    'I wish,' answered John, 'that you were both condemned to write
on such paper as I chiefly made; it was a special kind of
whitey-brown, used by shopkeepers.'
    He chuckled inwardly, and at the same time reached out for a box
of cigarettes on a table near him. His brother and Jasper each took
one as he offered them, and began to smoke.
    'You would like to see literary production come entirely to an
end?' said Milvain.
    'I should like to see the business of literature abolished.'
    'There's a distinction, of course. But, on the whole, I should
say that even the business serves a good purpose.'
    'What purpose?'
    'It helps to spread civilisation.'
    'Civilisation!' exclaimed John, scornfully. 'What do you mean by
civilisation? Do you call it civilising men to make them weak,
flabby creatures, with ruined eyes and dyspeptic stomachs? Who is
it that reads most of the stuff that's poured out daily by the ton
from the printing-press? Just the men and women who ought to spend
their leisure hours in open-air exercise; the people who earn their
bread by sedentary pursuits, and who need to live as soon as they
are free from the desk or the counter, not to moon over small
print. Your Board schools, your popular press, your spread of
education! Machinery for ruining the country, that's what I call
it.'
    'You have done a good deal, I think, to counteract those
influences in Wattleborough.'
    'I hope so; and if only I had kept the use of my limbs I'd have
done a good deal more. I have an idea of offering substantial
prizes to men and women engaged in sedentary work who take an oath
to abstain from all reading, and keep it for a certain number of
years. There's a good deal more need for that than for abstinence
from strong liquor. If I could have had my way I would have revived
prize-fighting.'
    His brother laughed with contemptuous impatience.
    'You would doubtless like to see military conscription
introduced into England?' said Jasper.
    'Of course I should! You talk of civilising; there's no such way
of civilising the