Chapter 32 - Page 2

came working out of
the Dock in a highly heated condition.
'Mr Pancks,' was the Patriarchal remark, 'you have been remiss, you
have been remiss, sir.'

'What do you mean by that?' was the short rejoinder.

The Patriarchal state, always a state of calmness and composure,
was so particularly serene that evening as to be provoking.
Everybody else within the bills of mortality was hot; but the
Patriarch was perfectly cool. Everybody was thirsty, and the
Patriarch was drinking. There was a fragrance of limes or lemons
about him; and he made a drink of golden sherry, which shone in a
large tumbler as if he were drinking the evening sunshine. this
was bad, but not the worst. The worst was, that with his big blue
eyes, and his polished head, and his long white hair, and his
bottle-green legs stretched out before him, terminating in his easy
shoes easily crossed at the instep, he had a radiant appearance of
having in his extensive benevolence made the drink for the human
species, while he himself wanted nothing but his own milk of human
kindness.

Wherefore, Mr Pancks said, 'What do you mean by that?' and put his
hair up with both hands, in a highly portentous manner.

'I mean, Mr Pancks, that you must be sharper with the people,
sharper with the people, much sharper with the people, sir. You
don't squeeze them. You don't squeeze them. Your receipts are not
up to the mark. You must squeeze them, sir, or our connection will
not continue to be as satisfactory as I could wish it to be to all
parties. All parties.'

'Don't I squeeze 'em?' retorted Mr Pancks. 'What else am I made
for?'

'You are made for nothing else, Mr Pancks. You are made to do your
duty, but you don't do your duty. You are paid to squeeze, and you
must squeeze to pay.' The Patriarch so much surprised himself by
this brilliant turn, after Dr Johnson, which he had not in the
least expected or intended, that he laughed aloud; and repeated
with great satisfaction, as he twirled his thumbs and nodded at his
youthful portrait, 'Paid to squeeze, sir, and must squeeze to pay.'

'Oh,' said Pancks. 'Anything more?'

'Yes, sir, yes, sir. Something more. You will please, Mr Pancks,
to squeeze the Yard again, the first thing on Monday morning. '

'Oh!' said Pancks. 'Ain't that too soon? I squeezed it dry to-
day.'

'Nonsense, sir. Not near the mark, not near the mark.'

'Oh!' said Pancks, watching him as he benevolently gulped down a
good draught of his mixture. 'Anything more?'

'Yes, sir, yes, sir, something more. I am not at all pleased, Mr
Pancks, with my daughter; not at all pleased. Besides calling much
too often to inquire for Mrs Clennam, Mrs Clennam, who is not just