rom which he shrank in his present frame of mind.

The nearest approach to the flame which he allowed himself was a
renewal of his old friendship with Grey, who was still working on
in his Westminister rookery. He had become a great favorite with
Mrs. Porter, who was always trying to get him to her house to
feed him properly, and was much astonished, and sometimes almost
provoked, at the small success of her hospitable endeavors. Grey
was so taken up with his own pursuits that it did not occur to
him to be surprised that he never met Tom at the house of his
relations. He was innocent of all knowledge or suspicion of the
real state of things, so that Tom could talk to him with perfect
freedom about his uncle's household, picking up all such scraps
of information as Grey possessed without compromising himself or
feeling shy.

Thus the two old schoolfellows lived on together after their
return from Englebourn, in a set of chambers in the Temple, which
one of Tom's college friends (who had been beguiled from the
perusal of Stephen's Commentaries and aspirations after the
woolsack, by the offer of a place on board a yacht and a cruise
to Norway) had fortunately lent him.

We join company with our hero again on a fine July morning.
Readers will begin to think that, at any rate, he is always
blessed with fine weather, whatever troubles he may have to
endure; but, if we are not to have fine weather in novels, when
and where are we to have it? It was a fine July morning, then,
and the streets were already beginning to feel sultry as he
worked his way westward. Grey, who had never given up hopes of
bringing Tom round to his own views, had not neglected the
opportunities which this residence in town offered, and had
enlisted Tom's services on more than one occasion. He had found
him specially useful in instructing the big boys, whom he was
trying to bring together and civilize in a "Young Men's Club," in
the rudiments of cricket on Saturday evenings. But on the morning
in question, an altogether different work was on hand.

A lady living some eight or nine miles to the north-west of
London, who took great interest in Grey's doings, had asked him
to bring the children of his night-school down to spend a day in
her grounds, and this was the happy occasion. It was before the
days of cheap excursions by rail, so that vans had to be found
for the party; and Grey had discovered a benevolent remover of
furniture in Paddington, who