had been the result. That the police had been called in, and all parties
had been lodged in the watch-house; that the whole affair was being
investigated by the magistrates, and that it was said that Miss Judd and
all her coadjutors would be sent to the Penitentiary. This was quite
enough to frighten two boys like us; for days afterwards we trembled
when people came into the shop, expecting to be summoned and imprisoned.
Gradually, however, our fears were dismissed, but I never from that time
heard any thing more of Miss Aramathea Judd.

After this affair, I adhered steadily to my business, and profiting by
the advice given me by that young person, improved rapidly in my
profession, as well as in general knowledge; but my thoughts, as usual,
were upon one subject--my parentage, and the mystery hanging over it. My
eternal reveries became at last so painful, that I had recourse to
reading to drive them away, and subscribing to a good circulating
library, I was seldom without a book in my hand. By this time I had been
nearly two years and a half with Mr Cophagus, when an adventure occurred
which I must attempt to describe with all the dignity with which it
ought to be invested.

This is a world of ambition, competition, and rivalry. Nation rivals
nation, and flies to arms, cutting the throats of a few thousands on
each side till one finds that it has the worst of it. Man rivals man,
and hence detraction, duels, and individual death. Woman rivals woman,
and hence loss of reputation and position in high, and loss of hair, and
fighting with pattens in low, life. Are we then to be surprised that
this universal passion, undeterred by the smell of drugs and poisonous
compounds, should enter into apothecaries' shops? But two streets--two
very short streets from our own--was situated the single-fronted shop of
Mr Ebenezer Pleggit. Thank heaven, it was only single-fronted; there, at