to be delivered by
his friend; the other, that fatal epistle to poor Lily, which, as the
day passed away, he found himself utterly unable to accomplish. The
letter to the squire he did write, under certain threats; and, as we
have seen, was considered to have degraded himself to the vermin rank
of humanity by the meanness of his production.

But on reaching his office he found that other cares awaited
him,--cares which he would have taken much delight in bearing, had
the state of his mind enabled him to take delight in anything. On
entering the lobby of his office, at ten o'clock, he became aware
that he was received by the messengers assembled there with almost
more than their usual deference. He was always a great man at
the General Committee Office; but there are shades of greatness
and shades of deference, which, though quite beyond the powers
of definition, nevertheless manifest themselves clearly to the
experienced ear and eye. He walked through to his own apartment, and
there found two official letters addressed to him lying on his table.
The first which came to hand, though official, was small, and marked
private, and it was addressed in the handwriting of his old friend,
Butterwell, the outgoing secretary. "I shall see you in the morning,
nearly as soon as you get this," said the semi-official note; "but I
must be the first to congratulate you on the acquisition of my old
shoes. They will be very easy in the wearing to you, though they
pinched my corns a little at first. I dare say they want new soling,
and perhaps they are a little down at the heels; but you will find
some excellent cobbler to make them all right, and will give them a
grace in the wearing which they have sadly lacked since they came
into my possession. I wish you much joy with them," &c., &c. He
then opened the larger official letter, but that had now but little
interest for him. He could have made a copy of the contents without
seeing them. The Board of Commissioners had had great pleasure in
promoting him to the office of secretary, vacated by the promotion of
Mr Butterwell to a seat at their own Board; and then the letter was
signed by Mr Butterwell himself.

How delightful to him would have been this welcome on his return to
his office had his heart in other respects been free from care! And
as he thought of this, he remembered all Lily's charms. He told
himself how much she excelled the noble scion of the de Courcy stock,
with whom he