M. or N. Similia similibus curantur.""

d by the epithet "grimy." Old Mr. Bargrave, walking serenely into his office at eleven, and meeting this handmaiden on the stairs, used to wonder how so much dirt could accumulate on

it much matters what may be our rank and rating on board. The cook's mate in the galley is no less dismayed than the admiral in command. Dorothea's light, so to speak, was only a tallow-candle, yet to put it out was to leave the poor woman very desolate in the dark. So Mr. Bargrave ventured one morni

iberty of following him, tenanted a

aring that he is under some extraneous influence of an unbusinesslike nature. Bargrave subsides into his leather

my hands of it from the first. You've been at work now for some months; that's your l

Just what you said six months back. There's no getting over that trust-deed, nor through it, nor round it, no

ulting tone, quite unlike a man wors

all settlement, Tom, very inadequate to her position, as I told poor Mr. Bruce many a time. He used to say everything would be set right by his will, and now

xclaimed Tom. "W

provided for. With regard to Miss Bruce, there is a settlement. Two hundred a year, Tom, for l

om flippantly, "so don't dis

" observed Bargra

fered; it was no affair of mine. But your costs will be heavy, Tom, I can't help seeing that. Tangle's opinion don't come so cheap, y

uld say a thou. wouldn't cover the amount. Of course, if we ca

a thousand pounds with an indifference verging on contempt. Well, that was Tom's look-out; nevertheless, on such a

it into Chancery

considerable energy, lifted his hat from its peg, adjusted his collars in the

Boy or man," said he aloud, "that chap always knew what he wa

on that quality; yet behold him now waging a contest in which a man wastes money, time, comfort, and self-respect, that he may wrest from real sorrow and discomfiture the shadow of a happiness which he cannot grasp when he has reached it. There is much

hat highest form of adoration which seeks in the first place the unlimited sovereignty of its idol, and which, as being too good for them, women constantly undervalue; but I do say that he esteemed his fair client the m

bang, and shouting his orders through the little hole in the top. So to Grosvenor Crescent he is forwarded accordingly, at the

an by a shilling? why wear down the soles of an exceedingly thin and elaborate pair of boots on the hot, hard pavement without compunction? Why? Because he was in love. This was also the reason, no doubt, that he turned red and white when he approached the Square railings; that his nose seemed to swell, his mouth got dry, his hat felt too tight, and the rest of his attire too loose for the occasion; also that he affected an unusual interest in the numbers

at the colour never deepened a shade on her proud, pale cheek; that the shapely hand, which fitted its pass-key to the lock, was firm as a dentist's, and the clear, cold voice that greeted him far steadie

aid Tom passionately. "You never fail, and yet I al

rfect self-possession; "and I am quite as anxious as you can

aps he rather liked it, believing it, in his ignorance, a distinctive mark of class, not knowing--how sh

enough to come into court. I took the opinion of the first man we have. I am sorry to say he gives it against

ows came down very straight and stern over the deep eyes in which he had learned to read his

ll notice of

asked, almost angrily; "no papers lost?

ll, is it not for my own interest as much as y

ndows by trees and shrubs already clothed in the tender, quivering foliage of spring, she kept silence for several seconds, looking straight befo

d at the price. Well, I don't want to hurt your feelings--your very best, then. And yet it seems very odd--you were so confident at first. Of course if the thing's really gone, and there's no chance left, it's folly to

suit. Now he could find nothing better to say than that "he had hoped she was comfortable with Mrs. Stanmore; and anybody who didn't make Miss Bruce comfortable must be brutal and wicked. But--but--if it was really so--and she

ut him excee

charged yourself with the trouble--that counts for nothing, it is in the way of your business--with the costs--the expenses--I don't know what you call them--these were to be paid out of the estate. It was all plain sailing, if we had conquered; and the

the avenue at Ecclesfield. You promised of your own accord, you know you did," said poor Tom

h, not without some real humour

it seems able to do everything!" She was looking miles away now, totally unconscious of her companion's presence. "To me this five or six thousand a yea

ery chivalrous in any way; but he possessed the truly British quality of tenacity, an

be trusted, you see, over fifty yards of pavement and a crossing by myself. The maid is walking with me now behind these lilac-bushes, you know. Her name is Ryfe. She is very cross and s

hty and reserved, caused Tom to forget her pride, her whims, her various caprices, her too palpable indifference to himself. He offered the

ose hard little laughs that jarred so on Tom's nerves, "Come with better news next time, and don't give in while there's a chance left; depend upon it the

ed Tom, with the clouds

y. "And now I can't wait any longer. Don't for

e fruit he took such pains to ripen for his own gathering might but be gaudy wax-work after all, or

and holding a brown-paper parcel in her hand, was wa

stances. A ragged boy, established at the crossing, who had indeed rendered himself conspicuous by his endeavours to fer

Buster; two bob an' a bender,

with the premature acuteness of youth for

room at once to enter on his professional labours, ere Puckers had recovered from her ast

a ruffianly kind of beauty, when after a discreet pause, Miss Bruce followed the young lawyer through the same portal. Then the man went to work with his broom harder than ever. Not Sir Walter Raleigh spreading his cloak at the feet o

surprised, she bade Puckers walk on, while she took a ha

trade," said she, lookin

ale while he rec

ust to hear the turn of your voice again. No offence, miss, I'll go away now. O! can't ye give a chap a

never part with ye," said he, "never;" unmindful of poor Dorothea, going about her work tearful and forlorn. Gentleman Jim, uneducated, besotted, half-brutalised as he was, had yet drunk from the cup that poisons equally the basest and noblest of our kind. A well-dressed, good-looking young man, walking on the other side of the Square, did not fail to witness