milkman, and the muffin-boy, of the curate, and of my niece's
companions, and reflected, thank God, that I was in the City, a man
amongst men. When seven o'clock came and the gas was put out, there
was the anticipation also of the fight for a place in the omnibus,
especially if it was a wet night, and the certainty that I should
meet with one or two neighbours who would recognise me. No more
putting up window-blinds, pulling up weeds in the back garden,
sticking in seeds which never grew, or errands to suburban shops at
midday. How I used in my retirement to detest the sight of those
little shopkeepers when the doors of Glyn's Bank were swinging to
and fro! I came home dead-beaten now, it is true, but it was a
luxury to be dead-beaten, and I slept more soundly than I had ever
slept in my life. In about six months my position improved a
little. Jackman's love for sherry grew upon him, and once or twice,
to Larkins's disgust, his partner was not quite as fit to appear in
public as he ought to have been. Very often he was absent, sick.
Two of the cheap clerks also left in order to better themselves. I
never shall forget the afternoon--I felt as if I could have danced
for joy--when Larkins said to me, 'Whittaker, Mr. Jackman hasn't
very good health, and if he's not here when I am out, you must
answer anybody who calls, but don't commit yourself--and--let me
see--I was going to tell you you'll have ten pounds a year more,
beginning next quarter--and there was something else--Oh! I
recollect, if anybody should want to see Mr. Jackman when he happens
to be unwell here, and I am not with him, send for me if you know
where I am. If you don't know, you must do the best you can.' My
office coat had hitherto been an old shiny, ragged thing, and I had
always taken off my shirt-cuffs when I began work, because they so
soon became dirty. I rammed the old coat that night into the fire;
brought my second-best coat in a brown paper parcel the next