ch was not far
off the truth, and she was confirmed in it by the fact that Hans
received the message with a smile, and expressed no doubt what it meant.

That night there were twenty-two miles between Aubrey and London: and
the next day he rode into Oxford, and delivered Mr Marshall's letter of
recommendation to the bookseller, Mr Whitstable, whose shop was
situated just inside the West Gate--namely, in close contiguity to that
aristocratic part of the city now known as Paradise Square.

Mr Whitstable was a white-haired man who seemed the essence of
respectability. He stooped slightly in the shoulders, and looked Aubrey
through and over, with a pair of dark, brilliant, penetrating eyes, in a
way not exactly calculated to add to that young gentleman's comfort, nor
to restore that excellent opinion of his own virtues which had been
somewhat shaken of late.

"You are of kin to the writer of this letter, Mr Marshall?"

Aubrey admitted it.

"And you desire to learn my trade?"

"I am afeared I scarce do desire it, Master: but I am content, and needs
must."

"What have you hitherto done?"

"Master," said Aubrey, looking frankly at his questioner, "I fear I have
hitherto done nothing save to spend money and make a fool of myself.
That is no recommendation, I know."

"You have done one other thing, young man," said the old bookseller:
"you have told the truth. That is a recommendation. Mr Marshall tells
me not that, yet can I read betwixt the lines. I shall ask you no
questions, and as you deal with me, so shall I with you. Have you eaten
and drunk since you entered the city? Good: take this cloth, and dust
that row of books. I shall give you your diet, three pound by the year,
and a suit of livery."

And Mr Whitstable walked away into the back part of his shop, leaving
Aubrey to digest what he had just heard.

The idea of wearing livery was not in his eyes, what it would be in
ours, a part of his humiliation, for it was then customary for
gentlemen, as well as servants, to wear the livery of their employers.
Even ladies did it, when in the service of royal or noble mistresses.
This, therefore, was merely what he might expect in the circumstances:
and as his own meanest suit was not in keeping with his new position, it
was rather a relief than otherwise. But he was slightly disconcerted to
find how accurately his master had read him in the first minute. A
little wholesome reflection brought Aubrey to the c