ring the office; "and even now he can't speak above
a whisper, and has to take all his food in pap." It will be seen,
therefore, that Mr. John Eames had about him much of the heroic.

That he was still in love, and in love with the same lady, was known
to every one in the office. When it was declared of him that in the
way of amatory expressions he had never in his life opened his mouth
to another woman, there were those in the office who knew this was
an exaggeration. Mr. Cradell, for instance, who in his early years
had been very intimate with John Eames, and who still kept up the
old friendship.--although, being a domestic man, with a wife and six
young children, and living on a small income, he did not go out much
among his friends,--could have told a very different story; for Mrs
Cradell herself had, in days before Cradell had made good his claim
upon her, been not unadmired by Cradell's fellow-clerk. But the
constancy of Mr. Eames's present love was doubted by none who knew
him. It was not that he went about with his stockings ungartered,
or any of the old acknowledged signs of unrequited affection. In his
manner he was rather jovial than otherwise, and seemed to live a
happy, somewhat luxurious life, well contented with himself and the
world around him. But still he had this passion within his bosom, and
I am inclined to think that he was a little proud of his own
constancy.

It might be presumed that when Miss Dale wrote to her friend Grace
Crawley about going beyond friendship, pleading that there were so
many "barriers", she had probably seen her way over most of them. But
this was not so; nor did John Eames himself at all believe that the
barriers were in a way to be overcome. I will not say that he had
given the whole thing up as a bad job, because it was the law of
his life that the thing never should be abandoned as long as hope
was possible. Unless Miss Dale should become the wife of somebody
else, he would always regard himself as affianced to her. He had so
declared to Miss Dale herself and to Miss Dale's mother, and to all
the Dale people who had ever been interested in the matter. And there
was an old lady living in Miss Dale's neighbourhood, the sister of
the lord who had left Johnny Eames the bank shares, who always fought
his battles for him, and kept a close lookout, fully resolved that
John Eames should be rewarded at last. This old lady was connected
with the Dales by family ties, and therefor