Moreover, the cost was heavy, and
the promised subscriptions were almost wholly imaginary; even if they had
been paid, they would not have covered a quarter of the expense Mr. Bragg
ran him to; and worst of all, there was an increasing instead of a
diminishing expenditure. Trust a servant for keeping things up to the mark.
All things, however, have an end, and Mr. Bragg began to get to the end of
Mr. Puff's patience. As Puff got older he got fonder of his five-pound
notes, and began to scrutinize bills and ask questions; to be, as Mr. Bragg
said, 'very little of the gentleman'; Bragg, however, being quite one of
your 'make-hay-while-the-sun-shines' sort, and knowing too well the style
of man to calculate on a lengthened duration of office, just put on the
steam of extravagance, and seemed inclined to try how much he could spend
for his master. His bills for draft hounds were enormous; he was
continually chopping and changing his horses, often almost without
consulting his master; he had a perfect museum of saddles and bridles, in
which every invention and variety of bit was exhibited; and he had paid as
much as twenty pounds to different 'valets' and grooms for invaluable
recipes for cleaning leather breeches and gloves.
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