ou like."

Mr Durfy was there when he arrived, bearing no traces of last night's
_fracas_, except a scowl and a sneer, which deepened as he caught sight
of his adversary. Reginald passed close to his table, in order to give
him an opportunity of coming to the point at once; but to his surprise
the overseer took no apparent notice of him, and allowed him to go to
his place and begin work as usual.

"I'd sooner see him tearing his hair than grinning like that," said
young Gedge, in a whisper. "You may be sure there's something in the
wind."

Whatever it was, Mr Durfy kept his own counsel, and though Reginald
looked up now and then and caught him scowling viciously in his
direction, he made no attempt at hostilities, and rather appeared to
ignore him altogether.

Even when he was giving out the "copy" he sent Reginald his by a boy,
instead of, as was usually his practice, calling him up to the table to
receive it. Reginald's copy on this occasion consisted of a number of
advertisements, a class of work not nearly as easy and far less
interesting than the paragraphs of news which generally fell to his
share. However, he attacked them boldly, and, unattractive as they
were, contrived to get some occupation from them for his mind as well as
his hand.

Here, for instance, was some one who wanted "a groom, young, good-
looking, and used to horses." How would that suit him? And why need he
be good-looking? And what was the use of saying he must be used to
horses? Who ever heard of a groom that wasn't? The man who put in that
advertisement was a muff. Here was another of a different sort:

"J.S. Come back to your afflicted mother and all shall be forgiven."

Heigho! suppose "J.S." had got a mother like Mrs Cruden, what a brute
he must be to cut away. What had he been doing to her? robbing her? or
bullying her? or what? Reginald worked himself into a state of wrath
over the prodigal, and very nearly persuaded himself to leave out the
promise of forgiveness altogether.

"If the young gentleman who dropped an envelope in the Putney omnibus on
the evening of the 6th instant will apply to B, at 16, Grip Street, he
may hear of something to his advantage."

How some people were born to luck! Think of making your fortune by
dropping an envelope in a Putney omnibus. How gladly he would pave the
floor of every omnibus he rode in with envelopes if only he could
thereby hear anything to his advantage! He had a grea