ervice as F. O. Messenger on Tuesday morning, 9 th. By order of the
Under-Secretary of State.'"

"There's a way to issue a service summons. It was Graves wrote that, I
'd swear. All he ought to have said was, 'Butler for service, F. O., to
report immediately.'"

"I suppose the form is no great matter," said Mrs. Trafford, whose eyes
now turned with an anxious interest towards Tony.

"The form is everything, I assure you. The Chief Secretary is a regular
Tartar about style. One of our fellows, who has an impediment in his
speech, once wrote, 'I had had,' in a despatch, and my Lord noted it
with, 'It is inexcusable that he should stutter in writing.'"

"I must be there on Wednesday, is it?" asked Tony.

"Tuesday--Tuesday, and in good time too. But ain't you lucky, you dog!
They 're so hard pressed for messengers, they've got no time to examine
you. You are to enter official life _par la petite porte_, but you get
in without knocking."

"I cannot imagine that the examination would be much of a difficulty,"
said Mrs. Trafford.

Tony shook his head in dissent, and gave a sad faint sigh.

"I 'd engage to coach him in a week," broke in Skeffy. "It was I ground
Vyse in Chinese, and taught him that glorious drinking-song, 'Tehin
Tehan Ili-Ta!' that he offered to sing before the Commissioners if they
could play the accompaniment."

Leaving Skeffy to revel in his gratifying memories of such literary
successes, Alice turned away a few steps with Tony.

"Let us part good friends, Tony," said she, in a low tone. "You 'll go
up to the Abbey, I hope, and wish them a good-bye, won't you?"

"I am half ashamed to go now," muttered he.

"No, no, Tony; don't fancy that there is any breach in our friendship;
and tell me another thing: would you like me to write to you? I know you
're not very fond of writing yourself, but I 'll not be exacting. You
shall have two for one,--three, if you deserve it."

He could not utter a word; his heart felt as if it would burst through
his side, and a sense of suffocation almost choked him. He knew, if he
tried to speak, that his emotion would break out, and in his pride he
would have suffered torture rather than shed a tear.

With a woman's nice tact she saw his confusion, and hastened to relieve
it. "The first letter must, however, be from you, Tony. It need be only
half a dozen lines, to say if you have passed your examination, what you
think of your new career, and where you are going."