MARGERY. [_Beginning to cry._] Yes, indeed, sir; but that’s just it! Mother heard the young gentlemen who were here last night talking in the passage about the guinea you’d given them to go to the play; and then, this morning, she only asked for some of the rent because she’s obliged to pay Dick’s fees to Mr. Filby, the tailor, who’s willing to take him to ’prentice and teach him the trade if he finds he’s a likely lad.
GOLDSMITH. [_Excitedly._] But I haven’t another guinea to my name, I tell you!
GOLDSMITH. [_Dreadfully distressed._] You shall have a whole shilling for yourself, my girl, if you’ll give over crying. But [_in a lower tone_], faith, I’ll have to get the shilling first!
[_Door opens, and_ DICK _enters, much out of breath._]
DICK. I’d a deal of trouble to give the letter to the old gentleman in the Temple. Frank, the black man-servant, said at first that his master, who could write a great book like the dictionary, all out of his own head, had no call to be bothered with forward London lads. Then he made me wait a long time while Dr. Johnson drank tea with Miss Williams, the little old blind lady that lives there. But at last the Doctor read your letter and gave me this one for you, with a penny for myself. Then he called very loud for a man-servant, and said a lot of things I couldn't rightly understand, the words were so long; but he said “Scatter-brain!” at the end. Could that mean you, sir?
GOLDSMITH. [_Without heeding the boy, hurriedly breaks the seal, and reads._]
TEMPLE LANE. _My Dear Sir_: Your vexatious situation has awakened the liveliest emotion of sympathy in the breast of one who, while condemning the follies of his fellow men, rejoices in an opportunity of alleviating their miseries. The inclosed piece of gold is designed to meet your most pressing necessities, and I will myself follow your Mercury with as much expedition as I can compass.
I am, sir, your sincere well-wisher, SAMUEL JOHNSON.
GOLDSMITH. [_With a deep sigh of relief._] Ah! 'tis a great thing to have real friends. And they're not always the people that have the smoothest tongues, either. The Doctor's rough in his speech, yet there's nothing of the bear about him but his skin. [_Remembering the children, with a start._] Here, Dick, old debts must always be paid. I've promised Margery a shilling, and you shall have sixpence. Run and change this guinea at the Green Dragon Tavern, hard by. [DICK _makes for the door._] But, stay! If I must spend the day indoors, at least I'll have some good wine to keep me company. You may as well bring a quart of Madeira, lad, the best you can buy. [DICK _goes out._] And, Margery, there's an old corkscrew on the floor in yonder corner. There should be a goblet, too, on the shelf. The other three were broken at our little meeting last night, and the china monster I was always so fond of, too, because Cousin Jane Contarine gave it to me. Ah, well! [_Picking up some fragments from the floor and placing them on a shelf._] I'll keep the pieces to remind me of her. [DICK _enters, sets a dusty bottle on the table, and takes the change out of his various pockets, piece by piece, with an air of great responsibility._]