is gone by, I know. I married too early to be
able to wear a good coat when I was young, and I never was acquainted
with any lords or lords' families." The sting of this was the sharper
because Crosbie had begun to feel how absolutely useless to him had
been all that high interest and noble connection which he had formed.
He had really been promoted because he knew more about his work than
any of the other men, and Lady de Courcy's influential relation at
the India Board had not yet even had time to write a note upon the
subject.

At eleven Mr Butterwell came into Crosbie's room, and the new
secretary was forced to clothe himself in smiles. Mr Butterwell was
a pleasant, handsome man of about fifty, who had never yet set the
Thames on fire, and had never attempted to do so. He was perhaps a
little more civil to great men and a little more patronising to those
below him than he would have been had he been perfect. But there was
something frank and English even in his mode of bowing before the
mighty ones, and to those who were not mighty he was rather too civil
than either stern or supercilious. He knew that he was not very
clever, but he knew also how to use those who were clever. He seldom
made any mistake, and was very scrupulous not to tread on men's
corns. Though he had no enemies, yet he had a friend or two; and we
may therefore say of Mr Butterwell that he had walked his path in
life discreetly. At the age of thirty-five he had married a lady with
some little fortune, and now he lived a pleasant, easy, smiling life
in a villa at Putney. When Mr Butterwell heard, as he often did hear,
of the difficulty which an English gentleman has of earning his bread
in his own country, he was wont to look back on his own career with
some complacency. He knew that he had not given the world much; yet
he had received largely, and no one had begrudged it to him. "Tact,"
Mr Butterwell used to say to himself, as he walked along the paths of
his Putney villa. "Tact. Tact. Tact."

"Crosbie," he said, as he entered the room cheerily, "I congratulate
you with all my heart. I do, indeed. You have got the step early in
life, and you deserve it thoroughly;--much better than I did when I
was appointed to the same office."

"Oh, no," said Crosbie, gloomily.

"But I say, oh, yes. We are deuced lucky to have such a man, and so I
told the commissioners."

"I'm sure I'm very much obliged to you."

"I've known it all along,--before you le