it might seem ungracious, perhaps.'

'Oh, I don't mind Pinch,' said Martin. 'There's no occasion to stand on
any ceremony with HIM. However, I'll take it out, as you wish it, and
make the full stop at "secrecy." Very well! "I shall not only"--this is
the letter again, you know.'

'I understand.'

'"I shall not only enclose my letters to the young lady of whom I have
told you, to your charge, to be forwarded as she may request; but I most
earnestly commit her, the young lady herself, to your care and regard,
in the event of your meeting in my absence. I have reason to think
that the probabilities of your encountering each other--perhaps very
frequently--are now neither remote nor few; and although in our position
you can do very little to lessen the uneasiness of hers, I trust to you
implicitly to do that much, and so deserve the confidence I have reposed
in you." You see, my dear Mary,' said Martin, 'it will be a great
consolation to you to have anybody, no matter how simple, with whom you
can speak about ME; and the very first time you talk to Pinch, you'll
feel at once that there is no more occasion for any embarrassment or
hesitation in talking to him, than if he were an old woman.'

'However that may be,' she returned, smiling, 'he is your friend, and
that is enough.'

'Oh, yes, he's my friend,' said Martin, 'certainly. In fact, I have told
him in so many words that we'll always take notice of him, and protect
him; and it's a good trait in his character that he's grateful--very
grateful indeed. You'll like him of all things, my love, I know. You'll
observe very much that's comical and old-fashioned about Pinch, but you
needn't mind laughing at him; for he'll not care about it. He'll rather
like it indeed!'

'I don't think I shall put that to the test, Martin.'

'You won't if you can help it, of course,' he said, 'but I think you'll
find him a little too much for your gravity. However, that's neither
here nor there, and it certainly is not the letter; which ends
thus: "Knowing that I need not impress the nature and extent of that
confidence upon you at any greater length, as it is already sufficiently
established in your mind, I will only say, in bidding you farewell and
looking forward to our next meeting, that I shall charge myself from
this time, through all changes for the better, with your advancement and
happiness, as if they were my own. You may rely upon that. And
always believe me, my dear Tom Pinch