, before he left the house, confided his secret to the
maternal ears of Mrs. French. He certainly had been allured into
making an offer to Dorothy Stanbury, but was ready to atone for
this crime by marrying her daughter,--Camilla,--as soon as might
be convenient. He was certainly driven to make this declaration by
intense cowardice,--not to excuse himself, for in that there could
be no excuse;--but how else should he dare to suggest that he might
as well leave the house? "Shall I tell the dear girl?" asked Mrs.
French. But Mr. Gibson requested a fortnight, in which to consider
how the proposition had best be made.

CHAPTER XLIX.

MR. BROOKE BURGESS AFTER SUPPER.

Brooke Burgess was a clerk in the office of the Ecclesiastical
Commissioners in London, and as such had to do with things very
solemn, grave, and almost melancholy. He had to deal with the rents
of episcopal properties, to correspond with clerical claimants,
and to be at home with the circumstances of underpaid vicars and
perpetual curates with much less than L300 a-year; but yet he was
as jolly and pleasant at his desk as though he were busied about
the collection of the malt tax, or wrote his letters to admirals
and captains instead of to deans and prebendaries. Brooke Burgess
had risen to be a senior clerk, and was held in some respect in his
office; but it was not perhaps for the amount of work he did, nor yet
on account of the gravity of his demeanour, nor for the brilliancy of
his intellect. But if not clever, he was sensible; though he was not
a dragon of official virtue, he had a conscience;--and he possessed
those small but most valuable gifts by which a man becomes popular
among men. And thus it had come to pass in all those battles as to
competitive merit which had taken place in his as in other public
offices, that no one had ever dreamed of putting a junior over
the head of Brooke Burgess. He was tractable, easy, pleasant, and
therefore deservedly successful. All his brother clerks called him
Brooke,--except the young lads who, for the first year or two of
their service, still denominated him Mr. Burgess.

"Brooke," said one of his juniors, coming into his room and standing
before the fireplace with a cigar in his mouth, "have you heard who
is to be the new Commissioner?"

"Colenso, to be sure," said Brooke.

"What a lark that would be. And I don't see why he shouldn't. But it
isn't Colenso. The name has just come down."

"And who