he announced that Godfrey Sherwood, at present sole representative
of Sherwood Brothers, had offered him an active partnership in
Little Ailie Street, and that he had accepted it. He entered upon
this position without zeal, but six months' investigation had taught
him that to earn money without surrendering his independence was no
very easy thing; he probably might wait a long time before an
opening would present itself more attractive than this at the
sugar-refinery.

Godfrey Sherwood was a schoolfellow of his, but some two or three
years older; much good feeling existed between them, their tastes
and tempers having just that difference in similarity which is the
surest bond of friendship. Judged by his talk, Sherwood was all
vigour, energy, fire; his personal habits, on the other hand,
inclined to tranquillity and ease--a great reader, he loved the
literature of romance and adventure, knew by heart authors such as
Malory and Froissart, had on his shelves all the books of travel and
adventure he could procure. As a boy he seemed destined to any life
save that of humdrum commerce, of which he spoke with contempt and
abhorrence; and there was no reason why he should not have gratified
his desire of seeing the world, of leading what he called "the life
of a man." Yet here he was, sitting each day in a counting-house in
Whitechapel, with nothing behind him but a few rambles on the
continent, and certainly with no immediate intention of going far
afield. His father's death left him in sole command of the business,
and his reasonable course would have been to retire from it as soon
as possible, for foreign competition was making itself felt in the
English trade, and many firms more solidly established than that in
Little Ailie Street had either come to grief or withdrawn from the
struggle. But Godfrey's inertia kept him in the familiar routine,