sand times had Mr. Sparkes shouted the order "One
ally-mode!" The chief, almost the only, variant was "One 'ot!" which
signified a cut from the boiled round, served of course with carrots
and potatoes, remarkable for their excellence. Midday dinner was the
only meal recognized at Chaffey's; from twelve to half-past two the
press of business kept everyone breathless and perspiring. Before and
after these hours little if anything was looked for, and at four
o'clock the establishment closed its doors.

But it came to pass that the proprietor of Chaffey's died, and the
business fell into the hands of a young man with new ideas. Within a
few months Chaffey's underwent a transformation; it was pulled down,
rebuilt, enlarged, beautified; nothing left of its old self but the
name. In place of the homely eating-house there stood a large hall,
painted and gilded and set about with mirrors, furnished with marble
tables and cane-bottomed chairs--to all appearances a restaurant on the
France-Italian pattern. Yet Chaffey's remained English, flagrantly
English, in its viands and its waiters. The new proprietor aimed at
combining foreign glitter with the prices and the entertainment
acceptable to a public of small means. Moreover, he prospered. The
doors were now open from nine o'clock in the morning to twelve at
night. There was a bar for the supply of alcoholic drinks--the
traditional porter had always been fetched from a neighbouring
house--and frivolities such as tea and coffee were in constant demand.

This change told grievously upon Mr. Sparkes. At the first mention of
it he determined to resign but the weakness in his character shrank
from such a decided step, and he allowed himself to be drawn into a
painfully false position. The proprietor did not wish to lose him. Mr.
Sparkes was a slim, upright, grave-featured man, whose deportment had
its market value; his side-whiskers and shaven lip gave him a decidedly
clerical aspect, which, together with long experience and a certain
austerity of command, well fitted him for superintending the younger
waiters. His salary was increased, his "tips" represented a much larger
income than heretofore. At the old Chaffey's every diner gave him a
penny, whilst at the new he often received twopence, and customers were
much more numerous. But every copper he pouched cost Mr. Sparkes a pang
of humiliation; his "Thank you, sir," had the urbanity which had become
mechanical, but more often than n