former Miss Gentle named her spouse,--"come
here, quick--oh! _do_ be quick! Baby's fallen and Fred's ringing."

The truth of this was corroborated by another furious ring by the
invalid, which mingled with the recurring squalls, and was increased by
the noisy and pertinacious clatter of the cracked bell that announced
the opening of the shop-door.

"Zounds! Mrs Murridge, mind the shop!--Good-bye, Sir James. Excuse--.
Coming, dear!"

Mr Blurt, glaring as he clutched his scant side locks, dashed up-stairs
with the agility of a schoolboy.

Sir James Clubley, who was a bachelor, left the place with a quiet
smile, and proceeded, at what we may style a reflective pace, towards
the City.

But Sir James might have saved himself the trouble. It was, as we have
said, Christmas eve, and he might as well have demanded audience of a
soldier in the heat of battle as of a Post-Office official on that
trying night of the year.

In modern times the tendency of the human race (the British part of it
at least) to indulge in social intercourse by letter and otherwise at
the Christmas season has been on the increase, and, since the
introduction of cheap postage, it has created a pressure on the
Post-Office which has taxed its powers very considerably. The advent of
halfpenny post-cards, and especially the invention of Christmas-card and
packet correspondence, with the various facilities which have of late
years been afforded to the public by the Department, have created such a
mass of inter-communication throughout the kingdom, that Christmas has
now to be regularly prepared for as a great field-day, or rather a grand
campaign extending over several days. Well-planned arrangements have to
be made beforehand. Contingencies and possibilities have to be weighed
and considered. All the forces of the Department have to be called out,
or rather called in. Provisions--actual food, of exceptional kind and
quantity--have to be provided, and every man, boy, nerve, muscle, eye,
hand, brain, and spirit, has to be taxed to the very uttermost to
prevent defeat.

On the particular year of which we write, symptoms of the coming
struggle began to be felt before Christmas eve. On the morning of the
23rd, the enemy--if we may so style the letters--began to come in like a
flood, and the whole of that day the duty was most pressing, although
the reserve forces had been called into action. On the morning of the
24th the strain was so severe